March 5, 2024 • 31 mins
On this episode, we're back in Essex at England's oldest town, Colchester, and once again Tom has been imprisoned at Colchester Castle with two familiars, Ben and Bianca. Last time, Ben and Bianca educated us on the castle's history, architecture, why there's a tree growing on the roof, and Colchester's Roman history. But let's be honest... We want to talk about witches!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On this episode, we're back in Essex at England's oldest town, Colchester,
and once again I've been imprisoned at Colchester Castle with
my two familiars, Ben and Bianca.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Ben Pates. I am one of the curators for
Colchester Museums and so i work here in Colchester Castle.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I'm Bianca Joe Dryber and I am a practicing pagan,
self proclaimed eclectic witch. I am part of the Colchester
pagan community and I currently work in rocks and Rubies
and have my own small business, Central Sorcery.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Last time, Ben and Bianca educated us on the castle's history, architecture,
why there's a tree growing on the roof, and Colchester's
Roman history. But let's be honest. We know why you're
really here, so let's not beat around the bush. We
want to talk about witches. Let's stop messing around. Let's
get straight into the witch stuff. How many witches are
around Colchester at the moment. You must have a bit
(00:51):
of a but we have a poll at a coven.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
No. Covens are usually smaller, more personal groups, but we
have little keykis. They can be clique. You have to
be careful form sometimes that's just people in general. We
have like a Colchester Moot and then there's once a
month where we just meet at a pub have a
chat about a topic, and that can have ten people
in it, but there's far more than ten. I mean
rocks and rubies. We get loads of people come in.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And rocks and rubies. By the way, Listeners is the
shop that Bianca works in and sells a lot more
than just rock and rubies there, it's a whole store
full of Yeah, oil, witchcraft needs, pagan needs a.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Lot of crystals, a lot of crystals of crystals.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, we will talk about crystal. Let's talk about crystals.
We can talk about crystals. Yeah, what is it the crystals?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So crystals there's like so, I mean I could talk
for hours about this or try and compress it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well, you've got about twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So it's they come from the earth, so it kind
of reaches in the same way that people would use
herbs and things. I mean, you don't really ingest these,
and they have magical properties based on different layers. We've
got sympathetic magic. So that's for example, you could use
amber in a healing ritual because it's fossilized tree resin,
which is created to heal and protect wounds from a tree.
You've got color magic, but you could go into color psychology.
(02:07):
You've got where if you believe in animism, where things
have spirit, crystals have spirit, and you can work with
that spirit to do whatever you need to do. And
there's a psychology to it as well. Like if I wear,
say a rose quartz bracelet, that's good for unconditional love,
and I'm seeing that every day. It's a little reminder
I need to love myself. I love myself. So you know,
there's so many different layers to it, and they're pretty
and they are you know, you can get little bits
(02:30):
for fifty pace so successible, or you can be like
me in they end up getting like a two hundred
pounds ball.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So yeah, and they all give you about ten seconds
of time inside the crystal. At the end, gather a
gold and silver. Have you got into any sort of
the crystal side already? Witchcrafts?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Are you're witches?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
I do have? This is actually from my mum, So
myself and my mum would describe ourselves as spiritual. We
don't really have a religion or anything. But when I
moved out and moved into my flat that I still
live in for the first time, she gave me three
crystals to put in different parts of the house to
kind of keep the keep the flat safe and protect.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I don't know if it's what they call warding stones. Yeah. Yeah,
you can get different crystals for protection. You can create grids.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that people are
trying protect themselves from witches. Were doing magic to protect you, right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
My sister did witchcraft quite a lot when we were kids,
and we lived in Germany at the time where all
this bloody witch stuff came from, and we had a
seller my dad's wine cellar. And one time my sister
was doing like Hebrew chalk summoning circles on the floor
and she kept on trying to remember going downstairs. Once
my muma just grabbed my sister and she was.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No, Sophie, no raising demons in the house. If you
want to raise demons, you're go in the garden.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Good to put some rules down.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think you do need boundaries, Yeah, I think so.
I do also have a black cat. You do a
black She's my little familiar.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah. How much are crystals and crystal balls use the
idea of predicting the future or looking into various things, so.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's known as scrying. You can do it in a
clear crystal ball. It doesn't actually have to be crystal.
You can technically do it in glass. They're usually the
best ones to do because you can see everything's distorted
in it, and then you can kind of see images
in it. You can also use obsidian, which is black
or black mirrors is another one. You can do it
on a pool of water, and it's just kind of
what images come to you and then you try and
(04:36):
interpret it. Very advanced kind of level of divination.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean, this is a nerdly thing for you
to do it. I play a card game called Magic
the Gathering. Yeah yeah, if you both plays it, yeah yeah,
And scrying is one of the actions you can do,
and it means you can look at the next card
in your library to see pickups. You're looking into the future.
So makes that makes sense? Yeah, And I never knew
that now that that actually make makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, I only know it from Charmed.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Can imagine.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Let's not get you two started podcast episode.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a whole series.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We are talking a lot about the innocent women, but
there must have been some that were actually being bad
witches and actually worshiping the devil and trying to inflict hmmm.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
They're quite possibly could have been, but I think from
the majority, as I said before, that the idea of
a witch is used by kind of people accusing people
of doing harm and bad things. But actually a lot
of the magical practitioners at the time were doing good.
They were healers, they were midwives, they were trying to
help people. You get some high profile cases like John D.
(05:50):
So John D was an advisor, I guess is the
broad term for Elizabeth. He was an astrologer, an alchemist.
He was interested in the dark arts and was given
power and money to go and study and learn about
the dark arts and use magic and advise the queen
(06:11):
at the time. And it's interesting that this was when
the first laws came in saying don't do magic, you'll
get executed, when actually he was allowed to do it.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And did he happen to be a white man with
good money, no disability.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
This was exactly why he was allowed until until we
get James the first of England, Sick of Scotland, who
just was so afraid of magic, so afraid of witchcraft
that he kicked John D out of court and was like,
none of that business here, thank.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You very much, and made him so worried about magic
just so.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
He did a lot of reading. So when he went
his wife was from the Netherlands, and supposedly he went
over to the Netherlands to meet her. As you did,
then you get engaged and get married, you never met
the person before, and you'd suddenly at least kings anyway,
you'd kind of suddenly be married to this person. But
he went over to the Netherlands beforehand to kind of
meet her and have look around. And apparently he did
some reading will over there in the Netherlands. There's a
(07:08):
lot of religious things going on there as well, but
still accusations of witchcraft were quite right, and he read
some books, didn't like what he read, got a bit worried,
and then as he was coming back to England a
storm raged and it was one of the other famous
big trials from English and Scottish history as a result
(07:28):
of James the first the Berwick Trials and trials up
near Edinburgh. I think it was over one hundred people
were accused of witchcraft, of practicing and of causing this
storm specifically. And it's one of the few cases where
the monarch has actually got involved in a case because
he believed that there were witches who were trying to
stop his marriage and trying to bring down the ship
(07:50):
as he was coming back from the Netherlands, and he
ended up accusing not him personally, but they kind of
rounded up people that they thought might have been involved
in witchcraft, and again lots and lots of executions as
a result of that, and they would have been hung, yes,
so they were always hung. So in England and in America,
the law said that it was witchcraft with the intention
(08:11):
of harm or killing. So the idea is that it's
a kind of a felony. It's like murder basically, just
it just happens to be witchcraft, but it's murder. That's
what you've done, So you get hung for that. You
only get burnt if you're a heretic, So if it's
religious descent, if you're a Catholic when you should be
a Protestant or west versa, that's when you get burnt. Yeah,
(08:31):
I think, I think so that's kind of where it
is and that's where in Germany witchcraft was seen as heresy,
and that's why most people in Germany were burnt.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's interesting because it kind of sounds like human sacrifice.
