Well, maybe not every “branch” of Wicca but for the most part the bush leagues of occultism are attractive mostly to the damaged and degenerate nowadays. I often blame the entrance of radical “feminists” like Starhawk for turning Wicca into little more than a progressive dominated live action role playing game where people who claim they’re Witches balk at actually practicing Witchcraft, which is more than some teen girls sitting in a park crying together while holding hands, but the truth is Wicca was always a bit of a fraud anyway. Every ten years or so a group of Pagans discover this, publicize their findings and are promptly excommunicated from the Wiccan community.
Wicca today little resembles the the Witchcraft boom which began in the 50s and lasted into the early 80s. Then authors like Leo Martello and Paul Huson offered alternatives to the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca which was largely a hodgepodge of turn of the century occultism built upon ideas Gardner stole from C.G. Leland’s Aradia and Crowley’s understanding of “magick.” Now Wiccans are little more than a pep squad for leftism, using the cover of their supposed religion to push forward DNC talking points. Wicca is less a religion and more an immature extension of college Women Studies programs and it shows in the average Wiccan’s lack of knowledge of both Witchcraft and the world at large.
And thus when confronted with reality, and having no experience in dealing with larger truths the Wiccan attacks the messenger. Non-Wiiccans will be unfamiliar with them but somewhere off on the fringe of early Witchcraft, sneered at by even Gerald Gardner, were Gavin and Yvonne Frost who started the School of Wicca and are the authors of the largely useless The Witch’s Bible.
The Witch’s Bible contains a ritual wherein children are molested.
SMP at The Ultimate Evil and Dodiafae at Pagans Againse Child Abuse both took note of this and wondered why the Frosts are still often honored guests at many pagan gatherings. They were promptly denounced even after rallying much support to their side.
They were not the first people to denounce the pedophilic Frosts and their cult. Magickal Childe owner Herman Slater once printed a newsletter where readers were told to buy the Frosts’ book, read it, then burn it. He denounced them as charlatans and scum. The Frosts promptly cursed him for it, though Herman seemed none the worse for wear when relating the story to Hans Holtzer. What should surprise most people is that then, as now, many of the “leaders” of the pagan community came to the aid of the two degenerates who have for thirty years refused to remove a passage from their book wherein practitioners of Frost-style Wicca are told to use dildos to deflower their own daughters, where children are gang raped and sex between adults and children is encouraged.
To be sure the Frosts may not represent most Wiccans, but the defense of them by those upon whom Wiccans place the mantle of leadership does expose modern Wicca for what it is and how far it strayed from its roots in the occult movement.
I admit to being something of an anachronism in my armchair occultism. I am a researcher into the odd, a lover of the esoteric and no doubt deeply influenced by many viewings of The Devil Rides Out in my childhood. I have never adopted the faddish notion among new agers that morality is subjective, nor do I think all religions and perspectives are equally valid. This puts me on the outs with 99% of Wiccans.
That’s because the free wheeling attitude toward anything and everything in Wicca is based on modern Wicca’s devolution from reconstructionist religion to hippy sex cult. Wicca is no longer about finding truth, but about ensuring abortion on demand, undermining Judeo-Christian morality and destroying Western Civilization from within. It’s a radical book club, a religion that doesn’t do the one the one thing all others do and that’s provide moral guidance and clarity for adherents.
Many Wiccans and pagans, some famous like Issac Bonewits and Oberon Zell, defend the Frosts perhaps because to criticize them means taking a moral stand that is unpopular among the fringe that Wicca is now most often addressing. There are responsibilities to being an adult, grown ups should be expected to not indulge in their every sexual whim. In a religion where older men and women frequently are in contact with teens and young adults this should resonate with them, and for many it does. But for too many it doesn’t.
Until cretin like the Frosts are able to be criticized for promoting child exploitation, without the critics being subjected to Squeaky Fromm like rantings by Wiccans who think bad mouthing the frosts is a “betraya,l” Wicca will remain a pretension not a religion. Wicca will stay the Manson flavored cult of people who have no sexual boundaries and can’t be trusted with children in the minds of the public, and that’s how it should be. Wiccans judged the Catholic Church and the FLDS harshly when their abuses, covered up for years in many cases, came to light and they should be ready to be judged just as harshly when more and more non-pagans get wind of this outrage.
