Episode 89 – New England Witchery

Summary:

This episode is all about witchcraft in New England. We speak to folklorist Peter Muise and review the new folk horror film, The Witch, which is set in Colonial New England. Lots of spooky, witchy goings-on this time around! We hope you enjoy!

Please check out our Patreon page! You can help support the show for as little as a dollar a month, and get some awesome rewards at the same time. Even if you can’t give, spread the word and let others know, and maybe we can make New World Witchery even better than it is now.

Producers for this show: Corvus, Diana Garino, Renee Odders, Ye Olde Magic Shoppe, Raven Dark Moon, Ivory, The Witches View Podcast, Sarah, Molly, Corvus, Catherine, AthenaBeth, & Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT! It’s been a while, so we want to do a second round of our Audio Spellbook, so all you have to do is send us the sound of *you* describing your favorite spell which uses everyday ingredients (things you could find in a spice cabinet, grocery store, or backyard, for example). You can either record your spell and email it to us at compassandkey@gmail.com or call us and leave us a voice mail on our official NWW hotline: (442) 999-4824 (that’s 442-99-WITCH, if it helps). You can also get an extra entry by sharing either our Patreon page or our Contest Announcement via your favorite social media (make sure to tag us or get a screen capture you can email to us). What will you be entered to get? Well, you’ll get a NWW Annual Mailer (who can’t use an extra one of those, right?), a couple of bottles of our personally handmade condition oils, a folk charm or two, and a book or two to make it all even better!

Play:

Download: Episode 89 – New England Witchery

-Sources-

Please definitely check out Peter Muise’s blog, New England Folklore, which is full of excellent material for anyone interested in the supernatural and New England. You can also check out his book, Legends & Lore of the North Shore.

We’ve got several previous episodes and website articles that inform this episode and which might be of interest to you if you like this topic:

• Blog Post 03 – Some Examples of Colonial Magic & Witch-lore
• Blog Post 06 – More Colonial Witchcraft
• Podcast 3 – Hot & Cold Spells, a Story, & a Contest [contains “Young Goodman Brown,” by N. Hawthorne]
• Blog Post 104 – (A Little) More Colonial (and Native American) Magic
• Blog Post 105 – Magic Books in the American Colonies: The Devil’s Book
• Blog Post 148 – The Witch’s Ire
• Podcast 77 – What Do Witches Do
• Blog Post 195 – Old Betty Booker and Witch Bridles
• Episode 82 – Shapeshifting
• Blog Post 197 – Shapeshifting
• Episode 83 – Shapeshifting Revisited

You may also want to read the full article version of Cory’s film review in Blog Post 199 – Film Review: The Witch.

The review has a number of resources listed at the end, but a couple of books worth checking out on the subject of magic & witchcraft in Colonial New England would be:

• Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Beliefs in Early New England, by David D. Hall
• Witches of the Atlantic World: A Historical Reader & Primary Sourcebook, by Elaine G. Breslaw, ed.
• In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Norton.
• Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft & the Culture of Early New England, by John Demos.

And of course, go check out The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers (A24, 2015).

If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t forget to follow us at Twitter! And check out our Facebook page! For those who are interested, we also now have a page on Pinterest you might like, called “The Olde Broom.”

Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Pig Ankle Rag,” by The Joy Drops, and is used under a Creative Commons License (available at Soundcloud.com).

The incidental musical selections are hymns from the Congregational/Puritan tradition, called “He Leadeth Me,” and “On the Lamb Our Souls are Resting.” Songs are via Archive.org, used under Creative Commons license. Audio selections from The Witch are used according to Fair Use conditions of copyright.