262 – 3 Bees in a bag charm

Physical description:
3 bees with a small black drawstring bag.
Museum classification:
Spells & Charms
Size:
75mm
Information:

Text by Cecil Williamson: 'Some witch's charms are just draw string pouches with things stuffed inside. These are safe enough for a peep, but leave the sealed up ones well alone. Always remember that. Here we have three dear old bumble humble bees, put carefully in a blue leather pouch and hung up out of the way in the best room in the house, they will bring health, happiness and sweet good fortune to this sun blessed spot. A widespread Devon charm, this one recovered in 1949 from Dawlish.'
Scarborough Museum has two charms consisting of ash twigs in bags that were worn to cure seizures - one from S. Devon (1912) (in this example the twigs are split and the cure is specifically for children) and one from London (1927) (information supplied by Tabitha Cadbury - see her report 'The Clarke Collection of Charms and Amulets' in the museum library).

Resource:
Object
Materials:
Animal, fabric
Copyright ownership:
Copyright to The Museum of Witchcraft Ltd.

Text by Cecil Williamson: 'Some witch's charms are just draw string pouches with things stuffed inside. These are safe enough for a peep, but leave the sealed up ones well alone. Always remember that. Here we have three dear old bumble humble bees, put carefully in a blue leather pouch and hung up out of the way in the best room in the house, they will bring health, happiness and sweet good fortune to this sun blessed spot. A widespread Devon charm, this one recovered in 1949 from Dawlish.'
Scarborough Museum has two charms consisting of ash twigs in bags that were worn to cure seizures - one from S. Devon (1912) (in this example the twigs are split and the cure is specifically for children) and one from London (1927) (information supplied by Tabitha Cadbury - see her report 'The Clarke Collection of Charms and Amulets' in the museum library).