#Mother Shipton

[wunderlass]

Went to a place called Mother Shipton's cave this weekend, a place that:

a) claims to be the oldest tourist attraction in England and

b) I last visited as a 6 year old and it's haunted my nightmares since then.

The gist is that in the 15th century, a 15 year old girl gave birth to a baby in a cave during a storm, and that baby grew up to be known as a woman called Mother Shipton. She predicted the future and was supposedly a witch.

Her mother refused to name the baby's father, so she was banished from the town and gave birth alone. They lived in the cave until the little girl was two, when the mother went to a nunnery and the girl was fostered out. She was 'hideously deformed' (hunchback, walked with a cane, crooked nose) but learnt how to heal using plants from the local woodland. She married a local man at age 21 and he died two years later, and both events were claimed to be as a result of her witchcraft. She lived a long life for the time, eventually dying at age 73.

Now, bear in mind, there is no real evidence she actually existed. She never wrote her own prophecies down. But the tourist attraction sprang up not long after her death, and consists of the cave she was supposedly born in, down by the banks of the river. It's still in a stretch of woodland and is next to a petrifying well - water runs down over the rockface and has such a high mineral content in it that anything in its path gets coated and eventually turns to 'stone'.

It's both a beautiful, peaceful place, and very eerie. You can understand how people would have attributed the petrification process to witchcraft or sorcery.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the story of this woman, which has survived for over 500 years. From what we know:

A 15 year old girl was forced to give birth alone in a cave

Her daughter was disabled, and it's not unreasonable to assume that this second point might have been the result of the first thing

There was probably a reason the father went unnamed, and it's highly unlikely to have been a good reason

A man married her, despite her disability, and the local people do not seem to have considered that it might have been out of love.

When she died, it's said that friends buried her, because she was refused a place in the churchyard. Which means she was liked and respected enough to, y'know, have friends.

So what we have here is a woman cast in what we now consider as the archetype of a witch, who may have just been a disabled woman who never did any harm to anybody? Who may have actually helped people?

Not sure what my point is here. Something about the intersection of ableism and misogyny, I guess. At least the people who run the visitor attraction do seem to treat her memory with a certain amount of respect.

[fallbabylon]

The petrifying well and Mother Shipton’s Cave and statue- Knaresborough, UK 

[moths-daily]

Moth Of The Day #71

Mother Shipton

Callistege mi

From the erebidae family. They have a wingspan of 25-32 mm. They can be found on a range of open, grassy habitats, including downland, heathland, low moorland, flower-rich hay meadows, woodland rides, verges, embankments etc. They can be found throughout most of Europe, SIberia, the Russian Far East, Asia Minor and the British Isles. The moth is named after a witch from the 16th century who lived in Yorkshire, Old Mother Shipton.

[dancyrilkingston]

[dansnaturepictures]

Five of my favourite flora and fauna photos I took in May 2024, five of my favourite landscape photos I took in May 2024 and month summary

The photos are of; Red Grouse at Lochindorb, Red Squirrel at Dell Woods, Marsh Fritillary at Magdalen Hill, Azure Damselfly and sorrel at Lakeside Country Park, views at Strathdearn and Cairn Gorm, sunset at home and views at Magdalen Hill and Pig Bush in the New Forest.

May was another epic, packed and brilliant wildlife watching and photo month for me. Beginning in the midst of our sensational Scotland adventure many of the bird highlights of the holiday were about to unfold in May's early days seeing Black Grouse, precious Dipper, wonderful Golden Eagle, exquisite summer plumage Slavonian Grebe and Ring Ouzel with stars of the trip first seen inside April on the trip and before that enjoyed again such as White-tailed Eagle, Osprey, smashing views of stunning summer plumage Black-throated Diver, Pink-footed Geese, Red Grouse, Common Sandpiper, Goldeneye, Redstart and Willow Warbler. It was very busy for birds when we returned home to Hampshire this month with Swifts at a few locations, Garganey, Reed Warbler, Whimbrel, Garden Warbler, Hobby, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit, Roseate Tern and valuable chances to see Stone Curlew again on a guided walk added to my year list mixing migratory species I needed to see and stardust birds; another epitomising this the amazing times I saw Cuckoos this month in Hampshire a bird I heard so much throughout the Scotland trip it's always a privilege to see them and I had some breathtaking experiences with them. Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Sedge Warbler, Great Crested Grebes, Moorhen including chicks seen well with Greylag and Canada Goose goslings enjoyed a lot on patch at Lakeside Country Park and Red Kite were other stars across the month in what was a fantastic month of birds.

May is one of my busiest months of the year as I've still got plenty of bird species to look for and the butterfly season really gets going. It was an incredible butterfly month for me with dynamic and colourful species seen including Large White, Dingy Skipper, Duke of Burgundy, Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Grizzled Skipper, Painted Lady, Small Heath, Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak, Marsh Fritillary, Small Blue, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, quite early Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood getting my butterfly year into a great place. It was a great moth month too with loads of species seen including The Streamer, Garden Carpet, Mint moth, Burnet Companion, Brown Silver-line, Common Heath, Common Carpet, Pale Prominent, Yellow Shells, Hook-streaked Grass-Veneer, elegant Mother Shiptons, Speckled Yellow, Silver Y and Five-spot Burnet seen.

