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Sylvia Rose
Oct 15, 20234 min read
Elixir of Life: Alchemy & the Emperor
The Elixir of Life sparks fascination and wanderlust. A fountain of youth or elixir of immortality, it's desperately sought by the first...
93 views
Sylvia Rose
Oct 14, 20235 min read
Ouroboros Glyph: Snake Eating its Tail
A mythical serpent or dragon, ouroboros appears in literature and illustration from ancient Greece. Tales of ouroboros spread east, and...
58 views
Sylvia Rose
Oct 14, 20236 min read
Copper (Cu): Ruddy Metal of Myth & Magic
Copper (Cu) is one of the original seven metals of antiquity and has been used for thousands of years. This metal is found in the ground...
179 views
Sylvia Rose
Oct 8, 20235 min read
Mulberry Tree (Morus): Uses, Folklore & Myth
Benefits of mulberry (Morus) include personal health, wood, silk, color for yarn and food. Romantic myth surrounds fruitful mulberry...
53 views
Sylvia Rose
Oct 5, 20234 min read
Folk Magic: Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)
Amanita muscaria , fly agaric or fly amanita is the most widely recognized of the psychoactive plants and fungi. The use, folklore and...
59 views
Sylvia Rose
Oct 2, 20235 min read
Elderberry Tree: Germanic Nature Lore
If drinking elderberry wine or tea, one might see pixies. Early Germans are animists. Spirits or spirit energies inhabit all living...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 1, 20236 min read
Pretty Poisons: Holly, Yew, Mistletoe
Holly, yew and mistletoe, the most cheerful and celebrated of seasonal plants, are also the most poisonous. These three toxic beauties...
63 views
Sylvia Rose
Sep 24, 20235 min read
Death Cap Mushrooms: Deadly Poison
Death Cap Mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) are deadly poisons of assassination and accident. Native to Europe, death caps are naturalized...
77 views
Sylvia Rose
Sep 19, 20234 min read
Caraway Spice - Herbology & Folklore
Caraway (Carum carvi) is a cooking and medicinal herb with a pungent anise taste, known for its strong spicy fruits, called seeds. It's...
67 views
Sylvia Rose
Sep 11, 20236 min read
Alchemist Dippel: the Frankenstein Files
Notorious alchemist Dippel appears in German history and science in the 17th century. Achieving moderate success with Dippel's Animal...
96 views
Sylvia Rose
Sep 10, 20234 min read
German Myth & Folklore: Moss People
Moss people inhabit deep forests, trees, ancient rocks and rills. Nature spirits of German mythology, they can appear in various forms...
59 views
Sylvia Rose
Sep 8, 20233 min read
Victorian Health: Sea Water Hydrotherapy
In the nineteenth century , Victorians are outdoors more than ever before as health spas flourish, fresh air vacations came into vogue...
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Sylvia Rose
Aug 26, 20235 min read
Edelweiss: Alpine Flower of True Love
Of the many flowers in Germanic folk medicine and herbology, none capture the romantic imagination more than the modest edelweiss (...
82 views
Sylvia Rose
Aug 24, 20236 min read
Victorian Trends: Sailor Suits to Taxidermy
Trends in natural health, exercise, pets, fashion, the occult, mourning and taxidermy span the nineteenth century. On the British throne,...
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Sylvia Rose
Aug 20, 20232 min read
Famous Women Inventors - Anna Connelly
Anna Connelly saves countless lives when she invents and patents the first modern fire escape in 1877. After the Civil War, Americans...
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Sylvia Rose
Aug 8, 20232 min read
German Traditions - the Linden Tree
Linden (Tilia) is a beloved tree for love, longevity and music in Germanic culture and mythology. Homeowners plant a linden on the...
60 views
Sylvia Rose
Jun 9, 20234 min read
19th Century: Home Gym, Bicycles, Antiseptic
The home gym, antiseptic, bicycles and Bunsen burners all emerge in the 19th century . European engineers, scientists, physicians and...
75 views
Sylvia Rose
May 8, 20234 min read
The Anxious Victorian - Mental Health
The Victorian era brings progress to Europe, but also problems. Increased pace of life leads to stress conditions such as neurasthenia ,...
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