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our mysical publication of all things wiccan:

THE SALEM JOURNAL


                             
From THE SALEM JOURNAL #1:

"THE SORCEROR"

by Richard David Behrens


In an ancient chateau, in an age long ago,
       in the darkest of dark midnight hours,
In a circle of white, in an aura of light
       stood a Sorceror, of wonderous powers.

Malefic ranting!  Nefarious chanting
       of anti-liturgical lore;
abusive tirading mid spectres parading
       their abhorent forms 'cross the floor.

Some did appear as but blurs in the air;
       luminescent, lithe affirmations,
Of the words that he swore, of the powers he bore;
       over all of the bleak presentations.

Others there were, more concrete than a blur;
       a diaphanous shade they assume;
They came from the mound, they came from the ground;
       they came from the grave and the tomb.

Lightening enhancing these spectres' grim dancing
       to a thunder unyielding, unbound;
These demons had risen from six feet of prison
       in unconsecrated rimed ground.

Midst the hadean gloom of the circular room
       stood this Master of sark incantations,
And leading the band, silver dagger in hand,
       orchestrated the spectres' gyrations.

His head bore a crepe cap of conical shape
       and his robe was of black foreign mien;
It is black that he wore, from shoulder to floor,
       on which mystical symbols are seen.

On his face no expression of his mystic profession
       but his eyes flash with mystical fire,
As his wavering frame, seems to flicker like flame
       to the beat of some clandestine choir.

With waves of his hands the ominous bands
       of spectres whirl madly around 'em,
They cannot desist, they cannot resist,
       the Sorceror's magic that bound them.

Each demon more frightening (framed by the lightening);
       frenzied and madly careening,
While the Master invokes with masterful strokes
       great lines of obscure mystic meaning.

And then with a wave, slash and stroke of the blade
       imposing his powerful will,
Every spectre and shade ceased their maddened parade;
       every form in the room stood dead still.

The Master surveyed all the forms that he made
       then uttered, at length, a farewell:
"Get Thee back all Ye Dead!  Get Thee back to Thy bed!"
       Get Thee back to Thy mother in Hell!"

And then, with a wave toward these forms from the grave
       the Sorceror's blade drawn and bared,
He thrust out the blade toward the demons he made
       and these creatures from Hell disappeared.

But, a singular Shade seemed to fear not his blade
       and lingered in spite of his power,
Then it spoke to the Master portending disaster
       and said, "Thou hast met thy last hour!"

Then continued the Shade, "For the errors thou made
       thou hast but till the hour of three,
When the dark ground shall split and down to the pit
       thee will fall with the others and me!"

"Thee shall suffer forever, for being so clever;
       for thy sins have no valid defense;
For the path that thou trod and thy crimes against God,
       it is time for thy earned recompense."

Then the Spirit just smiled, in a spirited style,
       and slowly dissolved in the thin
Electrified air with a magical flair;
       until all that remained was its grin.

And, that grin lingered on, til the Master was gone;
       for his fate was not now left to chance,
In the mystical clime, in the pit, for all time;
       in the fires of Hell he must dance!

"OCTOBER"

by Richard David Behrens


No moon has risen half so fair
        as that which through the mist and dour,
Ascends the cold October air;
        at this the horrid midnight hour.

Penumtral clouds of vapid gauze
        in silence from its secret place,
Reaches out with eerie claws
        to mar the beauty of her face.

But, not to be denied her reign,
        the Queen of the midnight shy looks down,
Unmoved by the stealthy clouds that strain
        to try to wrest her crown.

Her light illumines earth and sky
        with oblique and broad diaphanous beams,
While all, who in Death's cold arms lie
        are lost within their dreams.

But, something evil must have placed
        dark magic in her glistening show,
For every creature she encased
        is strangely muted by her glow.

How still the night bereft of sound!
        How oppressive the weight that silence pressed,
Upon my body laden bound
        which draws but a palsied rest.

The dying embers yet with heat,
        cast lengthy shadows through the gloom,
Which once had served as my retreat
        and, now serves sadly as my tomb.

The shadows were but shadows thrown,
        but there was one which caught my eye,
That cast a shadow all its own
        across the bed on which I lie.

