Pam Masterson 17th December 1947 – 16th October 2015
Photo credit: Emma James
On Friday 16th October 2015 I performed a simple Last Rites ritual and said farewell to a dear friend. Within two hours she passed away peacefully with her family by her side.
Most of you would have known Pam as the entertaining and knowledgeable owner of The Healing Star situated at the top of Causewayhead, Penzance. Pam successfully ran this shop for 14 years selling esoteric artefacts and paraphernalia, and also hired out the back room for various spiritual and healing functions. Indeed the Penwith Pagan Moot utilised this room for many years.
However, Pam wasn’t only a shop proprietor; she also studied and attained the level of Swami Bodhini, British Yoga Wheel Teacher of Yoga Nidra for over 35 yrs. She also held the title of The Very Reverend Pamela Masterson of The Stellar Maris Independent Church of The Mysteries. As you can imagine there were quite a few humorous stories associated with Pam being a Bishop well before the Church of England had got its act together about such issues!
Photo credit: Emma James
Over the years I knew Pam, I found her to be highly articulate about many subjects and she was an authority on the Kabala and the Egyptian mysteries. She did not suffer fools gladly and was completely up front with calling a spade a shovel on many occasions! I respected her viewpoint on many things and I loved her dry witticisms about the vagaries of life and people in general. Pam was always up for a good robust discussion and airing of viewpoints and ideas.
Over the last couple of years Pam battled bravely, with humour and fortitude (and a lot of stubbornness!), a long standing and debilitating medical condition that eventually she succumbed to.
I, along with many others, will miss her greatly and the local community of spiritual healers and practitioners is the poorer as a result of her departure.
Rest in Peace Pam – you were a true Priestess.
Photo credit: Emma James
Funeral will be held on Tuesday 27th October 2015, 3.00pm at Camborne Crematorium.
It’s hard to believe that there hasn’t been a Museum of Folklore before in Britain. I just imagined that there would be one somewhere tucked into a little side street off Kensington. I remember vividly being taken to most of the main museums in this area when I was a child. I used to gaze in awe and wonder at extraordinary things in the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, British Museum and so on and so forth. Even in later years when I was employed in London as a teenager, I used to spend most of my lunch hours trailing round the more little known establishments and curiosities near where I worked. I have a fascination for such places…
Now there are plans afoot for the first Museum of British Folklore and rather than write reams here on this blog, it’s probably better – and more concise to guide you towards this promotional video:
Exciting stuff! One of the ongoing projects that caught my attention in the early days of meeting Simon Costin, Director of the Museum of British Folklore, was the ambitious Morris Doll collection. The aim is as follows:
The museum has launched a new initiative to represent the wide variety of Morris sides within the UK. Any teams wishing to take part will be sent a blank figure to decorate with their team kit. The idea being that over time, the collection will grow into an original and unique visual record created by the people who participate in the dance. For any teams wishing to receive a figure, please email us – mofbf@clara.co.uk
Story posted on September 21, 2013 from the Museum of British Folklore’s website:
I have belonged to a Morris side for about five years now, so had a special interest in creating a doll that would be part of a display in a museum. The side I’m with is called Boekka (Cornish for Scarecrow) and I’m a founder member. Myself and Laetitia along with her son Rhys first formed this group following the departure of our Obby Oss, who used to be a Penglaz, from the Golowan Festival. We changed her appearance, her name and title – she then transformed into Penkevyll the Lands End Obby Oss appearing alongside Boekka.
Following many months of pestering the beleagured Simon (a notoriously busy man!) eventually a large package arrived at our cottage containing not one, but two dolls. This lead us to believe that maybe they wanted us to create not just a doll representing our side’s Morris dancer, but also our famous (or should that be infamous?) Obby Oss as well! Simon had seen our Oss, Penkevyll in 2012 at Charms Day in Boscastle when Boekka gave a performance to wind the day’s events up.
Boekka & Penkevyll Charms Day Boscastle 2012
Boekka & Penkevyll Charms Day Boscastle 2012Boekka & Penkevyll Charms Day Boscastle 2012
So it was time to start making the dolls. First job was to assign who was going to do what – always a tricky one! We started on the Teazer doll first. Laetitia drew the short straw and was lumbered with all of the sewing. She has small hands and produced neat work creating the T shirt, tailcoat tatters, trousers and boots. (This is what comes from being really good at something, you become the victim of your own success – a lesson I have found out many times to my cost!) Whereas, I have large hands for my size and am very clumsy with tiny, meticulous work. I sourced materials, created and cut out templates and was a general ‘gofer’ (go for this, go for that etc).
We were trying to think of how to make a snapper for the doll. This is what we were trying to replicate:
Teazer Snapper
I asked a good friend of mine, Chris White for advice on how to make this as he is into model making; and before I knew it he had kindly offered to help us out by creating it himself – and what he created was superb!
