The Magic of the Hag Stone

Nope, it's not some sort of ancient dinosaur it's just a stone with a hole.

Much to my wife's despair I tend to collect stones and shells and odd bits from our walks. Many end up on the windowsill of the room I call my office.

"Ah", I said, when I showed her my latest stone, "but this one is a Hag Stone." She still wasn't impressed. But, as I'd only just learned what a Hag Stone was, I wasn't totally surprised.

It seems that a Hag Stone is any stone that has a natural hole. It's said that if you look through the hole you can often see the little people and the land of the fairies, piskeys, pixies. So who wouldn't want one of these stones!

It is said that the stones can also be used magically for the healing of many ailments and there's still more. They can also be used to protect against witches and to ward off any unwanted spirits of the dead.

A touch of magic is always useful!

As for the rusty nail below and in other photos, this was part, a very small part of course, of an ancient harbour. My wife was delighted when I brought home this treasure ...

Kindly note this post was first published on my Mike's Cornwall blog : The Magical Hag Stone.

The Magic Of Changelings And Cornwall's Men-an-Tol Stones

The photo above is of the Men-an-Tol stones in Cornwall, sometimes referred to as the Crick Stone or the Devil's Eye. They are said to have magical properties.

Some say they have a fairy or pixie guardian who can make miraculous cures. In one case a changeling baby was put through the hole in the stone in order for the mother to get her real child back. Evil pixies had exchanged her child, and the ancient stones were able to reverse their spell.

Changeling babies are often mentioned in ancient tales. They are typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, elf or other legendary creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child.

A changeling may seem a fanciful idea but one was locked up in Cornwall's Bodmin Old Prison in the 1600s. Her name was Anne Jeffries and she was born in St Teath, Cornwall in 1626. Being a supposed changeling she had legendary healing powers - and this is why she was locked up in prison!

Ann Jeffries was kept in Solitary Confinement for six months, and not given any food. The strange thing is, she was not affected by this in any way. Her health and weight were maintained She insisted that she was fed and cared for by the fairies in her cell at night. 

Ann, however, never described herself as a changeling. It is described in an old letter how her powers came about - from first seeing fairies. A quote from the letter (in old English):

In the Year 1645, (she then being nineteen Years old) she being one day knitting in the Garden, there came over the Garden-hedge to her (as she affirmed) six Persons of a small Stature, all clothed in green, which she called d'Fairies: upon which she was so frighted, that she fell into a kind of a Convulsion-fit: But when found in this Condition, we brought her into the House, and put her to bed, and took great Care of her. As soon as she recovered out of her Fit, she cries out, "They are just gone out of the Window; they are just gone out of the Window; do you not see them?" 

Source: The letter was from a Moses Pitt to the Right Reverend Father, Dr. Edward Fowler, Lord Bishop of Gloucester.

Okay, got side tracked! Lets get back to the Men-an-Tol stones.

Men-an-Tol means, in the Cornish language, 'stone and hole' which very much describes what it is, as can be seen from the photo.

The stones are believed to be from the Bronze age and, if this is correct, would mean they are over 3500 years old. As to what they actually are or signify is debatable. They may once have been part of a circle of stones - which would have given it a ritual significance - or alternatively they could have been part of a burial chamber - the hole being for access.

These ancient stones have much folklore attached to them and are said to have a fairy or piskie guardian who can carry out various cures. With the obvious feminine symbolism it is claimed that if, at a full moon, a woman passes through the hole backwards seven times she will become pregnant.

Men-an-Tor is said to heal many ills. It was famous in olden times for curing scrofula (lymphatic tuberculosis) and rickets in children. The children were passed naked three times (or some say nine) through the hole to effect the cure. Adults can gain relief from bad backs by crawling through the opening nine times. Radiation levels around the inside edges of the hole are said to be nearly twice that found in the background environment, maybe this has some significance.

The stones have been used for telling the future. In 1856 Robert Hunt wrote that the holed stone could answer any question. Two brass pins would be laid crosswise on top of each other on the stone and would move by themselves, dependent of the question asked.

Rituals may also have once been taken place here, with the hole aligning to other ancient sites, or as a window into other worlds or dimensions. It has also been suggested that passing through the stone could have signified a ritual re-birthing process, perhaps performed as a rite of passage or to ensure fertility.

Whatever mysteries the stones hold, it is a magical place.

