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Stories of supernatural beings who consumed the flesh of others and drank their blood are found in nearly every culture around the world. Today we would call these beings vampires but 5000 years ago the word vampire did not exist. These acts would be attributed to spirits or demons. Even the devil was once synonymous with a vampire.

In India there are tales of vetalas, ghoul like beings that inhabited corpses, have been compiled into the Baital Pachisi. The most well known story tells of a king who spends his nights in pursuit of one. Also in India, the goddess Kali has fangs and wears a necklace or corpses or skulls, is associated with the drinking of blood.

The Persians were one of the first cultures to have stories of demons who drank blood. Pictures of creatures drinking blood from the living have been found on excavated pottery shards.

Ancient Babylon had the story of Lilitu, a demon who drank the blood of newborn babies. The ancient Hebrews adopted this story into their culture and renamed the demon Lilith.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were unique in that their cultures did not have blood drinking demons or spirits but instead demigods who consumed the flesh of mortals simply for pleasure. Some would transform into a young woman and seduce a man, getting close enough to drink their blood. Another were described as birds who drank blood and ate flesh.

Mystical Charm hopes you have a wonderful Halloween season full of fun and frights.

Tags: history, vampire folklore, vampires

The idea of the vampire has existed for millenia. Every ancient culture, including the Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks, Hebrews, Egyptians and Romans, all had legends of demons and spirits who we would view as a precursor to the modern vampire. Although there were vampire-like creatures in these ancient cultures, the vampire as we know them today originated in the early 18th century in Southeast Europe.

Tales of vampires in this region included revenants (a visible ghost or animated corpse) of evil beings, people who killed themselves and witches. It was believed that a evil spirit could also possess a corpse thus creating the vampire. Or one could be bitten by a vampire and be “turned”.

Such legends had a powerful impact on the lives of a superstitious people. In some areas it has caused mass hysteria and public executions of those believed to be vampires.

Mystical Charm wishes you a wonderful Autumn season full of fun and the occasional fright.

Tags: history, vampires, vampires through history

Ghosts took on a new dimension during this period. There was a renewed interest in ghosts and Necromancy at this time and stories began to surface all over the world. Songs, poems and ballads also made their way into mainstream life.

Some stories recounted a ghost returning to beg a loved one for release from his promise to marry her. Her refusal would mean his soul would be damned for eternity. Such stories were common at this time. People believed that a ghost would haunt a lover without a formal release of their relationship.

Other tales across Europe took it one step further. They believed that ghosts were caused by the grief of the living. The mourning of the living did not allow the dead to rest in peace.

Mystical Charm and Holy Land Favorites hopes you have a wonderful Autumn season full of fun and frights.

Tags: ghost hunting, ghosts, history

Ghosts during the Middle Ages tended to fall into two categories: the souls of the dead or demons. The Middle Ages were a period dominated by the Church, particularly the Catholic Church, and religion was applied to almost everything.

The souls of the dead were said to return to complete some task, demons were only here to torment the living. It was believed that one could assess the nature of a spirit by demanding their purpose in the name of Jesus Christ. The soul of the deceased would divulge their purpose while a demon would disappear at the sound of the Holy Name.

Most ghosts were souls assigned to purgatory after their death. This was an area of Hell designed for those who have sinned but will only be spending a specified amount of time there. The time spent in Purgatory and the penance was generally related to their sin. Ghosts would appear to the living asking for prayers to end their suffering early allowing them to proceed to Heaven.

Accounts of ghosts in the Middle Ages were more substantial than in later years. There are documents describing ghosts being wrestled to the ground and restrained until a priest could be summoned to hear it’s confession. There are also accounts of spirits who were less solid and could move through walls. They were often described as pale or gray, sad and wearing tattered clothes. The vast majority of sightings were male.

Ghostly armies were also seen in the countryside. There are tales of Knights being challenged by ghostly knights who would vanish upon defeat.

Mystical Charm and Holy Land Favorites hopes everyone has a wonderful autumn season full of fun and frights.