Chris is an amazing guy who we have meet only via the Internet/Facebook. He used to be a Beast Rider with a Morris side and has a really fine sense of what is required of someone who dares ride these fabulous creatures. Sadly he no longer is able to do this as he has a progressive medical condition that has rendered him seriously disabled. However, he has an indomitable, cheerful spirit and a delightful sense of the absurd and ridiculous. He often has Laetitia and me crying with laughter over something he’s written – he’s particularly good at finding the right caption for many photos, especially ones that include Obby Osses and the like. One day we would love to meet him. 🙂
After several weeks of sporadic work on our Teazer doll in between work and gigs, we finally had our completed doll:
Then it was time to consider the Oss doll. We had approached a local lady who makes, amongst many other things, marionettes and puppets. We knew she would do a very good job but we weren’t too sure whether we could afford her services, even though we were offered ‘mates’ rates’. As Chris had already alluded to the possibility before, I tentatively approached him and asked whether he was interested in attempting the unusual modelling project of making a mini sized Penkevyll head for our doll, although we insisted on paying him for materials. Chris said he would be honoured and to offer him money for the privilege would be tantamount to offending him – so we quickly agreed! 😉
Between me and Laetitia we created another T shirt, trousers and boots, plus the Riders skirt for the doll and then waited for the necessarily long process of creating Little Penk’s model skull. It was such a fascinating process, and so many folks have asked us, that I think it best if Chris himself takes over the story at this point:
The Construction of Little Penk Chris White
I’ve been asked to write about how I did the construction of what all involved came to call ‘Little Penk’.
I’d just like to stress a couple of things. I’m disabled and this took months rather than days. Secondly I’ve never done anything like this before. Although my background is in art and design I have no skill in symmetrical sculpture and had to work out just how to do this from scratch. What I came up with was a combination of hybrid techniques that would give me a guide to work to as it progressed.
Living halfway up the country I didn’t have direct access to Penkevyll so I bought a digital model of a horse’s skull. I was lucky that one was available! I brought this into Cinema 4D, a program I’ve used in the past for digital modelling. It was used for the dragons in the Harry Potter films so it’s a really versatile program. I scaled the skull to size using photographs of Penk’s skull next to her ‘Rider’ so the small one would be the appropriate size next to the Teazer doll. The important first stage was to build the basic skull from a series of cross sections taken from the digital model, printed out of the computer then cut from a material called ‘Plasticard’. I found out about this from a friend who does a lot of model railway modelling. I hadn’t a clue what materials I’d need so this was the first step of many like this. All the cross sections had to be kept in careful order obviously until I could put them together. I used three different kinds of adhesives until I found one that did what I wanted too!
So now we have a rather fragile basic construct that gives us and accurate 3D reference to work on to. That’s the hardest part over. Very scary and very slow, that bit.
Next I used expanding insulation filling. This comes in an aerosol can and is a pig to use! It’s sticky and sloppy and risks distorting the flexible cross sections as it expands between them so I had to scrape some of this gloop out as it started to dry.
It expands so much it pretty much buries the form. However, weight is a major problem with man-animals of any scale and insulation foam gives you form with minimum weight. The adhesive property of the stuff bonds the Plasticard sections together very nicely.
Disgusting isn’t it? So now I could cut and sand the foam away back down to the surface of the cross sections without distorting the base of the shape. Now I had an accurate, symmetrical 3D shape.
Although I had a stable form it was still quite fragile so I had to coat it with something to give it strength. I opted for something like polyfiller. This was quite heavy at first but, being water based, it dried much lighter. I skinned this one and sanded it back as much as I could to retain the outline of the underlying form.
I’d been looking forward to this part. I love the delicate, architectural form of skulls, especially rodent and bird skulls.
The orbits of the eye sockets are particularly lovely and as the form refined I spent a lot of time just enjoying running my hands over the emerging shape. The more I did though, the more there seemed to be that needed doing! It’s just as well I didn’t have a deadline for this.
The fine point at the top of the nose was another piece of Plasticard which I embedded.
This brings me to the final ‘skin’. It had to be strong and light while being smooth, being able to take detail well and giving a good surface for paint. I found the perfect material. Called ‘Miliput’, it’s a two-part epoxy putty. Once I got it stretched onto the surface, working it carefully across the form, flattening and smoothing, I found that working with wet fingers makes it very smooth, taking out any finger marks and smoothing out irregularities in thickness beautifully! Once cured, it’s very hard; sands well and takes detail very well.
The teeth posed a bit of a problem. I opted for Plasticard again. To bend the teeth around the curve of the skull I heated the ‘denture’ in very hot water. Fortunately Plasticard is a thermoplastic so once heated and shaped, it will cool to that new shape and can be glued in position without it trying to flex back again.
