Olde English Witch Balls

Then

Witch balls originated in 18^th Century England. The seventeen-hundreds were a turbulent time for witchcraft in England as it was a century that saw both the execution of witches and the abolishment of the idea that a person could even be guilty of witchcraft through the Witchcraft act of 1735.

            For the average person it must have been a confusing time. Are witches real and to be feared? Or simply illusionary?

            Fortunately, witch balls presented a passive-aggressive solution to the problem. They were something that could be used to protect ones self from the danger of a witch’s curse or spell, without accusing or persecuting any members of the community. And what’s more, they were, and are, very beautiful.

            Most witch balls are blown glass with strings of glass that look like webbing running through the inside portion. It was believed that these balls would attract any evil curse or spell trying to enter ones home. Thus, it became customary to hang the balls from the homes window’s.  Then, as the witch’s dreadful curse approached to do it’s harm, it would instead find itself trapped in the inner webbing of the witch ball, leaving the home safe from evil. And it was believed that if the witch ball began to glow, a curse was trapped inside.

            Some variations of witch balls were silvered to create a mirror like image that would reflect the evil curse away from the home rather than trapping it inside the webs. It’s this form of witch ball that our garden gazing balls developed from.

            Witch balls are also associated with seafaring. In time, the purpose of witch balls expanded to include the attraction and inevitable capturing of evil spirits along with witches’ curses.

During the early days of seafaring, when fishermen cast their nets into the sea, they would use glass balls, know as float balls, to weigh down the nets. But on the eastern coast of the United States, many fishermen would change out the float balls for witch balls in hopes of capturing the evil spirits that rode along the waves.

Now

With the popularity of witch balls back in England, it’s no surprise that they eventually made their way across the Atlantic to the United States. Here, witch balls saw their heyday in the 19^th century but soon died out in popularity what with the turbulence of the war and other concerns that were far more real than a witch’s curse.

            However, they remain a very popular souvenir and novelty item. There’s not a shop in Salem Massachusetts where you can’t find one for sale. And I myself have purchased a dozen or so on my trips there. They now make for a beautiful display in my front window!

Thoughts

One aspect of the witch ball that I find very interesting is the insight into the superstitious beliefs surrounding witches and their spells in England at the time.

            Because it was able to stop a curse as it entered the home by trapping it or reflecting it, we know that people saw a spell as something physical rather than purely ethereal. It had to travel from the caster and make its way to its intended victim. A curse or an enchantment wasn’t instantaneous and could be avoided.

            Though we don’t know the exact origin of the first witch ball or how it came to be used in such a capacity, it shows that even after the Witchcraft Act in 1735, people still actively believed in witches and what’s more, felt the need to self empower themselves against their conjuring.

Examples

 A Pairpoint Witch Ball from Salem Massachusetts

An Antique Silvered Witch Ball

A Pairpoint Witch Ball from Salem Massachusetts

Where You Can Get One

I’ve seen them in shops in Salem MA, Boston MA, and Williamsburg VA. But if none of those places are one of your stops this summer, you can order one from either:

www.pairpoint.com

www.kitras.com

I don’t mean to be biased, but having seen witch balls made from both glass companies, I find the ones sold by Pairpoint to be more appealing. Not to mention that the company has been making them since the eighteen-hundreds! However, Kitras witch balls tend to come in a larger variety of colors and sizes. Check out both sights to see what appeals to you!

Contact Me

As always…If you have a comment or something to share, don’t be shy. Leave a comment here at the blog or contact me at aislinnmarshallwriter@gmail.com or  visit my website at www.aislinnmarshall.com

The Evil Eye

What it Is

The evil eye is the idea that bad luck or harm can be cast on another simply through a look. The belief is an ancient one that dates back thousands of years and remnants of it can still be found the world over. However, it is most predominant among the cultures of the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Casters and Recipients

In some cultures the evil eye is believed to be purposefully cast by those born with the magical ability to do so. But in most, it is seen as an unintentional result of envy. But however unintentional it may be, it is still feared as a destructive force. When the evil eye is cast no one is immune, including livestock. Sadly, children are often the most affected by the evil eye and it is thought that even the compliment of a stranger about ones child can cause them to fall ill or even die if the compliment is made from a place of envy.

However, illness and death represent the extreme case, and bad luck is more often attributed to the envious eye.

           

Protection

With a curse so easily cast, (by seemingly innocent people no less) it became necessary to take protective measures in order to safeguard ones family and cattle from the evil that could befall one at any moment.

            In Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” he describes the towns folk performing the sign of the cross before pointing two fingers in the direction of one they thought in danger of the evil eye. He described this as, “[…] a charm or guard against the evil eye.” This protection charm is still used in parts of Europe today. It is a combination charm consisting of the Christian sign of the cross and the pagan sign of the horns.

 Along with this physical charm, a plethora of protective amulets and good luck charms have popped up to aid the innocent victim from the malevolent stare. Most of these items take the shape of an eye and it is believed that when the evil eye falls upon it, it will be reflected back to the gazer.

