Vintage Boscastle

While I'm doing a bit of research (and some philosophical musings) for upcoming posts I wanted to post this old clip of The Museum of Witchcraft in Bostcastle; its quite fascinating when one compares the museum circa the 1960s to the present day museum (many more artifacts, &c.). I'm a bit of a sucker for the atypical horror-suspense soundtrack.

The Glory of Gorey: The Fantrod Pack

I do wish I could have been more extensive in my seasonally-themed posts, however, academia was calling my name (well sending me annoying letters), which had to be tended to. I am glad that I was able to publish what I did and its no time for regrets; the year is winding down and a whole new unforeseeable future is before us, which leads me to what I wanted to share tonight.

While skimming through the blogosphere this afternoon I ran across a little known "fortune" pack illustrated by Edward Gorey, which I was so taken aback by I had to post something about it. For the unaware Edward St. John Gorey is

probably best known for his contribution to the opening credits of the PBS series Mystery! back in the eighties; even now Masterpiece Mystery (PBS) uses excerpts of Gorey's animations in their opening sequence. Gorey was born in Chicago in 1925, however, began to make his mark illustrating works for such literary notables like T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats) and Bram Stroker's Dracula in New York City (1953 to 1960). In his later years Gorey took residence in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod in a house known as the "Elephant House," which now functions as the Edward Gorey House Museum. In addition to being a literary illustrator for others he is also a published author and illustrator in his own right. Gorey described his work as literary nonsense, which is a genre of (albeit loose definition) literature that is noted for its nonsensical elements of defying typical use of conventional language as well as logical reasoning. Historically speaking literary nonsense appears to derive from folkloric tales. However, published works such as the series of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense (1846), and of course the Alice stories by Lewis Caroll.

Gorey is quite a curiosity to me and one of my favorite illustrator (I grew up watching Mystery! as a child). His interests and inspiration draw from an accumulation of highbrow and lowbrow culture; his knowledge of film and literature was unusually extensive citing among his favorite authors and artists Agatha Christie, Francis Bacon, and Lady Murasaki. To juxtapose these Gorey's enthusiasm for popular culture that establishes a lovely balance; and avid follower of soap operas and television comedies. Of course Gorey appreciation for darker dramas such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.

The Fan trod Pack is a series of twenty cards that forecast a list of possible outcomes for the querent ranging from the merely unpleasant to the downright horrible. Included with the pack is a thirty two page booklet with interpretations provided by Mme. Groede Weyrd, which Gorey tell us,

'[she is] of mixed Finnish and Egyptian extraction, [and] has devoted her life to divination, and is the author, among a shelf of other works, Floating Tambourines, a collection of esoteric verse, and The Future Speaks Through Entrails.' Of course Mme. Groede Weyrd is a pseudonym for Gorey himself and is typical of other anagram-based pen names connected with his other published works. Originally published in the sixties in Esquire these twenty black and white crosshatched ink illustration are a parody on traditional Tarot (major arcana) or other fortune packs; with unusual (or rather usual in Gorey's case) image that are quite macabre. The cards bare such titles like "The Ancestor," "The Limb," and "The Waltzing Mouse."

The examples that I have seen are just stunning and eerily charming. Obviously strong enough to stand on their own as a work of art. I for one am putting Gorey's Fantrop on the top of my list of purchases for the New Year. One reviewer has suggested it more for Groey fans and collectors than for those who read Tarot (or any other oracle pack for that matter), this is due for the fact of the cards more ominous meanings.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

Of all the trees that grows so fair,
Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun
Than Oak and Ash and Thorn.

- Puck of Pook’s Hill, "A Tree Song" by Rudyard Kipling, 1906

Among the trees associated with wintertime lore the blackthorn or Dranenen ddu in Welsh sometimes called the Mother of the Woods is enigmatic of the season. Blackthorn is a deciduous shrub that can grow to very large proportions thus resembling that of a small tree. Its creamy-white petals amongst the ovular leaves sprout in early spring, which conceals within the playful façade long thorns; the fruit ripens with the first frost and sweetens it, but have been known to be bitter. The autumn’s chill yellows the leaves and upon their departure leaves a contorted black skeleton to contrast the winter-white.

Mythologically speaking blackthorn represents the dark half of the years; her sister the hawthorn completes this duality as they are sisters; blackthorn reigns at Hallowe’en, where as the hawthorn during the eve of May. As the thorn of Glastonbury blooms twice in a year so it has been said that the blackthorn blooms on Christmas Eve as well. Why? Well it is reputed to be on of the tree that composes the thorny crown of Christ. The folkloric uses of the blackthorn are numerous. Wreaths of blackthorn and mistletoe were fashioned to procure luck for the coming year, as well as a garland when wassailing the apple trees; the ashes of the blackthorn crowns were an auspicious curio to insure the fertility of the fields as well.

As for the witches…Christian folklore associates blackthorn with them as a sinister tree with baneful intentions. A rod of this wood could be used as (what the witches call) a blasting rod. Major Thomas Weir was executed by fire in 1970 as a witch for his blackthorn staff carved with a satyr head alleged to posses extraordinary powers. The thorns could be used a pins to puncture the doll wrought in their victim’s image. Also let us not forget the witches of South Devon who were supposed to carry walking sticks of blackthorn used to cause mischief.

Of course modern witches use blackthorn in their protection charms; auspicious times for the collection of such materials are on the eve of February and the night of Hallowe’en. As these are days are in sacred to the blackthorn. As the eve of February ushers in the light of the New Year and Hallowe’en prepares us for the darkness of the waning year.