DIARY

Monday 10th March

Yesterday I returned home to Penwith to a warm cottage (it amazes me how well granite holds in the heat) and a sleeping hedgehog (who'd been well fed by a friend who popped in to put his food down) after a weekend attending the Pagan Federation conference up t’other end of Cornwall. It was great to see some old faces and to hear the fascinating talks and of course the interview with Maxine Sanders. Cassandra did a grand job leading the interview in a very entertaining way – if she wasn’t so good at what she does already I’d suggest a good career as a chat show host might await – I’d certainly tune in! Best of all was the chance to catch up after nearly five years with friend Val Thomas, an East Anglian Witch who drove for nine hours to deliver her wonderful talk on the practical hand-crafts of magic, she certainly puts the ‘craft’ back into Witchcraft. It is a sad fact that the importance of hand skills is largely being lost within Witchcraft and popular Wicca with so many folk content to buy tools that have probably been mass produced in Taiwan factories. There is much to be gained from spending the time to actually craft – from natural materials – items for use within your Craft, it makes for a unique and far more effective tool that is a part of you because of the effort you have put into it. It is in the act of making, not just in the final consecration that the spirit is worked into the item. For those who are interested Val has written a wonderful book full of recipes and the ways of magical handcraft:

A Witch's Kitchen - Val Thomas

I am hoping to get back up to Boscastle tomorrow to enjoy some walks with Val before her return to Norwich but we shall have to see how the weather behaves as Cornwall is currently being battered by severe storms (and I appear to have picked up a conference cold). Mum has sandbags at her doors down on Penzance sea front but fortunately she’s in the bit that doesn’t seem to get flooded when this sort of thing happens.

A quick sorry to an apparently cross Marion Green – it was my fault Val was put forward to appear at the PF conference and miss the Quest conference – we’re all very grateful that we were able to borrow her and listen as she shared her wisdom!

Thursday 28th February 08

Today was the day the ‘group charm’ was handed over to the Museum of Witchcraft’s keeping. I had been worried during the journey from Penzance up to Boscastle that the contents of the box might get disturbed but a little peek inside upon arrival in the village revealed that all was perfectly in place. It was wonderful to be back in the museum (it had been a while since my last visit) to see how good it was all looking. Walking around the place the museum and its collection feels alive as ever with no real sense that such devastation had occurred there, it has healed so well – a testament to the enormous (and extremely costly) effort that had been put into getting the place back on its feet. The village itself is still undergoing a huge amount of work and disruption but if it can ensure the safety of the village from future floods then it will of course be worth it. Whilst there we spent some time cleaning up ‘Joan’s Cottage’ which had become very dusty from slate cutting that had been going on. It was nice to leave her place and her bits and bobs looking spick and span ready for the visitors when the museum re-opens. It had become high time I invested in a new broom and so I had decided to buy one of the wonderful brooms for sale in the museum shop to work on when I got it home (I do prefer to make my own broom but when I do buy one I like to take it apart and put my own work into it). However Graham wouldn’t let me make the purchase and very kindly gave me a broom as a gift. Thanks Graham, it will be well used!