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Witchcraft, in various
historical, anthropological, religious
and mythological contexts, is the
use of certain kinds of supernatural
or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner
of witchcraft. While mythological
witches are often supernatural creatures,
historically many people have been
accused of witchcraft, or have claimed
to be witches.
Witchcraft still exists in a number
of belief systems, and indeed there
are many today who identify with the
term "witch". The majority
of Europeans historically accused
of witchcraft were women, and in legends
and popular culture the stereotype
is female; however males were also
often referred to as witches. Witches
have been known to communicate with
the dead and be proficient in the
art of Necromancy.
Witches Sybil Leek and Oneida Toups
both used their powers and hunted
for ghosts when they were alive. And
many say their ghosts still haunt
them.
Hans Holzer has written 138 books
on the supernatural and occult for
the popular market as well as several
plays, musicals, films, and documentaries
and has hosted a television show.
He is a renowned parapsychologist.
His extensive involvement in researching
the supernatural has included investigating
The Amityville Horror and some of
the most prominent haunted locations
around the world. He has also worked
with well-known trance mediums such
as Ethel Johnson-Meyers, The witch
Sybil Leek, and Trixie Allingham.
Witches still today play a very important
role in contacting the dead and in
ghost hunting. Do you have a real
witch as part of your Ghost Hunting
Team?
Many believe if you are witch then
ghosts and spirits seek you out for
their own purposes.
Pass
your Mouse over The Pentagram of Protection
below before you read any further
if real witches and ghosts scare you!
Sybil Leek The Queen
of American Witches
Sybil Leek was born
in Normacot Staffordshire to a well-to-do
family. The family had a long history
of witchcraft , which can be traced
back to the 16th century to her ancestor
Molly Leigh. Sybil’s immediate
family all played a part encouraging
her to follow the craft. She learned
much from her father about nature,
animals and the power of herbs, and
even discussed eastern philosophies.
Her grandmother taught her astrology,
by decorating biscuits and cakes with
astrological symbols and asking Sybil
to put them in order and describe
what each symbol meant
Sybil Leek was known
as 'Britain’s most famous witch'.
Leek lived in Burley with her pet
Jackdaw. She became a TV reporter
but primarily claimed to be a real
100% witch.
Sybil
Leek
1922-1982
She only had 3 years of orthodox
schooling. Her family continued to
school her at home, but her grandmother
focused on her esoteric training,
such as the knowledge of herbs, astrology,
the psychic arts, and divination much
more than she did mathematics and
English.
Sybil’s family played host
to some very scholarly characters.
H. G. Wells, Sybil and her father
used to take long walks discussing
all things metaphysical. Another famous
friend of the family was Aleister
Crowley. Aleister was a regular visitor
to the family home, and used to read
his poetry to Sybil. She first met
him when she was 9. It was Aleister
who encouraged Sybil to begin writing
herself. Sybil became a keen poet,
and she published her first book,
a slim volume of poetry, while she
was still a teenager.
Sybil soon met a prominent concert
pianist who became her music teacher,
and she married him when she was 16.
He died two years later, and stricken
with grief Sybil returned home to
her grandmother’s house.
Shortly after, she was sent by her
grandmother to a French coven based
at Gorge du Loup (Wolf Canyon) in
the hills above Nice, to replace a
distant relative of hers as High Priestess.
Eventually she returned to England.
For a short while she stayed with
an acquaintance in Lyndhurst, in the
New Forest, but soon found the lifestyle
there tiresome and decided to run
away.
She became friends with the Romany
Gypsies in the forest. Sybil learnt
much from the Gypsies about the forest,
ancient folklore, and even more about
the practical use of herbs than she
had learnt from her grandmother. She
lived with the Gypsies for a year,
and attended rituals with the Horsa
coven in the New Forest, of which
for a short time she was High Priestess,
and therefore a member of the Nine
Covens council.
When she was 20, Sybil returned to
her family, who had now moved to the
edge of the New Forest. She then opened
three antique shops; one in Ringwood,
one in Somerset, and one in the heart
of the New Forest in Burley. She then
moved to Burley herself. She refused
to sell anything to do with witchcraft
in the antique shops, much to the
disappointment of visitors.
Hear
Sybil Leak talking to BBC reporter
Hugh Moran in a 1964 interview here.
However, her open attitude about
being a witch caused problems, too.
As media interest grew, Sybil found
herself constantly being pestered
by news reporters and tourists, who
traveled to Burley and would turn
up on her doorstep, day and night.
