Walking down the streets of Salem lately it is very clear that tourist season is back in full swing. Spellbound has had tours every night since the 1st and our competitors are back to their old tricks.
Speaking of old tricks, there are a few new businesses in town this year. Firstly, the "most controversial witch in Salem", Christian Day, is opening up a psychic parlor in a new space on Essex st where there are already a few businesses that do readings right near by. Some people in town are pissed, but you know, competition is good for the economy (as long as he doesn't start doing walking tours, lol). My boss hates that guy, but I find wiley folks to be an entertaining and important part of any tourist industry. Even if he has erroneously described witches as "magical mercenaries". The new place is called OMEN and his shop is HEX. Kind of makes me want to open a competing store named "FLUFFY" because, for real, where are the hippy witches supposed to go? hahaha
There are also these new guys in town that seem pretty promising as far as nerdy witchcraft is concerned. They call themselves The Witch School and have a huuuge online following where they teach people just about everything about witchcraft. I guess they used to be located in Illinois. They're opening up a museum down on Pickering Wharf called The World of Witches Museum (looks like they only have a Facebook page so far: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/WorldofWitches?ref=ts) that will only be the second tour in Salem about real witchcraft and where it comes from. The best part about this is that the other tour in town about real witchcraft is NOT owned and operated by any real witches, just some greedy businessmen that hire young kids and pay them very little. So hopefully these guys will be able to represent in an enlightening and entertaining way. *crosses fingers* The only thing that confuses me about them is that they say they practice a form of the craft called "Correllian Wicca" that I am not too familiar with. There is very little information about it online besides a few places that describe it as a very open-minded and inclusive form of the craft. Most searches end up with a lot of pages about the Corellian star system (with one r)- a system famous for the planet Corellia where notable freedom fighter Wedge Antilles and space pirate Han Solo were born.
I'm going to go check out the museum soon and I'll post an update here about how it was.
