Catholics change position on Wicca and witchcraft

By Barry Albin ("Examiner," February 7, 2011)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/34954/?&section=native-religions

London, UK - According to Elizabeth Dodd, a former Wiccan, in her pamphlet: Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Danger, published by the Vatican associated publisher, the Catholic Truth Society in England, the Roman Catholic Church has changed its position on the treatment of persons who are Wiccans and witches. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353517/Catholic-Church-issues-guide-convert-Harry-Potter-witches-Christianity.html;http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/04/catholic-church-issues-guide-on-how-to-convert-witches. In the guide, the author says that it is important to recognize that Wiccans are on a genuine spiritual quest providing a starting point for dialog that may lead to their conversion. She goes on to say that "whether spellwork is effective or not has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another."

John Lenz, the assistant manager of the popular Kansas City religious bookstore, Aquarius Books, and a Second Degree Initiate of Wicca, commented on the statements in the article. He noted that most former Catholic witches have left the Church because they have been "bludgeoned" with the Love of Christ. He means that they have been told that to believe in a spiritual path not approved by the Church would be a sure pathway to hell and that because people love you and want to help you, you should not follow this path. He points out that true followers of the Path of Wicca do not believe in harming others as the adopt the creed of Wicca, which is "Do what thou willst, harming none."

Thomas Albin, a Third Degree Wiccan High Priest of the Gardnerian Wiccans and a Tata of Palo Mayombe (Voodoo), responded that he is offended that the church would think that he needed to be converted. He considered the proselytism to be wrong and even violent. He argues that there is no difference between Mayombe's veneration and prayers to saints and the Catholic church's veneration and prayers to saints except that the followers of Mayombe believed it worked more than the Catholics. He said that Gardnerian Wiccans were sincere followers on a legitimate pathway to G-d who had to study much before they were initiated and continued to study and grow as they acquired higher and higher degrees. He pointed out that the Gardnerian system, the mother system of Wicca, does not admit anyone under the age of 18 and therefore they are adults, not young people. Further, it is strongly frowned upon in Wicca to do a spell that injured another and he hoped that there sense of regret would stop them from doing those kinds of spells again. He pointed out that Wiccans had begun to feel unwelcome in the Catholic church, and he was a Catholic at one time, long before they became witches. He argues further that many of the prayers that Catholics pray are not 100% pure but if those prayers are answered Catholics feel no regret for having prayed those prayers.

One question that should be raised is if the Catholic Church admits that Wicca is a "genuine spiritual quest" how is it different from Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Daoism, Sikhism, or any other great religion. Is the Catholic Church willing to enter into an ecumenical dialogue with Wiccas as it has done with most of the other great religions? Who would represent the Wiccans? John suggested that Selena Fox might have the standing to represent all Wiccans. Thomas suggested Ray Buckland, the man who brought Wicca to America.

One other question that should be asked is if the Roman Catholic Church is willing to try to convert rather than kill witches despite the clear statement of scripture which says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", is it now willing to rethink the treatment of gays who are called faggots because their bodies were used to light the bonfires around witches as they were burned to death? After all, witches are to be killed, while gays are only abominable.

This is the first of a series in which other local churches are asked about their position on Wicca.

Wicca is America's fastest growing religion, says Witch School

By John Thomas Didymus ("Digital Journal," October 26, 2011)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36413/?&section=occult

USA - Wicca is America's fastest growing religion, says Witch School, and within the next decade Wicca will become the third largest religion in America, behind only Christianity and Islam.

According to Witch School, there is already a shortage of teachers of Witchcraft and Wicca and the school is offering over 120 online courses for people interested in intensive studies in the "Craft."

The school quotes editor Thomas Horn, in a press release for the book God's Ghostbusters saying, "In the United States alone, there are now more than two hundred thousand registered Witches and as many as 8 million unregistered practitioners of 'the Craft.'"

Ed Hubbarb, Co-Founder of Witch School, agrees with Thomas Hubbard. He says:

“There is such a rapid spiritual reorientation in America occurring, that the need for thousands of Wiccan teachers over the course of the next decade will be required to meet the demand for basic teachings. Because of Wicca’s liberating beliefs and useful skills, people want to understand and embrace it, and learn how to awaken their inner abilities.”

The growth of Wicca is revealed in statistics the Witch School quotes casually. The school claims it has helped over 200,000 students learn about "the Craft":

"Witch School has been working for the past 10 years to train teachers and mentors for the task that lies ahead. The online education system has made it easy to discover what Wicca has to offer, and has helped over 200,000 students learn more about this fascinating subject. You can discover more about Witch School at their website, WitchSchool.com."

The Halloween season brings the tremendous growth in Wicca into focus. Salem, the "Halloween Capital of the World," is buzzing with activities, and according to The World of Witches Museum, which offers "Witch City" tourists expert guide and information resources, Salem in the Halloween season, offers:

"...an amazing number of psychics, mediums, and clairvoyants, available for every kind of reading, séance, and spiritual message. Few places in the entire world have such concentration of supernatural energies and psychic skills."

Leaders of the Wiccan community are excited about the public enthusiasm for the religion, and there is drive to give public access to a culture driven underground in the centuries of cultural dominance of Christianity. Witch School expresses its pleasure in the new freedom and opportunity for open practice of the Wiccan belief system:

"People who practice Wicca now have the ability to learn and share their faith in ways that have never before been conceived. They want to build their community in a free and open manner, legally protected under Constitutional law...The desire to be open about their beliefs and share their knowledge and skills with other like-minded individuals is what continues to drive them."

Dispelling the myths about witchcraft

By Laura Holmes ("Portsmouth Herald," October 29, 2001)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/9430/?&section=occult

Debra Wiley says she cringes every time someone asks her, "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" "I don't walk around asking people, 'Are you a good Christian or a bad Christian?'" says Wiley, a self-proclaimed Wiccan witch from Dover.

Maybe if people were better educated about her religion, she says, they would know better.

Wiley and her friend, Scarlett Ridgway, a Wiccan witch from Portsmouth, have been "out of the broom closet" for many years. Neither of them hide the fact they are witches, but because of 500 years of persecution in Europe and America, and decades of negative stereotyping, many others are not so public.

The possibility of harassment, verbal abuse and, in extreme cases, violence make many witches afraid to take advantage of one of America's most prized possessions — freedom of religion — "all because of misunderstanding," says Rebecca Murphy, a Wiccan witch and licensed pagan minister from Manchester.

"Look up the word 'witch' in a dictionary and you'll read, 'A person who practices black magic,' or something similar. Even though it's in the dictionary, that definition is not accurate. And that's because the dictionary follows popular culture, not the other way around. Until the word 'witch' and its correct definition is in general use for, I believe, 10 years, it won't change," says Murphy.

Witch, witchcraft, Wiccan, pagan; these words are not interchangeable, but try to define them, and that, says Murphy, is a problem.

"We're still trying to define some of them ourselves," she says.

