By Wicked Practises: Witchcraft, Power, and the Fall of Belvoir
Finbarre Snarey
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional speaker / journalist and researcher
- Fee:
- Paid: From £75, plus agreed travel expenses where applicable. Online talks by arrangement.
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 14th August 2026
- Tagged:
- History | Witchcraft | Witches
This particular story hits close to home for me.
In the early seventeenth century, Joan Flower and her daughters, Margaret and Philippa, found themselves at the heart of one of England’s most sensational witchcraft cases. They were closely tied to the household of Francis Manners, the 6th Earl of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle. When tragic illness and death struck the Earl's family, terrible accusations of witchcraft soon followed.
More than four hundred years later, I come to this history not just as a researcher, but as a distant relative of that very same Manners family.
That personal tie has made me look at the case with a fresh sense of humanity. I focus on who had the social power to write the story in the first place.
In this talk, we will follow the original accusations, the heartbreaking deaths within the estate, the fate of the Flower women, and the sensational rumors that grew around the trial. Together, we will untangle what contemporary sources actually say from the myths that have been added over the centuries.
At its core, this talk asks a deeply human question: what happens when a devastating accusation takes place between people separated by massive gulfs of wealth, status, and power? It is a story about witchcraft. It is a story about grief, class and the shaping of the Royal Family today.
Views: 76 | Enquiries: 0About Finbarre Snarey
Hello! I am an arts and culture journalist, podcast producer, and tarot researcher based in Nottinghamshire.
I founded the British Tarot Archive and created Tarot Interviews: a world-first international interview platform where tarot cards guide conversations with best-selling authors, musicians, and cultural leaders.
At the heart of everything I do is a fascination with hidden stories sitting just beneath familiar things: the real human lives that might be tucked away in century-old tarot cards, the gentle ways traditions survive as they are passed from hand to hand, and the magic that happens when you approach an interview or a piece of technology fitting into your work like a jigsaw piece.
Much of my research focuses on the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, the extraordinary life and world of artist Pamela Colman Smith, and tarot as a vibrant, continuous thread in Britain’s cultural history. I have presented my research at places like Goldsmiths, University of London, and my day-to-day work spans writing, producing podcasts, digging through archives, and speaking at festivals.
My talks almost always start with a spark of curiosity. I find a little thread, pull on it, and see where it leads us. Sometimes that thread is an easily overlooked detail in a single card. Other times it is a 400-year-old witchcraft trial, or the simple question of whether an everyday mobile phone can pull off the job of thousands of pounds’ worth of studio tech.
Above all, these sessions are crafted for curious minds. You do not need to arrive knowing anything about tarot or history, so just bring your enthusiasm and we will explore it together.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Finbarre Snarey
- Arcana Symmetry: The Hidden Structure of Tarot Cards
- Ghosts and Swords: Hidden Lives in the Tarot
- Left on Read: Rethinking the Art of the Interview
- High Art, Low Budget: Making Big Ideas with Tiny Tech
- Tarot as Living Heritage: Preserving Britain’s Living Tarot Culture
- A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot
- A Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting
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