To my delight the jaw fitted perfectly! All that slavish measuring and cutting at the beginning had paid off. Just as well, because to correct something like that in three dimensions would have been a nightmare. I drilled and hinged the jaw using a piece of coat hanger wire. All the usual bits and bobs that Animal keepers end up resorting to!
When it came to the eyes I decided to print directly from the photos of Penkevyll. Cassandra and Laetitia took such good pictures that I was able, correcting for distortion, to copy and scale the eyes straight from those. They were glued onto disks of Miliput and varnished to keep them bright and lively.
Since my fine art days I’ve always preferred alkyd paints. They have the depth and transparency of oils but dry much, much faster. They’ll go onto practically any surface and can be layered and glazed for depth and subtlety. Perfect for bone, then, as it’s such a tricky colour and changeable under different lights. Alkyd can take care of all that.
Finally the ears. I carefully copied the profile (thanks again to lots of rapid feedback from Cassandra!) for the ears and cut them from black leather.
Then came the support for the head. Tricky. Traditionally I’d always kept the internal bits of my Animal in my Green Oak days, strictly schtum. So it goes a bit against the grain. Nevertheless, this is essentially an archive piece so on we go. Although Penkevyll has a harness support, the doll would not be able to support this Animal so I had to think of an alternative. Pole mounted heads are traditional so I went with that option as it could be set to take the weight off the doll. I nobly sacrificed one of my metal walking poles. Let me tell you, aircraft aluminium is a pain to saw!!
Ears, jaw strung and working and staff mounted. Ready for the off! It’s been a long project but very enjoyable. I was able to test some ideas and see how much I’d retained of my skills. Truth to tell it was hard on the hands (as I’d suspected) and when I occasionally overdid it I had to take a few days off. But in the end I got a result that I was very happy with.
Next she was shipped to Cornwall to be properly dressed and coiffed by Latham-Jones Haute Couture. And a magnificent job they did too! See Cassandra’s pictures.
Photos in a moment. Once we’d got over oohing and ahhing over Chris’s remarkable work we set to finishing off the dolls. Together we managed to lash the doll to its accompanying pole, secured the ears and the mane that I had painstakingly woven loads of tatters into, and then Laetitia sewed on her gown which was lovingly covered in tatters.
Here’s a close-up of Little Penk’s head showing the skill of Chris’s work:
Then we introduced Little Penk to Penkevyll…
This is when we realised that Little Penk was looking far too neat, so I set to with a pair of scissors and made her tatters more ragged and more in keeping with the ethos of Boekka. Here are the final photos of all the dolls and Penkevyll together.
At last we were finished! Both me and Laetitia agreed that we didn’t want to trust the Post Office with delivering our finely crafted Oss & Teazer dolls – we had awful visions of them throwing the parcels across the room and ruining all that hard work. So I sent a deliberately tantalising email to Simon Costin and asked him when was he next down to the Museum of Witchcraft at Boscastle, as we had something very delicate and fragile with a guaranteed ‘Wow’ factor to deliver to him. It worked beautifully and we successfully delivered the dolls (which we had become quite attached to over the months) to the Museum. Here we are presenting Simon with them:
To directly quote Simon, ” Thank you so much for coming over with your wonderful creations! They really are spectacular.” It was well worth all the hard work and we look forward to seeing the dolls displayed within the next exhibition of the Museum of British Folklore. It’s good to know that you are producing something that will be preserved for prosperity and displayed within a museum environment.
Remember this picture? It was taken at the end of last year’s All Hallows Gathering where we were taking refuge from the elements that raged whilst we were visiting the local hostelries in Tintagel with our Osses and accompanying band of revellers. So what were we up too? Someone suggested that the photo resembled an Agatha Christie denouement which made me laugh, however we were plotting …..! As a result of this I am delighted to be able to present to you the result of our scheming and proudly present:
A special Morris side named Dark Morris has been formed specifically to perform at Halloween, made up of accomplished dancers and musicians from various sides from around the country. We felt that this name conjured up the appropriate energies for All Souls night and was a suitable homage to the sad passing of Terry Pratchett who first coined the concept.
“DARK MORRISIn the spring, on Mayday, Morris dancers “dance the sun up” lest it fail to warm the land for the coming summer. This custom is widely observed across the Multiverse and especially on the Discworld, where the threat of stories and legends is real and such rites are more than just quaint old customs. Mayday is a festive occasion and many will drag themselves out of bed before dawn to watch and cheer on the dancers and the sun. Later in the day, perhaps after a nap, there will be more dancing, Morris as well as the maypole, with feasting and frolic and beer.
