This topic has fascinated me for years
and just this morning I opened an email from The Last Tuesday Society to find they’re offering a lecture about Witchcraft during World War II. In years past, I’ve talked to two people who’ve verified, as best they can, that the magickal folks of Great Britain banded together during the war to prevent a German invasion.
As no invasion happened, are the stories true? I’m going to find out.
According to the Last Tuesday website:
There is a popular belief that in the early days of World War II, a coven of witches gathered in the New Forest to conduct a ritual designed to repel the threat of a Nazi invasion. In this presentation I will review how primary and secondary sources over the past 70 years helped to build an account about a clandestine group of witches fighting a secret battle to defend their island home so that it would not ‘sink into the abyss of a new dark age.’
Tickets are minimum £6.72, suggested price £10. Event is May 15, 8:00 pm - 09:30 pm
in Britain, or 12:00 to 1:30 pm here in the Pacific time zone. Of course I’ll be attending, even though I’ll just be back from Canada. Fortunately, a recording is available.
If this topic interests you, too, I can suggest
a novel that was written by Katherine Kurtz back in 1983. Titled Lammas Night, it’s about the workings of magickal groups in the defense of Britain. According to legend, World War II was the third time magical folks had saved the country. The first was in 1588, when the invading Spanish Armada was pushed back by storms; the second in 1805, when Napoleon ‘changed his mind’ about invading Britain.
For such a tiny island with not so tiny foes, it does seem strange that it’s always been kept safe, don’t you think?
Want more? Pop over to Mental Floss, and you’ll find a fascinating article about how the island’s witches created the Cone of Power to save the country from Hitler. You can read it here.
And lastly, read the Wikipedia article about occultist Dion Fortune. In February 1940, she began visualizing angelic forces patrolling Britain's coast, in the belief that she was helping keep German forces from landing on her shores.
I’m quite certain there’s far more than I’ve referenced, but I’ll leave it to your curiosity to dive deeper.
Happy Friday, and restful weekend,
Nancy
Lammas Night is available on Kindle now for $1.99. I snagged my copy. I'm sure it will be inspiring.. Thanks for the suggestion.
It is amazing what we can do! I remember when a certain president was going to give a speech at the National Mall and we all gathered to cast a rain spell. It worked! 😉