Now is the sprawling silence ending!
        That muted wave that once did crest;
Transmuted to a pounding pending
        pulsing heart within my breast.

The spectre did not move or speak,
        but stood within that midnight hour,
Deadly silent, grim and bleak
        and stirred my sullen soul to cower.

At length, I did that Shade address:
        "Why came thee to my bedstead side,
At this late hour?" (Dare I press?)
        "I came for thee!" the Shade replied.

"I came for thee!" he did repeat
        over and over, anew and again,
Til the air was charged with his sinister bleat
        to dive me very near insane.

Every word that shadow said
        flayed my brain til I near screamed:
"Are Thee something to be dread;
        or are Thee something that I dreamed up?"

"Illusion or real?" he said, at least,
        "things are not what things may seem;
A dream is real in shadows cast;
        and reality, friend, is but a dream."

"Are you Death" I asked, "or Shade;
        some dark demonic thief to vend,
A recompense for errors made
        to bring my life to such an end?"

"Or, are thee Angel from on high,
        one glorious in grace and form,
to take me hand-in-hand to fly
        above the morass and the storm?"

"Enough of talk!" I heard him say,
        "There's nothing further you may gain;
If thou hast a prayer, then thou may pray;
        it's time to leave this world of pain."

The shadow darkened and expanded
        bleakly filling every crack,
Within my soul til I was branded
        with the coldness of that black.

It's then I saw the Shadow's hand
        extend to finally touch my own;
He drew me toward a blackened band
        which through my bedroom window shone.

The Shade stopped still before the portal,
        then pointing toward the dark he said,
"All who enter here are mortal!
        None may enter but the dead!"

Thinking this a moment's madness;
        spurred by words the Shade had said,
I turned to run, but stopped in sadness
        to see my form upon the bed.

"Sir Shade!" said I "It must be so!
        (On seeing that shell in silence lain),
Am I to warm in Heaven's glow;
        or suffer Hell's eternal pain?"

"Heaven is Hell! The Shade replied,
        "and fools as you are much alloyed;
The false saints you created lied;
        now step thee deep within the void!"
"Thee sainted evil, sainted greed
        and hatred thee did canonize,
And, sought to furnish every need
        at the price of the heaven you now prize"

"Thou asks if this is Heaven's gate,
        for all the good thou didst commit?
Yes! Said the Shade, "Thy award await!
        But thy Heaven lies within the Pit!"

From THE SALEM JOURNAL #1:

WITCHING HOUR REVIEWS

by Sharida Rizzuto

ALL WOMEN ARE HEALERS--A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO NATURAL HEALING
by Diane Stein
Thi Crossing Press
Freedom, CA
1990
Trade paperback
    The book covers a considerable range of information about natural healing--the practice of Reiki, polarity balancing, Chinese medicine and acupressure, reflexology, vitamins & minerals, herbs, homeopathy and more. The author discusses the role of women as healers and how throughout the ages they have practiced many diverse forms of healing only to be repressed again and again by the male dominated "powers that be." Though some readers will be turned off by the feminist bias there is certainly a tremendous amount of relevant information in the book.

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF INCENSE, OILS & BREWS
by Scott Cunningham
Llewellyn Publications
St. Paul, MN
1990
Trade paperback
    Everything you ever wanted to know about incense, oils and brews are in this book! The author teaches the reader how to make different kinds of incense, oils, ointments, ritual soaps, bath salts, etc. He also gives the principles of magic so one is able to empower their blends of incense, oils, etc. to heal, to attract, to promote, simulate, increase and/or heighten whatever one wants. This is a book of positive magic, no negative stuff here.

DRAWING DOWN THE MOON--WITCHES, DRUIDS, GODDESS--WORSHIP and OTHER PAGANS IN AMERICA
by Margot Adler
Beacon Press
Boston, MA
1986
Trade paperback
   The definitive book on neo-paganism. Adler thoroughly covers the entire range of modern-day neo-pagans. It's obvious she is an authority in her field. All occult enthusiasts and practioners should read this one.