On or near the first of Ember there is another dance, the last of the year. There is no crowd of cheering spectators, no merriment, no music, no sound. The dancers trade their bright white beribboned costumes for black shrouds and perform in darkness and silence without bells, sticks or swords (or better, with bells of octiron that create a lacy counter-tinkle of silences}. This is the Dark Morris, without which winter may not arrive to complete the cycle, water the land with snow and prepare for the renewal of spring. Winter begets summer, death begets life, and a city-sized sun that travels faster than its own light needs all the help it can get.”Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett
The Museum of Witchcraft are looking forward to seeing everyone on Halloween and they fully support the visitation of the Osses who will be coming to perform the old tradition of pwnco to bless the premises. Later on the same evening there will be a Candlelight evening to view the exhibits – very atmospheric I would imagine. We, however, will be carousing around the local hostelries in Boscastle with the Osses ending up at the Wellington Hotel. There we will be performing from 8 till late providing live music, song and storytelling.
The word is out now and already over 100 people have said they are coming and we will be expecting lots more. Will you be one of them?
Yes, Penkevyll the famous Lands End Obby Oss, has made it as Cover Girl to the glossies!
“Out soon – Indie Shaman #shamanism magazine Issue 25. A great time to subscribe – get Issue 24 on subscription and Issue 25 at the end of July at https://indieshaman.co.uk/.
Includes: ‘Cunning Folk’ a chat with Cassandra Latham-Jones;
‘Reconnecting To Ourselves Through The Consciousness Of Plants’ by Davyd Farrell;
‘Horse Scents’ by Hearth Moon Rising;
‘Working with Wolves: The Wolf Life Path Cards’ by Lorenzo Guescini;
Eoghan Odinsson continuing his series on Northern Plantlore with ‘Comfrey’;
An interview with G.W. Bénard;
‘Animals, a shamanic story’ by David Sparenberg;
Some thoughts on telepathy from Ann Fallas and columnist Yvonne Ryves in Shaman Moon;
Book reviews including Itzhak Beery’s ‘The Gift of Shamanism’ and ‘The Toltec Secret’ by Sergio Magaña Ocelocoyotl plus Shamanic Events calendar.
With thanks to all of the above contributors as well as to Mike Chapell for the wonderful front cover photo and wildlife photographer, Rochelle Kent-Ellis, and poet, Chris Roe, for the beautiful back cover. Thanks also to Peter Carter, Rebecca Orford and Jack and Nigel Dugdale for article photography. With special thanks to Martyn Kington for the inspiration and of course not forgetting grateful thanks to proof reader, Martin Pallot!”
I’m looking forward to receiving my copy at the end of the month when it will be added to my Archive. 🙂
My copy of ‘Indie Shaman’ arrived this morning with my article inside. A good quality glossy magazine. If you want to read the rest of the article you’ll have to get your own copy! 🙂
On Saturday 25th July 2015 between 1.30 and 3.30pm I will be at The Wise Old Crow for a Book Signing of the second edition of my book, ‘Village Witch’.
I will be giving a short talk at 2.30pm on life as a village wisewoman and will be available to answer any questions you may have. Laetitia will also be with me who is gifted in mediumship and whose speciality is working with energies of the sea.
Here are links to The Wise Old Crow for any further information you may need:
I do hope that you can join me and Laetitia on this day as we would be delighted to see you all! 🙂
Well, the Book Signing and Talk went very well judging by the feedback we received afterwards. There was a good turnout for the talk and I sold 20 books by the end of the day. As a direct result of this we have had consultancy and workshop requests so all in all a resounding success.
Here are a few photos of the day:
My thanks to Sue Clarke of Wise Old Crow for organising and hosting this event and I have no hesitation in recommending her shop as an excellent venue to others. 🙂
Following our wonderful visit to Chepstow Wassail earlier in the year, we had made important connections with some of the folk concerned with the Mari Lwyd. These were re-ignited when I received a message from the couple who operate the Y Fari Troellog, one version of the Mari Lwyd. They were coming to Cornwall over Halloween bringing their Mari and asked if we would like to meet up and bring our Oss, Penkevyll.
Y Fari Troellog
My partner, Laetitia, then had the brilliant idea of meeting up at the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle and making an event of it. I wrote to the Museum and they agreed to our plans and the next couple of weeks were filled with myriads of emails and Facebook messages flying to and fro encouraging folks to come and witness this historic event. One of the responses we had been from Mari Trecopr – so that was another Mari who wanted to come!
Mari Trecopr
We then decided to extend the Mari event to include All Souls Day and to be spent visiting the hostelries in nearby Tintagel. We sent emails to all of them warning them of our impending appearance and suggesting that if they had any problem with that to get back to us.
We worked on the pwnco ceremony that we would be enacting at the Museum. A pwnco is a rhyme contest between the Mari party and the inhabitants of the household, or in this case, museum. Both parties challenge each other with improvised verses which are traditionally sung as an exchange through the closed front door. If the Mari Lwyd is successful then they are invited in to bestow blessings and good fortune on the building. During this time the Osses are ‘fed and watered’ with alcohol and cake. Many people offer the Mari money to bring luck.
