Real Witches Practice Samhain: Wicca on the Rise in U.S.

AbcNews.Go.Com ^ | Oct. 30, 2009 | RUSSELL GOLDMAN

[GonzoII]

Real Witches Practice Samhain: Wicca on the Rise in U.S.

More Americans Are Wiccan, and Will Celebrate Samhain, Not Halloween, Saturday

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN

Oct. 30, 2009—

Patti Wigington is a soccer mom. She is the vice president of her local PTA.

And she's a witch.

This Saturday while her neighborhood outside Columbus, Ohio, is crawling with costumed witches in search of candy, Wigington and a group of other local witches will not be celebrating Halloween, but the new year festival Samhain, which also occurs Oct. 31.

In her backyard, Wigington and six other local women who make up her coven will stand in a circle, each holding a lit candle dedicated to a dead ancestor. They will offer an invocation in each direction of the four winds. They will build an altar upon which they will offer their deceased ancestors gifts of food and wine and "celebrate the coming of the dark half of the year& and do a ritual that honors death."

When she gets to the part about death, Wigington, a middle-aged mother of three, stops for moment in her explanation of a typical Samhain ritual.

"Look," she says, "I know some people are freaked out by death. But death is part of the life cycle. This time of year we say farewell to the garden, to the crops and to our ancestors. We welcome and celebrate the coming of the dark half of the year.

[GonzoII]

"I know some people are freaked out by death. But death is part of the life cycle."

Lol.

You mean its the END of the life cycle. Actually it's what comes after death that you should be concerned about, not the the rationalization attempts to sooth the thoughts of whats in store.

[Bulldawg Fan]

Another indicator of the decline of western civilization. Building idols, worshiping false gods has proven in the past not to work, why would it work now? But hey, so long as she is a PTA mom, and involved in the community, its just more diversity.

[Kolokotronis]

And here I thought “Wiccan” was a sideline/hobby religion for Episcopalian priestesses and their limpwrist husbands!

[Ken522]

It seems like she's a pagan - she is choosing to ignore 2000 years of progress in favor of her own ego ...

[Bulldawg Fan]

....a five-pointed star inside a circle — on tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery and other U.S. military burial grounds.

How about a neon sign over the grave: “Gone to Hell, not coming back”

“We dont believe in Satan” Tell him that, you will get that chance.

[GonzoII]

"she is choosing to ignore 2000 years of progress in favor of her own ego"

Good point.

[P.O.E.]

Now THAT'S some wicked wickin'...

[GonzoII]

Wow! I hope we’re all not going to hell in it..

[rdl6989]

Amazing!

[AppyPappy]

I worked with a lot of Wiccans. Most were “in between” religions and Wicca was a good stop. Most had a fuzzy idea of the workings of Wicca. For instance, some claimed that you couldn’t worship Satan as a Wiccan but they conceded that you could practice it any way you wanted. I even found a Christian Wicca group. Almost all were enamored with the shock value of telling people you were a witch.

[Round 9]

“I never heard of Wicca in 1990, and now you see it in the newspapers. It’s become more fashionable. There’s been an uptick,” Kosmin said.

It’s just a bunch of disaffected people who are looking to fit in somewhere. Some never grow out of rebelling against dad.

[Condor51]

Patti Wigington is a soccer mom. She is the vice president of her local PTA. .. And she's a witch.

This is what happens when little girls don't get a Barbie Doll to play with.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I don’t like calling Wiccans “witches”, either. Because Wiccans don’t deserve to be called “witches”, any more than they deserve to be called “doctors” or “engineers”.

To explain, while the European tradition of witches were mostly kooks, today, most witches, real witches, are in central and South America, where what they do is more “pre-scientific professional class”. From this point of view “witch” is a misnomer as well, though they use ritual magic, in practice, what they do is equivalent to being a paid medical doctor, counselor, indigenous ritualist, and psychologist.

Temperamentally, a central or South American witch is like their professional counterpart, if you can imagine your GP MD, with a treatment clinic out in the rural jungle. Some years ago, a real MD persuaded the “healing witch guild” of the value of antibiotics in treating infections, which they have seamlessly integrated into their practice of “witchcraft.” Powerful magic, that.

Most central and South American witches are also practicing Catholics or Protestants, which also dispels any religious notions about their “witchcraft”.