Tags: ghost stories, ghosts, history, phantoms

Every year around Halloween, ghosts can be seen walking the streets and “haunting” houses. These are usually small kids who can not wait to put on their costume and parade around getting free candy. It can also be bigger kids (adults) who just love to scare the bejesus out of their significant other (or their kids).

Ghosts have been part of every culture and folklore since before the pyramids at Giza were built. The earliest reference to ghosts comes from the Bible (yes, that Bible) and the Torah. The most notable is the First Book of Samuel 28: 7-19 in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit of Samuel. Later, Jesus has to convince his disciples that he is not a ghost after his resurrection. They also believed Jesus was a ghost when they saw him walking on water.

Ghosts also appeared in Homer’s Oddessy and the Illiad. These were spirits who had little interaction with the world and were not particularly feared. Some spirits were called upon to provide advice and prophecy.

It wasn’t until the 5h Century B.C.E. that ghosts became haunting, frightening creatures who would work for either good or evil purposes. Ghosts were said to “hover” near the place of the corpse making cemeteries a place to be avoided at all costs. The dead were to be celebrated in public with sacrifice and libations or they may return to haunt the living. The ancient Greeks held annual festivals to honor those who have died. The dead were invited and afterwords were firmly told to leave and not return until the festival next year.

The ancient Romans believed that ghosts could exact revenge on others. A piece of lead or pewter was scratched with a curse and laid in a grave. The spirit of the deceased was then compelled to carry out the curse before they could rest in peace.

The most famous “haunted house” was described by Pliny the Younger in 50 A.D.. He describes a house in Athens that was haunted by a ghost bound by chains. It wasn’t until a skeleton was unearthed under the house bound by shackles that the haunting ceased.

Mystical Charm wishes you a wonderful Halloween season full of fun and the occasional fright.

Tags: ghosts, haunting, history, hunting

Trick or Treating is the part of Halloween most kids are familiar with. In 2005, 93% of all kids in the United States said they were planning on “Trick or Treating”. I fondly remember going door to door, saying “trick or treat” and receiving a handful of candy. Our neighborhood was so big, my friends and I wouldn’t take a plastic pumpkin, but instead a pillow case. Often we would do one half of the neighbor hood, stop by the house to empty the pillow case and go out again for the second half. It took us months to eat it all, but by Christmas we would have it mostly gone.

Dressing up in costumes and going door to door for treats goes back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing (going door to door to sing Christmas Carols). Trick or treating most closely resembles the practice of souling, where the poor would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1st) and receive food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2nd). This started in Britain and Ireland and was even mentioned by Shakespeare in the play “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (1593). The custom of wearing costumes goes back to the Celtic tradition of attempting to copy the dead souls in order to placate them.

The term trick or treat was confined to the western United States before 1940. After that it slowly made it’s way eastward until the sugar rationing of 1942 to 1947. The widespread use of the term didn’t make it to the east coast until 1952 when Walt Disney made the cartoon Trick or Treat.

In Scotland and northern England, children do what is known as guising. Children wear costumes, go door to door and tell a ghost story in order to receive their treats. The practice goes back to the middle ages but became associated with Halloween in the 20th century. As a matter of fact, guising has made it’s way to America and in some parts of the country is now practiced exclusively on Halloween.

Mystical Charm hopes you have a wonderful Halloween and spectacular Autumn season.

Tags: Halloween, history, holidays

Halloween is full of symbols. Every year people decorate their house with ghosts, skeletons, mummies and more. We carve pumpkins, place a candle inside and put them on our doorstep. We dress up in costumes and for one night a year we get to be Superman, Batman or whoever we want to be.

These symbols and customs had their start with the pagan folklore of the British Isles. The ancient Celts would place a skeleton in their window on All Hallows Eve to represent the recently departed.

The Jack-O-Lantern might be the most widely recognized symbol of Halloween. Originating in Europe, they were originally carved from a turnip or rutabaga. The original story talks of a man named Stingy Jack who tricked the devil into a tree and carved a cross into the tree trunk to trap him there. The devil was so angry he cursed Jack, condemning him to wander the Earth at night forever with only the light he had with him: a candle inside a hollowed turnip. Today we carve pumpkins because they are so available in America and much larger making them easier to carve.

