“Now upon this Allan-night
let swing open the dark gates of winter!
By call of crow and toad ‘neath the stone,
by smoke, by spirit, by blood and bone,
we conjure thee, we conjure thee, we conjure thee
Oh black one, come!
So shall it be”
Gemma Gary – Traditional Witchcraft – A Cornish Book of Ways
Well wishes to our visitors for their Allantide observances.
Troy Books, a British publisher of books relating to regional customs, Traditional Witchcraft, folklore and folk magic have released two new titles. Simon Reed’s ‘The Cornish Traditional Year’ presents the traditional customs, feasts, festivals and celebrations of the Cornish year, from the famous to the lesser known and sometimes bizarre. This will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of those interested in regional traditional customs and festivals.
‘Devon Witchcraft and Folk Ways’ – A fascinating collection of West Country ‘old ways’ was originally gathered by Sarah Hewett as part of her book ‘Nummits and Crummits’ first published in 1900 at a time when many of the old Devonshire folk beliefs and practices were retained by living memory or even continued.
Visit the links below for more information on these releases:
As the descent into the dark of the year picks up speed, this video about a very mysterious, potent yet wonderfully hidden and little known Cornish site by Simon Reed seems timely:
An extract about the Tolcarne from Gemma Gary’s forthcoming book ‘A Dictionary of Cornish Witchcraft’ due for publication soon:
“…it is Bucca Dhu, the black storm god of the old Cornish and synonymous with the devil, who is encountered most within Cornish folklore.
Another location in Newlyn associated with Bucca and the devil, is The Tolcarne, a natural high outcropping of rocks above St. Peter’s Church, speculated by others as having been a sacred location for the celebration of ancient rites in pre-Christian times ‘probably in honour of the sun and for divination’. Also known as ‘The Devil’s Rock’ the site is associated with curious traditions.
The legend of the devil at the Tolcarne tells of the day the devil stole nets from the Newlyn and Mousehole fishermen in order to do a bit of fishing himself. His theft was discovered, as he tried to slip away quietly, and was pursued by several members of the choir of Paul Church who chanted vigorously such things as the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The devil, in his hurry to escape, tripped and left in the rock his footprint and markings from the nets where they fell. In anger he raised his towering body, flapped his wings and fiercely uttered towards the choir; “BUCKAH! BUCKAH! BUCKAH!!!’ whilst emitting fire and sulpherous fumes from his mouth.
The tradition of the ‘Tolcarne Troll’ tells of an entity dwelling within the rock itself, dating back to ‘the time of the Phoenicians’ according to local lore. He is described as ‘pleasant faced’ and dressed in a tight-fitting hooded leather jerkin. It was said that he spent his time voyaging from Newlyn to the Phoenician city of Tyre on the tin-carrying galleys and that he assisted the building of Solomon’s temple. Betty Grancan, the nurse of a Mr. Henry Maddern, would tell him of how it was possible to call upon the Tolcarne Troll by reciting a secret Cornish charm whilst holding three dried leaves; one of oak, one of ash, and one of thorn. However, because she thought the young Mr. Maddern was too much of a sceptic she would not reveal the words of the charm which, like traditional Cornish charms for healing, had to be passed on contra-sexually. The purpose of calling upon the ‘troll’ was to gain insight into one’s past lives. The old Cornish had long been great believers in reincarnation, and to the one who successfully called up the Tolcarne Troll, he would reveal himself as the enquirer in any state they had existed in previous incarnations. All one had to do was name the age or period.
It is highly interesting that in Newlyn, the Tolcarne Troll was also known as ‘Odin the Wonderer’, for Odin shares his associations with the ‘Wild Hunt’ of stormy nights with Bucca Dhu and the devil of British folk tradition. Bucca Dhu is described as being accompanied upon his ride across the darkened landscape by his pack of hounds; fire-breathing and ‘saucer eyed’.”
Beneath the September full moon, Ros An Bucca met in a field close to Madron Holy Well to witness the ceremony of ‘Crying the Neck’ held by Madron Old Cornwall Society.
As ‘The Neck’ was carried to Madron Church, where it will stay for one year, we made our way to another location in Penwith to ‘Cry the Neck’ in celebration of our own harvest and in hope for those to come.
A new page in the archive section of the Cornish Witchcraft web-site has now been added. It will feature the festivities and observances of our ritual year and thus is a work in progress.
