Fandom High School

"Welcome back," Paige greeted, nodding at the class as they sat down. They were in the Danger Shop today. "Today's our last class before your final so I thought we'd do something a little fun and something that only has the barest of connections to the class. No need to overload you on new lessons now. I'm sure you've got enough on your plates."

Paige started up the Danger Shop simulation. "Today, you're going to go through a haunted house that's filled with ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves, clowns, witches, and just about anything else scary and supernatural you could think of. It's all packed into this three story, run down asylum. Your job is to get through and get back out without screaming too much. Nothing can really hurt you and if you need to come out early, you can. Enjoy, though!"

Paige couldn't really bring herself to make the students listen to a lengthy lecture or to make the participate in a class activity after the island had performed its best imitation of an apocalypse. She didn't think anyone was really into it and, after waking up to a pouring rain, found that she wasn't into it either.

Typically, they would have had a movie day but the movie she'd brought had gotten soaked and didn't even work anymore even after drying it. It just stayed wet.

"So, it's raining and people are still probably getting back to themselves," she started. "I brought a movie in but it got rained on and it won't dry. Instead, you guys can just hang out and eat some breakfast which I did bring and stayed dry -- "

There were donuts at the front of the room.

" -- and you can chat with each other or read or you can leave. It's a free class. We'll get back to things next week when everyone's in a little bit of a better mindset. And when we're all a little more dry."

"Today, we're going to look at one of the something a few of you may be familiar with and a few of you may not be," Paige said, smiling at the assembled class. "It's the staple of sleepovers and a horror movie staple. Yes, it's the Ouija board."

Paige held up one of said Ouija boards, showing it to the students.

"The Ouija board also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", "hello", and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette, which is a small, heart-shaped piece of wood or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a seance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words."

She settled the board on her desk before continuing on the lecture. "Mainstream religions and some occultists have associated use of a Ouija board with the concept of demonic possession, and view the use of the board as a spiritual threat and have cautioned their followers not to use a Ouija board. Despite being criticized by the scientific community and deemed demonic by Christians, Ouija remains popular among many people. So, this is what we're going to be doing today. Pair up, get in groups, however you'd like to do it and grab one of the Ouija boards I have up here. Ask the Ouija a question and see if it responds."

She herself remembered playing the game at a sleepover with friends when she was very young but remembered it not working at all. Still, maybe the class would have better results.

"Welcome back to class and back from your vacations," Paige greeted with a smile and nod. "I hope you all got a lot of relaxing in and that you're back and rested. If not, well, the weekend will be here before you know it."

Such optimism.

"Today, we're going to talk about voodoo and we're going to specifically focus on Louisiana Voodoo since that's the form of voodoo that's probably the most common and the most well known. Louisiana Voodoo describes a set of spiritual folkways which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American population of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Voodoo is one of many incarnations of African-based spiritual folkways rooted in West African Dahomeyan Vodun."

She paused for a minute. "Louisiana Voodoo is often confused with—but is not completely separable from—Haitian Vodou and southern Hoodoo. It differs from Vodou in its emphasis upon Gris-gris, voodoo queens, use of Hoodoo occult paraphernalia, and Li Grand Zombi, who is the snake deity. It was through Louisiana Voodoo that such terms as gris-gris and voodoo dolls were introduced into the American lexicon."

Ah, the voodoo doll. So commercialized these days. "There were a few things that set voodoo apart from many other religions and occult practices. The practice of making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or the harm of others was a key aspect to early Louisiana Voodoo. The ouanga, a charm used to poison an enemy, contained the poisonous roots of the figure maudit tree, brought from Africa and preserved in the West Indies. The ground up root was combined with other elements such as bones, nails, roots, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy bread, or crucifixes. Another component of Louisiana Voodoo brought from Africa was the worship of ancestors and the subsequent emphasis on respect for elders. For this reason, the rate of survival among elderly slaves was high."

Paige continued. "The last thing we're going to touch on are Voodoo queens. "During the 19th century, Voodoo queens became central figures to Voodoo in the United States. Voodoo queens presided over ceremonial meetings and ritual dances. They also earned an income by administrating charms, amulets, and magical powders guaranteed to cure ailments, grant desires, and confound or destroy one’s enemies. Most noted for her achievements as voodoo Queen of New Orleans in the 1830s was Marie Laveau. Once the news of her powers spread, she overthrew the other voodoo queens of New Orleans. She acted as an oracle, conducted private rituals behind her cottage on St. Ann Street of the New Orleans French Quarter, performed exorcisms, and offered sacrifices to spirits. Also a Catholic, Marie encouraged her followers to attend Catholic Mass. The influence of her Catholic beliefs further facilitated the adoption of Catholic practices into the Voodoo belief system Today, she is remembered for her skill and compassion for the less fortunate, and her spirit is considered one of the central figures of Louisiana Voodoo."

