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2023
The dawn of a new era . . .
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Three Real Shakespearian Witches
When someone mentions Shakespeare’s witches we naturally assume they are referring to the three weird sisters from Macbeth. Yet around the same time as the Lancashire Witch Trials were taking place in Northern England, another sinister plot was unraveling closer to King James’ court. Ironically, it involved a nefarious character who moved in the shadows of Shakespeare’s own circle – a cunning man by the name of Simon Forman (1552-1611). Two years after his death, Forman was implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury through his relationship with two former female patrons, Countess Frances Howard Carr (1590-1632) and Mistress Anne Turner (1576-1615).
But Simon Forman was neither the fool nor evil magician that Stuart history suggests. Much more likely he was a self-trained quack whose chief sins concerned the numerous illicit sexual conquests he recorded in his diaries. Forman was a charismatic, intelligent seducer who dabbled in apothecary, astrology, and the occult arts. His clients included Emilia Lanier (possibly Shakespeare’s mysterious Dark Lady) and Mrs. Mountjoy, the bard’s landlady. Interestingly, Macbeth is one of the plays Forman mentions seeing at the Globe Theatre (April 20, 1610). Yet as Barbara Howard Traister’s biography comments, Forman appeared much more interested in the note-taking doctor than in the supernatural characters, which is intriguing for a man who had already been imprisoned on charges of witchcraft.
Although Forman died in 1611, his reputation and influence lived on. He was accused of having supplied the poison that killed Overbury in a diabolical plot hatched by the two femme-fatales – Carr and Turner – and of providing the countess with the magical means to be rid her former husband (Robert Devereux) in order to win over the king’s favorite courtier, Robert Carr.
At the center of the controversy stood Countess Frances, a virgin child-bride wedded to the Earl of Essex who had since fallen in love with the dashing Earl of Somerset. Frances wanted her political marriage annulled so she could marry her beloved, but Carr’s mentor – Sir Thomas Overbury – disapproved of this match and stood in their way. A plot was hatched to discredit Overbury, and he suddenly found himself confined to the Tower of London on trumped-up charges.
Some years earlier the countess had apparently contacted Simon Forman for a love potion. It was stated at her trial that the cunning man also supplied her with a range of poisons, that were later mixed with tarts and jellies before being fed to the imprisoned Overbury by his jailor. He died in September, 1613. A few weeks later the Devereux marriage was officially annulled leaving Frances free to wed Carr. But over the following months rumors of the murder plot began circulating at court, finally forcing the king to pay notice and address them. Under the weight of the overwhelming evidence presented the countess confessed to poisoning her enemy, was found guilty at trial, but eventually received a pardon. She was released from the Tower in 1622, having served due sentence for her crime. Her accomplice, however, was not so fortunate.
Anne Turner was rumored by some to be the illegitimate child of the conjurer, Simon Forman. She was widowed from Dr. George Turner in 1610 and then became the mistress of Sir Arthur Mainwaring. Somehow or other she befriended the countess, perhaps in her capacity as a sought-after dressmaker. Anne held the patent for the saffron starch that dyed fashionable ruffs and cuffs yellow, a more flattering color for many complexions than the usual ivory white lawn. She was also an independent business woman who ran houses of ill-repute in Hammersmith and Paternoster Row. But because she was not of noble birth, the accomplice became the scapegoat for Overbury’s death. Anne Turner, convicted of being a whore, a bawd, a sorcerer, a witch, a papist, a felon, and a murderer, was hanged at Tyburn in 1615. She was sent to execution in her own fashionable yellow ruff, by a man wearing the same saffron ruff and cuffs – denouncing the color of her dye and putting an end to that particular fashion.
Of course these were not the three evil ones Shakespeare envisaged when writing Macbeth. Yet he does add a final statement to the scandal in later versions of All’s Well That Ends Well by having Parolles mocked for wearing a big ruff starched with “villainous saffron.”
Jacobean witches came in many shapes and guises!
(Pictures: Public Domain)
Sources:
The Casebook Project: “Sinon Forman (1552-1611)” (Cambridge: U of Cambridge, 2013)
Downing, Sarah Jane. Fashion in the Time of William Shakespeare (Oxford: Shire, 2014)
Traister, Barbara Howard. The Notorious Astrological Physician of London (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2001)
Wikipedia: “Simon Forman,” “Anne Turner(Murderer)” and “Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset.”