It was decided that in this case we would create our version of a pwnco by making it more of a welcome rather than a challenge as it was the Mari’s first time in Cornwall. We thought that we would enter into the spirit of things by reciting our verses in Cornish, so we contacted the redoubtable Craig Weatherhill for help, and he produced the goods willingly and swiftly. Many thanks Craig!
The culmination to all our plans happened this last weekend when it all finally came together in a wild, slightly anarchic happening. I’ll take you through the experience….
We travelled up from our home near Lands End with certain misgivings and unanswered questions on our mind:
Would many people turn up? We’d sent invites to all we could think of who would be interested but apart from a handful of people, no-one had really committed themselves to coming.
Would we be able to perform our part in the pwnco ceremony adequately? Our contribution was written in Cornish and had to be sung in response to the Welsh verses, and given the busyness of our lives at that time, we hadn’t had any chance to practise.
Would the weather be kind as Cornish weather is notoriously unpredictable?
We all met up in the Cobweb Inn and following suitable refreshment it was time to take Penkevyll down to the Museum. We allowed plenty of time for this as the Oss has to ‘meet and greet’ on her way!
Most children love Penkevyll!Penkevyll always shows appropriate respect to the Elders.
Once inside the Museum we met the managers, Judith and Peter, and prepared ourselves for the arrival of the Mari’s. We hadn’t long to wait. Before we knew it there was a great knocking on the front door and the Mari party starting singing their verses of the pwnco in Welsh.
Singing the Pwnco – Photo credit: John IsaacMari Trecopr – Photo credit: John Isaac
We answered, rather haltingly in Cornish, a final verse was exchanged and the door was flung open and the Mari Lywds were welcomed in!
In order for the Mari Lwyd to properly bestow blessings on a building, they have to thoroughly investigate every nook and cranny. So you can guess what fun the Osses had doing that! As you can see from the following photos.
At last it was time for the traditional libations and so everyone was ‘fed and watered’ with alcohol and cake.
Needless to say this was very well received!
It was time to go out and meet our public and see how many folks had turned up to support this event.
Credit: John Isaac
To our delight there were dozens and dozens of people there enjoying the music, dancing and general merriment. So without further ado the Mari Lwyd and Penkevyll joined in with gusto! It was brilliant! 😀
Credit: Museum of WitchcraftCredit: John IsaacCredit: John Isaac
Later on we caroused our way around the Boscastle pubs meeting the locals and thoroughly enjoying ourselves – as you can tell…
…and so to bed!
The next day we were joined by more people from Wytchwood Morris. We repeated our visitation to all the hostelries in Tintagel, only this time Penkevyll stayed in her warm and dry stable (rider unavailable), and I was free to join the musicians and enjoy the spectacle of the Mari Lwyd without having to keep an eye on Penkevyll (a full-time job).
Today on television I watched the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph. This year was the centenary of the First World War so great importance was focused upon this event. I watched with mixed feelings.
Considering we are supposed to be a nation of ‘stiff upper lips’ we put on remarkably emotive pageantry that is unbeaten anywhere else in the world. For one day the elders in our community are honoured as the narrator describes in respectful, measured tones all that these men and women did for us in the hour of our greatest need. Ordinary folk achieving extraordinary things.
Once all the fervour and rhetoric has died down, these self-same people will become, once again, the invisible generation. How ironic that these people can file proudly past the Cenotaph and be applauded by the crowds, and yet be completely marginalised and ignored by most of society for the rest of the time.
I used to work with the elderly and have seen first hand how so many of them have been literally dumped in nursing/ residential homes, their own homes sold from under them and left to die alone and unwanted. Obviously not every pensioner suffers in this way and some fortunate ones are supported by a loving family, but sadly the majority have been abandoned not only by relatives but also now by the State. Government cutbacks have shut so many care homes and respite centres that the future looks very bleak indeed for our older generation. Is this anyway to treat the very people who fought for our freedom?
During the war everyone had to pull together and learned to help each other out. Times were meagre and there was no room for wastage. Now they are surrounded by greed, fear, indifference and political apathy.
War still continues unabated so was it all just a futile, terrible waste?
This song sung by June Tabor sums up how I feel about this.
In spite of all the advances in technology, plus our ability now to contact news stories all over the planet almost as and when it happens, most people when asked do not feel that their input will make much difference to the world. Most folks feel impotent in the face of corrupt organisations, rampant capitalism, denial of human rights and the squandering of the world’s planetary resources. What difference can I make? Why sign another petition – no-one takes any notice of them anyway. Everyone else is being wasteful, how can my little bit make a difference? Who’s going to listen to me? And so on and so forth…
If for some reason you rise above this generalised apathy through disempowerment then what you meet is the divide and rule scenario. ‘Everyone on benefit is a scrounger. All homeless people are drop-outs,vagrants, mentally ill or on drugs. Anyone who objects to the status quo is a dangerous radical revolutionary. All Muslims are terrorists. All foreigners are after our jobs.’ Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Notice all these are absolutist statements. Tabloid media fire this mob mentality all too often with sometimes tragic consequences. It lacks compassion and humanity particularly for the vulnerable within our society and emphasises the loss of community that has occurred over the last few decades.
