# superstitiology seafaringsaturday celtic shakespearesunday fairies

Mother Ivey was a 16th C white witch from Padstow. One winter, a local pilchard merchant refused to give leftover fish to the poor and ploughed them into his field. In revenge, Mother Ivey cursed the field: “if ever its soil was broken, death would follow”. 1/2

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2023-03-12


In Japanese lore, Old Man of the Moon came to Earth as a beggar and asked the animals for food. All gave except for Rabbit, who told him to build a fire, and jumped in. Quickly the Old Man of the Moon pulled Rabbit from the fire and took him to live on the moon.

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2023-03-06

How the Jade Rabbit joined Chang'e on the Moon in Chinese lore varies by the telling. In some tales, he was hidden in the sleeve of her robe, in others he leapt to the moon. Yet in others he had always been there.

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2023-03-05


Folklore links the hare to the moon, death, rebirth & Easter. Eostre, Celtic goddess of spring, is said to be the namesake of the Christian holiday. For her, hares are sacred messengers, and at the full moon she assumes the shape of one.
🎨Helena Nelson Reed

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2023-03-05

The constellation Lepus was named for the Latin word for hare. It's located below the constellation Orion, which was named for the hunter in Greek mythology. Orion has been depicted pursuing Lepus with his hunting dogs, Canis Major & Canis Minor.

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2023-03-05

🌺🥚🌺Sussex folklore warns that the first bunch of primroses brought into the house in springtime must contain more than thirteen blooms, or your hens and geese will only lay as many eggs as there are flowers.

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2023-02-26

One Cornish myth tells of an old man who saved a mermaid stranded in a pool. In thanks, she gave him a beautiful shell comb from her hair, which had the power to heal the sick. If he wished to summon her again all he had to do was comb the waves...

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2023-02-19

It is said that while marching his vast army of troops through Asia, King Xerxes became completely besotted with a magnificent plane-tree. He commanded his retinue to adorn the tree with all their “golden necklets and bangles”, and posted a guard as its protector.

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2023-02-19

Sailors have a particular abhorrence of those who randomly whistle. Whistling, you see, calls up the wind - and potentially a storm. Do it only in a dead calm, and then at your peril. (by George Dmitriev)

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2023-02-19

Sir Gawain half-succeeded in his quest for the Grail. This had the effect of restoring the lands about the castle, which were desert and untilled, to blooming fertility. The Grail therefore, besides its other characters, had a talismanic power in
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2023-02-13

'The fairy creatures were the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared' William Blake describing a fairy funeral in his garden at Felpham.

authors

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2023-02-05

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”
Second witch, Macbeth, Act 4, Sc 1


Image: Daniel Gardner, 1775

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2023-01-29

In Norse myth, after the hero Sigurd slays the dragon Fafnir, he cooks the heart for his foster father, Regin. But he tastes Fafnir's blood & learns the language of birds, who warn of Regin's betrayal. He kills Regin & eats the heart, which grants him wisdom.

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2023-01-29

"Fayiz & the Peri Wife" is a Persian tale of a farmer who leaves his wife & sons to marry a lovely peri. One day the peri lets him visit his human family, & follows him while invisible. He spills the secret of his peri wife, & she banishes him from her realm.

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2023-01-29

FAIRIES ENCOUNTER WOODLAND CREATURES – A Thread are thought to cast an enchantment over woodland animals and birds; in the fantastical world of Jean-Baptiste Monge, the fae hitch rides on birds and are shown delighting in their mode of transport

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2023-01-22

The endangered Hazel Dormouse is native to the UK. It is nocturnal & hibernates in winter, gathering up its reserves of fat to keep warm. The Elizabethans trapped the hazel dormouse as they valued its fat, rubbing it on the soles of their feet to induce sleep.

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2023-01-22


Today the Chinese New Year begins, the year of the Rabbit, the 4th animal in the Chinese Zodiac cycle. The Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace & prosperity in Chinese culture. A harbinger of hope for 2023.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè! 新年快乐 Happy Chinese New Year!

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2023-01-22

Red-orange vermillion has a deadly past. It was extracted
from the highly toxic mineral cinnabar, which contains
both mercury and sulphur.
However, the Romans used it in cosmetics.
Cinnabar was also known as ‘dragon’s blood’.

Villa of the Mysteries

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2023-01-16

In Shropshire the colour green is a symbol of the other, the ethereal & mystical realm. Such a colour is associated with the fair folk including the fairy queen Godda who along with her husband Edric the Wild, rides across the Stiperstones as part of the wild hunt

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2023-01-16