
The following article appeared in issue #8 of Web of Wyrd magazine. I
thought PODSpeople might find it of interest, and knowing that
relatively few sysops carry Web of Wyrd echo, thought I'd post it here.

Searching by Carol Neist

It has always bothered me that there seems to be an abnormally
large lunatic fringe in Wicca; people who threaten others with
curses from a "Council of Witches"; people who claim
qualifications they haven't got; people who are so
fundamentalist in outlook they put Fred Nile to shame. For
despite the comments of Hawkeye (WOW #6) and Khaled's letter
(WOW #5), there is, I believe, a strongly fundamentalist
element within Wicca. It seems to be found mainly amongst
those who, in Hawkeye's words, "believe in the objective
reality of faery", and those who see the Gardnerian Book of
Shadows as Holy Writ. Now I have no objection to people
believing in anything they want to, but if they try to tell me
that my more psychological approach (to say nothing of my
cynicism regarding the aforementioned Holy Writ) is wrong, I
naturally question whether I want to be classed under the same
banner.

Whilst I wholeheartedly concur with the premise that worship
is a private matter between the practitioner and his/her
deity, in actual practice it just ain't so, even in Wicca.
"You have to do it our way, or you aren't one of us", seems to
be a common attitude. The argument that formal teaching or a
recognised clergy would destroy the right of each individual
to approach the divine in her/his own way therefore, just
doesn't hold water, since as things stand at present, a
practitioner who doesn't agree with the mainstream viewpoint
will very quickly find him/herself on the outer anyway. The
"free form eclectism" touted by Peregrin (WOW #6) just doesn't
happen outside the books, as far as I can tell.

I'm certainly not suggesting that we ought to rush out and set
up seminaries and parish councils, but I do think we have to
accept the fact that we do already have a de facto clergy,
largely self-appointed, most of whom have no training in
counselling or teaching. Like it or not, if you are leading a
group of any kind, no matter how informal or unstructured, you
are going to need both those skills. It's all very well for
Michelin (WOW #6) to compare coven leaders to parents who
"receive little or no training beyone that which they received
in the family in which they grew up". It's actually a sad fact
of life that we were all fucked up by our natural parents,
thus creating the need for us to clear away the shit through
spiritual practice. I don't want to be stuffed around by any
more amateurs, thank you very much - my family of origin did a
pretty good job already!

It's obvious that hierarchic structures don't work, but what
do we do instead? What we've got at present isn't really
working either, and in many cases it is, in fact, very
hierarchic anyway! It's a really hard one, and I don't think
there are any easy answers. But, sadly, we have a situation
where unsuspecting neophytes run the risk of being conned,
robbed, threatened or subjected to various power trips, and
even those of us who condemn such behaviour run the risk of
being tarred with the same brush in the eyes of the public.

Whilst Pagan organisations (such as the Pagan Federation,
Pagan Alliance or Church of All Worlds) could be an excellent
clearing house for people seeking groups, and groups seeking
members, who is to decide which groups are "kosher"? Supposing
a bright-eyed bushy-tailed tyro from Upper Woop Woop
approaches an organisation, and asks to be put in touch with
the nearest Wiccan coven. The organisation knows damned well
that the only coven within coo-ee of Upper Woop Woop is run by
a couple of dickheads who shouldn't be in charge of a street
stall, let alone the vulnerable psyches of others. What do
they do? If this particular pair of dickheads are paid up
members of said organisation, how can enquiries not be passed
on to them? It really isn't possible without some sort of
formal screening system, to keep the lunatic fringe out of an
umbrella organisation, especially when some of them are
already well established in the Craft.

Of course many people don't see teaching as a relevant
function of the coven. But new members are going to look to
the leaders for guidance, even if only at an unconscious
level. Everyone who starts a spritual practice does so because
they see life to be a mess, and they need to know how to get
out of that mess. Personally, I think teaching is very
important, and I will seek teaching on Love and Trust wherever
it is offered. Over the last couple of years, I have found it
mainly within Tibetan Buddhism. Similar to the Craft in many
ways, the practice is more structured and the teachers have
all been practitioners for twenty years or more. None of the
teachers attempts to dominate the students; in fact they go to
a lot of trouble to discourage guru-tripping. Teaching is
offered by a variety of visiting teachers, so students get a
range of opinions and practices, and they can ask for specific
teaching as they need it. I've seen less power-tripping and
ego-flaunting in this movement than in any other; they really
do go along with the premise, "an it harm none do what you
will". Their methods, having been tested for over a thousand
years of unbroken lineage, really do work: I learnt more about
magic from those guys in a month than I learnt in five years
with the Rosicrucians and some twenty-odd years of private and
group Craft-style practice. It isn't surprising that Tibetan
Buddhism is currently said to be the fastest growing "new"
religion in the west. Incidentally, I thought Hawkeye's
comments on Eastern religions a bit sweeping: I know little of
Taoism, but the Hindu and Buddhist faiths don't claim to be
based on Absolute Truth. Rather, they are based on the belief
that there is an Absolute Truth and that it is possible for
the individual, without mediation from Priest or Guru, to find
it. Quite a different proposition.

