All posts by Ahroun Nosfadry

I am the founder of the Unapologetic Pagan. I formulated the idea of the "Unapologetic Pagan" when I began noticing a festering movement in the Pagan community, a lurking agenda that sought to undermine the entire community. Something I couldn't put my finger on until one day I heard a quote "We were so busy fighting about what liberties the right was going to take from us that we never saw the monster growing on the left." That's when I took a step back and realized that since the turn of the century we have gone from a community that just won our religious freedom and validity... to a community being taken over by liberal atheist who want it to be just another label in their identity politics. I see a complete white-washing of historical Pagan philosophies into leftist SJW ideology. An unwritten doctrine that dictates anyone who calls themselves a "Pagan" must put leftist fundamentalism first. I knew I needed to take a stand. Someone needed to push back and not allow Paganism to just become another word synonymous with "Liberal lunatics". That someone had to let others like me know they are not alone and that together we can reclaim our faiths and stand together without shame. I started this site originally as a blog in 2015 but after the "Bind-Trump" fiasco I knew the Pagan world needed this site more now than ever, causing me to relaunch with a full .com and contributors joining with me.
Politics, Religious freedom, Social Matters

Druid witch stabbed by neighbor angry at his noisy Pagan rituals

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A druid witch was attacked and stabbed by his neighbours after they had enough of his noisy pagan rituals, a court heard.

Mark and Anne Denyer attacked John Bennett as he conducted his latest back garden ceremony, which involved chanting and rhythmic beating of drums – something he did every full moon.

Denyer exchanged insults over the fence with Mr Bennett, who goes by the Pagan name Bearheart, before storming round to his bungalow with his wife

Mrs Denyer, 52, armed herself with an umbrella which she used to hit the bearded druid over the head with while her 56-year-old husband had grabbed a carving knife from the kitchen and made a “short jab” with it towards his victim.

Because Mr Bennett weighs 22 stone and has a “big belly” the blade didn’t penetrate his abdomen and he suffered superficial injuries.

A court heard the Denyers had never been in trouble with the police before the incident in Alderholt, Dorset.

Denyer, a lorry driver, and his wife, denied charges of unlawful wounding but were found guilty following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

They were handed suspended prison sentences by a judge who recognised they had become frustrated at the “intolerable noises coming yet again” from their neighbour’s garden.

Mark Denyer leaving Bournemouth Crown Court

One neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said: “We sometimes heard odd, not normal, music and smells like joss sticks and things. John has a personalised number plate for his car that says 666, which is a bit worrying.

“I think he’s quite open about saying he’s a witch.

“Anne and Mark’s home is behind John’s garden and it sits up a bit higher so it’s effectively looking over his garden.

“I think that made the noise levels a lot worse, but we didn’t know exactly what had gone on.”

The court heard the Denyers moved to Hillbury Park, a semi-retirement residential park, in February 2017 for a peaceful and tranquil life.

Their £150,000 property backed on to Mr Bennett’s home that he shared with his Pagan partner Samantha Hathaway.

The couple are members of the Clan of the Pheryllt which are inspired by ancient druids who practised alchemy in the Welsh mountains.

Today, members hold public and private rituals or esbats at the time of a full moon, solstices and equinoxes.

The Denyers took exception to the “disturbances” from Mr Bennett’s property.

They had complained to the park owners about the rituals but had never spoken directly to Mr Bennett until the evening of November 4 last year.

Anne Denyer leaving Bournemouth Crown Court

Judge Jonathan Fuller said: “You Mrs Denyer complained to your husband about the noise coming from Mr Bennett’s garden.

“He was performing a full moon ceremony, which Pagans are inclined to do once a month and involves incantations and rhythmic beating of drums.

“I am quite satisfied it was Mr Denyer who prompted the initial exchange over the fence which soon escalated to insults and threats being traded on both sides.

“Both sides went back into their respective homes to avoid further conflict and it simply should have ended there.

“But a few minutes later each of you left your home to go round to Mr Bennett’s, you Mrs Denyer with an umbrella and you Mr Denyer with a carving knife.”

The court heard more insults were traded at Mr Bennett’s garden gate, leading to Mrs Denyer to hit the druid with her brolly.

The judge said: “You Mrs Denyer set about him with your umbrella, striking him to his head.

“This resulted in two lacerations that caused immediate bleeding. He did no more than push you to one side – it would be understandable if it was with some degree of force.