Historically, a "witch" was the wise woman of the community, the person to go to for healing, advice and matchmaking. But through political and religious attacks, that image has been twisted into an evil, old hag with a green, warty face.

So what is a witch today? It depends on whom you ask, says Murphy, but generally speaking, a witch is any person who practices the "science of witchcraft." This includes herbalism, astrology, color therapy, gemology and other ways in which witches believe they can influence the physical and spiritual planes.

"You can be a witch and a Wiccan, and you can be a witch without being a Wiccan. You can be a witch of voodoo. You can also be a Satanic witch. You can even be a Christian and be a witch — I've met some.

"African medicine men and women use witchcraft; they're called witch doctors. The core of it is each one of those means something different to each one of those witches," says Murphy.

On the other hand, defining paganism is simpler. It describes any faith other than Christian, Muslim or Jewish.

"Pagan encompasses a lot of different groups — Druid, Native American, Strega or Italian witchcraft and Wicca are the more familiar ones," says Murphy.

So, what is Wicca? Again, it depends on whom you ask. It's a religion, but it has no dogma and no scriptures. It has values and morals, says Murphy, but no Bible.

"A Catholic can say, 'You have the 10 Commandments, you have to go to church once a week, you get communion, you're supposed to do this and this and this, and in this order because this is how it was written, this is how it's supposed to be.' You can't do that with Wicca. There is no Holy Book of Shadows," she says. "And there's a reason for that — we don't need one."

Instead, says Murphy, Wiccans learn from nature and its cycles of birth, death and rebirth as an example of divine perfection and as a basis for their value system. "As above, so below" is a phrase many Wiccans use to remember the divinity's presence in nature.

Even though Wicca is open to interpretation, there are tenets. They include male and female aspects of divinity; the sacredness of the earth and its seasons; and that "magick," or spell-casting, can influence reality. Other than that is personal preference.

"It's a very personal, choice-centered path," says Wiley. "You can take what you like from other studies, like the Celtic path or the Fairy path, and combine them. You can even add aspects of Native American or Judeo-Christian religions into your ritual or prayer; like calling on angels. I use angels quite often and believe in them strongly," says Wiley.

Ancient lore, modern practice

Made a legally recognized religion in 1986, many aspects of Wicca are ancient in origin. Its practices were adopted from the beliefs and rituals of earth-based pagan societies of old Europe, which were passed down verbally through families.

This lore, combined with ritual from other religions, and the more "recently" adopted practices, such as crystal-healing, Tarot cards and candle-magick, make today's Wicca a hybrid.

"We're building a new foundation on bits and scraps of what we found and what we know. Wicca is, in and of itself, a paradox. It's a very ancient religion that's learning how to be new. We have an ancient background, but we have a whole new set of rules we're working by. You can say, 'OK, on the morning of the solstice you should go out and watch the sunrise and dance for hours.' Well, hey, most of us have day jobs and I don't think I can call in to work with that excuse," says Murphy.

But modern-day Wiccans have learned to merge their "mundane" lives with their "magickal" ones. As solitary witches, or within a coven, they cast circles and spells in their living rooms or backyards, at the beach or in a forest, even online.

"We're a very low-overhead religion. We don't need churches, we don't need priests, we don't need ministers, because we are that ourselves," says Wiley.

Focusing on the spiritual, whether solitary or in a coven, witches, including men (they are not called warlocks or wizards) embark on a road of religious study.

Very few have the benefit of being born into a family of witches, so most rely on personal research or apprenticeship for their knowledge.

And like any other religion, the degree to which witches practice varies. Some, like Murphy, Wiley and Ridgway, incorporate Wicca into their day-to-day lives. Others may only perform rituals during the pagan holidays or for specific need.

Either way, a focal point for all Wiccan witchcraft is the "wheel of the year," the eight holidays, or Sabbats, of the seasonal calendar: Samhain (Halloween), Imbolc (Candlemas), Beltane (May Eve), Lughnassad or Lammas (August Eve), Ostara (spring equinox), Mabon (fall equinox), Litha (summer solstice) and Yule (winter solstice).

Sabbats and their associations define the core of the religion's rituals, as well as its spiritual shape.

"We celebrate the changing seasons — the gift of Mother Nature bringing forth the springtime and the harvest, and then the awakening of the God who is actually the opposite of Mother Nature. He is the time that the earth sleeps, the time of winter, the time of quiet reflection.

"He stands in protection of the earth while the Goddess sleeps, and then in the spring when she awakens, he brings forth the blooming flowers. So it is a very beautiful religion," says Wiley.

Dispelling myths on magick

More so than the belief system of Wicca, it is perhaps the ritual aspect of the religion, the how-to part of Wiccan witchcraft, the magick — so spelled to discern it from the work of theatrical magicians such as David Copperfield and Penn and Teller — that seems to be the most misunderstood. From Hollywood movies such as "Practical Magick" and "The Craft," and television programs like "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" and "Charmed," to American culture throughout, magick has been portrayed with only minimal accuracy.

First, witches can't fly. Nor can they turn someone into a toad, or anything else. They certainly can't point a finger and make things "happen." And contrary to almost every horror movie, simply reading a spell from a book won't make it work. Even Harry Potter is way off the mark.

What's missing from every depiction of witchcraft in our culture, says Murphy, is the spiritual aspect, the divine connection.

"Words are just words. They can describe the feeling and they can describe how to do a spell, but until you can will your spiritual self to connect to your higher power, be it God, Goddess or whatever, nothing's going to happen."

Witches and Wiccans do cast spells. That's how they hope to influence the outcome of their lives and the lives of those who seek their help. A spell is just another word for prayer, says Wiley, and ritual and ritual tools simply make the prayer more effective.

"We set up our prayer space or sacred circle, we acknowledge the four compass points and bring them together, and we call the Lord or the Lady. We do these things because it is the best way that we know how to bring as much conscious, positive energy to a table, to a prayer circle as possible," says Ridgway.

No devil for witches

Another depiction that Wiccans wish would stop is, of course, devil worship. In the history of religion, the devil, or Satan, is actually a recent Christian concept, says Murphy.

"When the Roman Empire invaded the Celtic Empire, Christians changed the nature god revered by the pagans into an evil god — Satan," she says.

That association continued and found its way to America via the Spanish Inquisition of the 14th and 15th centuries, when witches were falsely accused of devil-worshipping and then tortured, burned, hanged and drowned.

Then and now, says Ridgway, devil worship is part of Satanism and never had anything to do with Wicca.

"We don't have a devil. We do believe in positive and negative aspects, but they deal with nature and people, not something in a divinitory realm," says Ridgway.

Wiccans, she says, can't blame the Devil for doing bad things. "We believe that if we do something, we need to take full responsibility for it," says Ridgeway.