Other Random Posts:
Top 10 Coincidence And Synchronicity Stories
Doppelgangers On The Loose!
The White Dove As A Messenger Of The Dead

More Photos of Cornwall on "Mike's Cornwall" Blog

The Harry Potter Magical Rosicrucian Coincidence

About four years ago, I wrote about the similarities between the Harry Potter stories and the Rosicrucian work, from 1616, The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. "Is this where JK Rowling got her ideas from?", I wondered, "or is it simply coincidence."

JK Rowling does know her magic. In an interview she said:

"I've never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that's a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I've learnt a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I'll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic."

Okay, lets take a look at the 'coincidences' between Harry Potter and The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz:

~ Harry Potter goes to an ancient castle for seven years; in the Chemical Wedding Christian Rosenkreutz (CR) goes to a castle for seven days.

~ Harry Potter and CR are given a letter of invitation during a violent storm.

~ To reach the castle, Harry travels across a lake with mermaids in it. To reach the Tower of Olympus CR travels across a sea with mermaids.

~ Harry is faced with being sorted into one of four houses; CR faces four paths to choose from at the beginning of his journey to the castle.

~ Both books mention Paracelsus.

~ A number of mystery animals are mentioned in both books e.g. the phoenix, the unicorn and the griffin.

~ In both the Tower of Olympus and Harry's castle lives a very ancient man who is in control of the whole proceedings.

~ In both books the meals are served up by invisible servants in a hall lightened by floating candles.

~ In both books there is a funeral where a phoenix appears.

... and so on.

There is a free English version, in a pdf format, of The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz here.

So there we have it ... though there is one more similarity / coincidence:

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we are told that, "There is a room ... that ... contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature ... It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldermort has not at all."

This force is called love ... but is called Venus in the 1616 book.

Other HP Posts:
JK Rowling And Harry Potter Birthday Coincidence
Harry Potter's Minister For Magic And The Narwhal Coincidence

Tapping Into Magic For Creative Ideas

The author Elizabeth Gilbert - she wrote Eat, Pray, Love which was also a movie, starring Julie Roberts - has written a new book called Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. This is about how we can discover our creativity. She has, for example, a novel way of thinking about ideas, and how they can come about. See what you think of the following, in her own words. Part of it is following the coincidences that cross our paths.

HOW TO TAP INTO BIG MAGIC

"I've spent my entire life in devotion to creativity, and along the way I've developed a set of beliefs about how it works - and how to work with it - that is entirely and unapologetically based upon magical thinking. And when I refer to magic, I mean it literally - in the Hogwarts sense. I believe that creativity is a force of enchantment.

I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form, separate from us, but capable of interacting with us. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way any idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner.

Therefore, ideas spend an eternity swirling around us, searching for available and willing partners. (I'm talking about all ideas here - artistic, scientific, industrial, commercial, ethical, political.) When an idea thinks it has found somebody - say, you - who might be able to bring it into the world, it will pay you a visit.

Mostly, you will not notice, because you're so consumed by your own distractions and insecurities that you aren't receptive to inspiration. You might miss the signal because you're watching TV, or pondering your failures and mistakes, or just really busy. The idea will try to wave you down (perhaps for a few moments, a few months or even a few years), and when it finally realises that you're oblivious to is message, it will move on to someone else.

But sometimes - rarely, but magnificently - there comes a day when you're open and relaxed to actually receive something.

Your defences slacken, and magic can slip through. The idea sensing your openness, will; start to work on you. It will send the universal signals of inspiration (the chills up the arms, the hair standing up on the back of the neck, the nervous stomach, the buzzy thoughts, that feeling of falling into love or obsession).

The idea will organise coincidences and portents to tumble across your path, to keep interest keen. Everything you see and touch and do will remind you of the idea. It will wake you in the middle of the night and distract you from your everyday routine. It will not leave you alone until it has your fullest attention.

And then, in a quiet moment, it will ask, 'Do you want to work with me?'"

On Amazon UK: Big Magic:  Creative Living Beyond Fear
On Amazon USA: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Did The Medicine Man Cause An Electrical Storm In New York?

Sioux warrior and medicine man

On Saturday my post was about a witch doctor. As often happens, I have now come across a similar story dating back to 1940, again mentioning a coincidence. As this is in the language of that period, it may not be what is considered as politically correct today.

"Natives have a firm belief in the powers of witch doctors. In one Indian tribe in America some of the medicine men became widely known to control the weather.

It was reported that they could cause rain in dry seasons and make storms cease. Scientists at once set out to see the rain makers at work.

