BBC Pictures 2010Back in time under pagan ritual, where people worshipped the sunrise and set at henge's, did such factors of universe seem so powerful. But even today, the powers which stand in the sky can still control our thoughts and destines. So we may know the Earth travels round the sun and not the other way, and that it is not flat. But even through the Dark Ages and Medieval times, some of the the greatest magical powers have survived, reincarnating themselves and preparing to unleash the power of their imagination. The sure signs of folklore that you and I may always say never existed in reality, the fairy tales that are just stories all come to life.
In time you and I may wonder, what happened to all those people who said they could use powerful spells? But the myths still go on. Take Macbeth for instance, even today the play is said to be cursed, the spells stolen from the witches, cursed the play. Anyone who mentions the name has to perform one of a numerous set of antidotes for disaster has struck many of the cast and theater houses to perform Macbeth or to those who say his name under the roof.
But enough of all those, what have the creatures which now live among us, tantalising and hiding from us. No Halloween goes without a joke about Vampires these days, but then whose to say they don't exist. In our times of such logic and scientific knowledge why do we still have the chills about black magic and white magic, Ghosts, Goblins and Elves, creatures of the night. Science has eaten vast chunks away at the powers god performs, and yet science has not stopped people from believing in the magical. Is it something to do with our pasts, is it because it's only recent history we still relate to the punishment, "if you were a witch or warlock no mercy was given?" The way it's become part of reading culture it feels much more real and believable...?
Whilst never knowingly had such issues, one personal touch I should really remember is that of my ginger hair. In Lancashire, on New Years Day if a person with red hair enters a house first, they bring ill luck.
I say I'm not superstitious but it only takes a little unnerving and I start questioning my own thoughts, are we really here alone or is there something more powerful at work, pulling the strings from behind the scenes. I have known many a place where ghosts have said to be, and known people who have said they've seen them. Dear Lady Castlemaine, my school house was named after the lady who was said to have died in The Castle after her father did not agree to her marriage, she roams the halls on Christmas Eve. Her supposed escape to dash through a tunnel with the aid of her mother through the Guards Quarters out to the safety of Bourne Hall where her beloved waited in vain. She had lived just up the road in the grounds of Nonsuch Palace as it was back then, being horse drawn through what are now the school grounds.
In history we imagine a time which appears only to have existed only for a few years. Ladies living in mansions and palaces, huge gardens and green space within the grounds. Meanwhile, out on the edges, the plebeians of society remain at large, undiscovered. The men in control of large carriages, horse grounds and farmed land. Draw bridges allowing passage across small streams, where the Monarch's Swan's live. Visions of the country portrayed by the likes of John Constable highlight the glory and best of the rural idyll and norm, the Forests setup by King Henry VIII for shooting, and Woodlands diminishing gradually as has been the case since the Domesday Book (1086).
Maybe next time I see a Harvest Moon I will see not only an old way of life but one that remains dormant in the back of our minds. The vast expanses of land and courage, waiting for us to explore. Who knows what is out there for us to discover, who knows maybe there are creatures in the night adjusting all our doings in the day. Guiding us in certain directions and sometimes guiding us to our doom. The Black Dog of Devon is said to be the Devil, larger than a normal Dog. Each county has its own. By no means as spooky as 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' by Conon Doyle. Still, the Lancashire Black Hound (Gytrash/Padfoot) sometimes helps people rejoin the correct path, although sometimes he more than helps them go astray and disappear forever.
After all there are so many stories in folklore and forbidden magical acts that it becomes hard to see what's really going on. Maybe it's all just a big conspiracy, maybe none of it really exists and they are all just myths passed on generation after generation. But remember, next time your standing outside on a moor looking up at the stars, or wandering down the village high street late at night, you may not be the only creature in the area, for the ghosts have to come out and play, the fairies have to reset the flowers, and the Black Dog may well be right next to you.
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