Meeting Persephone

Samhain nears and the veil thins.  Every year at this time I am surrounded by thoughts of loved ones I've lost as well as kindred I never knew.  For the past several years I've been playing with my genealogy and searching out the past as far as I'm able to go beyond what has been provided for me by my paternal grandmother.  Her goal was to link to royalty and she seems to have done that.  The royals' stories are well known - just pick up a book and you can learn all about them - so it seemed a rather boring goal to find those we already know so much about.  Being the type never to take the past of least resistance - I opted to go another way. 

Awhile ago I discovered that at least some of my family was living in Salem during the witch trials.  I was sort of shocked to find that nobody anywhere in my revealed line (that which my grandmother had traced herself) had any recorded involvement - accused or accusing - in the trials.  My family was seemingly just sitting on the sidelines of the event taking place right before them and doing nothing at all.  Rather surprising when you consider the size of my family living there and the relatively small size of the town at the time.  Oddly I was disappointed.  It's not that I was hoping anyone in my family suffered as a result of the hysteria, or worse, to have contributed to the hysteria with accusations.  But to think that all of this was going on and my family may have sat idly by doing nothing at all was disheartening to say the least and cowardly to say more. 

Finally, after a great deal of searching, I was able to find the link buried in my family's history.  Ok, it wasn't really "buried" but since it wasn't the direct line to royalty that my grandmother was seeking it wasn't elaborated upon either.  It seems that there is a direct line from the Row/Rowe/Roe family, the Langton family and the Day family within my own line. Their names, if anyone is curious, were:  Phoebe Day, James and Rachel Fuller, Abigail and Mary/Martha Rowe, Andrew and Mary Sanford, Sarah Vinson, and Rachel Vinson (Varney, Cook, Langton).  I'm not a direct descendant of all (obviously) but each of them were within my family line and I am the direct descendant of some.  I still have a great deal of work and research to do to learn the reasoning and fate of each of them but I've also learned that if I so desired, I could become a member of ."The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches".

What does it mean to become a member of "The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches"?  I'm really not sure what the benefits are but I do know that the cost of membership ($100 lifetime membership fee and $25 non-refundable application fee) goes to fund the Cook College and Theological School which aids Native Americans in their efforts to become Christian Presbyterian clerics!  In fact, nearly 3/4 of all ordained Native American Christian clerics have been students at Cook. 

In order to join ADEAW you must be a woman of at least 16 years of age and able to prove that you are a descendant of someone who was accused of, tried for, or hanged for witchcraft prior to December 31, 1699. A complete listing of accepted ancestors is available for your perusal to determine if you too are eligible for membership to "The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches" and therefore entitled to aid the Cook College and Theological School with your lifetime membership to ADEAW.  I personally will not be joining the ADEAW if only because the absurdity of donating to a Christian college as a Pagan descendant of Christian women accused of witchcraft by other Christians only to perpetuate the same religion amongst Native Americans that most certainly had their own [Pagan] religion prior to Christian invasion is simply making my head spin in its irony.  Your choice to join however, if you meet all of the requirements, is entirely up to you.

So it's not all hemp and cannabis around here (even though that's an extremely important part of my "work").  I do have other thoughts and interests and thought I'd mention this one at this particular time. 

Hoping the veil was thin for you this Samhain and your loved ones near.   Blessings of the season.

The Trash Heap has spoken.