A year and a half ago I transcribed here in this column a piece of news from the CNN saying that on 31 October 2004, resorting to a feudal law that was abolished in the following month, the town of Prestopans, in Scotland, granted official pardon to 81 people – and their cats – executed for practicing witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries.
According to the official spokesperson for the Barons of Prestoungrange and Dolphinstoun, “most of them had been condemned without any concrete evidence – based only on witnesses for the prosecution who claimed they felt the presence of evil spirits”.
The oddest thing about this news item is that the town and the 14th Baron of Prestoungrange and Dolphinstoun are “granting pardon” to people who were brutally executed. Here we are plump in the 21st century, and those who killed innocent people still feel they have the right to “pardon”.
To my surprise, that did not bring the matter to an end.
At least according to the highly respected Reuters news agency, there still exist witches to be pardoned by the system. In a piece of news published recently, the grand-daughter of one of them has just launched a campaign for the “posthumous redemption” of Helen Duncan, a woman accused by the English during the Second World War. Duncan’s crime was to have answered, during a séance of spiritualism, a question asked by a mother desperate to know the whereabouts of her son, a member of the crew of the ship HMS Barbham. The medium stated that the ship had just sunk and that the entire crew had died.
This was true, but the fact was being kept secret so as not to affect the morale of the soldiers. The news soon spread, and reached the government. Based on a law dating from 1735, Winston Churchill ordered her arrested until the war was over.
Helen Duncan died in 1956, without ever being pardoned. Her grand-daughter, Mary Martin (now aged 72) has already even managed to have an audience with the Minister of the Interior of the Tony Blair government, but to no avail.
As I write these lines, the Baron of Prestoungrange, the same man who succeeded in obtaining the official pardon of the town of Prestopans, is directly involved in the matter, and has even opened a site on the Internet (www.prestoungrange.org/helenduncan) to raise international support.
In the words of the Baron:
“The 300 soldiers executed for desertion during the First World War have already been pardoned. The denunciations that caused the death of a group of 20 innocent young people in Salem, Massachusetts, have already been treated with due respect. We have already apologized for trading in slaves and adopting piracy as a noble way to make the United Kingdom prosperous. What has to be done to pardon Helen Duncan?”
It is simple. In the beginning, Duncan was accused of spying. A massive investigation carried out by the government concluded that it was impossible for a woman to have access to official secrets and secret information. How, then, could she have known what had happened to the frigate HMS Barbham?
The only explanation that remains is: witchcraft. And what purpose is served by the old laws, even if they have been forgotten by a civilization that deems itself enlightened and immune to the superstitions of yore?
Their purpose is to be applied.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
We are in the 21st century, and stil in areas of Arica are killed after being accused of being witches. This is economicaly, politically & religiouysly driven persecution.
And in the US of A people are persecuted for being witches via attacks, job loss, children taken from them ad so on, etc.
Ignorance is not bliss, fear is a mockster & monster and quite dangerous in certain people & places.
Yes there are Real Witches. I am one of them. I am not of the religion of Wicca. My Path is a Spiritual one. I respect all religions & spiritual paths as long as they harm no one.
I have some abilities to “see” things. I am cautious though as to whether or not to reveal or share the things I that are revealed to me by Spirit or The Lady Goddess.
For some people whether because of their religious beliefs, background and/or ignorance & prejudice are afraid of and unwilling to hear certain facts & truths that Seers, Witches, Prophets & Psychics are gifted with.
The Judeo-Christian Bible speaks of:
“Cast not your pearls before swine lest they be trampled.”
(I am not saying these folks are pigs by the way)
My Spiritual beliefs, practises and “visions” are My Pearls and I will not just put them out their for others to trample upon.
I believe these pardons are too late in coming. The persons who are being pardoned are beyond the veil and care not IMHO. But then again perhaps it gives some of their Spirits (souls) peace & rest.
The persons giving these pardons I think do so out of guilt and not the sheer goodness of the heart. Politics are more in my mind in that it makes them look good in the public eye.
I share the fact of my being a practising witch in the Craft of the Wise (witchcraft) to Hopefully let people know we are *not* evil, we seek to live our lives peacefully and to co-exist in this world. And we live by a Rede or code of ethics to “harm no one”.
And we do not recognise the being others call “satan” or the devil in our beliefs, for he is of the Judeo-Christian belief (religion) system.
Not ever of or in ours.
Be Well.
Blessings Be,
Starra
is pardoning them ( the innocents ) the question ? strange situation people who were wronged are being pardoned by those who wronged them ? ain’t humanity a little cookoo !
no pardoning them is not the question, it’s a civilisation trying to lessen it’s guilt over past unjust actions, it’s much like a confession, and civilisations, if they want to progress, must leanr to accept their mistaked like men of honour and not go on hiding behind veiles of diplomacy !
love
aditya
Isn’t this a repost of an older story?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_goat
this story illuminates a little about african witch-craft
i find it hard to understand how intellectual thinking and then such concepts as the news discusses, are side by side in society…
there has to be a logical, rational reason for (ahem, excuse) scape-goating the goat… no?!!!!??
Yes, it seems strange that perhaps a medium might be construed as a spy or condemned for ‘witchcraft’ under an 18th century law.
My fathers family live along from Prestonpans and by all accounts, East Lothian county is not a crazy place. East of Edinburgh and following the coastline, the area is not an isolated place left to curdle and fester; but maybe the cold weather does something to the hearts and imaginations of folk?!
