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Quote by Renee Ahdieh

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The Rose & the Dagger

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Renee Ahdieh

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“And modern houses don't have passages, either, for children to play and run about in, and for dogs, umbrellas, coats and satchels. And don't forget that passages and corridors are where the young ones curl up and go to sleep when they're tired, and where you go and collect them to put them to bed. That's where they go when they're four years old and have had enough of the grown-ups and their philosophy. That's where, when they're unsure of themselves, they go and have a quiet cry. Houses never have enough room for children, not even if they're castles. Children don't actually look at houses, but they know them and all their nooks and crannies better than their mothers do. They rummage about. They snoop around. They don't consciously look at houses any more than they look at the walls of flesh that enclose them before they can see anything at all — but they know them. It's when they leave the house that they look at it.”

HousesNooksNooks And Crannies
Book:Practicalities
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“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
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