May 9, 2022
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Halloween Info-tainment #2
Continuing the Halloween lead-up fun:
I know I said it'd be a history night, but I found an interesting excerpt on banshees in The Fairies in Tradition and Literature by K.M. Briggs. That's what I'm dressing up as this weekend, so that's what you get to read about!
"The chief of the ancestral fairies is the Banshee of Ireland; almost invariable attached to a family, and it must be to one of the old families. Lady Wilde gives a good description of it in Ancient Legends of Ireland:
'But only certain families of historic lineage, or persons gifted with music and song, are attended to by this spirit; for music and poetry are fairy gifts, and the possessors of them show kinship to the spirit race- therefore they are watched over by the spirit of life, which is prophecy and inspiration; and by the spirit of doom, which is the revealer of the secrets of death.
Sometimes the Banshee assumes the form of some sweet singing virgin of the family who dies young, and has been given the mission by the invisible powers to become the harbinger of coming doom to her mortal kindred. Or she may be seen as a shrouded woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face; or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly: and the cry of this spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night.'"
So, if you hear sad, lamenting cries at night, it must be a banshee foretelling the death of your loved ones...or perhaps some stray cats. Hmmm. Stay tuned for more!
Halloween by the Books
In honor of Halloween’s impending arrival, I’ve decided to share some of the more interesting entries from the various herb, magic, and offbeat history books which I’ve collected over the years. To start, here’s an entry from "Herbs and Things: Jeanne Rose’s Herbal- A Compendium of Practical and Exotic Herbal Lore”, the first book I acquired in this category and one of my personal favorites. Keep in mind:
“Most of the ingredients in the following recipes are either highly outrageous, poisonous, or unobtainable. This chapter is included simply to make complete the information in the book and because most of us are interested in the grotesque and the monstrous.”
The chapter she refers to is entitled “Various Forbidden Secrets- Flying and Fairies.” Without further ado, here’s a little recipe “To Enable One To See The Fairies”:
“Take one pint of virgin olive oil and wash it with rose water and marigold water until it is white. The roses and the marigolds are to be gathered towards the east and the water thereof to be made of pure spring water. Put the washed oil into a vial glass and add hollyhock buds, marigold flowers, wild thyme tops and flowers, young hazel buds, and the grass of a fairy throne (center of a mushroom circle). The thyme must be gathered near the side of a hill where fairies used to be. Set the glass in the sun for three days so that the ingredients can become incorporated. Then put it away for use.”
-formula dated 1600 and also seen in Eleanour Rohde’s ‘A Garden of Herbs’
Here’s a nasty little concoction:
“A Deadly Ointment to Use in Witchcraft”
“To a large quantity of baby fat, add the juice of a water hemlock, monkshood, cinquefoil, belladonna, and then some soot. Use as an ointment over the body”
-a sixteenth-century formula
I’ll leave you with this recipe that may be the untapped secret to muggle Quidditch:
“For Riding on a Broomstick and Flying”
“Make an ointment from the leaves of belladonna, stramonium, monkshood, and celery seeds. Add to it one toad and boil until the toad’s flesh has fallen off the bones. Strain and rub the ointment on the body, under the armpits, on the forehead, and on your broom. (Eat celery seeds so that you won’t get dizzy when flying about on your broom.)
It is interesting to note in regard to this seventeenth-century formula that a modern hallucinogen, called bufotenin, has been discovered in the skin of a toad.”
Noooo, Trevor!!
Tomorrow night: Some interesting facts on the history of witchcraft and the occult. Stay tuned!