Charms, Spells, Anti witch craft stuff and other strangeness

[robgil]

Ok so we know that using older materials and techniques to repair and maintain older houses is run of the mill, but , what about spiritual maintenance? yeah yeah , I know , what a load of old cods whallop, but , the people who lived in these houses as late as the Edwardian period and perhaps on into the better half of the last century didn't think so.
So , is it our duty to keep such traditions alive as a part of the buildings maintenance? I am not suggesting you bury tickles the kitten in a wall or place a horses skull under your bed but should we be putting shoes up our chimneys? sprigs of hawthorn above our doors and knives under our door steps?

 

[robgil]

Yes , thats how bored i am.

 

[Feltwell]

Not much in the way of supersticious (?? can't be bothered to look up how to spell it!) finds here, unless you count the "ghost of electricians past" leaving me lots of bits of old cable and round pin sockets, and the "ghost of plumbers past" leaving many butchered floorboards and joists as an offering to the Great Plumber in the Sky.....

 

[Penners]

spiritual maintenance

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

What have you been on, lately, Rob? :wink:

 

[Penners]

supersticious (?? can't be bothered to look up how to spell it!)

Tut! Detention, boy!

Superstitious.

 

[Feltwell]

Please Sir no Sir! I've taught my older kids what "mnemonic" means today after my daughter came out with the old favourite "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain", does that gain me any brownie points?

Speaking of superstitions, I had been slightly bemused as a kid as to why we had so many green cars, and why the front door was always painted green. I knew it was my mother's favourite colour, but always felt there was something more to it than that.

I have an aunt who, frankly, was always a bit of a cow towards my mother - and, as she and her husband didn't have a car, was always cadging lifts and errands from her brother ( my father). My mother only recently confessed to me that she'd found out that this aunt was very superstitious and strongly believed the colour green was unlucky :lol:

Apparently it worked - the demand for lifts and errands and visits to our house dropped right off........

 

[Penners]

Please Sir no Sir! I've taught my older kids what "mnemonic" means today ..... does that gain me any brownie points?

It would if this were a Mnemonics class. But it's not - it's English grammar.

It just won't do, you know.

 

[Flyfisher]

So , is it our duty to keep such traditions alive as a part of the buildings maintenance?

But surely, if you don't believe in such things then you cannot keep such traditions alive. Yes, you can wall-up tiddles in the chimney, but you wouldn't be doing it to ward off evil spirits, you'd just be copying a previous tradition and future historians might wonder why such strange beliefs persisted into the 21st century.

 

[Feltwell]

It just won't do, you know.

You're a hard taskmaster Mr P !

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm not sure I believe in luck, particularly. I think we make our own. And as for evil spirits, etc - no. Those old belief systems of the church, magic, gods, the devil, enabled people to make sense of a world they couldn't fathom and legitimised a certain degree of slavery and cruelty, which suited some.

In respect of seeing religion/ superstition ( I see little difference between the two) for the hogwash that it is I believe mankind has made a certain degree of progress. There is still a great deal of room for more, however.

 

[Penners]

Hear, hear, Joce.

 

[stephenh]

At the foot of a 30 metre high cliff, just outside the village of Tremadoc in North Wales there used to be an early 19th C house. Two up, two down with a 2 story rear addition, well built out of granite from the cliff behind and with a fine local slate roof. Five sliding sash windows to the front façade finished it off – a pretty sight.

The first floor rear addition was made into a bathroom – which was lucky, as you will discover; the ground floor of this part was the kitchen and it was here that the owner tried out the metal detector that he had bought for his teenage son.
A result on the machine had them pulling up the carpet and layers of lino to find the original slate slab flooring beneath it all, the signal got stronger.
“We’ll wait until your mother’s out of the house, and dig it up…..”

And so they did. A few inches under the slab they found a silver spoon! Everything was put back and the spoon cleaned up. Being silver it had hallmarks and the house owner knew someone who could date the item from this information.

“ 1780 – Birmingham “ was the answer, followed by “Where did you find it?”

He told him and was sharply told to replace it, as it was an offering to the house spirits to keep the place safe, put there when the house was originally built – the silver expert was also a local historian.
He was quite serious but our hero laughed and life carried on.

Three weeks later, at 3 o’clock in the morning, a boulder measuring 3 x 3 x 4 metres fell from the clifftop directly onto the house completely demolishing the kitchen and bathroom, people were fortunately asleep in the bedrooms which were in the front part which was untouched.

The house was demolished and the road that followed the cliff foot was moved 75 ms away from the cliff for ½ mile either side of the site.

Read what you like into the above…..at your own peril….

This happened in the late 70s, I lived 20 mins away and knew the family.
I always put ‘discovered’ items back and to this day put money under foundations, even if they are concrete.

Superstitious? Who? Me ???

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm not sure I believe in luck, particularly. I think we make our own.

One of my favourite quotations (Lee Trevino, I believe):

"Golf is just a game of luck. And the more I practice, the luckier I get"

 

[JoceAndChris]

Despite my above post I loved your story Stephen! I'd put a spoon back too, or anything else - just out of respect, as much as anything else.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm not sure I believe in luck, particularly. I think we make our own.

One of my favourite quotations (Lee Trevino, I believe):

"Golf is just a game of luck. And the more I practice, the luckier I get"

:lol: good one!

 

[LadyArowana]

I'm rather partial to "warding off magic" and try and practice it by having a plan B for projects. If I'm doing something a bit stressful then I usually wear my Buddha amulet and that has recently been joined by a rather lovely Ganesh ( remover of obstacles ) and they seem to be quite happy together, for plane journeys I add a jade Quan Yin ( Goddess of Mercy ).

 

[jocelyn plummer]

There is a delightful book on my bookshelf, entitled 'The Spells Bible' a definitive guide to charms and enchantments .Makes for interesting reading!

 

[LadyArowana]

There is a delightful book on my bookshelf, entitled 'The Spells Bible' a definitive guide to charms and enchantments .Makes for interesting reading!

Have you ever tried any?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Not telling!!

 

[LadyArowana]

Not telling!!

I think you just did :lol: