Since I have been focused on folk magic and coins, I decided
to provide an update. My book manuscript is coming along. I hope to have it
done by late 2017 or early next year.
The working title is: Bent, Holed, & Folded: Folk Magic and Coin
Talismans from Colonial Jamestown. This is the primary focus, but there is a
chapter on “witch pieces” from Massachusetts, and several chapters exploring
similar pieces from Elizabethan England. Also, I examine religious medals,
particularly “devil chasers.” I completed the Bibliography and Notes this past
week – over 100 references and counting (whew!).
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| Elizabethan pendant. When was it worn? Was it for ornament or protection? This half-groat was dug in England. |
The whole enterprise has spilled-over to my work. I am
giving a talk entitled, Witches and Counter-charms: Reality-testing in
Elizabethan times, for a group of clinical psychologists in Virginia. Of note, I have treated more than a few psychiatric patients who have presented with delusions of being bewitched or possessed.
But you do not need a diagnosis to have these supernatural beliefs. A 2005 Gallup poll estimated that one out of five Americans believe in witchcraft, and one out of four believe that the movement of the planets significantly impact their lives.
So, who believes that a bent or holed coin can ward off witches? And, how many of you have a witch bottle planted in your yard? Plus, who among you has a horseshoe nailed over the threshold? Is it pointed up or down?
I am headed up to Salem, Massachusetts, in May or
June. Not sure what I’ll find there, but I just have to go to see it for
myself. Poor Sarah Good. I'll visit her gravesite. Maybe I’ll bring home a poppet or a holed-stone.
At some point, I will provide a few witch stories on this blog. They are fascinating.
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