Newspapers / The lance. / Oct. 31, 1990, edition 1 / Page 6
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Modern Day Witches \^oi*clia VYoncon I Special Visit to St. Andrews - Wicce and Wicca Frost, practicing witches, visited the "History in the Making." The two explained their religious practice to a full crowd during the program. (Photo by Rooney Coffman) By Marsha Hansen Staff Writer Visit S.A. As the Halloween season reaches its peak, many thoughts drift to im ages of tricks and treats, ghouls and goblins, spooks and spirits. And witches. Yes, Virginia, there really are witches, and St. Andrews was fortunate to host two of them. In light of the season, the S.A. History Club sponsored Mr. (Wicce) and Mrs. (Wicca) Frost, the parents of senior Jo Frost, members of the Church of Wicca in New Bern, NC. (New Bem, significantly, is where the First Amendment—as in freedom of religion—was drafted.) The guest speakers held a captive audience as they interpreted their chosen religion, and how it relates to history past and history yet to be; thus the program title “History in the Making”. They discussed such subjects as reality, fam ily structure, and bullets through their windows. So what is a witch anyway? Do they make green bubbly brew? Fly on broom sticks during a full moon? Cast evil spells on unsuspecting vic tims? Mr. Webster probably thinks so, for in his dictionary, the description of a witch is primarily negative. The use of words like “ugly”, “malig nant”, “injurious”, and the typical clincher, “devil or familiar”, rather depicts an unpleasant personality. Well, obviously, Mr. Webster has not met a real modem day witch, and therefore must rely, as so many under exposed Americans have, on histori cal misunderstanding and stereotyp ing. “Witches and sorcery are as analogous as Baptists and account ancy,” explained Yvonne Frost. The craft is a religion, not an occupation. The Wiccan religion is not mysti cal and evil, but open and loving. Rather than a hierarchial system with a personified God in the dominant position, the craft places an imper sonal, non-threatening Deity at the center of all beliefs, or tenets. Be cause witches live actively by these tenets, they reflect, and perhaps contradict preconceptions of, the life styles of modern-day witches. One of the tenets is known as the Wiccan Rede, which is similar to the Golden Rule; “If it harm none, do what you will”. The Law of Attrac tion is another, and can be simplified by the saying “What goes around comes around”. Both of these beliefs should help put the skeptic at ease; a witch doesn’t wish evil upon a fellow creature unless he of she has the same wish upon him or himself. If any broom riding is done at all, it certainly is not done during a full moon. This goes along with the tenet of Harmony—working with the rhythms of the earth, sun, and moon, rather than against them. A body is affected by the tides as well, making it highly susceptible to injury. “Dur ing the full moon, do like witches do- make love,” said Yvonne Frost dur ing the program. Reincarnation, another tenet, al lows for a healthy perspective on life and death. The Frosts compared death to graduation; when the time comes there are feelings of both joy and fear, relief and anxiety, a loss yet a gain. Consequently, “suicide is like play ing hooky,” explained Wicce Frost, “you just have to come back and do it again.” Like failing third grade— fourth grade cannot be experienced until the third is mastered. Needless to say, the suicide rate among witches is quite low. The Wiccan religion is character ized by the perpetual desire for knowl edge. The power that stems from this knowledge(Power through Knowl edge) can be directed according to the intent in mind. The skill of directing lies in satisfying and balancing the other tenets of the craft. Because witches recieve guidance through meditation, there is no leader, no human spokesperson for God; inter pretations are developed personally by each individual. Though the craft is a federally recognized religion, its popularity is slow in coming. Where is the source of fear of misunderstanding? Why is such openness suppressed? How long will it be before we allow history to enlighten us? If you have questions of any magnitude, please don’t hesitate to contact the Frosts at: Church of Wicca, P.O.B0X 1502-SA, New Bem, NC 28563. “We answer all letters,” stressed Wicca Frost. The “SA” part lets them know its from St. Andrews, so re member to