Sybil even had to create decoys in
order to be able to escape out of
the village to go to the secret coven
meeting places, for fear of being
pursued by cameramen. Although the
village itself thrived on the extra
tourism and visitors, some people
were not so happy about the extra
traffic and noise being caused. Her
landlord eventually asked her to move
out.
At the same time, an American publishing
house had approached Sybil to speak
about her new antique book ‘A
Shop in the High Street’ on
a TV program in the States. She took
the opportunity to go, and flew to
New York. While in New York, she was
contacted by Hans Holzer, a parapsychologist,
who invited her to join him investigating
psychic phenomena. They went on to
do numerous TV and radio programs
on the subject. They actually did
a few paranormal investigations that
are well noted.
She then moved to Los Angeles where
she met Dr. Israel Regardie, an authority
on Kabbalah and ritual magic, and
they spent much of their time together
discussing and practicing the Golden
Dawn rituals together.
Strong in defense of her beliefs,
Sybil sometimes differed and even
quarreled with other witches. She
disapproved of nudity in rituals,
a requirement in some traditions,
and was strongly against the use of
drugs, but she was at odds with most
other witches in that she did believe
in cursing. She was also one of the
first of the modern day witches to
take up environmental causes.
Sybil died at her Melbourne, Florida
home on 26 October 1982. Sybil's son
Julian Leek is now building a research
centre in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
This will house a huge archive dedicated
to his mother. By the time she died
in 1982, she had written over 60 books,
given hundreds of interviews and was
a millionaire. But the best legacy
for Sybil is the fact that witchcraft
is thriving in America and the UK.
A coven of white witches in the New
Forest are following in Sybil’s
footsteps. Her son, Julian, is constructing
a building in Florida to house her
memorabilia and many of her students
practice witchcraft to this day.
Also
See: Sybil Leek
20th century Witch-Astrologer ~ A
Biography~ by C. Ravin, Esq
"Ghosts
and witches are part of the universal
image of Halloween and the paranormal...
Well then, I am real a icon in a haunted
world."
...Oneida
Toups 1975
Oneida Toups The
Witch Queen Of New Orleans
Another very well respected Witch
Queen was Oneida Toups of New Orleans.
Toups and her husband Boots Toups
founded The Religious Order of Witchcraft
and was the first group to be actually
chartered in the state of Louisiana
and in the world. Close personal friend
of Oneida, Psychic Mickey of Miami
says that at the time the building
where she lived and had her shop the
Witches Work Shop was very haunted.
and Oneida would often hold Dumb Suppers
and Séances to communicate
with them. She was also an avid ghost
hunter and went on to explore many
haunted locations in New Orleans,
including the LaLaurie house ( the
most haunted house in America) and
researched the legend of the Famous
Devil Baby and the American Chupacabra
in New Orleans (The Grunch).
Toups' even told the story of how
she in 1974 heard the
Devil Baby
scratching and crying in the courtyard
behind her famous shop late one night.
She said she saw his glowing silver
eyes and watched him leap over the
roof tops as he fled into the night.
Mary
Oneida Toups
Mary Oneida Toups
the witch queen of New Orleans once
said, "The Dead walk the allies
of St. Louis number1 more often then
the living!
The Religious Order
of Witchcraft, a non - profit organization,
chartered & established on February
2, 1972. Founded by High Queen Mary
Oneida Toups, New Orleans, Louisiana
in the French Quarter. One strange
tale of Oneida's powers and encounters
is of Actor Jackie Gleason the story
goes that he approached Oneida Toups
for some help in dealing with a strange
curse on a friend. The Story Oneida
told was that it was only a curse
of evil and that she could remove
it and once she did it resulted in
a nasty black magic war. Which in
truth Oneida won. Oneida met Dr. Israel
Regardie With the help of Magical
Voodoo Hoodoo Musician Dr. John.
Onieda Toups has been
call the Grand Witch Queen of all
American Witches. Her many contributions
and coven members have gone on to
be very successful in the field of
the occult. But if It comes to naming
names you would really be surprised
to who really knew her and who did
not.
I had the pleasure to
meet Oneidas personal secretary Karen
Ellicks, who still owns the vast collection
of Oneida's artifacts and personal
photos. She also worked with the late
Boots toups nephews and brothers.
She also very well kept notes and
magical diaries and books of shadows
written in Oneida's own hand. "Their
or many rumors and lies about Oneida
that or on the internet and what people
say in public" "But one
day soon all the truth will be revealed."
said Ellicks.
Many strange tales of
Oneidas life have surfaced over the
years. Some say that the war took
its toll on her and the spells of
a Black Magic Hoodoo Queen Killed
her. " None of that is true at
all," says Bianca the reigning
Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. "
Oneida was well respected and no one
ever challenged her or her powers."
