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The Witches Hat.

Written and Compiled by George Knowles.

Still today the stereotypical image of a witch is that of an ugly old hag wearing a broad brimmed, tall and black pointed hat.  “But where did the hat originate”?

In medieval times, woodcut images of witches show them as wearing a verity of costumes associated with those times, including headscarves and hats of differing fashions.  Many are also shown bareheaded with their hair locks blowing in the wind.

 

Old Woodcut of Witches and Demons.

 

Is it possible that the witches hat is an exaggeration of the tall conical “Dunces Hat”, popular in the royal courts during the 15th century? or the blunt-topped hats worn by the Puritans and Welsh of the same period?  At one point long ago, pointed hats were a fashion icon in the city of London (then the fashion capital of Europe), but it took a long time for fashion to trickle into the country, and by the time they did, they became way out of fashion in the city.  City folk called Country folk 'pagani' (which means country dweller), much the same as calling someone ‘a hick’, today.

 

Pointed hats soon became considered something only the 'pagani' would wear, most were Herbalists and Farmers wife’s who lived in the country and understood the land.  Since they were wise to the ways of nature and could grow and harvest herbs, so the pointed hat became associated with the ‘Wise Woman’ or ‘Witch'.  During this same period the Christian Church chipped-in and associated pointed hats with the horns of the Devil, by which time they frowned upon their use. 

Brimless conical hats have long been associated with male Wizards and Magicians, Goya the famous artist painted witches wearing such hats.  It is possible that other artists somewhere along the way added the brim to make the hats more appropriate for women.  By Victorian times, the tall black conical hat worn by an old crone became readily identifiable as symbols of wickedness in illustrations of children’s stories and fairy tales.

Another possibility is that the witch’s hat may date back to antiquity.  Ancient Etruscan coins from the city of Luna depict a head on one side of the coin; some believe it to be the goddess Diana, who is associated with witches.  The head on the coin depicts the wearer with a brimless conical hat.

Today most contemporary witches go bareheaded or wear ritual headgear such as headbands with a crescent moon or other religious symbols on it.  Normally the symbol is positioned on the forehead.  During rituals in which the Goddess and Horned God are represented, the high priestess may wear a headband or a crown, while the high priest may wear a helmet with horns or antlers.

End.

Best Wishes and Blessed Be.

 

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Traditional Wicca Writings:

Wiccan Rede /  Charge of the Goddess /  Charge of the God  /  The Three-Fold Law (includes The Law of Power and The Four Powers of the Magus) /  The Witches Chant /  The Witches Creed /  Descent of the Goddess /  Drawing Down the Moon /  The Great Rite Invocation /  Invocation of the Horned God /  The 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief

Correspondence Tables:  

Incense /  Candles /  Colours /  Magickal Days /  Stones and Gems /  Tools of a Witch  /  Elements and Elementals

Other Things of Interest:

Traditions Part 1  -  Alexandrian Wicca /  Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) /  Ár Ndraíocht Féin (ADF) /  Blue Star Wicca /  British Traditional (Druidic Witchcraft) /  Celtic Wicca /  Ceremonial Magic /  Chaos Magic /  Church and School of Wicca /  Circle Sanctuary /  Covenant of the Goddess (COG) /  Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) /  Cyber Wicca /  Dianic Wicca /  Eclectic Wicca /  Feri Wicca /

Traditions Part 2  -  Gardnerian Wicca /  Georgian Tradition /  Hereditary Witchcraft /  Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (H.O.G.D.) /  Kitchen Witch (Hedge Witch) /  Minoan Brotherhood and Minoan Sisterhood Tradition /  Nordic Paganism /  Pagan Federation /  Pectic-Wita /  Seax-Wica /  Shamanism /  Solitary /  Strega /  Sylvan Tradition /  Vodoun or Voodoo /  Witches League of Public Awareness (WLPA) /

Gods and Goddesses (Greek Mythology) /  Other Gods & Deities /  Festivals (Sabbats & Full Moons) /  The Mythology of the Sabbats /  Free Web Graphics /  Links to Personal Friends & Resources /  Wicca/Witchcraft Resources /  What's a spell? /  Elements and Elementals /  My Personal Library /  Circle Casting and Sacred Space /  Pentagram - Pentacle /  Marks of a Witch /  The Witches Power /  The Witches Hat /  An esoteric guide to visiting London /  Satanism /  Pow-wow /  The Unitarian Universalist Association /  Numerology:  Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3

Pagan Conferences and Witchy Events UK

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In Worship of Trees - Myths and Lore,  For descriptions and correspondences of the thirteen sacred trees of Wicca/Witchcraft see the following trees:  Birch /  Rowan / Ash /  Alder /  Willow /  Hawthorn /  Oak /  Holly /  Hazel /  Vine /  Ivy /  Reed /  Elder.  Also see:  The Willow Tree (Folk Music).