“Within moments you Mr Denyer were also involved. You punched out towards him in the stomach area thereby causing the wound to the abdomen.

“He on seeing the knife then tried to disarm you. He grabbed the knife from you but not before receiving some other minor injuries.

“Throughout the struggle Mrs Denyer continued to strike him with the umbrella, seemingly thinking her husband needed protection from the man who was in fact disarming him.”

John Bennett and his partner Samantha Hathaway

The fracas was witnessed by Mr Bennett’s partner, Samantha Hathaway, who became distraught at seeing blood.

Judge Fuller said: “The depth of the injury is unclear, suffice to say Mr Bennett is a 22-stone man of very big build with a big belly. The knife went in sufficiently far to penetrate the abdominal muscle but not the peritoneal cavity.”

Thomas Evans, defending Mr Denyer, said the incident was completely out of character for his client.

He said: “This is a man who has lived a long and fruitful life without causing any problems whatsoever. He has never acted in the way which he did on that day before.

“It was a moment of madness borne out through a developing situation with his neighbour.

“They initially tried to deal with it in the correct manner – letters and complaints that had been sent – but when that didn’t work they took matters into their own hands in a completely inappropriate manner.”

Judge Fuller said he accepted neither the Denyers had intended to do serious harm to their neighbor.

He sentenced Mr Denyer to 10 months in prison suspended for a year and 130 hours of unpaid work and Mrs Denyer to a six month suspended sentence with 100 hours of unpaid work.

He told them: “You are of previous good character, you had gone to Hillbury Park for the tranquility and had no doubt led blameless and hardworking lives up until this particular point.

“This was clearly out of temper and frustration at the intolerable noises coming yet again from your neighbour’s garden.”

Archaeological News, Politics, Social Matters

Scientists discover DNA proving original Native Americans were White

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“This is a new population of Native Americans – the white Native American”

A new discovery of ancient DNA may overturn the idea that the Native Americans were the first to have populated the American continent. Instead, a new group known as the ancient Beringians, who are more closely related to modern white Europeans has been discovered by researchers. Genetic analysis of a baby girl who died at the end of the last ice age shows she belonged to this previously unknown ancient group of Beringians.

A baby girl who lived and died in what is now Alaska, at the end of the last ice age belonged to a previously unknown group of ancient people who branched off from the ancestors of modern Europeans, according to DNA recovered from her bones.

The child, a mere six weeks old when she died, was found in a burial pit next to the remains of a stillborn baby, perhaps a first cousin, during excavations of an 11,500-year-old residential camp in Tanana River Valley in Central Alaska. The remains were discovered in 2013, but a full genetic analysis has not been possible until now.

Researchers tried to recover ancient DNA from both of the infants but succeeded only in the case of the larger individual. They had expected her genetic material to resemble modern northern or southern lineages of Native Americans, but found instead that she had a distinct genetic makeup that made her a member of a separate population.

A new genome from a Pleistocene burial in Alaska confirms a longstanding belief that European ancestors first arrived in America.

The newly-discovered group, named “ancient Beringians,” appears to have split off from the Europeans around 20,000 years ago and made their way to North America via Alaska, when a frozen land bridge made the crossing from Europe and Asia into North America possible. The ancient Beringians then pushed south as the ice caps melted and mixed with other Native American populations, which is why many Native Americans today also exhibit physical characteristics more commonly associated with whites. According to Eske Willerslev, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, whose team recovered the girl’s DNA from a dense part of her skull known as the petrous bone,

“This is a new population of Native Americans – the white Native American.”

The findings which were published in the scientific journal Nature, are controversial and represent a growing body of evidence being discovered across the world that suggests the origins of the human race may have been Europe and not Africa as once believed.

Working with scientists at the University of Alaska and elsewhere, Willerslev compared the genetic makeup of the baby, named Xach’itee’aanenh t’eede gaay or “sunrise child-girl” by the local community, with genomes from other ancient and modern people. They found that nearly half of the girl’s DNA came from the ancient north Europeans who lived in what is now Scandinavia. The rest of her genetic makeup was a roughly even mix of DNA now carried by the northern and southern Native Americans. Using evolutionary models, the researchers showed that the ancestors of the first Native Americans started to emerge as a distinct population about 35,000 years ago. About 25,000 years ago, this group mixed and bred with ancient north Asians in the region, the descendants of whom went on to become the first white Europeans to settle the New World.

