The Wizards, Astrologers, Fairy Seers and Witches of Victorian Liverpool
The Wizards, Astrologers, Fairy Seers and Witches of Victorian Liverpool: Magic on the Mersey (2020) (UK, US)
In Victorian Liverpool fairy seers, gypsy fortune-tellers, wizards, crystal-peepers, prophets, herbalists, witches, mesmerists, spiritualists and astrologers offered their magical services to the highest bidder. In 1857 an anonymous Liverpool journalist set out to record the magic trade within the city. He jotted down spells (among others the fish breath curse, pinned heart, parchment salt burning…), rituals of summoning (for fairies, angels, demons and the dead) and a series of magical texts (‘O thou almighty eternal Jehovah, Jah, Adonai Shaddai Elohim, Cados, Agla Ou, Tetragrammaton…’). He also offered some extraordinary case studies. There was a fairy summoning at Eastham Woods, a crystal ball workshop at St Helens, circle rituals in a council office (!), a Manx wizard who magically murdered his enemies, a Liverpool messiah who summoned rain clouds, and a ‘small, ill-fed Yorkshireman, carefully Italianised’ adept at reading the stars. Then, around the fringes of the magic industry, there was seduction, prostitution, narcotics, appalling animal cruelty and illegal abortions. Number six in the Pwca Ghost, Witch and Fairy Pamphlets takes you to a Liverpool like none you have ever seen.
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