 

Mystical Sacred Sites  -  Stonehenge /  Glastonbury Tor /  Malta - The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni /  Avebury /  Cerne Abbas - The Chalk Giant /  Ireland - Newgrange /

 

A history of the Malleus Maleficarum:  includes:  Pope Innocent VIII  /  The papal Bull  /   The Malleus Maleficarum  /  An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum  /  The letter of approbation  /  Johann Nider’s Formicarius  /  Jacob Sprenger  /  Heinrich Kramer  /  Stefano Infessura  /  Montague Summers  /  The Waldenses  /  The Albigenses  /  The Hussites.

 

Contributing Author:

The Magic of Rocks and Stones  -  by Patricia Jean Martin

Stones - History, Myths and Lore /  Amethyst /  Aquamarine /  Aragonite /  Aventurine /  Black Tourmaline /  Bloodstone /  Carnelian /  Celestite /  Citrine /  Fluorite /  Hematite /  Labradorite /  Lapis Lazuli /  Malachite /  Moonstone /  Pyrite /  Quartz (Rock Crystal) /  Rose Quartz /  Selenite /  Seraphinite  / Smoky Quartz /  Sodalite

 

Wisdom:  

Knowledge vs Wisdom by Ardriana Cahill /  I Talk to the Trees /  The things I have learned  / Qoute's and things to ponder /  Awakening /  The Witch in You

Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:   

Murder by Witchcraft /  The Fairy Witch of Clonmel /  A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch /  The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) /  Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife /  The Story of Jack-O-Lantern /  The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost /  Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) /  The Two Brothers - Light and Dark

Biographies

Witches, Pagans and other associated people.

Who are they and what did they do???

Abramelin the Mage /  Agrippa /  Albertus Magnus “Albert the Great” /  Aleister Crowley “The Great Beast” /  Alex Sanders "the King of the Witches” /  Alison Harlow /  Anodea Judith /  Anton Szandor LaVey  / Arnold Crowther /  Arthur Edward Waite /  Austin Osman Spare /  Biddy Early /  Bridget Cleary /  Carl Llewellyn Weschcke /  Cecil Hugh Williamson /  Charles Godfrey Leland /  Charles Walton /  Dion Fortune /  Doreen Valiente /  Edward Fitch /  Eleanor Ray Bone “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” /  Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly /  Dr. Leo Louis Martello /  Eliphas Levi /  Fiona Horne /  Friedrich von Spee /  Francis Barrett /  Gerald B. Gardner /  Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca /  Gwydion Pendderwen /  Helen Duncan /  Herman Slater "Horrible Herman" /  Israel Regardie /  James "Cunning" Murrell /  Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone /  Jessie Wicker Bell “Lady Sheba” /  John George Hohman /  John Gerard /  John Score /  Johannes Junius the Burgomaster of Bamberg /  Karl von Eckartshausen /  Laurie Cabot "the Official Witch of Salem" /  Margaret Alice Murray /  Margot Adler /  Marie Laveau the " Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" /  Matthew Hopkins “The Witch-Finder General” /  Monique Wilson the “Queen of the Witches” /  Montague Summers /  Nicholas Culpeper /  Nicholas Remy /  Old Dorothy Clutterbuck /  Old George Pickingill /   Pamela Colman-Smith /  Paracelsus /  Patricia Crowther /  Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits /  Raymond Buckland /  Reginald Scot /  Robert Cochrane /  Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and "The White Goddess" /  Rosaleen Norton “The Witch of Kings Cross” /  Ross Nichols and The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids /  Scott Cunningham /  Sir Francis Dashwood /  Sir James George Frazer /  S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” /  Stewart Farrar /  Sybil Leek /  Ted Andrews /  The Mather Family - includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather /  Thomas Ady /  Victor Henry Anderson /  Vivianne Crowley /  Walter Brown Gibson /  William Butler Yeats /  Zell-Ravenheart, Oberon & Morning Glory / Zsuzsanna Budapest

Old Masters of Academia

Pliny the Elder /  Hesiod /  Pythagoras 

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