Visit ‘The Cornish Ritual Year’ in the Cornish Witchcraft Archive
The Cornish Witchcraft site and the Diary/Blog have never received an Internet award before, so it was a pleasant surprise to have received two recently!
From The Witch of Forest Grove we have received ‘The real Witch Achievement Award’ and from Neighbourhood Witch we have the ‘Domestic Witch Blog Award’.
Thank you for these! In recieving these awards I must nominate three others. And so my choices would have to be:
The Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, North Cornwall for their safeguarding of a tremendously important collection of Witchcraft artefacts and regalia, many relating directly to Cornish and West Country Witchcraft practices. Also the museum’s team are always very willing to give the time to help people who come to them with questions and enquiries and they must receive many of these!
Also my two friends Cassandra Latham and JackDaw must be included here. JackDaw’s website provides so much valuable information to those with an interest in Cornish Traditional Witchcraft and the Pellar current. Cassandra has served her community for many years as a traditional Wise-Woman and by now there must be a huge number of people who have been helped by her Craft, be it via ’spell casting’ or by plain old good advice.
A new video has been added to the archive section of the Cornish Witchcraft web-site. In this Open University ‘Religion Today’ episode, our friend Cassandra Latham talks about her work as a Traditional village Witch here in Cornwall. She demonstrates the making of a protective charm, finding the materials in the landscape, and a simple yet highly effective Cornish method for creating sacred space.
As we approach May’s Eve and the ‘opening of Summer’s Gates’ Penzance prepares for its traditional May Horns festival.
Sunday May 3rd
May Horns Picnic at 12pm
At Trereife house on the main a30
Woodlands, Beautiful house and lovely grounds
Bring your own food, open music session and May whistle making to follow.
All welcome
Main Event
May Horns Procession 8pm
Leaving from outside the Tolcarne Inn, Newlyn at 8pm proceeding through the back lanes of the town blowing horns, banging drums and calling in the spirit of summer as is the ancient tradition.
Led by a master of ceremonies the lady of the may and the green man. Please wear white or green, decorate yourselves with greenery or flowers and bring a horn – all welcome.
For More information on the May Horns tradition, visit the May Horns website: www.penzancemayhorns.co.uk
An excellent article by Simon Reed about Montol is featured in the first issue of the new Cornish magazine – Dreckly. This is currently presented as a free online magazine and the Montol article can be found on page 25.
“Having studied footage of Montol Eve 2008, and comparing it with previous years of teazing Penglaz, something rather wonderful naturally occurred for which I have to thank Penglaz followers. By a moving cordon of followers, space was created for the ‘Oss and Teazer to perform their magical dance. This is in stark contrast to former festivals where there had to be much pushing and shoving to create a performance space. Indeed, this was one of the reasons that Penglaz withdrew from the Men & Maids Dance on Mazey Day. The Serpent Dance was tying up the ‘Oss and preventing the Teazer from guiding Penglaz safely through the throng. Similar wrangles happen on Mazey Eve.
What I am suggesting is that a committed band of followers help create the space for the ‘Oss and Teazer by leading the procession through the streets in a horseshoe shape around Penglaz. The Serpent dancing can still happen around but not in the space defined by the followers. In order to be recognised as a Penglaz follower it would be appropriate to wear the Penglaz colours – black/white/red….”
Read the full appeal on the Penglaz Website:
http://www.penglaz.co.uk/news.html
Snow in Cornwall, particularly in Penwith – jutting out into the Atlantic, warmed by the gulf steam, is very rare indeed. Sea mists, potent storms of wind and rain, even the odd day of stillness and sunshine we are used to, sometimes all in the same day, but snow is a rare visitor. Yet in the first two days, following Candlemas as Bucca Gwidder’s presence begins to wax – the land is blanketed in brilliant white snow (along with much of the rest of the country).
Today a visit was made to Boscawen-Un stone Circle, and to the Drift stones (which seemed strangely warm to the touch), and some wonderful photographs were taken. More can be seen in the ancient sites section of the Cornish Witchcraft site’s archive.
We tried to visit these sites yesterday but the roads were a little too treacherous and so we didn’t get far out of the village before turning back. We went for a walk instead through some fields near Bone Valley above the village and took in the feelings of stillness, freshness and rising potential that seemed to dwell in this strange, new, eerie, familiar old landscape.
I would also like to mention the wonderful new website of a friend purveying a potent array of components for the workings of Wytchery:
Return to Cornish Witchcraft main site: http://www.cornishwitchcraft.co.uk/
