There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Wm. Shakespeare, “Hamlet” (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
The phrase “here there be dragons,” so famously seen on old maps indicating places where there were great and mysterious dangers to be found, was not so very long ago not simply a metaphor. In fact, no less an authority on natural philosophy (what would later become known as natural history) than Linnaeus himself included […]
Well, it ain’t necessarily so Well, it ain’t necessarily so Dey tells all you chillun De debble’s a villun, But it ain’t necessarily so! So sang the character Sportin’ Life in George Gershwin’s award-winning 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Sportin’ Life was, of course, in his own playful and opportunistic way seeking to disrupt the […]
Whether you’re interested in the the history of the British countryside or geographic occultism, the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain, British folklore, or you simply enjoy hillwalking in the United Kingdom, you’ve likely heard “ley lines” mentioned by someone or come across the term somewhere in your reading.
Just what is a spell? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a spoken word or form of words held to have magic power,” “a state of enchantment,” and also “a strong compelling influence or attraction.” A very satisfactory definition indeed. For myself, I have long considered a spell very much akin to a prayer, for in the […]