17th century withcraft ritual remains uncovered
By Psyche | April 29, 2008
Archaeologists have recently uncovered evidence of 17th century rituals involving swans and other birds in the Cornish valley near Truro. Thirty-five pits have been excavated since 2003, containing swan pelts, dead magpies, unhatched eggs, quartz pebbles, human hair and part of an iron cauldron.
The finds have been dated to the 1640s, a period of turmoil in England when Cromwellian Puritans destroyed any links to pre-Christian pagan England. It was also a period when witchcraft attracted the death sentence.
[...] The pits where the contents were intact also contained a leaf parcel holding stones that experts have traced to Swanpool beach, 15 miles (24km) away, an area famed for its swan population. Ms Woods said: “Killing a swan would have been incredibly risky at this time because they are the property of the Crown.”
There was a particularly macabre discovery in one of the feather pits: fifty-seven unhatched eggs ranging in size from a bantam to a duck. They were flanked by the bodies of two magpies, birds that have long been the subject of superstition in Cornish folklore. The organic remains survived because they were preserved in the water-logged ground. Although the shells of the eggs had dissolved, the membrane remained, revealing chicks shortly before they were due to hatch.
Read the full article at TimesOnline.co.uk, “Mysterious pits shed light on forgotten witches of the West“.
Via Abrahadabra.net.
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Historically, many practices or beliefs which were perceived as “non-conformist” or “againsts status quo” helped to characterize practitioners as witches. This designation evolved out of fear that people could know things most people (and especially authorities) didn’t seem to find inside themselves.
Whenever fear gains momentum, situations are known to spiral out of control. Historic witch hunts and witch trials have been explained very differently in modern day as compared to in texts written in the eras themselves. Similar situations include the history of stereotyped behaviors that are categorized as mental illness and the array of treatment that has been offered/ imposed, from institutionalisation to chemical straightjackets. behind it all is the will to control, fear to let go and let things be.