Part of that responsibility stems from the two Wiccan laws that help foster good behavior: the Wiccan Rede and the three-fold law. The Wiccan Rede reads: "An' it harm none, do as thou wilt," which basically means don't do anything that will harm anybody. The three-fold law is a universally accepted belief among Wiccans that whatever is sent out, be it negative or positive, comes back to the sender three-fold.

Both laws remind Wiccans that their thoughts and their deeds affect them as much as they do others.

"Debra and I both have had people come up to us and say 'I want to make so-and-so fall in love with me. Give me a spell.' It doesn't work that way. If someone came to me in that kind of pain, I might be able to help them cast a spell of healing, or a spell of peace, to help them find their own path to the person they're truly supposed to be with," says Ridgway.

Wiccans also need the permission of the person they want to help before attempting any kind of spell.

"Say you're going through a difficult time and I wanted to pray for strength for you. I have to get your OK first," says Ridgway.

Like witchcraft, Halloween has been totally reinvented by popular culture, Wiley says. Compared to its origins as the end of the agricultural year, it's been completely disguised as a children's holiday or a festival of fear for adults. For Wiccans, Halloween is a celebration of a good harvest and a time to give thanks, as well as a time to reflect on the past year and plan for the year to come.

In witchcraft lore, says Wiley, it's also the night when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is the thinnest.

"Like the Feast of the Dead, All Saints Day and All Soul's Day, it is a time to call on your ancestors for guidance, to pray to them, and thank them, even give them an offering," says Wiley.

Wicca — like Halloween, witchcraft and witches — is centuries old and shares many similarities with other religions. Upon true scrutiny, says Murphy, people will find that Wicca really isn't that different.

"Eventually, all religions had their roots in the same place," she says. "We deviated, we splintered, we even changed the entire concept a time or two, but we all began from the same starting point and we're all going to end at the same finishing point — we just took different paths to get there."

New chaplain at prison, a Witch, brews brouhaha

By Stephanie Simon ("Los Angeles Times Service," January 16, 2002)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/9439/?&section=occult

It started out as a simple job search. But it turned into a witch hunt.

Make that a Witch hunt. For the person hired last month as Wisconsin's newest prison chaplain was the Rev. Jamyi Witch -- who said she long ago chose that last name, ``Because I am one.'' Witch is proud to be a witch and to be the first Wiccan priestess in the nation to serve as a full-time state prison chaplain.

Yet her appointment has put some taxpayers in a tizzy.

A state representative -- from, of all places, West Salem -- is leading a drive to yank funding for Witch's $32,500-a-year post, saying taxpayers ``shouldn't be forced to accept this hocus-pocus.'' Two other lawmakers have joined him in outrage; one called Witch's appointment ``morally dangerous.'' Meanwhile, callers have swamped the prison switchboard, the state Legislature and radio talk shows with pro-Witch or anti-Witch tirades. And they've contacted the new chaplain directly, too: One day she came home to 76 phone messages and 432 e-mails.

``It's been off the Richter scale,'' said state Rep. Scott Walker, a Republican who is lobbying to boot Witch.

`SACRED DUTY'

Walker said his constituents are fiercely opposed to Chaplain Witch. But Witch said she has received mostly supportive calls. Aside from a few death threats, she said, ``The overwhelming consensus has been: `You go, girl. We're behind you.' ''

Witch, 43, is accustomed to people looking around for a pointed hat when they meet her. To her, however, ``witch'' is simply a religious description -- like ``Protestant'' or ``Jewish.'' It denotes a practitioner of Wicca, a pagan religion that sees the divine in every element of nature. Religious scholars estimate there are at least 50,000 Wiccans in this country and perhaps as many as 200,000.

Wiccans do practice magic. But it's not eye-of-newt abracadabra. Witch's brand of magic involves focusing psychic energy on a worthy goal, using meditation to achieve good. It is, she said, just another word for prayer.

And it can be used only for healing. Wiccans are absolutely forbidden to use magic to enact curses.

That prohibition disappointed some of the inmates Witch counseled as a volunteer minister in several prisons before she got the chaplain job at maximum-security Waupun Correctional Institution in southeast Wisconsin. ``I lost a lot of men when I explained it. If they didn't have the power to melt prison bars, they weren't interested,'' she recalled with a chuckle.

Still, several inmates -- sometimes a dozen or more -- stuck with Wicca at each prison she visited. ``Those who felt the calling of Mother Nature and Goddess Earth stayed,'' she said.

Witch stayed, too, drawn to the volunteer work, feeling a ``sacred duty'' to help the prisoners find a path to a better life. Although she changed her last name (from Welch) in part to spark conversation about her faith, Witch insists she never proselytizes. She works only with people who come to paganism on their own.

WARDEN SILENT

Her critics, however, don't trust her. And they have nightmares of her using her chaplain's post to suck criminals into the ``cult'' of bizarre ritual that Wicca represents to them. In their view, a chaplain should be showing inmates that they're accountable to an almighty God, not showing them how to sprinkle herbs as offerings to the goddesses of Mother Earth. ``There isn't one study that I'm aware of that shows that witches have reformed any prisoners,'' said Republican Rep. Mike Huebsch, the lawmaker from West Salem.

Stung by the brouhaha that Witch's appointment has stirred, the warden at Waupun declined requests for interviews. Last month, however, he defended Witch as the best of nearly a dozen candidates he had interviewed – with the character to do the job well. ``Jamyi is an outstandingly approachable person, somebody that I wouldn't mind approaching on spiritual matters myself,'' Warden Gary McCaughtry told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

VOLUNTEER WORK

In addition to her volunteer prison ministry, Witch has worked with battered women in shelters and dying patients in hospices. A mother of two, she is a Girl Scout leader and school volunteer in Mount Horeb, an artsy town that bills itself as ``the troll capital of the world'' because the main street is lined with carved wooden trolls.

Witch earned her ordination as a Wicca priestess from a nearby congregation called Circle Sanctuary.

Witch spent years studying the Wiccan faith and counseling pagans in crisis in preparation for ministry.

``I'm a good person. I really am,'' Witch said, rubbing the ears of a sick old greyhound she rescued after his racing career ended. ``I have earned this position.''

State officials say Witch does indeed meet all the requirements for the job of chaplain, and they point out that it would be illegal to deny her the post on the basis of her faith. Members of hate groups or satanic cults are not allowed to serve as chaplains. But in Wisconsin, Wicca is recognized as a religion.

While several states allow volunteer Wiccan chaplains in their prisons, Witch is apparently the first to land a full-time, tax-funded post.

Critics point out that only 30 out of 1,200 inmates at Waupun identify themselves as Wiccan. (There is one other full-time chaplain there, a Protestant.) ``Why are we paying a woman $35,000 a year to work with just 30 inmates?'' asked Walker.

In response, Witch notes that a large part of any chaplain's job is to bring in volunteer ministers of other faiths, so that all spiritual needs can be met. For instance, she recently organized a religious feast, presided over by a visiting imam, for Muslim inmates to mark the end of Ramadan.

