# fairy witchcraft faustianfriday gothicspring witches fairies vampires fairytaletuesday folklorethursday halloween fiendsandghouls

HAWTHORN Sitting under a ‘hag thorn’ can lead to abduction by fairies. A single bush is often left to grow in the middle of a field rather than risk the wrath of the fae by cutting it down. The fruit or ‘haws’ are known as ‘pixy pears’ 🎨Rackham

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2021-11-04

We're very much looking forward to hearing from on dark folklore and botanical gothic this evening.

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2021-10-20

ROWAN TREE The Tree which above all others offers protection against enchantments and specially effective is a staff or cross made of Rowan. Images: Paul Wood Roffe, 1905; Arthur Rackham

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2021-05-03

Plant-women transformations of Daphne and Syrinx as they fled from their sexual aggressors highlights the benevolent capacity of botany, the interchangeable nature of plants and the female body and the theme of male entitlement

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2021-02-26

STITCHWORT Is known as 'Pixies' in Somerset ; those picking it are likely to be Pixie-led. Dartmoor Pixies often take the form of Hedgehogs (image B. Froud). This fey plant is known as 'Snapjack', 'Allbones' & 'Mother Shimbles' Snick Needles' (Wiltshire)

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2019-09-15

ROSEMARY Placed in coffins & graves, Rosemary is a 'SPIRIT-STOPPER'; grown near a doorway it purges the house of evil influence & keeps out. In Portugal it is dedicated to the and in Spain it is worn against the Evil Eye

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2019-09-15

NEWLYWEDS & GROOMS are at great risk of being attacked by (Romanian lore). They must sprinkle poppy seeds & leave a tangled ball of yarn on the threshold. Vampires will be compelled to count the seeds & untangle the thread before entering

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2019-09-11

AUTUMN FAIRIES 2
Cicely Mary Barker published the first of the Flower books in 1923, rapidly followed into print by 'A Flower Fairy Alphabet', 'Flower Fairies of the Wayside' and 'Flower Fairies of the Trees' Time for seasonal fey!

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2019-09-10

The mysterious, illustrated Voynich manuscript (ca.1401-1599) is written in a language or code that language experts & cryptographers have failed to decipher. The plants drawn in it are equally mysterious Digitised here: https://t.co/Ddwa0GC8RU

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2019-09-05

ACONITE Supposedly the main ingredient in witches' flying ointments, with which they smeared their bodies before taking to the air. Other ingredients included Parsley, Bat's Blood, Hemlock, Cowbane, Wild Parsnip, Soot and the Fat of a New-Born Infant Images Goya

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2019-08-26

ACONITE virulently poisonous in every part; the plant is named after Aconitus Hill where Hercules fought the many headed watch dog at the Gates of Hell, CEREBUS. Images Blake

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2019-08-25

PLANT NAMES FOR CURSING Bloody crane's-bill; Bastard toadflax; Devil's bit scabious; Fiddle dock; Nipplewort; Spotted me-dick; Stinking Iris; Hoary cress.
Images: Vintage witch & witch's tree invite for ooh not long now darklings!

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2019-08-19

FLOWERS PERSONIFIED 2. Victorians merged the laws of propriety with the language of flowers; nun-like Water Lily, or Nenuphar; sleep/death inducing precocious Poppy or Pavot, shrinking Violet or Violette from J.J Grandville's Les Fleurs Animées, 1847

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2019-08-17

FLOWERS PERSONIFIED. Invasive & unruly, the Hawthorn (Aubepine) & Gillyflower (Giroflee) are contained by plant men or gardeners, whilst the thistle (Chardon) makes an ass of her suitor with her spikes and prickles. From J.J Grandville's Les Fleurs Animées, 1847

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2019-08-14

LYCANTHROPIC BOTANY (2): Wolfsbane, or aconite, has historically been used as medicine. Ovid describes it as emerging from the dripping saliva of Cereberus. It has been depicted as both a cure and cause of werewolfism.
BotanicalGothic

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2019-08-14

VAMPIRE SEEDS. Poppy & millet seeds are sprinkled in COFFINS & around headstones to prevent returning. Vampires will be compelled to count & pick up every seed before leaving the grave; they are compulsive counters. Did Count Von Count mimic this?

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2019-08-04

Excited that I've made 5,000 Twitter followers! Thank you so much for your interest. I'll be tweeting about with
this month and with
It's' great to share my research with you all

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2019-08-02