Lammas Treats in a Parcel From the House of Spells

Early this morning I went to the post office - wearing my lovely new mask - to pick up a parcel. It was my box of goodies from London's House of Spells. You can see the treats inside in the picture: a Harry Potter themed metal water bottle, notebook and pen.

A week ago I announced I'd managed to arrange 10% discount for readers of A Bad Witch's Blog on items bought from House of Spells, with the code BADW1. The shop describes itself as: "An unabridged world of enchanted artefacts and collectables from Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of The Rings, Fantastic Beasts, The Hobbit, Vikings or any other fandom."

I really needed a new water bottle, and I'm always using notebooks and pens, but getting them in a parcel on Lammas morning was a lovely bonus. If you want to order online from The House of Spells with the 10% discount, you can use this link:  https://houseofspells.co.uk/discount/BADW1 Delivery in the UK is free. You can also visit the shop in person and mention the code BADW1 in the shop.

House of Spells is a two-minute walk from Leicester Square tube station at 69-71 Charing Cross Rd, West End, London WC2H 0NE. The hours are Monday to Friday from 10am to 8pm, and to 9pm at weekends.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/07/house-of-spells-magical-offer-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/07/house-of-spells-backward-looking-beast.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/07/lammas-time-for-protection-from-covid.html

House of Spells: Magical Offer for Readers of this Blog

Back in the before times, when I was wandering around London one day last winter, I came across a magical shop I had not seen before. Drawn inside, I discovered a place I could happily browse for ages. I was captivated. The shop was the House of Spells on Charing Cross Road.

The House of Spells describes itself as: "An unabridged world of enchanted artefacts and collectables from Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of The Rings, Fantastic Beasts, The Hobbit, Vikings or any other fandom." As well as being a real-world witch, I'm a big fan of all of those books, films and series, and I've got quite a few collectables around the house.

What I'm really excited to announce today, is that I've managed to arrange 10% discount for readers of A Bad Witch's Blog on items bought from House of Spells, using this link:  https://houseofspells.co.uk/discount/BADW1  Delivery in the UK is free.

As well as ordering online, you can again visit the shop in person, as it is open once more following lockdown, with social distancing in place. If you haven't been before, I thoroughly recommend doing so, as it is so witchy and magical in its concept and design. The staff are really lovely and happy to answer questions, and there are some virtual reality experiences to try out too. You can use the code BADW1 both online and in the shop at the checkout to get the 10% discount.

House of Spells is a two-minute walk from Leicester Square tube station at 69-71 Charing Cross Rd, West End, London WC2H 0NE. The hours are Monday to Friday from 10am to 8pm, and to 9pm at weekends.

Over the next week I'll be blogging more about items at the House of Spells that have caught my eye, including the mystery of the Backward-Looking Beast...

The pictures on this page are from the House of Spells on Twitter @HouseofSpells

Pagan Eye: Wands at the Ready in Central London

This avenue of Harry Potter-style wands are in Central London at the moment, leading from the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral.

They were installed as part of a promotional event for the new Fantastic Beasts movie. The giant wands are still there, but I'm not sure how long they will remain. Someone who reads my blog sent me this picture, but I hope to get a chance to see them myself before they get taken down.

You can read a couple of articles about last week's event on these links:
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/super-sized-harry-potter-wands-get-a-royal-welcome-at-st-pauls-cathedral-101818
https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/things-to-do/harry-potter-wands-619904

My Pagan Eye posts show photos that I find interesting - seasonal images, pagan sites, events, or just pretty pictures.

If you want to send me a photo for a Pagan Eye post, please email it to badwitch1234@gmail.com Let me know what the photo shows and whether you want your name mentioned or not. For copyright reasons, the photo must be one you have taken yourself.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/how-to-make-wizard-school-style.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/11/brooms-wands-cauldrons-with-simon-costin.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/11/pagan-eye-roman-temple-of-mithras-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/10/street-art-death-and-life-for-samhain.html

Shopping: Harry Potter Hogwarts Candle from Primark

I don't think it is a secret that I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan.

When I was on my way home from teaching candle magic at Treadwell's earlier this month I couldn't resist popping into the big Primark on the corner of Tottenham Court Road because it has a massive department selling Hogwarts-themed items. I bought the candle on the right.