Other imagery surrounding Halloween is usually a conglomeration of the season itself and Gothic horror stories and movies. Dracula and Frankenstein have been popular at Halloween for almost a century. The overall imagery revolves around horror, death, skeletons, bats, ghosts, witches, spiders, black cats, scarecrows and more. Other signs of the season such as corn husks, apples, and pumpkins are also popular. The colors orange and black are most associated with Halloween.

Mystical Charm wishes you a wonderful Autumn season and Halloween. This is truly a magical time of year.

Tags: Halloween, history, mythology

The name Halloween is derived from Hallowe’en which is a shortened version of All Hallows’ Even (All Hallows Eve). Even is an older abbreviation of evening which we have shortened further to -eve. Halloween gets its -een from abbreviating even to -een. It is the day before All Hallows Day.

Many people today are unaware of All Hallows Day. In the 9th century, Pope’s Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the Christian feast day of All Saints Day from May 13th to November 1st in an effort to convert more pagans to Christianity. By having a “holiday” on the same day as a pagan “holiday”, it was easier for a pagan to keep many of their old traditions and still convert to Christianity. As a matter of fact, the old feast day of May 13th was once the pagan holiday of Feast of the Lemures (an ancient Roman day of driving malevolent or vengeful ghosts from one’s home)

Although All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day are now celebrated as two separate days, at one time they were celebrated on the same day.

Mystical Charm hopes you have a wonderful fall season. This is one of our favorite times of the year.

Tags: Halloween, history

Exploration and the Renaissance made an impact on the design of jewelry.  Now jewelers had access to gems and materials from all over the world.  They also had access to cultures and arts they had never seen which only stimulated their minds to create beautiful works.

Where gold had once been the dominant material in jewelry, the period saw an increase in the use of gemstones and jewels.  When Napoleon became emperor in France in 1804, he revitalized the countries love of jewelry.  Under his rule jewelers introduced parures, suites of matching jewelry such as an emerald tiara, emerald rings and an emerald brooch.

Another trend that saw a resurgence thank to Napoleon was the cameo.  Once the people of France saw his cameo studded crown, everyone had to have one.  This period also saw the introduction of costume jewelry.  Fish scales were used instead of pearls and conch shells instead of stone for cameos.  To differentiate the arts new terms were coined.  Jewelers who worked with cheaper materials were called bijoutiers, while jewelers who worked with more expensive material were called joalliers.  Terms that are still in use today.

Mystical Charm and Holy Land Favorites are proud to offer jewelry in their extensive collection.

Tags: history, jewelry, renaissance

The world after the fall of the Roman Empire was unforgiving to say the least.  There was no central government, no one to keep up the roads and infrastructure and no one to keep the peace.  Warlords began to claim land as their own and tried to provide the structure that was so lacking.  Unfortunately, the end result was nearly 1000 years of war.

Jewelry, however, saw a boon in development.  The Celts and the Merovingian’s were noted for their jewelry making skills.  Pieces of jewelry were created with a quality that matched the best pieces from Byzantium.  The Torc (a fastener or adornment to clothing made of a twisted piece of metal) was common throughout Europe as a symbol of power and prosperity.

The Celts specialized is pieces made from continuous patterns and designs.  The Merovingian’s  were best known for their stylized animal designs.  Far from being the only makers worth mentioning, the Anglo-Saxons, the Scandinavians and the Visigoths were all known throughout Europe for their work with jewelry.

The Eastern successors to the Romans, the Byzantines, continued the work of the Romans but in the end, religious themes came to dominate.  They preferred to use light weight gold leaf rather than solid gold and put more emphasis on jewels and gems.

Men as well as women were known to wear jewelery, most notably royalty and nobles.  Over time it became increasingly the domain of women to were jewelry and is still practiced to this day.

Mystical Charm and Holy Land Favorites offers many pieces of jewelry.  We are proud to offer a wide variety of Celtic pieces among many others.

Tags: history, jewelry middle ages