Category Archives: Witchcraft

Weight Watchers and Fairy Tales

Posted on by
Reply
The Viewmaster depiction of Hansel and Gretel, the witch, and her gingerbread house were among my favorite childhood illustrations of one of my favorite fairy tales.

The Viewmaster depiction of Hansel and Gretel, the witch, and her gingerbread house were among my favorite childhood illustrations of one of my favorite fairy tales.

I started the Weight Watchers program in late November because I refuse to buy new clothes — everything I own was getting too snug! I had always refused to dignify weight loss efforts in the past by going to Weight Watchers but this time I finally capitulated. It couldn’t hurt to give it a shot, right? So far, I have lost about 25% of my excess weight on the Weight Watchers program and aim to keep losing more until I reach my “goal” weight — and all my clothes fit properly again.

The “fat and jolly old elf” of A Visit From St. Nicholas is a kindly old gentleman who is well-disposed toward others. But he is the exception.Overweight people appear in fairy tales but the image of “overweight,” often tied to “jolly,” is not always so innocent. Overweight people, in the world that give rise to fairy tales, were often wealthy and their weight indicated just how wealthy — and lazy? they had too many servants as well as too much food — they were.

But sometimes being overweight as a code word for “greedy.” The giants in fairy tales (such Jack and the Beanstalk or Jack the Giant-killer, etc.) were also greedy and lazy as well as large and heavy.

Hansel and Gretel wanted to eat the witch’s house and were rewarded for their efforts by her attempts to eat them! Hansel hid his obesity from the witch by using an old, dry chicken(?) bone he found at the bottom of his cage rather than his own finger when she wanted to check his growing weight.

Hansel and Gretel were not the only ones to discover the dangers of eating the food of a witch. Folk tales from all over the world warn that eating the food of a witch, a demon, a djinn, a troll, an ogre, or the faeries can be a dangerous proposition. You might owe your youngest child in return, or be bound to your host for the rest of your life.

Hopefully, the Weight Watchers program will save me from all these possible fates. Fingers crossed — but all bets are off if I find a gingerbread house in Central Park!

Crowhaven Farm

Posted on by
1
The witches of Crowhaven Farm gather to confront Hope Lange, a modern woman who still owes them for a favor they performed for her in a previous life.

The witches of Crowhaven Farm gather to confront Hope Lange, a modern woman who still owes them for a favor they performed for her in a previous life.

This screen shot opened the MOVIE OF THE WEEK episode every Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on ABC -- back in the days when there were only 3 networks, plus PBS!

This screen shot opened the MOVIE OF THE WEEK episode every Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on ABC — back in the days when there were only 3 networks, plus PBS!

When I was in middle school, one of the scariest movies I have ever seen was broadcast as an ABC Tuesday night made-for-tv Movie of the Week. (Looking over the list of films shown during the run of the series, I still recognize many of them!) But the most riveting was Crowhaven Farm.

First broadcast in the autumn of 1970, Crowhaven Farm starred Hope Lange (known for the series The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) and Paul Burke (known for the television series Twelve O’clock High). As one horror review blog puts it:

“The writers of this show clearly understood horror, they understood that fear is in the mind and that nothing terrifies people more than their own imaginations. Contemporary television shows too much, it tells too much. Crowhaven Farm is spooky, scary, downright terrifying, simply because it makes you think.”

The movie tells the story of a modern woman, played by Hope Lange, who still owes the local witches for a favor they did her during a previous life during the 1600s. Too cowardly to give the witches what they asked for, in both her previous and current lives, she forces them to resort to other methods to be rewarded for the favors they did for her as well as exact revenge for how she cheated them in the 1600s. It is a remarkably subtle movie, with nuances and foreshadowings. It does not rely on slashing-and-gashing to frighten the viewer and many of its most frightening images, which appear here for the first time, later became clichés of the genre.

I heartily recommend that you spend an hour-and-fifteen-minutes to watch this classic movie, which is available here on YouTube. Send me your comments about it, especially if you have never seen it before or have not seen it since you were in high school yourself — I still get chills, just thinking about it!

“Love is a Many Splendored Thing!”

Posted on by
Reply

It was a Norse custom to give a newlywed couple enough mead (i.e. honey wine) to last for a month. Hence, our term "honeymoon" ti describe the first weeks of marriage.

It was a Norse custom to give a newlywed couple enough mead (i.e. honey wine) to last for a month. Hence, our term “honeymoon” ti describe the first weeks of marriage.


Collecting the honey to make mead or use to preserve/sweeten food.
Collecting the honey to make mead or use to preserve/sweeten food.

With the modern celebration of Valentine’s Day nearly upon us, can thoughts of love magic be far behind? A number of traditional ways to win another’s heart have been used over the years. One way a woman could win a man’s heart was by feeding him food into which she had mixed some of her own blood (menstrual blood was especially effective). Catching the reflection of mating birds in a mirror on Thursday was the first step in a more complicated love spell. After catching the reflection, a person would give the mirror to his or her chosen and once the receiver looked into the mirror, they would be irresistibly infatuated with the mirror-giver. Or a woman might resort to the much more simple use of caraway seeds, cloves, or coriander to win the affection of the man she had chosen. One English love potion included the kidney of a rabbit, the womb of a swallow, and the heart of a dove while an ancient Greek love potion used a stallion’s semen or a mare’s vaginal discharge.

Garlic, saffron, ginger, or even vanilla(!) were more likely to be used in erotic magic, which was less concerned with affection, and more likely to be aimed by men at women. Wax images could be pierced by pins to incite lust. Striking the intended with hazel or willow branches was also thought to inspire lust. Or you could obtain a few hairs from your intended’s head, tie them in a knot with twine, and then keep the amulet on your thigh or around your genitals to draw your intended’s attentions.

Of course, there were ways to deflect this sort of magic as well. Lily or lettuce could break love spells or decrease lust and thwart unwanted attentions. Just be sure not to confuse which herbs you feed to which guest at your table!