Back from Salem II: Houses that Drip Blood

The 'Must Sees' of Salem:

The Witch House: This is the only standing building directly tied to the "Salem Witch Hysteria" still in Salem. The house belonged to Magistrate (Judge) James Corwin, a major player in the events of 1691/92. (His wife, Elizabeth, was accused at one point but the charge was never taken seriously.) The building is beautiful and the interior fascinating. Since this is an officially registered historic site, the tour guides are well prepared. Of course, as with many such exhibits in Salem, your visit ends when you are plopped down into a gift shop. Some are better than others, but the Witch House gift shop--although small--is well stocked with carefully selected items. Most are relevant to the time period of the trials. There's also a good selection of books and music. Coming home with one of their hand made tin lanterns or metal candle holders is worth the price of admission alone.

The House of the Seven Gables: This is the house made famous by author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne was friendly with the family that owned the house and he spent much time there. It became the inspiration for his famous novel "The House of the Seven Gables". (Johnathan Hathorne, a relative of Nathaniel, presided over--rather zealously--the Salem Witch trials. This fact so much embarrassed and shamed Nathaniel that he added a 'w' to his last name in order to distance himself from his family.)

Witch Dungeon Museum: An interesting two part exhibit. First you are lead through a reconstruction of the jail used to house many of the accused. The cells are hideously small, sometimes a dozen prisoners being crammed into a room the size of the bathroom for a studio apartment. It's no wonder some prisoners died in custody. Conditions were hot and filthy, people having to endure there for months. Next you are lead into a theater where a portion of one of the trials is reenacted. Although brief, the performance is riveting.

Cry Innocent: A wonderful play incorporating audience participation. You become part of pre-trial hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to try accused witch Bridget Bishop. You even get to ask questions of town officials and witnesses. There's a note of historical accuracy here, that although pre-trial hearings were usual private affairs with officials and the parties involved, the witch trial hearings were open to the public.

Above is a pic of The Witch House. More soon...

Back From Salem--Part I: eat, drink, sleep

We had a great time in Salem. Every time I go, I learn more and more. I have a lot to report on but think it best to divide events among several different posts. First, before delving into the more spiritual stuff, I'd like to go over some of the basics. (I should point out, that besides the fact this is an ad free blog, I have no commercial interest in any of the establishments or products I discuss).

Once again we stayed at the Salem Waterfront Hotel, on Derby St near the marina. I like Waterfront Hotel, as it's located near some great sites in Salem (of course, if you stay in Salem just about every site or attraction is within a 10 minute walk). The rooms are clean and airy. I plan on staying there again. One slight negative: they discontinued the complimentary 'continental breakfast', which used to be pretty good. If you're on a budget that's something you might want to consider.

A block away from the Hotel is the Salem Beer Works. I love brewpubs, but the Beerworks has some of the best tap beer I've ever tasted. GreenGhost, Zelda and I prefer the ale profile with beer and this joint has some of the best pale ales I've ever tasted. Some have won awards. Also very good is the seasonal "Black Wing Stout". This year I got to try the "Hawthorne Hefe Weizen"--it was great. Now they offer 'growlers' to go and we took advantage of that (burp). The food is well prepared American pub fare--although a little pricey, the portions are generous. They serve food till late, but on weekends the place can get crowded in the evenings.

Another fine establishment is O'Neill's Irish Pub. It's a great place to have a pint of Guinness. The portions are large and the prices reasonable. The staff is pleasant and make you feel at home. They often feature local musical talent. On my previous trip to Salem, I picked up "Ye Mariners All", a wonderful CD collection of sea shanties and traditional ballads. As we sat down and the band began to play, some of the tunes seemed familiar. It turns out two members of "Ye Mariners All" (John Rockwell and Larry Young) were jamming with the band that night. Making a long story short, one of the band members dedicated the song "Rolling Down to old Maui" to me! Wow! Am I a groopie yet? Btw, I want to thank GreenGhost for her inspired desire to visit O'Neill's that night.

Speaking of GreenGhost, she is vegetarian and pursuing a 'raw food' strategy in her diet. I have to say that Salem is a bit behind the times in that department. Asking for something as mundane as soy milk in a coffee shop brought stares like we were from Mars! But with a bit of looking around, we were able to find two places that were quite good. Jaho Coffee and Tea is a real stand-out. Besides great coffee and tea (wow, the 'bubble tea'!), they offered great wraps and sandwiches. Yes, they certainly heard of soy milk. Another place was Fuel Coffee and Juice Bar (no website I could find, they are at 196 Essex St, phone 978-741-0850).

