Against The Witch Hunters, by Robin Culain

"All this has happened before. And all this will happen again. But this

time it happened to ..." Well, us.

The beginning of Sir James Barrie's Peter Pan must echo what many of us are

feeling, as we watch a new and loosely-knit conglomerate of yellow

journalists, right-wing eco-spoilers and Evangelical and Fundamental

Christians move slowly towards a Witch hunt for the 90's.

Our spiritual ancestors faced similar problems in many times and many lands.

Recall the Priestesses of Eleusis, last of an ancient line, in decline,

falling at last to the stratagems of Theseus and his new Attic Gods. Recall

the Etruscans, their vision of sexual-political balance overpowered by the

might and organization of the husband-headed Roman empire. And most tender to

the touch, recall the agony of the middle ages, as the Catholic, then

Protestant churches consolidated their grip on the rural population, killing

six million alleged or actual Witches in the process.

The hunt is in a beginning stage and beginnings are important. The formal

focus of the television specials, Redbook articles, diatribes in the

LaRouchite New Federalist, "Occult Crime" seminars and newspaper articles is

some thing called "Satanism", which bears little or no relationship to Wicca

and Neo-Paganism. In fact, media "Satanism" bears little resemblance to any

historically verifiable Satanism. It is neither classical Egyptian Set-

worship", Romantic Ceremonial Satanism a la Huysmanns nor modern Egoist

flamboyance per La Vey. Sometimes it's heavy metal sullenness,drugs and

violence, but that's usually only for starters. The heavy metal boys, we're

usually told, are just dupes of the Great Conspiracy. And when you get down

to the real stuff, the genuine complaint,it's generally the stuff of horror

movies and nightmare -- baby-eating, virgin-sacrificing bloodsucking

monsters!

All this has happened before. And all this will happen again. There's a

limited range of things that can be used to stir up the anger of a populace

against a group, or deaden moral sensitivity to a persecution. It pretty much

boils down to baby-eating, virgin-sacrificing and bloodsucking. This has been

the century of Hitler's Holocaust. but the Russians who butchered entire

Jewish villages in the Pogroms, the inhabitants of York who slaughtered

nearly every Jew in the city in the 1100's didn't merely think the Yiddim

dressed and talked funny. The accusations were the same. By Jesus, those Jews

ate babies! They were just like Satanists, with one exception. You could find

the Jews. There probably aren't any "Satanists" as portrayed in the articles,

seminars and diatribes. If there are, they're certainly not Neo-Pagans or

Wiccans. But in the lucrative atmosphere in which the press, missionaries and

so-called "Crime Advisers" publicize and proselytize, the word "Witch" creeps

in every third sentence. Naturally, we Witches and Neo-Pagans have spent a

certain amount of effort pointing out that we love children like anybody

else, have no particular attraction to virginity, and tend, in the most

extreme of our diets, to vegetarianism. In short, we have tried to educate

our detractors and the media to our harmlessness .

This tactic is true, and this tactic is good, but I think that if it becomes

our primary response to persecution we will ultimately fail to endure.

Imagine a Witch in the Middle Ages in front of a Catholic or Protestant

tribunal. In some cases she has been denounced by a business competitor, or

an envious rival in love, or a spiteful neighbor. In other cases she has been

brought to the dock by an expert in "Occult Crime" -- the traveling Witch

Finder.

She stands bound before her Inquisitors, plain or pompous depending on their

religious persuasion. Perhaps there's a crowd around. She tries to educate

them to the simple fact that she's a worshipper of the Old Gods, loves

children like anybody else, has no particular attraction to virginity, and

tends, in the most extreme of her diets, to vegetarianism.

They, in turn, accuse her of worshipping a living fiend, blighting the

cattle, and eating babies.

She doesn't stand a chance.

Now picture another scene, one that has not occurred often. She stands before

those assembled, and begins, shall I say, to point out some facts. She points

out the medieval physician with the two per cent live delivery rate who wants

the local midwifery practice shut down. She points out the priest and bishop

who are terrifying the once fun-loving populace into penury and pestilence

with the twin threats of damnation and the noose. She denounces the Christian

nobles who will brook no interference with their rule, least of all from the

old Nobility of the land.

She'd be shut up in short order, but in a different way, for she would be

addressing the real issues. The nonsense about babies, Black Men and cattle

was then, and is now nothing more than a smoke screen to mask real and

significant religious and political differences. It's all a cheap trick, a

coward's cheat, a way of throwing muck until some sticks. It is only used

when the real terms of debate cannot stand the light of day, and it works

only if we permit it!

Our situation is in no way as dire as that of our ancestors. Only now have

things moved to the stage where one group, the far-right and sometimes

farcical Limonites, actively bait Wiccans and Neo-Pagans as being "as bad as

Satanists". And unlike our ancestors, we have a freedom of speech they could

only dream of. We will not be silenced if we speak, certainly not at this

So let's not waste our opportunity! Whenever the "Witch-Hunters" bait us or

attempt to smear us with their cannibal taunts, let's find out what the real

agenda is, and address it. Make the Lyndonite defend himself against whipping

up the population against a minority religion as Hitler stirred hatred

against the Jews. Make the entire La Rouche crew explain their suicidal

environmental policies, and their editorial statement that "the worship of

Mother Earth does indirectly lead to

mass murder ..." Engage them on the real issues -- just what the worship of

the Mother really means, and what people are really like that scapegoat

innocents and despise nature!

Likewise with the "Occult Crimewatch". Ask them about their sources of

revenue. About their religious agendas and connection with Evangelical

missions. Ask the if they support religious freedom, and if non-Evangelical

religious belief, in their opinion, is a hazard to the public. Ask them, if

you can corner them into a frank reply, what on earth they are doing

lecturing hate to police officers sworn to

protect all the public, Christian and Pagan!

The media deserve the same. Let's not spend more than a breath denying lurid

charges. Instead, ask them why they are sensationalizing and smearing a

legitimate religion to make sales. Inquire as to whether the German press in

the 30's had a responsibility for the slanders on the Jews that they printed.

Ask them how they'll feel if harm comes to one Pagan woman or man, girl or

boy through their negligence, indifference to non sensational fact and search

for sales.

In every case we have an opportunity to turn the tide, by coming right out

with our real differences in front of the public, and insisting that the

terms of debate be on genuine issues. We must refuse to be backed into a

defensive posture, denying ever wilder charges.

Instead let us bring our active advocacy and love of our Gods, of Mother

Earth, of our families and children and ourselves to the fore in every

debate. We must require our opponents to bare their genuine beliefs and

motives, and contrast them clearly with our own in full view. We must

sharpen the terms of debate so keenly that no person can leave the scene

without having to make a clear and conscious choice about what they value

and believe is right.

There's no point in lecturing to the Cardinal. The audience for every debate

is not the Witch Hunter, it is the neutral observer. Let them see the love of

the Earth, and contrast it to nearsighted greed and poverty of emotion. Let

them see the love o f the Old Gods and contrast it to a cringing fear of the

Father's judgment. Let them see generosity and intelligence and refusal to be

sacrificed, and contrast them to venality, cunning and scape goating. In

every debate, let us rise to the height of our capability, and let our

opponents have it in the Values --right where it hurts!

BLESSED BE.