The White Witch of San Francisco
    Union Square in San Francisco in the late 60s was a "happening" place.  Every day it would fill with every possible person imaginable.  My friends and I would go there on weekends to "freak watch" or "feed the squirrels."  There were the hippies, sometimes they would dance around, kissing whoever would come along.  Sometimes they looked like sad lost children, runaways begging for money.  There were the militant anti-war protestors; mostly angry young men wearing old uniforms.  They were "in your face" pissed at the world.  Some sincerely fighting for their beliefs, others merely wanting to fight - rebels in seach of a cause.  There were prostitutes, selling themselves.  There were drug-dealers, selling everything from LSD to Weed.  There were con-men, and food vendors (one in the same?)  It was never dull in Union Square.       One Saturday afternoon my friends and I trooped to the park.  Right away we could feel a difference in the park.  There were the usual groups of people but something has changed the atmosphere.  The sun was shining but with no warmth.  There was no breeze; the air was as silent as a tomb.  Even the normal park smells were covered by a sort of sulfur-like smell.  It smelled like spent fire-crackers and lightening.  We saw a group of people sort of parading through the park handing out flyers.  There were all following a man dressed in a black robe and carrying a large staff, with a ram's head on top.  He was Anton LaVey. 
     Before his group reached us a woman approached me and said, "This is not for you and your friends.  You should leave with me now.  I put a protective powder down around this place, but it will not last long."  Something about her made us follow her outside the park.  Looking back from across the street, it seemed as if Anton LeVey was the Pied Piper gathering in the weak with promises of power and riches.  We turned away and followed the woman to her book shop. 
     She said her name was Dolores and she was a white witch.  It is difficult to describe her.  She was not young, but probably not very old.  She seemed ageless.  She was dressed in a long flowing skirt and a peasant blouse, but she didn't look like a hippy.  Her hair was long and wild; the color was somewhere between blonde and brown.  She wore no makeup at all but had a natural glow to her skin. 
     She invited us into her book shop.  She explained that a white witch because she had nothing to do with evil.  She did not do any spells that would cause pain or harm to anyone or anything.  Her shop smelled like some wonderful kind of candy.  Sweet and magical.  She had all sorts of books, candles, herbs, oils, etc.  She said, "That is enough for today my children.  Now that you know your way here; you are free to come and visit me any time.  If you wish it, I will teach you many things."
     We made many trips to her shop and she taught us many things.  She said, "Everything in the universe is alive and we are all bound together.  We must all work together for the good of all.  Magic is a force all around us, and anyone can learn to use it."  She also warned us that what goes around comes around. 
     After I left San Francisco, I never saw Dolores again, but even after 30 years I remember everything about her.  The joy within her, the strength and power, and even the way she smelled.  A smell like the stuff dreams are made of.
- Glenda
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