The Weird Sisters

I am sharing another picture taken by my father during one of his walks. This time, it is three witches, who of course reminded me of the Weird Sisters in the Scottish Play. By the way, it's a great play to watch come Halloween.

"Let's hear the tale of Mad King Macbeth..."

There are some interesting things happening this week in Manchester for the theatre lover like myself, and those who love Shakespeare especially.The Anthony Burgess Foundation is hosting a retelling of Macbeth by the Cream-Faced Loons Company. I don't know the Loons, but I know the Foundation and this should be extremely interesting. For the visitors and the residents, you can find the calendar here. Their workshop is already sold out (now that's something I would love to attend). Unfortunately I cannot be there, not on such short notice, but here is the teaser:

Witches, witchcraft and a good deed

Tonight's countdown to Halloween post is again about witches and witchcraft. This picture was taken from The Book of the Year 1980something. Back before the internet, it was how I learned a lot of things about the world and folklore: through this yearly review. There was always a section about myths, legends, folklore and other stuff, which fascinated me. This image was taken from that section, it represents the three witches from The Scottish Play, with a bit of artistic license: the black cat and huge mushrooms often associated with these characters. I asked my dad to send me pictures of these images for Halloween, not knowing how I would use them. I just find them really gorgeous and atmospheric.

Well, the inspiration for this post and the excuse to share this gorgeous picture came yesterday. We received the visit of little Wolfie's uncle (my wife's brother), aunt (his wife), but not his cousin 9their daughter/our niece). Cousin, who is now a teenager of 17 years, was busy writing an essay on... witchcraft and witches through the ages and culture. Once of these things that should be for undergrads, not teenagers. Well, as my brother-in-law was lamenting that he was desperate to find a book for her with first-hand accounts, The Penguin Book of Witches, I merely...took the book off our bookshelves. He was flabbergasted, saying he had looked for it everywhere and that he was getting desperate. He said: "I am an atheist, but this nothing short of a miracle." I answered: "Actually, I made a deal with the Devil to get my hand on it." Which is not true, but a new great unknown line all the same. In fact, I bought it to complete my list of Halloween books, planning to read it next year. I am glad I did not make it part of this year's Halloween reads, because now it is in the hands of our niece. This was my good deed of the day.

Something wicked this way comes

Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 

This is of course from the Scottish Play, first acts, an incantation of the three witches. But it could also fit Halloween easily: witches, witchcraft, etc. And it was turned into a song in one of the Harry Potter movies (this one if I am not mistaken), sang in an Halloween scene. I usually upload a song for Halloween, this one is perfect. I do not have three witches, but I do have three Jack O'Lanterns, an Unholy Trinity. So here it is.

Dansons autour du chaudron

Petit plogue pour mes lecteurs francophones qui se cherchent une petite lecture facile, rapide, pas chère (vraiment pas chère) qui peut mener à d'autres. J'y ai pensé en relisant mon billet en anglais sur les sorcières. Le livre est petit, presqu'un pamphlet, il coûtait deux euros à sa sortie et il est intitulé Dansons autour du chaudron. Le titre est tiré d'un vers de la pièce écossaise de Shakespeare. C'est un collectif d'extraits de textes sur les sorcières, de différents auteurs à différentes époques et des genres complètement différents. La sorcière y est vue sous ses différents aspects: prophétesse, magicienne, servante du démon, marginale incomprise, séductrice... Parce que les textes ne sont pas complets, c'est une lecture parfois un brin frustrante, mais bien entendu on peut revoir les textes complets par après. Pour se préparer à cet Halloween et au prochain, c'est une bonne petite lecture.