Missives from the Verge with Allyson Shaw

Missives from the Verge with Allyson Shaw

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Missives from the Verge with Allyson Shaw
Missives from the Verge with Allyson Shaw
APOTROPAIC PARADOX ๐Ÿ•ฏ๏ธ๐ŸŒฟ

APOTROPAIC PARADOX ๐Ÿ•ฏ๏ธ๐ŸŒฟ

Against femicide & a rowan poem ๐ŸŒ”

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Allyson Shaw
Sep 11, 2024
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A colourful digital collage of red-orange rowan berries, a waxing quarter moon and a bright yellow Brimstone moth. A triangle and circle form graphic elements around the moon.

Today marks over two weeks in bed with Covid. Since returning from Westray Iโ€™ve been thinking a lot about rowan trees. There are many on Orkney, though they are young. In Scotland, rowans are apotropaic, said to guard against witches. Yet, they also belong to witches. Folklore often presents us with these homeopathic riddlesโ€”the-hair-of-the-dog sort of โ€ฆ

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ยฉ 2025 Allyson Shaw
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