THE GOD of the WITCHES
by Margaret A. Murray
Oxford University Press
NYC, NY
1970
Trade paperback
    This book is a study of witchcraft as practiced in Europe dating back to pre-Christian times to the paleolithic period.
    Murray, the late noted anthropologist discusses the idea that certain individuals were ritually sacrificed to ensure the continued fertility of a people and their land. She claims that it happened repeatedly throughout history with such notable people as Thomas a Becket, Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais and others. Fascinating book.

LA-BAS (DOWN THERE)
& AGAINST THE GRAIN (A REBOURS)
by J. K. Huysmans
Dover Publications
NYC, NY
1972 & 1969
Trade paperback
    The first book is considered a classic on Satanism. The author describes in detail the rituals of the Black Mass. He was widely experienced with the world of the occult in 19th century Paris during the fin de siecle period. It was one of total decadence. In this book, as well as the other (A. T. G.) he uses a character to voice his obsession with decadence. It's definitely an interesting read for scholars of the occult. However, a word of caution--some readers will find it disturbing and/or offensive.

LEAVES OF YGGDRASIL--A SYNTHESIS OF RUNES, GODS, MAGIC, FEMININE MYSTERIES, FOLKLORE
by Freya Aswynn
Llewellyn Publications
St. Paul, MN
1990
Trade paperback
    This book covers the runic alphabet, divination and magic, use of runes in healing and more. Aswynn explains the historical and cultural significance of runic magic. Detailed and interesting.

MEPHISTOPHELES--THE DEVIL IN THE MODERN WORLD
by Jeffrey Burton Russell
Cornell University Press
Ithaca, NY
1986
Trade paperback
    It is Russell's fourth volume in a series about the Christian historical concept of the Devil. The book begins with the Reformation and continues on into the present. Russell discusses how the concept of the Devil has been influenced by changes in society which include art, culture, theology, literature, philosophy, etc. This is a scholarly work, not something written from a Christian fundamentalist prospective. Good for research. Interesting.

RIDING THE NIGHTMARE--WOMEN & WITCHCRAFT FROM THE OLD WORLD TO COLONIAL SALEM
by Selma R. Williams and Pamela Williams Adelman
Harper Perennial/Harper Collins
NYC, NY
1978
Trade paperback
    The authors' contention is since the majority of those condemned for witchcraft (90%) in both Europe and America were women that it was a case of discrimination pure and simple. They explain that the society through the church, politics, popular distributed tracts, etc., promoted the myth that women were evil incarnate and therefore capable of practicing witchcraft. The authors make a strong case. However, it is obvious that they have a strong feminist bias. While much of their evidence is solid, the reader should keep in mind that further research is necessary whenever there is a strong bias in any direction.

SANTERIA THE RELIGION--A LEGACY of FAITH, RITES, and MAGIC
by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler
Harmony Books
NYC, NY
1989
Hardback
    It is an interesting look at the world of Santeria--a branch of voodoo. It is derived from the West African Yoruba people. When some of these people made their way aboard slave ships bound for the New World (Cuba), they brought their voodoo practices with them. Later it would be incorporated with Catholicism. Eventually, Santeria would be adopted by the Hispanic population in Cuba. Since those days it has spread across some of the Caribbean and America.
    A detailed account of the origins, development and spread of Santeria are given in this book. It has become a very popular religion among large segments of Black and Hispanic populations and even some whites ascribe to it nowadays. Whether or not the reader believes in the powers of voodoo, the subject is fascinating because of the social and cultural implications if nothing else.

WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM
by Chadwick Hansen
Signet Books
NYC, NY
1969
Paperback
    Hansen contents that witchcraft was indeed being practiced in colonial Salem as it had been for centuries in Europe and elsewhere. He acknowledges that the majority of those accused of witchcraft and executed were innocent but adds that some of them were, indeed, guilty. However, he does not condone the executions.
    Much research went into the book and the author does not have a Christian fundamentalist bias.  It is worth tracking down a used copy since it is not currently in print.


WITCHCRAFT in ENGLAND
by Christine Hole
Collier Books
NYC, NY
1966
Paperback
    This is a survey book of witchcraft as it was practiced in England of the Middle Ages and after. The author covers diverse aspects of its lore and history. Anyone interested in the history of witchcraft should read the book. It is probably not in print so it will require locating a used copy. It is informative and gives the reader an overview of what it must have been like to live in those days.

