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Magic of the Sea
383 Plays1 year ago
Episode 25
This is a special Solitary Witch episode as its The Bell Witch Podcast's 1st Podiversery! There is a little celebration.
Swailes is passionate about the beautiful coast. Speaking from the perspective of a sea witch on all things magical ocean from personal coastal stories to nautical folklore and how Sailors are a superstitious bunch!
Podcast Pals goes out to the lovely Kieran of fellow witchy podcast- Beyond the Seas. https://open.spotify.com/show/62rUWS3JLhFnvaodPModtu?si=92781f655ded4ed4
Disclaimer- slight swearing.
*EVERY TIME YOU RATE A SHOW A PODCASTER DOES A LITTLE DANCE*
Fancy being a guest or suggest a topic? Email Swailes on thebellwitchpodcast@yahoo.com
Special thanks to
Fellow Podcast Caffeinated Conspiracies for their trailer and support https://open.spotify.com/show/4PqCw4W8lXVzywdNrJIyLZ?si=7c8e786b1fba4c7e
Melusine Draco for their fabulous book 'Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore' Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore: Amazon.co.uk: Melusine Draco: 9781846944260: Books
To the very talented artist Agni Krivanos for the beautiful episode cover art AK Nails&Beauty | Facebook
ShidenBeatsMusic of Pixabay for the fab birthday music
Produced with love and magic by Swailes the Friendly Green Witch friendlygreenwitch | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
Join the NEW Patreon for bonus content and exclusive episodes The Bell Witch Podcast | Podcast | Patreon
Follow #TBWP on Instagram The Bell Witch Podcast (@the_bell_witch_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos
Official Photos by Beverley Thornton Beverley Thornton (@beverleythornton) • Instagram photos and videos
Music by Geoff Harvey of Pixabay
Made on Wavepad Master
Distributed by Zencastr.
#seaside #witch #folklore #reallife #witchbiz #sea #paganism #tbwp #ocean #witchbiz #magic #stories #water #podcastpals
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Transcript
Welcome to Caffeinated Conspiracies
00:00:00
Speaker
Are you ready to dive into the depths of intrigue and unravel the caffeinated enigmas that surround us? Join us for a caffeine-fueled adventure where every sip and every secret is a clue waiting to be deciphered.
00:00:20
Speaker
In each episode, our dynamic hosts delve into the most thought-provoking and jaw-dropping theories that are under view wide-eyed and pondering. From mysterious artifacts all the way to the depths of the ocean, cover-ups, conspiracies that are known.
00:00:35
Speaker
all with a cup of coffee. Available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe now and stay tuned for mind-blowing episodes that will leave you questioning everything. Remember, truth is stranger than fiction. So let's dive into the mysteries together. Join us on Caffeinated Conspiracies, satisfying your curiosity one cup at a time.
00:01:32
Speaker
See. Feel the waves quietening the mind. Breathe in time of the ocean.
00:01:40
Speaker
Salt on lips. Hair curls around her face. Watching the wind master the tides. Mighty forces battle for power. Elements of air and water. Insignificant but inspired standing momentarily in this battle scene. And when it is time to leave, the forces will still rage on ceaselessly.
00:02:10
Speaker
Well hello witches and beautiful souls. It is I, Swales, the friendly green witch on the Belle Witch podcast.
Episode 25 and Podcast Anniversary
00:02:20
Speaker
Witching in the 21st Century. This is episode 25. And oh are you ready for this drum roll please?
00:02:36
Speaker
It's my birthday! Woo! Party! Yesterday, the third of March, I officially made it to one whole year of podcasting. I'm absolutely ecstatic about it. Cannot believe I've managed to avoid podfade and carry on for a year. So I'm going to get myself a few bubbles and celebrate my little win because I'm proper chuffed that I'm still here.
00:03:03
Speaker
So it's a very special episode. One that's very close to my heart that's a bit of a celebratory episode. Magic
Connection to the Sea
00:03:11
Speaker
of the Sea. This one's all about
00:03:14
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ocean magic and what you can do magic wise near the sea and there's a little bit of nautical lore in there as well because I just found it so interesting and this all comes off the back of my recent trip to Robin Hoods Bay which inspired me so so much which you know you know I've spoke about it before how amazing the sea was and now I really connected with the land and I felt at home and it were beautiful and it inspired me to get a couple of episodes out there.
00:03:41
Speaker
as you know I lost contact with the sea last year but when I was thinking about my relationship with the sea I can just remember all these amazing memories like going to Scarborough with my mum you know and there was a big landslide from all the erosion and I remember being on a boat with her it must have been sort of mid to late 90s and you could see the houses falling down the cliff the cliff edge
00:04:07
Speaker
We were all stood on this boat nearby with binoculars watching this house I think it was a hotel just fall down the cliff and I remember being little and being just like flabbergasted you know just how big this was and it made history in Scarborough and we used to go to Scarborough a lot my heart is in Scarborough I love it absolutely love it I do tend to go there every year collect me seawater and a jar
00:04:30
Speaker
I remember once my mum took me on a boat ride because she used to really like boat rides you know like proper boats like fishermen boats that you could hire for the day
00:04:40
Speaker
I remember going on this fishermen boat for a tour to see the seals but we never got there because the weather was so bad really bad like we were inside the bit where all the people sit and the waves were just crashing over the boat and I was so sure I was gonna die I was so scared that I was gonna die
00:05:02
Speaker
And my mum just wasn't worried, she was loving it, you know, like the rocking of the boat. It was really bad, it's like them TikTok videos of sailors, you know, just going, way right, cabin, slipping around and it was that bad. It was such a funny memory. I can't honestly believe they were allowed to go out on the ocean in that boat that day because it was so bad. I think I remember the captain kind of
00:05:30
Speaker
looking at us and going hmm perhaps this wasn't a very good idea oh my god I remember going to Barbados for my year anniversary when I got married years ago and we had a day on this catamaran you know like dipping in and out the sea and we're feeding these massive sea turtles
00:05:49
Speaker
that were coming right close to the tourists. And we had snorkels and stuff. And I just remember this amazing moment when I were swimming and then the guys who were doing the tour just shouted to me like, look down, look down. So I looked down and I put my face in the water. And as I did, there were just all these beautiful fish swimming right past my face. And you could feel the tails on my face, like on my cheeks and stuff. So I just went really still because I didn't want to frighten them.
