Lucie Minty
Specialist Practice
Witch Museum
Boscastle
On Monday 5th October I drove a 3hour 45 minute car journey down to Boscastle to visite the Witch Museum to help my research into witchcraft and help give me insperation. After parking up and walking around the village it had a strong witch theme the names of the pubs, bulidings and shops were all inspired by witch craft.
The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.
The museum was full of intresting and really helpful witchcraft related infomation which was perfect for my research. There are a lot of different aspects to witch craft so this trip was really benifitial in helping me search a much less broud topic.
The museum showcased a variety of handcrafted props which were used for curses and spells.
I was mainly intrested in the materials used to create the props. A lot of common materials used was wax, rags, human hair and animal remains.
Through my research into witch craft 'Poppets' seem to be used a lot as they are commonly mentioned.
To the left the poppet apperas to have been burnt and pierced in the eyes and heart with pins. This poppet was found in one of Cecil's filing cabinets after his death in 1999.
Cecil knew all about curings and the 'wayside witch'. His moral code was to curse someone if he felt they deserved it.
In the description behind the poppet it mentioned that this "was inspired by the detailed description of a how to use a clay poppet given by the famous Pendle witch Elizabeth Demdike when she was arrested in 1612".
I hadn't heard of 'Pendle witches' so will further research into that type of witch to see the assosiations and belifes of that witch.
It was really helpful and intresting to read about the different tests used to determin wether or not someone was a witch.
"Witchcraft was a felony in England and was dealt with by courts using standard legal procedure (accusations, a trial, witnesses, a judge and a jury)."
Although there were court trials to determin wether or not someone was a witch because witchcraft was seen as a exceptional and unusal crime there were also un offical unusual tests created which were carried out to test if someone was a witch, two of the main tests were the weighing chair and the pricking pin.
The weighing chair was a method used to test for witchcraft, the theory of using a weighing chair was to weigh the suspected witch against a bible, if the suspect was lighter than the bible then they would be accused of being a witch. It was belived this method was formed based on the fact that witches were belived to be unnaturaly light due to the fact they could supposedly fly. Another theory was that by weighing the suspect against the bible which contained heavey words would prove the guilt of a witch.
The other test was the Pricking Pin, this test was created based on the belife that wicthes wouldn't bleed. A witch was belived to have a 'devil's mark' or 'witch mark' which made them insensitive to pain and meant they would not bleed.
In the museum I was looking for visual things which I could encorperate into my makeup designs to represent different myths and assosiations related to witches. I found the information related to Ruby's with regards to what they meant within witch craft really intresting. They are "prized for their magical properties as well as their beauty." I also liked the comment about their resembalence to the colour of blood as blood within sacrifice is a common thing that keeps occering in my research when it comes to witch craft spells and traditions. As well as blood being commonly mentioned within sacrifice so were bones (animal and human) above shows an example of a skeletal hand 'Power made of men's joints' this spell was used to ease child birth. Although the use of human bones was so common in 1604 it was made punishable by death. Above also shows examples of how animal bones were used to make tools.
The Labyrinth is a famous symbol related to witch craft. The symbol is related to the entrance to the underworld. The symbol of the labyrinth has been found carved into various wood and stones. Visualy the labrynths appearence is like a maze. You are supose to start at the bottom of the symbol and follow the raised path "Eventually you will arrive, well balanced, at the sacred centre of the symbol and maybe another world."
I found it really intresting what different symbols and objects were associated with and used for in witch craft. For example the shell charm and the knot magic. I would like to experiment within my designs using items used in spells like these within my hair and makeup to ensure my character has strong influence from old witch craft traditions and belifes.
Bones and skulls are used in witch craft in all shapes and forms. Different skulls and parts of bones from different animals were all used for different things and could represent and variety of things.
The monkey skulls in the photo to the far left were part of Charles Wade's collection of magical objects. In the image to the left and bellow show examples of two different ways to use sections of bone, one is human bone used to cast divination and the other are also used to cast divination but were written on and they were either pulled out of a bag 'blind' or they were thrown.
Towards the end of the museum there were various notts and ribbons which had individual meaning and were used for different spells. Through out my project I plan to experiment with hair for my character so will possible look further into the notts meanings and incorperate it into my character hair and makeup.
Going to this museum was really benificial as I gained so much knowladge into all different aspects of witch craft. I have gained many visual ideas and the trip gave me a real feel into the witch culture.
It was really nice to visually see everyhting and get a feel for the different objects and infomation the museum had collected over many years rather than just reading it out of a book. The museum was packed with knowladge and items regarding witch craft which included real recordings and chants from different occations.
There are many different interpritations of what a witch is and their appearence, the museum was full of historical facts and infomation about witchcraft and addressed all possibilities of what a witch is and looks like.
"She is a wise woman, who can be a beautiful, powerful being." The two steryotypes of the witch are that they are either young and beautiful or old and ugly, either way they are both associated with power and death.
