Whether devotional in nature or based in the practical needs of folk-magic, rituals associated with springs, wells, and other natural waters have endured for millennia. Wisht Waters examines the lore of sacred wells as well and their associated cultic activities, from ancient history up to the present day. Examining wells in Britain and Ireland, the text focuses especially on the lore in the West Country and Cornwall.
The operations of magic and witchcraft deal with the hidden worlds of spirit and the powers innate within the natural world, within plant, stone and magical loci. The 'Old One', who in folk tradition is often named 'The Devil' embodies both the 'rend in the veil' and the spanning bridge between the worlds of the material and spiritual, the revealed and the hidden. It is through union with this entity that witches and folk magicians gained acce...
Traditional Witchcraft - A Cornish Book of Ways "First published in 2008, this is a revised and expanded second edition of the author's well received book on modern Cornish traditional witchcraft. As Gemma Gary says in her new preface, there is no 'set in stone' organised witch tradition in Cornwall and folk magic practices have always been unique to their individual practitioners.However in this excellent book she has managed to expertly draw...
The Black Toad explores potent examples of the folk-ceremonial magical practices and witchcraft of the south-west of England, dealing especially with Devon and the author's homeland of Cornwall. Within the West Country, the popular belief in witchcraft and its attendant charms, magical practices and traditions continued to be observed and survived long after such ways had faded in most other parts of the British Isles. Described within The Bla...
