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Festival of the Dead 2023

Arts and Entertainment

September 14, 2023

From: Festival of the Dead

The Salem Psychic Fair and Witches' Market
October 1 – 31, 2023 -- Daily from 10am - 10pm
The Museum Place Mall - 176 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970

Discover your destiny with an authentic psychic reading at The Salem Psychic Fair and Witches' Market

Explore the future with a psychic reading at Salem's longest-running psychic fair! Hosted by Christian Day, Brian Cain, and the Witches of Salem, The Salem Psychic Fair and Witches' Market features the Witch City's most gifted Psychics, each one officially licensed by the city of Salem! Wander an emporium of magical gifts, meet real practicing Witches, and make an appointment with one of Salem’s talented psychic readers as you delve into your destiny!

The Salem Psychic Fair and Witches' Market Features:

Tarot Card Readings

What's in the cards for you? Explore the ancient symbols of the Tarot cards and find out!

Clairvoyant Vision

The second sight has been used by Witches since time began. What will they see for you?

Spirit Mediumship

Visit the medium to communicate with those who have departed. Discover their message!

Palm Readings

It is said that your hand can tell your fate. What do the lines of your hand tell?

Crystal Ball Scrying

What may seem like a fanciful idea, the crystal is a portal to the mind's eye. See into reflections of what is to come.

Angels and Spirit Guides

Do you have someone looking out for you up there? Find out and discover how they can help you to realize your destiny!

Past Life Readings

Who were you? Were you alive before? Learn the mysteries of your past lives and discover what they mean for this life!

Messages from the Spirit World: An Authentic Salem Séance
Thursday through Sunday Throughout October
At Omen, 184 Essex St.

Step into the Spirit Parlor of Omen and experience an authentic Salem Séance with a true spirit medium. Our gifted psychics were born with the uncanny ability to connect with our loved ones on the other side. Our departed yearn to reach out to us from beyond and the psychic mediums at Omen have helped thousands of people reunite with souls who have crossed over!

Do you want to know if the soul lives on? Do you wonder if your loved ones exist in a place where they can still reach out to you with love, comfort, and guidance? Attend a séance in Salem, hosted by a gifted psychic medium, and discover the answer!

The Power of the Medium

The psychic medium acts as a bridge to the afterlife, connecting us to our loved ones in spirit. Each of our exceptional psychics possesses astonishing gifts and has explored the spirit world for decades. They are committed to helping others communicate with those who have crossed over, delivering inspiring messages of love, hope, and comfort from the other side!

Encounters with Spirit

Each séance begins with a spiritual blessing, during which participants are guided in a meditation to help open the way for spirit to come through. Using the gifts of spirit mediumship, your psychic will sense the presence of your loved ones and see, hear, and interpret their powerful messages from beyond. We recommend you bring an object worn by the departed to strengthen the connection. While not everyone may receive a message, all present will encounter the wonders of the spirit realm and discover that death is not the end but merely a doorway to the next world!

Purchase Tickets Using the Calendar to the Right!

Seating is limited so reserve your tickets now! You can also purchase your tickets at OMEN, located at 184 Essex Street along the outdoor pedestrian walking mall or call them at (978) 666-0763.

The Official Salem Witches‘ Halloween Ball,
Friday, October 27, 2023 from 7:30pm - 12:30am EDT
Hawthorne Hotel

Join the Witches of Salem and revelers from around the globe for The Official Salem Witches‘ Halloween Ball, Salem's most magical Halloween event! Celebrate the afterlife with food, dancing, ritual, live music, free psychic readings, and prizes where the dead cavort with the living and powerful spells are cast for the Witches’ new year!

The chill winds of Autumn whisper to Witches and welcome strangers alike who journey to Salem from around the globe to summon the spirits at Halloween. From time out of mind, Witches have used this sacred holiday to honor the dead, divine hidden secrets, and celebrate magic!

Bewitchments of the Evening

Dance in the Grand Ballroom to pop, party, and goth by dj addambombb and laser light show.

Feast on sumptuous hors d'oeuvres

Be among the first 100 guests to arrive and get a gift bag filled with magical swag! (if you would like to donate to the bags, click here!)

