Hags, haircuts and hocus pocus

This week I've been immersed in the world of witches, having stumbled across India Rakusen's BBC Radio 4, podcast series 'Witch.' The series is the intersection of folklore, myth, feminism, ageism and delves into finding spiritual meaning through the paradigm of modern day witchcraft. 

Witches are a provocative subject, with many parts of the world still fearful of them. The 13 part series explores this and the legacy of the witch trails which occurred throughout Europe and America in the 14th, 15th and 16th Century. It delves into how the history of this trauma and 'otherness' is still impacting women today and is honestly sobering. I've learnt everything from quantum entanglement from a Nobel Peace Prize winning physicist, to a property in the soil called guanine-cytosine, which is thought to have a positive impact on mental health and is being considered to treat depression. 

Whatever your feelings about witches, I'd give this a whirl. 

One of the themes that has really stayed with me is the idea of a 'hag,' and the associated ageism which still continues to plague women today. During the witch trials, women over 45 were the largest group  to be targeted and across Europe 60,000 people in total were murdered on the basis that they were feared witches. 

One of the most sobering stories is of Lilias Adie, a Scottish woman who lived in the coastal village of Torryburn in the county of Fife Scotland. Having being accused by a neighbour of practicing witchcraft and fornicating with the devil, she was put on trial for a month. This entailed long periods of torture, including sleep deprivation to elicit a confession, Adie was 60+ years old and thought to have sight and mobility issues. I can't even begin to imagine the pain she must have endured before dying alone in prison (before sentencing could be passed). Due to her status she was not allowed to rest in consecrated ground, so she was buried at low tide in the Firth Forth estuary, with a half ton slab covering her. This is the only example of a sea interment of an accused witch in Scotland. 

Her grave has enthralled people for centuries and over the succeeding years she's not been allowed to rest. It's rumoured that great philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie had a cane made out of her coffin and bits of her skeleton were sold as souvenirs. Her skull eventually made it's way to St Andrews University and in 2019, a forensic scientist at Dundee university was able to create an image of what Lilias Adie may have looked like. 

Doesn't she look like someone you know? My heart goes out to her and I hope the initiative to relocate her misappropriated remains succeeds, (although hasn't proven fruitful so far). Over 300 years after her terrible ordeal, a group lead by local residents and members of the Fife Witches Remembered, got together to commemorate and honour a life so tragically cut short. In Torryburn, just off the main street is a bust of Lilia's likeness to commemorate her passing. 

Needless to say this has played on my mind A LOT. 

Witches aside, here's what else I've been up to this week... 

I welcomed the arrival of my gorgeous new niece Isadora, the first baby for my brother and sister in law. Out of respect to her and my in laws, I'm not putting her photo up on the internet, but take my word for it she's beautiful! 

 

As my in bro and sis in law, live in Shepard's Bush, we had a rare trip into London. My hubby managed to drag me to a mall and despite my usual reservations, (I hate how commercialised and homogenous they are), I had a great time and got spoilt to lunch. 

As for outfits, before the heatwave I was living in these dungarees which are great for wrangling kids! As my hair is so dry and fried from the ombre and the sun, I've been chucking it up under a headscarf quite a lot. 

Take a good look at these curly, dry tresses because change is afoot....

Do short haired girls have more fun?! 

What your looking at is a very impulsive decision made on Friday evening and executed on Saturday morning. Post partum, post perm and post Ombre my hair has been seriously unhappy and with a new phase of my life commencing, (back to work and 60,000 words into a new novel I'm writing), I wanted something to symbolise that transition. It felt SO FREEING, watching that old, tired hair hit the hairdressers floor, but today, inevitably mixed in with the liking of it, is a little buyers remorse. I've had long(ish) hair all my life, whether waist skimming, or below my shoulders it's always been long. It's weird to suddenly not have enough to put up into a bun and it's soooo straight! 

I hadn't realised with a change in hormones just how straight my hair has become. I'm so glad I did it though, I wanted to challenge some outdated ideas of mine that long hair is somehow more feminine, or that my face is 'too big' to carry off a short style and that I'm only interesting if I have long hair. It's a silly echo from my teenage years of not feeling good enough - bollocks to that! 

This is phase one of the two stages, as next I'll go get it permed, I'm aiming for big, bouncy seventies shag like curls! For now though, I like me au naturale, albeit with slightly shorter hair! 

Please excuse the mess in the garden, I asked hubby to quickly snap my outfit, a sister inherited top and a Vinted Indian maxi skirt you've seen a fair few times! The sandals are also second hand from Vinted and the jewellery is my Moroccan stuff. I wore this outfit to a BBQ hosted by some new friends we've made in town. It was so lovely, especially as all the kids came and made friends too. 

After the BBQ I went with some more (different) new friends to see The Pwooaar Next door, a queer burlesque and cabaret performance in my local theatre. It was a good laugh and plenty of bums and boobs on display hahaha! It was a little amateurish in all honesty, but that didn't detract from the fun and you couldn't fault the incredible, communal atmosphere they created. It was lovely getting out by myself and being up past 11pm!!  

I told you I wasn't going to give up on this skirt! Having decided to try and wear it as a dress I think it's doing a pretty good job holding up in this hot weather, whilst still looking cute. You can see on closer inspection it's sagging a little under the arms but as a chuck it on in the garden type of thing, I don't mind. I try my upmost not to waste clothes! I'm laughing in the bottom pic because my husband shouted out of the window, that he'd be taking photos if he looked that fine too - after 9 years together he still knows how to charm me! 

Anyway lovebugs, I hope you have a gorgeous week, put that factor 50+ on and remember to hydrate! 

Lots of Love 

Sophia xxx