Turning points are filled with portent. The time between one day and the next, the meeting of sea and shore, or the closing of an old year and opening of the new are made of mystery and magic. The turning of the year was the time when the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest, and the living could communicate with their beloved dead. Seguir leyendo »

Psychopomps are Guides of Souls, Ushers of the Dead, particular spirits, angels, animals or deities whose responsibility is to escort the newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. Psychopomps appear in many and diverse forms, but no form has more impressed us than that of the Dog. Seguir leyendo »

And a dreadful thing from the cliff did spring,
and its wild bark thrill’d around,
His eyes had the glow of the fires below,
’twas the form of the spectre hound ..

One of the most chilling omens of death in English folklore is the large, spectral demon dog called Black Shuck. Seguir leyendo »

Ruling over both life and death, the Crone holds within her all aspects of the Triple Goddess. She is the mature and aged Maiden and Mother now possessing the wisdom and experiences of youth, adulthood and old age. She stands at the crossroads, at the bridge between death and rebirth. Seguir leyendo »

Any threshold, any area of transition, is steeped in magic and legend and the most significant of these is the Crossroads where the veil to the otherworld is thin. Crossroads, like doorways, are potent with the transcendent powers of gods, spirits, and the dead. They symbolise the necessary transition from one phase of life to another, and from life to death. Seguir leyendo »