A Blondie Bewitched
Gary Lachman, the New York band's ex-guitarist, has long been fascinated by the bizarre, sexually charged confessions of the 17th-century witch Isobel Gowdie of Nairn
Between April and May 1662, Isobel Gowdie, a Scottish housewife from Auldearn in Morayshire, shocked her small community by revealing she was a witch.
She made four confessions in all, recounting in fascinating and explicit detail most of the elements that make up our popular idea of what it means to be a witch. Gowdie spoke at length about the sabbath, the coven, her magical powers and, perhaps most interesting for contemporary readers, her licentious relations with the devil.
James MacMillan’s powerful work, The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, which is played by the London Symphony Orchestra tomorrow as part of the Proms season, has been called a kind of requiem for Gowdie, a memorial to the persecution that many women — and some men — caught up in the “witch craze” of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries were subjected to. It is estimated that across Europe 40,000 died in these “burning times”. And when it came to torture and execution Scotland had few rivals. Full Story
Related: religion, wicca, pagan, spells
Between April and May 1662, Isobel Gowdie, a Scottish housewife from Auldearn in Morayshire, shocked her small community by revealing she was a witch.
She made four confessions in all, recounting in fascinating and explicit detail most of the elements that make up our popular idea of what it means to be a witch. Gowdie spoke at length about the sabbath, the coven, her magical powers and, perhaps most interesting for contemporary readers, her licentious relations with the devil.
James MacMillan’s powerful work, The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, which is played by the London Symphony Orchestra tomorrow as part of the Proms season, has been called a kind of requiem for Gowdie, a memorial to the persecution that many women — and some men — caught up in the “witch craze” of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries were subjected to. It is estimated that across Europe 40,000 died in these “burning times”. And when it came to torture and execution Scotland had few rivals. Full Story
Related: religion, wicca, pagan, spells
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