00:06:18
Speaker
and the whole school of fish just swam like through me almost and there were loads. It was one of those amazing moments in my life that I'll remember for years to come. Just like how close there were these little fishy fins on my face. Aww.
00:06:34
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So yeah, I must have an infinity with it. I remember when I was a kid I was really inspired by dolphins and I used to collect all this 90's dolphins junk which I'm sure a lot of 90's kids did but one of my all time goals was to swim with dolphins when I grew up and I did eventually do that in Hawaii with my husband when we got married but it was in a pool and you could tell the dolphins were quite tired so I kind of regretted doing it afterwards and I vowed never to do any touristy stuff like that ever again. These poor dolphins were just so tired
00:07:04
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But when I think back over my life, there is a running theme of sea, you know, that means quite a lot to me, stitched in and out of the fabric of my life and my experiences, which I forgot last year. And so when I went recently, it just lit me up. I was just so inspired, so connected. So there you go. This is what this episode is about and I hope you enjoy it. It's going to be a really lovely episode.
00:07:27
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Remember to check out my patreon, I do a column for pagans of the north every sabat and I also put like a preview of my column quite a while before the pagans of the north magazine comes out so it's like a sneak peek and this one is about to go on the patreon and it is of course more about the sea and the ocean and I think there's another ocean magic
00:07:53
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piece on the Patreon that I did while I was actually on the beach near Butlins in Skiganesk. If you'd like to support me on this journey, you can join my Patreon as a subscriber at the Bell Witch Podcast. You can join for free as a taster to begin with. I think it's a week for free. Or if you want to support me another way, you can tip your witch by my brew or you can just share the podcast. Tell your friends, leave me a review and a rating whenever you get your podcasts.
00:08:21
Speaker
All these little things really do go the miles for independent podcasts that are like us, we do it all on a zone, we fund it all to self and we love it, we do love it but it can be hardcore when you're on your lonesome. I hoped you liked the last one which was a darker theme, Beauty and the Macabre.
00:08:42
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with an excellent guest that I had. Celia, she was so fab and yet, so if you've not heard that, do tune into it. And I hope you're enjoying the meditation episode that I released, which also has a bit of a bit of sea theme in there, I think. And here's to another year or more podcasting.
Supporting Creators and Community Building
00:09:01
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So cheers. So now it's time for... It's Podcast Pals! I'm getting better at that.
00:09:12
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Yeah, I'm not convinced. For this shout out and trailer ads that I'm going to share with you, it is such a beautiful podcast. Again, searching for witchy podcasts on the old internet surfing the web and Instagram. Fell across this amazing podcast that looks stunning.
00:09:32
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but sounds absolutely wonderful. It is like poetry, it's podcast poetry. The podcast is Beyond the Seas, made in America, I think it might be New York, by a really awesome guy with a really cool theatrical voice.
00:09:49
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called Kieran and he gave me a first ever shout out on his last episode so I thought I'd repay the favour because it is a really beautiful show it's got the essence of the ocean woven throughout folklore around paganism and witchcraft
00:10:05
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and the elements and the soundscape on this podcast is stunning. Definitely a before bedtime podcast. I can't recommend it enough. I really think it's beautiful. So I do go out and find this amazing show. I am going to play the trailer right now. Here we go.
00:10:41
Speaker
Grand tidings and welcome to you on this, Beyond the Seas. This show is all about the fusion of head and heart, academics and folklore, storytelling and scholarship, myth,
00:10:56
Speaker
and magic. Do we need to say any more? So each week, we begin with a story that catapults us into the beyond. The lore and legends of the past that ultimately illuminate the magic and craft of the present and future. Coupled with soothing tones and tunes, this podcast is all about relaxation and reemergence of the old ways, with a bottle of wine reviewed weekly.
00:11:27
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So join me, Kieran, as I invite you to fill your goblets, drinking horns, and chalices while finding your comfiest of chairs so that you may close your eyes and travel with me beyond the seams.
00:11:54
Speaker
I mean, how lovely is that? It's beautiful, isn't it? It gives me goosebumps. That is just, it's like a sculpture in my mind. It is so gorgeous. So Kieran has this dream to get a little bit of a community going on within the witchy podcast sector. So at the moment, I've got a fantastic little community around me of podcasters and they are mostly from the true crime
00:12:20
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ghosts, stories, comedy, variety shows and nondescript social type podcasts. I don't think there's any witchy podcasts. Can't lie, I'm the only witch in the village.