During the last ice age, so much water was locked up in the ice caps that a land bridge reached from Europe and Asia to North America across what is now the Bering Strait. Willerslev believes the ancestors of these early white Europeans traveled to the continent in a single wave of migration more than 20,000 years ago. Those who settled in the north became the ancient Beringians, he said, while those who moved south, around or through the ice sheets, split into the north and south Native Americans about 15,700 years ago.

But there is another possibility. Ben Potter, an archaeologist on the team from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, suspects that the Beringians split from the ancestors of other Native Americans in Europe before both groups made their way across the land bridge to North America in separate migrations,

“The support for this scenario is pretty strong. We have no evidence of people in the Beringia region 20,000 years ago.”

Potter suggests that alternatively, these early European settlers may have mixed with Asians before crossing over to North America and were responsible for creating the original Native American people. The families who lived at the ancient camp may have spent months there, Potter said. Excavations at the site, known as Upward Sun River, have revealed at least three tent structures that would have provided shelter. The two babies were found in a burial pit beneath a hearth where families cooked salmon caught in the local river. The cremated remains of a third child, who died at the age of three, were found on top of the hearth at the abandoned camp.

Connie Mulligan, an anthropologist at the University of Florida, said the findings pointed to a single migration of people from Europe to the New World via Asia, but said other questions remained.

“How did people move so quickly to the southernmost point of South America and settle two continents that span a huge climatic and geographic range?”

white European genes and their desire for better living conditions. With the land bridge from Asia to North America fast disappearing and in search of better food and water, the early Europeans would have feasted on the salmon they caught in the wild, which would no doubt would have enhanced their cognitive faculties and ability to anticipate and assess the rapidly changing situation.

David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard University, said the work boosted the case for a single migration into Alaska and then onward to North and South America, but he did not rule out alternatives involving multiple waves of migration. He added that he was unconvinced that the ancient Beringian group split from the ancestors of other Native Americans 20,000 years ago, because even tiny errors in scientists’ data can lead to radically different split times for evolutionary lineages.

“While the 19,000-21,000 year date would have important implications if true and may very well be right, I am not convinced that there is compelling evidence that the initial split date is that old.”

“It’s entirely possible that they were ancient Europeans through and through.”

Politics, Social Matters, Uncategorized

Spelled Out: Trump’s Presidency Has Sparked a New Era of Spiritual Activism

In the shifting and tumultuous political climate, witchcraft has become a source of power and stability for more than 13,000 activists.

Rapid Cabot Freeman is famous across the Pagan Internet communities for his inflammatory rhetoric. He dotes long hair, facial tattoos, and an unshakeable dedication to the alt-right movement. Freeman whole-heartedly believes in Trump as the leader of the United States. He calls the president amazing and says Trump knows exactly how to handle situations where livelihoods are at stake. In accordance with a majority of the president’s supporters, he loves the way Trump talks like a “regular guy.” But with all his respect for the alt-right, comes his disdain and disappointment for the political left and the people who are using their Pagan beliefs to promote it.

Reverend Rapid Cabot Freeman

“Ninety percent of the people who claim the mantle of Pagan or heathen have no right to it. When I got into it I was a 16-year-old kid; the movie The Craft hadn’t come out yet and the only place you’d seen a pentacle was on a Mötley Crüe video,” says Freeman, a Pagan high priest based in Connecticut. “And it wasn’t considered a great thing. But I had issues with Christianity and it’s the same issues that I’m having right now with Paganism on the other end of the spectrum.”

This was how Freeman began to wrap up our conversation when I called him on the evening of his 46th birthday. I asked him if another night would work better, but he messaged me back saying “LOL Its My Birthday But For The Alt Right Pagan Movement OK.” His dedication to what he believes in is not up for question. Freeman runs the “American Pagans for Trump” Facebook page, an online community for conservative Pagans to discuss political, cultural, and personal issues.

Freeman is just one member of the small Pagan community that makes up 1.5 percent of the American population that identify with “other religions.” These “other religions” are sparsely populated making reliable estimates of how many Pagans actually live in the United States difficult to track down. Regardless, the other major religious affiliations dwarf the Pagan community. In 2014, over 70 percent of American identified as Christians and 16.1 percent identified as “unaffiliated.” But interest in Paganism and witchcraft has been on the rise in social media and in politics. In 2013, the Public Policy Polling Firm found that Americans preferred witches to Congress at a 46 percent to 32 percent approval rating. The hashtag “#witch” on Instagram spits back over 4.5 million results, and Tumblr houses a dedicated community of blogs that curate “witch vibes.” There is a newfound interest in what happens behind the Pagan broom closet doors.

