Bob Fry
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bobfry.bsky.social
Bob Fry
@bobfry.bsky.social
980 followers 960 following 4.7K posts
Overly fond of oolite, stars, folklore, photography, beetroot, fossils & other old things (& The Fall). All photographs my own, unless stated or reposted.
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bobfry.bsky.social
Another of Prof Ronald Hutton’s excellent Gresham College Lectures
www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/go...
Hecate: Mistress of Magic
Hecate started as the ruling goddess of the Asian region of Caria, and got taken over by the Greeks as the only one able to operate in every realm of the cosmos. This then gave her special responsibil...
www.gresham.ac.uk
November 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
#Folklore
The Bulla.
No 32 from
Lucky Charms,a series of 50 Wills’s Cigarette Cards (from 1923)
The information on the reverse of this card seems rather inarticulate and perhaps inaccurate. I believe that the Bulla was a medallion or locket given to Roman boys.
A golden amulet or locket bearing the face of a Gorgon with snakes for hair. The Bulla. From remote times the terrors of the arts of fascination have been dreaded, and by wearing this charm, which contained a written invocation to their gods, it was believed that full protection was obtained. The Bulla was popular in Rome from a very early period. It was worn on a necklace, or upon the girdle. The Gorgon's head, with hair of writhing snakes, was believed to terrify and drive a way the power of the bewitcher. Even to-day, in many countries, the magic power of the evil-eye is still believed in.
November 28, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Bob Fry
hwaet.info
"Lo!"
Beowulf: Translated out of the Old English, 1902
Chauncey Brewster Tinker 🇬🇧
November 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Bob Fry
radiolento.bsky.social
Episode 90 - Wind on water, night curlews, rain later

First, the soothing sound of lapping water at night, with later into the episode, the sound of rain on water.

*sleep safe > bit.ly/LenWoWa
dusk on a path next to the estuary at low tide. august. calm. quiet. still. warm. last of the light fading away.
November 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Bob Fry
johnreppion.bsky.social
Prof Ronald Hutton on The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild.

CC @pjrobichaud.bsky.social @mjpcuervo.bsky.social @helleborezine.bsky.social

youtu.be/nr9nJWB8_Ds?...
The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild - Ronald Hutton
YouTube video by Gresham College
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 10:42 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
Songs that make me very happy.

There once was a very famous man
On his famous horse he'd ride through the land
The people used to see him everywhere
When he died, they put a statue in the square
(hooray)
Here comes the Equestrian Statue
Prancing up and down the square…

youtu.be/s5_teUu9jMc
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Equestrian Statue (1967)
YouTube video by British Pathé
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
Need some kinks right now.

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar
When the dawn begins to crack
It's all part of my autumn almanac

Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow
So I sweep them in my sack
Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac

youtu.be/Z4dXnshpXDI
THE KINKS - Autumn Almanac (Lyric Video)
YouTube video by Big Chuck Lyric Video
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Bob Fry
bobhawkins.bsky.social
Over 80,000 signatures now.
November 28, 2025 at 9:46 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
Perfect Fall for #FallFriday
Ta Mysticveg
November 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Bob Fry
derryfilm.bsky.social
"The Northerns
The North ones,
Their brains are unhinged by the sun"

