Someone page Martin Luther: Witches are returning to the forests of Germany.
"Witches have returned to the German forests, dancing naked in groups under the full moon and calling to their gods.
"The covens vary in size and in how seriously they take their calling, but the numbers are rising, particularly amongst the young.
"Their religious ideas are described as ‘pagan’ rather than Satanist, and many of the older practitioners have a history in the environmental movement, where they learnt a passionate love of nature.
"In some cases this has led on to a belief in the natural powers of the forests. The women are convinced they can work magic."
For a good Catholic evaluation of modern witchcraft, see Sandra Miesel’s article "The Witches Next Door."
The news piece on the return of witches to the forests of Germany notes a distinction between teens dabbling in witchcraft because of exposure to the rise of occult literature in the various forms of media and older witches with a background in secular feminism. My guess is that the two groups are attracted to power: The teens want power over their personal lives (the article notes that they want to conquer shyness and master their homework through potions and incantations) while the older women want WomynPower.
"All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others — even if this were for the sake of restoring their health — are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion" (CCC 2117).
Or, as Lord Acton put it: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
“Witches have returned to the German forests, dancing naked in groups under the full moon and calling to their gods.”
Just wait until they hit middle age. That will take the charm out of these naked romps REAL fast.
I just had a vision of Jimmy’s round dance group, sans garments, doing an “eight-to-the-middle-and-back” under a full moon.
Thank the Lord for western wear!
Given the nature of the Wiccan Rede, one would think they would make an good partner in the pro-life movement.
Though from my experiences, I don’t think they’d be very pro-life.
I dunno, this doesn’t sound too bad. I recall the words of G.K. Chesterton:
“Neo-pagans have sometimes forgotten, when they set out to do everything the old pagans did, that the final thing the old pagans did was to get christened.”
They’re on their way back to the Church!
I was struck by this comment in Sandra’s article: “Paradoxically, Wiccans don’t necessarily consider the deities they invoke to be real.”
Could this be a step towards the ‘materialist magicians’ of The Screwtape Letters?
I believe there is a group called “Pagans for Life”- but unfortunately it seems that, like pro-life atheists/agnostics, they are a small minority.
I’ve never met a pro-life Pagan. The treasurer of the campus pro-life group where I went to school was an atheist- and was puzzled that more atheists were not pro-life. To quote him..”We atheists think this is the only life there is- so shouldn’t we be damn sure we aren’t taking it unjustly ? ”