Public tours run Saturdays 11am-1pm
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Witches are a product of the invisible world and yet in Salem the visual symbol of The Witch is everywhere: plastered on police cars, taxi cabs, souvenir t-shirts, and tourist attractions. How can something thought of as “unreal” be so central to our material reality? Join local clairvoyant and DIY occult historian, Melissa Nierman, for an immersive small-group journey through the evolution of The Witch archetype - from a feared tool of persecution to a powerful modern identity and pop-culture phenomenon. Together, we’ll explore how our shared beliefs around the invisible world have both shaped and been shaped by the dominant institutions of our times.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Experience Salem as a living classroom as we visit popular sites with a unique lens
- Connect the dots between occult movements like Spiritualism and modern witchcraft
- Explore the relationship between psychics, seers, mediums, and the magic of science
- See the effect of the criminalization of witches in Europe on the Salem Witch Trials
- Question the role of “invisible” systems like colonization, capitalism, racism, sexism
- Understand how the labels of “witch” and “magic” have been used to target The Other
- Learn about apotropaic magic and its relationship to the lives of everyday people
- Discuss the creation of a modern Witch identity through Wicca and neo-paganism
- Follow the commercialization of The Witch and Salem’s transformation into Witch City
