“For all the time I’d spent reviewing Holmes’s log on my phone in recent days, it held significantly more meaning now, here in my hands. When I’d first held this journal, I’d chalked Holmes up to little more than another unfortunate drowned sailor. And perhaps even a criminal. But now, I knew he was a man who’d fallen in love with a witch of the sea. A man who’d been determined to return to her.” RomanticYoung ManJournalSea Witch Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“They were streghe del mare---sea witches--- with unparalleled power over the ocean. They boasted a magic found nowhere else in the world, a result of their lineage, having descended from the sirens who once inhabited the tiny Li Galli islets nearby.” ItalianSirensLineageSea WitchAmalfi Coast Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“REGISTRO DEGLI INCANTESIMI MARINI REGISTER OF INCANTATIONS PRACTICED BY THE STREGHE, OR SEA WITCHES, OF AMALFI incantesimo di riflusso An incantation to urge water away (ebb). Attrezzo:a belemnite fossil. incantesimo di flusso An incantation to draw water forth (flow). Attrezzo: a mother-of-pearl shell. incantesimo divinatorio An incantation to discern the location of items in the water. Attrezzo: a strand of six sea-derived hagstones. incantesimo raffreddare An incantation to lower the temperature of the water via a cold-water column. Attrezzo: a dried Chondrichthyes eggsack, or "mermaid's purse." incantesimo dell'elemento An incantation to alter the composition of the water. Attrezzo: a fossilized sawfish snout, or "mermaid's comb." incantesimo vorticeAn incantation to conjure a maelstrom or whirlpool. No attrezzo required. vortice centuriaria An incantation to conjure a powerful maelstrom or whirlpool enduring for one hundred years. No attrezzo required, but the strega must remove her protective cimaruta necklace to perform this incantation.” ToolsTranslationSea WitchIncantationsItalian LanguageWater Magic Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“It was then that I caught a flash of skin. Bare shoulders, bare neck, and hair the color of cherries. I looked away, ashamed. But I am a man, am I not? I had to glance once more. When I did so, she was coming out of the water, and she was not naked at all. She wore a muslin swimming frock, tied just above her breasts. Her hair hung down to her waist, clinging to her wet skin. In her hands was a small turtle, a hook protruding from his mouth. She looked dismayed—- I thought she might even be crying—- as she worked to remove the object. I thought her straight out of a book. A painting. A dream. Who, I wondered, was this woman that had just emerged from the sea?” Love StoryFirst MetSea WitchJournal Entry Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“She shoved the wet rope into her bag and dressed quickly, pulling her shift over her protective cimaruta necklace. Hers bore tiny amulets from the sea and coastline: a moon shell, an ammonite fossil, a kernel of gray volcanic pumice. Recently, Mari had found a tiny coral fragment in the perfect shape of a mountain, which she especially liked. Mountains made her think of inland places, which made her think of freedom.” ItalianMountainsAmuletsNecklaceSea Witch Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse
“Witchcraft? Seriously? In spite of this, I spent the next hour reading everything I could find online about stregheria. Its existence was a pervasive legend through Italy, particularly in the Napoli region: the first streghe were believed to have originated in medieval times in Benevento, while the sea witches specifically had originated in the Positano region. As a whole, the women were known for reciting strange incantations and venerating various amulets, the most important of which was a cimaruta, a sort of talisman necklace meant to protect the water. It featured tiny branches, like coral, and charms such as hearts or moons. These women, I learned, were largely practitioners of benevolent kitchen magic: they worked with babies and herbs and gemstones. Today, many women still practiced forms of stregheria, though they were taken about as seriously as other practitioners of the esoteric, like mediums or Reiki healers. Which was to say, not very seriously at all. On an obscure website about the legends of the streghe del mare, I stumbled across a register of sea-spell incantations and their associated tools. I thought the list seemed rather ludicrous--- mermaid's combs and century-long spells?--- but interesting, nevertheless, and I found myself googling images of hagstones and shark egg sacks.” ResearchItalianWitchcraftGoogle SearchSea WitchStreghe Book:The Amalfi Curse Source: The Amalfi Curse