It kind of sounds like magic.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, I mean the burning.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Does sound like.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I mean, it's all very hypocritical, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Very much? So?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
As we said previously, a lot of women accused of
witchcraft would then start pointing the finger at other women
as a way of dodging a hanging. However, one woman, Elizabeth,
found a different scapegoat, or should I say, scape cat,
one with an interesting name.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
If you are a witch and you know or a
magical practitioner, and you know there are laws against it,
you'd have thought you'd give your your familiar a better
name than Satan, because and it happened quite a few times.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
There were quite a.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Few familiar calling him Jesus, my cat, the Holy Spirit,
and definitely love God.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But I think this is another point is that these
are from the records, and a lot of time people
made up made up those things. Whether she actually called
her cat, whether she called her cat Satan, probably not.
It's probably her neighbors said, I've heard her call it
Satan before now it's Simon.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's called Simon. Was called Simon well on weekends.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Red clothes.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
But yeah, so Elizabeth for answers, she had a cat
Satans supposedly, and again many many cases that come out
are of people looking looking for love and looking for
a partner, and unfortunately the devil tends to be that
partner that then manifests.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Is that what you do? Because my sister when she
was doing Wickan and you know, it was in sort
of the playground and you'd be running around looking for
sort of you know, dandelions and bits of straw and
cuscus or whatever you stick in the part and then
you sort of stir it three times anti clockwise and
say Angus Ashworth's name, and then suddenly he'll sit next
to you in biology and it works. I love potions
(10:40):
still a big thing. Yeah, because also you know, that
is just not far off just spiking someone, is it.
It's not a million miles away from.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's interesting because there is ethics and morals to spells.
So yeah, my stance on it is if you're just
trying to attract love, not a problem. If you've got
a guy in mind, then you're kind of manipulating energies
into it. And I've seen it go wrong. I've seen
where someone's done it and this guy's fallen madly in
love with them and wants to really be with them,
and she's like, actually, I don't really like this, and
he's like, no, I love you, and she's like, WHOA, Okay,
(11:11):
this is what I signed up for. So try this
for a hypnoals.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
But well, this is the thing. And so so people
would be kind of looking for love and then, like
you say, kind of regret it. They're like, oh, actually
this is the devil. Maybe I shouldn't be marrying the devil.
That's not good idea, But this is the devil. You
can't say no, And so then they then they regret it.
And then sometimes the case is that a child becomes involved,
if they become pregnant, and this is this is another thing.
(11:38):
A lot of a lot of people accused were unmarried
young women with children because that was kind of seen
as not acceptable within society. Perhaps they might then go
seek help from other known magical practitioners to get rid
of that child. And then you become implicated just from
having done that, because that's the other thing is within
(11:58):
the laws. Even so siating with witches was seen as illegal.
That's why a lot of the men who were accused
and punished under these laws were because they consulted witches.
It's not because they were doing it themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Guilty by association, Like that time I was with my
mates and they were streaking through a Tesco express. I
just happened to be with them and also naked. It's
not fair, is it. Let's just finish the Elizabeth of
France's story. Elizabeth has asked her cat Satan to help
her out in tricking this getting a rich husband, and
(12:33):
then she gets one sort.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Of but then, as I say it, kind of, it
all backfires a little bit and then she uses the
familiar Satan to kill the.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Why does she why does she want to kill him?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So what happened was is she she used this magic
to try and attract love to her, but actually the
noble gentleman who had materialized decided that he didn't want
to marry her, and they just slept together, and she
had been become pregnant, and so she'd sought out these
kind of this this way of getting rid of the child.
But also she needed to get rid of or wanted
to get rid of the man supposedly, and so used
(13:10):
her familiar again to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I mean, do you think actually what this was is
just she was an excuse to have some premarital sex.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
People were having premorital sex. We know that, and then
perhaps if they regretted it, like because they were rejected
or because of whatever it is, and they might have
done something. Maybe she did murder him, not through magic,
maybe she did it by other means. But it's then
the accusations that come around witchcraft are the community that's that.
They're the people that are like, well, she was actually
(13:40):
funny last week, or my cattle died last year. I
wonder if it was her, And that's where all of
these accusations parle on. They're completely unrelated.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
But it's windy last Tuesday, I reckon, she well, that's
another murderer.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
One of the thing is that the peaks of all
of these kind of trials and accusations all come at
times of unread anyway. So the civil war people are
already stressed anxious, and then suddenly you say, well there
might be a witch next door. That's just it. It
tips you over the edge and you're not going to
be thinking rationally in that situation.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's interesting how it's never an act of God. Right,
God wouldn't do this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
God's great.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Yeah, God can't control the way that we controlled, like
all of it. But okay, so that must have been
Margaret next door witch.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So it's talk about some of the other witches that
were here. That's about Ursula, not the sea witch, no
very much a land witch. Yes, so not a squid,
just fun Disney fact is not not to issue a squid.
She hasn't got eight tentacles. Okay, not a historian, but
I do know some Disney facts. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So Ursula Kemp she lived in Saint Osith, which isn't
too far away from where we are now. And she
was a healer, so she was someone who was practicing magic.
She had a familiar cat as well, wh she got
by trading it for a cake cake. Yeah, traded a
cake for for this cat, and I mean that would
(15:10):
be great. I want both. But so she she got
this cat. But she was a healer, so she'd gone
to another local healer with shoulder problem I think, and
rather than just heal her, she taught her how to
do her practice, and so Ershley became a heeler herself
and she would offer services around the town and eventually
she had one particular client who came to her I
(15:31):
think perhaps a couple of times and then could no
longer afford her services. Basically said, look, I still I
still need the shoulder problems whatever, still need your help.