            The most common of these talismans is the nazar. It can be found all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean and has become a favorite souvenir of tourists traveling to the area.  To look at it you might not know that you’re looking at a representation of the eye. It looks like a dark blue dot with thick rings of varying dark and light blue separated by white circling around it. This symbol has been made into many different items including sun catchers, bracelets, and beads; all beautifully crafted and ready to ward off the evil eye!

A nazar bracelet I picked up on one of my trips to Greece

An artistic representation of the nazar

Comments

As always, I’d love to hear any comments or insight you may have on this topic. Please feel free to leave a comment here or visit my website at AislinnMarshall.com. You can also email me at AislinnMarshallWriter@gmail.com.

Ghosts, Witches and Water

Lore

Ghosts can’t cross water. Witches can’t cross water. We all know this (or at least those of us consumed by the paranormal do), but did you know that the two superstitions come from two entirely different cultures? I didn’t!

Ghosts

So, in case you’re unfamiliar with the superstition, ghosts can’t cross water. In the lore, they’re even scared to come near it! In Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the Headless Horsemen (as well as a few lesser know specters) are known to disappear as they near the bridge that crosses the stream. And we’ve all heard the countless tales of souls trapped forever on ghost ships in the sea.

            It seems that this integral part of our superstition’s doctrine comes from the Gullah people of the American Deep South. Decedents of African slaves, the Gullah, have added greatly to the culture, and as it seems, superstitions here in America.

            They believed that there were malevolent sprits called “Haints” that were set on doing the living harm. They would scour the land looking for innocent victims of their evil doings and no one was safe from their torment.  However, and most fortunately, it was believed that these vindictive spirits couldn’t cross water.

            But it’s not like everyone could dig a moat around his or her house. So in order to stay safe they took to painting the entrance to the house blue in hopes of tricking the spirits into thinking they were crossing water. Doors, shutters, porches, and just about any opening into the house would get the blue treatment. It became so common that the tradition lives on today in the Deep South. There, if you look closely, you can still see the ceilings of porches painted blue. I’ve even heard tell that if you go to your local Sherwin Williams, you can find a color of paint named, “Haint Blue.”

            Now here’s where we hit a bit of a snag. Why they believed these spirits couldn’t cross water isn’t very clear. All we know about Haints is that they were afraid of it enough that a celling painted blue would keep them at bay. But if we look at the lore of witches and water, we might find our answer.

Witches

The idea that witches can’t cross water originated during the witch hysterias in Europe. But only because this was the first time that witches were seen as something bad or evil.

            Prior to the witch-hunts, what we view as a witch didn’t really exist. The same women accused of cavorting with the devil were at one time seen as valuable members of the community. They were intelligent, science minded women that knew about herbs and medicines. But, for reasons I won’t delve into here, they were eventually labeled as being evil and worshipers of the devil.

            As for water, it has been seen as something pure and purifying since the most ancient of times. Some peoples believed that rivers were gods or created by gods. Others believed that heaven lie just beyond the ocean’s horizon. Water has always been at the center of sacred lore.

So put the two beliefs together, (witches are bad and water is good) and you get the oil and water effect! One repels the other.  Water is holy and pure and can’t accept evil to dwell in it. It’s the same reason why they used to throw suspected witches into water. If she sinks she innocent, the water had no need to repel her she was a good person of God. But if she floats…cry witch!

So…

Well, none of this really explains why a ghost couldn’t just float through a wall or why a witch couldn’t just find a bridge or use her broomstick, but that’s the superstition. In either culture it was clear that water was something pure, and evil whether it be a witch or a ghost, didn’t stand a chance against it!

Contact me

If you have any further insight on this topic or any I post here on the blog, I’d love to hear about it. You can leave a comment on this page, contact me through my website—AislinnMarshall.com—or email me at aislinnmarshallwriter.com.

Beltane - May Day

Happy May Day

Well the sun has just about set on another April and with its setting, it ushers in another May Day! Though not as big as Christmas or the Fourth of July here in the US, it is a day that most of us have heard of and if nothing else images of maypole ribbon ceremonies and may-queens dance across our recollection if only for the briefest of moments.

For me, and I hope I’m not alone, the term May Day was something I’d always heard but thought that it was simply a colloquial term lovingly giving to the first day of May and nothing more. And any images I glimpsed of festivities were simply a celebration of the upcoming summer season, and in some small way I was right. But as my studies and research delved more into the realm of our ancient predecessors I found that it had a much deeper meaning. In fact, it referenced one of the most sacred and powerful times of the ancient year—Beltane.

Beltane

The ancient peoples of Ireland, Scotland, and The Isle of Man once celebrated a calendar of only two seasons, winter and summer. While the more well known holiday of Halloween - or Samhain as it was called in pagan times – was the beginning of the long dark winter, Beltane was the start of summer! It was a time of lighthearted celebration and ritual.

The long dark half of the year was over. The stores set aside from the previous years harvest had held out and the planting season was about to begin. The cattle had all survived too and soon there would be fresh milk and meat.