Okay, that was AWESOME!!! You did a remarkable job and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your thoughts on this situation with the Frosts and the Wiccans who support them. Well said, Rob! Thank you for your voice of reason and active participation in protecting kids!
I just hope we can get some change. I thought about sending along this with links to you guys to places like 700 Club just like you were talking about.
I might post it on PaganSpace.
Do it! Both ideas. It DESERVES to be exposed before any more time passes and any more children suffer!!!
Hi Rob,
This is great!
I’m considering writing and essay about it for Witchvox, but I’m not entirely sure they’ll post it. I’ve read in other places that they refuse to take a stand, one way or the other, on the Frosts.
Thank you for posting this.
~ DF
I don’t think exploring Sarah Palin’s ties to anti-Pagan “spiritual warriors” and African witch-hunters somehow makes me a part of some DNC/leftist “pep squad”. I have been critical of Democrats at The Wild Hunt, and my blog has never endorsed a particular political party or candidate and never will.
That’s complete nonsense. Your readers are anti-Christians (as am I in many ways) but are up in arms about Christians, specifically Black Christians, being anti-Paganism.
Christianity is by definition anti-Pagan, and we all know plenty of Witches take anti-Witchcraft precautions, ie protection spells etc. You and your readers are holding Christians to a standard you don’t hold Muslim or communists because it is a popular stance to bash Christians.
Sarah Palin is no more anti-Pagan than Jesus Freak Barack Obama, where was you’r condemnation of his churches Black Liberation Theology which states that Whites, like yourself, are spiritually and morally inferior to Blacks? Why is it the only time I can find a person other than myself standing up for the “Witches” burned in Muslim countries is when I go to either Conservative or Satanist blogs?
Because you use MTV and Media Matters and Starhawk to formulate your opinions. None of you worship the gods, and few practice the Art, you’re just a support group for people who refuse to grow up.
Nothing to say about the frosts I see, but plenty ot say about an MTV documentary on your site. Dig yourself as we used to say. Shouldn’t Pagans who are adults spend less time defending nerds dressed as Harry Potter and more time exploring the gods will?
Nice straw-man argument against me there Rob. I didn’t know that making an occasional post about Harry Potter, out of hundreds of posts per year, gives you some sort of special insight into my personal belief system and practice.
Also, if you did any digging at all, you would notice that I extensively covered the Frosts controversy last year. You might have also noticed that I have been covering the witch-hunts around the world on several different occasions. I even interviewed Phyllis Curott, who helped organize an interfaith petition protesting the conviction against Fawza Falih Muhammad Ali.
Rob Taylor,
Conservatives and Satanists agree on something?
Yes Damien, because Satanists for the most part are anti-Islamization, mostly interested in individual rights and know that Wicca is is a fraud. Many conservatives feel the same way.
Well Jason what gives me the insight is the totality of your misrepresentation of Palin’s “War on Pagans” which is nonsense. The minister that prayed with her comes from a culture where people fear being hexed, JUST AS WE DO IN THE PAGAN COMMUNITY.
Begrudging Christians their prayers against Witchcraft when your own readers snicker about cursing politicians is hypocritical isn’t it? Because in reality she and her buddy are right, Witches (so-called) are working against them. Why should it matter if she takes the precautions her religion prescribes against that?
But as a smart person you know that it’s likely Palin is as unaware of Wicca as you are of the fact that it’s mostly Christians who are the fanboys for Harry Potter. I bring it up because using MTV as a source to show what Christians think is exactly as if I used a 700 Club article to define Pagans. You know MTV went out of their way to find a nut, one that even other Christians have discredited, and you ran with it because it’s what your readers like to hear.
Oh yes we Pagans are so oppressed by Christians in America, and this channel adults shouldn’t be watching proves it. Right.
You uncritically reported on Starhawk’s version of the RNC welcoming committee raids sans reporting they confiscated a gun and knives from those same innocent people. Why did peaceful protesters need a gun Jason? No matter, they found a way to almost blind a octogenarian from the CT GOP. That didn’t make it into your discussion of the “oppression” of Starhawk’s friends.
