fandomhigh | The Occult | Period 1

Paige hoped the students had recovered from their off the wall weekends sufficiently enough. She'd thought about taking it easy and making today a movie day but, in the end, decided to go along with her lesson plan in the hopes that it would provide even more distraction than even a movie could.

"Today, we're going to be talking about witchcraft," Paige said by way of introduction. "Some of you might already be familiar with this and some of you may even practice witchcraft. For those that aren't aware, witchcraft is the use of magical faculties most commonly for religious, divinatory, or medicinal purposes."

Paige crossed her arms. "In anthropological terms, a witch is different from a sorcerer in that they do not use physical tools or actions to curse; their possible evil notions are perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality and they person may be unaware that they are a witch or may be convinced of their evil nature by the suggestion of others. Witches, though, get a bad rap. The majority of them are not evil. They do not wear black hats or ride brooms and they're not out looking to eat children. In present day, witches are most commonly associated with modern paganism and is most notably practiced in the Wiccan traditions."

She paused again. "The most common practices associated with witches and witchcraft are spell casting and conjuring the dead. Spell casting is, of course, the use of words that signify a meaning to carry out a magical action. And some witches also have the ability to perform necromancy. They can conjure the spirts of the dead for divination, prophecy or other reasons that aren't as clearly defined."

With the basic ideas about witches out of the way, Paige went into their last topic of discussion. "For the most part, society views witches as evil and harmful. Most of you have probably heard of the Salem witch trials or the great witch-hunt in that women who were thought to be witches were accused of such and given no ability to defend themselves. They were drowned or burned at the stake. It's probably easy for us to sit here and think that an awful practice, because it is, but what would we be thinking if were alive back during th Salem Witch Trials? Would we be so easily swayed to thinking witches evil without evidence? Or do you think you could have withstood the calls to join the angry masses and stood up for the witches who were accused so easily? Well, today you're going to get to try. We're in the Danger Shop where a version of the witch trials experienced back then are about to be recreated. You're not going to see anyone burning or being killed but you will be thrust into an angry, loud crowd of people, wanting the blood of the witches and wanting it now. You'll have to make your choice to stand with them or against them. It won't be easy either way. There are great orators in the crowd giving grand speeches and showing why they were so easily able to convince people of the guilt of those without any shred of evidence. And if you choose to stand against them, you'll be blasted with rage and anger and possible physical violence. We'll see how you react. Go."

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When you step inside the simulation, you'll find yourself in a large town square full of people. There is a raised platform ahead where a young woman is being held by several men. There is an older man, a town elder, yelling out accusations while the increasingly angry crowd calls for her death.

You are one of the townspeople now. What do you do?

Celia had never thought of herself as a witch, per se, but she couldn't help sympathizing with the woman. Her fingertips all but itched with the urge to do something to help her -- but she knew this wasn't real, and even if it was, magic wasn't the answer.

"What evidence do you have that this woman's done anything wrong?" she called out. If magic couldn't help her, maybe her wits could.

"The eye witness accounts of several of our townspeople!" The voice came from the elder on the podium, loud and booming. "They are trustworthy. You would call them liars?"

"No," Celia hedged, clasping her hands behind her back and leveling a look at the elder who'd addressed her. "I'd just ask them to give their accounts of what they saw. Did she cause harm to anyone?"

"They have already given their accounts to me and I have presented them to you," he said, frowning. "You wish to put then through that trauma again?"

The crowd murmured and turned to look at her.

"They have been harmed and stricken by what they've seen!"

"But no one is physically hurt?" Celia checked. "Just a bit surprised? Have you never been surprised or confused by anything before? Why is this woman's gift viewed as a curse and not a miracle?"

Dangerous ground, but it was worth trying.

"Is mental and emotional anguish not as good to you?" he asked, glaring. The crowd was growing louder around her. "Should we just dismiss their obvious suffering because there was no physical violence?"

"Yes, because I don't see why they should be anguished," Celia said, her own voice growing louder. This was going...poorly, but she was doing her best to stave off her own temper. "It's not the first time a person's seen something they don't understand. Why should this woman die because you can't comprehend what she can do?"

"And why should we ignore the obvious concern and possible harm that might occur if we don't do anything?"

See, at least he was giving her a chance even if the crowd was starting to berate her angrily. Soon, the stones would start being thrown.

Possibly literally but hopefully not.

Celia wasn't so foolhardy to keep angering them on purpose when it seemed like they might actually hurt her, simulation or no. "Because it's a person's life," she ventured, a little more calmly, a little more of a plea. "Why not just let her go? Force her from the community, banish her to never return again. Your problem disappears, and you don't have her blood on your hands."

"And leave her to possibly infect another community?"

There were shouts of agreement and some calls for Celia to be tested for witchcraft too. It didn't take much turn to an easily influenced crowd.

"Better that than become murderers."

Celia was pretty sure she would test positively for witchcraft, honestly. Not because of what she could do but because there didn't seem to be much of a basis other than disliking that person.

She was backing away from the crowd, all the same.

The crowd was definitely about to get rowdy so Paige shut down the simulation at that point. No violence needed for today's class.

"Good try," she said, smiling ruefully. "It's hard to convince the masses of something they don't want to believe."

"It's hard to think about what would have happened to me if I'd been born a few centuries earlier," Celia said, crossing her arms around herself. She was more relieved than she'd admit that it was over. "That was...barbaric."

"This was partially exaggerated but I have no doubt happened in some cities and towns," she said, nodding. "Just like today, people are terrified of what they don't know."

The Occult | Period 1 | Tuesday

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