Wicked witches of the South West?

Explore the folkloric heritage of Britain they don't teach you in school. 

..Also a damn good day out.

 My thoughts on Magic; Witchcraft is something that can't easily be shaken off. Ronald Hutton (see below), A professor of History at University of Bristol and appointed Commissioner of British Heritage  has written dozens of books on the subject and his appearances of BBC documentaries always raises view counts (though I have a suspicion this may be partly due to his Dickensian dress sense... )

Aside from reintroducing the cravatte into respectable society, Ronald Hutton has a special place in my heart as he has provided social space for wichcraft, paganism and magic within scholarly discourse, whereas it had previously been the occupation of toothless crones and quacks, it is now a legitimate area of scholarly enquiry.

Much about Paganism endures and has become part of Christian imagery; If you have ever hung up a holly wreath, given or eaten Easter eggs or taken a day off on May 1st then you have practiced Paganism on some level. While Wicca as seen on Buffy and Charmed has occupied dissillusioned teens, Neo- paganism has found its way into respectable society;

The Prince of Wales still holds a position on the British Bardic society while the Druid orders are some of the few people that are allowed inside Stonhenge. Hutton esitmates  40,000 (0.1%) to 250,000 (0.4%) people make up the Neo-pagan movement in the United Kingdom, which includes a variety of paths. A reconstructed pagan past is more evident in the USSR where the spiritual vacuum is filled with all manner of practices.

Clearly many of us have a compulsion towards such practices. Margaret Murray a now largely discredited Anthropologist and president of The Folklore Society between 1953 and 1955 , described a common pagan myth network of sacrificial kings of which Jesus was one. Murray propagated  her Witch cult hypothesis describing an enduring prehistoric cult of a horned god which in forms endured to this day. Taking into account the writing of Hutton and Murray The modern interest in Paganism could be attributed to a variety of sources; reconstructing of an imagined golden age (as favoured by Hitler), Re- gaining a connection to the land (Hutton) or simply a space in which to exercise a compulsion towards ritual which modern society simply does not have; Interestingly 'Fetishism' according to Anna Freud, describes a very common human compulsion towards attributing specific powers to certain objects. As main- stream society shuns this practice in its origional magical context it is unsurprising that Fetishism has taken on a sexual role in order to comfort and empower its practicioners.

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The Harbour Boscastle, Cornwall PL35 0HD 

+44 (0)1840 250 111

So that was a long rant (Sorry) on why I think Magic endures. What I  wanted to write is... if you are in the UK and are curious to explore this further bop along down * to THE MUSEUM OF WITCHCRAFT in Boscastle, Cornwall I went a while ago and loved it. One of the areas most popular museums it contains a wide variety of artefacts (such as the one right) many of which were found locally, as well as a library containing over 3,000 books. The gift shop sells a  variety of souvenirs and also deliver within the UK. So if you are want to explore some of the less known areas of Britain's heritage or simply want a good day out go on and give it a go!

* (indeed assuming you have no broomstick, although the gift shop does sell them ) 

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