HOLD ON TO THE HISTORY ROPE WITH BOTH HANDS

Hold on to the history rope and hold on tight when you discover some of the horrible events from the past.

I didn’t need to know about more women being convicted for witchcraft.

Witchcraft is not something I’m familiar with and will never be familiar with, but it seems more likely that women tried and convicted by men is more an example of bullying than justice.

Which is nothing new.

Did I expect to find witches in Lancaster Castle in Lancaster, England?

No more than I expected to find them in Salem, Massachusetts.

Who got the better deal in the end?

None of them, but here’s the account in Lancaster.

They had crowds watching a hanging?

 

“Hey, honey, what do you want to do today with the kids?”

“Let’s go the witch hanging. I heard they’ll be using the short drop so there’ll be plenty of witch dancing.”

“Okay, but be careful. I don’t want you getting carried away and thought to be a witch. The kids and I don’t want to see you dancing on the end of a short drop rope.”

“Nor would we want to see you there.”

“Are you casting a spell on me?”

“Not at all, dear. Why do you ask?”

 

Hold On Until It’s Time To Let Go

In a nation as revered for its manners and culture as England it’s shocking to find barbaric historical notes.

Am I surprised and shocked?

More disappointed in the sense that the notion of witchy women crossed the Atlantic with the first settlers.

 

She held me spellbound in the night 
Dancing shadows and firelight
Crazy laughter in another room 
And she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon

Woo-hoo, witchy woman
See how high she flies
Woo-hoo, witchy woman
She got the moon in her eye

I’m not disappointed in the historical record of weirdness, but why here?

Earlier at the Avebury stone circle, thanks to Eric Sharpe, we saw some kind of ceremonial thing that could have been misinterpreted.

Did anyone find a rope and get to work on the people? No.

Did we get into it and start finding holes in the rocks to stick our hands? Yes.

Just fitting into the Avebury scene.

 

The Avebury ring is found in Avebury in the county of Wiltshire. It is located about twenty miles to the north of Stonehenge and is approximately ninety miles to the west of London.

The Avebury ring is the oldest stone ring that is known to be in existence anywhere in the world and is even older than Stonehenge.

 

Could any idiot with a dollop of local power see something they don’t understand and come to the only reasonable conclusion:

They are witches, get the rope.

But hold on, we have modern science to prevent the spread of lunacy.

And save the comments of modern Trump fans being looney.

I hear you thinking, ‘But didn’t they build a gallows to hang Vice President Mike Pence?’

Now Mike Pence is a witch?

Depends on who you ask, but no, he’s not a witch, or a warlock, just a guy who unsealed his lips from his one-time idol’s backside.

 

Don’t Hold Onto Personal Delusions

When I see vacation pictures of other people they are laughing and having fun.

I, on the other hand, am a dour vacationer in a dour land.

Even with a college history degree and twenty years of history work behind me, I still churn at the facts people put forward as their ‘truth’, their ‘beliefs.’

In 2024 we’ve still got people with a Middle Ages notion of health and well being.

A slick salesman pumping out his hurt feelings about how badly he’s been treated for doing the wrong thing too many times get otherwise normal people to drop everything and embrace a message of bullshit said over and over the last four years.

And now, more than ever, they need to see the real world for what it is.

Instead of loading up and locking onto a political charlatan with no problem letting people suffer, no problem with his people rampaging through the U.S. Capitol, why not tune in to the underlying message: He’s using you and he will throw you under the bus.

Why not distance yourself from a hack who doesn’t have a clue on how to govern and find someone who does.

Anyone who will stand by while violence is committed in his name has no problem directing that violence toward anyone who disagrees with him.

That might be you, might be me. Then what?

Hold on tight and do the right thing, which has nothing to do with persecuting women.

 

Well, I know you want a lover, let me tell you, brother
She’s been sleeping in the Devil’s bed
And there’s some rumors going ’round, someone’s underground
She can rock you in the nighttime ’til your skin turns red