All any teacher or group leader can do is point out ways and
means; it's up to the individual to find her/his own way to
the Divine, call it Goddess, Christ, Krishna, Bliss-Void or
whatever. But finding suitable friends is the first step along
the path - you really can't do it all by yourself. Whether you
go in for counselling, therapy or spiritual training, the idea
is the same - find someone who's been there already, and who
knows how to give you a hand over the rocky bits. It is this
which lies at the basis of the guru/disciple relationship,
not, as some would have it, a need to dominate or be
dominated. The system is, like any other, open to abuse, but
we only have to look around and see the same abuses and worse
within the Craft, despite its supposed "free form eclectism".
(Good phrase that, thanks Peregrin!)

I still believe that the Craft is a beautiful path in theory,
and could be so in practice, were it not for the large numbers
of near-sighted people presuming to lead the blind. However,
perhaps I'm expecting too much - maybe the Craft really is
just a celbratory religion which offers a U-beaut party eight
times a year and a chance to run around starkers once a month.
Perhaps I am expecting too much in asking that it provide
tools, teaching and example for personal growth as well?
Nevertheless, this is what many people, including me, seek in
a spritual discipline. I would like to think that somewhere,
somehow, sometime, I might find it in Wicca.


The following article appeared in Web of Wyrd #8, and has been posted
here in two parts.

Leave it out Leviticus, by Aries

You know, I'm not too sure that it's safe for me to be
associating with you guys all things considered: "We have
allowed the legalising of abominations like witchcraft,
homosexuality and abortion." And to think I was fooled into
believing that you were mostly harmless except for an
interesting approach to sing-songs 'round the camp-fire and a
strong attachment to strange jewellry. But no, my immortal
soul is apparently in grave danger from "demonic powers behind
the evils that we have allowed into our land." Oh how could I
have been so blind? Woe, woe and thrice woe!

I paid a visit to my friendly neighbourhood xtian bookshop
("We give a Bible message to everyone who comes into the
shop") and came away with a bunch of one page factsheets
warning me about the dangers that dwell in the world, and wait
to entrap me in mind, body and spirit, and well warned I am.
For instance: "Hallowe'en is the night when the spirits of the
dead and demons visit the earth. That is why people dress up
as witches and other frightening things." If these leaflets
are typical of the modern xtian's world view, then there is
much to be afraid of. The first two quotes come from, "An
Introduction to Intercession and Spiritual Warfare", where the
believer is exalted to, "stand in all the armour of God and
wrestle in prayer." It may be just a coincidence but I kept
thinking of Reichian Body Armour and the joyless life its
possession entails. 

In "Hallowe'en" we are warned against Hallowe'en parties and
encouraged, "to find a wholesome alternative and to warn
others of the demonic background of what is too often seen as
just a harmless bit of fun." Having been raised a Puritan, I'm
well aware of the dangers in harmless bits of fun, like
Playing Cards. Were you aware that, "The first deck of playing
cards was invented in 1392 for King Charles of France who
incidentally was insane." Oh well, say no more; anything done
for a loony must be suspect. The Puritans called cards "The
Devil's Picture Book", and that's all that we need to know
after being told of "The Brothel Game", where people talk
dirty with each other using a secret code in the cards, and
how the Holy Family are blasphemed in hideous jest; we are
then asked if we could then "go on playing with a sinful pack
of cards?" But, I ask myself, how can 52 pieces of printed
card be sinful? How do we measure sinfulness? What does it
look like? What's its weight? Colour? You get my drift?