00:12:36
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and Karen has this amazing idea to try and get this similar community going for which podcasts? And they're a lovely bunch in the true crime law, you know, they're just, they're right nice, man, they're right nice.
00:12:51
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So we kinda want this, me and Kieran would like this for a Witcher community of podcasters, so if you're listening to me and you've got your own little witchy podcast, come and email us and message us and DM us and send us your trailer and I'll absolutely play it and I'll absolutely listen to you, give you a shout out on this show and let's get some more downloads and stuff, get some new ears on your fabulous show because you're here, you're doing it and you are absolutely fabulous witch, absolutely fabulous!
Human Fascination with the Ocean
00:13:21
Speaker
P.S. Kieran said that was theatrical and I was like, am I theatrical? But you kind of got to be for a podcast like this because you do talk to your son all the time. I'm just a bit weird. Anyway, without favor ado, I will get on with the main bit of the show. I hope you enjoy.
00:13:45
Speaker
onto the main topic which is the magic of the sea and specifically about being a sea witch are you a sea witch? I'm pretty sure I am definitely I absolutely adore the sea I've come to realise that last year I was really disconnected from the ocean
00:14:04
Speaker
because i was just so busy camping and stuff and i realized i hadn't seen the sea in a year which is just phenomenal i think i mentioned this before and i kind of vowed to myself i'm not going to let that happen again because there was something missing that year 2023 even though i was having a great time and i was really inspired i was really busy i missed the sea and the relaxing ocean waves and everything about just being at the sea calms me
00:14:32
Speaker
And it is magic and I think a lot of people feel like that. I think especially people living land, they are drawn to the sea as human beings. We look at it in awe because it's just so vast and it's huge and it's a law to itself, you know. The sea can give, give an abundance or the sea can take away. It's life and death, it represents emotion, water element in the tarot cards.
00:14:57
Speaker
It is the ever flow of life. It covers over 70% of the Earth's surface. And when you stood at the sea, as thousands, millions, billions of people have before us and will after us, it just absolutely blows my mind. It really does. When you're next to the sea, all four elements are there in abundance.
00:15:21
Speaker
from the vast ocean of water and the huge sky of air with birds in it and the earth behind us on the beach and the fire in the sky of the sun there's nothing on the sea but the sea and maybe an odd ship but it's just amazing how the elements are abundant on this landscape when you look out at the ocean or the people that looked out at the ocean before you
00:15:44
Speaker
saw the same thing or near the same thing and I don't think there's anywhere else on earth that you can actually say that because we're always changing and transforming and building and demolishing and rebuilding and desperate for change and the sea can't really be ruled by us humans as yet anyway we can't really build on the sea I mean sure we can
00:16:06
Speaker
drill into it and fish on it, cruise on it and ski on it but we can't change it massively in terms of the horizon and also in terms of underneath the ocean surface too so when you think of the ocean such a magical place that can be used to gain magnificent insights and also state of well-being and a state of calmness if you allow the sea to
00:16:35
Speaker
work its magic on you, you will absolutely be a sea witch. So when you think of a sea witch, what pops into your mind? Sea witch, I think a lot of people would think of Ursula, the shape-shifting, magnificent, curvaceous, octopus-like queen of the dark sea.
00:16:55
Speaker
She's pretty awesome and I saw a meme recently that said remember Ursula is a shapeshifter but yet she chooses to look her authentic beautiful curvaceous self you know beauty spot on all and I thought oh yeah I didn't I've never really thought of that but it's quite cool I also quite like Calypso you know in Pirates of the Caribbean ooh is it three?
00:17:17
Speaker
Calypso is such an awesome sea witch with all the little stone crabs. If I were to pick a sea witch, I would choose Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean. And so I'm going to include a little bit of information about Calypso the Sea Goddess.
00:17:34
Speaker
and all that she represents and stuff and also it wouldn't be a podcast episode on sea magic if I didn't include a little bit of nautical folklore because there is masses of it when I was doing the research just kept coming up with sailor superstitions and blimey they are a right superstitious bunch the stuff they did and still do is amazing you know I think that's where the saying touch wood come from
00:18:03
Speaker
because when ships were made in wood it was certain woods that were thought to be lucky like mahogany and stuff and people would carve things in them take them as a talisman on their voyage and then I think that's where touch wood came from because they'd touched the talisman or the ship that they'd carved stuff into touch wood for look there's definitely a link there
00:18:27
Speaker
The ocean is a vast abyss that we only know a tiny little bit about. We probably know more about the skies and space than we do the deepest oceans. The sea is such a huge powerful beast. It is swayed by the sun and the moon with the gravitational pulls. Both the sun and the moon can affect the sea and it does tend to fall them around the globe in like a massive Mexican wave.
00:18:56
Speaker
think about those beautiful white horses huge waves that can be as big as houses tsunamis that gulp whole cities up after an earthquake it's just mind-boggling how the ocean can give life it can give gifts from the tiniest shells and fish to eat a good sailing, outcoming weather and a calm sea all the way through to absolute bedlam
00:19:26
Speaker
And how do you stop water? I always think as a witch, water's probably the strongest element because there is certain things you can do to prevent stuff happening like a fire, you can put it out. Eventually, earth can be moved around and manipulated. But water, if it's gonna flood, how can you stop the flood? I mean, you can chuck a few sandbags on there, but it's not really gonna happen, is it? You know, so as a witch, I have a lot of respect for water.