" Their or even people who claim
to be her children or of her coven
and knew her." But in truth none
of those that say they did actually
did." " When your a legend
as big as Oneida everyone says they
knew you." I can personally attest
The famous Musician Dr. John, and
New Orleans and Hauntedamericatours.com's
artist Ricardo Pustanio knew her well."
Pustanio knew her very well before
she proclaimed herself a witch."
" And he is still a close friend
to the Toups Family to this day."
Others who knew Oneida were Mickey
Of Miami and New Orleans Socialite
Carolyn M. Black. All state that the
woman that was the Queen of all witches
knew her stuff. Mickey Of Miami states
that she has come across many who
claim to be the child of Oneida and
BootsToups. " The fact is Oneida
had only one daughter who she personally
raised and lives in Meridian Mississippi."
I even had a young man claim to be
her son." And if I had to count
all the people who claimed to have
known her and were initiated into
witchcraft by her it would fill three
phone books." " But isn't
that what great legends are made of?"
States Mickey.
Arlette Gerhold a New
Orleans Realtor and a close friend
of the Toups' since 1969 told me recently
that Oneida's legend has changed over
the years. And that many people tell
her of things that supposedly happened
or how they knew the real Oneida.
She dismisses a lot of it as the urban
legend that is Toups' legacy.
"Not unlike tales
of Marie Laveau before her."
"Toups the witch queen that she
was is now a larger in death figure
then in life. " Said Gerhold.
"The Witches Work Shop"
"Held Wiccan Services, Provided
psychic Readings by Oneida herself,
She sold herbs and items and made
her own Spell Kits." " If
she left the shop which was closed
on Mondays she did only Cleansing,
House Blessings, or appointments for
one on one Spiritual Guidance, Self
Help, Private Consultations."
" She also held late Friday night
coven meetings. Gerhold who was a
personal friend states that Oneida
was a very normal personal who just
happened to practice witchcraft."
Many say the New Orleans
Saints are one of the most cursed
teams in NFL. The curse was said to
be placed on the team by a Great New
Orleans evil voodoo witch queen during
the first year NFL season. Others
say it was Oneida herself. Fans in
New Orleans believe that Exorcists,
witches and voodoo priestesses have
been trying to remove or to dispel
the curse. ... The main target of
the curse, of course, has been the
New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans
Saints management even called upon
Voodoo Yoruba Priestess Ava Kay Jones.
And supposedly the Great Queen of
all the Hoodoo's and Voodoos Bianca.
Voodoo was considered by the dominant
American culture to be sinful and
threatening, and strong repressive
measures were taken by the authorities.
From the turn of the twentieth century
until about the 1960s, the practice
was simply seen as a fraud from which
the ignorant needed protection. By
the latter half of the twentieth century,concerns
with both sin and fraud had diminished,
and Voodoo was looked upon as entertainment—a
tourist commodity and potential gold-mine
for commercial exploitation. Finally,
at the end of the twentieth century
and the beginning of the twenty-first,
there has been a new awareness of
Voodoo as a legitimate religion.
Many have tried to break the curse
publicly including Witch Queen Mary
Oneida Toups in 1978, and recently
Reese Smith a psychic Reader from
Marie Laveaus' House Of Voodoo has
added his name to the list for the
2006-2007 season.
On Halloween, 1999, a local radio
station asked Voodoo - Priestess Miriam
Chamani to perform a ceremony outside
the Superdome to help the New Orleans
Saints win against the Cleveland Browns
(which was interrupted by harassment
from a Browns fan dressed as a dog).
Oneida had said that she communicated
with the ghosts of Delphine
Lalaurie Eye to eye. And
also conjured up the real ghost up
Marie
Laveau, Jean Laffite and
crossed paths with the
lost Dead and the
grunch ( the American El
Chupacabra).
Oneida is well known for her public
Halloween rituals on the Lakefront.
Her hurricane ritual, and for her
book a rare publication Witch Craft
High and Low. Mary Oneida Toups sadly
died of Stomach Cancer in the late
1980's it was not by poisin or a curse
or magical war as many have stated.
Toups was diagnosed with it in 1970
and knew she had it long before anyone
else except her close friends knew
this.
Many of the famos New orleans Séances
Onieda conducted were attended by
her inner circle of friends which
included Mickey Of Miami. " The
Actual ritual she performed was more
like casting a spell to call the dead
then the tradtional means." "She
used magic circles and also a wand."