The witch doctors used rain bundles, which were piles of sticks, and these scientists returned with some to New York. They were warned by the Indians not to open them without the usual ceremony adopted by the Indians.

The bundle, however was unceremoniously opened in the basement of a large museum.

While the operation went on one of the worst electrical storms of the season occurred. The only explanation seemed to be that it was a remarkable coincidence."

But was it a coincidence? The article from 1940 also included the following cure.

"One strange cure witnessed by a missionary in West Africa, had to do with a man suffering from tuberculosis of the bones. He had visited white doctors without success, and at last appealed to a native witch doctor.

He was cured after the treatment. Asked what the native had done to him, the man could only reply that the doctor had placed something in his sores that caused them to run for days. The cure was investigated and proved, but the witch doctor kept his secret."

Other Random Posts:
Witch Doctor Burnt Man At Stake And It Made The Rain Fall
The UFO That Came To Earth At Kecksburg
Parallel Lives Of Synchronicity

Witch Doctor Burnt Man At Stake And It Made The Rain Fall

Rhodesian Witch Doctor

I came across this from 1923 and found it interesting as it shows how attitudes have changed - plus it mentions coincidence (but was it actually coincidence?). Southern Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980.

In Southern Rhodesia, Africa, where they have summer while we have winter, the natives recently called in a witch doctor to make it rain. The whole country was parched and withered as the result of a long drought.

The witch doctor, of course, announced that a human sacrifice must be made to the rain god, Mwari.

No one was very ambitious to be the victim, so the primitive city council turned their eyes to a worthless neighbour named Mtegedi. He was notorious for his amours with his neighbours' wives, and the tribesmen gladly seized on the opportunity to get him out of the way.

Well, they tied him to a stake and burned him alive. Millions have similarly perished in the history of superstitious humanity. By coincidence, the victim had been dead only a few minutes when a terrific storm blew along. Rain fell for days, torrents of it.

Coincidence, you know, is the ally of superstition.

If you have been following the scientific news you will know that Americans have been experimenting to produce artificial rain. The most promising method is an airplane scattering electrified sand on a 'roof of clouds'.

Marconi, some months ago, predicted that rain will come and go at our own will in the future. Then we will become lords and masters of creation on this planet. We will then be able to obtain any amount of power without effort.

The contrast emphasises how man in the primitive state seeks the solution of his problems outside himself, and how in the civilised state he realises that the solution comes from within. In other words, we have to work for everything we get on earth, and progress either individually or socially is up to us ourselves.

We still seek alibis and blame our troubles on external (often invisible) influences. But we are gradually learning that the way to get out of a hole is to climb out with our own hands and legs.

Man's fate is in his own hands, with a Divine Being ready to help as we help ourselves.

Other Random Posts:
Abducted By UFO And Told To Love His Fellow Man
Father Meets Son After 40 Years By Coincidence
Kate's Sex With A Ghost Turns To Sleep Paralysis And Thoughts Of Aliens

The Wisdom Of The Greek Magical Papyri And More Earthy Things

It's sometimes said that when someone is on a spiritual path or journey a Teacher or Master will appear when the time is right. The Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae) has a slightly differing slant on this:

"Open your eyes and you will see that the door has been opened and the world of the gods lies within; and your spirit, rejoicing in this vision, will find itself drawn onwards and upwards. Now pause awhile and draw the divine essence into yourself, your eyes fixed upon the light. And when you are ready, say 'Approach Lord'. With these words, the light will shine on you and as you gaze into its centre, you will behold a god, very young and exquisitely formed. His hair will be like the sun and his tunic as white as snow."

In other words, to quote David Conway, "That god is within yourself. To discover him is to know that you are not - and never have been - completely alone."

The materials in the papyri date from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD and they offer many spells and magical instructions, not all as lofty as discovering a Teacher. Some are quite earthy, for want of a better word. For example, there is a love spell:

Love Spell
"Aphrodite's Name, which becomes known to No One quickly, is NEPHERIE'RI - this is the name. If you wish to win a woman who is beautiful, be pure for 3 days, make an offering of frankincense, and call this Name over it. You approach the woman and say it seven times in your Soul as you gaze at her, and in this way it will succeed. But do this for 7 days."

After the woman has been 'enchanted' the papyri goes on to tell (the man) how to copulate a lot:

"Grind up fifty tiny Pinecones with 2 ozs. of Sweet Wine and two Pepper Grains and drink it."

