The Open Graves, Open Minds Project began by unearthing depictions of the vampire and the undead in literature, art, and other media, then embraced werewolves (and representations of wolves and wild children), fairies, and other supernatural beings and their worlds. The Project extends to all narratives of the fantastic, the folkloric, and the magical, emphasising that sense of Gothic as enchantment rather than simply horror. Through this, OGOM is articulating an ethical Gothic, cultivating moral agency and creating empathy for the marginalised, monstrous or othered, including the disenchanted natural world.
I saw three witches
Asleep in a valley,
Their heads in a row, like stones in a flood.
Till the moon, creeping upward,
Looked white through the valley,
And turned them to bushes in bright scarlet bud.
(From Walter de La Mare ‘I Saw Three Witches’)
V0025829 Three witches or Fates spinning, with bodies of babies tied Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Three witches or Fates spinning, with bodies of babies tied up behind them. Etching by F. Goya, 1796/1798. 1796 By: Francisco Goya y LucientesPublished: [1796/1798] Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
And Walter de la Mare (whose poem is quoted here) was much admired by the fabulous Angel Carter, of whom we blog a lot. I have a post on her poetry to add soon.
I must dig out my childhood book of poetry. There are definitely some witchcraft poems in there and I feel like they must have had an effect on my childhood psyche.
![V0025829 Three witches or Fates spinning, with bodies of babies tied Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Three witches or Fates spinning, with bodies of babies tied up behind them. Etching by F. Goya, 1796/1798. 1796 By: Francisco Goya y LucientesPublished: [1796/1798] Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://i0.wp.com/www.opengravesopenminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/witches-babies-377x2701.jpg)
And Walter de la Mare (whose poem is quoted here) was much admired by the fabulous Angel Carter, of whom we blog a lot. I have a post on her poetry to add soon.
I must dig out my childhood book of poetry. There are definitely some witchcraft poems in there and I feel like they must have had an effect on my childhood psyche.