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Shakespeare’s Recipe For Disaster
In Act IV – Scene I of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s three “weird sisters” prepare a “hell-broth” to produce a series of apparitions for Macbeth that set in motion a chain of deadly events. Written only six years before the Lancashire Witch Trials, this script provides a good insight into some of the magical beliefs of that time.
“Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights hast thirty one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.”
The Jacobean audience believed that witches brewed such diabolical charms, and seeing this dramatic scene live on stage they would likely have been terrified, fascinated, mesmerized, and revolted by the disgusting ingredients – exactly as Shakespeare intended. But let us take a closer look at his recipe.
The bard was not only a master playwright, he was also a shrewd psychologist who understood the minds of the masses who flocked to the London theatres. Therefore, it is not surprising that one of the first things thrown in the pot is the fenny snake, a nod to the snake who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Catholic Church claimed that all women were necessarily evil because of Eve’s transgression, and that explains why the majority of accused witches were female. The next three ingredients – eye of newt, toe of frog, and wool of bat – are added to the first item swelter’d toad venom – highlighting four nocturnal creatures that are often associated with witches and their familiar spirits. The liver of blaspheming Jew endorses the common anti-Semitic beliefs of that era, alongside the racial prejudices held against the Turk and Tartar. And Shakespeare further played into the beliefs of his class-conscious, biased audience by having a good man like Macbeth brought down by his scheming wife and a band of wicked hags.
A country audience, however, may have interpreted Macbeth’s cauldron quite differently from the royal courtiers and city dwellers. Many of these exotic ingredients are actually poetic variants on the common names for herbs. Fenny snake = chickweed; Eye of newt=mustard seed; Toe of frog = frog’s foot or bulbous buttercup; Wool of bat = bog moss; Tongue of dog = hound’s tongue; Adder’s tongue = adder’s tongue fern; Lizard’s leg = ivy; Howlet’s wing = henbane; Scale of dragon = dragonwort; Tooth of Wolf = wolf’s bane; Hemlock root = hemlock; Liver of Jew = Jew’s myrtle or box holly; Gall of goat = St. John’s Wort or honeysuckle; Slips of Yew = yew tree bark; Nose of Turk = Turk’s cap; Tartar’s lips = ginseng or tartar root; Tiger’s chaudron = lady’s mantle; and the Finger of birth-strangled babe= foxglove, also known as “bloody fingers”. The remaining items – toad venom, powdered mummy, shark, and baboon’s blood – were all widely thought to have medicinal properties.
Why did Shakespeare choose these fierce-sounding ingredients? Joyce Froome (Wicked Enchantments) argues that, for the wise women of Pendle, these herbs would be part of their everyday folk magic. Catt Foy (Witches & Pagans) suggests that maybe “Shakespeare knew a little more about herbcraft than he was letting on,” and Nigel Beale (Literary Tourists Blog) believes he chose names “designed to gross out the masses, to stop them from practicing magic.”
But William Shakespeare was also a poet. He knew the magic of words and rhythmical power of his hypnotic witch chant. It did not matter that these characters may have been throwing armfuls of common hedgerow roots and leaves into a boiling cook pot. Much more important were the awful-sounding names that conjured up terrifying images in the minds of his audience – and at this he was an unsurpassed wizard!
(Pictures: Public Domain)
Sources:
Beale, Nigel. “Macbeth and what was in the Witches Brew” (Literary Tourist) http://literarytourist.com/2009/10/macbeth-and-what-was-in-the-witches-brew/ accessed 2/2/2015
Foy, Catt. “A Witch’s Brew: Recipe by Shakespeare” in Witches & Pagans #29 (Oregon: BBI Media, Spring, 2014) pages 24-26.
Froome, Joyce. Wicked Enchantments: A History of the Pendle Witches and their Magic (Lancaster: Carnegie Books, 2010)
Stuart, Malcolm. The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism (London: Macdonald & Co., 1987)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Tradition
“In forgetting the past
we lose the powers from whence we came.”
(Traditional Wisdom)
(Photo: Kit Perriman)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Old Demdike’s Charme
A Charme to Cure the Bewitched.
