Bothered, Bewildered but Certainly Not Bewitched

Disney’s latest offering to moviegoers hit the big screen recently. “Hocus Pocus” is the latest in a long, long line of films (including several others from Disney) that appeal to the myth of the evil witch. The three sisters in the movie were supposedly executed in Salem in 1693 for worshiping the devil and killing children in their evil rituals. To make a movie out of this plot hook we see them returning today, in 1993, to continue where they left off if today’s brave kids can’t put them down again (“ ‘Hocus Pocus’ Not Quite Bewitching,” Calendar, July 16).

Now, few people stop to think about this type of image because few believe that witches exist except in children’s fantasies. To be sure, there were no witches in old Salem--the victims in those trials were innocent. However, I’d like to assure the skeptical reader that indeed we do exist, and beg indulgence for a moment to discuss some of the ideas and history behind this latest portrayal of my religion.

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When Christianity expanded over the Western world some 1,600 years ago, the people in Europe, Britain and North Africa already had religions of their own. In the process of conquering those new lands, it was necessary to do away with those older faiths, and so in most cases the Christian missionaries demonized the Old Gods. The native deities became devils, and those who followed them were by definition devil-worshipers.

Even the common portrayal of the devil with the horns and hoofs of a goat is found nowhere in the Bible: It is a perversion of the ancient Greek God Pan, demonized by the Christian conquest of His homeland. So it was that the Old Religions were destroyed and the legend of the evil Pagan “witch” was born, which has persisted from that day to this.

Modern Wicca, or Witchcraft, is the reconstruction of those ancient religions. Witches follow a religious path that is portrayed in a warped mirror by the common myths and legends about us.

Wiccans do not worship the devil--Satan does not even exist for us. If not for the fact that Satanism and Wicca are so often confused, we would spare no thought for the devil at all. Wiccans honor the Divine in both masculine and feminine forms, known to us as the Lord and the Lady.

Because we find the God and Goddess in so many different forms and faces we believe that all people should find and follow the one that fits them best, and we do not call for any faith to be elevated above another.

Wiccans do not cast evil spells on our enemies. We do not sacrifice humans or animals. Our first and highest moral principle is “So long as you harm no one, do as you will.” We believe that all life is sacred, and we try always to live by that simple rule.

Wiccans do not harm children. Legends of child sacrifice and cannibalism are among the first to be attached to any hated minority: The ancient Romans claimed it of the early Christians, and the Christians in their turn told these stories about the Jews, and eventually about Witches. It is a lie that has been told for so long it has begun to sound like the truth.

These are just a few of the most common stories. Whole books can be written (and have been) setting right the history and true practices of Witchcraft. Modern Wicca is a diverse group of religious traditions, all dedicated to the honor of the living world and the worship of our ancient deities.

We follow the turning of the seasons and the cycles of the moon in our religious services. We have no Scripture, no central religious authority, because the true center of Wicca is each believer’s personal experience of the Divine.

The evil hag on a broomstick has become the most common image of the Witch in popular culture. Witches face prejudice almost every day from people whose ideas about us are shaped by images like this.

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Until you have had a frightened parent pull her child away from you, or lost a job because your employer decided you were evil, it is hard to understand how powerful such simple lies can be.

Films like “Hocus Pocus” may be harmless fun for some moviegoers, but to a Witch they present the perpetuation of almost 2,000 years of bad press.