Good Afternoon My Witchy Readers,
Sadly the above imagine is as morbid and tragic as the Summer of 1692, and the horrors that permeated the entire New England region from Maine to New York that fateful summer. Many have heard of the people put to death in Salem Village in Massachusetts, but few know the first person put to death in New England, on Colonial soil, was a woman named Alyce Young in Hartford, CT, or that 35 people were put to death for the crimes of witchcraft all through New England in the 17th century before this horrid practice was finally put to rest. Hundreds had been arrested and at least 5 are recorded to have died in jail, but some towns and communities had meticulous records which have survived the ravages of time, while others had town records that have disappeared, so numbers of those arrested and those who may have died in jail can be debated.
And of course these numbers are, of course, those who had been persecuted, under color of authority, which means by legal authority, and do not consider the vigilante groups that may have taken it upon themselves to rid their villages and hamlets of the old village witch when the crops failed, or the young vixen witch when the local husbands wandered away from their homes late at night. Sadly, the woman who was accused of witchcraft was often the woman in the community who stood out. She was often the one who was independent, many times outspoken, single or self sufficient, perhaps extremely pretty, smarter than most, many were those who owned land or property or had ability that was able to inspire envy and others to covet, and very often caused others to feel less than, many times other women!, in the same community, to turn their spite and jealousy upon the other women and with their wicked tongues and lies, would go to the Sheriff and soon the accused was arrested, tried and within a matter of days brought to Gallow's Hill and hung for crimes none of them were truly guilty of.
You see, at this time in history, 1692, the community of Salem Village was strongly Puritan, and except for the slaves who were brought from Caribbean islands, no one had any idea of magick, witchery or any such thing. Everyone, every huswife, (housewife), every servant girl, every lady of the community knew of herbal remedies, including the local physician, as they did not have modern medicine to rely on. They used old fashioned folk magicks brought from the old country, had superstitions, beliefs, and home remedies to aid their families through sickness, nightmares, and things which would bring about fear.
The people accused in 1692, women, men, children, even a former minister of the village who had retired to Maine to fish and live in quiet obscurity, was accused and brought back in shackles, which showed no one was exempt from rumors, lies and a type of insanity that today we would call hysteria, delusion, paranoia, and even sociopathy. Yes, all of these things are still running rampant today, as strong as they ever were and still accusations are being cast at people, but as our practice of witchcraft is more understood and accepted today, the accusers today are seen much more clearly as the delusional lunatics that they are, when they do start their insane rantings and luckily seldom does anyone really take them seriously. At least not in this country. They are either thought to be religious fanatics or simply crazy.
People are still beheaded or stoned to death in the Middle East, in African countries and in South American and central American countries to this day with these accusations, so the 'burning times' still exist, but luckily in America, at least for the time being we have the protection of our Constitution and our religious freedom laws to protect us.
This Sunday, September 10th, at noon, I will meet anyone who wishes to meet us, the Witches of Enchantments, at the 1692 Victim's Memorial in Salem, Mass for a lecture and ritual to remember those whose lives were taken from them that awful Summer, over 300 years ago. We will also go to the newly discovered Gallow's Hill memorial, that was recently discovered just last Summer, 2016, by archaeologists and historians. Then we explore the real witches Salem.
I have studied the 1692 Salem Witch Trails for over 30 years and some of the things I go over in my lecture are the 'bones' of our Constitution and Bill of Rights which we rely on as citizens of the United States, but which may read very differently today, if not for that Summer in Salem Village.
I discuss the practice of law and what the accused could expect in the manner of legal defense and what was not allowed at that time in history. I go over what the accused experienced when being brought into a court of law, and what the trail was like and the internment in the dungeons and the conditions, and then the executions of the convicted.
We conduct a ritual after the lecture, where we not only remember those innocents who were sacrificed at a time before we had laws to grant us human rights, civil rights and legal rights. We remember them, not only so we today can practice as witches in a country where we have the freedom to do so, but to remember them, because they died innocent of the crime, we today would be guilty of, and proudly so.
We ring the bells 20 times in honor and memory of the 20 souls who we will never allow to be forgotten and will always remember the words "Oh God Help Me I Am Wholly Innocent Of Such Wickedness".
It would be an honor if you came along on this lecture and tour. There is no charge. People who wish to attend need to set their GPS to 2 New Liberty Street, Salem, Mass. This is the Visitor's Center and you can park in the adjacent parking garage and then go into the visitor's center to get a walking map of the village. The Victim's Memorial is located 2 blocks South, and we will meet you there at noon.
Those that wish to may come along with us after the lecture and ritual to attend lunch and then explore Salem for the rest of the afternoon. This event will be rain or shine. Sssshhhhh, don't tell but witches don't melt when they get wet! Hahaha No, indeed, we do not!!
I will keep the rest of the interesting and exciting information for you to discover during my lecture, should you be able to make it.
One additional note: We make this annual pilgrimage to Salem in September, because in 1692 the last of the executions happened in September of that year. We go this month in honor of all those who died that year.
Live, Love and Always Remember, those who have gone before. Blessings, Ms. Faith
© 2010-2017 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.
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