Beauty in Glass

The large,  hand-blown glass ball shown in today's post is called a witch's ball.

 Witches' balls date back to 18th Century England. People hung the colorful glass balls in windows to ward off bad luck, evil, and spells.


Inside the balls are long strands of glass that look a little like upside down stalagmites that one finds in an underground cave.

Folklore has it that evil spirits are drawn to a witch's ball because of its beauty.

Then, the spirit gets caught inside among the strands. (Uh oh, I thought. What if someone accidentally breaks the ball? Where does the evil spirit go?)

The witch's ball shown in this post actually belongs to a friend, Sally, who is an excellent gardener and birder. She has the ball hanging on a porch room, overlooking her backyard.

While many witch balls are kind of small, Sally's is at least 10 inches across. It's actually quite exquisite.
 

 Her witch's ball is done primarily in pink with numerous other colors blending in.

Many thanks to Sally for allowing photos of her witch's ball to appear in this post.

Have you ever seen something, liked it, refrained from buying it, but then regretted your decision?

Once, at an annual church yard sale that is massively popular, a large, hand-blown glass ball caught my eye. I carefully lifted it up out of the soft, lined box it came in.

It was quite large and very beautiful in varying shades of blue. I held it up to the light and loved it some more, then put it back in the box and walked away.

It was impossible to justify the cost of a totally unneeded item, no matter how lovely.

Now I realize the ball that got away was a witch's ball. It really was a beauty.

Still don't have a witch's ball to hang around here but never fear. Yard sale season is just around the corner.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A WITCH'S BALL? WOULD YOU LIKE ONE FOR YOUR HOME?