On this week's episode of Local Legends Eleanor is joined around the campfire by storyteller priestess Christine Watkins to talk all about her home county of Monmouthshire! 🖤 Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts!

Hooray! It's the weekend! And what better thing to do of a cold and gloomy November evening than watch this month's Three Ravens Film Club pick, Dog Soldiers?! 🖤🐺 Email us your thoughts about the film by Monday 24th November then we'll include them in this month's episode!

High Priestesses and Willing Supplicants, thank you so much for your bountiful altar-load of sacrificial #FolkyFriday posts! 🖤 We will be back next week when, on 14/11, our theme will be "Sleep, Hibernation and Dream Folklore!" Tag related posts #FolkyFriday for sharing then from 10am-6pm UK time!

According to the people of Northern Germany, a house must be sacrificed in order to slay a dragon - but its demise will bring great prosperity to the region! #folkyfriday https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Of_the_Dragon

Medieval farmers sometimes buried a black rooster at the edge of a new field to ensure fertility. The belief was simple: offer life to strengthen the soil that must later feed you. #FolkyFriday Art: Western Exposure

Spriggan - the Cornish piskies malevolent and grotesque cousins who guard the barrows, cairns and stone circles of West Penwith. Known to conjure storms, steal cattle and terrify travellers. Most frighteningly of all steal mortal children and swap them for changelings. #folkyfriday #Cornwall

#FolkyFriday #November 🐏 In Anglo-Saxon tradition, Blōtmōnaþ, the "Blood Month," was when herds were ritually #sacrifced to feed families, and honor the dead before winter. Scholars note no specific deity is linked to these rites. Spill blood, then feast, survival meets the divine. #BloodMonth 🩸

In rural Europe, household spirits like the domovoi and kobold once expected small offerings of bread, beer, or a drop of blood from a butchered animal. A neglected spirit could wreak havoc in the dark hours. #FolkyFriday

#FolkyFriday 🔥 #WickerMan 👨‍🦲 #sacrifice 🔥 Did Celtic Druids burn criminals in wicker effigies for luck? Julius Caesar’s tales suggest so, but scholars warn it might be propaganda to demonize foes. 😈 Read more by Tastes of History, www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/dispell...

The heathens of old brought their sacrifices to the Teufelssee lake near modern-day Berlin. #folkyfriday https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Lake

#FolkyFriday 🏴🐲🧙‍♂️ #Sacrifice In Welsh lore, young #Merlin faces Vortigern’s tower of doom. Druids demand his blood, but he reveals two dragons fighting below—red for Wales, white for Saxons—saving his life. Read the article here by @ztevetevans.bsky.social ztevetevans.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/t...

3/3 "I know that I hung, on a wind-rocked tree, nine whole nights, with a spear wounded, and to Odin offered, myself to myself; on that tree, of which no one knows from what root it springs." -The Poetic Edda www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/3438... #FolkyFriday #art #poetry #Norsevember #mythology

2/2 He forbade the other gods to help him but hung there for 9 days & nights. Finally, his sacrifice was accepted & the runes were revealed, initiating him to the mysteries. redbubble.com/people/forgo... #FolkyFriday #mythology #giftideas #art #vintage #illustration #Norse #folklore #Norsevember

1/3 Odin saw the Norns one day & wanted the knowledge of the runes. The runes come from the well below Yggdrasil so Odin hung himself, pierced his side & stared into the waters. redbubble.com/people/forgo... #FolkyFriday #mythology #art #illustration #folklore #Norse #Norsevember

Ancient Europe followed a lunar calendar. November roughly corresponds with their 'Blod-Monath', or 'Blood Month'. At this time the livestock were slaughtered for the coming winter months. www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/3754... #art #vintage #illustration #FolkyFriday #folklore #gifts

There are many examples of prehistoric barrows and tombs being haunted by men without their heads (see list below). Could they be #ghosts or folk memories of sacrifices linked to some ancient head cult? (It's a doubtful theory but all I could think of for #FolkyFriday !) #PhantomsFriday #FolkHorror