WITCHCRAFT--THE OLD RELIGION
by Dr. Leo Louis Martello
Citadel Press
Secaucus, NJ
(no date given)
Trade paperback
    Dr. Martello gives much background material about the traditions of witchcraft.  He dispels myths about witchcraft generally perpetrated by the Christian churches.  He includes historical background about the origins and development of witchcraft with wit and wisdom.  It is clearly written and definitely a no nonsense book.  Martello also wrote Black Magic, Satanism, Voodoo -- another facinating read.  This reviewer was contacted by Dr. Martello in the mid-1980s.  He furnished articles, books, and much general information in assisting with our publication, The Salem Journal (now Full Moon Journal).  We recently learned that Martello passed away a few years ago.

A WITCHES BIBLE COMPLEAT
by Janet and Stewart Farrar
Magickal Childe Publishing, Inc. (This company may have recently gone  out-of-business.)
1984
Trade
    The book is two in one. It consists of Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches Way. The authors are well-known among occult aficionados. They have practiced witchcraft for many years. This volume is a must for anyone interested in learning about the practice of wicca. It covers the rituals and information about spells, healing, clairvoyance, reincarnation, operating a coven, the witches' tools and much more.


NECRONOMICON
(Available in different editions--this reviewer read the
Avon Books edition, NYC, NY, 1977, trade paperback)
    It is claimed by some that the material in this book originates from someone known as the "Mad Arab" or Abddul Alhazred who lived during the eight century.  Others claim it is a hoax.
The book contains myths and rituals to evoke all kinds of evil beings, demons and monsters.  Many scholars of the occult eventually read it.

PACTS WITH THE DEVIL--A MANUAL of the LEFT HAND PATH
by S. Jason Black & Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D.
New Falcon Publications
Phoenix, AZ
1993
Trade paperback
    The authors cover the history of the practice of black magic in Europe.  They discuss the opposition by Christian fundamentalists to the Left Hand Path.  Included in the book are new editions of the seventeen and eighteeen century Grimoires (Ritual of Lucifuge, etc.).

From THE SALEM JOURNAL #1:


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:

                                                                 
                                                  MARIA MARTINEZ:  
                               CONTEMPORARY SHAMANISM
                                            

  by
  TONY CALLIS & GEORGE A. AGOGINO

DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSORS,  EMERITUS
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
EASTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY

   


    The subject of study--the local efflorescence of spiritualism--explores traditional societies psychotherapeutic healing; in the case of Curanderismo:  ritual as a therapeutic process and in that of Shamanism: the mystico-religious context from which it emanates.  If you accept the definition of Shamanism offered that there are men and women who claim to voluntarily alter their consciousness so as to enter nonordinary reality, experience ecstatic trance, and bring back information with the aid of spirit helpers which they use to heal members of their group; then, not only is ritual as a therapeutic process in Curanderismo exemplified by the work of Maria Martinez but Shamantic in practice as well.
   
    An internship with Maria Martinez provides the resource for this phenomenological study with the researcher as participant/observer.  The healing rituals used by Maria Martinez were recorded through sessions observed, interviews with patients, instruction, and informal discussion.
   
    Ethnographic research has revealed a networking of Mexican-American and Mexican women in a growing spiritualist health-care delivery system.  They represent a religious movement with branches in border towns and in cities such as Houston, San Antonio and San Francisco.  To date, published information on Mexican-American spiritualism is scarce enough to appear nonexistent.  Primarily, my objective is to present observations from an internship with Maria Martinez, a Curandera/Shamanis, a culturally trained curer living in the Portales community.  Of primary significance is the documentation of the healing rituals, techniques, and insights of Maria Martinez.
   
    Dr. George A. Agogino, Distinguished Research Professor, Emeritus at Eastern New Mexico University has worked with curanderos in both the southwestern United States and Mexico.  He was advisor to the research project and field advisor to the study.  Dr. Janet Frost, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Eastern New Mexico University reviewed the final draft and advised publication of the contents.  The complete study is more than 100 pages in length. Maria Martinez' story is interesting from a medical perspective and because it's an aspect of Mexican- American and Mexican culture.
   