00:19:56
Speaker
And water changes me so much emotionally. Water speaks to my soul, especially the ocean. When I go to the ocean, I just want to stare out at the sea. And this is not a new idea. People have always been drawn to the sea from tribal people who
Seaside Resorts and Magic Rituals
00:20:15
Speaker
had an amazing relationship to the sea all the way up to Victorians who created the first seaside resorts when they were so open and connected to spiritualism and séances and stuff and they realised there's magic in being in the ocean, near the ocean, you know, the Victorians knew that the sea healed them and that they wanted to get people into the sea and so that is how like Skabra came about because they started building close to the coast
00:20:41
Speaker
to get people in there in the little swim gear like getting healed from the sea and I think I read some people used to bottle the sea like an elixir and then take it back to inland and sell it you know like a miracle cure sea water from Scarborough and far beyond Yorkshire coasts and people bought it because they absolutely knew
00:21:06
Speaker
that the sea would heal your mind at least help your well-being and I think that's how seaside resorts began because of the Victorians connecting to the sea and yeah that brings me on to how you interact with the sea the ocean do you bring loads of stuff back with you do you have masses of shells and rocks around your house
00:21:31
Speaker
Sand in a Tupperware tub, I've got a few of them. I've got jars of seawater that I use to cleanse my tools. It's really good for putting in a spray bottle of a few drops of a corresponding oil to cleanse tools and some crystals, not all crystals, because you know, some crystals dissolving water. Yeah, sell a night, I'm looking at you.
00:21:54
Speaker
and then there's stuff like tiger's eye and malachite which you cannot get wet because it's got toxic stuff inside it like asbestos in the tiger's eye to get the shine so you shouldn't really get them wet side note if it's got an height in it like malachite I think that's a big indicator that you can't really do much with them include water you can't do anything really you can't
00:22:17
Speaker
use them as elixirs because it'll have a damaged stone or it'll have some poison in it. Just stick to your quartz as they're safe you can do absolutely everything with quartz because they're just a very very very very hard natural glass made by the beautiful earth. However, re-crystals don't be scared because you can still have your crystals that have poisonous stuff in them and if they're polished
00:22:41
Speaker
that locks it in there so unless you drop it and it cracks they are absolutely safe as houses just don't bath with them or drink water with the mean and stuff and don't put them in your gob like my kid Clementine always wants to do so what else how about pebbles rocks and stones because they they are like crystals made by the element of water instead of
00:23:10
Speaker
found in the element of Earth. There's loads you can do with rocks and shells, you can make your own runes, you can draw goddess and god on them, you can use them for divination, again just hold them, you can meditate with them. I mean they are essentially crystals aren't they? They're like crystals from the sea that have got so much power in them because they've been
00:23:31
Speaker
thrown around for years and years becoming beautiful tactile objects being cleansed again and again by the sea and its natural ebb and flow the sea is so great for cleansing and grounding because it's such a mass part of our beautiful earth
00:23:52
Speaker
So you can cleanse yourself in the sea as well as cleanse your tools. Very basic sea magic is just going for a swim in the sea and that'll ground you and it'll heighten your vibes and connect you to earth and its amazing energies. Swimming in the sea is one of my absolute favourite things to do and it is the most basic magic I believe.
00:24:19
Speaker
you get in there and you're mindful of what you're doing and feeling all the waters cleanse you and you know move around your body and stuff and then you can kind of do a bit of a mindfulness moment in there even getting your feet and having a paddle in the sea you're still making that connection it's still the most witches normal thing to do
00:24:41
Speaker
That brings me on to beautiful magical hagstones. Oh I was looking for hagstones when I was at Robin Hoods Bay and there was none. They were just so hard to find and it was a beautiful pebbly beach. I was pretty surprised that I didn't find any hagstones. Anyway there we are. I do have a lot hung up over my bed. I've got a string of hagstones that goes over my side of the bed to protect me from.
00:25:08
Speaker
The evil eye and negativity and bad dreams and stuff like that. I mean it is said if you hang them up or put them on a necklace that enhances the power because they become an amulet.
00:25:20
Speaker
and some people believe that's how you activate them but then of course there's the hole you can see the fairy realm if you look through a hagstone it'll unlock a door you know for meditation if you hold a hagstone to your forehead you can knock on the door of the fairy realms I always thought hagstones were made by the current of the ocean
00:25:41
Speaker
and now the water passed them and eventually passed through them but no it's actually a small burrowing creature that works its way through the stones called a piddock. Piddock initiates the process these molecules can eventually like erode through the cliff face by the time the piddock reaches maturity it could have bored itself as far as a foot in depth into a rock face oh my god i've just googled what it looks like
00:26:11
Speaker
and it's kind of like a white long shell looking thing but there's a picture of it hiding in a hole and you can just see its little mouth like
00:26:22
Speaker
Hiya! It's so cute though! These cute little critters, they're quite beautiful actually. There must be a shell casing for the little mouse like, AYO! You're right! I'm just munching through a rock. Don't mind me. I'm making a hagstone, witches! So that's how hagstones are made. I didn't know that. I thought that was really cool.
Folklore and Amulets for Protection
00:26:44
Speaker
Hagstones have been
00:26:46
Speaker
recorded as protection amulets for livestock and buildings since the 17th century. The most popular use for the hagstone was hanging it on stables to protect the horses from being ridden by witches apparently which is kind of ironic. That's probably why they had the name hagstone, to keep their hags away from their horses.
00:27:08
Speaker
But I think there's more history before then. Prior to that the Hagstone is an even older witch's charm for good luck and averting negative energies. We should never be given away or good fortune will follow it so you'd always have to keep your Hagstone round your neck and it'd keep that good luck coming to you.
