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Litcuzzwords's avatar

Very cool. Baggage tode means a bag towed or dragged behind or a large bag over the shoulder. This is most likely a reference to the fact that herbalist women and women who simply had to forage for themselves often carried such sacks, as did peasant men for that matter. Magicians were of a higher class, supposedly, and wouldn’t be seen in such a menial pose.

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Rebekah King's avatar

That would certainly make sense!

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Liz Zimmers's avatar

As a happy hedge witch, I’ll take my baggage toad and cat and see myself out.

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Crown9Φ's avatar

I wonder if Dawkins himself would have been considered a magician.

A summoner of a demon of pride.

I think he’s beginning to see the crisis of meaning his ideas caused.

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Yvonne Aburrow's avatar

I wondered if a baggage toad was a toad that was a bit of an opinionated strumpet. If so, baggage toads are welcome in my house.

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Rebekah King's avatar

Yes the real modern translation of this line would probably be something like ‘wicked woman’s pet’ and the word ‘baggage’ is probably describing the witch herself

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Yvonne Aburrow's avatar

File under all the other names that independent women have been called over the centuries. I’m proud to embody all of them.

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Nancy Ashford's avatar

Fascinating stuff. I will have to soak this article up later as I can see it's got Content that would be wasted in a 'SkimRead'. I love the Concept of a Baggage Toad. I instantly feel an affinity with this, & feel I may have been one in a previous (poss medieval?) life. 🐸👜

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Rebekah King's avatar

Me too! I like to imagine it like a little golf caddie carrying all the wands and potions.

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Dan Lyndon's avatar

I really appreciated this, having spent 15 years performing and teaching magic myself. I get a "Jay's Journal of Anomalies" vibe from this Substack and I look forward to indulging in it.

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Rebekah King's avatar

I'll have to check that out! I've got quite a few articles lined up about stage trickery so it'll be great to get a practising magician's take.

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James Garside's avatar

This is fantastic. So many magicians are armchair occultists who give off the vibe of someone who played too much Dungeons and Dragons as a child. I was disappointed to find that Ceremonial Magick is little more than Christianity in drag. I assumed that Chaos Magick was to magick what punk was to music. But when I dug into that I found more of the same. Witches are smarter and cooler. They also understand the power of glamour magick and get that part right. Like K-Pop. Ok I'm not sure where I'm going with this analogy. I'll shut up now. Witches are better than Magicians. The end.

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Rebekah King's avatar

I wonder what would happen if I put it to a Twitter vote...

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James Garside's avatar

*chanting* DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! ... Sorry, wrong meeting.

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Ros Barber's avatar

I especially like your impression of a demon at the end there. The easy seduction of male arrogance is delicious.

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Rebekah King's avatar

Agreed! ;)

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