  Besides walking their adorable bulldog Lady Lockjaw about the old town with its brick-paved mall and colonial architecture, Miss O and her Duke were frequent visitors at Salem's informative Peabody Essex Museum, loyal patrons of the lovely restaurant, The Grape Vine, enthusiastic scholars digging for historical gems at the Athenaeum, and friends to all those shopkeepers of the occult and mysterious.  The pair of eager New Englanders entertained friends quite frequently at their new home located on Masonic Drive. Locky would eagerly wait for scraps during dinner parties, and the happy couple were soon busy gathering leaves to use as decoration for their first Halloween celebration, choosing only the most colorful specimens found on the grounds of the Witch Trial memorial located near to the cemetary not far from Pickering Wharf. Olivia was bent over rummaging through fallen foliage, humming happily to herself, when a strange tingle invaded her body; she looked up and noticed a white solitary gravestone leaning askew in a far corner of the burial spot.  "Did you know that Nathaniel Hawthorne changed the spelling of his name - adding a w - so as not to be associated with his relative, Judge Hathorne, of Witch Trial disgrace? He was so ashamed of his ancestor's condemnation of innocents that he wanted no tie to him, whatsoever." "Hawthorne was indeed a man of morality - a noble soul," the honorable Domenico smiled in admiration of his literary hero. "But why that comment, my sweet - what are you thinking?" "The grave over there spoke to me," Olivia shuddered. "I guess we better go check it out." Once at the site of the white stone, Miss O stood transfixed, staring at a blank slab. "Who does this grave belong to?" Domenico asked, reading his lover's mind. "How eerie. Let's leave." "I'm supposed to find something," Olivia near whispered. "Some great injustice was done in this town..." "Of course, darling, it was called the Witch Trials." "No, the crime runs deeper than the obvious death of innocents - this whitewashed stone is a symbol, a sign. When we get home, I'll investigate on-line, to start."  True to her word, Miss O began her investigation into the participants of the Witch Trial - men hailing from long and influential legacies - men who later became leaders in their communities. One name in particular, Waitstill Winthrop, near jumped from the computer screen when Olivia perused a list of judges; without further ado, she began to research the Winthrop clan both in England and America. "Listen to this excerpt from a writer named Kathleen Freels!" Olivia exclaimed to Domenico, while the latter peered over her shoulder, reading silently while she expounded with the excitement only a lover of mystery might understand: Another possible source for Rosicrucian literature was the alchemical laboratory and library of John Winthrop, Jr. (1606-1676), Governor of Connecticut, whose holdings R. S. Wilkinson describes as "the most significant and extensive alchemical library in colonial America." The Winthrop library represented a substantial Rosicrucian holding and contained Andreae's The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1616), the seminal work which fueled the Rosicrucian movement. Moreover, the Winthrop library contained four of Michael Maier's works and eleven writings penned by Robert Fludd, works which show remarkable similarity to Taylor's symbolism. The extent of the influence of Winthrop's library escapes exact assessment, and it is difficult to ascertain whether Taylor would have had access to Winthrop's holdings. Ironically, Taylor's grandson, Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, recorded in his diary in 1787 a legend concerning John Winthrop, Jr.'s prowess as an alchemist, displaying an interest in alchemy which his grandfather may have stimulated. In addition, Ezra Stiles chose Taylor's copy of the alchemical treatise, Metallographia, to write a short memoir dedicated to Taylor indicating perhaps a fond memory connected with Taylor's enthusiasm for alchemy. Stiles addresses Rosicrucian ideology in his Literary Diary on July 1, 1777: "Interspersed among my miscellaneous Writings may perhaps be found Things respecting the Rosacrucian [sic] Philosophy ... The few ideas I have about it are only imaginary, conjectural, and speculative." J. H. Tuttle records that in 1642, John Winthrop, Jr. donated forty "choice books" to Harvard College where Taylor attended classes from 1668-1671. Tuttle does not disclose the nature of the books, but knowing Winthrop's enthusiasm for alchemy, it may be presumed that at least one or two volumes of alchemical interest were included in the lot. Wilkinson notes that Cotton Mather was well acquainted with Wait Still Winthrop (1642-1717) who inherited his father's holdings and that Mather dubbed Wait the "Angel of Bethesda" as testimony to Wait's powers as physician. The fact that Wait "used the hieroglyphic monas which his father had borrowed from John Dee," coupled with the fact that this same monas appears in the original Rosicrucian monograph of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkruetz (1616), indicates that Rosicrucian influences did not constitute heresy or dishonor among the leading men of letters of the time. One may conclude that not only did such notable Puritans as Increase and Cotton Mather and John Winthrop Jr. and his son Wait have knowledge of Rosicrucian works, but that Rosicrucian philosophy, particularly in relation to the healing arts, was a source of lively speculation and interest. "Oh my GODS, Domenico, an actual judge at the trials was a practicing magician himself! That hypocrite condemned people to death during the day, then went home and read alchemy by night! This is incredible - what a travesty of justice! I knew it, I just knew it....and look at this list, here, of the books comprising Adam Winthrop's library! Looks like great grandfather back in England knew a thing or two about Witchcraft, himself, doesn't it, caro mio?"  "This information makes the Crucible look tame in compare!" Domenico agreed. "What a tale - Liv, this is a story worthy a Hawthorne - a true morality play from the past - you must write about this injustice, don't you agree?" "That will require much more research," the CyberSybil replied. "Perhaps in the spring, I'll begin a novel about old Waitstill...but in the meantime, we have a party to finish planning, plus a Samhain Ritual to attend on Gallows' Hill later this eve."  A beautiful Full Moon in Taurus attended the annual gathering that night, held near to the spot where too many had died unjustly. And when Miss Olivia stood in a huge human circle, listening to words of power offered up to the Lord and Lady, she clasped her Duke's hand hard and made a silent vow that, as of that eve, the guilty Winthrop from the past would not escape the modern Cybersybil's pen. |
