Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Holy Rover

Home
New Visions
The Witches of Salem Today

The Witches of Salem Today

Last updated on: September 16, 2011 at 1:06 pm by Lori Erickson

The Witches of Salem Today 2011-09-16T13:06:53-06:00 Lori Erickson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A sign in Salem

There’s a certain amount of irony in the fact that while Salem’s infamous reputation was formed as a result of its fear of witches, today it is a place where witches gather openly. By witches I mean those who follow the Wiccan religion, a nature-based faith that traces its origins to pagan Celtic traditions in the British Isles.

Attractions such as Salem Witch Village make it clear that modern-day witches are entirely different from the twisted view of witchcraft promulgated centuries ago by the church. They don’t worship the devil, or even acknowledge his existence. Instead they have a reverence for the cycles of nature and celebrate closeness with the earth. A central tenet is the “Rule of Three,” meaning that whatever one sends out into the world returns threefold—and thus rituals are performed for positive reasons, not negative ones. I was amused to learn that the witches of Salem even have a public relations effort called the Witches Education Bureau.

Today there are between 800 and 1600 witches in Salem. A number of the downtown shops are operated by Wiccans and sell herbs, charms, talismans, and other magical equipment. If you want to have your palm read or a spell cast to find a new love, there are plenty of people in Salem who can help you out.

Not surprisingly, the month of October is Salem’s busiest time of year, with a full slate of Haunted Happenings. While I haven’t been there on Halloween, I’m sure there are hundreds of costumed witches walking the streets then, a sight that must make those stern Puritan judges spin wildly in their graves. And throughout the year, the town’s police cars bear a witch logo and the Salem High School’s mascot is (you guessed it) a witch.

Now one can have two reactions to all of this. One is to feel that the memory of the victims of the Witch Trials is cheapened by the embrace of witchcraft in Salem today. Those innocent people who were executed were not witches and did not practice any form of magic, however benign.

But it’s also possible, I think, to appreciate the fact that Salem today is a measure of how far our nation has come. While we still struggle with religious intolerance in various forms, its most virulent forms have been vanquished. The thriving pagan community in Salem is a testimony to religious freedom in America—freedom which in part was forged in the fires of the Salem Witch Trials. The horror with which the larger nation reacted to the trials led in no small part to our constitutionally protected right to religious freedom and to the separation of church and state.

And so today let us remember the names of those who died in Salem. Here are the nineteen who were hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692:

Bridget Bishop

Rebecca Nurse

Sarah Good

Susannah Martin

Elizabeth Howe

Sarah Wildes

George Burroughs

Martha Carrier

John Willard

George Jacobs, Sr.

John Proctor

Martha Corey

Mary Eastey

Ann Pudeator

Alice Parker

Mary Parker

Wilmott Redd

Margaret Scott

Samuel Wardwell

One man was pressed to death: Giles Corey.

Four died in prison: Sarah Osborn, Roger Toothaker, Lyndia Dustin, and Ann Foster.

May they rest in peace, and may we never again hunt witches, in whatever form they appear.

Previous Post

September 15, 2011

Remembering the Trials

Next Post

September 25, 2011 On the Rim of the Canyon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aging & Spirituality Amish Anabaptists Animals Apocalypse Archeological sites Art and Spirituality Awards Belgian Holy Sites birds Blessings Books Buddhism Business & Spirituality Callings Cats Celtic Cemeteries Children Christianity church Colorado Creation Death Desert Spirituality Easter Economics Education & Spirituality Egypt Episcopal Church Faith Fear Films First Nations Food Forgiveness Germany God Good & Evil Good Friday Grace Gratitude Happiness Healing Hildegard of Bingen Hinduism History Holy Rover blog Holy Sites Holy Week Horses Iceland Illness Images of God Indigenous Spiritualilty Interfaith Interfaith Dialogue Iowa Islam Israel Japan Judaism LDS Church Lent Machu Picchu Martin Luther Media Meditation Monasteries Museums Music Music and Spirituality Musings Mysticism Native American Nature New Age New Zealand Norse History/Culture/Spirituality Orthodox Paradox Paranormal Peru Philosophy Pilgrimage Poetry Politics Pop Culture Pilgrimage Sites Prayers sermons Silence Social Media Spiritual writers Spirituality and Food Spirituality and Social Media Stone Circles Thomas Merton Turkey Uncategorized Unconventional Holy Sites Utopian communities Videos Virgin Mary Wicca Work World War I Writing Zen

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which writer besides Solomon and David contributed to Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Agur Moses Asaph Nathan