Chaplains also are responsible for making sure all prisoners have the tools they need to worship, be it a Bible or sacred crystals. In fact, Witch said, very little of her job involves one-on-one spiritual ministry, although when called upon, she said she can offer guidance to anyone of any faith.

``They think I'm teaching all the inmates to chant spells,'' she said with a rueful smile. ``If I had one-eighth of the power that people are crediting me with, I wouldn't be sitting in . . . [the prison] working my butt off.

Paganism returns to the Holy Land

By Ofri Ilani ("Haaretz," March 22, 2009)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/30564/?&section=occult

Tel Aviv, Israel - Like many other soldiers who took part in the Gaza operation, Omer, 20, occasionally took a few moments to pray, but he did not pray to the Lord of Israel. Omer considers himself pagan, and has sworn allegiance to three ancient gods. During combat, he says they appeared before him, giving him strength during the most arduous moments.

Omer is still in the army, and therefore refused to be interviewed for this story. Yet he did say he belongs to a religion whose goal is to revive worship of ancient gods.

In an online Hebrew-language paganism forum, Omer's accounts of his Gaza experience are standard fare. Another user recalled how he prayed to Anat, the Canaanite god of war, while serving in an elite combat unit.

The two soldiers are part of a tiny community of pagans that has developed in Israel. Influenced by movements in the United States and Europe, followers believe in multiple gods.

"Modern paganism is comprised of a wide variety of religions and faiths, most of which are based on ancient pagan rituals," said Rinat Korbet, a Bar-Ilan University researcher who wrote her thesis on the pagan community in Israel based on its online presence.

"People seek to take the essence of ancient paganism and suit it to our time period. Many of the followers have home altars where they can express their belief in nature and the gods. All the people I interviewed also took part in ceremonies and community rituals, in environments conducive to the spirit of paganism."

Korbet will present her research at the First Israeli Conference for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities which opens tomorrow at the University of Haifa.

Due to Jewish sensitivity to idol worship, which is perceived as a sin, most Israeli pagans reveal their beliefs only to those who share them. They usually keep religious gatherings, such as the "holiday of equality" (Vernal equinox) on March 21st, secret.

Alon Kobets, 29, a neo-paganist from Rehovot, is one of the few who decided "to come out of the closet."

"Some people live in fear, but I'm past hiding my faith," he said. "Some guys live with religious families. They can't tell their parents, 'I don't believe in Judaism, I'm a pagan.' They'd chop off their heads."

Several years ago, Kobets took an interest in Wicca, a neo-pagan religion founded 50 years ago in England. Wicca calls for worshiping nature and an ancient goddess. Kobets abandoned Wicca upon enlisting in the IDF, but enthusiastically re-embraced it after completing his army service.

Now he runs the Wicca Israel Web site, one of the local pagan community's most widely visited and important sites. He estimates that there are 150 Israeli pagans.

"It finds expression in the rituals, like in all religions, but also in the world view that divinity is here. A person, a cat or a car - all of these things are life on some plain," he said.

"In a country like ours, which naturally has interreligious tension, being a pagan is not easy," Korbet said. "Worshiping other gods is something very sensitive in Judaism. We all were educated [to think] this is intolerable and illogical."

Contradiction to Judaism

Kobets says neo-paganism is a pluralistic religion, and every follower sets his own worship method. Nonetheless, the pagans interviewed for this article agreed their faith runs counter to Judaism, and added that they do not consider themselves Jewish.

"Judaism is a religion, it's something imposed and artificial," said Samuel, who runs a paganism forum on the Web portal Tapuz.

"I don't consider myself a Jew, but I do consider myself Israeli," he said.

Kobets agrees. "There is a problem with Judaism. Judaism contradicts paganism. Judaism has only one god, and if you do not believe in him, you will be driven off with stones."

How does one choose which gods to worship?

"Every individual picks himself a pantheon. There are many options," said Samuel, 31, who works as a jewelry designer.

"Nobody invents new gods," Kobets said. "People read mythology and try to make contact with and talk to some god or goddess."

Because the main sources of neo-paganist religions are England and the U.S., some Israeli worshipers pray to Nordic or Celtic gods. Others seek to revive the worship of ancient Canaanite gods who were fought by biblical prophets.

"As part of the interest in local traditions, there is a focus on Canaanite gods and traditions that existed here," Kobets said. "People are interested in it, but from what I gather I don't believe this is the dominant theme. I've seen more people who believe in Celtic Druidism, Shamanism and Indian religions."

Korbet wrote her thesis in the department of information science at Bar-Ilan University, under the supervision of Dr. Dan Bouchnik. She analyzed Web sites and forums used by pagans, and their philosophy regarding the Internet.

"Ancient paganism took place largely in nature, forests and villages," she said. "Modern paganism can take place in urban settings, and it can be more symbolic. If worship was once done in physical, holy places, now the Internet is being used as a virtual, spiritual venue. Neo-paganist believers have no qualms about using the Internet, though they prefer practicing their rituals in the real world. Advanced religious knowledge is something they would prefer not to divulge on the Web, and usually they will not invite someone to take part in a ritual exclusively online."

Korbet will be one of dozens of lecturers at the spirituality conference. Conference organizer Dr. Marianna Ruah-Midbar said there have been a wealth of studies on New Age topics in recent years.

"Some phenomena were not studied only marginally, if at all, for years, and now they are of central interest to academe," she said. "This conference is the first multi-disciplinary meeting of researchers who specialize in Judaism, law, medicine, sociology, film and more."

Ruah-Midbar believes paganism has a bright future in Israeli culture.

"At the moment paganism is not a large-scale practice here, but I believe it has very big potential," she said. "Pagan religions are the fastest growing religions in the West, and it could succeed here too, because Hebrewism and Zionism could connect to paganism due to the emphasis on land and Hebrew holidays. Paganism is a close, unusual parallel of more common practices, like environmentalism or traveling to the East. In practice, it really is not very different."

For growing ranks of pagans, October 31 means a lot more than Halloween

By Susanne Gargiulo ("CNN," October 31, 2011)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36452/?&section=occult

USA - As pumpkins, witches and faux cobwebs have taken over much of North America for Halloween, Clare Slaney-Davis is preparing an October 31 feast that some would consider much spookier, with table settings for her grandparents, a great-aunt and other relatives who have passed away.

As she and her living guests eat, they'll share stories and memories of loved ones they've lost.

The Christian debate over Halloween

Slaney-Davis, who is based in London, isn't preparing the feast for Halloween. Instead, she and pagans around the world are celebrating Samhain, the beginning of the pagan new year, a night when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is believed to be the thinnest of any time during the year.

That's why it's a night devoted to ancestors. "We honor them, and we recognize that we don't live in a world of people who are merely dead or alive," says Slaney-Davis, 46. "Ancestors are central to us."

Along with the Catholic holiday All Saints' Day, Samhain is considered an ancient forerunner of Halloween. Samhain began as a Celtic celebration marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter's hardship.

