Tales of Wihtlore: Folklore and Stories from a sacred isle

“…for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”, is what he said, he did not say he was the only god.  

Let us travel back and re-examine Yahweh, let us look at his place amongst the pantheon of gods. Along the way we will meet his brothers and his wife! We’ll explore the myriad of heavenly host who were once deities in their own right but over time were relocated to subordinates.  

We will ponder the implications of turning what was a monolatry faith into a monotheistic one and what that means for Christianity today.  

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah.  

Asherah is identified as the consort of the Sumerian god Anu, and Ugaritic ʾEl, the oldest deities of their respective pantheons. This role gave her a similarly high rank in the Ugaritic pantheon. Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship. The name Dione, which like ʾElat means "goddess", is clearly associated with Asherah in the Phoenician History of Sanchuniathon, because the same common epithet (ʾElat) of "the Goddess par excellence" was used to describe her at Ugarit. The Book of Jeremiah, written circa 628 BC, possibly refers to Asherah when it uses the title "queen of heaven" in Jeremiah 7:16–18 and Jeremiah 44:17–19, 25.

NB: I am not an expert and this is way way outside my wheelhouse, so there are probably lots of mistakes.

Poisons have been a mainstay of humanity, from their use in outright murder to accidental death. We will look at ancient and medieval poisons, their successful and not so successful antidotes and how they have impacted society.

Not all poisons were used to harm, some were thought to be cures in their own right and some were used for their narcotic effects.

Let's explore these toxins that arguably gave rise to modern medicine.

Join me for an evening of Ghost Tales from the Island; ones that you may have never heard before.

We will take an aural trip around the most haunted place in the United Kingdom where it has been said "You cannot go around a corner without meeting a ghost"

The Spectre of St Mildred's

And maybe a few others.

This month I talk about Ghost shops, smuggler and monsters of the seas. 

We cover the following:  

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,

The Crows Curse: The old fishermen, sailors and smugglers of the Isle of Wight would never set sail if a crow had rested upon the bow of their boat.  An ill wind is said to blow and those that venture forth ever return alive. Some say that when their bodies are recovered, their eyes are gone and their bodies are abound by scratches.  

The Mermaid's Lament Tails of Mermaids have been around for centuries, sometimes seen as sirens and the harbingers of death to those that sail the seas. The cunning fold and storytellers of the Island talk of a group that once lived by the needles.  Cold of skin, blood of ice and a heart that was just as frozen. This tale reminds us that just because your heart is cold, doesn’t mean it will always be that way.  

Smuggler’s Betrayal They say there is honour amongst thieves, but that isn’t always the case.  Just up from Freshwater Bay there is a place called Afton – spring-head of the Western Yarr.  It is a strange place, close to holiday makers but far enough to hide ghosts of not only those who were betrayed but those who did the betraying.   

The Saint Marie On the 20th April, 1313, the Saint Marie of Bayonne was wrecked off the cost of Chale. Lord Walter de Godeton sent his men down to collect all the goods and bring them back to his stores. He was later found guilt of plundering the wine (as it had not made it’s way onto the shore and past the tide line when taken). But this tale is not about the lord, but the story of the phantoms that the wreck left behind.   

HMS Eurydice 24th March, 1878 the HMS Eurydice, a 26 gun, 921 ton frigate was on it’s way back to Portsmouth  when it hit extreme weather as it passed Ventnor. The ship sank, claiming over 300 lives, with only 4 making it ashore to tell the story. That is not the end of the story…

As we move into the Month of the Long Grass and the days grow shorter, it's time to tell the stories of the old gods, spirits and of times long past. These are the stories that celebrate the harvest and the deep magics that bring forth the bounty.  

 Let us all bring in the Hooam Haavest, we will sing the songs and spell bind with the ancient stories.  

Celebrating Lammas and the stories that sit around that. A speculative discussion about the pre-christian roots of Lammas, Autumn, The first Harvest and August.

As we move into the Month of the Long Grass and the days grow shorter, it's time to tell the stories of the old gods, spirits and of times long past. These are the stories that celebrate the harvest and the deep magics that bring forth the bounty.   

Let us all bring in the Hooam Haavest, we will sing the songs and spell bind with the ancient stories.  

Celebrating Lammas and the stories that sit around that. A speculative discussion about the pre-christian roots of Lammas, Autumn, The first Harvest and August.

This week we will be talking about the Magic and Symbols of the Island. We will delve into what magic is and how it relates to this place. We will look at how magic relates to belief and how it filtered through from pre-christian and right on to today.

Belief in magic was, until relatively recent times, widespread in Britain; yet the impact of such belief on determinative political events has frequently been overlooked. In his wide-ranging new book, Francis Young explores the role of occult traditions in the history of the island of Great Britain: Merlin's realm. He argues that while the great magus and artificer invented by Geoffrey of Monmouth was a powerful model for a succession of actual royal magical advisers (including Roger Bacon and John Dee), monarchs nevertheless often lived in fear of hostile sorcery while at other times they even attempted magic themselves. Successive governments were simultaneously fascinated by astrology and alchemy, yet also deeply wary of the possibility of treasonous spellcraft. Whether deployed in warfare, rebellion or propaganda, occult traditions were of central importance to British history and, as the author reveals, these dark arts of magic and politics remain entangled to this day.

Join me as we explore the final days of the last pagan king in Britain. Arwald was also the last king of the Isle of Wight.

Born of fire, these fatherless fraternal two of Niht

Like whisps of smoke sailing into the night,

The brother of the sister floats forever on,

He brings that waking dream, Nobleman of  the Wist,

And known to ethereal edgelands as Wūscfrēa.

Sister to her brother thy name is Nihtgena,

Silently stalking, slithering soundless, 

Through the darkness in search of those who

In the midst of slumber accept her unwelcome touch.

O how their mother morns more sorrowfully,

That melancholic ache of watching such siblings 

as these never reconciled because of the divine will of nature;

of this, the unbreakable bindings of the inclination of twins. 

As light grew short and the shadows grew long,

Those days where the shining splendour of Sigel

Flickers and wains, for soon she will ride the edges of night.

The before winter had started and Nihtgena plotted.

This sorceress of putrid dreams, the things that leave us forlorn

And when we wake we tell ourselves they are nothing more

Than conjurings, but our souls know otherwise; though we try to ignore,

Within and without we wonder, is this an omen of dread?

“I tire of this chase that my brother gives to me,

Always over my shoulder does he watch, unpicking at my work.

Now is the time when those things of darkness wake..

And for the unwaking would to come. O  the workings I will work!”