include it. ^ Haunts The dead awakening, mysterious lights coming from nowhere, people gawking at a dead body for over half a century .... No, this is not an advertisement for Time-Life’s Mvs- tic Places. The following tales are all based on experiences around the Laurinburgarea. Believe them or not! On May 3, 1911, Ferranzio Con- cipio, an Italian carnival worker, was killed by a rival worker in McColl, SC. Concipio’s body was brought to the closest mortuary which was McDougald’s Funeral Home in Lau- rinburg. Concipio was embalmed in order to make identification easy since his family did not live nearby. His father finally arrived, but only paid half of the burial fee and said that he’d retum with the other half. However, if he didn’t retum McDougald could do whatever he wanted to do with the body. By Sharon Frain Campus Life Editor Years passed and there was still no word from relatives, so the body remained in the funeral parlor, at times even hanging by his arms. Word got around town that a mummy was at McDougald’s and soon Concipio became an attraction. People couldn’t pronounce Concipio’s name, thus he was given the nickname “Spaghetti.” Another factor in the nickname is the way his body started to form like spa ghetti. In 1939 the body was placed in a glass case with the tent stake that killed him and put on display in the funeral parlor’s garage. Sixty years after “Spaghetti’s” death some Italians started to feel the corpse was a form of discrimination and wanted “Spaghetti” to be buried. McDougald’s Funeral Home had not buried “Spaghetti” before because he had become a well-known character throughout the area. Someone do nated the money necessary for burial and on Sept. 29, 1972 Ferranzio Concipio was buried at Hillside Cemetery on Hillside Street off of U.S. Highway 401. On an old road near Johns, two Civil War soldiers were at a cross roads when a mnaway horse and buggy came around the curve and killed them both. If you go down this hill today and put your car in neutral, you will be pulled up the hill! This pulling force is the spirits of the sol diers pulling you back from the dan gerous intersection. To get to Gravity Hill, take 501 South, turn left at the Texaco station, take a right when the road ends and then take the first right on to Stewartville Cemetery Road and go to the stop sign and you are on Gravity Hill! While you are on the road stop by the Stewartsville Cemetery where mu N.C. Historic Register 1884 ...Open for Breakfast & Lunch - 7.30-3 pm... ...All ABC permits... ...Sandwiches and Salads... .Open for dinner for 12 or more -by reservation. ...Casual dining in a Historic Atmosphere... ...Catering Available... ...Take-Outs Available... 276-8059 203 Cronly Street Laurinburg Colin Lindsay was buried in 1817. Colin was buried six years after his mother died. His mother was in a coma but, was mistaken for dead and was buried. Grave robbers dug her up to get an expensive ring off of her finger. However, whUe taking off the ring her finger was cut and she awoke from her coma. Six years later Colin Lindsay was bom. St. Andrews students now believe in ghosts. “The house” in McColl had been occupied by students for about one year up until this past August. The house was owned by the power ful Fletcher family of South Carolina. The matriarch of the family lived in the house until her death. Last year. Rod Riley was trying to fall asleep in his room when he heard the door open, he turned to see who it was, the door closed and he heard footsteps down the hall. Rod tumed on all the lights in the house and couldn’t find anyone. The same thing would happen to Hope Michael and Susan Yeaman this summer. They would awaken during the night at the same time to hear door opening and closing. Several of the residents have seen an image of what many believe to be the ghost of Grandma Fletcher, others believe it might the ghost of a girl raped in the house. Whatever the spirit, it is not malicious. Bill Morris had once been fixing dinner with Ron Bayes and Kim Batten when music was heard coming from an upstairs bedroom. Bill went upstairs to inves tigate. What he found was a tape cued at the beginning, there was no way the tape could have been playing. When the ghost has been seen, however, she See Pg. 10 SPEEDY TEES CUSTOM D€SIGN & SCR€€N PRINTING /•/ODjv Turn Around WE CARRY ALL AD SPECIALTY PRODUCTS ' 276 - 1556 St. Andrews -Ezzmi iil Wondys SPEEDY TEES J
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