In Japan there is a famous tale about Oiwa whose husband disfigured her so he could remarry. This ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1852) shows the vengeful ghost of Oiwa squeezing blood from her hair, watched by her terrified husband who she endlessly haunted. #FolkyFriday #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

The Kirchsee lake, too, demands a sacrifice on St. John's Day. #folkyfriday https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_St._John%27s_Day_Sacrifice

The Aztecs believed the world was powered by sacrifice. Every beating heart was a star’s promise renewed. Today the scale shocks, but the idea echoes old truths: life is always traded for life, even if the rituals now look different. #FolkyFriday

And here is another blood-drinking #yokai. This one resembles a flying squirrel and it swoops down from trees to latch onto your face. They can also shoot swarms of bats out of their mouths because, well, why not? #FolkyFriday #JapaneseFolklore

@threeravenspod.bsky.social In legends of the Trojan War, Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces, is obliged to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess Artemis in order for the ships to sail to Troy. image: Antique fresco from Pompeii, attributed to the school of Timanthes.

Another blood-sucking #yokai for #FolkyFriday.

During times of war,a Roman general could perform a devotio,a ritualistic self-sacrifice by vowing his own life and the enemy's legions to the gods to secure victory.The general would throw himself into the enemy ranks,and his sacrifice was believed to ensure the Roman army's triumph. #FolkyFriday

#FolkyFriday #yokai

#FolkyFriday "I saw there wading through rivers wild Treacherous men and murderers too, And workers of ill with the wives of men: There Nidhogg sucked the blood of the slain ..." The fate of the evil people in the Viking realm of Niflheim. ✍️The Völuspá 🎨IrenHorrors

The worst kind of sacrifice! While this particular version is from Japan, there are many examples of similarly horrific rituals found throughout the world. Thankfully they are a thing of the past. #FolkyFriday #JapaneseFolklore

Before becoming the Reina Sofía National Museum of Contemporary Art in 1990, this building and its location were steeped in legends and gruesome stories. The museum shows all the signs of a haunted building. (1/3) #PhantomsFriday #FolkyFriday #folklore #horror #ghosts #ParanormalSky #HorrorWriter

Every St. John's Night, the spirit of the river Neckar seeks a new sacrifice. #folkyfriday https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Neckar_Sacrifice_in_the_St._John%27s_Night

Julian de Mauley had Gytha walled up alive as a foundation sacrifice—with a spinning wheel, because women must be kept busy. On Gytha's death a wraith appeared clutching a spindle, and each year a little more of Julian's body became striken as she bound it with her supernatural thread. #folkyfriday

The Bridge of Arta (Greek: Γεφύρι της Άρτας) is a stone bridge that crosses the Arachthos river (Άραχθος) in the west of the city of Arta (Άρτα) in northwestern Greece. It has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, #FolkyFriday 🧵

In ancient Scandinavia, the winter Blót united entire communities. Animals were sacrificed, meat was shared, and blood was sprinkled on temples and people alike. To be marked with red was to be included in the protection of the gods. #FolkyFriday

Hitobashira (Japanese: 人柱; "human pillar"), also known in Chinese as da sheng zhuang (simplified Chinese: 打生桩; traditional Chinese: 打生樁; pinyin: dǎshēngzhuāng; Jyutping: daa2saang1zong1), is a cultural practice of human sacrifice of premature burial before the #FolkyFriday 🧵

The wicker man (this is the Alton Towers version) is mentioned by both Caesar and Strabo as a method of Celtic human sacrifice. With the ashes scattered to help crops grow. Diodorus also said Celts would burn animals and captives with the first fruits of the harvest or in wooden boxes #FolkyFriday

#FolkyFriday For ceremonial purposes, Aztec priests painted their bodies with a black paint made from crushed scorpions & insects. They then provided blood sacrifices for the gods from their tongues, cheeks or genitals ... 🎨Codex Vaticanus

