Magic Strongholds

“The community of Wiccans, witches, and pagans is growing faster than any other religious group in America.” -— Christine Wicker in Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic Is Transforming America (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006)

“It’s often the outcasts, the iconoclasts, the hyper-religious, the young people, sometimes middle-aged women, those who have the least to lose because they don’t have much in the first place, who feel the new currents and ride them farthest.” — ibid., pp. 16,17

As evidenced by the bumper stickers on this Tacoma Blazer (many mystical stickers not shown), Paganism is growing in our county. One the strongest expressions of that growth is the proliferation of Wicca. Founded by Gerald Gardner in the 1940s, Wicca is a synthesis of elements from different streams of witchcraft and mystical religions. It is a New Age witchcraft, repackaged for the contemporary public. It is ubiquitous to the point of having been recognized in the U. S. Marine Corp as a religious category, securing constitutional protection for Marine practitioners, some of whom practice polygamy in violation of Marine policy.

Wiccans freely draw from the beliefs and practices of Druidism, Celtic religion, Paganism, Satan Worship, etc., without feeling constrained by the more defined principles and purposes of those religions. Wicca appeals to the young by its Hedonism and holds the mature by the promise of control over one’s environment. Both sexual libertinism and the practice of magic are part of Wicca. Wiccans consider orgies, homosexuality and polygamy as legitimate practices.

Wicca has a strong presence in Tacoma, and has proliferated across the Narrows on Key Peninsula and around Port Orchard and Olala where stories of animal sacrifice have circulated for decades. I recently had occasion to pray over house near Olala where Pagans had snuck onto the property one night and sacrificed a cat.

ACTION POINTS:

1. Familiarize yourself with Tacoma's local Pagan organizations, TERRA and Pagan Ocean Association. They are reaching out to your neighbors and children.
2. Locate New Age shops that sell mystical paraphernalia in your city and barrage them with intercession for the salvation of proprietors and employees. If you have the calling to do so, befriend the shop employees.
3. Launch a local ministry outreach to Goths; a young person identifying with the Goth subculture has a high likelihood of also dabbling in Wicca. "An interest in neo-paganism, shamanism and the occult amongst goths appears to be higher than amongst the general population." (Source: Wikipedia)
   

posted by Roderick of TMin @ 8:26 AM