Najah Lightfoot is the multi award-winning author and regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. Najah’s magickal staff is on display and part of the permanent collection of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft. She is an in-demand speaker and presenter for conferences, events, and workshops. Najah lives in Denver, Colorado, where the blue skies and the power of the Rocky Mountains uplift and fill her soul.

In this episode, we talk about her new book, The Spiritual Magic of Dolls, haunted dolls, how to know if you're a 'doll person', and how to start collecting dolls!

Buy The Spiritual Magic of Dolls: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781578638857

Find Najah online: https://www.craftandconjure.com/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

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In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not involved in its generation. So, contributors could share folklore they remembered from their childhood. Or they could share what they’d heard from children in their lives now.

Most responses came from those sharing memories of childhood folklore, and broadly fell into three categories. As a result, this episode and the two that follow will use those categories.

Urban Legends refers to the stories or urban legends that people shared. Games and Practices refers to things that people did. Monsters and Beliefs refer to (surprise, surprise) things people believed!

In this episode, we’ll explore some of the beliefs people heard and spread in their childhood, including supernatural beings like witches, love divination, and superstitions!

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/childrens-beliefs/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not involved in its generation. So, contributors could share folklore they remembered from their childhood. Or they could share what they’d heard from children in their lives now.

Most responses came from those sharing memories of childhood folklore, and broadly fell into three categories. As a result, this episode and the two that follow will use those categories.

Urban Legends refers to the stories or urban legends that people shared. Games and Practices refers to things that people did. Monsters and Beliefs refer to (surprise, surprise) things people believed!

In this episode, we’ll explore some of the urban legends people heard and spread in their childhood. We'll also examine how they dovetail with wider patterns of such legends, where applicable!

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/childrens-urban-legends/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

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Some toy trends make sense, like the fascination with Lego or even Barbie-mania, which naturally enjoyed the boost from the 2023 film. The fad for trolls, however, doesn't immediately make sense. These strange plastic figures with staring eyes and wild hair don't really do much…but that has never stopped people wanting them.

This month is going to be all about children's folklore, and that led me onto thinking about toys. While the folklore of toys might have seemed more obvious, troll dolls give us the chance to explore toys related to folklore.

So let's explore where troll dolls came from, and how trolls themselves appear in Scandinavian myth and folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/trolls-in-folklore/

Check out my new book about love magic in folklore, Bring Me Love: https://www.icysedgwick.com/book/bring-me-love/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

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The arts remain one of the best ways to preserve culture in a way that people can interact with. Literature, folk music, and art, among others, allow us to experience culture, even secondhand, using tangible sources. Even better, we can create our own responses to this culture using our chosen cultural medium.

Painter Ralph Hedley captured ordinary, working-class life around Tyneside and Northumberland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We’ll explore how he captured scenes of ritual, tradition, and custom in his beautiful paintings, and investigate what they can tell us about the way folklore shows up, primarily in cities. 

But we're also focusing on his work as an example of how much community rituals mattered in the past as a way of bringing people together. We need that now, more than ever.

Let’s go and explore the work of Ralph Hedley in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/ralph-hedley/

Donate to Stand with Minnesota: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

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The Newcastle Castle occupies a strange position in the city centre. So strange that some people can’t believe we have a castle in town at all!

Various buildings have stood on the site for centuries, dating back to the Romans and their Pons Aelius fort. Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, originally founded Newcastle Castle in 1080.

This early castle was made from wood, and builders rebuilt the castle in stone between 1168 and 1178. It has been a castle, a prison, a beer cellar and Civil War stronghold. Now, it’s a visitor attraction, and one that I highly recommend seeing if you can.

But as with any English castle, stories both sad and strange abound within Newcastle Castle. Let’s examine three of its legends as part of our exploration of folklore found within cities in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-castle/

Buy my illustrated talk about the Castle Garth: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-episode-of-118882103

Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

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Walk along Stowell Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and turn into St Andrew’s Street, and you might notice a plaque on the wall. It marks the site of the house where Tyneside bard Joe Wilson was born - though it’s unclear how many people know who Joe Wilson is.

There was a resurgence of interest in the 19th-century songwriter a few years ago, particularly thanks to the musical play, The Great Joe Wilson, that toured the north east in 2018. It was a rousing, whistle-stop tour of the bard’s short life and songs.

But who was he, and why is he important if we’re looking at a city through a folklore lens? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/joe-wilson

Hear 'Keep Yor Feet Still, Geordie Hinny': https://youtu.be/W4BBDu8pd7s?si=MYyov6vkqNjYpvRV

Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9

Find the links to the writing workshops here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/start-here/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

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Inhabitants of the Tyneside region are undoubtedly familiar with the 19th-century song, 'The Blaydon Races'. It describes a journey from Newcastle's city centre to Blaydon to see the races, and even became immortalised in art. The song is traditionally sung in the local Geordie dialect, although over time, some of the language has softened to make it more easily understood by outsiders.

Now sung at football and rugby events in the area, the song preserves a slice of history, and the characters that populated the area at the time. Given this month's focus on exploring a city's folk life through its history, looking at a folk song that came to represent the city seems the ideal subject for an episode! 

But what are the Blaydon Races, and why did they end up being the subject of a music-hall song? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/blaydon-races

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Newcastle upon Tyne is famous for many things: its bridges, nightlife, and being the birthplace of Greggs are just some of them. We've seen plenty of world firsts here, been on the frontline of science and technology, witnessed ethical consumption in the 18th century, and turned a Roman settlement into a city.

But our disasters are perhaps less well-known. Newcastle has suffered from plague, fire, flood, and cholera - among other things. Why don't we hear about these as often, if at all?

Let's explore the Great Plague of 1636, the Great Flood of 1771, and the Great Fire of 1854 to see what they can tell us about the city we can encounter here in the 2020s in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-disasters

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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We're onto the final instalment in this series of Festive Folklore episodes, that are coming to you with the help of some of my Fabulous Folklore friends! This time we're turning our attention to New Year and I'm joined by my podcasting pals, Bethan Briggs-Miller and Ailsa Clarke, and together they are Eerie Essex! 

We chat about nut-related stock market predictions, ways to bring good luck into your new year, the Mari Lwyd, and our own New Year traditions and practices.

Find Eerie Essex online: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827712

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

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