So what do we do? What can we do? We could decide to turn a blind eye and be secretly thankful that it’s not happening to us. We could self righteously proclaim that we would never find ourselves in such straightened circumstances, implying that these poor unfortunates have only themselves to blame. All I can say to the folks who feel like this is to quote the now famous words of Pastor Martin Niemoller who pinpoints the dangers of political apathy:
“First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me”
I know it’s difficult to find the motivation sometimes due to the full-on nature of just surviving on a day-to-day basis; and I too have viewed yet another campaign/petition with impatience sometimes. However when it happens to you, or someone you know who is close to you, it becomes a different matter. It makes you realise that all these apparently ubiquitous requests for help have their individual stories of heartbreak and difficulty. This was brought home to me recently when I learned of awful circumstances that had befallen an old friend of mine and I am unashamedly mentioning it here on my blog as an opportunistic example of the potential of people power.
This is David Haigh, raised in Cornwall, who I have known for many years. He is one of life’s rarities – a kind, compassionate man of integrity who works in the cut-throat world of high finance. Unfortunately for him and his family, he now languishes in Dubai Prison after being deliberately stitched up and falsely accused of fraud. He is unwell and is being deprived of his Human Rights. Here are some links for the details of the story:
As things stand at the moment, this petition will not be recognised until it has at least 30,000 signatures. This is one of the reasons I am mentioning it here so that hopefully, not only will you sign it, but will pass it on to others to do the same. Your signature/vote really does make a difference if you believe in People Power. Remember this advert? It’s a perfect example of what I am talking about:
I find it hard to fully engage with life with my usual vitality and zest when someone I care about is in such dire straits, so goodness only knows how heart-rending it must be for David’s family. 😦 Just remember the next time someone’s plea for help reaches your ears, this is someone’s son,daughter, wife, husband….. (fill in dotted line). It only takes a few minutes of your time – less time than it takes to make a cup of tea – and this small action could bring hope to so many. 🙂
Latest Update
It is now 4 months later and sadly David Haigh still languishs in Dubai prison without charge. This denial of human rights is appalling but it seems that MPs and government are more interested in General Elections than the fate of Britons abroad!
Here is a link to Prisoners Abroad, the only organisation that appears to be effective in helping in this situation. There is an interview with David about the conditions he has had to endure. The petition ends on 30th March 2015 – please find time to sign it. Thank you.
I am delighted to be able to tell you that at long last David is home safe in Cornwall! He spent a harrowing 23 months in that Dubai jail where he was unjustly imprisoned, and he actually looks remarkably well considering what he has had to endure – but the trained eye can see the toll that has taken of him.
My thanks to the many folks who have shown their support for David, signed his petition and remembered him in their thoughts. We are *so* glad he is home! 😀
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me – See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/resources/poetry/first-they-came-pastor-martin-niemoller#sthash.YqAla0I9.dpuf
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me – See more at: http://hmd.org.uk/resources/poetry/first-they-came-pastor-martin-niemoller#sthash.YqAla0I9.dpuf
Last Tuesday Jason Semmens again brought the past alive by his illuminating talk on Cornish witchcraft in the 19th century. Given that the majority of all documentation available mentions Tamsin Blight, or Tammy Blee as she was referred to, it was no surprise when most of the talk focused upon her. Her baptismal records are held by the Cornish Studies Library, and it was very evocative to see her entry within in a splendid old tome of a Register, in beautiful copperplate writing: Aug 4th 1793 Thomasine Williams at Gwennap.
Gwennap Parish Church
Interestingly most accounts of her life state that Tamsin Blight was not only born in Redruth, but claim her birth year to be 1798, a five year discrepancy. The 1798 usage is understandable as on her death certificate her age is given as 58 years by her son. Maybe this reveals a vanity side to Tamsin by ‘losing’ five years from her age, especially as she later married a man 21 years younger than her! I’m not going to go into further details regarding Tammy Blee as there will soon be an excellent book published by Jason Semmens which describes her life in vivid detail with even more evidence of her work as a conjuror in 19th century Cornwall. I look forward with anticipation to receiving my copy hot off the press! 🙂
Other intriguing facts touched upon were the strange correlation between the incidence of witches to conjurors: Witches were 70% female/30% male whereas Conjurors were 70% male/30% female.