And this niche, spiritual community established a stronger voice with 2016 presidental election. On Facebook, there are pages of Pagan groups dedicated to discussing politics, “Pagan Liberal” garners 31,000 likes, and even the “Conservative Pagan” page has 740 likes. Freeman’s page “American Pagans for Trump” clocks in at just under 500 likes. And every month under the waning crescent moon, over 13,000 activists participate in a binding spell on Donald Trump.

The spell is part of the larger “#magicalresistance” movement and is one of the largest public displays of witchcraft in recent history catalyzed by President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. Initially, the movement began as a single spell to prevent Trump from causing harm to be performed on February 24, 2017. Michael Hughes, a Baltimore-based eclectic magician and author who prescribes to a number of Pagan paths, wrote the spell and posted it Medium, Twitter and Facebook. Hughes is a self-proclaimed history nerd. He can walk you through the spiritual history of nearly any Pagan religion He rattles off terms like Greek papyri, santeria, Ifa, traditions you have never heard before. Now 50-years-old, he began studying Pagan traditions in his late teens and early twenties. And because of his encyclopedic knowledge, the binding spell originates from a number of Pagan practices. Hughes optimized the magical qualities to make the spell as effective as possible “I started putting a spell together and I tried to make it kind of generic” says Hughes. “And I tried to make it so it was malleable and adjustable, but still had the core elements of a spell.”

The original spell transformed into a monthly effort to slowly weaken the legitimacy of the president. Within hours of positing the spell went viral and Hughes phone rang off the hook for three full days with reporters looking to get a sound bite from the magic man who was putting spells on Trump. “I think it really hit a need in a lot of people and just so many people embraced from so many different traditions that it was shocking,” he says. “It made me realize there was a really deep need for people to kind of combine their spiritual beliefs with spiritual activism.

Hughes wanted to show that spirituality doesn’t need to be divided between faiths, especially when coming together for a common cause. “We’re all doing magic in different ways, the Christians are doing prayers, the Wiccans might use a spell, but it’s really the same thing,” he says “And for me that’s what this spell getting so big has done, just shown the commonality in spiritual traditions.” Now, ten months out from the original spell, Hughes’s post on Medium attracted more than 1 million views and the “Bind Trump (Official)” Facebook group has more than 3,000 members. The growing numbers prove that this witch-y behavior is trending. Even celebrities like Lana Del Rey participate monthly. Hughes doesn’t mind appropriation of his spell by non-Pagan participants, “I’m all for openness and synergy between different spiritual beliefs and practices. There’s a lot of discussion of appropriation and I take that seriously, but appropriation has always been a part of human culture and society.” And Hughes is on to something. At Syracuse University, Peter Marshall Townsend, an anthropology professor who teaches a course on magic and religion believes that this magical uprising is cyclical and even predictable. “People reach for the supernatural, when the stakes are high, when something is at risk, and when they cannot control advancements through technological means. If they can completely control something then who needs magic, right?” says Townsend. “But if you can’t control certain things and the more important it is, such as life or death or illness, than you find more supernatural.” But Pagan purists, like Freeman, have their concerns.

“They are idiots. They are anti-free will, which is against the beliefs of the faith. I think it’s anti-American. They are hoping the pilot (Trump), of the plane (America), crashes and we are all on board — that is beyond stupid,” says Freeman. “Most of these people are the pop culture-wannabe occultists that use the faith for attention. They don’t live the life 24 by seven by 365 like my people and the nationalist minded occultist that really live this life, [that] I call my friends.” Raised in a house divided by his Cherokee father’s shamanic traditions and his grandparents’ German Methodists beliefs, Freeman’s formative years developed around the Pagan traditions found in both these practices. He believes in the legitimacy of his claim to the Pagan title. Now, as a third-degree high priest he formed his own faction of Paganism, the Firstblood Tradition. Based on Kent traditions found in English Wicca combined with Pagan native folk traditions, the Firstbloods believe that if you are steadfast in your beliefs, the old ways and the old gods then you are considered a brother. The coven came to fruition in 2009. As of 2017, its members stretch across the Atlantic with offshoots in Germany and Scotland.