However, this is nit-picking in the face of faith, especially
when, "Witches and those closely associated with the occult
use cards to trick and delude men and women into vice, error,
deceipt, and finally into Hell." And that brings us back to
Hallowe'en, doesn't it? By convincing our kiddies that this
blasphemous Pagan ritual is harmless fun, you evil witches
trick them into dressing up as witches and lure them thuswise
into sin and perdition: "dressing as a witch you could open
the way to being involved later with the real thing... Many
young people have already been deceived in this way to their
cost." I must admit that I'd always assumed that it was
commercial exploitation by the business world that has added
Hallowe'en to the list of religious festivals that are
prostituted in the name of consumerism, and thus enter the
public realm. Maybe Satan is a businessman? Why not? It seems
imperative that the xtian sees the hand of Satan everywhere;
"The attraction in witchcraft is the power that it offers even
though this is from Satan." But how is this conclusion arrived
at?

Well, we know for a start that, "A witch is something that is
hateful to God." and we know that God feels this way because
He tells us so in Leviticus 20:6. Now, applying the logic of
"who isn't for me is against me", we arrive at the situation
where if God gets the hump with someone, they are
automatically against him. Remember, there is no third way
with Jahweh. By all accounts Satan is some else who's had a
falling out with God, and this means that, "Since a real
Christian is someone 'Born Again in the Spirit of God' (1
Peter 1:3-4, John 1:13), Satan is his enemy, and so are
witches and all their activities." It boils down to saying,
"All my enemies are ganging up on me in a conspiracy", which
may turn out to be an existential definition of paranoid
delusion.

You may, or may not, be pleased to know that witches are not
alone in being hateful to God. In fact, I ran out of money
before God ran out of people to hate. Spiritualism really rubs
God up the wrong way, and again we have this on the authority
of Leviticus 20:6; but probably worse in the eyes of the xtian
is the possibility that "If there is no judgement then what
sort of God do we worship who would consign us to have to live
in the presence of tyrants and murderers like Hitler, Stalin,
Herod and the like on the other side?" The problem that we
have here is our belief in the mythic Just World, where
goodness is rewarded and badness punished. And if things don't
work out that way, if St Augustine has Vlad the Impaler as a
next door neighbour in the hereafter, then the rhetorical
basis of xtianity would appear to crumble. The argument that
if you are good (ie, do as I tell you) you will go to heaven,
and if you are bad (ie, don't do as I tell you) you will go to
Hell, no longer has any validity. It could be argued that this
Just World belief underlies much of modern society which seems
to be coming increasingly under threat as the arbitrary nature
of reality becomes apparent.

Needless to say, Satan is behind all aspects of spiritualism.
Satan, the guy who "knows the Bible better than many
Christians", and who sees to it that, "we remain in spiritual
darkness". Spiritualism is hopelessly in error in its attempts
to communicate with the dear departed; such things are
forbidden by God and yet again we can thank Leviticus 20:6 for
this information. As for those shades who are 'all very happy
here', "Demons can impersonate the dead". Why should they
bother? Simple, it's all, "to keep man as he is, and lure him
into a false sense of security before destroying him." And as
for those healings, "What of the healings that occur in
Spiritualist meetings? Those who have experienced them will
admit that they do not always last." And to round it all up we
have them "trapped by the spawn of Satan's scam", those who
have been deeply into Spiritualism have found it almost
impossible to leave, such is its hold. People trying to do so
have experienced attacks upon their lives."

The "Freemason" tract struck me as a master piece of subtlety.
Satan is not directly implicated in this underground cult,
although the odd dark hint is let slip when voicing concern
that some xtians, "are practising Masons, who do not seem to
understand the true nature of Freemasonry. Light cannot have
fellowship with darkness." Masons are roundly attacked for
their secrecy, their lack of "total allegiance and dependence"
on Jesus, their vain presumption that they can achieve
anything worthwhile in this world without cutting God in on
the action. Worst of all is the hideous, blasphemous horror
behind the secret of the Great Architect of the Universe,
JAHBULON; that sacriligious inversion of the Holy Trinity,
where JAH=Jehovah, BUL=Baal, and ON=Osiris. But I always
thought that the guy lurking behind burning shrubbery abd
bossing Moses about went by the name of Jehovah, the God of
the Hebrews?

