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From THE SALEM JOURNAL
#1
(our former
title):
NOTE: We don't want any trouble
with the "powers that be" regarding what might be considered politically
incorrectly or offensive to some people so we have replaced letters in a
few words with an underline. It will also prevent children from
understanding the words.)
THE PERSECUTlON of WOMEN AS
WITCHES
by
Ruth Wildes Schuler
Women were revered as Earth Mother figures in ancient times.
In Greece which was considered the intellectual civilization of the
world at that time, crucial political decisions were made by consulting the
simple peasant girls who were Apollo's oracles at Delphi.
It was the Judea-Christian culture that severely altered women's
place in the scheme of things. In the book of Genesis, Eve was given
the blame for man's fall and her legacy was written:
"Unto the woman, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy travail, in pain
thou shall bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee."
Woman was given the menstrual cycle and the agony of childbirth, but these
did not compromise her full punishment. Patriarchy was the other half
of that ancient curse, and the Christian civilization continued with the
highly developed Jewish tradition of misogyny and s_x_al repression.
The Bible set s_x out as the source of knowledge, civilization
and death. For the sin of Eden, Adam must go to work and Eve must bear
children. Thus, the human family and work-ethic sprung up from roots
of s_x_al repression and guilt.
The Catholic Church has maintained an objection to abortion,
thus continuing the ancient biblical curse which made childbearing a painful
punishment for that original sin in the Garden of Eden. The church
has retained this historical dimension of the myth of feminine evil.
By the Middle Ages men's earlier awe of woman altered from
the point of viewing her as the personification of Mother Nature to that
of viewing her as an avaricious and wicked soul. The fact that women
produced living humans from their bodies was supernatural itself.
Women were then even blamed for storms and droughts. Men
feared that women might gain power, so they dominated them with brute strength
and used them as scapegoats. Joan of Arc was tried for heresy, but
political power was the real issue involved.
The Judea-Christian concept of women as the original criminal
has resulted in the slaughter of millions of people in a period of three
hundred years. Since the late 1400's it has been estimated that at
least nine million people have been executed for the sin of witchcraft. The
majority of these victims have been women, for witchcraft seems to have been
a female crime. Men were generally protected from such accusations
because they were considered to be of superior intellect and virtue in both
the Judean and Christian cultures.
Little is known about these women who were murdered, for the
historians were male and felt that the massacre of witches was too unimportant
to chronicle, except as mere footnotes. Three centuries of burning
women at the stake in agony was passed over lightly, the genocide ignored
because of an acceptance of the Bible's proclamation that females were
evil.
Some of these witches were labeled poisoners, for they used
drugs like aconite, amanita, hashish, laudanum, belladonna and organic
amphetamines. Forgotten were their pioneer development of analgesics
and medical treatments using herbs. During these trials, what women
said in their own defense was ignored because the only records were written
by their enemies-- men. The trials became a way of disposing of unwanted
women, those that were old, different and non-conforming. In
A Room Of One's Own, Virginia
Woolf wrote:
"When one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils,
of a wise woman selling herbs, or even of a very remarkable man who had a
mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed
poet or some Emily Bronte who dashed her brains out on the moor crazed with
the torment that her gift had given her."
Perhaps we can better understand this phenomenon if we zero
in on the witch trials of Massachusetts in the 1690's, even though the number
executed there was microscopic compared to the millions put to death in England
and on the European continent during the late Middle Ages. We have
accurate records from Salem and the statistics show that more women than
men were persecuted as witches. Of the 141 accused, 104 were women,
of the 31 people convicted, 25 were women, and of the 20 executed, 14 were
women.
We should look first at the young girls involved in these trials,
for in Salem during the late 1600's young girls were ignored for the most
part. Their spirits were as repressed by the society in which they lived
as their legs were restricted by the long gowns that they were forced to
wear. The Puritan Church hammered away at them with lusty tales of
the Devil, continually painting him as the arch-criminal. He was the
everlasting antagonist and proved to be a fascination in this never-ending
detective story of crime.
When winter closed in on Salem Village, females were shut off
from all outside activities. In contrast, men were relieved now from
the heavier, chores and they could take their muskets into the forest and
shoot deer, wild turkey, or a marauding fox or wolf. They could fetch
a line, cut through the ice and fish or they could turn to odd jobs of carpentry
or other secondary trades.
