Comments on: The “Witch-Mummy” of Xinjiang

By: Zan

Zan — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:30:58 +0000

Hey Morton- yes, thank you, and blessed be: this is the find of my friend and Internet pen-pal Old Gray Mouse, who found a magazine article about the “Witch” (as he explains above), and has guarded her memory since, until such a time as he could find to “rest” her remarkable story (whatever it was). I’ve wondered myself how the hat stayed up; perhaps it had a splint built into it? But I agree; she seems very peaceful, and appears as if her energy was rested in her hat.

By: Morton

Morton — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:52:36 +0000

The more I look at the picture, she looks happy. And, this is the prettiest skull I have ever seen, there is good energy coming from it, she died happy. And, I bet her work is folded up in the hat! To keep the energy with her as she passes.

By: Morton

Morton — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:33:50 +0000

Did anybody examine what was inside the hat? Looks like something inside the cone of the hat…. could be important information. Looks like something in the cone to make it stand upright. This is very interesting.

By: Zan

Zan — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:54:17 +0000

Thank you Tim, Old Gray Mouse, and Aisling, for contributing puzzle-pieces (I know that Old Gray Mouse has archived that powerful photo above for years, a faithful guardian to the Wearer of That Hat)- puzzle-pieces that potentially solve the mystery: why are the Magic People, the Witches and Wizards, denoted by Pointed Hats on their heads?

By: Zan

Zan — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:01:40 +0000

I’ve been thinking about that exact same thing lately. Like a week ago, I came across a book- History’s Mysteries: People, Places, and Oddities Lost in the Sands of Time, by Brian Haughton (New Page Books, 2010), that has a chapter on the hats: Chapter 20, “The Puzzle of the Golden Hats (Central Europe)”- in his opening paragraph (p. 146) Haughton asks whether the hats were “parts of Bronze Age suits of armor, wizard’s hats, ceremonial vases, or perhaps even ritual calendars?” Later (p. 149) he refers to a “more-popular hypothesis, that priests wore the Golden Hats at religious ceremonies- almost literally ‘wizards’ hats’.” He notes that the diameter and shape of the hats are roughly equivalent to the human skull.

By: Aisling Kelledia

Aisling Kelledia — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:20:41 +0000

Anybody else wonder if there might be even a remote connection the “Golden Hats” of Bronze era, Central Europe? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hat .
Could this be a design once shared by Indo European communities, perhaps significant of a royal/priesthood, then later dispersed to the East?

By: Old Gray Mouse

Old Gray Mouse — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:10:03 +0000

February 2008
Wear Pointy Hats With Your Plaids

On seeing the picture of a witch’s hat in an article (1) on the mummies of Xinjiang along with the Celtic fabrics of their clothing I am thinking that the two go together. I think that these people originated to the west of Urumqui near the Black Sea and some traveled East through Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan (2) to settle near Urumqui and others traveled further West to Romania where there is still a Celtic presence, then on to Hallstatt, Austria where the same plaid fabrics were found on a body preserved in the salt mine there. From Hallstatt they separate and some move on to the Danube area to become the proto-Celts which spread around Europe (but not Britain, 2a). The other group moves on to Northern Greece where they become the “Witches of Thessaly” of which there were apparently two kinds according to Brian Clark: the literary ones which were evil and the real ones (3) which were herbalists and healers who taught medicine and shamanic incubation techniques to the first Greek physicians. (4)
The group in Thessaly moves on to Southern Italy then to Northern Africa (Libya, Algeria, the Atlas mountains where Paganism is still practiced) then to Portugal (Basque area) with a possible side trip to the Canary and/or Azore islands then to Brittainy and finally to England (Cornwall,Wales) at first .(5) All this time they kept their plaid fabrics and I’m trying to decide if both groups kept their pointy hat. I have found no mention of pointy hats in Greece, Italy, Spain etc.
The plaids continue today, of course, but eventually the hat had to go with the growing antipathy towars witches preached by the church. I think the image, however, continued on as a racial memory. (6) Today we see them on Halloween and in the dining hall in Harry Potter movies.

(1) Discover magazine, April 1994, Vol. 15, No.4
(2) Felicitas Goodman talks about the Uzbeki shamaness (shamanka) in her book “Where the Spirits Ride the Wind”, 1990
(2a) Sykes & Oppenheimer
(3) Thesis “The Witches of Thessaly”, Brian Clark
(4) “In the Dark Places of Wisdom”, Kingsley, Peter 1999
(5) “The Roots of Witchcraft”, Harrison, Michael, 1975
(6) “Racial Memory and Instinct: The case of the Honeyguide”, Cochrane, Ev
http://www.maverickscience.com/racial-memory.pdf also Jung, Carl

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:34:26 +0000

This is different from what was on display at the exhibit, but wow!

Similar hats seem to commonly denote a connection to spirit in various cultures. Thai Buddhists, Orthodox priests, and Catholic/Episcopal bishops all wear headgear that reaches up to the sky. Monarchs, thought to rule by Divine Right, wore crowns that pointed upward. I wonder if these are all connected.

Still, I have to caution that we are evaluating this picture through out own historical/cultural lens. But it’s tantalizing, isn’t it?

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:36:04 +0000

Fantastic picture: I’m glad we finally got it up. It makes me think of Granny Waetherwax. Is the material sturdy enough to support itself vertically? Or did the cone fall more like burlap would, down her back? Was the hat found in this position in situ?