Witchcraft 'thriving in the Welsh countryside' I have been told that a coven of witches still meet locally. There is also a witch living in a nearby village who advertises her services in the local paper. He revealed in his autobiography that a curse on a parishioner had to be lifted by an exorcist. He said: "In folk-magic and witchcraft, a poppet is a doll made to represent a person, for casting spells on that person. A poppet or effigy would be used with very sharp needles stuck into its 'heart' as a way of doing evil to an enemy. It was this 'evil' type of poppet that was used on a chapel member of mine in the Aberaeron area in 1994. It took an experienced Anglican exorcist to 'raise' this curse, which had been placed by a witch on the instruction of another former church member. The motivation behind this 'evil' was envy that had turned into jealousy. The Carmarthenshire church minister, who has preached in West Wales for over 20 years, said witches and curses weren't simply the stuff of fairy stories. He said he had also battled a case of the "evil eye" during his ministerial career. Rev Aubel said: "This is an ancient belief in the existence of a malevolent power in the glance of some people, which is almost invariably provoked by envy or jealousy. "In this instance, a lady who had given birth to a baby boy was apparently wished bad luck by the "evil glance" in the eye of a childless spinster neighbour. Both mother and child were subsequently taken ill due to acute breathlessness for no apparent medical reason and had to be hospitalised. The spinster even visited the mother and child in hospital while I was speaking to them. It became obvious to me that the spinster was praising the baby to its mother in a very false and patronising way. "This is one of the most noticeable characteristics of the utilisation of the "evil eye." "Realising this, I asked the spinster to say "God bless you" to the baby, having just said what a beautiful child the mother had. After that the spinster immediately walked away without uttering another word. "As a precautionary measure, the mother later placed a horse shoe amulet in the porch of her home in order to protect her baby son and herself from the malevolent effects of the spinster's "evil eye."" He added: "A witch who lived in the Pennant area of Ceredigion in the early 1990s would occasionally attend the local chapel. Rev Aubel said he hoped his autobiography, called A Rebel's Story, acted as a warning to people not to get entangled in the occult.