00:27:27
Speaker
So if you're lucky enough to find one, you could keep it as a precious gift to yourself. If you find lots more, you can give them to your mates. I do love a hagstone. And I refuse to buy them off Etsy because I think that's a bit of a con. I found loads on Brighton Beach. Brighton Beach is fantastic.
00:27:43
Speaker
Fantastic for finding hagstones. A few years ago I went down there and I found loads and loads which are the ones hanging over my bed. I also found this absolutely stunning hagstone. I liked it so much. I watched the tattoo shop and got it tattooed on my arm. So yeah I've got a little hagstone on the back of my arm to protect me whenever I go.
00:28:04
Speaker
An old Irish belief says that to place a white stone in a bowl of clear water if you wish to discover who is causing you mischief and wait for images to appear in your mind. So again that's divining with gifts from the sea but I've never heard the white stone one before it's pretty awesome I should totally try that.
00:28:24
Speaker
There's also driftwood. You could make wands out of driftwood but I find it quite hard to find big pieces of driftwood. They tend to be quite ditty. I'd love to make a one driftwood actually. In fact, if I got a bit of driftwood I probably wouldn't do up to it. I'd just use it as a wand so I might have to try and manifest that. You know where I was at Robin Hoods Bay. Oh it was so good.
00:28:47
Speaker
There is this little tunnel, you know, where this stream meets the sea and goes into the ocean. It just really fascinated me, all this water, clean, fresh water from the hills of the moors of the North York Moors, continuously pouring into the sea. It's just amazing, it really enchants me. But this is really good for magic, apparently, where
00:29:12
Speaker
they see and the river meet it's that where fresh water meets the salt water it's really good for confusion and chaos so you can do magic
00:29:23
Speaker
to cast spells where the fresh water and sea water meet. It's a perfect place to cast spells of confusion and chaos. I'm just reading out of this fantastic book that I got called Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore by Melusine Duraco. It is a really good book and it won that expensive of thing because it's quite old and bits and bobs I knew in it already and some stuff was just well cool. Yeah there's definitely a pull
00:29:50
Speaker
where the two waters meet and many of them you can trace right back to the end of the last ice age when the deep river valleys were flooded about 10,000 years ago. It's crazy! Did you know there were four tides?
00:30:07
Speaker
represent each element so sea tides obviously is element water and this is at the time of the local high tides and low tides and you've got earth tides which is the element of earth and that's at the time of the full and new moons and atmospheric tides for air at the times of the moon's first and third quarter and then you've got your cosmic tides
00:30:31
Speaker
which is fire and this is at a time of increased sunspot activity so i guess that'd be in the summer wouldn't it the spring and summer i never thought about them being more than just one tide well i were researching
00:30:45
Speaker
I kept coming across this fabulous experiment that was done with clams and oysters. Loads of clams and oysters were collected from the sea and taken miles away to a different seaside. Clams open and close with the currents of the ocean and they depend entirely on
00:31:07
Speaker
the currents to tell them how to live their lives, you know, their little clamshell lives. People took them thinking they won't be able to still open and close because they're not at that sea and for a while they did follow the original tides.
00:31:22
Speaker
of their homeland but as they were left in this new place near the new sea they slowly began to follow the currents of the nearest ocean. Having not even been in that ocean the whole
00:31:39
Speaker
body clock behaviour changed and matched the current seasonal change of their now local ocean. Isn't that phenomenal? You know, so to me that says if we tune in to our bodies and the ocean, make that connection.
00:31:57
Speaker
because we're made up of so much water. I mean, it's obvious we're gonna be affected by the moon and the sun and the ocean. We just need to be mindful of it and make that connection be like the clam and try and tune into the tidal waves. So brilliant. I love it. Oh, this bit is right. God swells likes this bit.
00:32:19
Speaker
I'm just going to have to tell you about nautical folklore and sailors and stuff because it was just so cool. They have so many ancient customs and it's thought to be a survival of pagan sea god and goddess warships. Observe whale into the 20th century. Fishermen would construct garlands of flowers for the wooden frames, you know the figureheads for each fishing boat.
00:32:45
Speaker
the garlands were carried around the houses and blessed before taking out to the sea and thrown overboard as a kind of offering to the sea for a good voyage. The townsfolk would carry fire around the town of each fisherman's house asking for the energies of the sun and stuff to
00:33:04
Speaker
Keep them warm and keep the tides calm and then eventually they'd finish up the boat before the voyage Take the flame on the boat and then put it out before the set off Which is a pretty cool little internet fact that I found cats on board were considered extremely lucky and they don't often be a cat as part of the team on the voyage and this cat would get treat so well because it was like their little lucky omen and
00:33:31
Speaker
that they look after it. If the cat fell overboard it was not a good sign and the fishermen and the sailors would be just so worried. Contradictly enough though, a woman on board everybody knows was bad luck, wasn't it?