(Painting: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
“Upon Good-Friday, I will fast while I may
Untill I heare them knell
Our Lords owne Bell,
Lord in his messe
With his twelve Apostles good,
What hath he in his hand
Ligh in leath wand:
What hath he in his other hand?
Heavens doore key,
Open, open Heaven doore keyes,
Steck, steck hell doore.
Let Crizum child
Goe to it Mother mild,
What is yonder that casts a light so farrandly,
Mine owne deare Sonne that’s naild to the Tree.
He is naild sore by the heart and hand,
And holy barne Panne,
Well is that man
That Fryday spell can,
His childe to learne;
A Crosse of Blew, and another of Red,
As good Lord was to the Roode.
Gabriel laid him downe to sleepe
Upon the ground of holy weepe:
Good Lord came walking by,
Slep’st thou, wak’st thou Gabriel,
No Lord I am sted with sticke abd stake,
That I can neither sleepe nor wake:
Rise up Gabriel and goe with me,
The stick nor the stake shall never deere thee.
Sweete Jesus our Lord, Amen.”
(Taken from Jennet Device’s testimony against her brother, James – August 1612)
(Painting: Public Domain)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Dark Magic
From my voluntarie Confession and Examination (April 2, 1612)
” . . . the speediest way to take a mans life away by Witchcraft, is to make a Picture of Clay, like unto the shape of the person whom they meane to kill,& dry it thorowly: and when they would have them to be ill in any one place more then the other; then take a Thorne or Pinne, and pricke it in that part of the Picture you would so have to be ill: and when you would have any part of the Body to consume away, then take that part of the Picture, and burne it. And when you would have the whole body to consume away, then take the remnant of the sayd Picture, and burne it: and so thereupon by that meanes, the body shall die.”
(Thomas Potts. The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, 1613)
(Pictures: Public Domain)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Tarot Cards
Tarot Cards
- Tarot Cards originated in the Middle Ages, probably in 15th Century Northern Italy.
- They were first designed as a pastime to play games with.
- The first cards were rare and hand-painted. They became widespread with the invention of the printing press.
- By the late 18th century, Tarot Cards used for telling fortunes and special custom decks appeared.
- Etteilla made the first pack of occult cards around 1789 based on Ancient Egyptian themes.
- The Tarot pack is divided into two parts – the Minor Arcana (suited cards), and the Major Arcana (unsuited cards).
- The four suits are usually SWORDS, CUPS, COINS (pentacles / discs) and BATONS (wands / rods / staves).
- The unsuited cards are: The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Lovers, The Hierophant (Pope), Strength, The Hermit, The Chariot, Justice, The Hanged Man, The Wheel of Fortune, Death, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Sun, The Moon, Judgement, The Fool, The World, and Temperance (Angel).
- There is a “spread” for every occasion. Different types of “reading” serve different purposes: A three-card reading can represent past / present/ future; a single card signifies the day ahead or can answer a specific question; a seven-card spread may represent the coming week.
- Many people use Tarot Cards to guide their personal daily decisions.
- Do they predict the future? Or do they merely help focus our thoughts to deal with everyday events? What do you think?
Sources:
“A Beginners Guide to Tarot Cards.” The Cut at http://www.thecut.com/article/tarot.cards
“A Q&A With Colleen McCann.” Goop at http://www.goop.com/wellness/spirituality/how-to-use-tarot-cards-to-guide-daily-decision-making
“Tarot.” Wikipedia at http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
(Photo: Public Domain)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
The Last Wolf In England
“. . . now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings; and wither’d murder,
Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost.”
—Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1
According to Roman and Saxon chronicles, the British Isles were once overrun with wolves. But a combination of deforestation and hunting virtually exterminated all traces of the Eurasian grey canis lupus by the end of the medieval period. At a time when wool production was the major industry, anything that threatened sheep farming was a serious public threat. So between 1066 and 1154, Norman rulers awarded land to official wolf-hunters, on the condition that they controlled the predators in their area. And as part of a plea-bargain to avoid execution, certain criminals could elect to provide an annual number of wolf tongues to escape the gallows.
By Henry Vi’s reign, wolves were found only in Scotland, Wales, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire. But they lived on in the public imagination, and were often one of the familiars associated with witchcraft.