There were no diversions for females in winter time though,
and they rarely got out of the house except to go to church. In summer
they could pick berries or carry beer to the men working in the fields, but
with the snow came the monotonous round of chores without any outlet for
physical activity or childish mischief.
It was Tituba, the half-savage slave from Barbados who entertained
these young girls during these winter months. She showed them tricks,
spells, and fragments of Voodoo that she remembered from her own childhood.
She told them tales, murmured nonsense rhymes, and gave these girls
more attention than their own kinfolk.
Many theories have been offered for the young girls' possession
in Salem. The most popular thesis has been that they were afflicted
with hysteria due to the stress and repression in their lives, and that they
used these fits to avail themselves of an opportunity to rebel against the
restrictions placed upon them by the pious adult society in which they lived.
Some psychologists have felt that some of these girls had paranoid tendencies
which were hereditary. Linda Caporael, a graduate student in psychology
at the University of California at Santa Barbara theorizes that the girls'
madness was due to a fungus in grain rye called "ergot," which contains a
hallucinogenic similar to LSD. Ergot could have caused the convulsions, mental
disturbances and perceptual distortions. But for lack of a better
explanation of the phenomena, the New England Puritans seized upon witchcraft.
One of the bewitched girls, twelve-year-old Ann Putnam lived on a farm
in the swampy part of Salem, where her father raised grain which proved to
be contaminated. Her mother and two other girls living on the farm
were similarly afflicted. Further evidence of ergot poisoning offered
by Linda Caparael was the language used by these accusers pointing out the
witches. Their claims of biting, pinching and pricking by pins could
allude to a crawling and tingling sensation usually experienced by ergot
victims.
There have been other theories for the girls' strange behavior.
A Tory governor claimed the afflicted girls were an early case of mob
action. George Beard, the inventor of the electric chair claimed that
the girls were in touch with spirits.
It has been suggested by others that Tituba, who was an expert
in herbs might have induced the girls to experiment with the jimson weed,
and their bedevilment might actually have been drug highs similar to the
LSD trips experienced today.
If this was true, Tituba's motives are uncertain, but there
are some who feel that she might have done this in vengeance for having been
torn away from the warm Barbados Islands and her black kinsmen and brought
to the harsh northern landscape to live among rigid unsympathetic aliens
who worked her exceedingly hard for long hours.
Whatever the cause of the girls' hysterical fits, the fact
remained that it was the poor and disabled who were imprisoned and hanged.
There was no such thing as a democracy among witches. The rich and
well-connected people accused by the girls were able to flee New England
and the judges ignored the extradition laws.
In researching these trials, it becomes obvious that the
accusations became a vehicle that enabled the community to rid themselves
of the old, sick and other undesirable women in their midst.
Sarah Good was disliked by the community because she smoked
a pipe and tramped around the area begging for food. When the magistrate
asked Sarah why she did not attend church services like the other women,
she snapped, "For want of cloose." At the time of her conviction, she
was carrying another child.
She gave birth in prison, but no one bothered to record the event.
After Sarah's arrest, her five-year-old daughter, Dorcas, ran
around the countryside like a mad dog, biting the girls for what they had
done to her mother.
A warrant was duly sworn out for her, as it was obvious that
she too was a witch, so off to prison she went. They did not hang five-year-old
witches, but Dorcas never recovered from her imprisonment. Shut off
from the sun and cooped up with aging women in all degrees of piety, iniquity,
imbecility and intelligence, her face became pinched and sullen and her hair
became wild and matted. When she came out of prison, history records
that she was never "hale and well-looking again." We are left to guess
at her mental state.
Along with young Dorcas, others of a tender age were tried
and convicted of witchcraft. These included Sarah Carrier, age eight;
Abigail Johnson, who was age eleven and her brother, Stephen, who was
thirteen-years-old.
Bridget Bishop was a flashy dresser who sometimes wore a "red
paragon bodice" for best and she also owned a great store of laces. She
was a tavern-keeper who sometimes allowed young people to loiter at unseemingly
hours playing at "shovelboard." William Stacy, a neighbor testified
in her behalf, stating that he had once admired her, for when he was twenty-two,
she had been kind and visited him when he had smallpox. We can only guess
at what Bridget herself said and did in court, because Stephen Sewall, the
recorder took no pains to write her words down.
