Salem is one of those places in the world that is singular in its history and as singular in its ever present positive sense of welcome to anyone and everyone that crosses into its borders for a visit! It is a place that is truly set apart from any other and if you doubt that for one moment, just take the time to go there for a visit and see for yourself! If you do however, please do yourself a favor and book your trip for sometime in the month of October, preferably around the Haunted Happenings Halloween festivities when Salem defines itself best as do its wonderful residents!

This author's first foray to Salem was as a young child. The visit was all too brief and never really had the chance to leave an impression. All of that was corrected however many years later when the chance presented itself to go and to envelop into the culture and the history of this place! The color and the flavor of the culture there cannot be easily or simply defined with several sentences. Like the coastal Portland lobster that is not quite as palatable anywhere else and as the north end Boston pizzeria that is the only place in the world to occupy its flavor in a slice, Salem carries its own spiritual quality into the soul and the only way to truly understand this is to engage the experience.

Any review of this city must be appropriately accompanied by some mention of the history of this place, most famously remembered for its 1692 witch trials that by the time all of the hysteria ended, the trials resulted in the deaths of twenty four people, some hanged, some perished in a cold stone prison, and one poor soul was crushed to death beneath stone weights. The irrational hysteria that launched Salem's permanent reputation into the history of humankind began in the cold winter of February of 1692 and to this day the world has never forgotten. There is now a permanent memorial to those souls who lost their lives in that year. The Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Memorial was dedicated in 1992. It can be found adjacent to the Charter Street old burying point and no trip to Salem would be complete without visiting this solemn spot and a bit of reverence quietly displayed.

There are many old and historical houses and buildings to be seen and plenty to fill the photograph album. The famous House of the Seven Gables built by merchant Captain John Turner in 1668 and occupied by generations of family is now still as imposing and as impressive so many centuries later as it must have been when it was first completed. It has been lovingly maintained by the city and a tour is a must see! You will feel the history as you walk through the house, as you smell the scents of the floors and the walls, and if you're lucky, you may as this author did sense the presence of the spirit in the upper portion of the house where servants once resided in their quarters! You will adore visiting the Gables! Just adjacent to the Gables is the birthplace of famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne which makes the visit even more worthwhile!

There are many other attractions and places to visit and to spend your time. The Salem Willows, which is a park located on the eastern edge of the City is a beautiful and sight filled tourist spot worthy of an afternoons walk where the seaside air will surely carry you into the sunsets grace. Right nearby is Winter Island Maritime Park which is a popular boat launch as well as a camping park that carries a due reputation for its cleanliness and its friendly staff! If you travel by RV or with a tent, this is the spot for you!

Salem is not in want for any of that signature traditional New England charm and character that has made the name New England internationally famous and the same can be said for Salem's many shops and their shop owners who are as welcoming to their visitors as can ever be expected! It is well worth your time opening at least one of your days to walking throughout the city center visiting, window shopping, and even spending some money on singular items that you won't find anywhere else!

There are tours and cruises to be added to your adventures while you are there! You can experience attractions abound some that were designed by some of the greatest Hollywood special effects artists in the field! This makes Salem one of the most original and fascinating places in the entire northeast to spend your time! There are absolutely colorful and positively delicious restaurants throughout the city, some providing fantastic ethnic cuisine and others defining to a true age old coastal New England seafood tradition! If you want pizza, the best of it is there also! You will not leave without your appetite being satiated and then you have the chance for a walking tour of one of the parks and many of the city's attractions!

No, Salem is not sparing its own sense of history and it is not withdrawing any parts of its charm to its visitors or to its own residents! Everyone that partakes of what it has to offer all come away with a wide smile and some stories to tell for the adventure!

It is one of the most endearing of places anytime of the year to spend your time, and during the month of October and right up into the Halloween celebrations, Salem and its residents along with its visitors alike, all make this place up to present Salem as one of the most positive centers of energy that this author has experienced in a very long time!

Do give it a try!

As Always,

WD Allan

© Copyright 2011, WD Allan, Spiritualitymoment.com

All Rights Reserved

Haven't we all come a long way in our respective lives since a year ago at this time? Some of us have traveled so far and accomplished so much! Some of us have endured trials the likes of which have been terribly difficult to say the least. Some of dear friends and loved ones have passed beyond the veil of death and returned home, while others have found their paths of navigating some illness this year certainly difficult, but they came out of the other side of their physical, emotional and spiritual trials learning more about themselves for their courses, and yes, others unfortunately are still walking this course.

