Cowslip is a witch’s garden plant which s traditionally found by foraging. Know for its connection to May Day, divination and of course faeries, it’s been celebrated in folklore and by Shakespeare, for its connection to love.
The witch’s gardener mucks into spring 2018
Looking at spring in the witch’s garden, planning the coming year and adapting spaces to changing plans. A look at what survived the winter, what seems to be spreading and what didn’t survive the freeze.
Folk horror from Wiltshire: The Blood Stone at Luccombe Spring, starving out the Vikings at Bratton Camp, the White Horse of Westbury and the nature of folklore
The Luccombe Valley below Salisbury Plain and Bratton Camp, just visible in the upper right. In the foreground are two of the four barrows in the valley, with one of the others being the site of the Bloodstone. While wandering on Salisbury plain one day I came across a hidden valley and as I […]
On the mystery of a white horse carved into the slopes of Bratton Downs … the White Horse of Westbury
Nobody really knows when or why a chalk horse was carved onto the side of Bratton Downs, below the iron age Bratton Camp. The current version has evolved over the past two centuries into its rather literal shape today. An 18th century engraving shows an earlier horse, smaller and facing the opposite direction. It’s believed […]
Cleome Serrulata: A Native American addition to the witch’s garden and table, and a friend to bees and butterflies
You can’t overestimate the importance of bees in a witch’s garden, for our stinging friends help to pollinate. Just behind them in usefulness in this task are butterflies, and to attract both, plant a bit of Cleome in your herb garden. Additionally, many beekeepers love Cleome as it is an excellent source of nectar, resulting […]
On pagan sexuality, getting laid in the seventies, the great god Pan, the Marquis de Sade and the mating habits of goats
Top: Statue of Pan, The Eagles Nest, Northport, Long Island Your body is the church where Nature asks to be reverenced.Marquis de Sade I credit my parents with instilling in me a love for pagan sexuality. Not intentionally – they didn’t advocate any kind of sex. It’s something that was only mentioned a couple times […]
Old Wardour Castle … a splendidly haunted ruin in the British countryside
“On the south western border of Wiltshire about half between Salisbury and Shaftesbury and in the parish Tisbury stand the ivy crowned remains of the old castle Wardour.” The Antiquary, Volumes 3-4 Front Cover.W. Allen, 1873 Old Wardour Castle was built as an impressive fortified home for Lord Lovell in the late 14th Century. But before the end […]
Dunbeg Fort on Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula: Saved for centuries by local folklore, slowly being reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean
On the edge of Europe, along the coast of Dingle Peninsula, Dunbeg Fort is a promontory fort, not far from Dingle town towards Slea Head. Known in Gaelic as An Dún Beag, it was protected by sheer cliffs on three sides, falling into the Atlantic nearly a hundred feet below. Begun as a defensive earthen embankment sometime […]