With the lecture over, Paige crossed her arms and leaned back against her desk. "For today's activity, I'm going to pass out a list of Voodoo superstitions. This isn't a comprehensive list at all but it's enough for the people in this class. All I want you to do is pick one of the superstitions and see if you can incorporate it into everyday life. It's optional, not something you have to do, but with this island being as strange as it is, some of these might work. After that, you're free to go."

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."

"Today," Paige started once everyone had filed in and settled, "we're going to examine chaos magic. Chaos magic is, to put it blandly and not at all clearly, a school of the modern magical tradition which emphasizes the pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and unorthodox methods. See what I mean? Not very clear at all so we'll try and define it a little easier before we get into our activity."

Paige held up a picture before she continued. "This is one of the more popular symbols of chaos magic. Chaos magic magic, at its core, believes that belief is a tool. Chaos magic draws inspiration from science fiction, scientific theories, traditional ceremonial magic, neoshamanism, Eastern philosophy, world religions and individual paradigms. It's not at all uncommon for chaotes, as those who practice chaos magic are called, to believe in whatever god suits their current paradigm and discard it when necessary. Chaotes can be agnostic or atheist and regard magical practice as merely psychological, not paranormal. Some chaos magicians also use psychedelic drugs in practices such as chemognosticism."

She paused. "We're not going to be using any sort of drug in this class. Apologies. Chaos magicians are often seen by other occultists as dangerous and worrisome revolutionaries. Why do you think that is? Perhaps because no one can really tell what exactly a chaote is practicing at any one time? That they can seemingly draw from anywhere and call it theirs and explain away whatever they might do to another person or group?"

Paige shrugged. "Could be a lot of things, actually. But, let's not forget that most people who do things differently are oftentimes seem as being revolutionary or troublesome. The world's most common reaction when they're presented with something that they don't understand is to label someone and try to silence them."

Sometimes to terrifying extremes. Paige sighed. "Today, we're going to focus on one specific concept for our activity. It's called the gnostic state. It's defined as an altered state of consciousness that is necessary for working most forms of magic. There are three main types: inhibitory gnosis, excitatory gnosis and indifferent vacuity. Inhibitory gnosis is is a form of deep meditation into a trance state of mind. This type of gnosis uses slow and regular breathing techniques, absent thought processes, progressive muscular relaxation, self-induction and self-hypnosis techniques. Excitatory gnosis describes a mindlessness reached through intense arousal. It is aimed to be reached through sexual excitation, intense emotions, flagellation, dance, drumming, chanting, sensory overload, hyperventilation and the use of disinhibitory or hallucinogenic drugs. Indifferent vacuity is a third method. Here the intended spell is cast parenthetically and we're not really going to go into that one today."

With that said, Paige turned the lights of the classroom down a bit. "We're going to specifically attempt the inhibitory gnosis state. You're all welcome to try the excitatory gnosis state on your own time. I don't know how far we'll get since sometimes these states take awhile to reach but we'll give it a try. I'm going to go through a series of breathing techniques, some exercises that are meant to relax your muscles, and I've some white noise that might help the self hypnosis. We'll see if any of you reach that altered state of consciousness."

With that being said, the lights went down lower so they could get started.

Paige arrived early, taking her time to settle in at the desk and make a few notes on some different topics before the class arrived. Nothing too strenuous but it was always good to stay ahead of the game. Once the students filed in, she stood up.

"Good morning," Paige said once everyone was seated and settled. "Glad to see everyone came back for the second class. We'll be getting more into things today so hopefully we won't have any sleepers. Though again, I just ask that you don't snore."

No one needed to hear that.

"Today, we're going to be talking about astrology," she said. "Some of you may know what it is and some of you may now. To put it simply, astrology is the study that assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs. It's the search for answers in the sky. The easiest example of astrology is horoscopes. Horoscopes claim to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict future events in their life based on the positions of the sun, moon, and other planetary objects at the time of their birth."

She paused for a moment and held up a chart listing the various astrological signs. "Astrology has been labeled a pseudoscience though as it has no validity or explanatory power for describing the universe. Scientists basically said there's no way that the position and motion of the planets and stars couldn't affect those of us on Earth without contradicting basic biology and physics."

She crossed her arms and shrugged. "But, I'm going to guess a lot of the scientists who say those things would be pretty shocked if they ever walked onto an island like this. Just because something is discredited doesn't make it true. Just because someone can't see something, doesn't mean it's not there. Today, the activity is simple. I want you all to take a peek at your horoscopes. Read them and then tell the class if you think they're on the right track or if they have any merit at all. Feel free to share the reasons why, if you'd like. Let's get started."