Salem Magic……Or commercialism?

I went to Salem, Mass., for the second time to celebrate the season of Samhain and autumn magic. I remember the first time I went in 2005 and how I was overwhelmed by the energy of acceptance that came from being in a place that openly displayed pentacles in the windows of the local shops. This year, I was equally anxious to be back among that energy.

There are not many places that fellow Pagans can go and see blocks full of Pagan shops, pentacles, athames and Wiccan books. There are choices of tarot readers on every corner. The autumn leaves are falling, history is on display in all the museums and the historical significance of a city like Salem is important in our history of religious intolerance.

As much as I love the city of Salem and feel a deep kinship with the energy of the city, there is that thought that I can’t help wondering whether the commercialism of the city helps or hurts the Pagan community.

I walked into a play called “The Eerie Legends of Salem,” and it was wonderful. What I noticed walking out was a poster over the counter that read, “One of a kind souvenir signed by an actual witch.” The poster cost $5. I actually took a picture of it, and the guy running the register gave me a copy.

It didn’t bother me that the poster was for sale, but I couldn’t help looking at the glamor of getting a signature from an “actual witch,” as if we are celebrities or abnormal. I remember thinking, “I could sign a picture. Who cares?” Apparently, many people care. Not only are they coming to see the witches, but we are willing to sell them, too.

The next day my friends and I were walking for quite a while before we decided to sit down on the sidewalk to rest our feet. An older couple was walking down the street and one of them turned to the other while walking past us and said, “Look, there go some real witches right there.” My friend and I laughed under our breath. Not at the couple’s comment recognizing us sitting on the street but at the thought that we were so strange or different. At that point we were worth noting, because we were “Real life witches.” Again, I wasn’t offended. I was just caught off-guard then saddened.

Places like Salem serve several different purposes in today’s time. It is a place of remembrance for the injustices done to people in the name of religion and politics. Those victims of 1692 deserve to be recognized for the suffering they endured at the hands of their own community and government. The “Salem Witch Dungeon Museum” shows the real horror of the conditions in which these people were made to live while awaiting trial or death. Seeing this museum’s reenactment of Gallows Hill sends chills through my spine, no matter how many times I have seen it or viewed the pictures.

The witch memorial is chilling. Looking at the last words of the victims brings tears to my eyes, because I cannot imagine the horror of what they were feeling in those moments. I cannot imagine a society that wouldn’t even bury these people. Therefore, there are no real graves to mark their lives or their deaths. Although these men and women did not know it, they fought for our religious freedom and paid the ultimate price with their lives. Now, that is something to respect and be thankful for. Visiting Salem for those reasons alone is noble.

Secondly, Pagans deserve a place to go where they don’t have to tuck their pentacle into their shirts. Pagans deserve a place where they can go into any store and ask where to find a nice Goddess pendant or tarot deck. We should not have to go across the United States to find that place, but it is nice to have it there. It is nice to be able to walk into shops like Laurie Cabot’s “The Cat, the Crow and the Crown.”

Here is one thing Salem shouldn’t be. It should not be used as a place to glorify the stereotypes of witches by walking around looking like the image from something off TV. The city of Salem is not about seeing people in black capes, black nail polish and pale face make-up. How do we turn a place of such history into playing the roles of the stereotypes and superstitions in order to make money?

We cannot continue to be so willing to sell the signature of a witch then complain that our religion is not respected. No disrespect to the High Priestess who signed the posters. The profits could have gone to the theatre which is noble, indeed.

But next time, we should consider how we are advertising the purchase of items like this. “Buy a poster of this coven of witches to support the theatre” is much different than advertising, “Buy a souvenir signed by a real witch”.

Let’s not sell our dignity in the process, too.

Let’s make sure the museums have accurate information while they are educating the public about the Pagan and Wiccan path. I was in a museum where the guide told us that today’s witches don’t believe in magic. I was standing there with four witch friends, and we thought, “We don’t?” Let’s make sure we are accurate in our mission to teach tolerance rather than concentrating on the price people should pay for admission or competing with other museums.

I encourage anyone, Pagan or not, to visit Salem. Spend money supporting our history and the businesses and museums that make the city special. It is an amazing journey and an opportunity to acknowledge some of the suffering our elders have gone through that has changed the lives of those to come. As in any other tourist attraction, there are some things that are wonderful and some things that are not as much. Nevertheless, the experience of Salem is breathtaking. The only thing I suggest is to remember what the city stands for. Don’t forget that real lives were lost and it has nothing to do with psychic fairs or bewitched statues in the streets.

*written in 2007