00:33:45
Speaker
even though the figurehead on the boat which was like the most important part of the boat was always a female with a boobs out you know what I mean boobs there's always boobs so I think this is because she represented the soul of the ship and that is why ships even today are considered as she because she was like a goddess made for the ship's soul
00:34:12
Speaker
and if it was to get damaged or fall off again that'd be a certain doom so this figurehead would get looked after intensely by the crew and I think there'd probably be a job just looking after this figurehead at the front of the boat you know people thought she couldn't sink the ship the ship wouldn't sink if it had a figurehead
00:34:37
Speaker
and the name of the vessel would be a big part of this identity of the ship and it was chosen with great care it got chosen when the ship hit the water you know before it set off it had to be in water before they could name it so I think there's some connections there as well with smashing stuff against the ship maybe to name it I don't know I bet there's lots of little connections there there's also a link recorder with the belief
00:35:04
Speaker
almost 2000 years ago that a storm may be lulled by a woman uncovering her body out to the sea. So the sea could be cross and then you'd see the figured Edward boobs out and hopefully that would calm the sea. So maybe if the vessel that they were sailing was a woman
00:35:22
Speaker
Perhaps there was only enough room for one woman on the voyage and they didn't want to upset the goddess was represented by the figurehead. I don't know, you know what I'm like, I like to just speculate on stuff like this because I kind of get little feelings and little thoughts here and there and I think that might be one at least of the reasons why women were bad luck on the on the ships for a voyage. Oh, they were so superstitious. I love it.
00:35:50
Speaker
and what's amazing as well is a lot of things we say today and do especially from a witches point of view has got roots in nautical folklore and tradition everybody knows red sky at night shepherds delight red sky in the morning sailors warning that that was like a proper hardcore truth when sailors are going out and using the weather to determine
00:36:15
Speaker
whether it was a good idea or a bad idea to set sail. Like the seaman's ability to read the sky is massive and should not be dismissed. Like the lore about the clouds and the sky colour. Like they were more reliable than bewitching stuff about birds and beasts. And even the weather depends like on the shade of blue. You might think that a blue sky is really good.
00:36:41
Speaker
but it's not always the case it depends on the shade of blue a very dark blue sky against clouds a sharper defined as a forerunner of a stormy weather coming but a soft blue light means settled weather so they knew all this and then they used to create rhymes you know to pass on to other sailors and over time they became little little ditties that we know today and they used to throw coins over as well
00:37:07
Speaker
Maybe that's why we throw coins into water now because it's got historic roots in good luck charms for sailors. I mean it's just it's so cool to think about it. In Britain and Ireland as well seagulls were traditionally thought to be the souls of seamen that had died at sea, giving the nature look and cry of the seagull because they seem like the shriek. It was pretty dodgy bad luck to have a seagull come onto your ship
00:37:36
Speaker
They'd think it was a bad omen from another sailor that might have died and be lost to the ocean. It reminds me of that crazy film. Have you seen that black and white film? I think it's just called Lighthouse based on that strange mystery. I just had to google what it was called. It was in the 1900s.
00:37:57
Speaker
and it were these fishermen that went missing on the Flannan Isles and they just had vanished like these free sailors had just vanished into thin air sailors lost their mind on this tiny little island looking after a lighthouse left in mysterious circumstances and there were clocks had stopped and there were coats
Sailor Beliefs and Maritime Practices
00:38:17
Speaker
about and food left on table and it's a proper conspiracy story the film Lighthouse is based on that story
00:38:24
Speaker
I recall somewhere reading a long long time ago sailors didn't bother to learn how to swim because if somebody fell overboard they felt it was their destiny, they're like the sea had chosen them and to rescue somebody from drowning that would piss the sea off even more and so common practice to just leave sailors overboard to drown so they didn't piss the sea off. How crazy is that? I mean that's
00:38:52
Speaker
bar me but I can't believe it. They used to have evil eyes painted on the boats for extra protection against people who wished them ill will. In Greece and Spain the evil eyes were painted on the boat to add to the the protection that they all desired. I mean it was risky business wanted to
00:39:13
Speaker
Go out there on a wooden boat and be lost to see if there was another story I quite liked concerning a whooper. The whooper appears to have been from a genius loci from Cornwall. The whooper made a whooping sound from a thick blanket of mist that sometimes formed in perfectly clear weather above this cove. Apart from foretelling severe storms,
00:39:38
Speaker
The whooper protective qualities had uncanny abilities to prevent any fisherman from passing through the opening of sea. Whenever a storm was threatening, if you ignored this whooping, then you'd have to battle your way through mist and storms and probably be never heard or seen from again. So it was a big deal to listen to this whooping noise. Must have filled sailors with
00:40:02
Speaker
such fear but they'd have to stop what they were doing and listen to it probably there's perfectly natural explanation perhaps the way the sea hits the cliff along the pathways and it would make a natural whooping noise in certain weathers folklore is a warning of the times that gets passed down again and again and becomes something magical and and kind of astonishing and kind of scary i can't believe how witchy they were
00:40:28
Speaker
There was a well-known seafarers amulet that is said to protect against drowning and that was call, I think it is, C-A-U-L, which is a membrane that covers the baby's heads at birth. Baby Obam of this call was considered so lucky
00:40:45
Speaker
and as long as the call remained in its possession the owner would never drown so it was so important to fishermen they'd pay up to 20 quid in the 20th century like early 20th century so that must have been quite a lot of money but I mean would it not just rot away how gross is that but yeah these babies were considered lucky and then perhaps they would end up growing up to be fishermen because they were born with this membrane on the red also I was looking at sailors crafts
00:41:12
Speaker
and because they had time because I guess they were on the ocean for a very long time they learnt how to carve amulets and lucky possessions in whale bone carvings and stuff so there you go they're your first talismans and lucky objects but then they'd also use ropes to create I can't ever say it you know where you make planters out of is it macrame? macrame macareme
00:41:40
Speaker
So a dislikes egg! Can't say it but you know what I mean. You know the hanging planters where you not make perfect art out of knots. So these sailors were doing that on the boats when they were barred. And then they'd also do, now get this, knots in string or rope and sing to it as they did it for good luck. A spell. I mean that's a spell isn't it? That could be a witch's ladder, that could be a knot spell.