Today, pagans play down the Halloween-Samhain connection. But the growing popularity of the pagan new year in Europe and North America is part of what many experts say is a global revival of paganism.

Slaney-Davis, who trained as a witch and a druid, says her religion has nothing to do with ghosts and ghouls. "To me, being a pagan means being in divine balance with nature and being responsible for my actions," she says. "I understand that my behavior has an effect on people I don't even know exist. It is not a theology of perfection but one of belonging."

Over-the-top jack-o'-lanterns

But it is a theology that's gaining ground. According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, the number of members of "other religions" or "new religious movements," categories that include pagans, more than doubled between 1990 and 2008, to 2.8 million.

The survey, conducted byTrinity College in Connecticut, reported that the numbers of Wiccans and neo-pagans had also doubled in that time.

Contemporary pagan religions like Wicca and druidism are considered neo-pagan movements.

"(Paganism) is one of the fastest growing religions in the world," says Michael York, a retired religious scholar from Bath Spa University in the UK. "True numbers are impossible to come by because many people are wary to admit they are pagan, and reliable statistics just don't exist."

Movies that scare the people who scare us

While paganism covers a range of individual religious groups, including Wicca, druidism, and shamanism, they're bound by some common denominators, such as roots in ancient, pre-Christian beliefs, and their view of nature and the whole physical world as sacred.

"In traditional religions you have a conflict between God and nature," says York. "But for pagans, nature becomes the truest expression of the divine."

That, he says, is a big reason why paganism is seeing a revival: "If nothing else, because of the impending destruction of our environment, and our focus on finding a way to live in balance with nature."

Another key pagan belief is the freedom for each person to determine his or her own way to and view of the divine. "Paganism doesn't put restrictions on what you can and cannot believe," says Jason Pitzl-Waters, co-founder of the Pagan Newswire Collective and the pagan blog The Wild Hunt. "It grows out of an ethos that there isn't just one sacred way to understand the world."

But that lack of dogma has become something of a stumbling block for the movement. "Because paganism is very individual, it creates the problem of not having a unified voice, because nobody speaks for the movement as a whole," says York.

Another problem pagans face is one of image: For centuries, including during the Roman Catholic inquisition, pagans were denounced as heretics and devil-worshippers.

"One of our greatest challenges is to overcome the hostility of groups that still see us as evil," says Pitzl-Waters. "To some conservative Christian groups, we are an early warning sign of societal collapse."

Just last week, an opinion column in The Christian Post, an online newspaper, warned that the "dark festival" of Samhain is an invitation to the devil. The column said that "even though you don't consciously call upon Satan, his demons are nevertheless present any time a Wiccan goes through a spiritual door by using magic." It calls on Wiccans to ask forgiveness for their sins and to turn to Jesus.

"Part of what is scary for conservative religions is that as a pagan, I consider myself part of the divine," says Holli S. Emore, executive director at South Carolina's Cherry Hill Seminary, which has one of the world's first graduate-level programs for pagan ministry. "That means God lives in me, and that is blasphemous to some. To me, it's a big responsibility to do good and act right."

Scholars say that the neo-pagan view of God being everywhere and in everything is not a foreign idea on the global religious stage. "Much of modern paganism looks to older religions like Shinto, Hinduism and indigenous religions, which see spirit in everything," says Jenny Blain, senior lecturer in sociology at Sheffield Hallam University in England and author of several books on paganism.

"If you add all those to modern paganism, that is a considerable part of the world that does not live with traditional Abrahamic views," she says.

There are signs that paganism is gaining some acceptance in the nonpagan world. For the first time last year, the government of Britain recognized druidism, an ancient pagan belief system, as a religion.

"People either see paganism as dangerous or as a joke," says Pitzl-Waters. "But it is a serious global movement. Paganism has arrived as a world religion. It's not just a bunch of counterculture types playing witchcraft games."

That said, traditional witchcraft rituals, like gathering in circles and uttering spells, have an important place in modern paganism, which further unsettles more traditional religious believers.

"Because Christianity is more conservative, anything seen as supernatural or magic automatically becomes of the devil," says York. "Because of that dichotomy, paganism is automatically seen as satanic."

"People fear what they don't understand," says Emore. "But spells are basically prayers with props. What we call magic is the intentional use of power to achieve change, and just like with prayer, what you are doing is tapping into an inner resource. Gathering in a circle and acknowledging the four elements is nothing new – this is something Native Americans and many ancient nature-based religious people did as well."

For neo-pagans, the four elements – earth, air, water and fire – are closely linked to their view of a sacred planet. "The attributes associated with each element become tools in our meditation and in practices such as spells," says Emore. "Water is associated with emotions and intuition, air with intellect and communications, earth with foundation and stability, and fire with passion and action."

To York, paganism's ancient rituals also help bring a sense of enchantment back into life.

"The ancients had a sense of the magical, but with Christianity came a diminishment," he says. "The magical was denied, everything became inanimate, and from a pagan perspective we lost our connection with the sacred. I think we are rediscovering that now."

"Pagans understand there comes a winter, which is a time to ready for rebirth," York says. "For us, the last 2000 years has been the pagan winter."

Student Suspended For Wearing Pentacle

By ("Channel Oklahoma," July 28, 2001)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/9413/?&place=north-america&section=occult

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. -- A Midwest City high school student returned to the classroom Wednesday after a one-day suspension for wearing a pentacle in class.

Sabrina Erickson practices Wicca, a type of paganism based on earth, wind, air and water.

When Erickson refused school officials' request to take off the five-starred pentacle at school, she was suspended for violating a dress code that prohibits disruptions in class.

"If Christians blatantly wear their crosses, or if Jews can wear a Star of David, why can't I wear my pentacle," Erickson said on Eyewitness News 5 Tuesday.

After meeting with school officials on Tuesday, Erickson was allowed to return to class. The suspension was based on the principal's misunderstanding of Wicca, Erickson said.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer slaying church attendance among women, study claims

By Martin Beckford ("Telegraph," August 23, 2008)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/29252/?&section=occult

London, UK - The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives.

It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books.

The study comes amid ongoing controversy over the role of women in all Christian denominations. Last month its governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time, having admitted them to the priesthood in 1994, but traditionalist bishops have warned that hundreds of clergy and parishes will leave if the move goes ahead as planned.

The report's author, Dr Kristin Aune, a sociologist at the University of Derby, said: "In short, women are abandoning the church.

"Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"Young women tend to express egalitarian values and dislike the traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the church.

"Women's ordination, as priests and now bishops, has dominated debate and headlines – but while looking at women in the pulpit we have taken our eyes off the pews, where a shift with more consequences for the church's survival is underway."

Her research, published in a new book called Women and Religion in the West, cites an English Church Census which found more than a million women worshippers have left churches since 1989.

Over the past decade, it claims, women have been leaving churches at twice the rate of men.

