Autumnal Summer Dispatch
And the episode where we finally dip our toes into the sea
Meteorological summer has started in the south of England with thunder storms, strong winds, blankets of clouds and rain. Dew drips off the flowers and the birds search for worms with their fledglings, including my favourite Pigeon Child, who we watch trying to balance themselves against the wind.
Episode 102 of ill fame was released a couple of weeks ago, and it includes some details I’ve been waiting a long time to include.
Firstly, after seeing them on my fruitful trip to Portchester Castle last year, I had to include these stones with eyes on them into the episode; a doom-filled portent from the many-eyed Sea King for Frankie to see. Omens have been on her mind a lot lately, and these don’t seem to be helping the situation.
As part of my witchcraft studies for our Witch Queen, I came across this interesting anecdote from noticeable West Country practitioner and writer Gemma Gary in her book Wisht Waters: The Cult & Magic of Water:
“A sea witch, once living and working in Mevagissey, would perform magical workings by two ‘tusks’, which are in fact Sperm Whale teeth. These she would employ in acts of ‘stroking magic’ whereby she would stroke and smooth one of the ‘tusks’ whilst chanting the words of a spell. One of the ‘tusks’ was used for workings of a beneficent nature, the other for curse magic and blasting.”
I’ll let you wonder if Frankie’s going to be doing more blessings or blastings with her teeth.
The ropes that Frankie ties and binds with various degrees of wind intensity are also based on historical accounts of witches “selling the wind” to sailors. I’ve seen this written about a few different places, but unfortunately I don't have my own source on this. The best I have is the website A Bad Witch’s Blog, who quotes the book Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore by Melusine Draco:
“Beneficent witches... were often called upon to provide a weather spell in the form of a knotted string. The following was recorded c1350 in the Polychronicon by Ranulph Higden: ‘[In the Isle of Man] witchcraft is exercised much, for women there be wont to sell wind to the shipmen coming to that country, as included under three knots of thread, so that they will unloose the knots like as they will have the wind to blow.’”
I had always pictured Rhys with his ropes controlling the wind, so these were a must to include as well.
(Side note: researching witchcraft is a trip. While I prefer to use historical sources as inspiration for ill fame, that is not to say that they are more authentic than contemporary books/articles/videos etc. I guess I prefer historical sources because they sound more witchy. And it’s all so nebulous; after a while you start to wonder if these old sorcerers actually encountered these fantastical beings and powers, or if it was said for effect. But then that’s the thing with witchcraft: it is ritualised, and sometimes weaponised, storytelling, at least in the way I’ve come to understand it. It’s using sympathetic magic to put power back where there was power taken away. And that’s the thing about stories: while the story may not be true initially, they most certainly can be made to be true if you chose to believe them. Still though, I often wonder if I really know anything about witchcraft at all. Let me know your own theories.)
Episode 106 is all finished now and is uploaded to the patreon. At the moment there are four as yet unreleased episodes of ill fame on the Goats tier. Support is greatly appreciated and helps with the production of the comic. I’ve got some exciting stuff prepared for the patreon, but I am doing my best to become a person who plans things properly, so they are still simmering in the background, waiting until they’re ready.
In the meanwhile, here’s a preview of episode 103, out 23rd June.
A couple of new paintings. The top one is a a plastic crab on fluorite, topped with an oyster shell, painted in gouache and acrylics. The bottom one is a pylon I saw in Compton, Surrey, painted again in gouache. Both are on A5 card. The second one has a completely made-up colour palette, as I was experimenting with painting from a black and white photo. Here’s the original:
The pylon photo was taken on a trip to the Watts Chapel, a stunning 120-odd year old clay tiled devotion to romanesque, art nouveau and celtic design, and it sits right next to the grave of Aldous Huxley. The Watts Gallery was also insane; Aesthetic with a capital A, Pre- Raphaelite paintings, Symbolist works. It’s the colour palette that really drove me crazy: cobalt, carmine, gold. I got a bit overstimulated.
We also visited the Russell-Cotes museum in Bournemouth, as I was told that it would be a good piece of inspiration for my next story (mansion on the edge of a cliff). And yes, it was. That oppressive Victorian decadence, complete with a room of flock yellow wallpaper. It left me a lot to be influenced by.
That’s all for now, have a good day!
P.S. Mermay Sea Witches fanzine have been ordered! Looking forward to seeing what my first ill fame book turns out like.