| Imagine, for a moment, a criminal trial where a child testifies that an adult has tormented her in a dream, and the jurors find the adult guilty! Sound crazy? Today perhaps, but not in one Massachusetts village over 300 years ago. Because of its system of combined criminal and Puritan justice, from March to Sept. 1692, over two�hundred�men, women and children were accused of practicing witchcraft. Of these 200, 19 were burned alive, one was crushed to death by large stones and the remainder were imprisoned, 17 of which died of starvation. History reports these people were killed for their own good in an effort to terminate their contracts with the Devil and cleanse their souls. In reality, these people were murdered. Murdered because of IGNORANCE and murdered because of FEAR. I�m sure most of you have heard the saying, �People fear what they do not understand� and I can think of no better example than the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. You may be surprised to hear that Witchcraft is still around. How do I know this? I was raised around it and have been practicing for almost 30 years. This morning I would like to ask each of you to keep an open mind and allow me to clear up a few misconceptions you may have about this subject. I�m going to define the religious concepts, explain the belief system, and discuss the different types of Witchcraft. First a definition. Witchcraft, presently called Wicca due to the negative connotations associated with the word �Witchcraft�, is a nature based RELIGION that pre-dates Christianity. Heavy focus is placed on fertility and in the inter-connectedness of all living creatures: what affects one, affects all. Wiccans also recognize two deities, one male and one female. So now that you have a basic idea of what Wicca is, let me explain their belief system. A lot of people have misconceptions about Wiccans, thinking that they worship the Devil, sacrifice animals and cast "evil" spells. This is mostly due to how Hollywood portrays Wicca. Wicca pre-dates Christianity, so they have NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER with the Christian Devil. In fact, Wiccans don�t even believe in the existence of the Devil. |
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