It was a top dragonfly and damselfly month with some super species seen to get me started including Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle, Hairy Dragonfly and Broad-bodied Chaser and thrilling moments seeing my first ever Downy Emerald at Bentley Wood. It was a real awakening of beetles for me this month with Violet Oil beetle, Green Tiger beetle and Dor beetle seen in Scotland and at Bentley Wood for the green tiger and many Swollen-thighed beetles and Red-headed Cardinal beetles, Oedemera lurida, Cantharis rustica, Cryptocephalus aureolus, Common Malachite, Woodland Dor beetle, Black-striped Longhorn beetle and Garden Chafer enjoyed once home. It was a really good mammal month with Red Squirrel, Red Deer, Brown Hare (seen in Hampshire too) and Stoat seen in Scotland, Roe Deers seen nicely across the month, Fallow Deer and New Forest Pony foals and cattle at Lakeside charming seasonal sights.

It was a wonderful month of plants again with special flower species seen as they took over meadows and other areas including wood sorrel, coltsfoot, oxeye daisies, yellow rattle, buttercups, greater celandine, spurge, early purple orchid, common twayblade, white helloborine, common spotted orchid, burnt-tip orchids, speedwell, forget-me-not, yellow iris, eyebright, lousewort, wood avens, meadow crane's-bill, grass vetchling, foxgloves, crimson clover, red clover, white clover, black and spotted medick, comfrey, cuckooflower, tormentil, bugle, yellow pimpernel, silverweed cinquefoil, sainfoin, fox-and-cubs, mignonette, common rock-rose, hemlock water-dropwort and bird's-foot trefoil. I took in some mesmerising views and sky scenes this month. Have a good June all.

[icelogged]

Old Mother Shipton's Cave, 🧸 🚲

[gbhbl]

Book Review: Stone Martyrs by Erik Hofstatter

Stone Martyrs is the name of Erik Hofstatter’s brand new work due for release in February 2025 as part of the Aqueduct Press Conversation Pieces Series. The Aqueduct Press Conversation Pieces Series focuses on feminist science fiction charting through time with an ever shifting mosaic of literature from short fiction, essays, poetry, speeches, interviews and more. This grand conversation on the…

[angela-yuriko-smith]

New Episodes, Over 30k Words

What began as a 700 word short has become a near 40k-word paranormal romance.

I am a short form writer, but as I hit episode 17 I find I’m past 34,000 words! This story will easily be at 40k by the time I’m done. In this chapter, Crafting a Plan, the trio of Mother Shipton, Duncan and Naomi are about to return to face Kyoko and (hopefully) banish her forever and free Duncan for a happily ever after. It has to be a happily ever after because it’s romance-ish, but I am very…

[siliconpalms]

The Voice of God is Silence

All other translations are a poor copy With so many words bombarding us from all directions, reminds of the poem by Mother Shipton (see below) in which she says; … in the twinkling of an eye, around the world thoughts shall fly. Could she have known about the Internet, or is she referring to an even faster mode of communication? Direct from God messaging… What if you knew for sure, when you…

[dancyrilkingston]

Woodcut from an 18th-century chapbook about Mother Shipton (the prophetess and supposed witch) featured in Chap-books of the Eighteenth Century by John Ashton (1834)

[hybridmindthoughtsreloaded]

William Cooper Reads a Mother Shipton Prophecy From The 1400's

A very spooky coincidence or true prophecy?

[promethea-silk]

𝕬 𝖒𝖎𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘

[liebelesbe]

Hi, if you're still doing insect picture requests could I ask for Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa, Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata, Apatura iris, and Nymphalis antiopa?

BTW I put the scientific names not to be pretentious but because if your book's in German the common names will be different to English ones I think? So yeah not trying to be a know-it-all, just thought it might be easier

Also would you mind posting Callistege mi? In the UK it's called the Mother Shipton moth, because the pattern on its wings looks like the head of an old witch character in English folklore (called Mother Shipton). I'd be interested to know what it's called in German! Sorry to keep pestering you but thought you might find that interesting

Yessss ofc requests are still open <3 images are coming soon, I couldn't find Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata, but everything else was in the book :)

[morningstargirl666]

I've been here! It's as magical as it looks, and I think there is a part of the well where you can throw money in. Nearby is Mother Shipton's Cave, which you can walk inside, while the well itself is the oldest tourist attraction in the UK. Mother Shipton was an actual woman - Ursula Shipton, thought to be a witch, who was well known for her prophesies. She's even said to have predicted her own death, before lying down and expiring in the next room.

I remembered being spooked out when I visited the place as a kid, because her prophesies were recorded and a lot of them are...scarily accurate. She's said to have predicted the fates of several rulers within and just after her lifetime, as well as the invention of iron ships, the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

So if you ever visit the petrifying well (the hanging teddy bears are SO weird like those things have fully turned to stone it's wild) don't forget the cave as well, and the woman who once lived there.

The Well of Petrification

This well in North Yorkshire near Knaresborough has the ability to turn anything it touches into stone. For years the locals thought the well was cursed by the devil and were afraid to touch it themselves. There is nothing supernatural about the well at all. Due to its high calcite mineral content, anything that touches the water for several months turns to stone. The petrification process is similar to what happens when stalactites or stalagmites form, but just at a much faster pace