The Superstition of Witches

The Elizabethan Era was a period of Renaissance and intellectualism, it was also the introduction of the English persecution of Witches and Witchcraft. Ironically, this age of learning also brought on a renewed beleif of supernatural things, including the powers of witchery, witches and witch hunts.

Funnily enough, it was the printing press (which had just been invented) that led to the outbreak of witch hunting. The first printed texts were bibles or books that involved religion, and strangely many of these books promoted witchcraft and ideas of witches. This was the cause of the irrational witch hunts of the 15th and 16th centuries. Later, books on the subjects of alchemy, astrology and magic came out, making people even more interested in the dark magical world. in 1562, Queen Elizabeth the first passed the Witchcraft Act which acted against "conjuractions inchauntmentes and witchecraftes".

The Black Plague was an unexplainable phenomenon (at the time) that involved death and destruction. Just as Hitler blamed the Jews, the Europeans blamed the plague on witches. This gave further cause for people to continue witch hunts. They were blamed for the terrible diseases, death of animals, bad harvests, burning houses, and even curdled food.

Women were often the ones accused of witchery. There were 247 women put on trial, and only 23 men. The woman who were targeted were mostly old, poor, single, widows, or unprotected. With women not having not having any rights, and having to rely on males for almost everything, these types of women didnt have men to rely on. They were expected to make cures for sicknesses as part of their house work. As the witch craze was going on, the Catholic church stated that "those who used herbs for cures did so only through a pact with the devil, either explicit or implicit".  Having those herbs in ones home meant the punishment of execution by burning.

Mother Nature

Before Socrates, Greek philosophers had coined the term nature when they put the all the phenomenons of the world into a single name, and spoke of it have as a single thing: nature. Mother Nature, formerly known as Mother Earth and Gaea, was one of the earliest Greek Godesses born from Chaos, the void in the universe. Mother Earth was the first element in Greek Mythology, meaning that all the other Gods origionated from her and worshipped her. This inate worship was late replaced by other Gods. In Roman mythology she was known as December, the goddess of harvest (the name origionally meant Earth Mother).

It was in the Middle Ages when Mother Earth became Mother Nature, this name was wildly popular throughout Europe, though it has been found that the name traces back to Greek times.

Sometimes, she is described as having very long black or brown hair that covers her face, she floats/flies as her feet never touch the ground- she rides along the wind. Some theories say that her face was ugly, that is why her hair covered it. Other times, she is described as being a young, beautiful girl with snow white skin, flowing hair and bark brown eyes.

She is the maker of forests and seasons, she controls eveything. It has been said that she kills those who cut down her forests.

The idea of Mother Nature can be seen in many Shakespear plays, including Macbeth. The Wiccan religion looks to Mother Earth as their role model.

Father Time

Father time is a mythical character that has belonged to many different cultures throughout the ages. He is the personification of time, and makes for a very interesting character in a fairy tale or myth. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man dressed in robes and carrying an hourglass. His image stems from a few other mythical creatures such as the Grim Reaper and the Greek God of Time, Chronos. Around 1610 there was a portrait painted of Elizabeth the first with Father Time on one side, and Death on the other. This is the earliest art/print reference of Mr. Time, but it is said that his myth was floating around long before the 1600's.
Father Time has a parental nature- hence the name "father"- about him that reminds people of the motherly nature of Mother Nature (pun intended). Because of this, people have often imagined the two as married.
There are still many beleifs as to when Father time graces us with his presence. In some places and cultures, it is said that Mr. Time is only seen on New Years, when he is supposed to hand over his duties to Baby New Year.
Another belief is that like God and the Grim Reaper, Father Time is constantly watching over us and holds an hour glass for each individual that is always slowly decreasing.

Grinning Like a Cheshire Cat

 Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland has been a novel, turned movie that has taken many generations on an exciting journey. In 2010 there was another remake of the movie starring Johnny Depp and other famed actors and actresses. One of the films trademark characters, though not in the movie for long, is the Cheshire cat. Being a whimsical character, the Cheshire cat has an enormous grin and the ability to make himself, or just parts of his body vanish.

Like most people, I too thought that the cat and the phrase "grinning like a Cheshire cat" was a creation from the mind of Lewis Carroll, but after further investigation, I found that to be wrong. The true origin is unknown, but there are several theories. The first, was that a sign painter in Cheshire (North West England) painted grinning lions on the sign boards of local inns. The second, was that Cheshire cheeses used to be molded in the shape of a grinning cat.

The phrase was first seen in print in the second edition of Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue published in 1778. The text reads: ""Cheshire Cat He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of any one who shows his teeth and gums in laughing." The term and phrase were then made popular by Carroll in 1865 when he wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is interesting to see where the inspiration of such a remarkable story come from. Seeing the time gap between Grose's novel and Carroll's, it would not be far fetched to say that Carroll might have grown up with Grose's novel and implemented it into his own work.