My Photography - Witch Boots

I remember fondly back to a time in my childhood when we would travel north to visit my Great Grandmother Briar. We speculated that she was in her 70's although there were rumors circulating through the small town in which she lived that she was really over 100....and oddly enough she didn't look a day over 55. I wondered how that could possibly be? And it remained a question that intrigued me through the years. The woman didn't seem to age. She was rather spry, refused to cut her long curly locks, and she always laughed with a snort and a cackle. Great Grandma Briar lived at 1111 RavenWood Lane in an old Victorian on the outskirts of Salem, right next door to the local cemetery. Our ancestors had founded that small section of town many years ago, and thus the street was named after them. Yes, my Great Grandmother, Briar RavenWood, was but one of a long line of RavenWoods to live in that town, where the RavenWood family was rather notorious.

As a child, I was sometimes scared to stay at her house because strange things always seemed to happen. The house smelled of patchouli, sandalwood and lavender. Not to mention, that looking out at the graveyard through those dusty old windows of hers, really gave me the willies. I would swear I could see spirits floating up from some of the graves. I would call my parents to come see, but they claimed to see nothing and stomped back to bed. So I would lie awake and listen as intently as possible to every creak the old house made. I could hear the big Owl hooting outside my window, and the wind whipping through the branches of the turning maples outside. And I would imagine all sorts of horrible things until I finally fell asleep out of exhaustion.

One day in late Autumn, while visiting many years ago....my parents went into town to shop at the local Farmer's Market. So I decided to go exploring inside Gram Briar's house. The weather outside was that melancholy gray that Autumn gets right before it turns to winter. Most of the leaves are gone, and the few that remain, cling tightly to their branches as though their very lives depended on it. And they did!

I went downstairs first, to make sure Gram was busy so she wouldn't discover my secret mission. From the staircase I could see her cooking a large pot of boiling soup in a huge cast iron kettle that was hanging in the fireplace. She was busy measuring out herbs and crushing them with her old mortar and pestle. There were bottles and books and fresh vegetables strewn about the kitchen as though she were creating some kind of monstrous concoction rather than a meager vegetable soup. But at least she was busy and wouldn't notice that I had slipped away into the attic.

As children, we were forbidden to enter the attic. We were told by Gram Briar that there was nothing in there anyway, so it was best just to leave it be. But everyone knows that there is no place more enticing to a child than one in which she is forbidden. So I opened the door as quiet as a mouse and tip toed inside.

There were all sorts of fantastical things sitting about covered in dust and cobwebs. I didn't know where to begin first, so I decided a quick peek out the door of the Widow's Walk would be in order. I had never looked down from the 3rd floor before. Of course the very first thing I spot is the graveyard, and I'm startled to see a man in a top hat staring up at me. I rub my eyes thinking I was just tired, and sure enough when I looked back, he was gone. So not wanting to waste any precious time, I scurried toward an old lace strewn vanity that sat in the corner. And that is where I spotted them.

There on the vanity, were a pair of old boots. Witch Boots! They were laced with cobwebs and a spider stood guard on an old hourglass next to them. There was also a small apothecary chest filled with strange herbs with even stranger sounding names like Dragon's Blood, Sorcerer's Violet, Unicorn's Horn, Graveyard Dust, Mandrake Root and Crow's Foot. On the floor beside the vanity sat a tall pointed hat, a crooked old broom and a book of spells. I knew it...I just knew it! These items were definitive proof that all those town rumors were true...my Great Grandmother Briar was a WITCH!

I ran downstairs to meet my parents in the driveway as they returned home from the Farmer's Market. Excited and out of breath, I began telling them how the rumors were true, and how I found things in the attic that they must come see right away, because they prove everything. Unamused, they told me to quiet down before someone heard me....like Grandma! Then they reluctantly followed me upstairs to the old door that leads to the attic.

As I grabbed the handle to push the door open, I felt a zap of electricity run through my fingers, but the door knob didn't turn. I grabbed it with both hands and pushed against the door with the full weight of my body, but still the door wouldn't budge. I thought it must be stuck now, as it had opened with ease just moments earlier. So my Dad gave it a try and still nothing happened.

Just then Grandma Briar appeared on the landing of the stairwell and startled us. She asked what we were doing, and my parents blushed and stammered for an answer. So I quickly piped up and told her that I was just trying to show Mom and Dad the attic with its view of the graveyard. Grandma Briar laughs and says..."Nonsense child, there is no opening to the attic there any longer. Why that room has been sealed off for over 60 years now." Then she pulled out an old skeleton key and inserted it into the lock. Slowly, she pulled the creaking door open and sure enough, there was nothing behind it but a brick wall. I wondered where the opening had gone that I just went through? Then she said, "Come now, I have a nice pot of stew cooking over the fire and it's ready to eat, everyone get washed up." And with that, she let out a cackle and walked away.

"But, but...Mom, I swear I went in there today. There was a view of the graveyard, and there was a vanity with real Witch boots and a hat and even a spell book." My parents shot me disgusted, exasperated looks as they turned and marched away. How did she do that I wondered? I know what I saw, and my parents don't even believe me. What sort of enchantments had she used? I glanced down over the railing and saw Gram Briar looking up at me with a big grin and a wink. Oh...I know how she did it alright.....she used her Witch Magick, that's how! And I want to grow up to be just like her!

Many moons have come and gone since that magickal Autumn in New England with Great Grandma Briar. I was no longer afraid to stay with her in that spooky old house. In fact, I spent every vacation I had there. Grandma Briar spent those years teaching me everything she knew about herbs, astrology, moon phases, intuition, fortune telling and spell casting. She said she knew when I was born that I was the grand daughter with the 'gift'! She knew this because I had a crescent moon shaped birthmark on my right shoulder, just like the one she had on her own shoulder. This was the 'mark,' and it was present on one daughter in every 3rd generation in our family since the days of our Celtic ancestors. In those days, they were considered 'Wise Women', but later they would be deemed as Witches. And so it was my destiny to be a "Wise Woman' too!

Great Grandma Briar willed the old Victorian on RavenWood Lane to me, and that is where I reside with my daughter and 11 cats. We purchased the empty lot adjacent to the old cemetery and turned it into an Herb Farm. And we added on to the back of the house, and converted the bottom floor into the now quasi-famous "RavenWood Apothecary." Visitors come from far and wide to purchase the finest magickal ingredients in all of New England. And the attic? Well the attic is still my favorite room in the house of course!

All Art, Photography and Writing © 2008-2009 Wendy A. (All Rights Reserved)