The Devil's Plantation: East Anglian Lore, Witchcraft & Folk-Magic - Nigel G. Pearson

Taking its name from the lost 'black book' of a famed Cambridgeshire witch, as well as plots of land sacrificed unto the spirits and the Old One himself, Nigel Pearson's 'The Devil's Plantation' guides the reader through the traditional witchcraft, old magic and folklore of East Anglia.

This is an ancient landscape, and a melding pot for the beliefs, culture and magic of the various peoples who have inhabited it over its long history. And yet, until very recently, East Anglia has been a land 'set apart' and isolated amidst impassable marshes, Fens and uncleared Forests.

Thus East Anglia is a landscape in which 'the good folk', land drakes, land wights, meremaids, giants, spectral hounds, saintly miracles, wort Cunning, toad lore, folk magic and indeed witchcraft have been nurtured and continue to play a part in the lives of the people of what has aptly been named 'Witch Country'.

Hardcover - Special Edition 255 of 300 copies 

Dedication and Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Chapter 1 – The Living Landscape
Echoes of the Ancestors
Graven Images
Spirits in the Landscape
The Good Folk and their Kin
Land Drakes.

Chapter 2 – Meremaids, Giants and Spectral Hounds
Maids of the Meres
Herculean Labourers
Dark and Demon Dogs.

Chapter 3 – Characters of Craft
Witch Country
Dual Faith
Witchfinder General
Mother Lakeland
Old Winter
Jabez Few
Tilly Baldrey
Using the “Eye”
A Little Learning
Daddy Witch
Try to remember……..
By Royal Appointment
Spying on the Witches
Monica English
Today’s Characters.

Chapter 4 – Speak of the Devil ……. (and He will appear)
The Devil in Cambridgeshire
Suffolk’s Stones
Norfolk’s Hills and Hollows
Liminality
Cunning and Mighty is His Nature
Men In Black.

Chapter 5 – Witch Ways
Circles of Might
Toads and Bones
Toads in Magic
With the help of the Dead
Working with Familiars
Prevention, Healing and Cure of all Ills
The Craft of Contact
The Arte of Ligature.

Chapter 6 – Green Ways
Specialist Collectors and Gatherers
The Dark Orders
Plant Lore
Arboreal Lore
Healing Lore
Some Recipes.

Chapter 7 – Folk Ways
Defence by Boiling and Bottle
Salt, Shoes and Spheres
Blood, Bones, Burning and Baking
Special Stones
The Wake of Freya
Charms of Love
St. Mark’s Eve
Curious Cures
The Tides of Life.

Chapter 8 – Three Crowns and Several Halos
Legendary regalia
East Anglian Holy Land
St. Felix
St. Fursey
St. Botolph
St. Etheldreda
St. Withburga
St. Edmund
St. Walstan
Walsingham
Petitioning the Saints.

Appendix – Removing a Witch’s Curse.
Bibliography.
Index.