Jul 14, 2010

Witch Call


We were fifteen under the oak trees,
Call me Hecate, call me Astarte,
We were fifteen under the willows,
I am the witch's own.


We were fifteen under the chesnuts,
Call me Tituba, call me Wenham,
We were fifteen under the hornbeams,
I am the witch's own.


We were fifteen under the poplars,
Call me Samwell, call me Kyteler,
We were fifteen under the rowan---
Fly away...fly away...home.


From Here there be witches by Jane Yolen

3 comments:

  1. The Jane Yolen book is available from Amazon. I'm surprised you're not trying to sell some copies. A lot of blogs would.

    You can also read something of the trial of Jane Wenham, courtesy of Google Books.

    It has a happy ending.

    'A kind gentleman Colonel Plummer took her under his protection, placing her in a cottage on his own estate, where she passed the rest of her life in a quiet, inoffensive manner'.

    The last trial for Witchcraft:
    http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_kMSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA558&dq=jane+wenham&hl=en&ei=CR4-TKWrNYmVOImbpNIP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=jane%20wenham&f=false

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  2. Robur: My copy of Here there be witches came from an Amazon seller! But selling things is not my goal with this blog. In fact, I think my main goal is to give things away...information, thoughts & actual stuff. I do have an Amazon Associates thingie hooked up to my Terry Pratchett blog, but that's because I want the world to read more Pratchett. Thanks for the Wenham link.

    Renee: Jane Yolen is v. reliable. She's written about a million books, so not everything she puts out there is perfect, but she is to be counted on. She wrote that poem after attending a Wiccan gathering in CA.

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  3. Speaking of the two images on the front and rear covers of Here There Be Witches, have a look at this.

    The image show a young woman's face, with elderly hands, with a conspicuous ring, and one hand covering part of her face. The image comes from the August 2010 issue of French Vogue:
    http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zI6sJryPv0s/TEqNTDBEQII/AAAAAAAACpY/1P6Ah_MVxzs/s576/age.jpg

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