And the answer is, we have new themes each week! We had to take a couple of weeks off as we were working on a bunch of other projects over Halloween, but we're back today! Our theme for 7/11 is "Blood Month and Folkloric Sacrifices" - so do please join in! #FolkyFriday

November was called Blood Month across the Norse world, a season when herds were culled and offerings made to the gods. It was not cruelty but survival, a grim pact between winter and the living. Blood warmed the soil while prayers warmed the sky. #FolkyFriday Art: HappyTrees

Good morning magical adepts, today's #FolkyFriday topic ||Blöt|| The Ancient norse blood sacrifice done to grant blessing upon the clans. During this time both humans and animals have given their lives in reverence to the gods. #SorcerersWisdom #WitchMadness #WitchSky #PaganSky #OccultSky

The witch in legend of the Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border turned herself into an elder tree. Local lore held that if the tree was cut it bled. #FolkyFriday

🩸🐉🩸Dragon Hill, below the Uffington White Horse, is said to be the place where Saint George slew the Dragon - its poisonous blood soaked into the ground, and even now no grass will grow where it fell. #FolkloreThursday #FolkyFriday #FolkloreSunday

Thorkil was a great explorer in Norse mythology who wanted to meet the gods. According to the "Gesta Danorum," he guided the Danish king Gorm to the castle of the troll Geirrodur in Jotunheim. Later, Thorkil found his way to a cave where the giant Utgarda-Loki was chained. 🎨Louis Moe #FolkyFriday

🌳🏹🌳Little John - as an aspect of the Green Man #FolkloreThursday #FolkyFriday #FolkloreSunday #RobinOfSherwood #RobinHood

It's #FolkyFriday friends, with our theme this week being "Blood Month and Folkloric Sacrifices!" 🖤 From St Brice's Day to the Minoan Labyrinth, Wicker Men to the Threefold Death, someone must volunteer as tribute! Tag related lore, art and customs #FolkyFriday for sharing from 10am-6pm UK time!

Our new episode of Magic and Medicines is out now, and we're talking all about Reiki! 🖤 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Happy November 5th - a.k.a. Bonfire Night! 🖤 Marked with fires and fireworks for over 400 years, on this day in 1605 Guido Fawkes was arrested attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament - though he was but one member of the broader Catholic conspiracy... #WyrdWednesday

#FairyTaleTuesday One of the first stories we told on the podcast was "The Sockburn Worm" from County Durham. The stone under which the beast is buried can still be seen at Sockburn, as can the sword the Viking warrior used - the Conyers Falchion which hangs in Durham Cathedral!

Nymphs and fauns, #FolkyFriday will be back this week with a brand new theme! 🖤 On November 7th we're going to be celebrating "Blood Month and Folkloric Sacrifices!" From Iphigenia to Odin, the Hitobashira to Miao Shan and beyond, tag related lore, art and customs #FolkyFriday for shares then!

In Norse folklore, mayweed was known as baldersbrår, meaning “Baldur’s eyelashes.” Named for Baldur, god of light, beauty, and purity, these flowers, with their lash-like petals, were said to symbolise his radiance, and the gentle peace he brought to the world. #FairytaleTuesday

🐦‍⬛⚔️🐦‍⬛Valkyrie - by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys #FairyTaleTuesday #WyrdWednesday #LegendaryWednesday #FolkloreThursday

Today's #FairyTaleTuesday theme is Norse Tales! Vikings didn't just raid Britain and Ireland - they settled here, including as the 'Normans.' Consequently, many counties in the east of England and Ireland and west coast of Scotland and Wales are highly Norse influenced!

It's that time again - a new month means a new Three Ravens newsletter, brimming over with folky goodness! 🖤 We hope that everyone on the Three Ravens Patreon enjoys it - and if you would like to read it and aren't a member then do please sign up!