But this is apples and oranges with Wiccans, who even they would agree are mostly aimless and feckless. Started in the 1940s, it is not something most people would get excited about.

[fire4effect]

Someone with access and an extra few mins ought to do a lexis nexis search for “wiccan” over the past few years. I think i haves seen A LOT more stories about these people this year than in the past. I wrong.could be

[sirchtruth]

BEDEVERE: Tell me. What do you do with witches?

VILLAGER #2: Burn!

VILLAGER #1: Burn!

CROWD: Burn! Burn them up! Burn!...

BEDEVERE: And what do you burn apart from witches?

VILLAGER #1: More witches!

VILLAGER #3: Shh!

VILLAGER #2: Wood!

BEDEVERE: So, why do witches burn?

[pause]

VILLAGER #3: B—... ‘cause they’re made of... wood?

BEDEVERE: Good! Heh heh.

CROWD: Oh, yeah. Oh.

BEDEVERE: So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood?

VILLAGER #1: Build a bridge out of her.

BEDEVERE: Ah, but can you not also make bridges out of stone?

VILLAGER #1: Oh, yeah.

RANDOM: Oh, yeah. True. Uhh...

BEDEVERE: Does wood sink in water?

VILLAGER #1: No. No.

VILLAGER #2: No, it floats! It floats!

VILLAGER #1: Throw her into the pond!

CROWD: The pond! Throw her into the pond!

BEDEVERE: What also floats in water?

VILLAGER #1: Bread!

VILLAGER #2: Apples!

VILLAGER #3: Uh, very small rocks!

VILLAGER #1: Cider!

VILLAGER #2: Uh, gra— gravy!

VILLAGER #1: Cherries!

VILLAGER #2: Mud!

VILLAGER #3: Uh, churches! Churches!

VILLAGER #2: Lead! Lead!

ARTHUR: A duck!

CROWD: Oooh.

BEDEVERE: Exactly. So, logically...

VILLAGER #1: If... she... weighs... the same as a duck,... she’s made of wood.

BEDEVERE: And therefore?

VILLAGER #2: A witch!

[netmilsmom]

Exactly.
Most Wiccans I know were either into D&D or hung with people who were. They can’t stand that they are not what they are in their imaginary world.

My niece became Wiccan because she watched Xena Warrior Princess and couldn’t believe there was only one god.

They don’t like rules and make their own, It’s that simple.

[GonzoII]

" I wrong.could be"

No, I don't think you're wrong. As we dislodge God from our lives then something has to fill in the vacuum that's left.

[onedoug]

Most modern “wicca” stems from the 1940s and Gerald Gardiner whose chief preoccupation with it was that he liked running around naked.

Thus the second “wiccan rede”: “Take your clothes off.”

[RegulatorCountry]

And here I thought “Wiccan” was a sideline/hobby religion for Episcopalian priestesses and their limpwrist husbands!

Maybe they can pop on down to the US Gulf Coast, Florida and the Carribean, to compare notes with the many Catholic occult practitioners, in Voodoo, Santeria and others more obscure and bloody ... sacrifice a chicken or two, or who knows, maybe something a little more grand.

[RegulatorCountry]

I've known people (suppose I still do, but have disassociated myself with them) who claim to be both Christian and witches. Their practices center upon the so-called "Key Of Solomon." They think they're summoning angels to do their bidding, but I've got news for them.

And, a former good friend from my wilder years right out of college, is a wiccan priestess, no joke. She'll be running around naked with a very fancy, ceremonial sword tonight. I've witnessed her use it in a circle. She's done exceedingly well for herself, financially. Something of a porn queen, with a whole bevvy of internet pay sites.

I've shunned and been shunned by this crowd, since becoming Christian and politically conservative. That's ok by me. But, there are people who take this stuff very seriously, and it's not just playing around, not just a lifestyle choice with cool clothes and distinctive music.

[AppyPappy]

It’s funny. One of the Wiccans I knew was a rabid Libertarian which irked the other Wiccans. If you can’t shock them by telling them you are a witch, shock them by telling them that Dept of Education should be abolished.

When the company went to random drug testing, he pitched a fit. Ironically, he was the first one tested and the first one let go.

[bmwcyle]

No surprise Satan is taking a bigger hold.

[edpc]

One of my favorite Benny Hill skits.....

Mervin: I tell you, there, I tell you there was witches there, they were practicing witchcraft. Not just lady witches but men witches, they had men witches there.