You claim Palin has Dominionist ties in the same article when she’s been a registered Republican since she was 18. She sent a greeting to the AIP that you can watch that makes it clear she was thanking them for their business, it was cut up by Media Matters and again, you ran with it because you WANT to believe it. I pointed out your blog not because I dislike it, but because this kind of sloppy political dishonesty infects even the brightest free thinkers.
The point is that you are willing to accept wild nonsense as truth as long as it fits what you want reality to be. Palin secretly hates Pagans, really?
How about you explain this to me: Why is Palin hanging around a guy who believes in Witchcraft and the need to be defended by it different than her hanging around me or Gerald Gardner, both of whom believe the same thing?
Because Wicca and much of the neo-Pagan movement is a farce, like “feminism” where people pretend to be a little bit more interesting than some White guy.
I don’t begrudge Christians fearing Witchcraft because I believe Witchcraft is real. How about you?
Rob Taylor,
Well now that I think about it, I’m not surprised that that both Satanists and Conservatives are Anti Islamization. Its kind of like the fact that both Objectivists and Christian fundamentalists are anti-islamization. They maybe utterly opposed to each other, but in the end they both know the Islamists will not tolerate them or many of things they value.
Exactly. Satanism in America is concerned mostly with promoting a libertine lifestyle totally at odds with Islamism yet at least tolerated by Conservatives. When push comes to shove the majority of Satanists are a bit more realistic about threats tot heir freedom then other new age movements tend to be.
Rob,
Going through your response point-by-point would take too much time, and would most likely be futile since you seem to have already made up your mind about me, so I’ll just address one thing.
Regarding Sarah Palin’s beliefs. It isn’t that I begrudge her receiving blessings against witchcraft, it is that those beliefs, which are couched in an atmosphere of ongoing spiritual warfare (in many cases, warfare against the “Queen of Heaven”), could cause serious problems for the civil rights of minority religions should she ever hold national executive power.
As I said in my entries on this subject, a simple letter from Bush, before he ever became President, was enough to add several years onto the Veteran Pentacle struggle. Like it or not, the personal opinions of Presidents, and Vice Presidents, influence policy in America. Do you honestly believe that several friends of Palin, friends who most likely have even more extreme views concerning non-Christian religions, won’t get cushy government appointments if she wins?
As for the AIP or other controversies, I haven’t even mentioned them. I brought up a singular issue, the beliefs of her co-religionists (and the extent to which she shares them). Co-religionists who are indeed aware of modern Paganism, who consider it a threat to “Christian America”, who are open and willing to import the kind of witch-hunting tactics of Muthee, tactics that stir up mobs against innocent men and women, tactics that make a fortune-teller run for her life (tactics that have indeed been used here in America if you would do a little digging).
It isn’t that Palin or Muthee want spiritual protection from witches, they can pray for whatever they want, all they want. But that isn’t all they are celebrating when they celebrate Muthee. With him they are celebrating the use of social and religious power to literally drive people who don’t agree with them out of their towns and cities. Muthee is famous in “Third Wave” circles not for what or how he prays (in that, he isn’t so unique), but because his “spiritual warfare” influences people to harass and drive the “witches” out. That he has become so very popular here in America should concern us. That Palin, who most assuredly knew his background and exploits, received his blessing willingly should raise some questions. Questions like: will she be content with just prayer should she hold a national executive position?
I think these are questions that should be explored. So I have explored them. To tell you the truth, I was hesitant to do so at first, because I knew that certain conservatives would accuse me of wearing partisan blinders just as you are doing now. However, I have seen personal religious beliefs used to create policy, so I think it is important to explore a woman’s faith if it includes prayers against “all forms of witchcraft”. If it encourages an ongoing war against all forms of non-Christian religion, specifically religion that includes a goddess in it (which, to them, includes the Catholics).
As for the other charges on my character, I think you are misrepresenting me and my blog. But I doubt that any defense I would muster on my behalf, or any posts I point out refuting your claims, would change your mind at this point, so I’ll leave it be. I have said my piece, and I am moving on.
