Some physicians and surgeons, as well as gypsies and exorcists—both lay and clerical—offer to unbewitch clients. But cunning-folk provide the widest range of techniques to combat witchcraft, including preventative charms and the identification of the offending witch, as well as cures for their ‘maleficium’ (evil-doing).
For diagnosis, some wizards used the herb vervain, known since classical times as the ‘Enchanter’s Herb’ and reputedly used by the Druids. A decoction of vervain is used to wash the patient. If the run-off from this washing was filled with hairs or changed colour, witchcraft was clearly afoot!
Bubbles in urine were often taken as signs of bewitchment, and urine-crying can be used to determine the culprit. In the seventeenth century, for example, Joan Peterson, a cunning-woman from Wapping, used the following method to determine whether a client’s cow had been bewitched: she boiled some of the animal’s urine and scryed one of the bubbles produced in this way, seeing within it the face of the woman the cow-keeper already suspected.
As well as diagnosing bewitchment, many cunning-folk offer protection from witches’ spells and the influence of evil spirits. To do this they often made ‘witch bottles,’ which they buried outside a property, under the hearth, or plastered into the walls. The bottles were usually small—3 inches high and made from blue or green glass—but larger bottles were also used, known as ‘Greybeards’ or ‘Bellarmines,’ which were about 9 inches tall, and made from glazed stoneware decorated with fierce bearded faces designed to ward off evil. Inside the bottles, the hair and urine of the person who needed defending are mixed with nails, thorns and pieces of sharp glass. The idea is that the witch or spirit will be attracted to the hair and urine in their search for their victim, and would then be injured by the sharp objects. In addition, the bottle is symbolic of the witch’s bladder, and through sympathetic magic it is designed to inflict excruciating pain on the offending witch.
To treat the results of witchcraft, the most common cures are a combination of written charms and herbal medicine. Fumigants of bay, rue, sage and rosemary are sometimes used, and for internal consumption concoctions of marigold, rosemary, angelica, true-love and St John’s wort. In 1854 it was recorded that a Somerset wizard prescribed an unbewitching ointment of sage, wormwood, jack-in-the-hedge and lard, to be applied to the back of the ear.
...come to the Phillippine Center (556 Fifth Ave, near 46th St.) on Monday night from 6:30-8:30 to hear Luis H. Francia discuss his recent book A HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES: FROM INDIOS BRAVOS TO FILIPINOS.
The Coen brothers told Bridges they didn't want him to think about the Wayne movie, and instead draw inspiration from the Charles Portis novel.
Bridges particularly enjoyed bringing Portis’ words to life, as the author wrote wonderful dialogue brought to great life by the Coen brothers. “You really feel that you are back in the 1890s,” he says. “The book’s dialogue and story are a bit eccentric, and the Coen brothers keep that rhythm going and create the sense that you’re back in the era when the story took place. It’s a great place for Ethan and Joel to be, and when you read the book you can imagine the two of them directing this movie.”
Like many of Penny Vincenzi's novels, FORBIDDEN PLACES offers not only a healthy dose of escapism but also a fascinating glimpse into a particular period of history, in this case the Second World War. The Blitz, the women's branches of the armed services, the surprisingly complicated politics of housing young London evacuees, not to mention the more personal politics of trying to keep marriages alive in wartime --- Vincenzi touches on all these topics even as she writes a ripping good epic that manages to draw together violence, betrayal, love, danger, and lots of sex. As in her previous bestsellers, Vincenzi carries her audience along on a tidal wave of supercharged plot tempered by genuine emotion, a thrilling combination that picks readers up and won't put them down again until the thoroughly satisfactory conclusion.
FORBIDDEN PLACES, by Penny Vincenzi: The "doyenne of the modern blockbuster" (Glamour) is back with another historical romance--this time set in World War II-era England. Three women find their lives and relationships--with their husbands and each other--forever changed by war. (My grandmother, a huge Penny fan, thinks this is her best book since No Angel. I trust her expert opinion!).
THE GENIUS OF DESIGN, by Penny Sparke: The modern history of design told by renowned professor Penny Sparke. This comprehensive tome focuses on design as both a process and product of industry, with numerous illustrations. Even if you're not an industrial designer, this is a completely new way of looking at the world surrounding you and the designers who influence it.