And if you (the man again) want to ensure you are fit for purpose, so to speak, you should should:

"... Grind up a Pepper with some Honey and coat your Thing."

I'd better leave it there, but if you should want to read more of the Papyri Graecae Magicae there is a 159 page pdf available for free here.

Other Recent Posts:
The Psychic Surgeon Who Channels St.Paul
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The Cannon Went Off And Malta Turned Magical

The Saluting Battery, Valletta, Malta

"All things co-operate for good

for myself and for all

with whom I come in contact with this day"

I've just arrived back from a holiday of two weeks in Malta - it was great, but might not have been! When we arrived at the hotel I had pre-booked I wasn't happy with the receptionist, it certainly wasn't the expected 'warm Malta welcome' I had envisaged. We were also disappointed with the restaurant service, so not a good start.

Then I started to get my thinking right. I'm always on about how we get back what we give out - so perhaps it was my fault. I was scribbling something in a notebook I carry with me, flicked the pages and came across the affirmation above. I put it into practise and it was magical! Everything started to fall into place.

At breakfast the following day Karin and I were laughing about something and  a German couple at the next table started to smile. The man said something to his wife about us, which Karin heard. As she speaks fluent German she replied to them, which they didn't expect. We ended up chatting together and they told us that they visit this particular hotel twice a year but they said, they hoped their next holiday would be in Cornwall, England - which by coincidence is where we live! They wanted to visit Lands End, so we exchanged email addresses.

The same morning we decided to take a local bus ride to the capital of Malta, Valletta. When the bus arrived it was packed and people were pushing to get on - it seems only the English queue! Somehow we got on the bus and the driver turned everyone waiting after us, away. Our luck had changed.

We decided to wander around Valletta without looking at any map or info leaflets and wandered where we felt like going. At about ten minutes before 12 o'clock we arrived at what we later found out was the Upper Barrakka Gardens where many people had gathered to look at something that was about to happen below a raised balcony.

There were lots of people so we didn't think we would be able to see what was going on but we went right to the middle and there seemed to be a gap which Karin squeezed into. Then the people seemed to part and there was room for me as well - so we were 'bang' in the middle.

A soldier arrives to set off the cannon

And 'bang' is the right word as at 12 o'clock every day a cannon is fired from the Saluting Battery - and there are amazing views over the water as well.

The soldier primes the cannon ...

... checks his time-piece and then ...

... the gun is fired at 12 o'clock

The Malta Heritage Trust explains the reason for the gun being fired, which is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years:

"This indicates the exact hour at mid-day for the benefit of ship-masters on board vessels to calibrate their ship clocks by. These time-pieces, also called maritime chronographs, were used to find the longitude at sea by comparing the difference between the time at the last harbour visited and that on board ship at that moment in time.

 The use of artillery as a means of announcing public time is not new in Malta, for three gun signals had been fired from a signal gun in Valletta since its inception. This gun was first operated from on top of St. James Cavalier where the Order of St. John also had its principal signal station. From here, three rounds were fired daily at sunrise, mid-day and sunset to signal out the exact time of prayer and to regulate the pace of life. The first and last shots also indicated the opening and closing of the city gates."

Following this our holiday continued to flow nicely. The next day, for example, we talked to a fisherman who told me he'd been to heaven and, unexpectedly, we saw one of the most expensive private boats in the world - but more about this another day.

Valletta Capital of Malta

Photos: © Mike Perry

Other Malta Posts:
The Maltese Fisherman Who Visited Heaven
The Billionaire And The Indian Empress In Malta Coincidences
A Pilgrimage To St Paul's Grotto In Rabat, Malta
Valletta: The City Built By The Knights of the Order of St John

You Can Have Too Many Beans In Life

What's wrong with beans on a Thursday? Nothing, if you haven't been eating them continuously. As Francis Bacon said, "Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety."

And that's life for you. It's about change. Change happens but we can also alter our lives, if they aren't quite perfect, by change.

Mum and Dad who take their kids to the seaside for a few days and paddle in the ocean feel great. They'll say it's the sea and the sun that has done the trick. They are partly right but it is the change from the sameness pattern of everyday life that has worked the magic.

Sometimes we have to change and adjust to fully appreciate life. There's a special thrill about starting something new or going somewhere different.

That's all, just a few rambling thoughts!

