Here's a list of weird, wonderful and witchy events over the next week or so with a mixture of online and in-person things to do. I generally list events in the UK, especially in or near London, but some are outside that time zone. If you know an online or London-based event you want included, please email badwitch1234@gmail.com
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Magical Online & London Events in the Next Weeks
Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Walking the Labyrinth at Julian's Bower
This is Julian's Bower, a historic turf path in Alkborough, near Scunthorpe. I was in that area yesterday for a family occasion and took the opportunity to visit and walk it. Although it's historically called a 'maze', nowadays people tend to call this type of pattern with a single winding path a labyrinth. However, the signs nearby all call it a maze. A chart one on side of Julian's Bower reads:
"This turf maze is one of the few remaining in Britain but its age and origins remain a mystery. The first written record was in 1697 when it was thought to be Roman. However due to its likeness to maze patterns in Medieval French churches it is thought that Julian's Bower may be medieval. In later centuries the maze was used for 'maze running' games by local children. A Victorian replica can be seen in the porch floor at Alkborough Church."
A plaque on a stone plinth on the other side, placed there by Alkborough Maze Committee, offers this information:
"Mazes are associated with Theseus threading the Cretan labyrinth to slay the Minotaur-a common theme in ancient life. Turf mazes often bore the name of 'Julian's Bower' or 'Walls of Troy'. It is thought that these names record the belief that Julius, son of Aeneas, legendary founder of Rome, brought maze games to Italy from Troy after its sacking by the Greeks. Maze games were adopted by the early Church as a symbol of the Christian path to salvation and may have been used for penitential purposes."
Labyrinths seems to be cropping up in my life a lot at the moment, and I pay attention when magical symbols keep presenting themselves to me, just like this. I've walked many labyrinths in the past, including ones cut in turf, but this is the first I've walked that's genuinely old. As I traversed the twists and turns I felt shifted out of normal space and time, similar to the way I feel when I'm scrying. The message I got was that when you are pursuing a goal, sometimes you feel very close to it, but don't quite get there, while at other times you feel you are getting further and further away and even feel lost. The important thing is to just keep going, if you do, you will get there in the end.
Throughout November, I've been taking part in the challenge of National Novel Writing Month write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. That sense of not sometimes knowing where my plot was going was very much like walking a labyrinth. I haven't quite finished the first draft of that novel yet, although I have already completed 50,000 words of it. I will get there though. Just a little bit further.
Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/11/pagan-eye-julians-bower-maze.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/09/review-ariadnes-thread-ancient-minoan.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/book-review-labyrinth-walking-radiant.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/11/im-writing-gothic-horror-novel-set-in.html
Monday, 28 November 2022
My Workshops: Candle Magic & Scrying at Treadwell's
Friday, 25 November 2022
The Poetry of Tarot: Four of Swords
One of the things I've learnt from the NaNo experience is that setting a 10 or 15 minute timer and writing as much as I can in that time is a good way to be productive. I decided to do the same thing with my poetry, as well as combine it with a tarot reading. I drew a card at random from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, set a 10 minute timer, and wrote this poem. I don't think it's too bad considering it was written in just 10 minutes.
Four of Swords
Your grave is silent
Your sword at rest
Yet others stand
Prepared to testLegends might tell
What wars you won
Yet other fights
Are not yet begunAre you at peace
In your stone case,
Knowing others prepare
To take your place?
The Four of Swords card in the Rider-Waite-Smith shows a tomb, probably that of a knight or warrior. The traditional meaning is vigilance, retreat, solitude, being a hermit or possibly exile. My interpretation is more about the first few of those meanings. We must be vigilant in regards to fights that must be fought, but now is possibly a time to retreat for some solitude, if possible, and contemplate the conflicts of the past before any battles in the future.
Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/poetry-of-witchcraft-halloween.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/03/poetry-of-witchcraft-should-you-tell.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/london-tarot-reading-sewer-gas-lamp-2.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/09/an-equinox-tarot-card-mourning-or-seven.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/03/tarot-ace-of-cups-signs-of-new.html
Thursday, 24 November 2022
Witchy Charity Shop Find: A Magic Notebook
I do love a good notebook - and I still use paper and pencil or pen for writing as well as my laptop or phone. I find real handwriting is a bit better for coming up with spells, keeping a scrying journal, writing poetry, or jotting down creative ideas when I'm out and about.
This notebook, which is a nice size, also comes with a pencil in the shape of a wand. I've tried using it to cast a circle and it does the job perfectly well. I'm not sure I'd want to sharpen it and use it for writing though, it would seem a bit of a waste of a wand. What do you think?
Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2019/01/books-of-shadows-and-magical-art-of.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/05/witchy-charity-shop-finds-huge-haul-of.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/samhain-shopping-whimsigothic-fashion.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2019/06/charity-shop-finds-esoteric-books.html
Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Magical Online & London Events in the Next Weeks
Here's a list of weird, wonderful and witchy events over the next week or so with a mixture of online and in-person things to do. I generally list events in the UK, especially in or near London, but some are outside that time zone. If you know an online or London-based event you want included, please email badwitch1234@gmail.com




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