In addition, the census is said to show that teenage boys now outnumber girls in the pews for the first time.

Dr Aune says the church must adapt to the needs of modern women if it is to stop them leaving in their droves.

She believes many women have been put off going to church in recent years because of the influence of feminism, which challenged the traditional Christian view of women's roles and raised their aspirations.

Her report claims they feel forced out of the church because of its "silence" about sexual desire and activity, and because of its hostility to single-parent families and unmarried couples which are now a reality for many women.

But it also says changes in women's working lives, with many more now pursuing careers as well as raising children, mean they have less time to attend church.

Dr Aune believes churches must now introduce services and activities that fit in better with modern's women's schedules, such as Saturday morning breakfast clubs.

She said: "Gone are the days when the mother was at home during the day and had time to visit the church's coffee mornings and mother and toddler groups.

"With the pressures women face, churches must adapt to make themselves more accessible."

Christina Rees, chairman of the pro-women bishop campaign group Watch, said the report highlighted the damaging effect that traditionalist attitudes within the Church of England are having on women.

She added that the introduction of female bishops will lead to a renewed interest in the church among young people and women in particular, despite the opposition to the historic step from Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals who believe scripture and tradition teach that bishops must be male.

Ms Rees told The Daily Telegraph: "What this research reveals is that a lot of people are put off by traditional stances and attitudes. We still have a long way to go before women, particularly young women, feel as included in the church as men do.

"I'm absolutely convinced that when we have women as bishops that it will send out a very clear message that women are as valued as much as men."

The Church of England declined to comment.

Wiccan priest sought to perform rituals for B.C. prisoners

By ("The Canadian Press," September 5, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38005/

Vancouver, Canada - Guidance with casting spells, invocation of the god and goddess and rituals involving the four elements could be offered to inmates in British Columbia as part of the prison system's roster of available spiritual services.

Canada's federal corrections agency is looking to hire a priest or priestess who will tend to prisoners who practise witchcraft.

Corrections Canada this week put out a request for a proposal for a Wiccan chaplain who will provide about 17 hours of service a month, about an hour less service than the department says it needs for the Jewish faith.

"I'm thrilled the government is recognizing the Wiccan faith and that there is a need," said Meredith Kimber, a 35-year-old Wiccan priestess who lives in Nanaimo, B.C. "They are entitled to what anyone else is. They should be able to access their faith as much as the person next door."

A generic job description is given in the tender, which also lists pay as ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. The chaplain would be required to deliver Wiccan spiritual services, pastoral counselling and crisis intervention.

The applicant also would plan and lead Wiccan services "with ritual, teaching and meditation" to reduce stress and anger generated by incidents within the institution, or to commemorate the faith's holy days. It would be their role to create a sanctuary atmosphere within the prison chapel.

Inside the walls of a penitentiary, Kimber explained those tasks could translate into anything from common-sense counselling that simply comes from a like-minded person to full-fledged rituals conducted in the Wiccan tradition.

"Wiccan is so hush-hush, people hear the word witch and they freak out," Kimber said. "There must be a high enough number within the inmates for this to be necessary."

Wiccans worship a variety of goddesses and gods and believing through action and ritual they can cause change in the world according to their will. Their main tenant is that so long as they harm no one they can practise as they see fit.

Although practising witchcraft is synonymous with someone who practises Wicca, it is completely different from satanic worship, Kimber said.

Some inmates have identified as Wiccan going back more than two decades, said Sam Wagar, a 55-year-old priest who founded the Congregationalist Wiccan Association of B.C.

The umbrella group is recognized by the provincial government and governs four temples in the province whose clergy are also licensed to perform marriages.

It's difficult to get a statistic on how many people in B.C. practise the religion, but Kimber's temple reaches about 600 members by email alone. Some 2,500 people attended the Pagan Pride Festival in Nanaimo in 2010.

Wagar said he's aware of Wiccan services previously being required in a Vancouver Island prison and another in the B.C. Interior, and also in Ontario's Kingston and Warkworth institutions.

"Wiccans are human beings. Some human beings screw up and end up in jail," Wagar said. "They may still need the same kind of spiritual care as people from other religions who end up in jail."

According to the Corrections Canada tender that's specific to B.C., Roman Catholic chaplaincy services average five hours per week. Both Muslim and Sikh chaplaincy averages 57.83 hours per month, while Buddist chaplaincy averages 45 hours. Jewish chaplaincy averages 17.5 hours per month, while a designation called Community Chaplaincy averages 30 hours.

Wiccan chaplaincy would average 16.66 hours.

"This has been put to tender because there is a need," said Corrections spokesman David Harty. "The requirement of these services is on-going. It has been used in the past."

Harty could not immediately provide further details about the program.

"There must be enough of us in jail to make it worth their while," Wagar said.

But he took issue with any potential public backlash for Wicca's inclusion in prison.

"Everybody who isn't a Christian differs from the mainstream. Big whopee, get over it," he said. "We have a way of being spiritual, a way of connecting to the gods, a set of ethics and beliefs and they help us to live our lives better.

"I think it's quite likely going to help some of them, anyway, rehabilitate and go back into society with a better set of values."

Setting up a Wiccan worship space in the chapel could potentially involve displaying the pentacle -- a star inside a circle that is the faith's main symbol -- the herb sage and candles, Kimber said.

She does, however, expect and accept that prisons will limit what materials can be brought inside for safety reasons.

A ritual might be performed for a number of auspicious days in the Wiccan calendar, such as "Sanheim" -- a harvest festival that coincides with Halloween -- and "Beltane," which occurs on May Day. Full-moons are celebrated as well.

Kimber said it was likely the chosen candidate would conduct a ceremony for the faithful too, modifying as necessary.

The ceremony would begin with a cleansing of the space to clear out negative energy, and then the Wiccans would cast their circle, she explained. Inmates would be invited to join, and the priest would then call on the goddess and god.

The priest would preach and spells might be cast.

"Spell casting is a form of prayer and a form of connecting with the divine," Wagar said. "It's a way of focusing your attention on goals you want to make, making commitments."

Inmates Who Follow Satanism and Wicca Find Unlikely Ally

By Linda Greenhouse ("NY Times," March 22, 2005)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/16069/?&place=united-states&section=occult

Washington, USA -- A Supreme Court argument on Monday about how far Congress may go to create and protect religious rights for prison inmates found the federal government in the unusual position of arguing on behalf of inmates seeking to practice religions based on magic, white supremacy and polytheism.

The government "follows the best of our traditions" when it relieves burdens on religious practice for all religions, not just "majoritarian" ones, the acting solicitor general, Paul D. Clement, told the justices.

On the opposite side, the State of Ohio argued that federal judges had been turned into "overseers of religious life in prisons across the 50 states" by a five-year-old federal law directing states to relieve "substantial burdens" on inmates' religious practices unless a challenged regulation served a "compelling state interest."