(Photo: Public Domain)
Legend claims that the last English wolf was killed at Humphrey Head, north of Morcambe Bay, at a place that used to be called Lancashire Over Sands. At some time during the Fourteenth Century a royal bounty was offered for each wolf pelt captured, and during one of the local hunts Sir Edgar Harrington became separated from his companions and rode for the top of Humphrey Head to look for them. On his way through the forest he heard the terrified shrieks of a young girl cowering behind a rock, hiding from an enormous growling wolf. Taking his spear Harrington battled the wolf, rescued the maiden, and took her back to safety. Apparently, when her gratitude turned into love, the couple were married and they lived happily thereafter with a healthy batch of children. They put an image of a wolf’s head on their family crest and today lie buried together in Cartmel Priory, with a stone wolf carved at their feet.
How refreshing to have a romantic tale about wolves at a time when they were generally associated with witchcraft and evil!
Sources:
Ashworth, Elizabeth. Tales of Old Lancashire (Berkshire: Countryside, 2007)
Wikipedia: “Wolves in Great Britain” available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_in_Great_Britain (2/24/2015)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
A Less-Known Lancashire Witch: Meg Shelton
Aside from the infamous Pendle Witches who were put on trial in 1612 and 1634, there were other unfortunate victims maligned and persecuted throughout Lancashire. Many of their names were never recorded. Some were accused and later released – some went to court and were found Not Guilty – and some were undoubtedly dealt with by the locals in their own ways.
In these unenlightened times it was common for women denounced as witches, shrews, and gossips to be locked inside a scold’s bridle – a metal brank that caged the head and prevented eating or speech.
(Photo: Kit Perriman)
Public floggings and placement in the stocks were also regular market-day events. And tales of dunking suspected witches in near-by ponds and rivers to see if they were guilty (and floated) or innocent (and drowned) are part of local folklore. So it is quite surprising that one other name still fills the local schoolchildren with terror – Meg Shelton, The Fylde Hag.
Born Margery Hilton, Meg (or Mag) Shelton is said to have lived at various times in Cuckoo Hall near Wesham, Singleton, Catforth, and Woodplumpton. She was a poor beggar woman who survived mainly on a haggis made from boiled grouts and herbs. Meg is infamous for her shape-shifting skills, and apparently could turn into a variety of animals and all sorts of inanimate objects at will. One tale records her creeping into a barnyard at night to steal corn. When the farmer ran out after her there was no one in sight, though he did notice an extra sack of corn. So taking his pitchfork he prodded each bag, finally uncovering Meg’s disguise when she squealed and reappeared nursing a bleeding arm! Another of her injuries was explained by an accident trying to outrun a black dog when she was disguised as a hare. The dog nipped the hare’s hind leg – and Meg was said to walk with a limp thereafter. Meg was often seen riding her broomstick at night. She could turn milk sour, lame cattle, and curse hogs.
But the reason folk remember the Fylde Hag today is because of the strange events surrounding her death. She was killed in 1705, crushed between a barrel and the wall of her cottage. She was buried on May 2nd, at night, by torchlight, in the grounds of St. Anne’s Church in Woodplumpton. The following morning her hand had clawed its way to the surface and had to be reburied. The same thing happened again and everyone was naturally terrified. A priest came and performed an exorcism. Then someone suggested they rebury her upside down so she would dig her way to Hell, instead of to the surface. So they planted her head-first in a narrow trough, and then put a huge granite boulder on top to keep her in place.
In hindsight it seems odd that a known witch would be put to rest on consecrated ground. Usually they were buried at a crossroad with no signposts so they could not find their way home. Or their bodies were burned. And it is entirely possible that the granite stone in St. Anne’s graveyard is a harmless relic carried down by the ice age. But superstition is often stronger than common sense – and we all like to believe in a little magic.
Over the centuries, the legend of Meg Shelton has survived and flourished. I grew up being told that if you walked three times round her grave chanting, I don’t believe in witches, then that hand would rise up from the grave and grab your ankle. But I cannot say if that actually happens or not as I never dared try!
Meg Shelton’s Grave (Photo: Brian Young)
Source:
Ashworth, Elizabeth. Tales of Old Lancashire (Berkshire: Countryside,2007)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Exodus 22:18
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
Eight words
. . . and thousands of ruined lives!
(Drawing: Public Domain)
Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved
Kit Perriman 