"To wield an ash wand in the Elizabethan period was to draw upon a heritage of cosmic connection and healing power"

Here is one suspect information tablet from my workplace's magic exhibition. I don't know where they get any of this from

So was the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act passed in 1562 or 1563? I don't understand why secondary sources can't agree on a date.

I wish an actual historian of witchcraft and indeed cunning folk had been properly consulted because the narrative on witchcraft provided by the exhibition is essentially "the alleged witches were mostly folk healers"

This has unfortunately also happened at an Elizabethan magic exhibition taking place at my own workplace. It has totally dispensed with any nuance in favour of old myths

The lacemaker, c. 1665
Bernhard Kiel

(Met Museum)

St Margaret of Antioch
c. 1475
French, amazing alabaster work.

(Met Museum)

Having been swallowed by the devil in the guise of a dragon, she burst unharmed from its body after making the sign of the cross.

Girl reading by candlelight while leaning on a table

Guido Reni, undated
(b. 4 Nov 1575 - d. 18 Aug 1642 Bologna)

Albertina, Vienna

Academic historians rarely speak up like this but have made an exception in speaking in support of trans people in the UK and against the current trans exclusionary situation over there.

Not just a few historians but hundreds signed this.

www.thepinknews.com/2025/05/02/h...