Martha Carrier's sin was having pockmarked children. When
she refused to confess to the crime of witchcraft, her two oldest boys were
tied heels to heels, but the blood came out of their mouths before they would
testify against their mother. Eventually under torture, they admitted
that they were witches, too, and that their mother had made them so. At
this point the youngest child without much persuasion declared that her mother
was a black cat. When asked how she knew, she replied, "The cat said
so." Sarah Osburne was scandalously remiss in her church attendance.
The fact that she was ill and not fit to be out of bed made little
impact upon the court. The constables had to support her during her
trial, and she was put upon a nag and ridden to Ipswich prison. The
fetid air, cold floors and meager food extracted their toll. She grew
weaker each day until she died on May 10th.
Martha Cory proclaimed to the court: "I do not believe in witches!"
The court asked her how she could make such a statement when three
proven witches had already been taken in their parish. She continued
to deny the reality of witchcraft to the end.
Rebecca Nurse was guilty of the crime of being partially deaf.
At the time of her accusation she had been infirmed with a stomach
complaint and had not left her house for nine days. Rebecca was a
well-loved grandmother in her community, but she had grown too hard of hearing
to understand a crucial question from the jurors. "Oh Lord, help me!,"
she cried out in court and spread her hands out helplessly. Her gesture
was immediately imitated by the girls, who then proceeded to duplicate every
move that Rebecca made. Those in the courtroom started to weep for
the afflicted girls. Rebecca did not. This was interpreted by
Judge Hawthorne as obvious guilt, for would not an innocent woman weep like
other women? But tears are not possible for witches.
After her conviction, though Rebecca was unable to walk, she
was carried from Salem prison in a chair to the church, where she was
excommunicated --sent not only to the gallows, but doomed also to eternal
damnation. Rebecca collapsed from the ordeal and had to be carried
back to prison. Shortly afterwards her sister, Sarah Cloyce, was also
sentenced to prison.
The courts were convinced that the convicted witches were still
working their witchcraft upon the poor girls, so the authorities ordered
that chains be put upon those in prison to circumvent their activities. The
expense of these chains was charged to the accounts of the witches.
Life was wretched for those convicted and imprisoned. They
were confined to foul overcrowded cells, forced to wear heavy chains upon
their limbs, and suffer further indignities by having prison officials sweep
down upon them periodically to search their bodies for witch marks.
After the trials had ended, those who had been convicted of
witchcraft were not released until their families paid their prison fees.
Unfortunately, not every accused witch had kinsmen willing to mortgage
their farms. No one was interested in restoring old Sarah Doston to circulation,
so she remained in prison until she died.
Abigail Faulkner and Elizabeth Proctor had been condemned to
death, but were reprieved until their expected babies could be born. Both
women left prison with their jail-born infants in their arms.
Tituba, the slave had no one to pay her prison fees, so she
was sold back into slavery and sent south, never to be heard of again.
Noyes Parris, the son of the witch-hunting parson became a
victim of the times also and grew up only to die insane.
History had an annoying way of failing to record complete data.
The girls involved were never allowed to tell the truth and with the
passage of time, the truth became much too complex.
From THE SALEM JOURNAL
#1
(our former title):
BEWITCHED
BY HISTORIC SALEM
by J. A. Moore
The ways of the witch have been so severely
suppressed that one fears they might have been lost. But, witches and witchcraft
have survived and with this comes a time of sharing, so that a visit to Salem
will enchant the visitor with the regained stature of the witch.
Since it is beautiful it is hard to believe that such horrible
executions of innocent people were committed here. Salem is a Park-and-Walk
city, filled with historical sites and a mall filled with shops to delight
the visitor. But here, too, is reality. The times of persecution are hardly
forgotten. On some tours, one can relive what was done during what is now
referred to as "The Burning Times."
One stands in a darkened room, peering at the large "sabbat
circle" that glows a menacing, eerie blood red.