As Freeman tells me about his religious beliefs and his coven, he interjects with snippets about his political persuasion as well. He tells me how he thinks Tammy Lahren is great, shares his thoughts on Muslims (pronounced with a long u sound — “Moo-slims”), and how he doesn’t allow anti-American sentiment at events he sponsors. He sides with the Democratic or liberal views on some key issues: marriage equality and women’s rights, for example. “It’s not really my religion per say that’s supporting my political views, it’s the moral compass that I got from [my religion] supporting my political views. I want everybody to be safe,” says Freeman. “I want everyone to raise their children and not have anyone tell you where to sleep or how to eat, you know? But despite being a minority in the Pagan community with his controversial opinions and beliefs as a Trump supporter, Freeman isn’t the only member with concerns over the trendy spell.

In North Carolina, a British expat, Elizabeth Watkins lives in Asheville, a city of 89,000 citizens. Watkins claims Asheville is quite liberal despite its location in the middle of the Bible Belt. Watkins is middle-aged with mid-length brown hair and round wire frame glasses. She is married and raising a three-year-old daughter, who she refers to as “her little witch.” Like Freeman, Watkins is a bit of a political hummingbird. She flits from issue to issue as she sees fit. However, she is his exact antithesis. She felt disappointed when the marriage quality movement died down, so now she seeks to satiate her urge for social justice in Black Lives Matter and trans rights groups.

But in accordance with Freeman, Watkins doesn’t agree with the binding spells being performed each month. “I am not a fan of Donald Trump, obviously. But he is not the only person doing this shit,” she says. “By hexing him are you really fixing anything? I don’t think so.” Instead, Watkins she focuses on inclusive rhetoric and social change, not spells. In November 2016, she formed her own coven, Open Coven, following the presidential election. It began as a blog that aggregated occult content from female, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized artists. She saw an opportunity to turn the blog into a motivator for change and morphed her mission into developing a spiritual community around liberal issues. Strictly for women, Watkins is hoping to promote a strong feminist agenda via Open Coven. Though it is small, with only three members, there are plans to create a larger movement and connect with other liberal-minded fringe groups across the nation.

The truth is both Freeman and Watkins working towards their version of a bright American future. Watkins wants a network of liberated Pagans to collaborate on art, protests and creating a more feminist future. And the future Freeman wants is a return to the way he believes America used to be. He reminisces about Blazing Saddles, calls himself “kraut” for his German heritage, and discusses how believes stereotypes hold some truth. “Everybody got along then because we could laugh at each other. It wasn’t a big deal,” he says. “And now it’s gotten to the point where everybody is nuts.”

Before we hang up, Freeman tells me about Tony, one of his best friends who passed away. Tony was a Vatican knight and worked in the same building where Freeman ran his own cable access show. The pair would get coffee together every day. “We both believed in a god, we both believed in our country, we both loved our kids. We would both go to the fire department breakfast, ya know? American.”

Pholisophy, Politics, Social Matters

Artemis Is Not A Vegetarian, An Abortionist, or A Man-Hater

Some people in the modern Pagan community (though not the norm), are ripe with their own versions of the ancient Gods, which in itself isn’t a bad thing. But when they basically create their own Gods and give them ancient names and images, that’s when I find myself compelled to say something. One of the most common of these has to do with Artemis. She’s one of the most commonly-adopted Deities by Neo-Pagans and Wiccans, even by some who are looking to start a gender competition. While these people are a minority in the community, there are still Pagans who want to start a culture, gender or race war within Paganism. Therefore, being an historical Hellenist and someone who has worshiped and studied Artemis for the past 7 years, I want to set the record straight about the Goddess based on historical record, myth and religious fact.
Claim #1 – Artemis Hates Hunting
The argument that Artemis is against hunting or meat eating should, in and of itself, be an obvious ridiculousness from the start. She’s the Goddess of the Hunt. The first sentence of the Homeric Hymn to Artemis calls Her the “slayer of stags,” and talks about her chasing and striking down the wild beasts. She hunts and kills wild animals. So to say that Artemis is against hunting or opposes the consumption of game that was killed in ancient times specifically for eating, is a blatant historical falsehood.