See into the future with a free psychic reading in Sophia's room!

Make contact with loved ones on the other side with an authentic Salem séance. 

Take your photo at our Selfie Station!

Visit the cash bar for your favorite potion

Live Performances

Immerse yourself in the rhythm of the Dragon Ritual Drummers both in a ballroom performance and, later for an intimate drumming circle upstairs.

Enjoy entrancing ceremonial dance by Hadiya

Powerful Rituals

On the second floor, Witchdoctor Utu and the Dragon Ritual Drummers will lead rituals and magic in the old ways of Witchcraft!

At evening's pinnacle, cast a magic circle in the grand ballroom with Christian Day, Brian Cain, and the Salem Witches as we honor loved ones in the spirit world!

Costume Theme and Prizes

The theme for 2023 is The Norse Gods! Click here for ideas!

1st Place: $1,000 cash!

2nd Place: $200 Gift Certificate at HEX

3rd Place: 2 Free 15 Minute Readings at OMEN
(costume must be in theme!)

GRAVEYARD MAGIC: Witchdoctor Utu
Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 9pm
Omen, 184 Essex St.

Work the sorcery of the cemetery in Graveyard Magic

Magic performed in a graveyard is one of the oldest forms of witchcraft. The very notion of graveyard magic is considered a taboo subject to some, but once we demystify the practice and deconstruct why it is controversial, it opens up a host of possibilities and benefits that can enhance and empower our personal magic.

Graveyard magic enables us to conjure where reverence, love, compassion, necromancy and the power of place coexist in a potent and tangible way that few locations can offer, and in fact magic in the graveyard is a dignified and honorable form of conjuration and witchcraft, we just need to know how and why.

Author Witchdoctor Utu, will lead this class that will be beneficial to the seasoned practitioner and seeker alike, and he will share a series of workings, spells, traditions and truths to help you navigate the sacred magic available to you in the graveyard and cemetery.

HIGHLIGHTS:

- A brief history of graveyard magic throughout the ages

- How to enter any graveyard and cemetery, whether to perform magic or simply visiting

- The types of magic the graveyard can provide

- How to use certain graves, headstones and monuments within the cemetery grounds for your magic, as well as how to “pay” for the magic those specific places can provide.

- Graveyard traditions and superstitions; some are worth adhering to and the reasons why

- What you can leave in the graveyard and what you can bring home for your work; offerings, sticks, stones and graveyard dirt.

- The unique practice of working with “abandoned” houses of the dead and the blessings it can bring for doing so.

The evening ends with a visit to the edge of one of America’s oldest graveyards where the spirits of Salem will be honored.

The Mourning Tea: Remembering the Dead
Sunday, October 29, 2023, 11:00am
The Hawthorne Hotel

Share stories of you your loved ones at The Mourning Tea

Join Salem Witch Angel Griffin for a 3-course High Tea in grand Victorian tradition. Don your finest mourning attire and celebrate the lives of your dearly departed as you share stories of your loved ones who have passed, add photos and mementos to our Salem Witches' Book of the Dead, enjoy live music and poetry, and receive messages in the tea leaves!

Hearken back to the lush and extravagant mourning traditions of the Victorian era, when widows wore black dresses for years and the hair of the dead was carried in cherished mourning lockets, when music filled the air with sweet sorrow as the resident bards of the long black veil recited odes to the somber beauty of Death's final waltz. This venerable ritual comes to life at the Mourning Tea in Salem.

Highlights

- Enjoy a grand Victorian High tea complete with courses of traditional tea sandwiches and desserts.

- Share stories, photos, and of the beloved souls who have touched your life and have helped make you who you are today in a communal Eulogy where the dead and the living meet again at a crossroads of love.

- Place a photo, letter, or other memento of your loved one into our Salem Witches' Book of the Dead, a growing, annual compendium of memories for which there are now multiple volumes filled with photographs, newspaper clippings, hair, and even suicide notes. It is tome of love in honor of all who have passed through our lives.

- Enjoy the gentle strings of a a harpist, who will help to remind us of the simpler moments of yesteryear and shift your consciousness into a place of magic.

- Divine messages from the other side within the patterns of the tea leaves that decorate our cups with Angel on hand to help you to interpret that which you discover.