A voice echoes: "Do you believe in witches?" This isn't a carnival
sideshow. The question is asked straight-forward. The visitor is about to
relive some of the most horrifying historical moments in history. In old
witchcraft lore, such circles were considered to be the midnight gathering
place of witches' covens.
Once inside, away from the light outdoors, one enters a
mausoleum-like structure known as the SALEM WITCH
MUSEUM. Three centuries ago, in 1692, many people in Salem Village
were convinced of the evil doings of witches. It is the home of the infamous
Salem Witch Trials. Located on Washington Square North, it is a multi-sensory
presentation, recreating one of the most important events in American
history--the witch hysteria. Through thirteen stage sets the museum brings
to life before the visitor's eyes the afflicted girls, the trials and the
executions of that dark era. One knows these are reenactments, but the visitor
should put themselves in the shoes of the girls who felt the pain of crushing
bones and flames licking their limbs, while they were lashed helpless to
a stake wondering why it was happening to them.
Still standing is Salem's HOUSE OF SEVEN
GABLES. Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a native of old Salem
lived there. On 54 Turner Street, the 17th century mansion is at the center
of the area of early homes and beautiful gardens. Included in the tour is
Hawthorne's birthplace, a museum shop, and a tranquil garden coffee shop.
Salem is best known as America's witch capital. At Halloween,
the shops are filled with the paraphernalia of "Cartoon Witchcraft"; high
peaked black hats, shaggy brooms (sorry, they don't fly), T-shirts with various
slogans across them such as "Stop By For a Spell." Typical witches' artifacts
can also be found at the SALEM MUSEUM including
some from the trials.
Salem is a small city with a population of approximately 40,000.
It has a typical New England look. Narrow, tree-lined streets shade the old
brick and wood frame homes. Some large white or green doorways with polished
brass handles look inviting and traditional. Salem's history comes to life
as visitors enjoy walking and browsing through the old streets. During late
October there is a 2 week celebration that includes a multitude of Halloween
festivities much of it centering on its history of witches. That is probably
the best time to visit.
Next on the witchcraft trail is THE WITCH
HOUSE. It was built in 1642 and is a handsome structure of dark wood
panels with a soaring brick chimney. It did not house witches, however. It
was the home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the famous witch trial judges, and
for whom Hawthorne served as magistrate in the preliminary examinations of
those accused of witchcraft. If walls could talk . . .
There is a sundial that was owned by John Proctor and it still
stands in his honor and memory. Proctor was a farmer who spoke out against
the witch hysteria. For his efforts he was condemned guilty of witchcraft
and hung.
The witchcraft hysteria did not actually begin in what is now
considered Salem, but in Salem Village, known today as Danvers. But there
is no denying how the hysteria quickly spread and engulfed Salem and some
of outside New England.
Located at 132 Essex Street is the ESSEX
INSTITUTE MUSEUM NEIGHBORHOOD. Three centuries of furnished
Salem houses are located within one city block on these grounds. The museum
and major research library contain actual witchcraft trial records. It is
filled with other historical memorabilia, including a large collection of
dolls, dollhouses, miniatures and portraits. Adaptations of museum collectibles
are available here.
THE BURYING POINT (1637), located on Charter Street,
is the oldest burial ground in Salem. Buried here is the Reverend Francis
Higgison, a member of the Mayflower and who named Salem. The judges of the
witchcraft trails can be found buried here.
On 16 Lynde Street, the visitor can enter the
WITCH DUNGEON MUSEUM, and view live presentations
of witch trails and tour a recreated dungeon. This time the visitor can be
the judge of those accused while watching in horror the events as they happen.
Keep in mind that it is more than a show: It is history.
Salem is filled with wondrous sights and shops. One of the
best is PYRAMID BOOKS AND NEW AGE COLLECTION. It
is located at 214 Derby Street and is filled with everything from metaphysical
jewelry to recreations of witchcraft statues used today in modern witchcraft.
Gems, wands and a variety of sculptures surround the visitor. It's almost
magical in the way it effects the browsing visitor.
Salem is a magical place, filled with lore and wonder, beauty
and horror. A visit is highly recommended. The visitor never knows if the
person one is talking with might just be a real witch . . .