More Change Posts:
Using The Law Of Change To Our Advantage
The Law Of Change
The Miracle Of A Flower Could Change Our Whole Life

The Magical Web Of Wyrd

The Web of Wyrd by Diana Haronis

I was reading a book called The Book Of English Magic and came upon the expression The Web of Wyrd.

King Alfred the Great is quoted as saying in 888: "What we call Wyrd is really the work of God about which He is busy every day."

Wyrd is Anglo-Saxon and is usually translated as either fate or destiny but, according to the book I mentioned, it literally means 'that which has turned' or 'that which has become.' The idea this suggests is something that those of us into synchronicity and the like will have heard about.

In the Web of Wyrd everything is connected as in a giant, three dimensional spider's web. A real magician works on this assumption and so believes he can influence this web and can reap benefits from being part of this.

Regarding Wyrd and magic I'll quote from the book:

Hedge-Rider

"A basic premise of the magical world-view is that most people go through life oblivious of the magic that is all around them, like the Muggles of JK Rowling's Harry Potter stories.

Learning magic involved developing a curiosity about the world - particularly about nature and about history - so that its secrets can be revealed in all their wonder.

Like an alchemist finding gold, Tolkien discovered in the Dark Ages a treasure trove of material that revealed the romantic and evocative power of the English imagination of that age, with its rune-masters and warlocks, dragons, elves and orcs, land wights and hedge-riders."

In other words we have to notice and become aware of the magic that surrounds us and respect what has gone before.

More Magic Posts:
Magic Which Brings Coincidence And Synchronicity
The Magic Behind The Secret Lodges
The Magic Of Our Ancestors Can Bring Us Success

Book mentioned in this post:
The Book of English Magic - Amazon UK
The Book of English Magic - Amazon USA

The Grand Grimoire Lucky And Unlucky Dates For September

According to the Grand Grimoire each month has lucky and unlucky days.

For September the lucky days are the: 6th, 10th, 13th, 18th and 30th and the unlucky days are the: 13th, 16th and 18th. As you will have noticed, confusingly, the 13th and 18th are both lucky and unlucky - not too sure how that works.

The lucky days are supposedly the preferred days to cast spells.

It is claimed that The Grand Grimoire dates back to 1522 but, according to Wikipedia, it was possibly written some point after the 18th century. Other opinions say it may represent a translation of The Sworn Book of Honorius, a 13th-century text - but who knows!

Personally I feel that days are lucky or unlucky because of how we feel about them. In other words we make out own luck. In saying that there are still natural cycles where everything appears to go right (or wrong). It's on these day where we should perhaps either play to our strengths or alternatively maybe step back a little.

Have a lucky September!

Other Random Magic Posts:
Magic Which Brings Coincidence And Synchronicity
The Fortress Of Light: How to prevent a psychic attack
10 Posts Featuring Money In Synchronicity And Magic

The Red Sky And The Invasion Of The Scarecrows

Red Sky In Tawstock

Following on from yesterday's post about my stay in a thatched cottage at Tawstock in Devon.

The village was like a different world, people we saw actually smiled and would pass the time of day. The gentleman in the house next to our cottage we discovered had a German partner - my wife was born in Germany too.

As we walked in the drizzle we couldn't help but notice an invasion - of scarecrows!

The first scarecrow we saw was keeping himself dry with an umbrella as he rested on the wooden gate. Someone had written a note to tell passers by this is 'the only gay in the village'.

The following day, in the evening, Dr Who had arrived - scarecrow style with the old fashioned red phone box adapted as the Tardis.

The sign simply read: "Dr Who?"

When we got back to the cottage one of the first things I noticed was a set of Dr Who books on a shelf.

The next evening there were two scarecrows in the porch of the house next to our cottage. The sign puzzled me: "Art and Ruby before the 5 pigeons get home."

And so the scarecrows multiplied.

The same evening as we saw 'Art and Ruby' we watched the sunset as it turned to red - one of the reddest skies I have seen in the UK.

As we sat in the back garden of the cottage the sun gradually dropped from the sky.

Some places are magical and Tawstock is such a place - it even has its own Holy Well. The first record of this is in the 14th century, some say it goes back to Saxon times.

And right next to the Holy Well is the village Primary School - it must be magical to start your education somewhere like this.

Oh, and when we first discovered the scarecrow invasion we also noticed local dog statues were now wearing ribbons.

See also:
The Strange Orbs And Mysterious Coincidences Of Tawstock
The Photo Of The Ghost Of Broomfield Cottage Tawstock