And Sosha said, well, you could pay me in cheese
if you like. Yeah, Stilton, if you don't have your shilling,
(15:51):
you can pay me in cheese. So cheese was made
at home by quite a lot of people back then,
so it wasn't It was not as weird as it sounds,
sort of like lots of people made their own cheese.
So she was like, well, you could pay me in
your cheese, but she couldn't do that either. And so
then what happened is this this client seemed to it
seems she was quite upset by the fact that Ursha
wouldn't help her. And also this client's child died, and
(16:15):
again it's one of those things where a culmination of
like series of unfortunate events almost So another neighbor in
the town was like, well, actually, I've had some issues.
I wonder if it's ers shea is causing these problems
and trying to trying to get us to kind of
go to her for help. And so eventually Shula was
officially accused, brought to Colchester Castle and kept here waiting sentencing,
(16:38):
as well as a few other women. There was I
think three women in total. We were brought here, accused
and eventually sentenced and Ershula was hung, found guilty obviously
and hung as a result of that. Now there's an
interesting kind of modern development to this story in that
during constructional kind of building of a house in Saint
Ozif in the early nineteen hundreds, they found a grave.
(17:01):
They found a couple of graves actually with skeletons. One
in particular skeleton they found and at the time they
believed that that was Erschler, that she had been hung
and taken back to an Ozif and buried at that location.
The skeleton ended up going to the Museum of Witchcraft,
which currently is in Cornwall.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Museum of Witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, interesting, the Museum of Witchcraft down in boss Castle
in Cornwall, well worth a visit. But they had the
skeleton and it was the original kind of owner of
the collection, that kind of had had this, and then
it wasn't until I think it's the late two thousands
or early early twenty tens. A local filmmaker, John Worland,
was doing a bit of research into the witch trials
(17:42):
and found out about the story and located where the
skeleton was and led a big campaign and repatriated the
skeleton to Saint Ozith and brought it all the way
back and buried it again, because I think there was
also there was a lot of stories at the time,
like as soon as the skeleton left, there was like, oh,
there's been lots of weird goings on in sinn Osis,
the witch is unhappy, we need to rebury her. But
(18:03):
then so she was repatriated. But during that kind of process,
an ostrologist so some of these studies bones kind of
looked at the skeleton and it seems to be a
skeleton of a man and possibly from a slightly different
time period, so it's probably not Ursler, but it's an
interesting story. But what happened was, because of all of
(18:24):
this going on, the story of Ursula suddenly became really
popular and big, and everyone knew about her and knew
about what happened to her back in the fifteen hundreds,
and so thanks to John, John's created a film about
this as well now and because of his work and
kind of raising awareness about the story of Ursula, her
memory can live on. And that's the problem. So many
(18:47):
of these cases, we talk about seven hundred and fifty
people accused, they're all individuals, they're all people. They all
have names, they all have stories, and we don't know
a lot of a lot of those. We have the name,
but we don't know what happened her to them. But
someone Likesler, we do have quite a good idea of
what actually happened when when she was alive, and unfortunately
(19:07):
she was one of the few that was found guilty
and hung.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So it would, if you would, she be well known
around Colchester.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think so, especially amongst pagan practitioners, and.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
We know her a bit more than the other names.
And I think it's also a name that sticks appcause
no one's really called Ursula anymore. So you remember, you've
already got the Disney reference. It's already it's quite a
witchy namer, Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
It feels like that Ursula is a good witchy name.
You've also got Glinda Gwendolyn Brum, Hilda Sabrina the Teenage
and that ginger one from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you know,
the one that went to band camp and shoved the
flute in her cauldron. Anyway, those are all American witches.
We're talking about English witches. And when it comes to
(19:52):
English witches, the only way is Essex. Why do you
think it's Essex that had the most amount of witches accused?
What is it about.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
S So it has Essex and Colchester specifically, really but
the county has a long history of descent of kind
of going against the mainstream, and still does to this
day some degree. But you have kind of series of rebellions.
You have the case of the Colchester Martyrs, which was
during the reign of Queen Mary So in the fifteen hundreds.
(20:21):
Alongside all of the witchcraft accusations and things like that,
there was also a lot of religious change. So the
country was turning from Catholic to Protestant, back to Catholicism
again back to Protestantism. You could imagine living through that time,
because sometimes it was within a generation living through that time.
People well, what do I do? Do I change my
faith or do I stick with my kind of beliefs
(20:43):
but risk dying as a result of that. And the
people of Colchester specifically and Essex were very much of
the mindset of no, we stick to our beliefs and
our faith. And that's why during the reign of Queen
Mary there was a huge number of people executed for
their religious beliefs, ten percent of which came from Colchester.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
There's your answer. The women of Essex stuck to their
beliefs and didn't back down. I want to know how
many of these sort of traditional witch activities are now
actually part of our everyday culture that we wouldn't even realize.
For example, you were telling me that the blowing out
of a birthday care candle is actually a sort of witchcraft.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Because your birthday cakes are usually circular. Obviously we get
a bit more fancier now and there could be any shape,
so that represents the wheel of the year, another loop,
browns circle. Any kind of lighting a candle is usually magic.
Churches do it, you know, where you light a candle
for your loved ones, or for angels or for God.
It's all the same as candle magic. Other things like
getting married, so your band would be again that loop
(21:49):
eternity diamonds would be used. It's the hardest mineral known
to man. So that represents the strength and resilience your relationship,
your marriage would have. The clear diamond would represent purity,
going to the issues with purity. But if we see
it in a nice way of like the purity of
your love and things like that, and the clear seeing
and sight, So that is it. You know, even things
(22:11):
when you're technically having a tea like a herbal tea
like lavender to go to sleep, that's technically magic, you know,
even though it's a science. Science and magic can actually
go hand in hand with things.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Sure, yeah, absolutely, so.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Many things, so many things.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That and more of a witch and my thoughts, yeah,
might colin the caterpillar that I was having. It was
actually my familiar. You're the person who I think would
connect the most to the women being in this room.
(22:47):
How does it feel just sort of being in this
environment and feeling what it might must have been like
for them? What would you have said to them? What
do you think the emotions they have been going through
would be like?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So I don't get anything kind of spiritual witchy, tingling
of ghosts and ghouls or anything like that. But I'm
mainly filled with gratitude that I'm not in that timeline
and I'm in this one, and that I'm not being
locked in that cell currently with you guys ready to
take me out and have me walking up and down
for hours upon hours.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How you've made us lovely, gentleman, just a pair of
cheesemakers who live locally, but which.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You're witch finds well, if you're in here, if you're
in here and you're not in the cell with me,
then very happy, unless you have brought me cheese, and
which case welcome, And its just it's quite overwhelming. I
guess to think that even if I hadn't been practicing,
that they easily would have come after me, or my friends,
(23:49):
or my mum or any future children I may or
may not have. Humbling, I think would be the key word.
