In Search of the Uncanny: Inspirited Landscapes and Modern Witchcraft

The uncanny is commonly identified as an emotional encounter, where the known somehow slips out of place; it is embodied and sensory, but understood primarily as feelings. Home is safe and familiar, history is considered rational and chronological, and the supernatural is both untrue and to be feare...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cornish, Helen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis [2020]
In: Material religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 16, Issue: 4, Pages: 410-431
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Neopaganism / Wicca / Landscape / The Uncanny
IxTheo Classification:AF Geography of religion
AG Religious life; material religion
AZ New religious movements
Further subjects:B inspirited landscape
B Cornwall
B Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
B uncanny
B modern witchcraft and Wicca
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:The uncanny is commonly identified as an emotional encounter, where the known somehow slips out of place; it is embodied and sensory, but understood primarily as feelings. Home is safe and familiar, history is considered rational and chronological, and the supernatural is both untrue and to be feared. Yet all these are challenged by modern witches with their view of an inspirited world. Practitioner-visitors to the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall report a wealth of eerie experiences. Situated at the foot of Boscastle harbor, nestled down a steep and winding route, its place in the landscape encourages ready connections to esoteric experiences. This sense is reinforced by a network of sacred sites weaving outwards from the museum, and the well-used occult and folk magic items held in the displays: tangible and material sites of the uncanny. For these visitors, such encounters in the museum hold particular significance. Here, a dynamic landscape, inhabited by genius loci (spirit of place) combines with an inspirited material culture contained inside the museum. In an animated cosmology, the uncanny is encountered through emotional, sensory, and embodied materialities.
ISSN:1751-8342
Contains:Enthalten in: Material religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2020.1794578