Wicca in the News

Paranormal Activity 

Donna Golob is a Wiccan spiritualist from Dover Township who featured on ‘A Haunting’ as she tries to get rid of a paranormal entity which is haunting a home. As a Wiccan, Donna only believes in spiritual answers to these paranormal problems. As the activity increased, Donna used sage and holy water to bless the house. Miles, one of her team member, stated “it took care of everything. When she was done, you could almost feel a weight lifted off the house.”

Oregon College Shooting

The English born killer, Chris Harper Mercer, claims that his preferred religious views are “Pagan, Wiccan, not religious but spiritual.” Although he claims to be part of an organisation that values peace, Mercer walked into a college in Oregon and opened fire on students. This goes against everything Wiccans supposedly believe in but it also highlights the fact that they may be encouraging a minority to commit horrific crimes, maybe due to the ritual aspect of their beliefs. 

Florida Murders

Wicca experts and other pagan religions have denounced a Florida sheriff after he linked a triple murder to witchcraft. A woman and her two sons were discovered dead at home on Friday in Florida and the sheriff claims the murder and the positioning of the bodies appeared to be a “ritualistic killing”. The sheriff claimed “those of you following any of that will also note that at the time of death we believe on Tuesday it also coincides with what’s referred to as a blue moon.” Suggesting that it was some kind of Wiccan/Pagan sacrificial ritual. Selena Fox, a Wiccan priestess and the senior minister of Circle Sanctuary took offence to the sheriff’s comments. She stated “ritual murder is not part of the Wiccan religion, it never has been, and it’s not now, it goes against the ethical principles of the religion.”

Deborah Maynard

A Wiccan Deborah Maynard was invited to bless the Iwoa legislators in order to show that Iowan’s are diverse and inclusive. However, more than half of representatives skipped the Wiccan prayer and representative Rob Taylor turned his back during the blessing as he believes Jesus would have passively protested like him. Paster Mike Demastus was in the audience balcony leading his own prayer to save Maynard’s soul. He states “I was praying for her salvation. I was praying that she would come to know one true God.” Michelle Gute came to pray so as to conuteract Maynard’s Wiccan prayer; “I don’t want any demonic influences on the people who are making decions on our behalf” she said to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Conclusion

Overall, all of these news reports are giving negative connotations to the Wiccan community. It appears that because American is highly Christian, they do not want any other religion interfering with their religion and they are worried that because Wiccan’s are spiritual, their rituals will require sacrifices. Having been created in the 1950’s, the religion has now started to become popular again, especially with young girls and women. This may be because it is also a way to express their feminist views and gain power. Real life fears may be used in films because of the fact that audiences can then experience these horrific events for themselves but without the consequences they would get if they were actually put into a situation like that. Through uses and gratification, they gain entertainment from being able to watch other people going through tough situations without having to leave their seat.