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Pentagram/Pentacle
A pentagram is a five pointed star with each line connected, a pentacle is a circular disk, often made of clay, with a pentagram on it. A pentagram is a reminder of the four elements plus spirit that make up the world, one for each point and used most often as a Wiccan and/or pagan symbol of the faith. The pentacle is most often meant/used to represent earth on the altar. It took me far too long to remember the difference and I still get them confused sometimes.
Pentagrams can be found as early as 3500 BCE in Sumeria. Same for the pentacle. Pentacles can also be found as one of the suits of tarot cards as representing earth and the material sphere of life.
St Osyth Witches
Pope Innocent VIII, 1484 declared that witchcraft was heterodoxy and the crime was a capital offense as of 1563 in Britain. Approximately 200,000 witches were in some horrible manner put to death, often tortured, hung or burned throughout Western Europe. Queen Elizabeth I visited The Priory in 1579 and made it clear not enough was being done to condemn the local witches. The people who were blameworthy were usually poor elderly women who most often owned pets who were most commonly cats. They were considered to be their familiars which would help them carry out tasks of an evil nature.
In 1582 fourteen women who were from St Osyth in a coastal village near Brightlingsea in Essex were accused of and tried for witchcraft. They were tried in Chelmsford. Nursemaid and a midwife, the first person singled out was an elderly woman by the name of Ursula Kempe. An argument or disagreement occurred with Grace Thurlowe, the mother of sick Davy Thurlowe. This was after Ursula cured Davy but was not taken on as a nursemaid to care for Grace’s daughter. She became suspect of witchcraft after the daughter later fell out of bed and broke her neck. Then another incident of disagreement transpired; she was reported to the authorities and sent to Chelmsford to await trial. She was held at the Cage Medieval Prison in St Osyth. Interesting side note, the Cage was last used as a prison in 1908. It is now a private residence that has tales of hauntings and has been on several television programs.
Coming back to Ursula. A judge, Bryan Darcy from St. Clere’s Hall, convinced Ursula’s eight year old boy to make testimony against her as well as convincing her that he would show mercy if she confessed. Naturally she did. She even went so far as to admitting she had four familiars, two cats, a toad and a lamb. Interestingly the lamb was claimed to have been used in the death of the Thurlowe’s baby.
As with so many put to trial facing death she was convinced to point the justices in the direction and naming of other witches. In her case she named four other women: Alice Hunt, Alice Manfield, Elizabeth Bennet and Margery Sammon. As one can imagine these women were also convinced to give up the names of other witches, in this case it equalled the amount of nine other women. These women were Elizabeth Eustace, Anne Swallow, Cicely Celles, Joan Turner, Margaret Grevell, Agnes Glascock, Anis Herd, Alice Manfield and Joan Pechey. Two of all of these were for certain put to death: Ursusla Kempe who was hanged along with Elizabeth Bennet. It’s unknown as to what transpired with the others.
Proclaimed witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins was to blame for placing 300 to death between 1644 and 1647 in East Anglia. Catholics were often claimed to have been witches as the uprising of Puritan Preachers grew. In Bury St. Edmunds 68 were put to death, in Chelmsford 19 were hanged and 2 of those were from Osyth.
The Discovery of Witches written by Matthew Hopkins (born 1620- died 1647) in 1647 detailed “his gruesome methods for determining if someone was a witch… These methods were later used around the world and even quoted at the Salem Witch Trials in America in 1692.” (cited from St Osyth Museum, UK) “His first accusation was in a neighboring village known as Manningtree. The laws against witchcraft were abandoned in 1736”. (BBC)
The Vedic Period of Magic
The Vedic Era was 1500-500 BCE in India. It was, like in many other places, a time of magic. There were amulets, chants, and astrology. The Atharvaveda was written around this time period. It is one of the four Vedas, or holy books, of Hinduism and a collection of spells and chants. As with all the Vedas, authorship is not known.
Amulets were much like what you see from other ancient cultures. Invoking Gods and/or Goddesses and other powers to protect by using writing and images on a necklace. The swastika was also a well known and used symbol. We know it as the symbol of the nazi’s now, but this was long before that and used as a symbol invoking well being.
Chants were used widely. One such use was to ward off sickness, specifically the spirits that were thought to cause sickness, another use to gain a lover, and another to praise and or gain favor with the gods.
Vedic astrology is related to western astrology and they were much closer in practice thousands of years ago. But there are differences. One is the fact that Vedic astrology has Lunar mansions; sort of like sun signs, but having to do with specific divisions of the sky that the moon spends one day in during the month. Vedic astrology is also done around learning your karma. Astrology was used for many things including making personal decisions, but also was used in war decisions and running the kingdoms of the time.
The Atharvaveda as I said before is one of the four Vedas, the holy books of the Hindus. The Atharvaveda was written between 1200 and 900 BCE. It wasn’t accepted as a Veda till much later though (somewhere around the second part of 1000 BCE.) and many documents from the period of its writing only mention three Vedas. The Atharvaveda contains 730 hymns contained in 20 books. It contains hymns to deities, chants for love, chants to hurt enemies, chants for healing, and more.
The Vedic period in India was full of magic and new technology for the time. I have to say this was not the easiest research I’ve ever done, but hopefully this has piqued your curiosity.
Tarot
The Ace of Pentacles
Something of fundamental importance is headed this way. A gift to continue on our journey but see it with fresh eyes. What is blossoming in our world right now? This is a fertile time for new opportunities concerning the monetary in our lives, friendship, networking, work or home. There is a structure or routine that should be considered when dealing with any of these items. If this isn’t already in place it’s time to think about doing so. We are in the first signs of spring and it is now when we clean out and make room for something new on a material level. Is there something cluttering our lives? We should consider how to go about letting go of that which is in the way of our new found growth. Lets manifest what we desire by taking our intentions we set in the winter months and place them into action in order to meet our goal(s) for the year. How can we manifest abundance around what we are moving towards? Something we can do is to be prepared to recognize it for what it is, be grateful and accept it. We should also keep in mind to share in our wealth.
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