Douglas R. Cole, Ohio's state solicitor, asked the justices: "Can Congress really say to prisoners, 'We'd like you to be religious and we'll give you a better show for getting out from the rules that apply to everyone else?' "

Such a statutory preference for religion violates the constitutional prohibition against the official "establishment" of religion, Mr. Cole said, which is what the federal appeals court in Cincinnati concluded last year. The appeals court found that the law went beyond the permissible accommodation of inmates' religious needs by "giving religious prisoners rights superior to those of nonreligious prisoners."

The Supreme Court argument marked the resumption of a long-running confrontation between the court and Congress over the role of the government in protecting religious practice.

The focus of the case is the sensitive zone where the First Amendment's guarantee of the free exercise of religion runs up against the same amendment's prohibition against official religious "establishment."

At a deeper level, the case raises the question of whether, on this as on other constitutional questions, Congress or the court has the last word. Given the complexity of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, the law that the court is examining for the first time in this case, a definitive answer may not emerge from this particular round.

This case, Cutter v. Wilkinson, No. 03-9877, began as three separate lawsuits by five Ohio prison inmates accusing the state of violating their rights under the new law in various ways, including not permitting group worship sessions or the possession of religious literature and ceremonial objects. The prisoners identified themselves as followers of the Wicca religion, Satanism, the Church of Jesus Christ Christian and Asatru. The last two are identified with white supremacist movements.

The law provides that "no government shall impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an institution" unless the burden can be justified as being the "least restrictive means" of furthering a "compelling governmental interest." Another provision in the law, not part of this case, applies a similar test to zoning and other land-use provisions that affect religious institutions.

Ohio responded by challenging the constitutionality of the law, and prevailed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which ordered the suit dismissed. The federal government entered the case to defend the laws' constitutionality and joined the prisoners, represented by a professor and students at the Ohio State University College of Law, in their Supreme Court appeal.

Early in the argument by Mr. Clement, the government's lawyer, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist interrupted to ask: "In City of Boerne, didn't we say that Congress couldn't simply come in to rewrite part of the Constitution" in a way that differed from the court's own interpretation.

His reference was to a landmark 1997 decision, City of Boerne v. Flores, in which the court ruled that the predecessor to the current law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, exceeded Congress's authority and was unconstitutional as applied to the states.

That law, which Congress passed in reaction to a 1990 Supreme Court decision, applied across the board to all state policies that interfered with religious practice. How was the new law different, the chief justice wanted to know.

Mr. Clement replied that the new law dealt with only two areas in which there were "particular problems," prisons and land-use regulations, and that unlike the earlier law, this one was enacted under Congress's authority to attach conditions to the expenditure of federal money, which every state prison system receives. If the federal government gives the Ohio prison system money for food, he said by way of example, it can require that the menu includes kosher meals.

But the justices' questions indicated that they were concerned with the law's implications that went beyond kosher food. What about a religious requirement for segregation of the races, or for distinctive dress or hairstyles that could signify gang membership, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wanted to know.

Both Mr. Clement and David Goldberger, the Ohio professor arguing for the inmates, said that the prison's security needs, as well as the constitutional guarantee of racial equality, could serve as the "compelling state interests" to justify regulations restricting such religious practices.

But Mr. Cole, Ohio's lawyer, said the law nonetheless "forces prison officials to change the balance they would otherwise strike" between safety and religion.

He also said the law provided an "impermissible incentive" to inmates to adopt a religion as a way of obtaining favored treatment. He said the law invited "constant pressure, day after day, if you want this set of benefits, get religion."

Cornish Teachers Should 'Explore' Paganism, Church of England Says

By Lucy Sherriff ("Huffington Post," April 23, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37143/?&section=occult

UK - Teachers in Cornwall have been told by the Church of England to celebrate all Cornish beliefs in school, including "exploring" Paganism, over fears some families are being marginalised.

Sue Green, education director at the Church of England's Diocese of Truro, said Cornwall's heritage was "quite unique" and it was imperative the spiritual and religious heritage of the area is celebrated.

"For many of our schools there will be children who come from Pagan families and we wouldn't want those children to feel marginalised," Green told the BBC.

But she added "no school is being told to teach about Paganism".

Green's support of teaching the faith follows the recent announcement Paganism is to be included in the school curriculum in Cornwall.

Earlier this April, Cornwall Council told its schools pagan beliefs should be taught alongside Christianity.

Fiona MacDonald, co-ordinator of Cornwall's Pagan Federation, said the group welcomed the decision to include Paganism on the curriculum.

"We have been campaigning for schools to introduce it for the past 10 years," she told The Huffington Post UK. "It is not a question of teaching children Paganism, rather teaching children about Paganism.

"We are just normal human beings with different ideas," she added.

The polytheistic faith focuses on putting "humankind back in harmony with the Earth," and is based on a deep respect for nature. Shamanism, Wicca or Witchcraft, Druidry and Heathenry are all included under the umbrella term.

Fiona MacDonald, co-ordinator of Cornwall's Pagan Federation, said the group welcomed the decision to include paganism on the curriculum.

Occult hit: Witches bucking religion trend

By Mike Thomas ("Chicago Sun-Times," March 30, 2009)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/30613/?&section=occult

Chicago, USA - They don't toil over bubbling caldrons or cook lost kids. They have no use for flying monkeys. And their spice racks are more apt to contain ginger or paprika than eye of newt.

Still, witches are far from fictional. And according to the most recent American Religious Identification Survey, released earlier this month, there are more of them than ever.

While most other major religions lost ground, Wiccanism -- whose members, Wiccans, sometimes refer to themselves as witches -- and other so-called "New Religious movements" grew by more than a million members since the last ARIS survey was published in 2001. They're now an estimated 1.2 percent of the adult population.

In Chicago -- home to an unknown number of Wiccan covens (congregations) and independent practitioners --there's even a Witch School. An outgrowth of the nationally popular and long-active Web site witchschool.com, the Downstate Rossville-based organization currently offers three monthly courses and returned to town earlier this month after a five-year absence.

"One of the things that we found is that people frequently did not have access to information and wanted to learn more about Wicca and metaphysics," said the school's chancellor and one of its owners, the Rev. Don Lewis. "And we went into online teaching in order to make it more accessible to people. But it was never our intention that [the site] should replace real-time teaching."

Local classrooms include the Occult Bookstore in Wicker Park and the Life Force Arts Center in Lake View. Lewis said there's talk of expanding to St. Louis and "a number of different regions."

On a recent Friday night, Witch School CEO Ed Hubbard visited the Occult Bookstore to talk on the topic of "Magick for the Masses."

Few people attended, save for a handful of employees and one drop-in, but the show went on.

"You can change your environment by the power of your will," he declared, as a tiny digital camera taped his lecture for the YouTube channel Magick TV. "The first step is thinking. You have to have that spark."

The air smelled of honey-amber incense. Shelves and tables displayed crystals, candles and hundreds of books, with such titles as Practical Angel Magic of Dr. John Dee's Enochian Tables and The History of Witchcraft and Demonology.