Said Mickey." " We spoke
to many ghosts and spirits over the
years." From 1967 - 1976 we met
with a personal controlled group of
9 people and talked to the dead until
the dawn broke." " We also
visited many of the real haunted areas
of New Orleans and found out what
the paranormal and ghosts were all
about."
Also
See: THE GHOST
OF THE WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS,
ONEIDA TOUPS
Laurie Cabot The
Reigning Witch Queen of Salem
Salem's most famous witch, Laurie
Cabot known as the official witch
of Salem. Ever since she "came
out" as a Witch about 40 years
ago, Cabot has been bold about making
a public statement in favor of the
Craft, as modern traditions of Witchcraft
are known. She has campaigned against
stereotypes of witches as evil-doers
and has fought for the civil rights
of those who choose Witchcraft (also
known as Wicca) as a spiritual and
religious path.
Laurie
Cabot
Laurie Cabot is an American witchcraft
high priestess, and was one of the
first people to popularize witchcraft
in the United States. She is the author
of such books as The Power of the
Witch, The Witch in Every Woman, Celebrate
the Earth, while also founding the
Cabot Tradition of the Science of
Witchcraft and the Witches' League
for Public Awareness to defend the
civil rights of witches everywhere.
In the 1970s, Cabot was declared the
"official witch of Salem, Massachusetts",
by then-Governor Michael Dukakis,
to honor her work with special needs
children.
Cabot's shop sold herbs, jewelry,
tarot decks, and other items used
in witchcraft. She later relocated
her shop to an old gambrel-roofed
house on Essex Street. This new shop
was named "Crow Haven Corner"
and was successful for a time. The
store is still open, though no longer
owned or managed by any member of
the Cabot family (formerly, her eldest
daughter Jody had operated this shop
starting in 1981). Cabot still maintains
a shop in Salem, on Pickering Wharf
and it is a popular tourist destination
as well as an important resource for
all Witches. She is as well-known
for her businesses, lectures and books.
Cabot was a guest on both "The
Oprah Winfrey Show" and on Phil
Donahue's talk shows in the late 1980s.
In March 2008, Cabot celebrated her
75th birthday at a surprise birthday
party attended by hundreds of wiccans,
including Sully Erna of the band Godsmack
for whom Cabot had appeared in the
band's "Voodoo" music video
shot at Hammond Castle.
Laurie Cabot is also known for her
sometimes controversial behavior.
There was a legal situation in the
mid 1990s in which Cabot allegedly
threatened local real estate agent,
Janet Andrews, with her gun . Cabot
denied she had ever acted in such
a manner and upon further investigation
all charges against Cabot were dismissed
and she still retains a gun permit.
She garnered more notoriety in 2004
when Salem Police came to her home
in order to remove her adolescent
grandson over a custody issue between
Jody Cabot and her former husband
([6]). Both incidents were covered
by local and national press and even
featured on CNN. A policeman claimed
that during the incident Cabot ordered
him to look into her eyes, telling
him he was cursed once he did. Cabot
denies she ever cursed the policeman,
stating "I say it is a curse
when you do bad things." This
is a reference to the threefold law
that whatever you do, good or bad,
shall be returned to you threefold.
She has steadily maintained that witchcraft
is never meant to be employed to cause
harm or destruction
She continues to reside in Salem,
where she owns a shop called The Cat,
the Crow, and the Crown. Cabot claims
to be related to the prominent Boston
Brahmin Cabot family. She is perhaps
one the most high-profile witches
in the world. She is a part of Salem
lore, and a bona-fide local celebrity
in that city and throughout Massachusetts's
North Shore.
It's a path with a high price. Cabot
has encountered a lot of criticism
and even abuse, but she has never
wavered or backed down. She has served
as a inspirational figurehead to many
who have joined the Craft.
In 1973 Cabot founded what has become
one of Salem's most famous events
— the Witches' Ball, held every
year on Samhain, the old Celtic name
for Halloween. People attend from
all over the world.
She was given the title "Official
Witch of Salem" in 1977 by Governor
Michael Dukakis. She founded the Witches
League of Public Awareness, a civil
rights watchdog group, in 1986.
Laurie
Cabot's official web site www.lauriecabot.com
Practices to which the witchcraft
label have historically been applied
are those which influence another
person's mind, body or property against
his or her will, or which are believed,
by the person doing the labeling,
to undermine the social or religious
order. Some modern commentators consider
the malefic nature of witchcraft to
be a Christian projection. The concept
of a magic-worker influencing another
person's body or property against
his or her will was clearly present
in many cultures, as there are traditions
in both folk magic and religious magic
that have the purpose of countering
malicious magic or identifying malicious
magic users. Many examples can be
found in ancient texts, such as those
from Egypt and Babylonia, where malicious
magic is believed to have the power
to influence the mind, body or possessions,
malicious magic users can become a
credible cause for disease, sickness
in animals, bad luck, sudden death,
impotence and other such misfortunes.