That's all for now, next I'll get to the good stuff. In closing, here's the lyrics for "Rolling Down to old Maui" (and here's an mp3.):

ROLLING DOWN TO OLD MAUI

Once more we are blown by the northern gales
Bounding o'er the main,
And those green hills of them tropical isles
We soon shall see again.
Five sluggish moons have waxed and waned
Since from the shore sailed we,
But now we're bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui.
But now we're bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui.

Through many's the blow of frost and snow,
Bitter squalls and hail,
Our spars were bent and our sails were rent
As we braved the northern gale.
Those horrid isles of ice cut tiles
That deck the polar sea
Are many. many leagues astern
As we sail to old Maui.

Through many's the blow of frost and snow
Our good ship bore away,
But in the midst of a moonbeam's kiss
We slept in St. Lawrence Bay.
For it's many's the day we've whiled away
On that cold Kamchatka Sea
But now we're bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui.

It's an ample share of toil and care
We whalemen undergo,
But when it's over, what care we
How hard the winds may blow?
For it's homeward bound, that joyful sound,
And yet it may not be,
But we'll think of that as we laugh and chat
With the girls of old Maui.

(copy write goldenhindmusic)

Important Salem Wiccan Discussion: Part II

Salem forum: Witches more popular, less scary

Here's a follow-up to story to my post about the Salem Panel:

...Throughout the evening, the panelists described a mainstreaming of their religion that they never dreamed possible. Today modern paganism is the 19th most popular religion in the United States, said Adler...Nial Hartnett, a witch who lives in Danvers, wondered if this growing acceptance is a good thing, "...I wonder if we are in danger of losing who we really are, the mystery and the magic," he said...But Hildebrand insisted that the freedoms gained to practice their religion will be lost unless they work within some official structures, like the federal government. Adler agreed the community is not "as edgy" as when she began practicing 35 years ago. "There are compromises one makes," she said. "There are gains and there are losses..."

As pointed out in the recent Pew survey on religion in the USA, our numbers are growing rapidly and we are now approximately 1.4 million strong. So, it looks like we are going to be 'mainstreamed' whether we like it or not.

"...Wicca has exploded as far as numbers," said Hildebrand...There are now Wiccan-based charities, Wiccan-based AA chapters and Wiccan groups adopting highway beautification projects. Pagan studies courses are offered in major universities...In spite of the gains, Hildebrand mentioned she still gets calls from parents in custody disputes where religion is presented as an issue, and from workers afraid of coming-out-of-the-broom-closet for fear of losing jobs...

Important Salem Wiccan Discussion

The Wiccan way: No Place for Hate Committee to host panel discussion

Panel discussion on Wicca in Salem co-hosted by Margo Adler:

Salem - The city of Salem’s No Place for Hate Committee will host a panel discussion on April 12 that will focus on practices within the Wiccan faith and the everyday lifestyles of those practicing paganism. Margo Adler (author of "Drawing Down the Moon) will be cohosting a panel discussion on Wicca in Salem...The objective of the event is to inform those in attendance about the religion, lifestyle and culture of those who practice Wicca while also touching on the history and its distinction within the Salem community...

A number of important Wiccan people will be there. Such forms of outreach are very important, as certain groups of people still perpetrate disinformation about Wicca. I'm having a good discussion about Wicca with some Atheists over at MoJoey's blog, in the comments section.

World Rat Day

Rat lovers gather for rodent holiday

Darn! I missed it:

...A group of Salem, Mass., rodent enthusiasts have marked World Rat Day with a gathering that included rat beauty contests...

Our own "Dr. Phil"

Excommunicated from his church, pastor draws praise and condemnation from pagans and Christians

I've posted a number of times about Wyman and his work in Salem. This article does an excellent job summarising the events of the last year:

...A little over a year ago Wyman was excommunicated from his church, accused of getting too amicable with the city’s Wiccan community because of controversial missionary tactics that included operating a pagan-Christian discussion forum, offering Web site links to pagan sites and fostering personal friendships with witches...“Christians have a National Enquirer view of pagans,” he says. “They think they must be worshipping Satan or sacrificing babies ... or they view the pagan community as a well organized machine that’s after the church. That’s a sad picture. In turn, because a few Christians have taken advantage of that to make money in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the pagans have a bad view of the Christians. We want to break that.”

