This year will be the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials. In Pure Spirit has written Pendle and the witches before; asking whether film makers were cursed in 2009, writing about Gallows Hill where the witches died and even whether Gawthorpe Hall has become involved.
The real Pendle witches were probably not “real witches” at all and it would be nice to say that modern society has gotten over the stigma of ‘witchcraft’ but that may not the be the case. This year has already has had ‘witchcraft murder’ headlines in the press – and in the United Kingdom too. However, the modern witch or wicca (and many people are keen to stress the difference) is generally a force for good.
As an official attempt to claim a Guinness World Record and as a charitable attempt to raise money for the Pendleside Hospice the Pendle Witch Walk aims to gather more witches together than the world has ever seen before.
Simon Tattersall, who’s helping to co-organise the event, told The Pendle Today that;
“We only announced the launch a couple of weeks ago and the levels of interest have been staggering – we’ve already had dozens of people register for the walk, the website traffic has been phenomenal, plus we have 250 Facebook followers and 700 on Twitter!
“We’re hoping for a great event and a truly memorable day. The world record attempt for the greatest gathering of “witches” will give everybody’s efforts an undisputable measure of achievement, but more to the point we hope that via their sponsors walkers will raise in excess of £50,000 for Pendleside Hospice.”
If you’re on Twitter then you can follow Pendle Witch Walk or even In Pure Spirit.
In Pure Spirit
What do you make of the idea? Is this is a good idea – or do you sense any problems with it?
If you’re planning on going to the Pendle Witch Walk why don’t you leave a comment below so other In Pure Spirit readers can say hello and catch up with you at the event.
Photo credit: David Nutter.
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