00:42:07
Speaker
how amazing is that these early sailors were witches they were doing witchcraft with the stuff that they had lying around on the boats i just think it's so cool it's so cool i love it so it's very inspired by all that and it's all from this book traditional witchcraft for the seashore i just thought i'd pick a few bits out that let me go like oh like that so that brings us on to how do you use
00:42:33
Speaker
the sea and the ocean in your witchcraft today which just makes me so excited of course we're going to bring stuff home you can make an altar with the shells that you've brought home you can do divination with shells and you know them glass fishing net floats you can divine
00:42:51
Speaker
kind of like a crystal ball but from old fishing floats but not the replicas you know it's got to be well it'd work better if it was from hundreds of years of fishing that would be amazing in fact i might try and put my feelings out see if i can get one just see if i can scryne it i can scryne everything really did you know you could scryne rock pools beyond an evening can't see if there's rock pools you could
00:43:15
Speaker
use the moon to look at the reflection in the sea. Moonglade is called. So this is a path of moonlight across the actual sea that's broken and catching the motion of the waves between the moon and the watcher. In Tudor times this term moonshine in the water was a common phrase
00:43:34
Speaker
for empty notions or dreams. To bring some seawater home with you, put it in a bowl and add some ink or throw some shells in it and be open-minded and have a meditate on it and see what comes to you. Seawater's great for moon water. Can you imagine if you got seawater and then got it under moon?
00:43:56
Speaker
full moon it'd be just so heavily charged up and then you can bath with it then put it a tiny bit in the bath it can cleanse you and ground you it's just so good for cleansing because of all the movement and the heat and stuff sea water to bath with is high up on my list of things to do the problem with that though is I go through it quite quick and I only take a jar every time I go to the seaside should probably take a bucket with a lid
00:44:20
Speaker
Another amazing thing you can do to see if your body recognises the tides of the ebbs and flows of the earth is if you stand next to the ocean and put your hands together to feel your aura between your palms and just see what it feels like in full tide when the tide's in
00:44:41
Speaker
see if it makes any difference and then come back and do it again at the seashore when the tide is far out and see if it feels any different. I mean you should be able to feel a slight tingling or a heat or a coldness. It takes practice but if you did this for a week or so while you were on holiday and then when you go home
00:45:01
Speaker
you could check the times of the high tide where you were and practice it at home and see if like them amazing little oysters in that tank in a different town. Be like the oyster and see if you can pick up on the vibes of the tides you know to use it in your witchcraft so then you can adjust your timings and conform to what you want from the tide but I think it would do something I think I would be able to feel something perhaps a bit a bit like Reiki
00:45:29
Speaker
The feeling of Reiki coming through your hands. Oh, I've just said Reiki now with me. My hands have started pulsating apart, you know, because I just mentioned Reiki and that because I'm putting my hands together to feel it and I can feel the heat.
00:45:42
Speaker
Sorry Reiki, I didn't mean to say that. Turn
Offerings and Environmental Stewardship
00:45:45
Speaker
it off quick. When you take stuff from the beach, shells and rocks, be mindful what you're taking. I mean, I do take quite a lot, especially my kids, take quite a lot, but I always have it in mind that I absolutely will return these items when we're finished with them, when they've grown up.
00:46:02
Speaker
When I want different ones I'll take them gradually back to the ocean and that's kind of like an offering. But also you could offer mek offerings to the sea that aren't litter. I must emphasize that I'm not litter. You know you could create an altar on the beach with the things around you which I find quite beautiful and then when the ocean comes in it'll take it with it. This altar that you've created with love and respect.
00:46:24
Speaker
also wouldn't it be great if we could get into the habit of every single time we went to the beach we take later home of us you know that isn't even ours yes of course we take our own later with us but can't it be normalized that we take a bag and we just take
00:46:40
Speaker
a little bit of litter, home of us from the beach, operating a local bin or whatnot. That is an offering, not necessarily an offering that you give physically, but an offering in terms of an intention to do good and to look after the sea because even though the sea is mighty, you know, it needs help at the moment. It's got plastic in it, it's got carrier bags in it, you know, the fish are eating the straws and we're eating the fish so we're eating as plastic.