It's great to foster dialog between the two communities. In many ways, his excommunication has been a good thing. He has not lost any members of his church, and it' been a somewhat liberating experience for him:

...his newfound freedom has allowed him to offer more experimental programs at his Essex Street church, The Gathering — things like Lectio Divina, a type of ancient meditation using the Bible, meant to build two-way communication between the reader and God...Wyman is still running...an e-mail discussion group between pagans and Christians called Circle and Cross Talk. He’s continued to grow his church’s array of controversial street theater events, offered during the month of October, things like dream interpretation; psalm readings, where a costumed monk confesses the ancient sins of the church; and the Brimstone Chronicles, where participants “travel” through Dante’s heaven and hell and are forced to face their own mortality...

Great ideas! That's one of the great things about Wiccan and Neo-Pagan spirituality, you actually get to do things and participate. You are not told to 'shut up and sit down' by some drunk pedophile reading from a moldy bible.

In Salem: A gathering of Christians, Wiccans, and Atheists

Christians and atheists start a calmer dialogue

I've blogged about Phil Wyman before (1,2). I really like his focus on outreach:

..."I've never understood treating a people group as [the enemy] because their belief system is different," says Phil Wyman, pastor of The Gathering, a Salem church that sponsored the conference...

More and more people are seeing the value of a 'can't we all just get along' attitude:

...a few people on both sides are finding calmer ways to engage, seeking to build bridges and even learn from one another...So both are willing to sit down together in different venues, discuss their divergent perspectives, and, in some cases, jointly visit church services across the United States. As a result, they are sparking a growing Christian-atheist dialogue on the Web...At a conference in Salem, Mass., last Saturday, for example, Christians from several states listened to atheists and neopagans talk about who they are, the origin of their ethics and beliefs, and what challenges they encounter in a society that is predominantly Christian...

Can't we just all get along

Can Christians be friends with Witches?

I've mentioned The Salem Gathering before. Blogger Pam Hogeweide has written a great article about Pastor Phil Wyman and his continuing work establishing bridges between the Christian, Wiccan, and Pagan communities:

...One of the problems about Christians freaking out when it comes to witches and pagans are the myths we associate with them. Myth number one: They worship satan. “They do not. Most of them don’t even believe in satan,” says Phil. Myth number two: We assume they worship a deity. “Most pagans define themselves as agnostic, or what I call mystical agnostic. Some don’t even practice spells,” continues Phil...Myth number three...Pagans and witches are out to send curses against the church. “There are many of them who really think it would be an unethical thing to do. To some degree most pagans adhere to the Wiccan Rede, ‘And it ‘arm none do what thou wilt’” explains Phil. (Rede: pronounced “reed,” which basically means, Don’t hurt anyone)...

Heh, "mystical agnostic", I like that. This next part is my favorite. I'm sure many Wiccans and Pagans have experienced the wide-eyed confusion I've seen when explaining something of our religion to those who have been fed a diet of propaganda:

I asked Phil for advice in relating to pagans about our faith. “Do not assume they are satanists,” began Phil. “Do not assume they practice some form of malevolent magic. Begin your relationship with someone who is pagan by believing the best about them – love believes all things – and that perhaps their reason for being pagan is noble. Understand that they may have been rejected or mistreated by other Christians,” says Phil. “Be willing to listen to them. Treat them with the simple respect you would desire to receive from them.”

The concluding portion is precious:

Is it kind of weird to think about Christians and witches hanging out with each other? “Everybody is weird. And we are weird and that’s why Jesus came because we’re all weirdoes. I just really love witches and pagans.” Me too, Phil, me too.

Pam blog How God Messed Up My Religion is worth checking out. Her post, Love Thy Pagan Neighbor (My friend is a witch), is a must read for Christians with wiccaphobia. I enjoyed this exchange between her and one of her friends:

...I told Michele that I had been researching paganism/witchcraft and learned that pagans for the most part are peace loving and non-violent. They don't drink blood as Hollywood, or freaked out Christians, would have us believe."No, we don't drink blood - that would be the Catholics," joked Michele...

Church severs tie with branch over pagans

The Gathering chastised for getting too close to witches

I guess the Foursquare Evangelical Church thought Paster Phil Wyman's Pagan outreach efforts were a little too much in the 'going native' department:

"...The trouble began two years ago, Wyman said, when he inadvertently posed for a photo on the Essex Street pedestrian mall with a woman calling herself the “Countess Bathoria,” who had stirred up controversy by appearing in a promotional poster for a vampire ball wearing a bikini and covered in blood. She was being paraded around by two local witches that day when Wyman said he went over to greet them and was photographed as he bent down to kiss the woman’s ring...The photo made its way to the Web site of a local pagan event, The Festival of the Dead, and was seen months later by church leaders, Wyman said..."

Thanx to Angeleternyti for this one.