The Wicker Man - Film Screening & Panel Discussion

Join  Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival for a screening of the 1973  folk horror classic The Wicker Man followed by a lively panel discussion  amongst magical practitioners and folklorists exploring the film's  themes and impact.

About the film: Sergeant  Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the small Scottish island of  Summerisle to investigate the report of a missing child. A conservative  Christian, the policeman observes the residents' frivolous sexual  displays and strange pagan rituals, particularly the temptations of  Willow (Britt Ekland), daughter of the island magistrate, Lord  Summerisle (Christopher Lee). The more Sergeant Howie learns about the  islanders' strange practices, the closer he gets to tracking down the  missing child.

About the Panelists:

Jesse  Hathaway Diaz is a folklorist, artist, performer and independent  scholar with a Masters in Performance Studies from NYU. With initiations  in several forms of witchcraft from Europe and the Americas, he is also  a lifelong student of Mexican curanderismo, an initiated priest of  Obatalá in the Lucumí Orisha tradition, and a Tatá Quimbanda. He  co-hosts an occult themed podcast called ‘Radio Free Golgotha’, and  co-edits the ‘Folk Necromancy in Transmission’ imprint through Revelore  Press. For the better part of two decades, he has been involved with  Theatre Group Dzieci, a New York based experimental theatre ensemble  which explores theatre and ritual as a way, blending service with  self-exploration and performance. Dividing his time between the Bronx  and a farm in the Hudson Valley, his artistic and written work navigate  the world-as-magic through exploring orality and transmission,  decolonialism, ritual theory and praxis, herbalism and healing  modalities through private study, apprenticeship, and community  involvement.

Meredith  Graves is a multimedia artist and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her  work has spanned disciplines and genres ranging from experimental  hardcore to material archaeology, broadcast television to occultural  economics, all supported by her personal magical practice of over 20  years. Formerly the anchor of MTV News and an Outreach Director at  Kickstarter, Graves is currently eschewing corporate employment in favor  of a full-time art practice focused on extending her research into the  magical orders and fashions of the 1890s, for which she’ll be attending  various residencies and retreats in the coming year.

Sasha  Ravitch spends her days as a consultant-practitioner and professional  writer. She regularly appears for podcasts and conferences, having twice  been a keynote speaker for AstroMagia, as well as a regular lecturer  for the Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, and recently in  Birmingham at the Magickal Women’s Conference on experimental  Shakespearean Witchcraft. She has been published by Hadean Press and  soon Revelore Press for a forthcoming book on Constellation Hydra,  co-authored with her dear friend and colleague, Maeg Keane. Ravitch  spends her free time spinning starlight and constellating desire from  the floor of the ocean or a sunny rock in the river, and reading and  writing weird worlds and even stranger spirits into existence.

Kelden  is a witch, folklorist, and mental health practitioner. He is the  author of The Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft,  The Witches’ Sabbath: An Exploration of History, Folklore, and Modern  Practice, and All The, Witches: Folktales & Rhymes. When not  researching and writing,Kelden enjoys life in his tiny house in the  woods, reading, hiking, growing poisonous herbs, and playing ukulele.  You can find more about Kelden at keldenmercury.wordpress.com

Refreshments will be available at the concession stand inside Cinema Salem. 

Attendees must be over the age of 18. Please present your PDF ticket at the door.