    During the summer of 1991, one of our graduate students, a primitive religion researcher, approached Prof. George Agogino to assist her in finding a curandero to work with to learn more about the subject.  An initial search was made in west Texas, mainly in the cities of Hereford and Amarillo.  While curanderos were found, none would agree to work with the investigators.  However, in Portales, where our university is located, we found an interesting practitioner.  She is intelligent, sensitive, and dedicated but has a limited command of the English language.
   
    After the initial phase of this project, the bulk of research was carried out by Toni Callis with Prof. Agogino maintaining a low profile and acting as an advisor.
   
    Originally from the Corpus Christi area of Texas, Maria Martinez and her large natal family of sixteen made a living as migrant farm workers.  After she married, Maria would still pursue this mobile lifestyle with her husband and six children traveling through Texas, onto Iowa and Minnesota during the farming season. When Maria, a soft-spoken and petite woman in her early fifties, arrived in Portales with her family two years ago; she brought with her a revitalized healing tradition enriching our relatively homogeneous culture and providing an additional source of well being for the community.
   
    Known to the community as La Curandera, Maria Martinez, as a spiritualist healer, practices a unique variation on the theme Curandersimo, a traditional Hispanic medical system for healing practiced in the Southwest in which the majority of Curanderas are herbalists, midwives, bonesetters and message-curing specialists.  In Hispanic tradition there are many ways of treating the effects of illness, and religion is part of all the healing methods.  Sacred realities and experiences are important elements of day-to-day existence for Curanderas; reliance on prayer is essential in curing.  As a spiritualist healer, Maria is also a religious specialist, unlike Catholicism, offers to all who choose it the possibility of direct contact with the Divinity, spirit protectors and the spirit world without the mediation of a priest.
   
    Maria makes house calls as well as working out of her home.  Surrounded by family members and the activities of daily existence (children playing, babies attended, fives being lived), the strict sacred/profane dichotomy of spiritual, which would be expected, is conspicuously absent.  Maria's preference to have the support of her family members during initial contact is, in part, due to her limited command of the English language, but it has also influenced their lives. Maria's daughters Joann (age 28), Betty (age 30), and granddaughter Jessica (age 10) intend to pursue healing occupations.  Maria's husband Joe has also developed an active interest in the growing and preparation of herbal medicines.
   
    Familiar with the healing properties of various herbs and techniques for the treatment of illness, Maria readily shares her knowledge and expertise.  In her enthusiasm for learning and dedication to healing, she welcomes any and all information, seeing in other healing techniques, practices, and philosophies an opportunity to further well-being in the community.  A good example of this is Maria's relationship with her former apprentice and present-day co-worker, Cynthia, who, unlike Maria, has an affinity with spiritist techniques and actively seeks bodily possession by spirits--possession trance.  Maria's notion of healing is very pragmatic, recognizing that different people have different ways to heal--all contributing to wellness.
    
    Sixteen years ago, Maria's eldest daughter Betty, fourteen years old at that time, was stricken with a paralysis of her left side. Maria related:
   
    "The doctors treated and analyzed her--not able to help, they said she had a dead nerve--they could not do anything.  That is when I took her to the old lady, a spiritualist healer in San Antonio, Texas.  My daughter was healed.  Out of gratitude for my daughter's recovery, I dedicated my life to healing.
   
    "For five years I was an apprentice to the old lady, learning the spiritualist healing."  To the spiritualist Curandera, psychic experience and feeling and seeing the energy of the universe are natural aspects of being alive.  To them, spiritual healing, energy transmissions, improvement by botanicals, faith, or visualization and ritual are natural functions of life and therefore can be learned by most people through apprenticeship.
Unlike the traditional Southwest Hispanic curers, Maria Martinez, in trance, interfaces with the spiritual realm and with the help of her spirit companion Hermanita Cecilia, accesses the Divine healing power.
   
    During the several months of my apprenticeship with Maria, she repeatedly cautions against the dangers inherent in the trance practice.  To paraphrase Maria's concerns:  Trance healing is a dangerous practice, whether during ritual with the patient or in the solitude of prayer work because, in this altered state of consciousness, the psyche is in an undefendable position during which the body is vulnerable to malevolent spirit forces for another chance at life and a body in which to experience it.
   