Claim #2 – Artemis Supports Abortion
Whatever your views on abortion are, that’s not the issue here. Not everyone has the same views on abortion; I understand that. But to say that Artemis revels in abortion, is simply not supported by anything other than someone’s own personal theory, that is usually established to mold a Deity in their own image instead of the image of the Deity themselves. Artemis is the protector of infants and children, and she is also known as the Goddess of Childbirth. She carries no historical epithet that refers to Her as an abortive Goddess whatsoever. She fiercely protected the weak and vulnerable, especially young children. When Atalanta’s father threw Her away at birth, it was Artemis who came and saved Her life. Another manifestation of Artemis is the legendary Artemis of Ephesus, which is a multi-breasted form to symbolize Her as “the Great Mother.” The ancient Greek religion, in many cases, took a stance against abortion itself in some of its main cultural declarations. For example, the famous physician’s Hippocratic Oath, which swears before “all the Gods and Goddesses” to not give an abortion. People in ancient Greek myth who harmed children were also dealt with very severely by the Gods. A good example would be Lycaon, who dismembered a young boy and tried to offer the remains to Zeus, who was so repulsed and offended that He wiped out the entire Bronze Age of Greece.
 
Claim #3 – Artemis Is A Matriarch Who Hates Men
This idea mainly comes from a misunderstanding about Her refusal to take a husband and the death of Actaeon. While She did not marry, She always remained in recognition of the Supremacy of Zeus, the King of all the Gods. In fact, She sought His permission to remain chaste. She did not take it upon Herself to make the decision without Him. She also never decided that She was going to run everything. Zeus was always Her dear Father and the Ultimate Authority. All of the Gods, male and female, called Zeus the King. It wasn’t as if the male Gods weren’t expected to revere Zeus. The King was the King because He was King. It’s that simple. While women worshipers today can find a great deal of independence in Her Divinity, She does not think of Herself as the ultimate ruler, or that She has a natural right to be at the top of the rule because of her gender, as a Matriarch would. The fallacy that people have here is the idea that one must be a gender-supremacist in order to be free, strong and independent. Nothing could be more untrue. One can be those things without crushing the opposite sex. Artemis is strong, powerful, wise, free and independent, but She doesn’t try to usurp Zeus, nor does She feel that He is a threat to Her own greatness. To call Artemis a Matriarch, is to basically call Her a sexist, and the Gods are far above such human pettiness.
As far as the man-hating label She routinely gets tagged with, this comes from the myth that the hunter Actaeon secretly spied on Artemis naked in the forest, and after She spotted him, turned the hunter into a stag and his hounds attacked and killed him. This probably had a far broader ancient meaning, which was to not offend the Gods. Artemis didn’t like sex, and therefore, did not want to be sexualized, and sexualization in those days was mainly portrayed between male and female. But Artemis had and still has many male worshipers who show Her proper respects and don’t end up on Her bad side. In fact, I built a sanctuary to Her in my yard and She was one of the main Gods I prayed to for help in saving my son’s life when he was born prematurely. I am doing fine and so is my boy. I don’t think we need to get so caught up in gender that we make everything about gender or sexism. I believe very strongly in gender equality, and I don’t believe that women are somehow of less value or worth than men. Everyone deserves to be treated equally and fairly before the law. And even as a strong man, Artemis is one of my Patrons and has been for years. I kneel before Her the same as I do Apollo.
Conclusion
There’s nothing wrong with having UPG in your own private religious life, but to make it a universal declaration of the religion or the Deity, is quite another matter. In closing on this issue, I think back to something Susan B. Anthony once said. “I distrust those who know so well what God wants, because it’s always the same as their own desires.”
Business, Pagan Landmarks, Social Matters

She brought magic to Salem. Now she has mixed feelings about it

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SALEM — It is not her fault, Laurie Cabot declared.

Then she thought for a moment and revised her statement.

“OK, it is kind of my fault,” she said, referring to what has happened to October in Salem since she arrived nearly five decades ago and began the modern witch era in the “Witch City.”

But really, if anyone is to blame for kicking off the events that somehow led to the spooktacular charade that dominates the Halloween season in the city, Cabot argues, it was Molly Boo.

Molly Boo was her cat.

Her black cat.

Had she not gotten stuck up in that tree, Cabot said, none of this might have happened.

Let’s rewind.

Laurie Cabot is a witch. She has been studying witchcraft since she was a child growing up in Boston, and today, at age 84, is easily the most famous practicing witch in the country, the grande dame of witchcraft.

But back then, when she was first beginning her study of the ancient practice of magic, people did not come out and say they were a witch. That kinda thing could lead to trouble.

Eventually, she did take to dressing the part — black robes, pentagram necklace — but by then it was the late ’60s and people just thought she was a hippie.

