Welcome to...
Magic and Medicines
In this Bonus Series, Eleanor talks us through the history behind magical and folk medicine practices from across the centuries...
Episode 1: Witch Bottles
Eleanor and Martin talk about the uncanny tradition of Witch Bottles.
They discuss what witch bottles are, their range of uses, ingredients, and their strange connections to Renaissance-era Cardinal Bellarmine and the occultist Giordano Bruno.
That's all before they dig into some well-recorded stories about their power - some from as late as the mid-20th century!
Episode 2: Love Spells
Eleanor and Martin discuss the morally and... well, literally sticky tradition of Love Spells.
They chat about the morality of love spells, how people view love magic today versus how they saw it in the past, and explore a series of examples from Ancient Greece and Egypt right through the Middle Ages to today.
Including some cutting edge science dedicated to creating synthetic love potions in modern laboratories!
Episode 3: Curse Reversals
Eleanor and Martin offer solutions to try if you've been hexed!
They start by briefly discussing the history and logic of curses, and offer examples from tablet fragments excavated from the hot springs at the Roman shrine to Sulis in Bath.
Then they dig into a set of case studies: what do you do if you've been hexed with prickling pains, or are a fisherman who can't net a catch, or you have been 'overlooked' by a witch and can't catch a break?
Between the prudent use of black salt, the art of capturing shadows, unsavoury acts involving toads, and more, fear not: Eleanor's got your back!
Episode 4: Ouija
Eleanor and Martin chat about the history of Ouija, including the first recorded Spirit Boards from 12th century China.
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Then they dig into their next appearance: as the Ouija Board, which named itself, along with the Spiritualist Movement, the life and grisly death of William Fuld, the 'Father of Ouija,' and how perceptions of Ouija changed from that of a family parlour game into something far more sinister...
Episode 5: Druids
Eleanor and Martin dig into the ancient history and modern past of the Druids.
They begin by chatting about the Druids' interest in mistletoe, their alleged powers, practices, and unique status in Bronze and Iron Age life, and leaf through the sources of this information.
Then, they hop to the 18th century, when fraudster Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams to his friends) revived interest in the Druids through mass scale fakery.
But what's real and what isn't? The Ogham alphabet? Human sacrifice? The power to summon storms? Eleanor has the answers.
Well, some of them, at least...
Episode 6: Poppets
Eleanor and Martin explore the history of poppets!
They start by chatting about the many roles dolls play in magic, from Worry Dolls and Kolossoi to paleolithic carvings and ushabti.
Then they dig into some strange corners of human history - from the Reader's Digest drive to curse Adolf Hitler to Scottish 'clay corpses', myths about Voodoo Dolls, Japanese doll burning festivals, and more!
Episode 7: Scrying
Eleanor and Martin peer into the arcane history of scrying!
They start by chatting about our understanding of scrying in prehistoric cultures and the earliest references to mirror divination in Ancient Greece, Egypt, Persia, and Mesoamerican societies.
Then it's on to Renaissance occultism, including what was gleaned from John Dee's obsidian mirror and Nostradamus' bronze bowl, Joseph Smith's use of scrying stones, St Agnes' Eve and Martinmas traditions, and much more besides...
Episode 8: Crystals
Eleanor and Martin offer an introduction to the history of crystal magic.
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They start by chatting through the earliest recorded uses of crystals in healing, worship, and for apotropaic purposes, which come to us all the way from Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
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Via a range of shimmering treasures, including the Breastplate of Aaron, the diamond throne of Siddhartha, and a whole range of other glittering carbuncles, they explore how tensions in the early Christian church rubbed against these beliefs and were polished through the Medieval and Renaissance eras into very modern-sounding ideas like "Birth Stones" and "Crystal Healing" and much more besides.
Episode 9: Amulets
Clutch your lucky rabbit's foot and rub your sacred ring while Eleanor and Martin discuss the history of amulets and charms.
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They start by chatting through how we define what amulets are, chatting through some truly ancient examples, from a 40,000 year old Siberian cave bear amulet to the kinds of charms commonly found in Upper Egypt.
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Via Japanese omamori, Classical-era bullae necklaces, scarabs and caul membranes, they explore how amulets are a seemingly universal human idea, encompassing everything from lucky pennies to charm bracelets.
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Episode 10: Cunning Folk
Feeling under the weather? We have something to help with that as Eleanor uncovers the mysterious history of folk healers in England!
We start by chatting through who 'Cunning Folk' were, including quite how wide-scale their business was, as well as the time periods in which they were in their prime.
This leads us through the years of Renaissance alchemy and characters like Simon Forman and Doctor John Dee, when folk healers operated during historic crackdowns on witchcraft, prompting them to move beyond 'hedge wisdom' to become anti-witchcraft experts!
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But has the craft of being a 'cunning man' or a 'cunning woman' ever really gone away? And were many of their methods actually very helpful? The answer might just surprise you...
Episode 11: Tarot
Eleanor offers an introduction to and the history of Tarot!
We start by exploring how relatively young Tarot is, tracing the route playing cards took from the Chinese Tang Dynasty to Egypt and on into Medieval Europe. From there we dig into how simple games of leisure began to take on new meanings, informed by scholars like Antoine Court de Gebelin and Jean-Baptiste Alliette, whose interpretations - or misinterpretations - led to the creation of Tarot as we might recognise it.
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With pit stops to discuss Aleister Crowley, The Golden Dawn, the Kabbalah and much more besides, it's surprising episode in many ways - and one which culminates in a discussion of how the Tarot deck is structured in most modern examples, the differences between the Major and Minor Arcana, and some examples of ways in which Tarot can be read to inform future life decisions and, perhaps, help us discover routes to self realisation...
Episode 12: Necromancy
Eleanor dusts off her old grimoires and fetches up a severed head to guide us through the history of the arcane art of Necromancy!
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We start by discussing the modern conception of Necromancy, not least in video games, including summoning skeleton armies or raising the dead, and then jump back in time to explore how what was once considered a serious, sacred, and deeply helpful form of spiritual practice developed the macabre connotations it has today.
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The journey takes us to some strange places, including ones where, it turns out, Pythagoras was a wizard, as was Jesus (who supposedly sported quite the range of funky tattoos) as well as examples of Necromancy from Ancient Babylon and famous texts like Homer's Odyssey.
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From there we dig into how anti-Christian propaganda and the preoccupations of particular witch-hunters and alchemists saw Necromancy morphing from an almost tender, if sometimes comic set of practices to become taboo and unholy.
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Along the way, we touch base with the likes of John Dee, James I, King Cleomenes I of Sparta, swing by some ruins of Oracles of the Dead, chew over some ideas repopularised by the Spiritualism movement, and much more besides...
Episode 13: Ogham
Eleanor explains the origins and subsequent interpretations of Ogham, the ancient Irish language of cuts.
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We start by exploring how we define what Ogham is, and its origins in the 4th century A.D.
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From there we dive into how the system works, our earliest sources (including The Auraicept na n-Eces, The Ogham Tract, and The Book of Ballymote) some associated mythology, and points of crossover with other runic languages such as the Elder Futhark.
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After that, via a bit of Medieval misinterpretation, it's onto the Neo-Pagan revivals and characters including Iolo Morganwg and Robert Graves, whose speculative works served to further muddle our understanding of Ogham, while also birthing a series of quite nice ideas!
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Encompassing methods for using Ogham in divination to the Celtic Tree Months, links between Ogham and the legends of the Tower of Babel, Lebor Ogham, 'orthodox' and 'scholastic' scripts, and much more, it's a fascinating journey into a rich, technical topic which may, in truth, forever remain a little bit of a mystery...