ANST - History of Wishing Wells

[j'lynn yeates]

On 24 Apr 98 at 11:28, Shane B. Internet Consultant wrote:

> I need some documentation on period wells such as for water or
> wishing. Does anyone know of any sources online that might be of
> some assistance?  I have done some searching but this seems to be an
> elusive topic at best.

not really elusive .... you're just looking in the wrong places.  

"wishing wells" are simply the remanant (and changed) idea of the
sacred springs and wells of pagan europe ... look in good sources on
celtic culture under "well's", "springs", "water" ... roman and 
christian sources (who often built temples and later churches and 
cathedrals ... not to mention "bath house's" (as in Bath in England) 
on these sacred sites) ... any good anthropology source (try Joseph 
Campbell as a start) ... archaeology (many digs come to mine ... the 
northen Bog's for example ... check out the back issues of Archeology 
magazine - remmeber seeing a couple articles over last few years)

even the modern neo-pagan sources would be a good start for the 
necessary keywords and concepts that would ease more in-depth 
research into the origional sources.   

pay particular note of their role as "gateways" to the lands below 
... hence when you toss an offering (a coin, a cup, a weapon, a 
war-captive, ...) you are making an offering to the "gods" in their 
native realm, and in return you are hoping for some reciprocal 
benefit ... concept later "sanitized" by the christian movements to a 
point where it is today a custom often divorced from understanding of 
the origions behind the actions. 

'wolf
... keltoi sun/moon piscean, so matters of water near and dear to my 
soul

... When we hunt, we all function with one mind
... - Boingo, Pedestrian Wolves
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