There’s nothing better than a good folk story to get the imagination going… but in the second world war, its difficult to conceive of such conclusions ever having been reached… but then the war time was itself a crazy time – the Holocaust et al.
On a slightly different note, and tangent to this – I am so full of optimism for Barack Obama’s presidency.
Anyway, now i shall go back to my project work on traditional healers, themselves wrongly judged in the eyes of district health officers – beaten even, two generations ago. We are documenting traditional medicine and plants; sustaining intergenerational knowledge transfer; and capacity building TBAs (trad’l birth attendants) to respond/access patients where factors of distance, finances etc compromise maternal health care. These TBAs and trad’l healers are widely respected by the rural community villagers… and it is science which is mistrusted, because it fails to view patients holistically. It is strange, because even so, there is a village designated for witches -sent as in exile in the northern region.
I wonder when man will get the balance right!?
Thanks for allowing me to write some thoughts out!
best wishes
“How, then, could she have known what had happened to the frigate HMS Barbham?”
Muslims believe that we have got parallel spaces consisted not of matter but of sth spiritual. This space is shared by angels and jinns (jinn = demon). Jinns can be good and bad tempered. It is forbidden to get in contact with jinns in Islam (and for jinns to get in contact with us), but some people find way to speak to them and ask anything they want to learn. Jinns are more superior beings than human beings, they live about for 300 years, their speed and power is enormous. That is why they can know more than people do.
We also should not ignore that human beings themselves have forgotten and lost powers within.
This is sort of a lesson.If anyone feels that has peculiar qualities ,not accepted by law,is better to be very keen.To do things seem natural.Many are ignorant,do not appreciate a superior mind.It scares them.They cannot stand things that is hard to be explained.
I dont know if a real witch does exist.But not sure.Maybe.The sure thing is that is a big mistake any process based on witness .What if it is an enemy ?
There are several points in this article that stir my blood more than a little. First, that the “only (apparent) explanation that remains (for Duncan’s ability to see what was happening at a distance) is: witchcraft.” Now, I know nothing of the personal biography of Mary Duncan – perhaps she was a “witch” and even considered herself one, but I do not know that to be a fact – and the thing that troubles me is the way our society (then, as well as now) views the prophetic abilities of women in contrast to the Biblical prophetic abilities of men. The Bible is full of accounts of prophecy, and many Christians, even today, take those accounts quite literally, and yet, in no way, do they associate those accounts with “witchcraft”. On the contrary, they are seen as “Divinely inspired” incidents. So how do we know that Mary Duncan was not similarly “divinely inspired,” just like the prophets of old we read about in the Bible and are taught to so highly admire? What makes people assume that contemporary incidences of prophetic ability are necessarily steeped in “evil” or that the Devil must have a hand in it – especially when women are involved?
Most would probably reply that the days of the prophets are over (God has done with revealing the future and spatially distant events through the eyes of human subjects) and that since that time, anyone who prophesies in any manner must be in conspiracy with the Devil, doing the “Devil’s work.” But if we are to follow this train of thought – and certainly I’m no Biblical scholar – does it not also state in the Apocalyptic books: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy”? (Acts 2:17-18) So, why must we associate incidents of modern prophecy, such as this one involving Mary Duncan, with “evil”? How can we say that the vision she was given was not from God?
We also seem to forget that, in the Bible, we are actually INSTRUCTED to prophesy, in fact, encouraged to do so: “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather THAT YE MAY PROPHESY.” (1 Cor 14:1) Prophecy among believers, states the Bible, serves for the edification of all (“edification” meaning, literally, a spiritual “building up” as in the act of “building up” or “shoring up” a house). “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.” (1 Cor 14:22) As well, the Bible instructs us that the gift of prophecy is not reserved merely for a select few (e.g. the prophets of old), but is a gift which should be sought after, and if attainable, practiced by us all: “For ye may ALL prophesy one by one, that all may learn (be “edified”), and all may be comforted.” (1 Cor 14:31) “Wherefore, brethren, COVET to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.” (1 Cor 14:39) And, as a final admonishion against those who would condemn individuals, like Mary Duncan, who possess and practice prophetic gifts, the Bible states: “Despise not prophesyings.” (1 Thess 5:20)
Despise not. Condemn not. Instead, covet these gifts, practice them, and prize them highly. From what I have read of the Bible, this is the proclamation given to modern man in reference to the varied spiritual gifts of prophecy. I really think the people who stand in the judgment seat in such cases – though they may consider themselves “Christians” – have not really read the Bible, at least not thoroughly, not for themselves, and not with open eyes; for if they had, they would not be standing in condemnation of this woman who was so obviously given a gift of sight from God, for whatever reason.
This reminds me in many ways of a story I read several days ago in an old issue of “Readers’ Digest.” There was this man who owned a business and who required the services of a night watchman. One day, the man was to take a trip to some far away destination, and had a plane ticket to fly out the very next morning, when he got a call from the watchman, who warned him not to fly. The guard, during the night, had fallen asleep and dreamed that the man’s plane would crash. So, the man, heeding the watchman’s words, cancelled his flight. And sure enough, the plane went down shortly after takeoff, killing all on board. The business man, who was ever so grateful, gave the watchman a $5,000 reward for saving his life…then he promptly fired the man for falling asleep on the job!
enjoyable read on o so many counts