Primark currently has a range of various coloured/scented candles with the Harry Potter brand, which is pretty appropriate as Imbolc and Candlemas are coming up soon. Both of these festivals are often honoured by lighting candles to represent the first signs of spring returning and blessing candles for use throughout the year.

To be honest, I probably won't use my Harry Potter candle for any of my spiritual Imbolc devotions. There are two reasons for that. First, I already have a lovely ritual kit already. Second, I prefer to use unscented candles or ones that contain pure essential oils for my real magical work. Neverthless, this Harry Potter candle will still be a lovely thing to burn to cheer myself up on a cold dark evening.

My own book Pagan Portals - Candle Magic contains a variety of candle spells and rituals you can do for Imbolc or at other times of the year. You can buy copies at Treadwell's or view the book at Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
https://www.primark.com/en/store/oxford-street-east
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/01/review-wicca-moon-imbolc-ritual-box.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/how-to-make-wizard-school-style.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/a-fantastic-day-with-harry-potter.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/05/harry-potter-and-bricket-wood-coven.html

Brooms, Wands & Cauldrons with Simon Costin

I spent the night of Halloween in the library. Perhaps not exactly where you might expect a witch to be one of the most special times of the year - October 31, or Samhain as many pagans like to call it. But, it was the British Library and I was there for a very special reason - to hear Simon Costin (pictured left) of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic talk about Brooms, Wands and Cauldrons: Instruments of Magic.

It was an event running alongside the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition that's currently on, which I went to see on the very first day.

The first half of his talk was actually about the history of the Museum of Witchraft and Magic (MWM), the life of its founder Cecil Williamson, and the origins of some of the items in its collection.

Although I did know some if it already - partly from talks at the MWM conference earlier this year and partly from having read the book Cecil Williamson's Book of Witchcraft: A Grimoire of the Museum of Witchcraft - Simon's talk really brought out something of a parallel between the fictional story of Harry Potter's early years and those of Cecil Williamson.

Cecil also had a rather unloved early childhood and was sent off to boarding school. While there, he learnt the effectiveness of magic - not because it was a school for witches and wizards, but because the cook taught him to use the witch's swing as a way to deal with a troublesome bully. The cook hung a swing from the branch of a tree and told Cecil to light a small fire of certain dried grasses in front of it, then swing through the smoke while chanting his spell for 20 minutes every day until his wish came true. The bully did not return after the summer holidays, which seemed to Cecil an indication that his spell had worked.


Simon went on to explain how Cecil developed a fascination for traditional English folk magic and decided to set up a museum devoted to items related to witchcraft. He regarded the museum as something of a spider's web, attracting magical things towards it - including, naturally, brooms, wands and cauldrons.

Wands, I learnt at the talk, are possibly the most ancient of magical tools. After all, you really only need to pick up a stick to use as a wand. Simon agreed that the way wands are depicted in the Harry Potter books is pretty accurate - they act as an extension of your arm and help you direct magical energy and focus your intent.

In Ancient Egypt wands were used to draw circles of protection around newborn babies and were also buried in tombs to help protect people in the afterlife. There are even pictures showing Christ using a wand. The picture to the left shows Aleister Crowley's wand being handed over to the previous owner of the MWM, Graham King. (The picture is from my own collection, sent to me by the wand donor, Pat).

Cauldrons are also pretty ancient. Simon described the Gundestrup Cauldron (pictured right) as the "mother of all cauldrons". It is a highly significant and beautiful artifact symbolising fertility and rebirth. Of course, cauldrons are also cooking pots so would have been common items in the homes of traditional witches, as would brooms.

The fact that both brooms and cauldrons are essentially domestic items is probably why they are more associated with female witches or cunning folk than with ceremonial magicians or male practitioners. Also, if a witch hunter was looking to try someone for witchcraft, having an ordinary broom and an ordinary cauldron could hardly be used as evidence of maleficium.

Simon explained that nowadays broomsticks are often used in pagan weddings, or handfastings, as the newlywed couple are expected to jump over the broom as a symbol of their fresh start together.