00:47:06
Speaker
I mean I can't dwell too much on that because it does make me actually quite upset and a few years ago I had to do the tapping you know the emotional freedom technique to get over the worry of the earth because it was just keeping me up at night it was just so hardcore worrying about the state of plastic and stuff but if all those pagans
00:47:26
Speaker
did this every time we went to the beach. It didn't have to be loads, it could just be a handful of bottles, carrier bags, even bottle tops from people's beers, you know, every little helps and it'd just be so wonderful to give back to the earth that way. I love the sound of the beach. I love the way you can hear the sea in a shell, in a conch when you put it to your ear. That's magic when we were there at Robin Hood's Bay. My two daughters spent most of the time putting shells to her going like,
00:47:55
Speaker
Can you hear that sea? Can you hear that sea? And I was like, yep, that's the magic of the sea. It gives us so much and people meditate to ocean sounds and dolphins and stuff. It gives to us in so many ways. It's beautiful. Anyway, I found this sea blessing ritual whilst I was doing a bit of a Googling because I wanted to give you an action for the sea. It's also important to mention, follow your instincts, follow your intuition. You don't really need a how-to as long as you're being
00:48:26
Speaker
Mindful of what you're doing, you're not causing harm to the earth. If you're feeling the need to create something out of sticks or take certain shells home and do stuff with them and write on them and bury them in your garden or art with them or journal with them, you know, that's right. That's your instinct telling you
00:48:42
Speaker
you're making a connection to this ocean and this is how you wish to do it anyway so this is a sea blessing ritual and I got this from the center of excellence.com can you believe they do a sea witch course how amazing is that an introduction to sea witchcraft
00:49:01
Speaker
And it's only like 20 quid or something. It's well good. I suggest you go and have a look at that because it sounds bloody brilliant to that centre of excellence.com. Sea blessing ritual. Begin by standing on the shore of your feet in the water. Take a moment to ground yourself and connect with the energies of the sea.
00:49:21
Speaker
Hold your shell that you've chosen from the beach and visualise your intentions for healing. Take time doing this. Out loud, speak your intentions and then sprinkle a few drops of sea water over your head, allowing the sea to cleanse your spirit.
00:49:40
Speaker
and take time to just look at the ocean. It's just such a good thing to do just to stare at the sea. I spend so much time of my life doing that when I am near the ocean.
Exploring Sea Connections and Final Thoughts
00:49:52
Speaker
You know, and maybe you could call in a goddess to help you out. There are loads of goddesses out there that are connected to the ocean, Neptune and Hecate. But the one that stood out to me for this was Calypso. There doesn't seem to be much written about Calypso. Technically, she's not a high up goddess. She's like a nymph and she had lots and lots of sisters that were all ruled by a sea king.
00:50:20
Speaker
Who was Triton of the Titan Oceanus and his sister wife Tethys. Sister wife? What the heck? She was, along with one of her several sisters, one of the companions of Persephone.
00:50:37
Speaker
When the maiden was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, her name may signify sheltering in a cave. So Calypso possesses healing powers that can give or can take away very much like the sea. She's known for trapping a mortal for seven years because she wanted to marry him and have lots of babies and he were pleading to leave and so she allowed him
00:51:01
Speaker
to make a book giving him bits of material because he want much and he worked hard it took him seven years Calypso is so powerful she can control and manipulate the air to her own advantage enabling her to get clear a perspective and understanding and good old swords energy you know just cut through the bullshit she doesn't suffer falls gladly you know she gets shit done she seems like such a cool goddess I really like her
00:51:28
Speaker
I always think about Pirates of the Caribbean when thinking about clips so do you know where they're trying to release her and they've got to let her shed her mortal bounds but they've got to say it in the words of a lover, the May guy. Oh what's he called with a peg leg?
00:51:44
Speaker
I can't bloody remember. Captain Barbosa, there we go, I proper just digged it out my head then. But he's like, Calypso, I release you. And everybody's like, no, no, it's got to be to be more authentic. The character with the eye that he's always rolling around the ship, like lovingly just sneaks up to her and whispers in her ear that he sets her free and that works. And I really like that because it just shows her like she has this thing where she needed love.
00:52:12
Speaker
from the people who were requesting to sail on the ocean well and unharmed you know like she needed to be loved by in the story mortals she's also known for crabs i mean in the film she turns into loads of stone crabs don't she that just disappear into the ocean crabs are quite cool symbolism like magical meanings of course they're connected to the moon and the yin energies
00:52:40
Speaker
It's on the moon card, isn't it? The crab under the moon. Or is it a lobster? So it's all about the hard shell, the protection against weakness and vulnerability. The ability to sidewalk, indicating that they can step aside from certain confrontational situations. You know, they've got the armour, they're very level-headed, they're good at self-protection and they've got the armour and they can give you a right nasty pinch if you piss them off.
00:53:07
Speaker
So there's some sort of mystical magical moon card. It's a mystery you're not meant to know. The sea is deep and mystical. Oh no I've just had a look and it's a lobster on the moon card. Deceptional! Similar but yeah it's about the unknowing. It's unknowing about having the armour and the ability to adapt.
00:53:29
Speaker
and trust in the universe so i really like that about calypso having infinity with crevaceous animals under the sea and she's such a hardass i need to work with her she sounds bloody brilliant tell you
00:53:42
Speaker
Just a little bit of sea animal symbolism there as well as a bit on the goddess of Calypso. I did go on a bit of a wild wave of wonders. It's fun though. So anyway that's my little ramble on sea magic and next time you're at the beach have a think to yourself.
00:54:02
Speaker
Do you consider yourself a sea witch? Are you drawn to the ocean? Do you love being next to it? Do you take the beach home with you? Dot it around your house and use it in your witchcraft? It's such a beautiful element and when I go to the coast it heals my mind and my body and my spirit and I am so glad to be by the seaside.
00:54:29
Speaker
You have been listening to the Bellwetch podcast. Witching in the 21st Century. Written and produced by me, Swales of Freddie Greenwich. Official podcast photographer is Beverly Thornton. Music by Jeff Harvey of Pixabay. Made on Wave Padmaster and distributed via Zencaster. Wanna come and guest on the show or got a topic you'd like me to cover?
00:54:55
Speaker
Email me at thebellwitchpodcast at yahoo.com. If you're enjoying the show, please leave me a review. Thank you for listening and stay magical, witches!