Back to The Strange
Case of Ms. Casspaw Archives.
The Strange Case of Ms. Casspaw:
Seven The Wiccan Movement:
March 27, 2006:
I hope most of you will remember the stories I have written
about my neighbor, Ms. Casspaw. If not, I invite you to read them.
I have put them in our archives. Look for "The Strange Case
of Ms. Casspaw." Now I have another episode to relate. This
is a result of some notes I found in some old files.
I found that way back in October of 2004 a crazy thing happened.
The Puyallup School District in the Seattle area had banned Halloween
in the school. The reason, believe it or not, was a Halloween
celebration would be offensive to real witches. The kids were
sent home with a letter explaining the decision. It seems there
is a large Wiccan community within this school district. I also
found some notes about a local Wiccan community near the city
of Flushing, Michigan. I decided to go over and chat with Ms.
Casspaw about this to see what she knew. Although I have not reported
recently, I have kept abreast of her education in witchcraft.
She had worked hard and become a very active member of the community.
As always, I went out our back door and walked across to Ms. Casspaw's
back deck. I don't know how she does it, but she usually does.
Once again, she open the door just as I was about to knock. Her
smile was as sparkling as ever as she beckoned me in. I came in
and sat at the kitchen table as was my custom. I notice Mr. Robert,
the Bobcat was on his favorite chair in the corner. I nodded to
him respectfully. He gave me a barely perceptible nod while Ms.
Casspaw busied herself with the cocktail shaker. In a moment she
handed me a very dry martini with three olives.
I sampled and closed my eyes in appreciation. "Excellent
as always," I complemented.
"Thank you Mr. Gaffer," she smiled.
"I hope you don't mind my asking, but I am still very interested
in your witchcraft activities," I began.
"Not t all, Mr. Gaffer. Not at all," she replied. "You
are one of the few people I can talk to about it and I always
enjoy it."
"Last we talked," I said, "you were still a member
in good standing with the falcons?"
"Indeed I am," she replied. "In fact, one of those
fine gentlemen did me a very good turn recently. It seems I may
be rid of Mr. Casspaw for good."
"Oh my God," I blurted. "What did they do to him?"
At that, Ms. Casspaw burst into delighted laughter.
I realized what I had implied and blushed.
"Forgive me," I begged. "My imagination does run
amiss sometimes."
"Not at all, Mr. Gaffer," she smiled. "It's me
who misled you. I only meant to say Mr. Casspaw has taken a trip
to Africa. I don't think he will be coming back anytime soon."
"Why in the world would he go to Africa?" I asked.
"Well," said Ms. Casspaw with a wry smile. "It
seems he came upon a tip about an investment opportunity."
"In Africa?"
"That's what he surmised," she said. "He stopped
by to tell me of it. He said he wouldn't be bothering me again
as he was about to make a fortune and I was not going to be in
on it. He would treat me just as I had treated him, he told me."
"Were you devastated?" I asked with a grin.
" I managed to recover," she laughed.
"I take it this tip was from someone in your lodge?"
"I was told later," she agreed. "It seems someone
convinced him there was a goldmine about to open up in Africa.
All he had to do was go there with enough money to pay for a part
of the operation."
"That was a bogus tip?" I asked.
"I think the way it went is someone had tried to con my friend
in the lodge and he caught on immediately, but didn't let on.
He then managed to introduce this rascal to Mr. Casspaw."
"Ah ha," I laughed. "The con man got conned."
"Indeed," she agreed. "It turns out Mr. Caspaw
went to Africa and invested every penny he had in this goldmine.
Then the person he gave his money to disappeared."
"Oh, oh," I said.
"Yes! Poor Mr. Casspaw did not even have the money to buy
passage home again. The last I heard, he was working as a rack
man in a second rate pool hall. Knowing his habits, it may take
him a long time to save enough for his passage home."
"That is no loss to you, " I laughed.
She smiled and refilled my martini adding three olives.
"Thank you," I offered. "Now, I have another question."
"Ask away, Mr. Gaffer."
"I have become interested in some people who call themselves
Wiccans," I began.
I noticed Ms. Casspaw's expression change as though she had just
tasted something foul. I knew she had an opinion and that delighted
me. I gave her my best smile.
"Ah ha," I said. "I see you have an opinion."
"I gave myself away," she blushed. "Please ignore
my reaction and continue."
"That's all," I said. I ran across some old notes I
had and they piqued my interests. Since these people seem to make
some claims to witchcraft I though you might know something about
them."
"I do, Mr. Gaffer. I do indeed. In fact, I was recently invited
to join a coven with a goal of deflecting the attention these
people draw to us. I did not join the coven, but I did work with
them for a while."
"Then these people are not part of the witch community?"
"Not at all, Mr. Gaffer. Not at all."
"What are they then?"
"So far as we can tell, they are a group of not too clever
relatively harmless people who are led by a handful of very clever
people."
"Sounds like a minor religion," I offered.
"That would be exactly it, Mr. Gaffer. They lay claim to
religious status. In fact, they established a church of sorts
recently in Flushing."
"Oh yes, I noticed some media reports about that," I
said. "It seems they have the local community up in arms."
"That is exactly our problem, Mr. Gaffer. While, many of
these folks are true believer types, they also have a large share
of simple minded exhibitionists. They are the ones who draw attention
to themselves with claims of occult powers."
"And that could pose a threat to your community," I
remarked.
"For sure. The last thing we need is to have the general
population becoming paranoid about witches. When these people
draw attention to themselves, they many inadvertently draw attention
to the real witches."
"I get it," I offered. "One only need read a little
history to discover what can happen if people begin to fear witches.
Salem was not that long ago."
"Yes," Ms. Casspaw added. "The exhibitionists
among them sometimes make considerable effort and take a perverse
pleasure in angering the more conventional religious people. That
could be very dangerous to us."
"I noticed that with the Flushing Wiccans," I said.
"By the reaction of the citizens, you would think that Hitler
had moved in."
""Yes indeed, Mr. Gaffer. I fear tolerance is not a
firmly established principle of human behavior. The opponents
of these people are just as rabid and silly as the ones who pretend
they are real witches."
"What will be your strategy to protect yourselves?"
I inquired.
"Believe it or not, we have found laughter to be the best
action."
"Laughter?"
"Yes, Mr. Gaffer. We count on our travelers to keep us informed
and whenever we see a potential for trouble as in a town or group
meeting a few of us will show up. Then we simply laugh and make
ridiculously exaggerated comments about everything that is said.
The whole thing is ridiculous and it is a simple thing to let
people know we think so."
"And laughter can be infectious," I added.
"It has worked so far, Mr. Gaffer. When we begin to laugh,
others join in. Then it is not long before the people who are
trying to rouse the others begin to feel uncomfortable with their
exaggerations. Some will quickly switch their positions and that
is all it takes. People begin to realize how silly the Wiccans
are and how silly their reaction is and the whole thing degenerates
into a joke."
"I'm happy to hear that," I said. "You have become
quite important to me. I would be distressed if these things should
boil up and something should happen to you."
She simply blushed as she emptied the shaker into my glass.
We chatted on a while and then I took my leave. I knew Mr's Gaffer
would be waiting for my report.
"Don't wait so long for your next visit, Mr. Gaffer,"
she said as I stepped through the door.
I agreed I would come back soon.
Back to The Strange Case
of Ms. Casspaw Archives.
|
|
|
|