On sale at the event was the book Of Shadows - One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, which shows selection of the items from the MWM, beautifully photographed by Sarah Hannant.

You can view Cecil Williamsons Book of Witchcraft: A Grimoire of the Museum of Witchcraft on Amazon and also view Of Shadows - One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic on Amazon.

To find out more about the Harry Potter and the History of Magic Exhibition and other talks running alongside it, visit https://www.bl.uk/events/  You can visit the MWM website here: http://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/a-fantastic-day-with-harry-potter.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/06/spells-cecil-williamson-spiders-web.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/04/witchcrafts-artefacts-illustrated-talk.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/01/crowleys-wand-and-museum-of-witchcraft.html

Ronald Hutton, JK Rowling & Me on Telly Tonight!

At 9pm tonight you can watch Professor Ronald Hutton, JK Rowling and me on the telly.

Or you could if you could watch three different channels at the same time. Sadly, I'm not going to be on the same programmes as the eminent Professor Ronald Hutton or the author of the Harry Potter books, but we are all on TV.

I will be appearing on a Halloween Special broadcast live on Facebook from the Oracle TV Studio at 9pm tonight. Follow this link to find out more and to watch the programme: https://www.facebook.com/events/323941201348781/

Professor Ronald Hutton will be on More4 at 9pm tonight in A Very British Witchcraft. You can find out more details here: http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/cmyfvs/a-very-british-witchcraft/

JK Rowling will be in the documentary Harry Potter and the History of Magic on BBC2 at 9pm. You can see some clips here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09d5n6b

How to Make Wizard School-Style Floating Candles

When Harry Potter first arrived at the fictional wizard’s school of Hogwarts and entered the great hall,“it was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting.” So the description by JK Rowling in her famous first novel goes.

I’ve always thought that candlelight is particularly magical. Even in the mundane world, where we have electric lights whenever we want them, we still choose to use candles to enchant our lives – to make a meal for two a romantic dinner, to turn our bathrooms into a relaxing spa, to make the telling of ghost stories really spooky...

Candles create a kind of liminal atmosphere, a flickering half-light in which all things are possible – the best kind of light for magic to work. Witchcraft, as far as I am concerned, should always be done by candlelight.

While I would prefer real candles when I’m doing candle magic, sometimes it isn’t safe to use them and if you are having a Halloween party where real flames could be a hazard, what better than to create some fake ones similar to those in the wizard school in the movies?

I learnt at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour that for the films, to create the illusion of floating candles, tubes were filled with spirit oil and wicks put on top, then these were suspended by wire. You can see a photo that I took of them at the top of this page and the description from the tour to the left.

Apparently these weren’t particularly safe either as they kept falling down, so later on they simply added the floating candles digitally.

However, here’s how to make some really safe Hogwarts style floating candles like the one you can see above right, which I photographed hanging in my witchy room from a stand holding an old hat.

You need the cardboard tubes, fake LED tea lights, cocktail sticks, flat cardboard, glue and paint. I used extra long cardboard tubes from inside rolls of paper used to go on top of therapy couches – kindly donated to me by a friend – but regular kitchen roll tubes are fine.

Cut out cardboard circles the same size as the end of your tubes then glue these to the bottom. At the top of the tubes, poke two cocktail sticks right through both sides of the cardboard at the level you want your LED tea lights to sit inside, so that the artificial flame just shows over the top.

Glue these in place on the inside, then trim them flat with the outside of the cardboard tube when the glue has dried.

Paint the outside of your imitation candle in whatever colour you like.

The ones in the movie are white, but you could also make some black ones for a Halloween party like the one in the photo below and to the right. When the overall coating of paint has dried, drizzle some thick paint down from the top to look like dripping candle wax.

Then loop thin string or cotton around the cocktail sticks to hang the candle up from and pop your LED tea light inside. I bought some clear cotton thread and found that was almost invisible, but a bit tricky to tie in place. (The photo to the left shows  ones at the Warner Brothers tour, hanging from a gantry by wire.)

If you prefer to stand the cardboard tube candles up, like the one I photographed at the bottom or the black one to the left, then I recommend putting small pebbles or some dried rice or seeds inside the tubes to weight them down. I used pumpkin seeds - it seemed particularly seasonal.

