A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE MUSEUM
Images of Witchcraft: The Witch is a figure who has captured people’s imaginations for thousands of years. She symbolises female power and liberation, and the wisdom that comes from a connection with the natural world. This section explores witches from folklore and legend, such as Morgan Le Fay and Mother Shipton, and from literature, such as Robert Burns’ Cutty Sark, John Keats’ Meg Merrilies, and the three witches from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. It also examines four symbols of witchcraft – the cat, the hat, the broomstick and the cauldron.
Persecution: The main exhibit in this display is ‘Daemonologie’ by King James I, a book that attacks all kinds of folk beliefs and magic, including the use of magic stones and the belief in Fairies. This display also shows the kind of chains that were used in the ill-treatment of suspects. There is also a witch weighing chair, which was used to help people accused of witchcraft by weighing them against the Bible – if they were heavier than the Bible, they were proved innocent.
Herbs and Healing: A knowledge of herbal remedies was an important part of the Witch’s skill. A conventional doctor would charge a great deal of money to treat someone, but the Witch (or Wise Woman, as she preferred to be called) would be happy with a few eggs or a loaf of bread. As well as using herbs, she might speak a charm over the sick person, or give them water poured over a magic stone. Burning an enchanted candle is a form of healing magic still often used today.
Folk Magic: An extraordinary variety of objects are used in folk magic. Necklaces made of snake bones, strangely shaped stones, pieces of copper corroded into wonderful colours… most of them have a connection to the natural world, and they all have their own kind of eerie beauty. A seahorse, a mermaid’s purse, fishbones and a lobster claw are examples of the Sea Witchcraft that has a special significance here in Cornwall.
The Wise Woman’s Cottage: Here the Wise Woman speaks to her visitors. She seems to know more about you than she should, and she will encourage you to “look up, look up, for there are other places and other things!” The room is full of the tools of her trade – many of them everyday objects, but even so they are full of magic. A green glass fishing float is her crystal ball; an old nail can be stabbed into the ground to drive away an illness. And of course she is surrounded by her animal companions. She is wise enough to know that it’s not only humans who have magical powers.
Protection: Protection magic is closely connected to healing magic. It wards off illness and misfortune, and can also bring good luck. Protection charms are very varied and often their symbolism is complex and ancient. Amulets shaped like a raised hand, and beautiful blue glass beads like eyes, have been used for at least two thousand years. Horse brasses are modern versions of amulets that reflect and imitate the power of the Sun. Horseshoes echo the shape of the Moon, and horses are themselves magical animals – their tails and skulls are also used as charms. Of course the most magical animal of all is the cat – putting the body of a cat in a roof will ensure that the cat’s spirit will hunt down any misfortune, just as the live cat hunted rats and mice.
Magic in Wartime: This display shows some of the ways people have used magic to help them cope with the stress and danger of war. Many of the charms were made by soldiers in the trenches during the First World War. The Kaiser Bill and Hitler pincushions were a comical way to boost morale, but they also drew on the ancient use of image magic to strike down an enemy.
Cursing and Counter Cursing: Modern Witches see cursing as something that witches were (and are) accused of doing but not something that is part of their craft. However, as the objects in this section show, in the past people did sometimes try to use magic harm someone. Often it was a way to strike back against someone who was abusing their power, as in the knitted image of a sergeant in the ATS (the women’s branch of the army) who bullied her young recruits. If you believed you had been cursed, you could use magic to turn the curse back on the witch. The most common way to do this was to use a ‘Witch Bottle’ filled with urine and pins.
Richel Collection: In 2000 the Museum obtained a large collection of occult artefacts, drawings and ritual tools once owned by J.H.W. Eldermans. The objects are finely crafted, and often involve sexual imagery that symbolises creative energy. Some are folk magic, but most seem to be connected with some kind of now-unknown occult group.