Then we learnt that the term ‘Pellar’ (used exclusively in Cornwall) was a relatively late appellation (1849) utiliseded mostly by the 19th century folklorists, Robert Hunt in ‘Romances of the West of England’ and William Bottrell in his ‘Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall. In the romance, ‘The Old Man of Cury’ appears the character of Lutey who mets a mermaid and in exchange for a kindness, she bestows upon him the powers of counteracting witchcraft and sorcery (the ability to Repel, hence Pellar). Thereafter these Pellar abilities are then transferred through the family line of Lutey.
Lutey and the Mermaid
All fine and good until it is revealed that there are no incidences of Lutey as a family name anywhere on the Lizard penisular, the only incidence presenting in Ludgvan near Penzance. It would be interesting indeed to research just how many of the colourful characters in these local folkloric tales actually existed or not. 🙂
I had myself used this term of Pellar to describe my work some 15 years ago, thinking it was a Cornish name for the sort of work that I performed for my community. Then I realised its origins, and as a result since then I no longer do so. However, it now appears to be a term that has been adopted by some occultists within Cornwall and even some further afield, as a way of describing their magical heritage/lineage and practices.
The hour passed far too quickly (always the sign of a good talk!) and before we knew it, it was question time where Jason dealt with a host of avid queries from the audience. We were all left wanting more and I sincerely hope that the Cornish Studies Library invite him back for a further talk. I particularly would like to hear Part Three: Witchcraft from 20th century onwards. It would be intriguing to know what Jason Semmens would make of the modern witchcraft movement in relation to the historical past of Cornwall. After all, in a few decades time this also will be part of local history! 🙂
Over my many years of Oss Teazing, firstly with Penglaz in Penzance and latterly with Penkevyll the Lands End Oss, I have often heard references made to the Mari Lwyd from Wales. This is a Welsh counterpart mast or pole Oss, so-called because it consists of a horse’s skull on the end of a pole with a material cover for the rider underneath. Both Osses traditionally emerge over the dark days of winter to bring luck to any household that allowed them entrance. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to bring our Oss to meet the famous Mari Lwyd but in 2012 we (as in our Guise team Boekka) were invited by Chepstow Wassail to do just that and we were booked in to appear for January 2013. To our intense frustration and bitter disappointment we were thwarted by the British weather. There was heavy snow fall with the main Red Alert weather warning slap bang over – yes you guessed it – Chepstow! So this year we were petitioning all the weather gods who would listen to let us travel up and perform and let the Osses meet at last. This post is about the unforgettable experience we had…
Our arrival was not wonderfully auspicious as the sat nav directed us over the Severn bridge, which incurs an expensive toll, round the roundabout and then back over the bridge to our accommodation for the night! Once we’d changed into our kit and piled into the car again it was back over the bridge – another expensive toll, and then on to the car park at Chepstow Castle. We quickly assembled our Oss and Penkevyll came alive – we were ready to meet the Mari Lwyd!
We made our way toward a large crowd of revellers that had gathered together underneath the walls of Chepstow Castle. What an awesome castle it is too! It’s Norman, dating back to 1067 and you could literally feel its history emanating from within it.
Fortunately, although we hadn’t arrived early enough to join in the opening dances from the many Morris sides that had attended, we had arrived just in time for the first Wassail. Then we spotted our first Mari and made our way slowly towards it. We had no preconceptions as to our welcome as we were very aware that the Mari Lwyd ceremonies were a custom that dated back hundreds of years, and we had no idea what reception our Cornish Oss would have. We needn’t have worried as our welcome couldn’t have been warmer! Penkevyll stood out because she is so dark whereas the Maris wear white and she attracted a lot of interest. I was in my element and so was Penkevyll, being surrounded by so many other Osses. The Welsh truly honour and show respect to their Maris often bowing to them. Many Maris were tethered and had handlers that were often women or children and they spoke to them lovingly. I dread to think what would happen if I tried to harness Penkevyll – we’d need one of those extendable leads as she’s forever running off and getting into mischief! One naughty thing that I noticed all the Maris including Penkevyll have in common, is their propensity to steal people’s hats!
Photo credit: Laetitia Latham-Jones
This was such a refreshing change as most of the time Penkevyll is often viewed askance by many and has actually had some folks acting very aggressive towards her. Having said that there are many who are very fond of her, especially when she’s being naughty (which happens often!) – nevertheless, she performs alone and has never met other pole Osses before. To see her move among the Mari Lwyds was very touching and I was in awe at the wonder and magic of it all.
Photo credit: Laetitia Latham-Jones
It was time to start the Wassail.
A Wassail is a ceremony generally performed in an orchard or amongst apple trees. If you think of the Harvest Festival as a thank you for a good harvest, then the Wassail is a request for a good harvest for the coming year. Cider soaked toast is hung on the trees by women and a lot of noise, sometimes including gunfire is produced to supposedly drive away any bad spirits.