    This is the danger, Maria Martinez warned, advising that anyone interested in the ways of spiritual healing must be committed to work for good and have unshakable faith in the divine forces as protectors and healers. For it is through the empowering agency of faith, Maria contends, that she journeys safely between realms of consciousness.
    
    Maria Martinez is a simple woman of faith, simple in the respect that she has held onto her own experience of the Divine power as proof of the validity of her work.  She does not travel to the heavens or the underworld, nor is her body possessed by Cecilia's spirit, but with Cecilia as an empowering agent, she does accept the sacred into her body.  She retains hearing, speech, sight and movement-- allowing a flow between the spirit within and her own earthly being.
   
    Many of Maria's tools for healing are Catholic in origin (the crucifix and the rosary), but used in ways viewed as sacrilegious by the clergy.  Maria's main tools for focus during the healing ritual are the contents of the egg used in the limpia (cleansing) and the formations observed in the pool of melted wax, contained within the votive candle.  This divination fulfills a diagnostic and explanatory function but, as Maria explains, it is by listening to and allowing herself to be marked by the spirit that she received the message.  In this healing practice, rites passed down from Pre-Columbian times merge with folk-Catholicism and belief in benevolent disembodied spirits, who act as personal agents for the healer.
   
    Maria's methods are also practical: a recognized use of vitamins; a broad knowledge of herbs (remedios); and rituals, any of which she may prescribe, soliciting the patients active participation in their own healing. Her intense relationship with the sacred and deep commitment to the well-being of the community guide her healing art.
   
    Personal empowerment figures prominently--in an annual ritual, Maria along with two other women healers (one in Mexico, one in Texas) join in a spiritual chain working with the spirit Cecilia and linking with the spirit forces to rejuvenate their own power links and to bring blessing into the world.  Maria explains that it is not she who gives the healing message, nor the cure; it is the sacred acting through her, and only through the grace of God.|
   
    Maria cannot refuse a request for help. She does not ask compensation for her services, accepting only that which one wants to give.  She serves the community and shares her work with God.  She and her companion spirit Hermanita Cecilia are sisters in spirit, sharing a common task--to alleviate pain and suffering. During the healing ritual, both Maria and Cecilia, acting as intermediaries, bring Divine power onto the Earth to be used for the human condition.  It is during this communication that Maria can, seemingly, distinguish between illnesses psychosomatic in origin and health
problems of a more serious nature, i.e., cancer, tuberculosis, etc., which she advises are more successfully treated with modern western medicine. Maria feels happy when she can come back with a cure for the patients suffering, but recognizing her limitations, Maria accepts the sorrowful times, replying honestly that she can be of no help.
   
    In service to the Hispanic community, Maria has become a powerful mediator for its well-being, especially in the Courts--mothers of children who have broken the law seek Maria's expertise in the realm of spirit and prayer to direct spiritual graces into their errant children and to soften the heart of the Court for leniency in sentencing.  Despite her relationship with the Divine, Maria is often left physically weakened by the long and concentrated hours of prayer work (the more serious the illness, the more constant must be her vigilance); many times the transformation of a patient's illness into health leaves her stricken with the symptoms of the illness cured.  In summary of all this, Maria Martinez explains, Esta la vida--That is life.

From THE SALEM JOURNAL #1:

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, a space between letters or a dash.  It will also prevent children from understanding the words.)

                                                         
                             THE WITCH IN MODERN SOCIETY

                                                 
                                                  by GEORGE A. AGOGINO

                                                DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSOR. EMERITUS
                                                                            DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

    The religion of the Wicca, as modern witches prefer to call their worship, is more popular today than anytime in the last two hundred years.  Today, Wicca is made up of secret covens existing within the larger general framework of Christianity.  Claims of baby sacrifice, drugs, and s_x org- ie s are generally false or greatly exaggerated.  It is true, however, that in many covens the members attend their worship sky-clad, that is, n u -d-e.  While the Wicca religion is non-Christian, since it involves worship of either the Christian devil or one of the pre-Christian deities of the Old World, members feel it is not incompatible with Christianity.  However, most covens believe there are many gods and forms of worship and their tolerance for other beliefs is remarkable.