She was living in the North End at the time, divorced, struggling to raise two children, and another single mom suggested they pool their money and move to the suburbs.

Great, Cabot said. Anywhere but Salem.

“Salem seemed like a bad idea because I didn’t know how anyone would take me because of the witch trials,” she said.

Laurie Cabot inside her home in Salem.

Sure enough, the friend came back with a listing for an apartment on Salem’s Chestnut Street, a broad boulevard filled with stunningly gorgeous homes and postcard-perfect trees, and Cabot could not resist.

But the witch thing, she kept under wraps. Then her cat changed all that.

She had two black cats at the time — “they were given to me by someone who knew I was a witch,” she said with an eye roll — and one of them, Molly Boo, climbed the tree outside her apartment, got stuck about 50 feet up, and would not come down. Her other cat, Sabrina, would climb up and try to show Molly Boo how to get down, but Molly Boo would not follow.

Cabot said she called everyone — animal control, the police, the fire department — and they all told her the cat would eventually come down on its own. That’s what cats do.

But after three days of awful weather and no movement from Molly Boo, Cabot made a move she knew would get attention. She called the local newspaper, the Salem News, and gave them a story they couldn’t resist.

“My cat is stuck in a tree,” she said she told the person who answered the phone. “I am a witch. That cat is my familiar (a witch term for an animal-shaped spirit that serves as a psychically connected servant, companion, and spy). And I want someone to come get my cat out of the tree.”

A photographer came, as did the mayor and several rescue vehicles.

Molly Boo was helped down. And after the photos of a real-life Salem witch hit the wire services, Laurie Cabot’s secret was out.

Plenty of media followed, and soon after, in 1970, Cabot opened the city’s first “witch shop.” She sold wands and potions and other tools of the trade, but she said her real goal was to educate the public about witchcraft — and especially to dispel all the incorrect rumors about evil intentions and devil-worshipping.

In retrospect, she said, she was very naïve to think it would be that easy, and she sees what has happened in the 47 years that have followed as being both incredibly positive and incredibly confusing.

She is proud of the fact that her witch shop and openness turned Salem into something of a safe space for practicing witches, and many began flocking to the city, to live openly, to perform rituals with other witches, and to celebrate the witches’ New Year, what they know as Samhain and everyone else calls Halloween.

More witch shops opened, but so too did all the other stuff that has come to be associated with Halloween but has little to do with witchcraft — the haunted houses and the ghost tours and the zombie walks.

“I’m still not sure what a guy with an ax in his head and blood dripping down his face has to do with witchcraft,” she said. “Some of it is offensive. The fun house. The scary murderous stuff. It brings bad vibes. It’s projecting the wrong kinds of things.”

A doll of Laurie Cabot sits on a shelf inside her home in Salem.

It is a question of intent, which is a huge part of being a witch. Intent is how witches manipulate environmental energy. And when it comes to dressing up for Samhain, the intent of a costume is to cast a spell projecting the kind of person they want to be for the New Year. “We don’t allow any devil costumes into our parties,” she said.

And intent is something Cabot is thinking about lately, as she looks back through the long lens of all that has happened in Salem since her cat went up that tree.

It is late in her story, and she knows this. She has been suffering significant health problems of late, including a recent bout of dizziness and nausea that lasted for so many weeks that she thought she was ready to go. (Doctors eventually found an ulcer, and medication has curbed the symptoms.)

But she is proud that she helped transform the city, and in some ways became its face. (And what a face it is — with an elaborate tattoo on her left cheek and huge black-framed glasses, all surrounded by a magnificent mane of black hair ringed with white.)

She has trouble walking, and spends most of her time in her apartment, seated at a dining room table covered in jewels and deer antlers and potions and other bits and bobs that she and her daughter, Penny, use to make potions and broomsticks and other tools that are sold at a store just around the corner called Enchanted. Witches from near and far make daily pilgrimages to visit her — one, earlier this week, arrived carrying a gift of a crystal that was nearly two feet long — and she is now at work on her eighth book, a memoir.

But with Halloween just around the corner, and the streets below a chaos of tourists, there is a lot of talk of all it has become.

“It’s not my fault that people practice such silliness. I didn’t set out to make Halloween such a big deal in Salem.”

No, that all started with a black cat.

Majick Spell Candles made by Laurie Cabot are for sale in Enchanted, an authentic witch shop.