Gravestone Symbolism & Magick

I think gravestones are beautiful. Many of the graves on our cemetery date back to the mid 1800s and many of them are very similar. What does differ is the symbols you can find on them.

Unsurprisingly, the Victorians had their own language for symbols. People weren’t generally cremated back then, and many people were illiterate, so symbols were an important way to communicate thoughts, feelings and information.

This is fascinating when you consider that symbolism is used a lot in Witchcraft. We may carve an image on a candle, use one in our magickal writings, or draw one onto a petition before burning it. Whilst it’s always good to create our own magickal correspondences, you could consider using gravestone symbolism in your magick. These time-worn symbols have been used by many people over hundreds of years.

Scholars still debate the various meanings and interpretations of cemetery symbols, and they may differ from country to country (and even region to region), but here are ten common gravestone symbols and their suggested meanings:

Angels - Messengers between God and man

Bat wings - Death, misfortune

Bone - Death

Candle - Life

Heart - Romantic love

Key - Knowledge, entrance to Heaven

Lamp - Knowledge, spiritual immortality

Oak leaf - Strength, stability, endurance

Phoenix - Resurrection

Winged Death’s Head - Mortal remains of the deceased

Cemetery Stuff: Extracts from Regulations

Under the carriage arch of my house is a huge engraved tablet called “Extracts from Regulations” which lays out some of the rules of our cemetery.

I don’t know how many of these tablets there are in the U.K. as no searches are turning up any results. It’s amazing to see the table in one piece, considering it would have been erected in 1860 when the cemetery lodge and office ~ now our home ~ was built.

I thought I would share an extract of the Extracts with you, as many of you have been asking for more cemetery stuff:

“Every person who shall wilfully destroy or injure any building wall or fence belonging to the cemetery, or destroy or injure any tree or plant therein, or who shall daub or disfigure any wall thereof, or put up any bill therein, or on any wall thereof, or wilfully destroy, injure or deface any monument, tablet, inscription or gravestone in the cemetery, or do any other wilful damage therein, shall forfeit to the said Burial Board for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds.

“And every person who shall play at any game or sport, or discharge firearms, save of a military funeral in the cemetery, or who shall wilfully and unlawfully disturb any persons assembled in the cemetery for the purpose of burying any body therein, who shall be guilty of riotous, violent or indecent behaviour, or who shall commit any nuisance within the cemetery, shall forfeit to the said Burial Board for every such offence a sum not exceeding five pounds.”

NEXT - Cemetery Stuff: Anniversaries On The Cemetery
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Doniert Stone - The King's Cross

Cemetery Stuff: Anniversaries on The Cemetery

Today is the anniversary of my husband and I moving into our beloved cemetery home. It is more than a crumbling stone building; it is our sanctuary.

We know the very heartbeat of this place. It is very much alive.

We know every tree, every flower, every shrub.

We love the moon bathing the house in her light; illuminating row upon row of graves. We love the rabbits at sunrise in the summer, the bats that sneak in through open windows, and the starlings nesting in the eaves above the kitchen.

We love the wooden floors, the higgledy-piggledy staircases, and the metre-thick walls that turn the house into a refrigerator in the winter. We love the living room, once a storeroom for spades and headstones, and the kitchen window that casts a view upon the legions of the dead.

We love that this amazing place has embraced us, breathing life back into us, giving us space and time to heal, and to recognise each other again.

We love each other.

Who would have thought an old building would give us so much?

NEXT - Cemetery Stuff: Memento Mori
NEXT - Ritual: Graveminding Ritual

Simple Magick: Our House Guardians

This is Copernicus. He is one of the six stone heads that are mounted on the exterior of our home, who I refer to as our House Guardians. (You can see the others on my “Welcome to our Cemetery Lodge - Part Two” Reel).

Copernicus is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance-era mathematician, astronomer and Catholic clergyman, who formulated the idea that the Sun was at the centre of the universe, rather than Earth (a Greek astronomer had actually come up with the same idea some eighteen centuries earlier).

He has been here since the house was built in 1860, “outliving” any of the humans that have stayed here, looking down on us as we enter and depart the building.

I feel the House Guardians - but especially Copernicus, who resides at the back of the house - watch over our home and keep us safe. Whenever we leave the house I petition Copernicus to look after our home, and when we return I thank him. I believe he helps me connect with the genius loci of our home.

We always intended to name the other Guardians, but so far they haven’t come forward with names. Although I don’t feel spirit in those as strongly, they definitely work alongside Copernicus to help keep us safe.

Do you have an animist view? Does the spirit of something other than an animal or human keep you safe? If so what is it? And do you think that modern homes are less protected by spirits than older ones? I’d love to hear your views.

NEXT - Simple Magick: Liminal Spaces 

Personal Magick: Home

This building is more than just stone. It is my first home, my pride and joy, my sanctuary, the path back to my Craft, and the journey back to sanity.

In the years running up to 2018 I was deeply depressed. Much of this down to a situation I haven’t yet fully escaped, but basically we were frustrated, unhappy, and lacking in direction.

We lived in a beautiful house in a beautiful place, but it wasn’t right.

After much soul-searching on where we should be, I found this amazing house. In late 2018 we moved in. .

Freezing cold in the winter, full of spiders in the autumn, but such an honour to live in so magical a place, and in some small way to be a part of its history.

I know the heartbeat of this place, this cemetery that is very much alive. I know every tree, every flower, every shrubb. I love how the moon bathes me in her light as I lay in my bed. I love our wooden floors and metre-thick walls. I love our living room; once the old storeroom for spades and headstones.

I love looking out the kitchen window as I wash up; weaving magic as I focus my thoughts. I love the rabbits at sunrise in the summer; I welcome the Starlings as they return to their nest in the eaves above the kitchen.

I love our collection of higgledy-piggledy staircases - no less than four - and I love the way this old stone house embraces us; breathing life back into us, while the bodies of those that have gone before surround us.

I love that this amazing place has held us in its womb, and given us space and time to recognise each other again. That my husband can see his wild, witchy woman once more.

Who would have thought this ancient, crumbling building would have given us so much; would have given me so much?

For the first time in my life I feel I am finally home.

NEXT - Personal Magick: Happy New Year 2020
NEXT - Simple Magick: Spirits Of The Home
NEXT - Simple Magick: Cleansing The Home Using The Element of Air 

Cemetery Stuff: Memento Mori

Memento Mori. Remember you must die.

One of the most life-affirming things I’ve ever done is start living on a cemetery.

There is plenty of life here. A steady stream of visitors to the graves, dog walkers, and runners passing through on their daily run to admire the beauty of the place. Funeral processions, noise from the earth diggers that dig the graves, and the constant lawn mowing and hedge trimming.

There are owls, foxes, rabbits, and bats. There are birds in the tree outside my bedroom window, and a family of Starlings nesting in the gutter over the kitchen.

There are flowers; those left by mourning relatives, and those blooming in the spring. We have trees and shrubs and greenery; and big, dark, open skies with which to view the many millions of stars above.

And amongst the gentle hubbub there is also peace and quiet to reflect on all of this.

As I stand at the kitchen sink and look out at the gravestones I have silent space to ponder my own mortality.

This is an old cemetery and whilst death happened a lot earlier in the 1800s, one only has to take a quick look around the headstones to be reminded that death is always just around the corner.

So I choose to make the most of life. Memento Mori. Remember you must die.

NEXT - Cemetery Stuff: Extracts From Regulations
NEXT - Fabulous Folklore: Gravestone Symbolism