‘They Assume We’re Evil’ : Magick Circle Shop Draws Wrath of the ‘Righteous’

Books. Candles. Crystal. Incense. The ritualistic. The occult. Broken windows. Burglaries. Threatening telephone calls. Arson. Gunfire.

Welcome to the little shop-church owned and operated by The Light of Truth Church.

The Revs. Nelson White and Anne White have endured a litany of harassment because of their beliefs and their Magick Circle shop in Pasadena.

Mostly it’s minor stuff. “We had a girl who walked in here two weeks ago with her white Bible, haranguing the customers. We finally just told her to get out,” said Nelson White. “We didn’t have to call the cops this time. We do once or twice a year. One guy refused to leave. He just sat down. It took three cops to get him out.”

These days, Nelson White keeps a loaded Polaroid camera within easy reach. Give him a bad time, and he’ll show police what you look like. He says he’s taken a lot of pictures.

On the mild end of the harassment spectrum are Fundamentalist Christians, “business-suit types.”

They often come in just to tell the Whites they’re evil. “They don’t ask. They just assume,” said Nelson White.

There was a group that stood outside for a while, handing religious tracts to people.

“We complained to the church leadership,” said Nelson White. It stopped.

Another time a young man sat out front, “built a bonfire and put some sulfur on it and screamed and yelled for Jesus to come and blast us off the face of the Earth.”

There’s a sign as you walk inside. It says you must be 18 to enter. Another says the Whites do not worship the devil. In fact, their church doesn’t even recognize the entity known as Satan or Lucifer by other churches.

They practice Magick.

The little bookstore-occult shop is really a church, chartered and recognized as such by the State of California.

The Whites do consultation for people who are troubled, and often recommend specific rituals. You can buy books inside the Magick Circle that help “anyone who is reasonably normal” perform rituals designed to change his luck or get through a troubled time.

But some people see a pentagram--the five-pointed star often associated with Satanism--and lose perspective.

“Our home was bombed,” said Nelson White. “Burning papers were stuck through the mail slot at the store.”

The last attack occurred at the Magick Circle’s previous address. The store has been open in Pasadena for nearly 17 years. They stay in town, they say, because it would be hard to move to another area, “physically and economically.” One of the reasons the new address on Lake Avenue was chosen is “because it doesn’t have a mail slot.”

A check with the Pasadena police shows two police calls since 1984. Lt. Gregg Henderson notes that if the attacks occurred at the Whites’ home, in another city, that might be covered by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and without a specific date, it’s very hard to track down harassment reports.

Little Police Can Do

White admits the arson attack was not reported to police. Officers, he said, have been able to do little to scare off people who harass and disturb the Whites at their business.

One of the attacks that was logged was “malicious mischief.” White swears he was shot at. “I saw the muzzle flash and heard the impact,” he said. He cannot definitely link that attack with his religious beliefs. After all, the business is not in the nicest part of town.

The business has been burglarized several times. Once, much of the expensive silver jewelry and ritual equipment was removed. Once again, it’s not easy to link the attack with beliefs.

Neither is it easy to link the theft of their “distress orange” colored 1956 Volkswagen to their beliefs. But the accident that cost that bug its tail is pertinent.

Not long ago, White was hit from behind by a woman who attempted to speed off, leaving the vintage VW smashed and immobile. She was caught and when she found out whom she had hit, “and after she paid for the damages, she said Jesus made her hit the car.”