Witchcraft of a more benign and socially
acceptable sort may then be employed
to turn the malevolence aside, or
identify the supposed evil-doer so
that punishment may be carried out.
The folk magic used to identify or
protect against malicious magic users
is often indistinguishable from that
used by the witches themselves.
There has also existed in popular
belief the concept of white witches
and white witchcraft, which is strictly
benevolent. Many neo pagan witches
strongly identify with this concept,
and profess ethical codes that prevent
them from performing magic on a person
without their request.
Where belief in malicious magic practices
exists, such practitioners are typically
forbidden by law as well as hated
and feared by the general populace,
while beneficial magic is tolerated
or even accepted wholesale by the
people – even if the orthodox
establishment objects to it.
Probably the most obvious characteristic
of a witch was the ability to cast
a spell, a "spell" being
the word used to signify the means
employed to accomplish a magical action.
A spell could consist of a set of
words, a formula or verse, or a ritual
action, or any combination of these.
Spells traditionally were cast by
many methods, such as by the inscription
of runes or sigil's on an object to
give it magical powers, by the immolation
or binding of a wax or clay image
(poppet) of a person to affect him
or her magically, by the recitation
of incantations, by the performance
of physical rituals, by the employment
of magical herbs as amulets or potions,
by gazing at mirrors, swords or other
specula (scrying) for purposes of
divination, and by many other means.
Witches Conjuring
the dead
Strictly speaking, "necromancy"
is the practice of conjuring the spirits
of the dead for divination or prophecy
- although the term has also been
applied to raising the dead for other
purposes. The Biblical Witch of Endor
is supposed to have performed it (1
Sam. 28), and it is among the witchcraft
practices condemned by Ælfric
of Eynsham.
About Lisa Lee Harp
Waugh
The first lady of conjuring the Dead.
The ancient art of Necromancy is still
alive today with Waugh at it's main
investigator. LISA LEE HARP WAUGH
Is a necromancer in the 21st century.
www.ghosthuntersofamerica.com.
Waugh is not a witch though she has
studied the occult she has never claimed
to be a bone conjurer or a wiccan.
"I have learned many things
from witches", states Waugh.
"And if you just choose to be
a Necromancer or practice the art
of Necromancy thats enough."
" And if I need to consult with
a wiccan or call them in for a investigation
i certainly do."
Waugh talks to ghosts. She questions
them and records their answers. Astoundingly
many of the predictions these spooks
and specters and shades of the night
tell her seem to be very accurate.
You can read them here New SPIRIT
AND REAL GHOST PREDICTIONS FOR 2008!
The ghosts and spirits she questions
often give her very accurate info
on things to come. Nightly Waugh retires
to her Necromantic chamber to converse
with the many apparitions she calls
forth. She also experiments at times
with a Franks'
Box.
Ghosts love to talk tell their stories
and in Waugh's opinion like to be
interviewed and love to expound on
the afterlife. The ghosts that come
in and out of my home tell me many
tales. How they died, and how they
survive the afterlife. " I have
spoken to ghosts that want to move
on, and those that want just to be
noticed." Waugh states.
"Ghost have predicted many things
to me from great changes in the world
to personal things in my own life."
"The percentage of what they
tell me mostly will come to pass."
But remember says Waugh" Some
Ghosts " Do" Lie!"
Also
in her home exist the mirrored chamber
where each night she visits with the
many spirits of loved ones passed
on and questions them of their existence.
" Ghost tell me the damndest
things." Said Waugh. " One
asked me how should they go about
getting over their living husband
and move on, to who should they seek
out to let their loved ones know they
are now OK." Waugh says sometimes
she feels like she is playing psychiatrist
to the lost souls. She only wishes
she could do more to help them by
this. And in her heart she is helping
them transit to the afterlife."
PARANORMAL
TASK FORCE™
"Your One Stop
Paranormal Resource Center"
Also
read: Is It
Really Paranormal? Questioning The
Unknown Side Of Ghosts And Demonic
Possession - With tales of being raped
or beaten by ghosts, to stories of
even a ghost giving a person a loan
of some cash. I ask myself do these
things really happen? -- Ginalanier.com
You say You Don't
You Believe In Real Ghosts And Haunting's?
Take the Haunts of Owensboro Ghost
Tour, and you just might change your
mind!
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