Edwardian era
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| - | '''Flying ointment''', also known as '''witches' flying ointment''', '''green ointment''', '''magic salve''' and '''lycanthropic ointment''', is a [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic]] [[ointment]] said to be used by [[witch]]es in the [[Early Modern]] period (first described by [[Johannes Hartlieb]] in 1456). | + | The '''Edwardian period''' or '''Edwardian era''' in the [[United Kingdom]] is the period covering the reign of [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]], 1901 to 1910. |
| - | == Composition == | + | The death of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] in January 1901 and the succession of her son, Edward, marked the start of a new century and the end of the [[Victorian period]]. While Victoria had shunned society, Edward was the leader of a fashionable elite which set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe—perhaps because of the King's fondness for travel. The era was marked by significant shifts in politics as sections of society which had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such as common labourers and women, became increasingly politicised. |
| - | The ointment contains a fatty base and various herbal extracts, usually including [[Solanaceae|solanaceous]] herbs that contain the [[alkaloid]]s [[atropine]], [[hyoscyamine]] and [[scopolamine]]. The herbs' [[essential oil]]s are extracted when heated in the base. These oils are poisonous when ingested; when applied to the skin, the alkaloids are absorbed more slowly into the body. Typical ingredients in alleged recipes include hemlock (''[[Conium]]'' spp.), deadly nightshade (''[[Atropa belladonna]]''), wolfsbane (''[[Aconitum]]'' spp.), and henbane (''[[Hyoscyamus niger]]''), usually in a base of [[animal fat]]. | + | The Edwardian period is frequently extended beyond Edward's death in 1910 to include the years up to the sinking of the [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']] in 1912, the start of [[World War I]] in 1914, or often to the end of the war in 1918. By the end of the war, the Edwardian way of life, with its inherent imbalance of wealth and power, had become increasingly anachronistic in the eyes of a population who had suffered in the face of war and who were exposed to elements of a new mass media which decried the injustice of class division. |
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| - | It was said that witches were able to fly to the Sabbath on their [[Besom broom|broom]]s with help of the ointment. Likely the riding of the broom has a different origin. | + | |
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| - | Some sources (such as ''[[The Botany of Desire]]'') have claimed that the ointment is absorbed best through [[mucous membranes]], but henbane essential oil, for instance, blisters mucous membranes, so it is doubtful that it was applied to a stick that was inserted in the [[vagina]]. There is in fact only a single source that makes such an assertion, one that is not based on knowledge of the herbs themselves or on any historical evidence. | + | |
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| - | One possible key to how individuals dealt with the toxicity of the nightshades usually said to be part of flying ointments is through the antidotal reaction some of the solanaceous alkaloids have with the alkaloids of ''[[Papaver somniferum]]'' (opium poppy). This is discussed by Alexander Kuklin in his brief book, ''How Do Witches Fly?'' (DNA Press, 1999). This antagonism was utilized by the Eclectic movement of botanical medicine. For instance, King's American Dispensatory, an Eclectic materia medica, states in the entry on belladonna: "Belladonna and opium appear to exert antagonistic influences, especially as regards their action on the brain, the spinal cord, and heart; they have consequently been recommended and employed as antidotes to each other in cases of poisoning; this matter is now positively and satisfactorily settled; hence in all cases of poisoning by belladonna the great remedy is morphine, and its use may be guided by the degree of pupillary contraction it occasions." | + | |
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| - | The interaction between belladonna and poppy was made use of in the so-called "[[twilight sleep]]" that was provided for women during [[childbirth]] beginning in the [[Edwardian era]]. Twilight sleep was a mixture of scopolamine, a belladonna alkaloid, and [[morphine]], a ''[[Papaver]]'' alkaloid, that was injected and which furnished a combination of painkilling and amnesia for a woman in labor. | + | |
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| - | We do not have any indication of the proportions of solanaceous herbs vs. poppy used in flying ointments, and in fact, most so-called historical recipes for flying ointment do not include poppy. | + | |
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| - | It is difficult to know exactly what sort of experience would be engendered by the interaction of the alkaloids of nightshades and poppy. Some have said that the alkaloids of henbane and belladonna created the sensation of flying or out-of-body experience, and that these account for the descriptions of witches flying that are met with in some documents of the Inquisition, but in all the descriptions of the use of these two plants that are available on line, not one describes any such sensation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} On the contrary, the sensations are usually of heaviness.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} | + | |
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| - | == Sources citing ointments == | + | |
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| - | The use by witches of flying ointments was first described, according to known sources, by [[Johannes Hartlieb]] in 1456. It was also described by the Spanish theologist [[Alfonso Tostado]] in ''Super Genesis Commentaria'' (Venetia, 1507), whose commentary tended to accredit the thesis of the reality of the [[Witches' Sabbath]]. | + | |
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| - | == Appearances in Fiction == | + | |
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| - | *In [[Mikhail Bulgakov]]'s [[The Master and Margarita]], Margarita, after agreeing to act as hostess at [[Woland|Dr Woland's]] ball, uses the ointment to become a witch and fly to the estate where the event is being held. | + | |
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| - | *In [[Clayton Rawson]]'s [[Death from a Top Hat]], two recipes by [[Johann Weyer]], a 16th-century demonologist, are given in a footnote: | + | |
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| - | :1-Water hemlock, [[sweet flag]], [[cinquefoil]], bat's blood, [[deadly nightshade]] and oil. | + | |
| - | :2-Baby's fat, juice of [[cowbane]], [[aconite]], cinquefoil, deadly nightshade and [[soot]]. | + | |
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| - | * In the movie serial ''[[Warlock (1989 film)|Warlock]]'', the villain kills an unbaptised boy to get this "Flying Ointment". | + | |
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| - | *In [[Jodi Picoult]]'s 'Salem Falls', a group of four girls practicing witchcraft ingest a flying ointment made of belladonna. It has disastrous results for the main character of the story. | + | |
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| - | * In the book [[Calling on Dragons]] (Book Three of the [[Enchanted Forest Chronicles]]), the witch Morwen uses a flying potion on a straw basket and a [[broomstick]], not on herself. Both objects perform their duties as expected. | + | |
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| - | * In [[E. L. Konigsburg]]'s ''[[Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth]]'', two characters try to make a flying ointment. | + | |
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | * [[Besom broom]] | + | *[[Edwardian literature]] |
| - | * [[Hedgewitch]] | + | {{GFDL}} |
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 12:44, 29 February 2012
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The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.
The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son, Edward, marked the start of a new century and the end of the Victorian period. While Victoria had shunned society, Edward was the leader of a fashionable elite which set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe—perhaps because of the King's fondness for travel. The era was marked by significant shifts in politics as sections of society which had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such as common labourers and women, became increasingly politicised.
The Edwardian period is frequently extended beyond Edward's death in 1910 to include the years up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War I in 1914, or often to the end of the war in 1918. By the end of the war, the Edwardian way of life, with its inherent imbalance of wealth and power, had become increasingly anachronistic in the eyes of a population who had suffered in the face of war and who were exposed to elements of a new mass media which decried the injustice of class division.
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Edwardian era" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Edwardian era" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