Although there's still issues with people being stereotypical and practicing religions,
would very much deem me still as a witch and
as like a Jezebel or a temptress or something like that.
I mean, tempertus doesn't sound too bad.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
If you were to talk to someone who wanted to
get into paganism or witchcraft. What would you say would
be the first sort of steps, What would you advise
them to do?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Look at cleansing, grounding, and protection. Very base summary as
grounding is keeping yourself in the present moment. Mindfulness is
what we know as is a more present term. Cleansing
is just ridding yourself and there's so many ways to
do this, ridding yourself of negative or stagnant energy, and
then protection you can it can be simple as imagining
like a bubble around you so that you don't have
to cleanse so much in the first place. I mean,
(24:41):
there is there is things like sex magic and all
that as well, which I won't go into here. Sex magic, okay,
So sex magic you can do with yourself or you
can do with the partner, which makes it easily accessible
for most Sometimes for some people who just be unlearning
perhaps some shame based things they've learned about this actual selves.
(25:01):
Other times it's a very potent, powerful manifestation. So if
you think of the genitals and what they produce is
literally life. So the energy of an orgasm, for example,
has the potential to really kind of if you're how
can I explain this? So for example, you could create
(25:30):
a situation where you're trying to manifest your dream job.
So you would set up like your candle to get
yourself in the mood, be sensual with yourself, and then
start to visualize it and experience trying to imagine it
three D. So what would it sound like? What would
it feel like in your body? And then you can
do spell work and it's meant to be fun and
giggly because it creates a positive energy and that's what
(25:52):
you want. And there's not much more positive energy that
you can get than self pleasure or pleasure with another person.
So yeah, for sure you have a favorite spell. I mean,
the sex magic ones are pretty fun to the bath ones.
I think one of my one of my favorites telling
of a story is I did a love spell when
I was a teenager and I was an emo kid.
(26:13):
Let me tell you, I still kind of am the
way I dress sometimes no stranger, and it's quite funny
when I'm dressed all flowery, when I'm in my flowering
mood and I've got slipknock banging out of the car.
But yeah, so I was like, I want this guy
and I want him to have jet black emo hair,
and I want him to have ice cold blue eyes,
(26:35):
and I want to be aloof but really his emotional
sensitive and I want him to have a sarcastic sense
of humor. Made this big list, did this spell? I
found someone we're still best friends to this day, but
he is gay. I never asked for this person to
be straight in this long list of single but he works.
But in the universe's way, is what I actually needed
(26:56):
at that moment in times of friend and not some
emo boyfriend. That's my favorite story to tell. But I've
done one before where I had a really dodgy X
and he kept turning up at my house. So I
did a spell when he turned up my house that night,
and I thought, oh goodness, this was meant to work.
And then the police got involved and said never to
contact me again. And I've had from since, so yeah,
it did work.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Sounds like this witchy stuff really works. I could get
myself a gay best friend or a straining order. The
possibilities are endless. Best to start off small, though. Bianca
has her tarot cards with her, so it's time to double.
I think it'd be a shame not to finish this
podcast without getting a taro reading seen as you do
(27:37):
have your tarot cards here, and I am desperate to
find out what life has install for me and what
I need to do. Can he helps something out? So
would you mind really my own?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Yeah, so I'll keep it nice and simple and you
can ask a follow up question if you want. I
was just going to shuffle and ask for a card
to give you general advice unless you've got a specific
question that maybe we could do. Normally, I would kind
of do a little bit of meditation for this, get
my mind in the zone. But we're gonna bring it
today now.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I think I would actually just like to know what
is the best advice I can be given up because
I think therefore it's going to give me sort of
the bit the area that I should concentrate on and
actually had quite to know.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So I'm just shuffling the cards now and then I'm
waiting for something to kind of just jump out to me,
or if you feel the need to tell me to stop,
I want that one. You let me know.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I've put my hands down on the table and can.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Put your hands anywhere nearly anywhere.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
The cards are saying, don't be creepy.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
So I'm shuffling the cards now, and I'm waiting for
one to jump out of me.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Oh god, if one stands up, does that mean?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
So here you have got the eight of Swords, and
I'll let you have a little look at that. So
it's saying that you might be feeling like you're stuck
and that you're kind of just riding with things that
you have no control. But in actuality, you have the
potential to take a blindfold off untie yourself and get out.
And then you can see those kind of swords stabbed
in around her. So she's feeling trapped, but that's not
(29:03):
really the case. It's quite easy to get out of
that situation.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, and I can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah, okay, I mean the cards are a bit you know,
this is very simplified, and I'm happy to pull you
another card if you want for some further advice the
rabbit hole. So I'm going to ask the cards. So
what is a step that Tom could you want.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
To come out?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Okay? Tom could take So, I don't know if you
can see that, does it look similar?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, it's it's the blind woman again.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, So and then we have oh gosh, okay, so
if anyone here does read tarot. I'll just let you
know that we pull the eight swords to begin with,
and then the two of Swords as a follow up,
and then the four of Cups. The four Cups again,
is some brilliant offers and opportunities are being handed to you.
But he's focusing on what's spilt and what's all gone wrong.
So the cards are just reaffirming to me twice over.
(29:51):
Take the initial advice, start looking at the positive, take
blindfold off, just go for it.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
What a lovely positive note to and the episode on.
I wasn't expecting that I should quit while I'm ahead.
Thank you so much for coming on the pod. It's
been a wonderful, magical day. So much cheers, guys, thank you,
thank you. I think the ale is being very nice
to me when she was saying how at the eight
(30:19):
of Swords, is telling me I should have just jo
come on, It'll be all right, It's gonna be fine. Actually,
I've reading the book now and it says when this
card is turned up in the reading, it speaks of
restriction of feeling trapped in a sad moment. However, if
the individual would stop overacting and feeling sorry for themselves
and just pull off that emotional blinder. They would see
a way out. Things aren't as bad as they appear.
(30:40):
Happiness is possible, the sun is breaking through and new
opportunities can emerge. A lovely bit of backhanded inspiration from
your friend the blind Woman. On that note, it's time
for me just stop feeling sorry for myself and end
the podcast. Thank you for listening to this episode. Until
next time. Remember if you're a witch, no raising demons
(31:01):
in the house, don't call your cats satan, and mind
your manners. Thanks for listening to Bad Manners. If you
like the pod, please share it with your friends, Rate
it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Leave a review and make sure
you spill the tea on any of your favorite bad
Manners that we could feature in future episodes. This podcast
(31:23):
was produced by Atamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It was hosted
by me Tom Horton. It was produced by Willem Lensky,
Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway. It was executive produced by
Face Steur and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is Caitlin
paramore and our production coordinator is Bella Selini.
