Helen Cornish

Looking forward to reading this too!

In the 1970s, an invention of tradition connected the fight for women’s liberation with the figure of the witch. However, this narrative grounded in male fantasies of the 19th century (Bachofen, Grimm, Michelet, and many others). The German “völkisch” feminism followed this pattern, as did Second Wave feminism after the Second World War, especially in its esoteric, spiritual, and ecological branch. The narrative gained ground in the European, the transatlantic and the postcolonial Women’s Movements. Modern witchcraft research has unmasked the “witchcraft narrative” as a mere invention of tradition. However, the “witch narrative” remains alive in the work of the Autonomist Marxist feminist Silvia Federici. The spirit of Grimm and Michelet, which had been conveyed via Gage, Murray and her epigones of spiritual feminism and eco-feminism, still breathes in Federici's books. This article deconstructs Federici’s witches. They are not the granddaughters of the witches who had not been burned, but simply the epigones of the witches invented by males during the 19th century.

SO SO GLAD to see a PROPER rebuttal against Silvia Federici's very wrong scholarship in the latest Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft! Thank you, Rita Voltmer!

muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

Looking forward to @folkloresociety.bsky.social Katharine Briggs Lecture & Book Award *and* the Doc Rowe Award! Details below! #folklore

Happy 75th birthday to the European Convention on Human Rights! #OurRightsAndFreedoms

What a great day. Congratulations!
And I’m looking forward to joining you and the students next week!

Immersed in Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

What do you know about the Witch of Wookey Hole? MA Folklore Studies researcher @milliefolklore.bsky.social is looking for your stories! Survey link:
www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/5ywrm7
@cerihoulbrook.bsky.social @odavies9.bsky.social
#WitchOfWookeyHole #folklore #witchcraft

Folklore, a gripping guide to the weird yet everyday world of British folklore.

Written by two leading experts, @odavies9.bsky.social & @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social, this is the definitive guide to British folklore past & present.

Out September 2025.
#FolkloreThursday
@folklorethursday.bsky.social

I know!

Sprinkling sugar on lettuce/salad is a thing in Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series

"Ever been to a pub where a true local legend resides?" @cursedtea.bsky.social is looking for your stories for a Folklore Studies MA dissertation - link below! #PubLegends #FolkloreStudies
@cerihoulbrook.bsky.social @odavies9.bsky.social

Who's been visiting Sussex woodlands? MA Folklore Studies @clairerakich.bsky.social is looking for your stories! Survey link below!
#SussexWoodland #FolkloreStories
@cerihoulbrook.bsky.social @odavies9.bsky.social

I'm so excited to announce that mine &
@odavies9.bsky.social book 'Folklore: A journey through the past & present' will be out this September! 'The book's key message is that folklore...is and always has been ubiquitous, dynamic and political' manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526180384/

Wow! What a project. Well done!

This simple solution stops pollution going into the sea Amaya Edwards, 10, asks: If Australia can stop tonnes of plastic reaching the ocean, why isn’t the UK doing it?

“Why isn’t the UK doing this?” Amaya Edwards, aged 10, wants to know why simple drainage nets aren’t stopping plastic pollution here.

If Australia can stop tonnes of rubbish reaching the ocean, why can’t we?

Line graph showing the daily sea-ice extent for the Arctic from 1978 to the present time in 2025. 2025 is shown in the thick black line to the left, while the previous years are presented in plasma colormap with the earliest years in purple and most recent years in yellow'ish. Since January 27th, the normal winter increase in sea-ice extent has completely stopped. Arctic ice extent is now record low and significantly lower than previous years. Data source is the OSI SAF sea-ice index v2.2.

The full stop of the increasing winter sea-ice extent in the Arctic has now lasted for two weeks...

🌊⚒️🧪🥼❄️

Front cover. Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto

Tokyo Express, Seicho Matsumoto
Need to start work. One more page!

About the Orwell Youth Prize | How to Enter The Orwell Youth Prize uses the writing of George Orwell as a starting point to inspire you to write about your own ideas and experiences, thinking about the world you live in.

Great prize for a young writer inspired by the writing of George Orwell.

Cash prize and books for school on offer.

Please share :)

Only 1 hour to go before #NewYearPlantHunt starts!
We're all set - are you?
There are 21 of us on the Support Team this year, working shifts over the 4 days to help you with IT/ data entry problems, to offer #WildFlowerID help & to answer any questions you may have.
Just email nyplanthunt@bsbi.org

Love it! Thanks @sarahpinsker.bsky.social

The U.K. Has Held Onto the Parthenon Marbles for Centuries—But the Tide Is Turning. Here's Why I Expect Them to Be Returned by 2030 | Artnet News Lockdowns have played a significant role in shifting the public's perception on restitution. The extent of that shift has yet to be seen.

here’s my piece from 2021 news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

The Climate Crisis might feel like a slow burn, but the clock is ticking faster than we think. We’re in uncharted territory now.

🎥: @edhawkins.org

What a great project Ellen - sounds fascinating!

How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world | Carole Cadwalladr In the wake of Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers pointers on coping in an age of surveillance

NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.

I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Time is hacked up into such small pieces that there is hardly anything left of it."
RIP Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Thank you! It's such a great place - always something new to see or think about!

I think I missed my moment with this one 🤦🏻‍♀️

First page of Mirrors, reflections, and spirit with photo of a witch mirror from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

Contents page for the Enquiring Eye 12 - journal of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

Front cover - with witch bottle image - for The Enquiring Eye 12, 2024 - journal for the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

Super happy to be part of Enquiring Eye 12 with this piece on the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft and Magic on mirrors, reflections, and spirit - especially the shiny surfaces in their collection! museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/shop/the-enq... #museumofwitchcraftandmagic #folkmagic #mirrormagic

So here’s the update. The billionaire owner of the Guardian preparing to get rid of a core part of the news org + 100 journalists.
If you’re a Guardian or Observer reader, please share this. The need for a strong, free & independent press couldn’t be greater. Yet, here it is.

Thanks @noahangell.bsky.social Francis Gooding & Special Rider books for a haunting conversation about the Ghosts of the British Museum in the most freezing venue in London on the coldest night of the winter! Brr!