Literary Hub

10 min read

The following essay originally appears in Overland #266. If you have watched Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap, you will likely recall the catchy hair-metal song “Stonehenge”: In ancient times Hundreds of years before the dawn of history, Lived an an

Chicago Tribune

4 min read

Standing hand in hand, they form a circle around a smooth black cauldron, their voices setting off a reverberating hum as they repeat, "Omm, omm, ommm." Outside twilight is approaching. Inside the Malliway Bros. witchcraft shop in Rogers Park, candle

WHO

1 min read

The persecuted witches of Salem cut a deal with the government, allowing them to keep breathing if they enlist in a magical militia. Centuries later, a bunch of new recruits start their training against supernatural terrorist group The Spree. The pre

Chat It's Fate

4 min read

Ebony Dempsey, 30, High Wycombe I’ve been an eclectic witch since childhood, using spells and magic to attract what I want. I’m a herbalist and drawn to healing using nature – herbs, the elements and emotions - in my magic. When I became a mum, I c

All About History

1 min read

Author Christina Riggs Publisher Thames & Hudson Price £14.95 Released Out now If you have ever fancied soaring through the skies, searched for a magical amulet to keep demons from their door, or even hankered for a sightseeing trip to the land of

Maximum PC

2 min read

LOOK, I get it, historical accuracy and video games isn’t really a thing. So when Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla was first announced, I knew, given my obsession with Nordic culture I was going to be playing a lot of it, most likely frustrated. Now, there

Mother Jones

2 min read

1500s-1600s: Social upheaval and sectarianism lead to witch trials across Europe—tens of thousands are executed. Older women, outcasts, and healers are particularly vulnerable. The trials, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English note in their book Wit

All About History

2 min read

Many people believe in the inherent ability of words to influence the world around us, yet not just any words do this: incantations are magical formulae, said with a specific tone and rhyme. The word ‘incantation’ comes from the Latin incantare, mean

Metal Hammer UK

5 min read

Einar Selvik poured his heart and soul into Wardruna’s Runaljod trilogy of albums. Each explored a set of eight runes from the Elder Futhark – the earliest runic alphabet, in which every character symbolises a trait as well as a letter and a spoken s

The Guardian

3 min read

One eve of Witchfest event, radicals say they believe magic and occult are natural extensions of feminism and eco activism

NPR

1 min read

The memorial stands at the site where 19 innocent women and men were hanged. It opened on the 325th anniversary the first mass execution of five women.

Faces

2 min read

The Vikings were using a writing system called runes as early as A.D. 100. The word runes means, “secret knowledge and wisdom.” Rune also means “letter.” The symbols were straight lines carved into stones, bones, metal, seal tusks, and pottery. Becau

Womankind

1 min read

In the Harry Potter series of fantasy novels, students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are offered an elective course on Care of Magical Creatures. The students study flobberworms, fire crabs, as well as the unicorn, a magical white cre

TIME

2 min read

THE PALACE THEATRE IN LONDON’S West End has seen many hits over the years, Les Misérables among them. But surely nothing can compare to the hysteria surrounding its latest tenant, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth installment of the saga.

Entertainment Weekly

1 min read

In an exclusive interview, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald producer David Heyman shares the movie secrets you can’t see in this first cast photo.

ARCHAEOLOGY

8 min read

In the language of the Vikings, Old Norse, rök means “monolith,” and no other runestone stands out from its peers in more ways than Sweden’s Rök. The five-ton stone measures eight feet tall and its five sides are covered with the longest runic inscri

Chat It's Fate

1 min read

Working with herbs and earth magic, hedge witches possess the ability to ‘jump the hedge’ – that is, to communicate with the spirit world and send messages through the astral plane. It’s possible the myth of witches flying on broomsticks is a metapho

PC Gamer (US Edition)

3 min read

Spellcasters are back in the newest game pack for The Sims 4, Realm of Magic, but instead of rehashing the simple witch skills and traits from The Sims 3 Supernatural, this game pack brings the magic of Hogwarts into The Sims: Wands, curses, and all.

All About History

1 min read

Paracelsus sported a German-style longsword, to which he gave an occult name: Azoth (an alchemical term for a transformational element sought by occultists and magicians, and the name given to mercury). The sword would have been three to four feet lo

Woman

1 min read

Rhiannon says: ‘Winning the award made me realise I’ve been doing a good job looking after Mum, and that there are young carers like me out there. I enjoyed talking about rugby with Harry, but my favourite part was being given my award by actor Olive

Discover Britain

2 min read

Witch trials may sound like the stuff of Stephen King novels or comic books, yet in the 17th century they were commonplace. Not only that but here in Britain, they would even lead to changes in the law on the advice of the king himself. In fact, the

ARCHAEOLOGY

2 min read

“Searching for the Witches’ Tower” (November/December 2019) rightly identifies the role of King James I in promoting the eradication of witchcraft in seventeenth-century England, but does not mention the impact of the King James Version of the Hebrew

Practical Boat Owner

1 min read

Here is an invaluable tool to make using your handheld VHF easier, more reliable, and safer for all. And it’s easy to create and apply. Simply print out the Phonetic alphabet list in a small enough format to fit on your VHF’s antenna. Grab a sleeve o

Global Voices

3 min read

"[I would like] a nation where the people looked for honest jobs and did not have to hurt or even take the lives of others," one blogger wrote.