Magic ways in Massachusetts and Virginia
Comparing and Contrasting the Magic Beliefs of the Two Societies
The Puritans constantly searched for clues to God’s purposes in the world, studying nature and keeping meticulous records of supernatural occurrences they called ‘remarkables’. They believed in such fantasy creatures as mermaids and unicorns and fancied these animals lived in the waters and hills surrounding their settlements. The Puritans thought Heavenly messages could be read in the clouds, and that they could hear the conversations between God and the Devil from the mouths of their children. This obsession stemmed from a strong need to connect with God in the world around them, not just in prayer, but to understand His work in reality. The Puritan fascination with nature was a starting basis for science as we know it in the modern day. In the Puritan society, they did not believe in accidents – God made everything happen for a specific reason.
The Cavaliers and Fortuna
In Virginia, magic played a very different role in the lives of the Cavaliers. Instead of searching for Godly meaning in anything, they searched for clues to their own fate in stars. The Virginians, a heavy gambling people, believed every man had a fixed quality of Fortuna, or fortune. Fortune implied that life was a game of chance rigged by mysterious forces of the universe. The Virginia Cavaliers did not see gambling as just a game of dice, but as a way of seeing clues into their futures; much like the way a soothsayer might use his bones. Fortune ruled the lives of Virginian men – they kept records and books for good luck in marriage, sex, love, health, and travel. The Cavaliers believed that their cosmology minimized their responsibility in their fates and actions.
The Idea of Witchcraft
The Virginia Cavaliers had a way about their magical beliefs that was similar to witchcraft – not the Devil-worshipping cults that the Puritans feared, but the soothsayers and astrologists of Greece. Because of the similarities, the Virginians did not concern themselves with witch-hunts and persecution of practitioners. In fact, they actively discouraged witchcraft persecutions, often punishing the accusers. Puritan New England exhibited the antithesis of these actions, acting violently with extreme fear and hatred toward those thought to practice witchcraft. The Puritans not only had the highest level of accusations, but also the highest level of executions. Some feared the Devil’s work so much that they created ‘Spirit Stones’ – carvings of images meant to protect them from harm and evil. On the other side of the spectrum, the Virginians had carvings to bring good luck and fortune to their homes and lives.
Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer, 1989, Oxford University Press
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