Prospector

Issue date: 11/12/04 Section: Campus Life

Amidst children shrieking gleefully in play and husbands kissing their wives as guests chow down on soup, potato salad and cake, it looks like every other familial get together with people talking, laughing and having serious religious conversations.

And it is, except the guests are wearing pentacles and there is a table-sized altar near the kitchen, the walls of the apartment are lined with pictures of fairies, and the scent of rosemary and lavender drifts through the air as herbs dry on the counter.

This is a party of witches and pagans.

While the word 'witches' brings up Halloween images of hideous green hags lurking to capture children or violent devil worshippers, real witches are very different.

The reality is there are witches everywhere. Law-abiding, vote-casting, hard-working mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who live day to day in very much the same ways as everyone else, except that they believe in multiple gods and goddesses, magic and mythologies.

Wicca and Paganism are the fastest growing religions of the day, increasing without formal congregations, proselytizing, charismatic leaders or large advertising campaigns. Most people are drawn to it because of its mysterious nature, but stay because of a deep and spiritual religious faith that fills their lives.

It is difficult to speak of these groups by using one word. Not all Pagans are Wiccans, not all Wiccans want to be called Witches, and not all Witches are Wiccan. Centuries ago as the Romans first spread Christianity across Europe converting people as they went, pagan meant "country person," or, as we might say nowadays, "hick," and was used in a derogatory manner. Pagans these days are proud of the moniker, as it separates them from the religions of their youth.

"The fundamental belief of any religion," said Seren, a Yuba college Student who has been a witch for 5 years, "is not to hurt anyone." Paganism is no different. In spite of wild tales of sacrifice and blood rituals, pagans are a relatively peaceful crowd. Speak to a group of Pagans, and they each will give you a different explanation of their practices and beliefs, but almost universal is the idea of harming no one. The Wiccan Rede, or the law that is the basis of all within the traditions reads: "An it harm none, do what ye will." Specifically, this means whatever you do, you should not hurt anyone, including yourself. Beyond those words, ritual and mythology vary from tradition to tradition, even person to person.

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