What to wear

Whatever your culture dictates is appropriate mourning clothing. You may choose to wear Victorian garb, gothic attire, or simply plain all black. Whatever you feel honors your loved ones is acceptable.

What to bring

At least one photo of your loved one(s). A single page, handwritten or printed out, containing whatever you would like to say about your loved one(s). If you would like a memory of your loved one to be placed into the Book, the photo and text combined should not exceed 8.5 x 11 inches. We will also have some supplies on hand for those who become inspired during the tea.

The most important ingredients of the Mourning Tea is the love that you bring for those who have passed on in your life. The memories you share will keep your departed loved ones alive in your hearts, and strengthen your connection to their spirits that still live on!

The Dumb Supper: Dinner with the Dead
Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 6:30pm
Hawthorne Hotel

Honor Your Loved Ones Who Have Crossed Over at the Salem Witches' Most Sacred Event, The Dumb Supper: Dinner with the Dead

Join the Salem Witches in the Grand Ballroom of the historic Hawthorne Hotel as we honor the dead with a dinner observed in solemn silence. Salem Warlocks Christian Day and Brian Cain invite you to a banquet of sumptuous cuisine where the only sound heard is music chosen in memory of the departed. Bring photos and mementos to summon the souls of your loved ones on the other side as you partake in the most sacred of all the ceremonies of Witchcraft. The Dumb Supper is an ancient tradition where the dead attend the living for a magical night of communion!

The evening opens with a blessing where each attendee is guided through the veil between the worlds to the realms of the dead where no one living may speak. Participants place their photos and mementos on an elaborate altar, at which time they are then seated and the feast is served.

Each year, the spirits have manifested in a variety of ways. Guests have recalled a ghostly touch, the scent of perfume, whispered messages, and even physical manifestations. This is a solemn event where respect for the dead is crucial. By remaining slient, you open your heart and mind to those who have crossed over.

Menu for the Evening

In keeping with tradition, the courses of The Dumb Supper are served backwards and the placement of everything down to the silverware is reversed as a means of weaving participants into the shadowy world of spirit. This menu is subject to change.

Dessert

Apple Blossom with Caramel Sauce

Coffee

Freshly Brewed Coffee, Tea or Decaffeinated Coffee

Entree

Mediterranean-Style Grilled Breast of Chicken featuring Aromatic Herbs, Fennel, Artichokes, Crispy Pancetta and Roasted Red Peppers accompanied by Mashed Baked Sweet Potatoes, with Bacon and Real Maple Syrup and Grilled Asparagus with Gorgonzola

Soup

Lobster Bisque with Cognac

Salad

Nathaniel’s Salad featuring Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Dried Cherries, and Maple Vinaigrette

Appetizer

Wild Mushroom Triangoli pasta in a Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce

Dinner Rolls

Fresh Rolls with Butter

Food has been offered to the dead throughout history, from prehistoric man through to the Celts, Egyptians, Romans, Japanese, Chinese, and even in the Catholic church. Dining with the dead is an ancient tradition that honors our divine ancestors regardless of culture or creed. Whether you're a Witch or simply wish to embrace your loved ones on the other side, we invite you to take part in this most sacred event.

The Salem Witches' Magic Circle
Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 5pm
Salem Common
FREE

Join us in The Salem Witches' Magic Circle

Join Christian Day and Brian Cain with drumming by the Dragon Ritual Drummers as Witches from around the globe gather for the sacred and magical ritual of Halloween! This event is free and open to all who wish to attend with an open heart and a love for their dead. There is also no limit on the number of participants.

On that most mysterious night when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, the Salem Witches gather on Salem Common—as was done on hilltops of old, for a ceremony to honor our loved ones who have crossed over into the spirit world. This time was known to the ancient Celts as Samhain, or Summer’s end for, as nature began to die, so too it was believed, that the spirits of the dead roam the lands seeking old friends among the living. This is a time to renew connections, mourn those you miss, and to celebrate all that these cherished souls brought to your life. Death is not the end, but merely a doorway to another world.

Dates: October 1 - 31, 2023

Location: Various Venues in Salem, MA

Click Here for more information.