PRESS RELEASES, QUOTES, NEWS CLIPPINGS
The earth and all living things share the same life-force. They are composed of patterns of intelligence, of knowledge, and of divinity. all life is a web. We are woven into it as sisters and brothers of All. Witches need to be grounded in both worlds and awake to their responsibilities for both worlds. It is only by being responsible human beings that we can be responsible Witches and only responsible Witches will survive Excerpt from "Power of the Witch" by Laurie Cabot, Delacourt Press. (Dell Publishing) N.Y., N.Y., October 1989 |
As defined by the English Oxford dictionary "Witchcraft" is a Celtic (pronounced Kell-tick) word meaning the wise, good people. |
| Date: October 5, 2000 Contact: Maeven Eller and Bryan Lankford Phone: 214-821-3340 DALLAS BECOMES FIRST TEXAS CITY WITH WICCAN PRAYER DESPITE GOVERNOR'S REJECTION OF WICCAN LEGITIMACY Dallas, TX - Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and other members of the Dallas City Council became the first Texas municipal body to allow a Wiccan prayer at a government meeting prior to a Dallas City Council meeting on Wednesday. The prayer, delivered by Wiccan Priest Bryan Lankford, was conducted amid swirling controversy. Wicca, whose adherents are sometimes referred to as witches, is a life-affirming, nature-based religion grounded in the celebration of the seasons, and in which both a god and a goddess are worshipped. Mr. Lankford, who was to have delivered the invocation a week earlier before having the invitation withdrawn and then reinstated, proceeded with the prayer despite outbursts by a member of the audience and several speakers who took to the microphone in order to speak out against him. "May we show compassion for those whose lives are not as easy as our own. .... We pray for honesty, love, compassion and faith. ... We ask this of deity in whatever form each of us perceives it. We ask this city be transformed with the harmony and balance that faith in a greater power brings," Mr. Lankford's invocation stated, in part. Governor George W. Bush, who signed a proclamation declaring June 10 to be Jesus Day in Texas, and has urged all Texans to "follow Christ's example by performing good works in their communities and neighbourhoods," has also gone on record on ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA as stating he believes that witchcraft is not a legitimate religion. The comments made on June 24 were in response to the Army's decision to allow Wiccan practices on its bases. "I don't think witchcraft is a religion, and I wish the military would take another look at this and decide against it," he said. Kirk, mayor of Texas' second largest city (ninth in the nation), disagrees. "The City Council is not in the business of choosing one faith over another. We have sought to have a representation of all religious faiths. I was moved by the invocation that was given today, as I have been before," he said. Governor Bush was unable to be reached for comment. |
David March is an inmate at the Marquette Branch Prison operated by the Michigan Department of Corrections. While in prison, he converted to Wicca. March initiated a suit under 42 U.S.C. g 1983 in a U.S. district court against the prison warden, his administrative assistant and the religious coordinator. They had prevented him from using incense in his rituals. His lawsuit claimed "that the defendants have deprived him of his First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion and his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws." The memorandum recognizes:
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"If you take [a copy of] the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain." Herbalist Carol McGrath as told to her by a Native-American woman. Witchcraft and Indian religion have many commonalities. |
"We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same right we give you--to live in peace. We are much more similar to you than you think." Margot Adler |
"When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was, or will be. We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all creation." Edain McCoy |
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REV. PAUL NEWMAN "NEITHER CHRISTIANITY NOR SATANISM", United Church Observer. 1993-FEB, P. 10: "...practitioners of Wicca often call themselves witches.....Newman wrote a letter of support, in which he argued 'the Wicca religion is an authentic, respectable religion that works for the health and well-being of its followers. It is not to be confused with Satanism which is a destructive, evil movement'." |
DANIEL COHEN "THE NEW BELIEVERS", M. Evans & Co. (1975) P. 129-31. Quoting Leo Louis Martello: "Witchcraft is a pre-Christian faith. It tends to be matriarchal whereas both Christianity and Satanism are patriarchal and male chauvinist. The latter two are merely opposite sides of the same coin. Witchcraft, as the Old Religion, is a coin of a different vintage, predating both. |
STEVE RUSSO "THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND Harvest House (1994). P. 93: "...witches are not Satanists and don't believe in evil, Satan or sacrificing animals. Doing evil is supposedly against one of the basic principles of their religion. If you do anything bad, it comes back to you three times. Any magic witches do is 'for the good of all,' as they say at the end of their spells." |
DAVID CRYSTAL BARNES & NOBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA (Based on the Cambridge Encyclopaedia), Barnes & Noble (1993), P. 1307: "Contemporary witchcraft in the West sees itself as an alternative religion, celebrating gods drawn from various European pre-Christian religions, and exercising its magical powers in beneficial ways." |
DONALD WATSON "A DICTIONARY OF MIND AND SPIRIT", Optima (1993), P. 378: "The modern practice of witchcraft, Wicca or the Old Religion, as it is also called, is a system of animistic beliefs and rituals in which the individual aims to harness natural magical powers and use them constructively..... Although the history of witchcraft was associated with devil-worship, evil sorcery and black magic, this was largely due to the propaganda of the Christian church.....Most modern practitioners of witchcraft have managed to cast off the old image and have successfully convinced the public of their harmlessness and good intentions." |
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Can You Imagine? |
| Chaplain's Handbook First of all, the original publication was compiled under contract from the Army by Rev Dr. J. Gordon Melton and Dr. James Lewis of the American Academy of Religions. It was first published in 1978 and updated in 1990. It is currently out of print and will not be updated again. The primary difference (concerning the entries on Wicca) between the versions is that the 1978 version has only one reference to Wicca, and the 1990 version contains the original reference, plus a separate entry on Gardnerian Wicca. The purpose of the Handbook was solely informational for chaplains and commanders to allow them to better understand and accommodate the diversity of faith groups serving in the military. The popular misconception is that the Handbook recognizes as legitimate and authorizes the practice of these faith groups on military installations. The reality is that this pamphlet was in no way statutory or regulatory. The military does not "recognize" or "authorize" any religion. For it to do so would be a violation of the principle of separation of church and state. What the military does recognize and promote is the right of every individual member to follow his or her own chosen spiritual path. Since the chaplain, regardless of his or her particular faith, is responsible for pastoral supervision of ALL authorized persons within his or her area of responsibility, information about non-mainstream spiritual practices was essential. So the Army went to a non-sectarian research group and requested that they compile a handbook to provide such information to Army Chaplains. The problem was that there were over 7 broad categories of religious practices addressed (from Native American to fringe Christian to Eastern paths), with over fifty separate encyclopaedic entries. Many of the groups listed in the pamphlet strongly objected to being listed in the same "official document" with other groups whom they considered "heretical." Hence, after the 1990 update, the Army decided to let the pamphlet drift into obsolescence with no further adieu. This, of course, left a vacuum and created a problem for many chaplains struggling to fairly accommodate distinctive faith groups. For the last couple of years, Wicca has been one of the most visible of the distinctive faith groups with which military chaplains have been concerned, and substantive information regarding it has been painfully lacking. With the demise of the Chaplain's Handbook, there was really no place for the military chaplain to turn. This pamphlet is not an "official" publication, it is the reference to which military chaplains are directed when they make inquires to the AFCB for information about Wicca. |
Overview And Guide For Wiccans In The Military (US) Please download for reading at your liesure. Overview.pdf |