Special Announcement! Book release for Summer 2026!

Wayne Perkins

‘A Consensus of Symbols:

Patterns in Ritual Building Protection’

by Wayne Perkins

(BA, Hons, ACIfA)

Published by Aeon Books in June 2026

Press Release

Presented here, for the first time, is a synthesis of thirty-seven years of research that has been undertaken by a range of academics from a number of different disciplines. Its aim is to address the phenomena which comprise the different elements of ‘ritual building protection.’

Chapters include –

Apotropaic Graffiti

 The use of occlusive, deflecting or protective motifs & ‘holy’ signs

Ritual Taper Burn Marks

The deployment of pyro-technology as a form of inoculation against fire & as protection from invasive spirits

Deliberately Concealed Old Boots & Shoes

 Worn footwear concealed in buildings – from single shoes to groups or ‘caches’

Spiritual ‘Middens’

 ‘Generational’ caches of deliberately broken objects & worn garments concealed within the voids of ancient buildings

Dried, Mummified & Smoked Cats

 Intentionally immured cats posed into dioramas

Witch Bottles

 Anthropomorphic ceramic jugs repurposed as magical objects

The book contains a discussion of the socio-economic, political & cultural context of the phenomena. This is followed by a chapter on the supernatural beliefs which persisted into the Early Modern Period c. AD 1450-1800.

A brief outline of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic, known as the ‘Doctrine of Correspondences’ is included, which explains the ‘mechanism’ by which people believed that their actions would be efficacious.

A discussion follows as to who made the deposits and scrutinises the evidence for the possible culprits – from tradesmen to Cunning Folk and Service Magicians.

The final chapter outlines the conceptual construct of the ‘household’ as a symbolic as well as a physical entity and how that drove agency among householders to take measures to counter external threats

Advance orders being taken –

https://spirit.aeonbooks.co.uk/product/consensus-of-symbols/95394

Wayne Perkins © June 2026.

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Published by Wayne Perkins

I am an archaeologist with over twenty years of experience. After a decade or so working as a volunteer on excavations in the 1990’s, I undertook my degree in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. In the last year of my degree I helped to supervise the university’s annual excavations. Directly after my exams I began my career in Commercial Archaeology as a Field Archaeologist with Oxford Archaeology and remained there for four years. Anticipating a career in archaeology in France I volunteered on excavations at Rom and at Prisse-la-Charriere, Niort (for Poitiers & Rennes University respectively). In due course I worked for the States’ premier scientific organization, I.N.R.A.P. (Institut Nationale des Récherches Archéologiques Préventives) as well as for a number of private companies. I returned to the UK in 2013 and resumed my role as a Supervisor, undertaking projects around Oxfordshire with John Moore Heritage Services before moving to London in 2014. I now undertake Historic Building Surveys and supervise urban excavations in the City of London as well as overseeing rural excavations in surrounding Sussex, Surrey & Kent. Wayne Perkins BA Hons (Archaeology) ACIfA (Associate Member, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)

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