Witchcraft Museum May Have Home in New Orleans

N E W   O R L E A N S, Aug. 4, 2000 -- Crystal balls, broomsticks, black mirrors,torture devices, trident wands and pentagrams — it’s not Halloween, an occult shop in the French Quarter or a scene from the movie The Craft.

This is the Buckland collection of witchcraft and magic. Itcontains about 500 artifacts tracing the history of witchcraft fromthe caveman era to the present and may soon be opened as a museumin New Orleans.

Raymond Buckland, author and recognized expert on witchcraft,began collecting artifacts in the mid-1900s in England, where hewas part of a coven headed by Gerald Gardner — one of the firstpublished authorities on witchcraft.

Artifacts in Storage in Ohio

Buckland came to the United States in 1962 and has since writtenseveral books on the religion and related subjects.

His collection was open in New York about 20 years ago as theBuckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick. It was closed and theartifacts put in storage in Ohio when he began traveling to lectureand promote his books.

“Many witches were still afraid to go public at that time, andthere really wasn’t anyone to keep the museum going when I startedtraveling,” said Buckland in a recent interview at a festival inNew Orleans to raise funds for the reopening of the museum.

Buckland sold his collection to Monte Plaisance, who callshimself the high priest of the Wiccan Church of Thessally in Houma.

Plaisance plans to open the Buckland collection in New Orleansunder Buckland’s name when enough money is raised to purchase afacility. He said the museum may clear up common misconceptionsabout witchcraft.

“The negativity we get stems from misconceptions, like that weworship the devil,” said Plaisance, whose fascination withwitchcraft began at 13 following a near-death experience involvinga bicycle accident.

Trapped in a Physical Body

“Most Wiccans [another name for witches] believe inreincarnation and that we are truly spiritual beings trapped in aphysical body,” he said. “My experience as a teenager matchedall the descriptions of what we believe happens to someone in theearly stages of the reincarnation process.”

Plaisance said Buckland’s collection illustrates the developmentof ceremonial magic and the history of witchcraft, including the“burning times” when people were burned at the stake on chargesof witchcraft.

Most were women, sometimes their children and men who practiced“herbalism” — the grinding and mixing of herbs to create specialpotions and medicines.

An herb collection and aged bottles said to be used by witchesare part of the collection, along with a broom dating back to 1850used to sweep away bad luck, misfortune and illness, Plaisancesaid.

Buckland discussed one of his favorite pieces in the collection,a 200-year-old mandrake root said to be useful in magic to bringwealth, protection, fertility, love and good health.

European torture devices believed to be used to make peopleadmit they were witches — nail pullers, thumb screws and tongueextractors — were displayed at the festival.

Fear of witches stems from misinterpretations of the religion,Plaisance said.

An old ritual used by witches to encourage crop growth was tograb a pitchfork, broom or shovel, whatever was handy, and leapthrough the fields to show the crops how high to grow, Plaisancesaid. The ritual led to the myth that witches were able to fly onbroomsticks and spread evil, he said.

Witchcraft and similar pagan religions thrived for thousands ofyears, even during the early stages of Christianity, but wentunderground as Christianity grew in power, Plaisance said.“Christianity has a place in our history,” he said.

Christian Artifacts Included

Buckland’s collection includes items affiliated withChristianity, such as an ivory-covered Bible from the mid-1800s, atraveling communion kit and a vial of incense said to be from a monkin France.

A portion of the Buckland collection has been posted on theInternet.

The museum may be an easy fit in New Orleans, which already hasa voodoo museum and a successful collection of “haunted” tours inthe French Quarter.

“If this museum is marketed correctly, tourists will probablytake to it,” said Steve Ferran, chairman of the New OrleansMetropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s all part of theuniqueness and charm that draws people here.”