Never mind that. With "The New Age of Aquarius" we are on
firmer ground, with no need for pussy-footing around.
"Christians who know their Bibles will recognise the New Age
as only the old deception by Satan, who tempted Adam and
Eve... Adam and Eve disobeyed God and let in a new age of evil
in which Satan could invade their lives on earth." Apparently
the New Age of Aquarius was kept a secret until 1975 when it
was formally announced. The Theosophical Society gets
implicated here, but exactly how is left a little vague.
Clearly this is because, "The New Age has no visible head or
organisation (although the Illuminati are probably behind it.)
It is a network of Godless ideas such as humanism, pacifism,
interfaith religion, feminism, abortion, holistic health,
homeopathy, acupuncture, yoga and witchcraft." Goddam! I just
knew that foul Illuminati had to be behind anything so
Godless. (Ref my "The Aquarian Conspiracy Revealed", Children
of Sekhmet Vol 3 No 2). Having said all that, it's claimed
that the aim of the New Age is to unify the world under the
Lord Maitreya, and centralising world food stocks and finance,
"in a credit system, allocating a personal number to
everyone." Those who know their Bible (or who watched Omen
III) will know that Revelation 13 tells of the Anti-Christ who
gives his followers a mark (serial number?) which entitles
them alone to buy or sell, and coincidentally, "New Agers
consider the number 666 to be spiritually very powerful."

In case you haven't completely gotten the picture yet, we'll
put it a little more clearly: "The Bible description of the
time of the Anti-Christ and his one world government is
beginning to be realised in our lifetime, and it fits the New
Age closely." Whilst the good xtian is born again through the
power of Christ and with a little help from a Priest, "New
Agers are expected to be re-birthed and receive Luciferic
initiation, by their own efforts." In order to combat this
Satanic deception the good xtian is urged to be vigilant for
New Age terms like: networking; holistic; planetary vision;
and finding one's higher self.

But enough. I don't think I can take much more of this hate
and horror. When I entered that xtian bookshop I also
deliberately entered the xtian reality tunnel, and have ended
up feeling like Marvin (the Paranoid Android) who wonders how
anyone can live in anything so small. He was referring to
Arthur Dent's brain; I refer to the xtian reality tunnel,
which appears to me to be rather dark and narrow. To be a good
xtian I would have to see Satan everywhere; world peace,
inter-faith harmony, the good life; anything that threatens to
bring happiness is sinful. As a xtian I would be expected to
suffer, to sacrifice, to struggle constantly, to accept
heavier and heavier burdens, to accept calamities as a test of
my faith, to give unthinking obedience, to never once rejoice
in the world as it is, never count my blessings, and always,
always see myself as fallen and sinful. And after all this, to
accept that I may not get rewarded in this life, but have to
wait for a putative afterlife for the just rewards for all
that I have given up. As mentioned above, this belief in a
Just World is a core construct of Christianity, and apart from
all that suffering, the only other pleasure of the xtian is
gloating over the fact that their opponents will, "have to
face God's judgement in the hereafter." Spiritualism of
course, "is a dangerous deception from Satan, from which it is
extremely difficult to escape. Its end is destruction." As for
the little deluded dupes of the New Age, all their efforts are
in vain, because, "Even if the New Age does achieve a measure
of success, its work will all be destroyed by fire at the end
of the world." As for the witches who get their power to harm
others direct from Satan on Hallowe'en, eventually they, "are
themselves destroyed by the one who gives them this power."
Everyone comes to a sticky end, and the xtian caught in a web
of guilt, fear and passive sadism, gets a real kick out of
knowing that.

Leviticus, who gets referred to as an authority on what God
does and doesn't like, is 27 chapters of commandments, and
shows the basis of many of our current social attitudes; women
are of lower value than men; bodily functions that describe
women are unclean, ie, child-bearing and menstruation,
although to be fair, the emission of semen does make a man
unclean for the rest of the day. Coitus, according to God, is
for procreation only, in much the same way it is for the
beasts of the field. After all, coitus with a woman who is
menstruating can only be for the reason of enjoyment, which as
far as procreation matters are concerned is a waste of semen.
Needless to say, our concept of "sin" comes from the "crime"
of wasting semen. Be that as it may, most interesting of all
is Leviticus 16, where description of the scapegoat is given,
and how "all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites -
all their sins" are put on the head of the goat, who is sent
out into the desert to die for their sins. Much like the later
scapegoat, Jesu Christos. Of all the curious details in
Leviticus, the one that the xtians took to their hearts is
that of the scapegoat, and there seems to be no sign of a let-
up.