On this episode, we're back in Essex at England's oldest town, Colchester,
and once again I've been imprisoned at Colchester Castle with
my two familiars, Ben and Bianca.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Ben Pates. I am one of the curators for
Colchester Museums and so i work here in Colchester Castle.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I'm Bianca Joe Dryber and I am a practicing pagan,
self proclaimed eclectic witch. I am part of the Colchester
pagan community and I currently work in rocks and Rubies
and have my own small business, Central Sorcery.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Last time, Ben and Bianca educated us on the castle's history, architecture,
why there's a tree growing on the roof, and Colchester's
Roman history. But let's be honest. We know why you're
really here, so let's not beat around the bush. We
want to talk about witches. Let's stop messing around. Let's
get straight into the witch stuff. How many witches are
around Colchester at the moment. You must have a bit
(00:51):
of a but we have a poll at a coven.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
No. Covens are usually smaller, more personal groups, but we
have little keykis. They can be clique. You have to
be careful form sometimes that's just people in general. We
have like a Colchester Moot and then there's once a
month where we just meet at a pub have a
chat about a topic, and that can have ten people
in it, but there's far more than ten. I mean
rocks and rubies. We get loads of people come in.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And rocks and rubies. By the way, Listeners is the
shop that Bianca works in and sells a lot more
than just rock and rubies there, it's a whole store
full of Yeah, oil, witchcraft needs, pagan needs a.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Lot of crystals, a lot of crystals of crystals.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, we will talk about crystal. Let's talk about crystals.
We can talk about crystals. Yeah, what is it the crystals?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So crystals there's like so, I mean I could talk
for hours about this or try and compress it.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well, you've got about twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So it's they come from the earth, so it kind
of reaches in the same way that people would use
herbs and things. I mean, you don't really ingest these,
and they have magical properties based on different layers. We've
got sympathetic magic. So that's for example, you could use
amber in a healing ritual because it's fossilized tree resin,
which is created to heal and protect wounds from a tree.
You've got color magic, but you could go into color psychology.
(02:07):
You've got where if you believe in animism, where things
have spirit, crystals have spirit, and you can work with
that spirit to do whatever you need to do. And
there's a psychology to it as well. Like if I wear,
say a rose quartz bracelet, that's good for unconditional love,
and I'm seeing that every day. It's a little reminder
I need to love myself. I love myself. So you know,
there's so many different layers to it, and they're pretty
and they are you know, you can get little bits
(02:30):
for fifty pace so successible, or you can be like
me in they end up getting like a two hundred
pounds ball.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So yeah, and they all give you about ten seconds
of time inside the crystal. At the end, gather a
gold and silver. Have you got into any sort of
the crystal side already? Witchcrafts?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Are you're witches?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
I do have? This is actually from my mum, So
myself and my mum would describe ourselves as spiritual. We
don't really have a religion or anything. But when I
moved out and moved into my flat that I still
live in for the first time, she gave me three
crystals to put in different parts of the house to
kind of keep the keep the flat safe and protect.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I don't know if it's what they call warding stones. Yeah. Yeah,
you can get different crystals for protection. You can create grids.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that people are
trying protect themselves from witches. Were doing magic to protect you, right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
My sister did witchcraft quite a lot when we were kids,
and we lived in Germany at the time where all
this bloody witch stuff came from, and we had a
seller my dad's wine cellar. And one time my sister
was doing like Hebrew chalk summoning circles on the floor
and she kept on trying to remember going downstairs. Once
my muma just grabbed my sister and she was.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
No, Sophie, no raising demons in the house. If you
want to raise demons, you're go in the garden.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Good to put some rules down.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think you do need boundaries, Yeah, I think so.
I do also have a black cat. You do a
black She's my little familiar.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah. How much are crystals and crystal balls use the
idea of predicting the future or looking into various things, so.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's known as scrying. You can do it in a
clear crystal ball. It doesn't actually have to be crystal.
You can technically do it in glass. They're usually the
best ones to do because you can see everything's distorted
in it, and then you can kind of see images
in it. You can also use obsidian, which is black
or black mirrors is another one. You can do it
on a pool of water, and it's just kind of
what images come to you and then you try and
(04:36):
interpret it. Very advanced kind of level of divination.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean, this is a nerdly thing for you
to do it. I play a card game called Magic
the Gathering. Yeah yeah, if you both plays it, yeah yeah,
And scrying is one of the actions you can do,
and it means you can look at the next card
in your library to see pickups. You're looking into the future.
So makes that makes sense? Yeah, And I never knew
that now that that actually make makes sense.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, I only know it from Charmed.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Can imagine.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Let's not get you two started podcast episode.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a whole series.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We are talking a lot about the innocent women, but
there must have been some that were actually being bad
witches and actually worshiping the devil and trying to inflict hmmm.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
They're quite possibly could have been, but I think from
the majority, as I said before, that the idea of
a witch is used by kind of people accusing people
of doing harm and bad things. But actually a lot
of the magical practitioners at the time were doing good.
They were healers, they were midwives, they were trying to
help people. You get some high profile cases like John D.
(05:50):
So John D was an advisor, I guess is the
broad term for Elizabeth. He was an astrologer, an alchemist.
He was interested in the dark arts and was given
power and money to go and study and learn about
the dark arts and use magic and advise the queen
(06:11):
at the time. And it's interesting that this was when
the first laws came in saying don't do magic, you'll
get executed, when actually he was allowed to do it.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And did he happen to be a white man with
good money, no disability.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
This was exactly why he was allowed until until we
get James the first of England, Sick of Scotland, who
just was so afraid of magic, so afraid of witchcraft
that he kicked John D out of court and was like,
none of that business here, thank.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You very much, and made him so worried about magic
just so.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
He did a lot of reading. So when he went
his wife was from the Netherlands, and supposedly he went
over to the Netherlands to meet her. As you did,
then you get engaged and get married, you never met
the person before, and you'd suddenly at least kings anyway,
you'd kind of suddenly be married to this person. But
he went over to the Netherlands beforehand to kind of
meet her and have look around. And apparently he did
some reading will over there in the Netherlands. There's a
(07:08):
lot of religious things going on there as well, but
still accusations of witchcraft were quite right, and he read
some books, didn't like what he read, got a bit worried,
and then as he was coming back to England a
storm raged and it was one of the other famous
big trials from English and Scottish history as a result
(07:28):
of James the first the Berwick Trials and trials up
near Edinburgh. I think it was over one hundred people
were accused of witchcraft, of practicing and of causing this
storm specifically. And it's one of the few cases where
the monarch has actually got involved in a case because
he believed that there were witches who were trying to
stop his marriage and trying to bring down the ship
(07:50):
as he was coming back from the Netherlands, and he
ended up accusing not him personally, but they kind of
rounded up people that they thought might have been involved
in witchcraft, and again lots and lots of executions as
a result of that, and they would have been hung, yes,
so they were always hung. So in England and in America,
the law said that it was witchcraft with the intention
(08:11):
of harm or killing. So the idea is that it's
a kind of a felony. It's like murder basically, just
it just happens to be witchcraft, but it's murder. That's
what you've done, So you get hung for that. You
only get burnt if you're a heretic, So if it's
religious descent, if you're a Catholic when you should be
a Protestant or west versa, that's when you get burnt. Yeah,
(08:31):
I think, I think so that's kind of where it
is and that's where in Germany witchcraft was seen as heresy,
and that's why most people in Germany were burnt.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's interesting because it kind of sounds like human sacrifice.
