To most people a witch conjures up image of an old warty hag of a woman in a pointed hat. With this same image, people attribute witches and warlocks only to legends or fairy tales. However, there are many regular everyday Joes practicing this so-called religion. They could be insurance agents, lawyers, and nurses, anybody. I myself served in the army with a self-proclaimed witch, although, when things got tight we didn’t hear that soldier praying to any pagan God.

Witchcraft was nearly eradicated almost five hundred years ago, but it is make a slow recovery. Here in the United States there is an estimated sixty thousand plus people of all races and sex claiming to be witches or warlocks.

One of the severe problems with the resurgence of witchcraft is its negative effect on America’s teens. The adult practitioners are no longer hiding in the closet. Young girls are encouraged by these false teachers to embrace this “craft.” They prey on young women they perceive to have low self esteem. This only serves to destroy these children, not help them. As a society, we should be more alarmed at this growth of witchcraft. Unfortunately, it is being ignored.

A quick look back in history shows us that in the early forties, a man named Gerald Gardner established the modern witchcraft movement in the United Kingdom. Mr. Gardner called this movement Wicca, derived from a Celtic word “wise one.” Moving from the United Kingdom to the United States during the sixties, the lost Americans saw it as an alternative to Christianity. There is even a special school for witchcraft in North Carolina, not to mention classes taught on witchcraft at many mainstream universities. Wicca is even recognized as a religion by the internal revenue service, complete with tax-exempt conditions.

Returning to the military, it is not as publicized as other outlets, but the practice of witchcraft is alive in the military. In Austin, Texas, Fort Hood became the first military base to allow and sanction witchcraft as a religion. This occurred in nineteen ninety-seven; since then there have been many others to allow Wiccans to practice their craft. Bob Barr a Georgia representative was outraged at the military for allowing witch rituals to be conducted on American bases. Representative Barr is determined to have them halted.

The Texas Fort Hood group call themselves Open Circle, and claims they have 250 members. Representative Barr wrote a letter to the commander of Fort Hood citing that supporting witchcraft may win the approval of liberals, but “its effect on combat readiness of your troops may be far less spectacular, to say nothing of its detrimental effects on our society more broadly speaking, which has heretofore looked to our military as epitomizing the American spirit of for God and country.”

Representative Barr’s comments have invoked outrage with the military’s witches. They are all demanding formal apologies. I hope they are not holding their breath. Although Barr has tried several ways to stop witchcraft being practiced on our military bases, he probably will not make much progress. Why? Experts in the Wiccan field state that witchcraft is growing exponentially among our military personnel. This means, the practice is growing faster in the military than in the civilian sector.

Where will the Christian stand if the subject of witchcraft becomes a national topic? Did the founding fathers while writing the Declarations of Independence and the constitution fathom the practice of witchcraft on our military bases? If we can gather a bit of wisdom of what Wicca encompasses we may rethink the blind eye we have been turning to the problem.

The large California based organization called covenant of goodness defines witchcraft on their website in this way: “Wicca or witchcraft, is an earth religion, a re-linking with the life force of nature, both on this planet and in the stars and space beyond. In city apartments, in suburban backyards, in country glades, groups of men and women meet on the new and full moons and at festival times to raise energy and put themselves in tune with these natural forces. They honor the goddesses and gods, including the triple goddess of the waxing, full and waning moon, and the honored god of the sun and animal life, as visualization of immanent nature.” Simply put and without the positive spin. They worship the pre-Christian fertility goddesses and gods, and proudly proclaim their paganism.

Most Wiccans call their movement a neo-pagan movement. They study Druidic, Celtic, Norse, and ancient Greek mythology for encouragement and direction. On the other hand, it could be said they make it up along the way. Witches believe in reincarnation and karma, they believe spiritual power comes from the sun, the moon, and the earth. They do not believe in the true Christian god. One of the wiccans favorite tools (or hoaxes) is divination.

Witches use the circle and pentagram, brooms (how cliche), the wand (how Harry Potter), candles, crystals and a knife called “athame.” Sometimes they are unclothed or “skyclad” which has caused concern over sexual abuse in regards to children during these rituals.

Witches brew herbs and other ingredients together in order to cast spells and other invocations. Most “covens” are led by high priestesses, but many men participate in rituals. Many wiccans claim they use white magic instead of black. I have failed to see the difference. Wiccans claim that white magic benefits all of humankind. I guess they have been a bit lax lately. Wiccans insist they do not worship the devil. Any person well versed in the holy word knows the poor souls are deceived on this.

Wiccans celebrate the changing of the seasons on the solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints between the seasons. Festivals are held known as “sabbats,” some of the important ones of which no self respecting pagan would not miss are “Samhain” the worshiping of the lord of the dead held on October the 31st, “Yule” honoring the sun god held on December 21st, and “Ostatra” honoring “Eostre” goddess of the dawn held on march 21st. If it is not yet obvious, some of the Christian holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter are rooted with these pagan festivals.

Many Christians do not take Wicca seriously. This is a terrible mistake. Wiccans take their religion very seriously, and are very anti-Christian. Their practices and beliefs are constantly trying to destroy Christian beliefs, moralities, and values. Practitioners of witchcraft see Christians as a threat. Wicca is a weighty and grim problem to today’s young Christians, as well as the older.

Contained in her book, “Teen Witch: Wicca for the new generation”, Silver Ravenwolf states, “Our only animosity toward Christians, or toward any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that these institutions have claimed to be ‘the one true right and only way’ and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practices and belief.” Any dictionary defines animosity as hostility or feeling of resentment. Here Ravenwolf admits that wiccans hold hostility towards Christians.

Ravenwolf goes on to state, “Witches are sick and tired of people in other religions passing judgment and spreading lies about our belief system just because they are either insecure in their own faith or don’t realize that many paths to God exist in our universe. These unenlightened people think that hurting us is better than admitting that people should be free to believe, as they want to believe. Witches do not hate Christians, or Jews or followers of Islam; however, when people from these structured groups try to hurt us with lies, they can expect us to be upset and fight back. So, we have here a statement if a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or an Atheist tries to stop witches from infiltrating their homes and lives, they intend to fight you. If the numbers of witches are anywhere close to correct, you mothers and fathers can expect considerable resistance if you try to stop them from entering your child’s mind. In order to halt the problem, we must confront the problem and understand it.

[END OF PART ONE OF TWO PARTS]