Interviewer: Warlocks.

Mervin: It’s true, I tell you. There… there was men witches there.

Interviewer: Warlocks. Male witches.

Mervin: Oh, I see, yes. They said to me… they said, “She’s waiting for you in her den.” So, of course, I went straight in.

Interviewer: You’re really taking an awful chance. I mean you’re really very attractive.

Mervin: (smugly) I know. Well I thought I’d be all right, because everyone said she was a Lebanese. When I got in there she was all dressed up in this like leather gear, you know. And she said, “Here, put that on,” and she give me a Russian army officer’s uniform, and give me a copy of the TV times and said, “Hit me with it.”

Interviewer: She was a masochist!

Mervin: Well she spoke fluent English, I tell you. Well I come out of there and these like witch people, they was all like stood around, you know, and they said there was kind of a symbolic sacrifice. They was gonna go out and get an eighteen-year-old virgin.

Interviewer: Where was this?

Mervin: Chelsea.

Interviewer: Ah.

Mervin: That’s what I thought, some hope, you know. Anyway, then they all started looking at me.

Interviewer: And what steps did you take?

Mervin: Bloody long ones, I tell you. I was out of there like a shot.

[Houghton M.]

That’s a hoax. Please do not circulate it. It makes FR look bad. Can this comment be pulled?

[RegulatorCountry]

I considered myself Libertarian, during my days of, what, dabbling on the periphery. You're right, it scares them. Boo!

Regarding your former co-worker, random can rather suddenly become less so with cause. Down in the lawyer mouse type of the policy, it'll say so. He was an idiot, and deserved firing for that alone, lol.

[AppyPappy]

It was never random and we knew it. If they wanted you gone and thought you were using, you got tested. If they needed you, they never tested you.

[sirchtruth]

I know. Well I thought I’d be all right, because everyone said she was a Lebanese. When I got in there she was all dressed up in this like leather gear, you know. And she said, “Here, put that on,” and she give me a Russian army officer’s uniform, and give me a copy of the TV times and said, “Hit me with it.”

That's great!

[RegulatorCountry]

It seems like another world to me now, and it actually is, but I know personally that those policies dictate an employee can be dismissed, not that an employee will be dismissed. Lipids don't lie. Mine didn't. I was very fortunate to have a relatively uncommon skillset in high demand at the time.

[Fiji Hill]

Hunting Real Witches in the 1950's

[NYer]

"I never heard of Wicca in 1990, and now you see it in the newspapers. It's become more fashionable. There's been an uptick," Kosmin said.

And there's the problem. Americans think change is good. They are bored with the hum drum traditional religions and thinks it's "cool" to be wiccan. A similar phenomenon is occurring with Islam.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[MediaMole]

Hey, if they want to stand around and worship pagan gods, they should remember that hell is a nice place to spend the eternal part of the life cycle.

[Coleus]

And president bush is the president who allowed wicca to be an official religion in the military... So much for being a Christian.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Sort of goes with the first Amendment...if a person wants to be a practicing pagan or follow a shamanistic religious tradition or worship the earth goddess or the spirit of the oak tree or anything else, it’s pretty much guaranteed in America that they have the freedom to do so.

We have the right as believers to try to convert them from it; we don’t have the right as members of the body politic to say that they can’t be a religion (for legal purposes) because it’s not part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Or else we have to amend the First Amendment.

[Coleus]

Or else we have to amend the First Amendment. >>

then we violated the first amendment for 225 years because the military didn't observe these insignificant fringe religions and the fist amendment does protect these religions from individuals who want to practice these but it doesn't say that the taxpayers of the us government have to pay for it and recognize it.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

More of them now. They have as much right to their religious symbolism as any other group, if you’re going to allow any, IMHO. Your mileage may vary on this issue.

[Starwolf]

I have been known to tell people I am a practicing lycanthropist in addition to being a Christian. Most nod knowingly, being unaware I have just claimed to be a werewolf.

I do it for the humor and shock value only...

[Salman]

First of all, Wiccans aren’t “real witches”.

They are silly people who think they are witches.

[Grizzled Bear]

...and it's not just playing around, not just a lifestyle choice with cool clothes and distinctive music.

Why do they bother with "cool clothes" if they're just gonna run around naked?

[Coleus]

next the military will be allowing the smoking of peyote and animal sacrifices... wait until they want devil worship.