AURA OF PAST SHADOWS: February 2020

Friday, 28 February 2020

The Enigma of a near death experience......

The tunnel of death connecting this world to the next.
Upon death, most people go through a heavenly process before entering into heaven.
Evil people instead of experiencing the tunnel and bright light upon death are sent through what some call the left door and enter into an abyss of empty, joyless, nothingness for a brief period of time. Most people who go through the heavenly process go through a tunnel and towards the light of God...

-Sylvia Browne

NB: Photo note.
The image of the tunnel of death was created from a photo taken from within a medieval castle chimney.

Saturday, 22 February 2020

Turnspit Dog or Dog Wheel...

This is a Turnspit dog/ Dog wheel that can be found in the kitchen of St Briavels castle in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire in the UK.

This is the only one left in the world that still works and is in it's original position. Small dogs were used to walk around in the wheel in order to turn meat on a spit so that the meat was cooked evenly.

Dogs were bred specifically for this purpose. The small dogs were short legged and long bodied and a special breed was created to carry out this very gruelling work. Medieval kitchens would have been very hot and smokey and not a good working environment for either humans or small dogs.

The breed of dogs has long since died out but some experts think that they were similar to a terrier in overall looks ...

Friday, 14 February 2020

Public Humiliation...

The Pillory was used in England up until 1837 when it was abolished.

It was a form of punishment in which public humiliation was a major part.
The victims wrists and neck were held in place and it put quite a bit of strain on the person's back.

Members of the public would often throw rotten vegetables... dead animals and faeces.
Stones and other blunt objects were also thrown.
Due to the nature of the pillory restraint the victim would be unable to defend themselves.

Flogging and mutilation could be added to the punishment as well.
British authorities favoured branding the face with a mark of shame such as cutting off one or both ears or slicing the nose lengthwise.

For lessor crimes the stocks would be used where just the victims legs would be restrained allowing them to at least attempt to defend themselves with their free arms and the ability to move their head....

The use of the Pillory and the Stocks is where the saying 'A laughing stock' came from hinting at the humiliation that the victims suffered .....

Friday, 7 February 2020

The Ghoul-Gate.

One grave in every graveyard belongs to the ghouls.
Wander around any graveyard long enough and you will find it, water stained and bulging with cracked or broken stone, scraggly grass or rank weeds about it and a feeling when you reach it of abandonment.
It may be colder than the other gravestones too and the name on the stone is all to often impossible to read.
If there is a statue on the grave it will be headless or so scabbed with fungus and lichen as to look like fungus itself.
If one grave in a graveyard looks like a target for petty vandals that is the Ghoul-Gate.
If the grave makes you want to be somewhere else, that is the Ghoul-Gate.

-Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book.