Mandrakes: Mandrakes have been made famous by the Harry Potter books and films. The human-like appearance of the roots, and the fact that they have hallucinogenic properties, have made mandrakes the most magical of all herbs. Dogs were traditionally used to pull them from the ground, as the sound of the screaming root would kill all who heard it.
The Goddess: The Goddess is closely associated with Modern Witchcraft. To many witches today “all Goddesses are one Goddess” – revered for her connection to the Earth and Nature, and a symbol of the power of womanhood. In ancient mythologies many Goddesses are associated with magic: the Egyptian Goddess Isis, the Greek Goddesses Hekate and Persephone, Diana the Roman Goddess of the Moon, and the Germanic Goddess Holle (who became the Mother Goose of fairy tales).
The Hare Lady: This sculpture was made by Lionel Miskin in the 1960s. He explained that his aim was to combine the image of the then-famous ‘Bunny Girls’ of the Playboy Club with “ancient tribal identifications with certain animals… containing the deep knowledge and wisdom of nature.” The two dancers painted on the figure symbolise “the Music of existence.”
The Horned God: In her book ‘The God of the Witches’, archaeologist Margaret Murray suggested that when witches were accused of worshipping the Devil they were in fact worshipping an ancient God of Nature and the wild. Certainly many mythologies feature a Horned God. His wildness, his union of the animal and the human, and his sometimes overtly sexual nature may have led to his being demonised, but to many people today these are not aspects of ourselves or the world to be frightened of or constrained but accepted and celebrated.
Piskies and Fairy Folk: Piskies and Fairies are folklore versions of the Nature Spirits and Ancestor Spirits who were central to the beliefs of our distant ancestors. They are unpredictable and mischievous, but will help people they take a liking to – even sometimes giving them magical powers. Small images of Piskies are still popular on key rings and fridge magnets sold to tourists in Cornwall for good luck.
Divination: Divination means seeking knowledge of things that are otherwise unknowable. One of the oldest methods is gazing into a mirror or crystal ball in the hope of seeing shapes that will foretell the future or answer a question. The beautiful large dark mirror was used by the Museum’s founder Cecil Williamson, and is one of our most popular exhibits. But there were many other kinds of divination, including throwing objects onto a board or mat, dropping melted lead or wax into water, and reading the tea leaves or coffee grounds left in your cup.
Witchcraft and Magic Today: Visitors to the Museum often ask, “Are there still witches today?” There are, but they might not be what one expects. Organisations like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and people like Aleister Crowley, Doreen Valiente and Gerald Gardner, helped to reinvent magic as something that still has a place in the modern world. But the practice of witchcraft today is incredibly varied, diverse and always developing, as the displays in this gallery demonstrate.
The History of the Museum: The Museum was created by Cecil Williamson, who became fascinated by witchcraft as a child, when he rushed to the rescue of a woman accused of being a witch, while he was staying with his uncle in Devon. In 1938 he was sent to Germany as a secret agent to investigate the Nazis’ interest in the occult. For his cover story he invented the Witchcraft Research Centre – and after the war he turned it into a reality: the Museum of Magic, Witchcraft and Superstition on the Isle of Man. Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, was the Museum’s ‘resident witch’. Unfortunately Cecil’s friendship with Gerald Gardner broke down, and Cecil moved his part of the collection to Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds, and then, in 1960, to Boscastle. In 1996 Cecil Williamson retired and sold the Museum to Graham King, whose technical and business skills enabled it to develop into a successful independent museum with a growing international reputation. Graham was the first person to raise the alarm when the devastating flood swept through Boscastle on 16th August 2004. The clean-up operation became an opportunity for the Museum team to conserve and research the collection, and the Museum re-opened with new displays throughout, and saw more visitors than ever before. On 31st October 2013, Graham gifted the Museum to Simon Costin, Director of the Museum of British Folklore, who is expanding and developing the collection, and has added a space for special exhibitions, ensuring that the Museum continues to inspire and intrigue people from all over the world.