    Witchcraft generally involves secret worship and procedures.  Most covens require an oath of secrecy, not because they wish to be exclusive but due to the fact that they believe the press and Christian church will distort the facts and bring negative publicity to them.

    There appears to be no standard book of rituals for witchcraft.  In fact, the Wicca religion has as many sects or divisions as Christianity.  These groups range from semi-religious private clubs interested in secrecy more than religion to a wide variety of serious devotees with diverse rituals and beliefs.  Although there is no common book of rites and beliefs, most Wicca groups maintain a secret "book of shadows" containing their specific rituals.

    Today it is not difficult to find and join a coven.  Many "New Age" magazines have advertisements announcing new or established covens with information on how to contact them for possible membership. The final acceptance of new members depends almost completely on how the group perceives the seriousness of their intent.  Many seek membership because they feel that through the rituals they might find group or individual s_x partners.  In most instances these candidates are rejected.

    In the initiation ceremony both the candidate and his/her sponsor, a member of the opposite s_x, must be n u -d-e (sky-clad) in the belief that one must be without clothes to be in harmony with the psychic world.  In many instances, in fact most, the sponsor and the initiate get married or at least live together.  This is not a firm requirement, but a common Wiccan religious pattern.  The witch's circle, which generally starts and ends to the north, is drawn to protect the candidate and sponsor from distracting outside forces.  In the initiation ritual and in the religion of the Wicca in general, beliefs are borrowed from ancient forms of worship found in the Mediterranean world, India or the Orient.  One widely used belief taken from these religions is the use of the broom for both cleanliness and to sweep undesired thoughts from the group.
Most Wicca circles start at the north.  Perhaps this custom pays homage to the ancient Scandinavian religions or has some connection with the north-pointing magnetic compass needle.  The circle is outlined by the use of the athame, a ceremonial dagger.  This object is usually ornate in decoration and the handle is generally made of silver.  A sacrificial goat is often used symbolically in Wicca worship.  Both chants and dancing are important.  Changes in stages of the ritual are marked by the sounding of a bell and the ceremony ends with the same sound.

    The broom is important to most witch groups.  Besides the ideas associated with it already mentioned above, it has s_xual significance with the staff--a male ph_llic symbol and the sweeping part symbolic of the female. In addition to the magic dagger, an ornate sword may be employed.  In the ritual it is emphasized that the witch's power comes from within and must be cultivated to grow.  The external power of the moon, especially when it is full, aids in developing this power.  With coastal Wicca groups the tides also are used to produce psychic power.

    The modern Wicca groups are difficult to describe in a way that will hold for all of them.  Each coven has its own variety of ceremony and worship.  It is impossible to have ritual conformity since most covens are extremely secretive about ritual and membership.  Thus, variations between groups can be extreme.  This paper has given a general description of modern witchcraft ritual and ceremony that are probably not exactly characteristic of any specific group.

    I live in Portales, New Mexico, a town of about 11,000 people, with Clovis twenty miles away with roughly three times that population.  From my research on witchcraft I believe there are three witch cults in Portales and two in Clovis that are active and perform rites in small groves of trees, as well as indoors. Since our area of the High Plains is largely grasslands with only a few wooded areas, it is easy to know, if one is vigilant, when these outdoor ceremonies take place.

    In most Wicca cults, a majority of members are female, perhaps due to the fact they resent that Christianity had no female members among the disciples.  The Wicca often believe in a dominant female god or at least a bi-s_xed deity.  There is no attempt to discredit the existing dominant Christian religion and in fact in rare instances both nuns and male clergy have joined Wicca groups.

    In closing, I must also state that there are deviant forms of Wicca that are not true religions.  These groups exist, protected under the Freedom of Religion Act, but are simply s_x and/or blood frenzy cults. They may claim to be Wicca sects but are despised by both Christianity and traditional Wicca covens.

                                                                       BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crowe, W. B., A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism, London, 1968.

Crowley, Aleister. Magic and Theory in Practice, New York City, 1968.

Crowley, Vivianne. Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age, London, 1989.

Levi. Eliphas, Transcendental Magic, London, 1968.

Parker, Derek & Julia, The Power of Magic, Simon and Schuster. New York City, 1992.




NOTE:  MORE TO COME