To all, and in and from each and every tradition, this author tips his hat in your direction and says that you are an inspiration in so many ways! Surely, you have been an inspiration in so many ways, and you will continue to be so just by living your lives!

Inspiration is a quality that is the core of this year's holiday message to everyone for it is inspiration that in some ways we all seek along our paths, to better the times when we feel so alone, and it gives us all the fortitude that we require to keep on keeping on!

Recently this author wrote a piece entitled "Pay Attention to Yourself! You Are Your Own Inspiration!" This Blog was intended to give some giddy up to everyone's living motivation, for the greatest of truths to any sense of some motivation is that there are no more intimate sources for it than your own inner guts!

This holiday season of the year 2010 is the pinnacle point of a year that domestically and internationally has not been an easy one for anyone! The effects of a lot of the matters of the physical world have worked more than ever to carve potholes in front of people. The Economic outlook for most nations have continued to be a nightmare and this will unfortunately continue as the year 2011 dawns and begins to rev up its momentum. People may do well in nesting themselves with what they do have, for the first half 2011 will not provide much in the realm of any economic alleviation of the challenges that have presented in the past year. Do not think that this particular outlook is a bad thing entirely, for as in any time of a reorganization of the geography of the landscape of being, the shards of the aftermath of the mess that is the worldwide economy will sometime midway into 2011 begin to finally rise back up that detailed scale that has so far only been diving and many will begin to see the light at the end of their own fiscal tunnels. Just store up your fortitude for the first half of the year, it will begin to get better!

The creative engine of the universe that in 2010 has been so sharp edged in just about every month will be even more so in 2011! Yes, this is in line with the re-creative trends that have been building and shifting all throughout 2010, and as the new year dawns and presents new opportunities for many who risk to move outside of their comfortable boxes of being, there will be others who for a lacking of the will to rush in where angels fear to tread who will simply choose to hunker down in the hopes that this terrible storm will finally pass.

To both types in this entire manner of re-creation, this spiritualist can assure you that both will benefit your paths. If you're the risky type it will simply benefit you sooner that's all. There is nothing wrong with storing up all of the soup of your being for the long and unsure season ahead! After what has just passed behind us all, who can blame anyone for their reticence!

Everyone may wish to think of two words more than any others as you make your way through your holiday season and as you set your feet to the path of lauding a new year in 2011. These two words are:

"Appreciate" and "Love"

Appreciate those you have around you in your life and do not fear expressing how beneficial you feel your experience of life has been by having them with you along the way!

Appreciate the little things a bit more than you have in the past, for the truth is that while the gears and the lubrication and all of the inner-workings of the engine of being are what make you go, what really does dress up the final touches of your being are the little things that make it all worthwhile!

Don't be afraid to wax yourself eloquent every now and then for heavens sake! It's a habit that will rub off onto those around you and before you know it, you will be affecting others in the same way. It makes for happy company!

Appreciate the lessons of life that you have learned thus far. Don't fear anyone or anything from your past. Don't fear the present pathways that will lead to your indelibly wondrous future! Do however remember those same potholes as you make your way now on to your present future! Yes, that was a play on words! The grammar cops out there should love that one!

Least but not least and in fact most importantly above all else in your holiday season and into your new year:

LOVE YOURSELF WITH AS MUCH PASSION AS YOU CAN!!!

That's right! Love yourself with the passion of a newly bloomed rose in spring and love yourself with the same creative joy that your parents undoubtedly had the first time they laid their eyes upon you!

You really are that beautiful a creature in the eyes of the universe!

We all tend to loose that vision of luster after we've become dented along the path of life.

WAX YOURSELF UP AGAIN!!!

This is what the year 2011 is all about and the tone of how, why, and what definition you place onto your own waxing eloquent of your being depends on the tone you set through your own brand of this holiday season.

A Blessed Yule Season to my lovely fellow Pagan friends and my vast pagan, Christo-Pagan, and Neo-Pagan family out there!

A Blessed Christmas to all of the Christian community!

Happy Hanukkah to all of the Jewish community!

Happy Kwanza to those celebrating!

A wonderful and a peaceful holiday season to all from each and every spiritual, religious, and non-spiritually based tradition who recognize a form of some belief and atheistic belief throughout this season!

Remember that it is not in our differences through which we are best defined, but through our mutual and individual respect and our own understandings of both ourselves and others remains how we best gain the greatest of our perspectives that endlessly serve us well!

Blessings To You All!

WD Allan

© Copyright 2010, WD Allan, Spiritualitymoment.com

All Rights Reserved