The warm waxing sun shown down on the earth and everything was being made new again. But the ancient peoples who’d survived yet another winter had no choice but to recognize that practically before it began, the warm sun would once again turn cold and life would ultimately depend on the harvest of the upcoming planting season. This was no time to mess around. Everything had to be done right, and that included a joyous, yet serious, ceremony of fire and light.

Bel was the god of the sun and he had to be appeased by those he looked down upon and so large bonfires would be lit in his honor. But these fires served more than one purpose.

A Bridge Between Time

Beltane was literally a night outside of time. A night that acted like a bridge between the seasons of winter and summer, much like Halloween. And also like Halloween, Beltane was a time where the barrier between our world and the next was very thin.

            While many of the spirits believed to dwell among the living on that day and night were seen as benevolent ancestors come back to look over their living relatives, many were thought to be malevolent, or even demons of a sort. Thus the bonfires were lit to ward off the evil spirit looking to do harm.

            Smoke from the fires also played a large role in the night’s festivities. Cattle that had been kept locked away in earthen stalls were let out to graze on Beltane, but not before being passed through the smoke of the fires to be purified and cleansed by its protective properties and insure that the cattle would be fertile in the coming breeding season.

            Also, as this was seen as a time of rejuvenation and new beginnings, it became a sensible time for marriage, or handfasting as it was called.  Couples would join together between the fires and participate in a marriage ceremony not much different than the ones we celebrate today. Only instead of exchanging rings, the couple’s hands would be gently tied together with twine to symbolize their union.

Celebration and Trepidation

Unlike its counterpart of Halloween, Beltane was mostly a time of happy celebration, focused on the bountiful season ahead rather than spent in trepidation over the uncertainty of the barren approaching winter. But life and death were very real for the ancient peoples of the Celtic world, and they knew that all it took was too much sun or too little rain to mean the end for not only themselves but for their community as a whole. Meaning that Beltane night had to be observed vigorously and ritualistically or the whole community wouldn’t make it through the next winter.

May Day Celebrated  

In modern times Beltane has been making a comeback. Many groups such as Neo-Pagans and Wiccans celebrate the first of May much as our ancestors did. And across the country small festivals have begun popping up here and there, featuring the ever popular maypole dance, food and music.

            In my home, we focus on the most basic element of May Day…Summer! It’s the kick off to long warm days, BBQ’s with family and friends, road trips and days at the pool. Although I do have my own little traditions; the morning is spent getting the flowerbeds ready to be planted again after winter and then in the afternoon I head to the nursery to pick out flowers and herbs. In the evening I pull out the fire pit and the whole family gathers around to roast hot dogs and marshmallows late into the evening!

Beltane/May Day Activities

Make a May Bush – Find an old bare branch left over from the winter and decorate it with ribbons to represent flowers in honor of the planting season.

Plant Something – The upcoming planting season was one of the main focuses of Beltane. So get outside and plant something! It doesn’t have to be much, just a small potted flower or a singular herb plant.

Share a meal – Have family and friends over for a BBQ or dinner on the patio. Just get outside and enjoy the warmer weather!

Bonfire – Have a bonfire just like the Celts did! It doesn’t have to be huge, it can just be in a fire pit. Invite friends over to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. As a little something extra, gather old twigs for each guest to throw in the fire as a ceremonious show of winter dying out and summer coming in.

All you guys out there – Beltane was considered the perfect time for making promises of marriage. So if you’ve been thinking of popping the question…

Volunteer or Donate – Beltane was the planting season, and our ancient ancestors knew that if they didn’t have a good planting season they wouldn’t have a good harvest. And that meant they wouldn’t make it through the winter. We have it pretty good these days. If our local harvest fails we can get fresh food from a multitude of other places. But some people still go hungry. Find a soup kitchen or shelter and volunteer. Or fill a box with some can goods and take it to the local food pantry.

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to my blog!

Well it’s finally here—my blog! And it’s long over due, I know. But after I published my book, “The Crossing,” I began to struggle with what I wanted to blog about. At first I thought as a writer it made sense to write about writing but what I really wanted to blog about was what inspires me as a writer, not just the mundane aspects of how to get from point “A” to point “B” when working on a project. 

            Now I’m sure that as the blog goes along I’ll be posting some how-to segments for my fellow authors out there, as it was other authors’ blogs that really helped me get things going, but for now I’m going to stick to themes of inspiration.

So what’s it all about?

I’ve been fascinated with ancient folklore and the supernatural for as long as I can remember. Stories of long abandoned practices, ghosts and witches, and haunted places have always set my imagination aflame and my fingers to the keyboard where I’d create tales of my own.

            So it’s these paranormal and folkloric myths and legends that I want to share with you; the things that really get my mind racing and my imagination ablaze!

            In my coming blogs, look for ghost stories, ancient pagan belief and old superstitions. I hope you enjoy, and maybe even become inspired yourself, as I share my research and exciting little bits of the mysterious with you!