214 – Tambourine

Physical description:

Tambourine used for divination, with lines marked on the underside of the skin, and with cowrie shells and 'Aristotle's lanterns' (sea urchin jaws), whose position on the lines was used for making readings.

Museum classification:

Divination

Size:

385 mm diam x 55mm Height

Information:

Original text by Cecil Williamson: "The talking tambourine, once owned by Kate (the gull) Turner, the sea witch of Penryn. With it she made all kinds of readings and predictions, most of which concerned sea faring matters such as weather, fish catches and contracts for the carrying of cargoes. To operate, she would draw the fingers gently across the parchment on the underside of the tambourine so causing the sea shells to flutter, tremble and change their positions as set out on the red lines. The white, cone-like objects mid stage are the jaws of the sea urchin commonly known as Aristotle's lantern. It is interesting to recall the fact that Mediterranean magicians as far back as ad 335 were using these sea urchin jaws for the purpose of making predictions."
Acquired by the W.R.C. [Witchcraft Research Centre] 1949. Update Nov 2010 from her Granddaughter Vanessa. Kate's first husband was from a family of Hawkers (gypsies who traded their wares door to door). She was born in 1888 and died aged 73 in 1961. Kate was known to 'sell the wind' to sailors at Penryn, through knotting ropes, each knot to be released when wind was needed.
Scarborough Museum has an Aristotle's lantern that was carried as a charm against drowning (from Jersey, 1912); and also some individual sea urchin "teeth" (which look like part of an Aristotle's lantern) used in Normandy and Brittany around the same time for the same purpose (one of them is mounted and hung from a safety-pin-like pin brooch, and another encased in silver and hung from a blue ribbon; these are made in England, so look like an attempt to encourage English people to adopt the Continental custom) (information supplied by Tabitha Cadbury - see her report 'The Clarke Collection of Charms and Amulets' in the museum library.)

Resource:

Object

Materials:

Wood, skin, metal, shells

Copyright ownership:

Copyright to The Museum of Witchcraft Ltd.

Original text by Cecil Williamson: "The talking tambourine, once owned by Kate (the gull) Turner, the sea witch of Penryn. With it she made all kinds of readings and predictions, most of which concerned sea faring matters such as weather, fish catches and contracts for the carrying of cargoes. To operate, she would draw the fingers gently across the parchment on the underside of the tambourine so causing the sea shells to flutter, tremble and change their positions as set out on the red lines. The white, cone-like objects mid stage are the jaws of the sea urchin commonly known as Aristotle's lantern. It is interesting to recall the fact that Mediterranean magicians as far back as ad 335 were using these sea urchin jaws for the purpose of making predictions."
Acquired by the W.R.C. [Witchcraft Research Centre] 1949. Update Nov 2010 from her Granddaughter Vanessa. Kate's first husband was from a family of Hawkers (gypsies who traded their wares door to door). She was born in 1888 and died aged 73 in 1961. Kate was known to 'sell the wind' to sailors at Penryn, through knotting ropes, each knot to be released when wind was needed.
Scarborough Museum has an Aristotle's lantern that was carried as a charm against drowning (from Jersey, 1912); and also some individual sea urchin "teeth" (which look like part of an Aristotle's lantern) used in Normandy and Brittany around the same time for the same purpose (one of them is mounted and hung from a safety-pin-like pin brooch, and another encased in silver and hung from a blue ribbon; these are made in England, so look like an attempt to encourage English people to adopt the Continental custom) (information supplied by Tabitha Cadbury - see her report 'The Clarke Collection of Charms and Amulets' in the museum library.)