The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/salem)
In this week’s Pagan Community Notes: the Salem community seeks hate crime charges after a confrontation at the Psychic Fair, an Atlanta parent accuses a school of forcing her daughter to join Halloween activities, Star shares the Tarot of the Week, and (who knew?) some bats actually glow.
A Christian ministry disrupted Salem’s Psychic Fair and Witches’ Market, harassing vendors, anointing booths, and desecrating an Ancestor altar amid a surge of anti-Halloween activism portraying Halloween and Samhain as “demonic” and urging believers to “oppose darkness.
“As a nation, we love to cast our projections on the witches of Salem,” writes Meg Elison as she examines America’s favorite film about witches. “What we want from the real people who died by state violence, the places where they hanged, the hysteria that killed them, is fun. We want Salem to be a theme park, to amuse us and titillate us.”
An Oklahoma man has been arrested in connection to the pipe bomb attack at The Satanic Temple two weeks ago. Investigators report that a note discovered at the scene purportedly asserts that the attack was commanded by God.
Early Monday morning, the Satanic Temple was attacked by someone throwing an explosive device. No injuries were reported. The mayor condemned the attack as “reprehensible” while the FBI has joined the investigation.