It kind of sounds like magic.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, I mean the burning.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Does sound like.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I mean, it's all very hypocritical, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Very much? So?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
As we said previously, a lot of women accused of
witchcraft would then start pointing the finger at other women
as a way of dodging a hanging. However, one woman, Elizabeth,
found a different scapegoat, or should I say, scape cat,
one with an interesting name.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
If you are a witch and you know or a
magical practitioner, and you know there are laws against it,
you'd have thought you'd give your your familiar a better
name than Satan, because and it happened quite a few times.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
There were quite a.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Few familiar calling him Jesus, my cat, the Holy Spirit,
and definitely love God.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But I think this is another point is that these
are from the records, and a lot of time people
made up made up those things. Whether she actually called
her cat, whether she called her cat Satan, probably not.
It's probably her neighbors said, I've heard her call it
Satan before now it's Simon.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's called Simon. Was called Simon well on weekends.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Red clothes.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
But yeah, so Elizabeth for answers, she had a cat
Satans supposedly, and again many many cases that come out
are of people looking looking for love and looking for
a partner, and unfortunately the devil tends to be that
partner that then manifests.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Is that what you do? Because my sister when she
was doing Wickan and you know, it was in sort
of the playground and you'd be running around looking for
sort of you know, dandelions and bits of straw and
cuscus or whatever you stick in the part and then
you sort of stir it three times anti clockwise and
say Angus Ashworth's name, and then suddenly he'll sit next
to you in biology and it works. I love potions
(10:40):
still a big thing. Yeah, because also you know, that
is just not far off just spiking someone, is it.
It's not a million miles away from.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's interesting because there is ethics and morals to spells.
So yeah, my stance on it is if you're just
trying to attract love, not a problem. If you've got
a guy in mind, then you're kind of manipulating energies
into it. And I've seen it go wrong. I've seen
where someone's done it and this guy's fallen madly in
love with them and wants to really be with them,
and she's like, actually, I don't really like this, and
he's like, no, I love you, and she's like, WHOA, Okay,
(11:11):
this is what I signed up for. So try this
for a hypnoals.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
But well, this is the thing. And so so people
would be kind of looking for love and then, like
you say, kind of regret it. They're like, oh, actually
this is the devil. Maybe I shouldn't be marrying the devil.
That's not good idea, But this is the devil. You
can't say no, And so then they then they regret it.
And then sometimes the case is that a child becomes involved,
if they become pregnant, and this is this is another thing.
(11:38):
A lot of a lot of people accused were unmarried
young women with children because that was kind of seen
as not acceptable within society. Perhaps they might then go
seek help from other known magical practitioners to get rid
of that child. And then you become implicated just from
having done that, because that's the other thing is within
(11:58):
the laws. Even so siating with witches was seen as illegal.
That's why a lot of the men who were accused
and punished under these laws were because they consulted witches.
It's not because they were doing it themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Guilty by association, Like that time I was with my
mates and they were streaking through a Tesco express. I
just happened to be with them and also naked. It's
not fair, is it. Let's just finish the Elizabeth of
France's story. Elizabeth has asked her cat Satan to help
her out in tricking this getting a rich husband, and
(12:33):
then she gets one sort.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Of but then, as I say it, kind of, it
all backfires a little bit and then she uses the
familiar Satan to kill the.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Why does she why does she want to kill him?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So what happened was is she she used this magic
to try and attract love to her, but actually the
noble gentleman who had materialized decided that he didn't want
to marry her, and they just slept together, and she
had been become pregnant, and so she'd sought out these
kind of this this way of getting rid of the child.
But also she needed to get rid of or wanted
to get rid of the man supposedly, and so used
(13:10):
her familiar again to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I mean, do you think actually what this was is
just she was an excuse to have some premarital sex.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
People were having premorital sex. We know that, and then
perhaps if they regretted it, like because they were rejected
or because of whatever it is, and they might have
done something. Maybe she did murder him, not through magic,
maybe she did it by other means. But it's then
the accusations that come around witchcraft are the community that's that.
They're the people that are like, well, she was actually
(13:40):
funny last week, or my cattle died last year. I
wonder if it was her, And that's where all of
these accusations parle on. They're completely unrelated.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
But it's windy last Tuesday, I reckon, she well, that's
another murderer.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
One of the thing is that the peaks of all
of these kind of trials and accusations all come at
times of unread anyway. So the civil war people are
already stressed anxious, and then suddenly you say, well there
might be a witch next door. That's just it. It
tips you over the edge and you're not going to
be thinking rationally in that situation.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
It's interesting how it's never an act of God. Right,
God wouldn't do this.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
God's great.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Yeah, God can't control the way that we controlled, like
all of it. But okay, so that must have been
Margaret next door witch.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So it's talk about some of the other witches that
were here. That's about Ursula, not the sea witch, no
very much a land witch. Yes, so not a squid,
just fun Disney fact is not not to issue a squid.
She hasn't got eight tentacles. Okay, not a historian, but
I do know some Disney facts. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So Ursula Kemp she lived in Saint Osith, which isn't
too far away from where we are now. And she
was a healer, so she was someone who was practicing magic.
She had a familiar cat as well, wh she got
by trading it for a cake cake. Yeah, traded a
cake for for this cat, and I mean that would
(15:10):
be great. I want both. But so she she got
this cat. But she was a healer, so she'd gone
to another local healer with shoulder problem I think, and
rather than just heal her, she taught her how to
do her practice, and so Ershley became a heeler herself
and she would offer services around the town and eventually
she had one particular client who came to her I
(15:31):
think perhaps a couple of times and then could no
longer afford her services. Basically said, look, I still I
still need the shoulder problems whatever, still need your help.
