folk magic museum – New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft

Witchcraft: a white-faced witch meeting a black-faced witch, 1720. Credit: Wellcome Library, London (CC Attrib. license)

Summary:

We’re taking a bit of a magical road trip and visiting a couple of witchy museum exhibits this time. We’ll stop by Cornell University to chat about the recent “The World Bewitch’d” exhibit there with one of the curators, then hop over to Cleveland, Ohio to visit the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick.

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Producers for this show: Heather, WisdomQueen, Regina, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Little Wren, Khristopher, Tanner, Fergus from Queer as Folk Magic, Achija of Spellbound Bookbinding, Johnathan at the ModernSouthernPolytheist, Catherine, Patrick, Carole, Payton, Staci, Debra, Montine, Cynara at The Auburn Skye, WickedScense, Moma Sarah at ConjuredCardea, Jody, Josette, Clarissa, Leslie, Hazel, Amy, Victoria, Sherry, Tarsha, Jennifer, Clever Kim’s Curios, Donald, Bo, Jenni Love of Broom Book & Candle, & AthenaBeth. (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!

Play:

Download: Episode 148 – Exhibiting Witchcraft

Play:

–Sources–

You should definitely check out the Cornell exhibit’s online site, where you can tour most of the artifacts and documents from the library’s archives. You can also check out Anne Kenney’s book, Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives if you want to know more about her or the process of digitally preserving things like the Cornell collection.

You can find out more about the Buckland Museum at its website, and find them on Twitter and Facebook as well. You can read about the museum at the Atlas Obscura writeup about them, too.

We also mention the Penn Museum exhibit “Magic in the Ancient World” (which we also mention in our “Magical Travel” episode) and the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in England.

And feel free to shop for a “Wish Dog” of your own, like the one mentioned in the episode.

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Promos & Music

Title and closing music is “Homebound,” by Bluesboy Jag, and is used under license from Magnatune. Incidental Music includes “Cave” and “When” by Anthony Salvo (Magnatune), “Cycles,” by Doug Hammer (Magnatune), and “Sedativa I,” by DR (Free Music Archive)

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Hi all,

I just wanted to let you all know I’ve got posts coming, really I do (about 1800 words on one post, plus some book reviews and another post in the draft stage). However, I’ve also got lots of other things going on, including editing the August episode, which I hope you’ll enjoy, and getting started with the Ph.D. program. Laine is also very busy baking another human being in her proverbial oven, so please forgive her if she’s not around for a bit (she still gets emails and appreciates them greatly!).

I also wanted to let you all know about some upcoming events where you’ll be able to vent your frustrations with my slow blogging directly to me, in person! I’ll be at two upcoming events in late August/early September for those who want to come see me.

First, I’ll have a booth at the Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day on August 30th (see website for location and details). This event is going to be lovely, with classes on Manx folklore, playing card reading (no, not me teaching, though I’d love to attend), children’s activities, and lots more. My booth will (hopefully) have a small traveling museum of North American magical artifacts I’ve pieced together, and I’d love to chat with anyone about folk magic or other such things. Plus, I’ll be trying to collect some area folklore as well, so if you stop by please take a moment to speak into the mic (though you are not obligated to do so, of course). This year’s PPPD is benefiting the Mazzoni Center Food Bank, Forgotten Cats, Books Through Bars, and In-Reach Heathen Prison Services, so please bring donations for any of those fine organizations.

Next, I’m tentatively planning to be at the upcoming Pagan Podkin Super Moot #5 in Chicago! Fire Lyte, who is hosting the PPSM event this year, has generously offered to share his booth at the Chicago Pagan Pride Day on Sunday, September 14th, in Oak Park, Illinois, and I may try to bring that traveling museum along with me for that trip, too. I’m still waiting for a few pieces to fall into place for this even to be a go for me, but right now it looks very likely that I’ll be attending. Other podkin attending include Fire Lyte, Velma Nightshade, Peter Paddon, Dr. Hob & Dean from Lamplighter Blues, Faelyn from the Kindle Witch. A few other folks are tentative as well, so this is a good chance to meet folks if you live anywhere near Chicago.

So, that’s our current situation. If I get invitations for other events or chances to come out and meet fans and friends of the show, I’ll definitely keep you posted! For now, please stop by if you’re near either of those events, and I’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

All the best,
-Cory