Following lots of singing and general merrymaking whilst circumambulating the cider fed trees we all made our way to the Three Tuns Inn where the first Mari ceremony would be performed.
The Mari Lwyd ceremony is an ancient Welsh custom which originated in South Wales, similar to ‘first footing at New Year’. Traditionally a horse skull or representation of same is carried from house to house by the Mari Lwyd group. At the house a kind of singing competition (pwnco) between the group and the people of the house begins after the group has knocked on the door and requested entry for food and drink. Eventually, the Mari group are given entry and sustenance, there is more singing and capers and then after blessing the household, off to the next house, pub or even museum.
How we squeezed so many Osses and their handlers into an already full pub once we’d gained entry, I’ll never know! There was lots of singing and offering of ale to the Maris and it was at this time that everyone had also started to call Penkevyll a Mari too – we felt so honoured. The air was electric with energy and it all felt timeless and yet age-old at the same time…I felt truly between the worlds.
Photo credit: Laetitia Latham-Jones
It was time to move outside where we had the first chance to perform with Penkevyll. Our dances were greeted with loud cheers and applause and many folks approached us afterwards during the rest of the day saying how wonderfully ‘spooky’ our performance was. Huge thanks must go at this point to a certain young man called Martin Ware who was not only responsible for getting us invited but also drummed expertly for us on the day. 🙂
Photo credit: Angie Latham
We spent the next couple of hours eating, drinking and talking with some fascinating people, making new friends and creating important networking connections until it was time for the long-awaited Big Event. The Meeting of the Welsh and the English at the Border. This occurs on the old Iron Bridge which spans the River Wye and has been described as “It’s like going to War, and then all Peace breaks out!”. To our delight we were asked to march across the bridge with the Welsh rather than join the English on the other side. This was the time for us to get out our Cornish flag that we had brought with us which we proudly marched with to the sound of skirling pipes and drums. It was another moment when the hair stood up on the back of my neck as I watched all the Maris sway and dance to the rousing music. Our flag was exchanged and we now have a fine Welsh dragon flag. Our Cornish one remains in the Castle Inn until we return again.
photo credit: Stenson Craig-Ann
Once the English, Welsh and Cornish all had a chance to dance at the Border on the bridge we all then decamped to reassemble for the last Mari ceremony of the night at Chepstow Museum. Once again I witnessed the Welsh exchange of coercions and insults but instead of letting the Maris in to rampage about the Museum the Lord & Lady of the ceremony, Ned Heywood MBE and Anne Rainsbury (Museum Curator) made an appearance and offered up the wonderfully wrought Chepstow Wassail Bowl full of steaming, mulled cider. To our utter astonishment and delight our Cornish team was offered the first sip to drink the Wassail! Things were starting to feel a little surreal as I gazed across the large smiling crowd, past the flags including our Cornish one flapping briskly in the breeze, and toward the floodlit Chepstow Castle. A moment to savour and remember indeed! 🙂
Photo credit: Laetitia Latham-Jones
It was time to put Penkevyll back in her stable and pick up our musical instruments and join our newly made friends at the Castle Inn where we shared songs and tunes in an open mic/jam session which continued for the rest of the night.
I learnt from that experience that there are very close connections with our Celtic cousins, the Welsh. I had heard about the similarities with the language before but I must admit that I was still startled to realise that, Penkevyll easily translates from Cornish ‘Horse Head’ to the Welsh Penceffyl, and Cornish Boekka ‘Scarecrow’ to the Welsh Bwbach the pronunciations sounding almost identical.
It’s going to take a while for me to assimilate all that happened at Chepstow – I’m still dreaming of Maris! Many heartfelt congratulations go to all the organisers of the Chepstow Wassail with particular thanks to Mick Lewis who went out of his way to be so helpful. Bless you!
Here’s a Role of Honour of all the Mari Lwyds who attended:
Heb Enw Mari, Pembroke
Llanfihangel Tor Y Mynydd Mari
Y Fari Troellog, Carmarthen
Coppertown Mari, Swansea
Cwmni Gwerin, Pontypwl
Coppin the Hooden Horse, Stroud
Poor Awd Oss, Nottinghamshire
Gloucestershire Broad, Gloucester
photo credit: Micky Tose
All in all, a powerful festival that I would thoroughly recommend to you all, and definitely an experience I would love to repeat.
Here I am adding one of the most powerfully evocative songs I have ever come across concerning the Mari Lwyd. Music and performance by Chris Wood. Lyrics by Hugh Lupton.
I’ve also found some footage from this particular Wassail:
This is Boekka performing ‘As Above, So Below – drumming by Martin Ware.
Boekka performing ‘Dark Triskele’.
The Mari Lwyds meet the English on Chepstow Bridge. Footage on these three videos by Smikestock.
Grumpy Old Witchcraft 