And Sosha said, well, you could pay me in cheese
if you like. Yeah, Stilton, if you don't have your shilling,
(15:51):
you can pay me in cheese. So cheese was made
at home by quite a lot of people back then,
so it wasn't It was not as weird as it sounds,
sort of like lots of people made their own cheese.
So she was like, well, you could pay me in
your cheese, but she couldn't do that either. And so
then what happened is this this client seemed to it
seems she was quite upset by the fact that Ursha
wouldn't help her. And also this client's child died, and
(16:15):
again it's one of those things where a culmination of
like series of unfortunate events almost So another neighbor in
the town was like, well, actually, I've had some issues.
I wonder if it's ers shea is causing these problems
and trying to trying to get us to kind of
go to her for help. And so eventually Shula was
officially accused, brought to Colchester Castle and kept here waiting sentencing,
(16:38):
as well as a few other women. There was I
think three women in total. We were brought here, accused
and eventually sentenced and Ershula was hung, found guilty obviously
and hung as a result of that. Now there's an
interesting kind of modern development to this story in that
during constructional kind of building of a house in Saint
Ozif in the early nineteen hundreds, they found a grave.
(17:01):
They found a couple of graves actually with skeletons. One
in particular skeleton they found and at the time they
believed that that was Erschler, that she had been hung
and taken back to an Ozif and buried at that location.
The skeleton ended up going to the Museum of Witchcraft,
which currently is in Cornwall.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Museum of Witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, interesting, the Museum of Witchcraft down in boss Castle
in Cornwall, well worth a visit. But they had the
skeleton and it was the original kind of owner of
the collection, that kind of had had this, and then
it wasn't until I think it's the late two thousands
or early early twenty tens. A local filmmaker, John Worland,
was doing a bit of research into the witch trials
(17:42):
and found out about the story and located where the
skeleton was and led a big campaign and repatriated the
skeleton to Saint Ozith and brought it all the way
back and buried it again, because I think there was
also there was a lot of stories at the time,
like as soon as the skeleton left, there was like, oh,
there's been lots of weird goings on in sinn Osis,
the witch is unhappy, we need to rebury her. But
(18:03):
then so she was repatriated. But during that kind of process,
an ostrologist so some of these studies bones kind of
looked at the skeleton and it seems to be a
skeleton of a man and possibly from a slightly different
time period, so it's probably not Ursler, but it's an
interesting story. But what happened was, because of all of
(18:24):
this going on, the story of Ursula suddenly became really
popular and big, and everyone knew about her and knew
about what happened to her back in the fifteen hundreds,
and so thanks to John, John's created a film about
this as well now and because of his work and
kind of raising awareness about the story of Ursula, her
memory can live on. And that's the problem. So many
(18:47):
of these cases, we talk about seven hundred and fifty
people accused, they're all individuals, they're all people. They all
have names, they all have stories, and we don't know
a lot of a lot of those. We have the name,
but we don't know what happened her to them. But
someone Likesler, we do have quite a good idea of
what actually happened when when she was alive, and unfortunately
(19:07):
she was one of the few that was found guilty
and hung.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So it would, if you would, she be well known
around Colchester.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think so, especially amongst pagan practitioners, and.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
We know her a bit more than the other names.
And I think it's also a name that sticks appcause
no one's really called Ursula anymore. So you remember, you've
already got the Disney reference. It's already it's quite a
witchy namer, Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
It feels like that Ursula is a good witchy name.
You've also got Glinda Gwendolyn Brum, Hilda Sabrina the Teenage
and that ginger one from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you know,
the one that went to band camp and shoved the
flute in her cauldron. Anyway, those are all American witches.
We're talking about English witches. And when it comes to
(19:52):
English witches, the only way is Essex. Why do you
think it's Essex that had the most amount of witches accused?
What is it about.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
S So it has Essex and Colchester specifically, really but
the county has a long history of descent of kind
of going against the mainstream, and still does to this
day some degree. But you have kind of series of rebellions.
You have the case of the Colchester Martyrs, which was
during the reign of Queen Mary So in the fifteen hundreds.
(20:21):
Alongside all of the witchcraft accusations and things like that,
there was also a lot of religious change. So the
country was turning from Catholic to Protestant, back to Catholicism
again back to Protestantism. You could imagine living through that time,
because sometimes it was within a generation living through that time.
People well, what do I do? Do I change my
faith or do I stick with my kind of beliefs
(20:43):
but risk dying as a result of that. And the
people of Colchester specifically and Essex were very much of
the mindset of no, we stick to our beliefs and
our faith. And that's why during the reign of Queen
Mary there was a huge number of people executed for
their religious beliefs, ten percent of which came from Colchester.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
There's your answer. The women of Essex stuck to their
beliefs and didn't back down. I want to know how
many of these sort of traditional witch activities are now
actually part of our everyday culture that we wouldn't even realize.
For example, you were telling me that the blowing out
of a birthday care candle is actually a sort of witchcraft.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Because your birthday cakes are usually circular. Obviously we get
a bit more fancier now and there could be any shape,
so that represents the wheel of the year, another loop,
browns circle. Any kind of lighting a candle is usually magic.
Churches do it, you know, where you light a candle
for your loved ones, or for angels or for God.
It's all the same as candle magic. Other things like
getting married, so your band would be again that loop
(21:49):
eternity diamonds would be used. It's the hardest mineral known
to man. So that represents the strength and resilience your relationship,
your marriage would have. The clear diamond would represent purity,
going to the issues with purity. But if we see
it in a nice way of like the purity of
your love and things like that, and the clear seeing
and sight, So that is it. You know, even things
(22:11):
when you're technically having a tea like a herbal tea
like lavender to go to sleep, that's technically magic, you know,
even though it's a science. Science and magic can actually
go hand in hand with things.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Sure, yeah, absolutely, so.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Many things, so many things.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That and more of a witch and my thoughts, yeah,
might colin the caterpillar that I was having. It was
actually my familiar. You're the person who I think would
connect the most to the women being in this room.
(22:47):
How does it feel just sort of being in this
environment and feeling what it might must have been like
for them? What would you have said to them? What
do you think the emotions they have been going through
would be like?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So I don't get anything kind of spiritual witchy, tingling
of ghosts and ghouls or anything like that. But I'm
mainly filled with gratitude that I'm not in that timeline
and I'm in this one, and that I'm not being
locked in that cell currently with you guys ready to
take me out and have me walking up and down
for hours upon hours.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
How you've made us lovely, gentleman, just a pair of
cheesemakers who live locally, but which.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You're witch finds well, if you're in here, if you're
in here and you're not in the cell with me,
then very happy, unless you have brought me cheese, and
which case welcome, And its just it's quite overwhelming. I
guess to think that even if I hadn't been practicing,
that they easily would have come after me, or my friends,
(23:49):
or my mum or any future children I may or
may not have. Humbling, I think would be the key word.