MARITIME DOMINION: NAVAL CAMPAIGNS THAT SHAPED THE MODERN WORLD, by Peter Padfield: Perhaps the greatest naval historian of our day, Peter Padfield explores the difference between land power and sea power and how strong navies have shaped the histories of smaller merchant countries. This volume focuses on 1850 through the present, looking at how the U.S. stepped into the void of naval power in the 20th century. Fascinating and tightly focused military history.
WALLPAPER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE, by Charlotte Abrahams: 300 years of wall-covering history in one outstandingly gorgeous and richly textured book. As interior designers (both professional and amateur!) see its resurgent popularity, learn about what's happening in the design world now, the history of styles and trends, key designers and manufacturers of wallpaper, and how to use each type of wallpaper in a variety of ways to achieve different affects. (We think this might be the most beautiful book Overlook has ever produced. We love it!)
THE BOOK OF ENGLISH MAGIC, by Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate: Looking for a Hogwarts-style reading list in time for the Halloween season and the next Harry Potter movie? Look no further than modern druid Carr-Gomm's encylopedia to all things mystical on the British Isles. A comprehensive history and guide to the occult sciences in England, this is a tome that's both educational and entertaining and looks properly wizardly on one's shelf.
WE WERE THERE: AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, edited by Robert Fox: We love this testament to the personal impact the turning points of the 20th century had on the citizens who experienced them, told as a collection of first-person accounts by people including Orville Wright, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Neil Armstrong, and Ernest Shackleton. (We also think it would make an excellent Christmas gift for parents or modern history buffs!)
THE GILDED STAGE: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF OPERA, by Daniel Snowman: An absolute must-read for opera fans with beautiful illustrations, this global social history of the world's most romantic, flamboyant, glamorous and politically influential art-form and the passions it inspires is a wonderful survey of opera through the centuries.
While we're sad not to be at the Texas Book Festival, we love the coverage of it by the San Antonio Express-News. Here's their interview with Frank Deford, author of one of Overlook's biggest books this year, BLISS, REMEMBERED. Click here to go to the article on mysanantonio.com, and click here for previous coverage of Frank Deford on the blog. Emphasis ours!When Frank Deford sat down to write "Bliss, Remembered," the latest chapter in a glorious writing career, something unexpected happened.His main character, whose first-person account drives the novel, became a woman.
"All of a sudden, without intending to, I'm a woman," Deford, one of six authors appearing at the 2010 San Antonio Express-News Book & Author Luncheon on Oct. 18, said recently from his home in Westport, Conn. "The process led me into it. I became a woman who's a swimmer."
And what a woman.
Deford, the award-winning author of "Everybody's All-American" and a celebrated figure in print and broadcast media, creates as his heroine Sydney Stringfellow, an American athlete who falls in love with a dashing German while competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Describing that doomed love affair, against the budding wartime landscape of the time, Stringfellow relates the intriguing timeline of her life in a descriptive narrative to her son. The result is compelling and, from start to finish, filled with serpentine twists.
For Deford, 71, the novel was a necessary departure from his previous two works of fiction, which dealt with rape and dementia.
"After that, I wanted something a little lighter, OK?" he said, chuckling. "I really wanted to write a love story, that's the first thing, and it went from there."
Deford's background includes spectacular work with Sports Illustrated and regular appearances on NPR's "Morning Edition" and HBO's "RealSports With Bryant Gumbel."
But he hopes that readers will accept "Bliss, Remembered" as something other than a sports novel.
"They can certainly learn a lot about that time and the way people felt at that time," he said. "I think I got that pretty right. It's important for people to remember that that's how it happened. At the time, people weren't aware of the future, of what was at stake."
Personally, he added, "I love working in the past. And the Olympics are a wonderful device for a love story."
Last Friday we gathered at a favorite SoHo watering hole, Botanica, to say goodbye to Senior Editor Aaron Schlechter. Four years at The Overlook Press may seem like a lifetime, but it was all too short for those of who worked with Aaron. We'll miss him, and we wish him all the best. Excelsior!