In a phone interview before the event, Hubbard said a common misconception people have of witches is "that we're satanists and that we belong to the devil. That's a big one. And it's very hard because that's the dualist world of Christianity, and we just don't accept it."

Library Sued For Blocking Native American & Wiccan Websites

By Steve Williams ("Care2.com," January 4, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36744/?&section=occult

USA - The American Civil Liberties Union, together with the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, has launched a legal battle challenging the Salem Public Library and its board of trustees for, they claim, unconstitutionally blocking access to websites discussing minority religions by classifying them as “occult” or “criminal.”

The case came about after Salem resident Anaka Hunter contacted the ACLU after she was unable to access websites on Native American and Wiccan cultural and religious ideas at the Salem Public Library. She protested to the library director, Glenda Wofford, and portions of the sites were unblocked, but much remained censored.

Indeed, Hunter alleges that Wofford said she would only allow access to the restricted sites if users had what she viewed as a legitimate reason to view the content, going on to say that she had an obligation to report people who wanted to view such sites to the authorities.

“It’s unbelievable that I should have to justify why I want to access completely harmless websites on the Internet simply because they discuss a minority viewpoint,” Hunter said in an ACLU statement. “It’s wrong and demeaning to deny access to this kind of information.”

When Hunter went to the library’s board of trustees she claims her complaint was brushed off.

Sites blocked by the library’s Netsweeper software include the official webpage of the Wiccan church, a Wikipedia entry pertaining to Wicca, Astrology.com, and The Encyclopedia on Death and Dying, which contains what is described as a “neutral” discussion of various religious and cultural ideas on death and death rituals.

Libraries are of course required by federal law to implement filtering software that prevents access to explicit, pornographic and “adult” content. However the library’s software goes further than this and blocks sites marked “occult,” while sites related to Native American culture and Wiccan faith were, the ACLU found, blocked under the category of “criminal skills” — though none of the websites contained any such information.

“Rather than dismissing the concerns of its patrons, the library should make every effort to ensure that its filtering software doesn’t illegally deny access to educational resources on discriminatory grounds,” Anthony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, is quoted as saying. “The library is the last place that should be censoring information about different cultures.”

In a comment made to the Hill, the library’s director Glenda Wofford said she would have been happy to unblock the websites but Hunter refused to specify which sites she wanted to access. “It’s not our intent to prohibit reasonable use of the Internet for research or any other legitimate reason,” Wofford is quoted as saying. “All they have to do is ask, and we’ll unblock the sites.”

However, the ACLU is contending that patrons should not have to ask to access these sites as they contain no illegal material:

“The library has no business blocking these websites as ‘occult’ or ‘criminal’ in the firstplace and certainly shouldn’t be making arbitrary follow-up decisions based on the personal predilections of library staff,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “Public libraries should be facilitating access to educational information, not blocking it.”

Belated exoneration sought for hanged Salem 'witches'

By Steve LeBlanc (AP, May 28, 2001)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/9384/?&section=occult

It was a time when trembling witnesses and "spectral evidence" could lead to the gallows.

But when Susannah Martin stood accused of "Sundry acts of Witchcraft" during the Salem witch trials of 1692, she defiantly laughed at her accusers, one of whom fell into a fit during the trial.

"Well I may (laugh) at such folly," Martin told her inquisitors, according to court records. "I have no hand in witchcraft."

Ten days later, Martin was hanged on Gallows Hill.

Now, more than 300 years after her execution, Martin's descendants are pressuring state lawmakers to exonerate her and four other women caught up in the spiral of fear, recrimination, and blood that seized this town along the rocky New England coast.

"She was a woman who spoke her mind. She seemed to be quite a hardy person," said Craig Martin, 54, a civil engineer who traces his ancestry back to Susannah Martin. "Anyone who has been wrongly accused of anything ... I can have a lot of emotion for that."

Twenty men and women were hanged or crushed to death during the witch fever, fueled by the isolation of colonial Massachusetts, a deep belief in the supernatural and political feuds.

Almost as quickly as they began, the executions stopped, just four months after the first hanging.

But Massachusetts would spend the next three centuries trying to wrest a moral out of the tale.

In 1957, the Legislature approved a resolution exonerating some of the accused witches, including "one Ann Pudeator and certain other persons."

Descendants of some of those "certain other persons" want the names of Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd and Susannah Martin added to the resolution.

"After 309 years, they deserve the ink," said Paula Keene, a Salem public school teacher and amateur historian. "If it were me, I'd want my name written into the law."

The witch hysteria began when four young girls, including the daughter of the town's minister, the Rev. Samuel Parris, began dabbling in fortunetelling games with Tituba, a female slave of Parris.

When the girls started showing mysterious physical symptoms, the town doctor concluded they were "bewitched." Then the girls began naming people they suspected of inflicting their symptoms.

Those who were named initially -- including Tituba -- lived on the edges of society. In time, however, the accusations spread to more prominent citizens, including Salem Village's former minister, George Burroughs, who was named by the girls as the master of all Massachusetts witches and leader of the Salem Coven.

By the end of May 1692, 200 people were jailed under charges of witchcraft.

The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop, who had successfully fended off witchcraft accusations a dozen years earlier. When workmen repairing her home discovered "poppets" -- dolls stuck with pins or missing heads -- in the walls, Bishop's fate was sealed, and she was hanged in June 1692.

After Bishop, the pace of executions quickened. In July, five women, including Susannah Martin, were hanged. They were followed in August by five more.

A key to the trials was so-called spectral evidence, reports of ghostly presences inflicting torment under the command of the suspected witches.

As the executions mounted, spectral evidence came under increasing criticism. Cotton Mather, minister of Boston's Old North Church and initially a believer in witchcraft, began to speak out against it.

In September, the largest and last group of accused witches was hanged, including Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.

The thirst for prosecutions then waned and the use of spectral evidence was eventually rejected. The trials ended in May 1693, when Gov. William Phips pardoned all remaining witch suspects.

Over the centuries, the trials have become obscured by myth, the most enduring being that witchcraft was actually practiced by those accused.

More likely, the trials were driven as much by political feuds as fear.

"It's absolutely obvious that those who were being hanged were the enemies of the grown-ups or the girls who were doing the naming," said Frances Hill, author of "A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials."

"The only people in all of this who were innocent were the people who were hanged," she said.

One legacy of the trials is the association of Salem and witches. Contemporary Salem features witch museums, witch statues and stores filled with witch potions. Salem itself is known as "The Witch City."

Modern witches say they hope to use the tragedy of the witch trials to educate people about their religion.

"Witchcraft is a benign earth religion. It is not a crime. It was turned into a crime by the church at the time," said Cheryl Sulyma-Masson, chairperson of Witches League for Public Awareness and elder clergy person for Circle of Salgion Church of Wicca in Rehoboth.

"I don't blame the religion. I blame the people in power at the time," she said.