From THE SALEM JOURNAL #1
(our former
title):
HALLOWEEN--THE CONTROVERSIAL
HOLIDAY
by Chris Friend
There is probably no other holiday, no other season I love
more than Halloween. All my friends always tease me during October
about it being my favorite time of year. But it is interesting to note
that it started with the great Celtic priests, the Druids. Before the
glowing pumpkin lanterns and plastic skeletons the Celts celebrated their
new year on November lst and the eve before was called Samhain, pronounced
"sow-en." On this night the veil between the world of the living and
the dead was extremely thin. The rituals of Samhain were organized
by the Druids such as bonfires. Among most of the pagan peoples of
Europe there was a need to rekindle the fires of the sun especially in the
fall when the nights grow longer, and the pagans believed the sun to be dying.
So they burnt effigies to give it life as a form of sympathetic magic. It
should be noted that humans and animals were often burned in the straw men
which ironically fuels the fire of many Christian fundamentalists in their
campaign against celebrating the holiday. With the advent of Christianity,
the church turned Samhain into its All Souls Day or All Hallows and the night
before became All Hallows' Eve (Halloween). Even then the holiday's
pagan elements were discouraged to no avail. The Benedictine monasteries
of the sixth century even held a feast on November lst, and it was decreed
by St. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny in 998 A.D. Soon the practice of baking
soul cakes, which are left on tables and church yards, became common all
over Europe. This practice still exists in Mexico with its Day of the
Dead celebration when skeleton-shaped cakes and cookies are baked for the
returning dead. The holiday is also celebrated on November lst.
The holiday that we now celebrate as Halloween got its start
during the Irish Potato Famine when many people in Ireland were forced to
beg for food and on All Saints' Eve there were many celebrations. People
would go the wealthiest homes to ask for a treat and if refused a trick was
played on them, usually by revelers in scary costumes. The dead were
rumored to wander that night as well as witches and other dark creatures.
The practice may originate before the Potato Famine but the general
opinion is that at least at that point in time it became more common.
Victorian England also encouraged its popularity when it became
known as Nutcrack Night with its treats of nuts and apples. The idea
for the apples originated with the Roman holiday, Pomona. Nutcrack
Night was also celebrated during the end of October.
During the Potato Famine many Irish immigrants brought this
odd holiday custom to the New World where it immediately caught on. It
is now a truly American holiday.
Soon the tradition of making pixie lamps from great orange
pumpkins (instead of turnips) was incorporated and a candle could easily
fit inside one of these lanterns. This Jack-o-lantern or goblin lantern
is the quintessential Halloween symbol we all love.
It was not long before American children began dressing up
as ghosts, witches, and other scary things and going door to door on the
evening of October 31st.
Over the years Christian fundamentalists have continued a huge
campaign against the whole practice of celebrating Halloween. I have
personally encountered a growing negative attitude regarding the celebration
of this holiday thanks to the fundamentalists' propaganda.
Many of the fundamentalists are convinced it is a celebration
of satanic worship and that anyone who is involved is simply paying homage
to the old homed monster himself.
Children are now discouraged to go out for fear that satanic
cults will abduct them. If there were any widespread satanic conspiracies
they could easily do this on any number of pagan holidays from Walpurgis
Night (May Day) to Christmas (Yule). The majority of hard evidence
indicates that modern day Satanism is mainly practiced by confused teenagers
(into drugs and se-x) and by a minority of sick-minded people. It is
not a widespread conspiracy such as discussed on television shows, "Geraldo"
and the "700 Club."
Nowadays, one might as well forget about putting the witch
up on one's door or that skeleton in the yard. A new age of wholesome,
sanitized (as opposed to spooky) Halloween parties (sorry, no fall festivals
either) where one can dress up as an angel or a nun! No demonic vampires
or whatever allowed. (It wouldn't be politically correct!) Needless
to say it really makes me angry. I love Halloween, and I have never
performed a Black Mass in my entire life. People are entitled to their
opinions no matter how stupid, illogical and narrow-minded it is. But,
fortunately, Halloween is still holding its own so I am not worried. My
own Halloween celebrations are fairly ordinary with the traditional ghosts,
witches, skeletons and my beloved vampires. And, I am a nice person
without horns or sixes on my head. I'm just a fantasist. Have
a good Halloween!
