During our Covid times, I think we all could use something to look forward to. If you can’t think of a reason to celebrate anything—then it’s time for an Unbirthday Tea Party! The great thing about Unbirthdays is you can celebrate them with your friends who are, most likely, celebrating their Unbirthdays too—so everyone is the guest of honour! All of these treats can be enjoyed responsibly al fresco. So, grab your picnic basket and head to your favourite local park for some socially distanced celebrations!
Tag Archives: Romany Reagan
Charles Dickens Day Part II: Haunted Dickens: Mesmerism, Spiritualism & ‘Enjoyable Nightmares’
Noises? I myself have sat in the dismal parlour listening, until I have heard so many and strange noises that they would have chilled my blood if I had not warmed it by dashing out to make discoveries. Try this in bed, in the dead of the night; try this at your own comfortable fireside, in the life of the night. You can fill any house with noises, if you will, until you have a noise for every nerve in your nervous system.
—Charles Dickens, Haunted House
In honour of Charles Dickens Day, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ death on 9 June 2020, I’m dedicating both last week’s and this week’s posts to one of my favourite storytellers. For this week, I’ll delve deeper into the meaning behind Dickens’s ghosts.
Did you know that Charles Dickens had an enduring obsession with Mesmerism? It’s so strange when you start to dig into it, because you can begin to see how this belief informed his conception and presentation of ghosts and the supernatural within his stories. The themes that Dickens addresses most famously in his writing are the state of Victorian society and its treatment of the poor; but his ideas about the workings of the mind come through in his writing when you start to see his characters and their hauntings through the lens of his mesmeric philosophy.
Dancing with Death: A Short History of Funeral Feasts & Merry Wakes
From lavish feasts to naked mock marriages, death has long been an excuse for a party, even in the Christian era. This tension between life and death, celebration and grief, is marked by communities in different ways through the ages, but one common theme throughout is the need to come together, to strengthen the bonds of the community as a whole when one of their number is lost.
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Here Be Monsters: Sailor Stories & Nautical Folklore
‘The widow-making, unchilding, unfathering deep.’
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899)
It has been said that no group of workingmen harbour as many superstitions within its collective breast as sailors do—and well this should be, because no body of workers endures such dangerous conditions of employment as those mariners who ply the seven seas to make their living. In this piece, I’ve gathered just a few pearls from the deep. Here you’ll find some interesting superstitions, legends of beasties and ghost ships—ending with one full-length tale of pirate horror.
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Of Churches & Liquor: Green Man, Jack-in-the-Green & the Revels of May
How is the Green Man linked to the Jack-in-the Green? When was green—instead of red—the colour of lust? And what does any of this have to do with church carvings and pubs? Come with me on a journey through May celebrations of yesteryear.
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An Outlaw Hero for Every Age: The Enduring Legend of Robin Hood
Robin Hood was first the subject of epic legends under different names before becoming a character of country festivals and the Tudor stage. Georgian literature then elevated him to the status of national hero. From bawdy street performance to ecological festivals today, Robin Hood is an outlaw hero for every age.
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Who Is the Horned God? A Journey from Ancient Deer Goddess Cult to Pop Culture
The Horned God is a popular image today, from neo-pagan traditions to pop culture. But who is he? And is he really a he? Follow me down this rabbit hole, as I show the journey of the Horned God from ancient feminist Deer Goddess, to Cernunnos—taking a detour by way of Shakespeare, Brothers Grimm, and Victorian Gothic fiction—to a 20th century mock-historical Wiccan fantasy revival and 21st century pop icon.
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Spectral Animals: Ghost Pets to Hellhounds
“If the study of ghost belief lacks academic respectability, the study of belief in non-human ghosts is still more beyond the pale.” (Knox 262)
Springtime Renewals: Drinking to the Vernal Equinox
The vernal equinox is almost upon us. A time to hail the arrival of spring and to wake up our bodies and minds from a long winter’s cosy. This seasonal flux might feel a bit odd this year. We’re all welcoming the coming of spring from our stay-inside lockdowns, but we can create a feeling of renewal by brightening up our homes and cleansing our bodies to best prepare for the times ahead.
Now—while a good spring cleaning is surely a wonderful thing for the spirit, when it comes to how I’ll embrace the season, I’d rather play with herbs in the kitchen than bust out a mop, so here’s my contribution to the Vernal Equinox: beverages!
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Woodland Magick: Modern Animism & the Folkloresque
In this post, I’ll share with you some of the investigations into the scientific basis for animistic folklore that I explored for my PhD thesis, which resulted in my two nature audio walks through Abney Park cemetery: Woodland Magick and Woodland Networks.
I cannot avoid the conclusion that all matter is composed of intelligent atoms and that life and mind are merely synonyms for the aggregation of atomic intelligence.
– Thomas Edison, 1903
As a metaphysical monism, animism is based upon the idea that nature’s essence is minded.
– Emma Restall Orr, 2012
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Blackthorn & Stone 