Folk cures for humans as well as beasts involved the medical, the magical and sometimes the simply mystifying. Peter Watson reveals some of the techniques in traditional and historical medical practice The library of Chetham’s school in Manchester contains a remarkable if largely forgotten herbal, beautifully written and illuminated in a hand of the early […]
Folk Medicine and Magic in Lancashire Read More »
A Yorkshire tale of presences and mysteries, related for us by Jo Hirons What happens to those places which have a reputation for being ‘haunted’, and which may have a record of disturbances’ going back many years, once their topography changes beyond recognition? Remembrances of previous buildings may be preserved to retain ‘character’ in the
Robert W E Farrah looks into the esoteric furore ignited by a new public artwork in Carlisle The Curse In the very heart of the city of Carlisle, as the new millennium was beginning, a tale of the supernatural was unfolding which would be worthy of the wild imaginings of many a horror writer.
The Archbishop’s Stone and the Great Curse Read More »
Laurence Main finds an old spirit path in Wales This did not begin with a thick pencil, drawing lines on a grubby, folded map. Perish the thought! My means of maintaining a modicum of sanity in this world is to escape to the hills and ancient trackways. Yes, old straight tracks. I didn’t make them straight.
The Lance of Light: A Spirit Road above Harlech Read More »
Is all discussion of spirit roads straight talking? Ulrich Magin finds traditional indications of both the straight and crooked passage of spirits What do spirits prefer? Straight or crooked travel? This question has led to some conflict in the discussion of leys and often to grand statements about what folklore says and what it
How does the Spirit move? Spirit roads Read More »
Is the famous Cretan fresco denoting the stars around Taurus? William Glyn-Jones thinks it may be… Cr. Heraklion Archaeological Museum CCO, Wikimedia Commons The Bull Leaper fresco (p.16) from the palace of Knossos in Crete has always been a particular favourite of mine. The graceful power of the bull, with its sensuous
The Minoan Bull Leaper Fresco in Crete Read More »
Should we take seriously legends about ‘retribution’ coming to humans who violate ritual sites? Robert W E Farrah has been wondering the same thing… It was during the campaign to stop a Christian ‘Millennium Monument’ being erected in the vicinity of Mayburgh henge (see NE 84 & 85) that I was reminded
The Legend of Mayburgh Henge Read More »
Robert W E Farrah looks into the esoteric furore ignited by a new public artwork in Carlisle The curse In the very heart of the city of Carlisle, as the new millennium was beginning, a tale of the supernatural was unfolding which would be worthy of the wild imaginings of many a horror writer.
The Archbishop’s Stone and the Great Curse Read More »
David Kaiser goes in quest of the ‘original’ Long Meg. Long Meg and Her Daughters is one of northern England’s most famous prehistoric monuments. It’s an impressive site. About five miles N of Penrith, it is Britain’s sixth largest stone circle. It originally consisted of a ring of about seventy large stones standing in an
Who Put the ‘Meg’ in the Megalith? Read More »
Paul Devereux is a man in quest of the mystical centre of England… Is an East Midlands hill an omphalos? Many ancient lands had an acknowledged territorial sacred, symbolical centre or navel, its omphalos, and every country has its optimum geographical centre point which may or may not coincide with it. In some places
Contemplating Albion’s Navel Read More »