Cheers,
You called her a Dominionist, but claim you aren’t referencing the AIP? You haven’t mentioned why your coverage of the RNC arrests didn’t include the attempted murder of the CT GOP delegates or the illegal firearm, weapons and bomb making material from Starhawk’s friends you were drumming up support for and yet again you don’t bother to take a step back and say “Well yes, our curses on Bush or Republicans are exactly the same as praying for protection of Witchcraft”
Palin isn’t anti-Pagan, very few people are because most Americans DON”T CARE about pagans. Black Liberation Theology supports violence against Whites however, will you be exploring Obama’s faith? As a victim of Liberation theology myself growing up I can truthfully tell you that it supports violence. Do you care?
And of course criticizing you is an attack on your character, thus you won’t listen. A childish and hysterical position that allows you to dismiss any critique of you, which was my point about Wicca in the first place.
Awesome. I completely agree. There are definitely a few people like us out there – check out my website for my long standing experience with being Wiccan and being excommunicated from my community for pointing out issues with it and its leaders.
Granted it is a rant and the details aren’t fully fleshed out (that would require a book – which I am considering writing) but I completely agree with you and laud your courage for posting this article. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you wish to communicate further.
Wicca is a farce period …it is an invented, made-up, fabricated designer religion for rebellious brats trying to shock their parents that wouldn’t let them stay out past eleven on a school night before they went to college and their naive, feeble little brains were exposed to pot and neo-pagan occultism idiocy.
…what a joke!
hit the gym losers this jock and his friends would kick all of your asses without fear of a retaliatory “spell” LOL
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please, it seems a critical point has been missed here. the Wiccan Rede states, “An it harm none, do what ye will”. It requires any self respecting (real) Wiccan to think long and hard before taking any action, for good or otherwise. We don’t curse, hex, etc. Many of us are happier keeping to ourselves, than going public with our “weird” lifestyles.
I understand how misconceptions can continue to thrive with teenagers boys and girls seeing “Charmed”, or some mive and thinking its so cool. More often than not, they pick up just any book on the Craft they can find, and start calling themsevles a Witch. Either to freak out Mom and Dad, or to scare the bullies at school. The point they are missing, is that it IS a religion, not just toys and games. They don’t take the time to study the history, nor do they have the patience to sit through a full calming meditation(my prefered technique for relaxing).
Please, I am sorry, didn’t mean to go into any kind of lesson, but my purpose here, is only ment to help calm the flames of hatred. As they say, you win more friends with honey, then vinigar.
I have said my peice, may you all Blessed Be
I’m sorry, but if I may one last time, in Wicca, there is no such thing as Satan or the Devil. We do not believe in these deities. Such folk that do are indeed called Satanists, but they are not Wiccan. These are two completely different sects of Paganism. Just as VooDoo is seperate, and so on.
As far as the child molestation goes,…(I realized I never addressed this issue), I personally am apalled to think that these things still happen, but there are some pretty sick people out there. I don’t believe that a true Wiccan would read that part in the Frosts work and actually take it seriously. I ask that everyone take into account, that many books written on Wicca, and Paganism, were written by those that have at best only a partial understanding of the culture. Now-a-days, there are many more books, and still only half at best are worth opening. I don’t know alot about the Frosts work, and I don’t think I plan to read it, but if a person is nieve enough to read sick stuff like that and take it for truth, then that shall fall on them when they come to the end of their days.
I was just as apalled when the Cathalic Fathers were found molesting children, yet I don’t believe it was every Father. That being said, those twisted individuals that do practice this do not stand for us all, and I believe then to be the minority among us.
Please pardon me, for I mean no offence to anyone here, nor am I discrediting your beleifs, but if I may add one last thing, no True Wiccan is anti-anything. We are only against any religion that claims to be the only one true way. We believe that religion is a very personal thing. Without that personal love we each feel for our respective Gods and Goddesses, we would have no faith. Nothing in our hearts to tell us, there is something bigger than ourselves. To know that when we die, there is eternal Love.
My deepest apologies if I have offended any here, I only mean to help clear the misconceptions that those sick few are making for the rest of us. We wish to live in peace with other religions, and only ask that when you hear, see, or read things of this nature, to look alittle deeper, before blowing it up, and making it worse.
My personal favorite is Socrates, who was a gentle yet brutally honest soul, who was executed for telling the truth of the world, as it was, and not sugarcoating it.
“And now comes the time to go our seperate ways, I to die and you to live, which is better, God only knows” exit Socrates.