#FallFriday

youtu.be/OcnNZPAON4A?...
The Fall - R.O.D. (Peel Session)
YouTube video by Contraflow
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Bob Fry
iand777.bsky.social
Today's #BirdoftheDay theme is #MorningLight
Here, Long-tailed Tits begin gathering feathers to line their nests at dawn, on April 5th.
A thousand plus feathers need to be collected over the following days, so early starts are in order.
🦉
November 28, 2025 at 8:56 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
#Folklore
The Necklace of Charms.
No 31 from
Lucky Charms,a series of 50 Wills’s Cigarette Cards (from 1923). Yet again Egyptian charms feature in this series. Some of the later cards look at charms with other origins.
A necklace of shells and beads. Three separate charms that could be suspended from it are depicted. A lotus flower symbol in the centre. A fish supposed to represent the Egyptian goddess of the Nile on the right. On the left, a golden representation of a lock of hair with an “obscure meaning” Necklace of Charms. This is an Egyptian group of amulets. The centre ornament is the Lotus, from which hangs the emblem of "Millions of Years " " Thou shalt never perish, never, never come to an end." The Lotus bestowed upon the wearer Light and Under-standing, the gifts of the god Ra, their sun god, king of gods and of men. The. Fish, the symbol of the Egyptian goddess who controlled the rising of the Nile, brought Abundance and Riches. The other pendant is in the form of a lock of hair, the meaning of which is obscure.
November 28, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Bob Fry
hwaet.info
"Voici!" (Behold)
Le Beowulf, 1919
Walter Thomas 🇫🇷
November 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
#Folklore
The Menat.
No 30 from
Lucky Charms,a series of 50 Wills’s Cigarette Cards (from 1923). Yet another Egyptian charm.
A very complex charm showing the Goddess Hathor in profile above several other carvings one of which is an Apis (a bull with the sun between its horns) The Menat. This elaborately ornamental charm, worn by Egyptian women, was supposed to bestow upon them all the blessings of their powerful Hathor, goddess of the sunrise, whose worship was universal in Egypt. Health, strength, happiness all these were the gifts of this their goddess of love. She was regarded as a loving, protecting mother, both of the living and of the dead; was the deity who filled both heaven and earth with her beneficence, and the dispenser of all the blessings of life.
November 27, 2025 at 9:35 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
If you are near Stroud in Gloucestershire, make sure you visit the Earth Magic exhibition. If you don’t know the superb work of Dougal Kirkland you really should www.dougalkirkland.co.uk
A poster for the Earth Magic Exhibition. Earth Magic, Collective Mysteries A multimedia group exhibition; a dialogue with the earth and its mysteries in the contemporary cultural sphere. This exhibition considers an expanded sense of what are commonly known as 'earth mysteries' - a range of ideas and theories surrounding cultural and religio-spiritual beliefs about the Earth and often looking at specific historically important or sacred geographic sites. At different times throughout the 20th century to the present, the earth mysteries have attracted a wide band of religio-spiritual devotees and alter-scientific perspectives. The title references the 1977 book Earth Magic by Francis Hitching which was one of a niche coterie of books investigating megalithic monument theory. This exhibition stays with the bandwidth of peripheral knowledges and visions. Looking at the 'earth and its mysteries' is a collective project and the artistic research in this exhibition focuses broadly on three themes: archeo-mythology, traditional and contemporary animisms and ecological perspectives. The artists engage with subjects including folkloric traditions, ancient mythos, journeys in the underworld, extractivism and the digital era, queer ecologies, animism, ancient earthworks and slow materiality. Weaving and intersecting through the exhibition is the element of time: deep, ancient and current; materially embedded and otherwise passing, fleeting. 15th November - 21st December 2025 EARTH MAGIC Collective mysteries Abigail Fallis Una Hamilton Helle Mair Hughes Dougal Kirkland Sofie Krogh Stautz Simon McCorry Louise van den Muyzenberg Tim Parry-Williams Wendy Sharpe Sem Svoni Diana Wood Conroy Patricia Dougal Kirkland Animal Avatars, 2025 Oil pastel on paper Animal Avatars takes inspiration from the Gundestrup Cauldron; a large silver vessel that was deposited in a bog in Denmark during the Iron Age. This piece was drawn in oil pastel across four panels that allude to archeological fragmentation and the paneling of the cauldron itself. At the centre is the 'Patron of Nature' a Celtic deity also called 'Cernunnos'. Situating a queer ecological perspective next to ancient Celtic belief systems and symbolism; I was interested in the beyond-the-binary motifs of transmogrification and shamanic communication. This piece sits within a wider context of my work that considers the ecological, archeological and cultural significance of bogs. 'Mistletoe'was created after drawings I made in the British Museum of 'Lindow man' who has been buried in Lindow Moss. There he remained perfectly preserved in peat for 2000 years until he was unearthed by industrial turf cutting. His last meal contained mistletoe pollen; a plant favoured by the Druids. I wanted to draw him back into the bog.
November 26, 2025 at 11:40 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
youtu.be/Jisqle37uWI?...
Noggin the Nog 1959
YouTube video by ChunkyStab
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
"This was a Golden Age, a time of high adventure, rich living and hard dying... but nobody thought so. This was a future of fortune and theft, pillage and rapine, culture and vice... but nobody admitted it. This was an age of extremes, a fascinating century of freaks... but nobody loved it."
November 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
The Great British Mistake by the Adverts.
The finest punk band. TV Smith is a great song writer.
youtu.be/Juh70aWpWjE?...
The Adverts - Great British Mistake
YouTube video by firerecords
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
@tomsbrown.bsky.social
Got your number on it
November 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
bobfry.bsky.social
#WyrdWednesday
Odin sacrifices himself to himself

I wot that I hung on the wind-tossed tree
all nights of nine,
wounded by spear, bespoken to Óthin,
bespoken myself to myself,
upon that tree of which none telleth
from what roots it doth rise.

tr. Lee M. Hollander, The Poetic Edda
wyrdwednesday.bsky.social Wyrd Wednesday @wyrdwednesday.bsky.social · 4d
Join us this #Wyrdwednesday for our topic:

'Sacrifices, Offerings and Selfless Acts!'

Serve us up your tantalizing tales from history, myth and lore about ravenous deities and grand gestures both good and evil!
November 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Bob Fry
radiolento.bsky.social
As part of our Black Friday deal, you can listen to Radio Lento for free. That's all 286 episodes or 8 full days of sound. All from real quiet locations across the country. Free to your earlobes. Always. (Though a coffee would be nice if you can spare it > ko-fi.com/radiolento)
an island in the middle of a lake in november at the end of the afternoon. the colours of the trees and the clouds are reflected in the still water. some pylons are in the distance. this is an urban oasis of quiet.
November 26, 2025 at 10:42 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
In last night’s dream I was dressed up just like Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (even the moustache. I used to have one just like it). I was queueing on a gangplank trying to get a job on the USS Saratoga.
Jack Nicholson dressed in a naval uniform (black coat, white cap) from the film The Last Detail.
November 26, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Bob Fry
matpringle.bsky.social
A gentle reminder now is a good time to start dropping hints about your love of folklore themed linocut prints to friends and family.

matpringleillustration.bigcartel.com
A selection of folklore themed illustrated linocut prints and bunting.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Bob Fry
hwaet.info
"Lo!"
Beowulf: The Oldest English Epic translated into Alliterative Verse, 1940
Charles W. Kennedy 🇺🇸
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 AM
bobfry.bsky.social
Seasonal rain sounds. Essential listening.
radiolento.bsky.social Radio Lento @radiolento.bsky.social · 2d
The sound of the rain all year round 🌧️ 🎧 All recorded in real places. No loops or AI here.

Winter rain > bit.ly/LenRn156

Spring rain > bit.ly/LenFoD6

Summer rain > bit.ly/LenRainM

Autumn rain > bit.ly/LenRnAb
raindrops on a shiny metal surface with a reflection.
November 26, 2025 at 9:59 AM