Although there's still issues with people being stereotypical and practicing religions,
would very much deem me still as a witch and
as like a Jezebel or a temptress or something like that.
I mean, tempertus doesn't sound too bad.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
If you were to talk to someone who wanted to
get into paganism or witchcraft. What would you say would
be the first sort of steps, What would you advise
them to do?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Look at cleansing, grounding, and protection. Very base summary as
grounding is keeping yourself in the present moment. Mindfulness is
what we know as is a more present term. Cleansing
is just ridding yourself and there's so many ways to
do this, ridding yourself of negative or stagnant energy, and
then protection you can it can be simple as imagining
like a bubble around you so that you don't have
to cleanse so much in the first place. I mean,
(24:41):
there is there is things like sex magic and all
that as well, which I won't go into here. Sex magic, okay,
So sex magic you can do with yourself or you
can do with the partner, which makes it easily accessible
for most Sometimes for some people who just be unlearning
perhaps some shame based things they've learned about this actual selves.
(25:01):
Other times it's a very potent, powerful manifestation. So if
you think of the genitals and what they produce is
literally life. So the energy of an orgasm, for example,
has the potential to really kind of if you're how
can I explain this? So for example, you could create
(25:30):
a situation where you're trying to manifest your dream job.
So you would set up like your candle to get
yourself in the mood, be sensual with yourself, and then
start to visualize it and experience trying to imagine it
three D. So what would it sound like? What would
it feel like in your body? And then you can
do spell work and it's meant to be fun and
giggly because it creates a positive energy and that's what
(25:52):
you want. And there's not much more positive energy that
you can get than self pleasure or pleasure with another person.
So yeah, for sure you have a favorite spell. I mean,
the sex magic ones are pretty fun to the bath ones.
I think one of my one of my favorites telling
of a story is I did a love spell when
I was a teenager and I was an emo kid.
(26:13):
Let me tell you, I still kind of am the
way I dress sometimes no stranger, and it's quite funny
when I'm dressed all flowery, when I'm in my flowering
mood and I've got slipknock banging out of the car.
But yeah, so I was like, I want this guy
and I want him to have jet black emo hair,
and I want him to have ice cold blue eyes,
(26:35):
and I want to be aloof but really his emotional
sensitive and I want him to have a sarcastic sense
of humor. Made this big list, did this spell? I
found someone we're still best friends to this day, but
he is gay. I never asked for this person to
be straight in this long list of single but he works.
But in the universe's way, is what I actually needed
(26:56):
at that moment in times of friend and not some
emo boyfriend. That's my favorite story to tell. But I've
done one before where I had a really dodgy X
and he kept turning up at my house. So I
did a spell when he turned up my house that night,
and I thought, oh goodness, this was meant to work.
And then the police got involved and said never to
contact me again. And I've had from since, so yeah,
it did work.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Sounds like this witchy stuff really works. I could get
myself a gay best friend or a straining order. The
possibilities are endless. Best to start off small, though. Bianca
has her tarot cards with her, so it's time to double.
I think it'd be a shame not to finish this
podcast without getting a taro reading seen as you do
(27:37):
have your tarot cards here, and I am desperate to
find out what life has install for me and what
I need to do. Can he helps something out? So
would you mind really my own?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Yeah, so I'll keep it nice and simple and you
can ask a follow up question if you want. I
was just going to shuffle and ask for a card
to give you general advice unless you've got a specific
question that maybe we could do. Normally, I would kind
of do a little bit of meditation for this, get
my mind in the zone. But we're gonna bring it
today now.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I think I would actually just like to know what
is the best advice I can be given up because
I think therefore it's going to give me sort of
the bit the area that I should concentrate on and
actually had quite to know.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So I'm just shuffling the cards now and then I'm
waiting for something to kind of just jump out to me,
or if you feel the need to tell me to stop,
I want that one. You let me know.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I've put my hands down on the table and can.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Put your hands anywhere nearly anywhere.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
The cards are saying, don't be creepy.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
So I'm shuffling the cards now, and I'm waiting for
one to jump out of me.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Oh god, if one stands up, does that mean?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
So here you have got the eight of Swords, and
I'll let you have a little look at that. So
it's saying that you might be feeling like you're stuck
and that you're kind of just riding with things that
you have no control. But in actuality, you have the
potential to take a blindfold off untie yourself and get out.
And then you can see those kind of swords stabbed
in around her. So she's feeling trapped, but that's not
(29:03):
really the case. It's quite easy to get out of
that situation.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, and I can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Yeah, okay, I mean the cards are a bit you know,
this is very simplified, and I'm happy to pull you
another card if you want for some further advice the
rabbit hole. So I'm going to ask the cards. So
what is a step that Tom could you want.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
To come out?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Okay? Tom could take So, I don't know if you
can see that, does it look similar?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, it's it's the blind woman again.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, So and then we have oh gosh, okay, so
if anyone here does read tarot. I'll just let you
know that we pull the eight swords to begin with,
and then the two of Swords as a follow up,
and then the four of Cups. The four Cups again,
is some brilliant offers and opportunities are being handed to you.
But he's focusing on what's spilt and what's all gone wrong.
So the cards are just reaffirming to me twice over.
(29:51):
Take the initial advice, start looking at the positive, take
blindfold off, just go for it.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
What a lovely positive note to and the episode on.
I wasn't expecting that I should quit while I'm ahead.
Thank you so much for coming on the pod. It's
been a wonderful, magical day. So much cheers, guys, thank you,
thank you. I think the ale is being very nice
to me when she was saying how at the eight
(30:19):
of Swords, is telling me I should have just jo
come on, It'll be all right, It's gonna be fine. Actually,
I've reading the book now and it says when this
card is turned up in the reading, it speaks of
restriction of feeling trapped in a sad moment. However, if
the individual would stop overacting and feeling sorry for themselves
and just pull off that emotional blinder. They would see
a way out. Things aren't as bad as they appear.
(30:40):
Happiness is possible, the sun is breaking through and new
opportunities can emerge. A lovely bit of backhanded inspiration from
your friend the blind Woman. On that note, it's time
for me just stop feeling sorry for myself and end
the podcast. Thank you for listening to this episode. Until
next time. Remember if you're a witch, no raising demons
(31:01):
in the house, don't call your cats satan, and mind
your manners. Thanks for listening to Bad Manners. If you
like the pod, please share it with your friends, Rate
it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Leave a review and make sure
you spill the tea on any of your favorite bad
Manners that we could feature in future episodes. This podcast
(31:23):
was produced by Atamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It was hosted
by me Tom Horton. It was produced by Willem Lensky,
Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway. It was executive produced by
Face Steur and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is Caitlin
paramore and our production coordinator is Bella Selini.
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