May you all Blessed Be
A concerned Friend
No one said Wiccans were Satanists, as I’ve stated before I was a Wiccan for many years, and remain a Pagan.
Okay. Unless any of you have extensively researched Wicca and even then, don’t act like you know everything about it. Don’t criticize a religion unless you want the flaws picked out in yours. And for your info, Wicca is not a “made up” religion. It’s The modern form of ancient witchcraft practiced by the Druids and celts. According to ALOT of recorded history, witchcraft is one of the oldest religions still existing today.
Are you illiterate. I WAS a Wiccan, and Wicca is not related to the ancient practices of Druids. That’s Wiccan THEOLOGY but you tell me Ariel, since the Celts were head hunters and the Druids sacrificed people and both lived in places with winters that killed hundreds how does a Skyclad Gardnerian coven relate to those ancient religions?
Wow Ariel, you fell for the same b.s. that so many teenagers fall for. Wicca is not based on the druids. Wicca is based on a variety of different sources including OTO, Crowley, Masons and a ‘coven’ that is still debated as to whether or not it even existed. Along with these sources and some others (originally at least) Gardner in his own words said he made up much of the information in order to ‘fill in the holes’.
Nice post, Rob. I don’t agree with all of it; but I applaud its spirit, which is one of fidelity to the truth. There is no conflict between recognition of the validity of all sincerely-held points of view and a belief in objective truth; points of view are based in reason, and reason cannot bridge the subject-object dichotomy. That is the prerogative of man’s spiritual function. To say that a man’s point of view is valid is not to say that the propositions are valid but that the man himself is.
I still call myself a Wiccan.Some 20 years ago, Cunningham was my starting point. Since the spirituality of his approach was in my opinion genuine, the form through which it was expressed was valid for him; and it remains valid for me. I have personal experience of the person of the Goddess in my life; *that*, and not psychobabble, is the reality upon which my faith is based.
Politically, I am basically libertarian: socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I am strongly sympathetic to many of the basic positions of Ayn Rand, which takes me somewhat out of the camp of the political left. I have watched Fox News for years, and I am impressed with Glenn Beck.
I repudiate child abuse of all kinds with every fiber of my being. That being said, I also believe that sex is fundamental to Witchcraft spirituality, but that it has been almost completely discarded by neo-Witches for a number of reasons, most of them bad. I further think that the abandonment of sexual practice is a big part of the reason that neo-Witchcraft has degenerated into a “religion” of politics, psychobabble, and style rather than substance.
As you might imagine, I am solitary. With beliefs like mine, I’m not sure any group would have me, at least not if I spoke my mind.
I have not done any spellwork to speak of for many years. I have in the past, and seen its power; but my religious practice is much more devotionally than ritually based. Ritual has value; it’s just that devotion has been more fruitful for me. From time to time, I have returned to ritual, at least briefly; and when I did I experienced its power. I think a living persoanl faith can be like that, emphasizing different aspects of a tradition, or expanding that tradition when necessary, as personal need dictates.
Finally, I don’t think it’s fatal to Wicca that it is an invented religion. If it comes to that, all religions are invented. As Lex Luthor said in the first Superman film, some people can read the back of a cereal box and discover the meaning of life; it’s ultimately not the form that matters, but our openness to Spirit. And Spirit can speak through anything.
Blessed Be
Tom
Thank you Tom and I agree with you, which is one of the reasons I believe there need to be some stricter guidelines for interactions between adults and children and teens within Wicca. The sexuality aspect is important, as is the now lost emphasis on the Horned God.
I’m not going to sit and type out all the untruths in this article, but there are plenty.
For one, Wicca is practiced by males and females of varying ages, from young to old.
And two and more importantly: The so-called “Witch’s Bible” that you qyote came out long after another so-called “Witch’s Bible” (which was altogether more sensible and included no molestation).
The one that you refer to was condemned massively by WICCANS, other Pagans, and witches as well as just about everyone else.
As a male who was a Wiccan I already know that. I assume you didn’t read the post but was told what it said by someone else. Sad really.
Also I was a Wiccan when The Witches Bible controversy was still going and there was no massive condemnation of the Frosts, but more importantly there isn’t one today.
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