If you want to find out more about real candle magic, I have written a book called Pagan Portals - Candle Magic, published by Moon Books. You can view Pagan Portals - Candle Magic on Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/home
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/a-fantastic-day-with-harry-potter.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/05/harry-potter-and-bricket-wood-coven.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/02/review-pagan-portals-candle-magic.html

A Fantastic Day with Harry Potter: A History of Magic

Harry Potter: A History of Magic, the exhibition that started today at the British Library, is fabulous. Whether you are a fan of the Harry Potter books or interested in the history of real-world magic, you will not be disappointed.

I was very lucky to get tickets for the day it opened and had been looking forward to going for a long while. Sometimes, when you are eagerly anticipating something, the event itself is an anti-climax. Not this time.

The exhibition is gorgeous. It has been designed to make you feel as though you might be walking through somewhere in Hogwarts. Separate rooms are themed on subjects taught at Hogwarts, JK Rowling's fictional school for witches and wizards. These cover potions, alchemy, herbology, charms, astronomy, divination, defence against the dark arts and care of magical creatures.

A central magnificent artifact is on display in each room. For example, the potions room has the Battersea Cauldron, for alchemy there is the superb Ripley Scroll and Care of Magical Creatures has a historic bestiary with life-size colour pictures of birds.

Some of the display cases around the walls show genuine occult books, items and pictures; some show pages from JK Rowling's original manuscripts and notes for novels; some have interactive screens where you can do things like potion-making or tarot reading. There are also beautiful drawings and paintings used for illustrations in the books.

What I also liked about the exhibition is that it didn't feel particularly crowded, even though all tickets for the day were sold out. This was at least partly because everything was set out very well so people weren't channelled along a single route in each room. If there was a crowd in front of one cabinet I could go and look at another one, then come back when the first one was less busy.

It was pitched at just the right level to appeal to Harry Potter fans of all ages as well as those interested in history and magic. I loved it.

There are also two books accompanying the exhibition, Harry Potter - A History of Magic, which is aimed at adults, and Harry Potter - A Journey Through A History of Magic, which is more of a children's book.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic is on from now until 28 February 2018 at The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB. There are timed slots every day. Tickets are £16 adults, £8 children. https://www.bl.uk/

You aren't allowed to take photos inside the British Library, so the photo at the top is of the outside and the other shows a book cover.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/10/reviews-news-british-library-harry.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/04/i-got-tickets-for-london-harry-potter.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/05/harry-potter-and-bricket-wood-coven.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/02/the-art-of-alchemy-and-philosophers.html

Reviews & News: British Library Harry Potter Exhibition

Today I am off to the British Library in London to see the Harry Potter and the History of Magic exhibition. Before I go, I thought I'd see what the press has to say about it. Here are some links:

"A sneak peek at the British Library's Harry Potter exhibition" - story at The Bookseller: https://www.thebookseller.com/booknews/harry-potter-british-library-exhibition-657271

"Broomsticks and dragon bones in British Library's Harry Potter magic show" - story at The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/18/broomsticks-and-dragon-bones-in-british-librarys-harry-potter-magic-show

"Harry Potter at the British Library: Five magical objects you need to see" - story at The Evening Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/arts/harry-potter-at-the-british-library-five-magical-objects-you-need-to-see-a3662866.html

"Harry Potter: A History of Magic, British Library review - weirdly wonderful" - story at The Arts Desk: http://www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/harry-potter-history-magic-british-library-review-weirdly-wonderful

"Harry Potter in real life: An actual philosopher's stone, mythical beast and other items that inspired JK Rowling" - story at mirror.co.uk: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/harry-potter-real-life-actual-11367579

Tickets are now on sale at www.bl.uk.

Harry Potter, a Journey Through the History of Magic, is on at the British Library, London, from today until 28 February 2018. Next autumn it will be on at the New York Historical Society. You can also see a TV documentary, Harry Potter: A History of Magic on BBC2 on 28 October at 9pm.

The pictures show Harry Potter - A History of Magic: The Book of the Exhibition, viewable on Amazon and Harry Potter - A Journey Through A History of Magic, viewable on Amazon too.