Dria El
November 1st, 2001, 12:41 PM
The witching hour
Celebrating Halloween in one of the oldest ways
By Daniel Shearer
Princeton Packet Staff Writer
Friday, Oct. 29, 1999
For centuries, they've been society's outcasts. Widely misunderstood and regarded with suspicion, witches do not worship Satan or any other malicious gods.
They do not fly through the air on brooms, sacrifice animals or shoot lightning bolts from their magic wands, but some of them do, on occasion, use cauldrons to make potions. In fact, several witches living in New Hope, Pa., have a large black cooking pot sitting near the front door of their store on South Main Street.
Inside, they sell more than 500 different kinds of herbs, along with occult books, incense, bath salts and an assortment of oils made at the shop by — you guessed it — real-life witches.
"We don't sell any animal products whatsoever," says Mystickal Tymes co-owner Eric Lee, who said he has been a practicing witch for more than 15 years. "It's against our kind of rationality and our belief system. We get skeptics, definitely. People come in and make their jokes and ask for eye of newt, and we respond and say, 'Well, that's black-eyed-susan. You can get it at the florist.'
"It's a continuous educational project for us, because when people come in and say, 'Oh, do you have a spell to get back at my boss?' we immediately jump in there and say, 'Well, before you do any magic, why don't you learn a little about the history of it?' We try to pull them away from spellcrafting until they're stable and balanced enough to start working magic."
With long hair and a ring on nearly every finger, Mr. Lee doesn't have the look of a conformist. He doesn't look bizarre, either. After all, the only difference between witches and other people is that witches cast a few spells every so often. Most of today's witches see no difference between what they do and what practitioners of the world's larger religions call "praying."
"I started reading tarot cards when I was eight-years-old, and from the bibliography of the book I used, it led me in the direction of various spiritual books," Mr. Lee says, adding that his parents raised him with a mixture of Protestant beliefs.
"But, it's like, you've got these emotions within you telling you that there is more than what they're telling you in church. And then when you question, they don't give you answers that you're looking for. So finally, when it finally manifests, or fits within you, you feel totally balanced and kind of one with everything."
Depending on the individual, witches may practice their craft alone, either indoors or outdoors, or they may participate in groups called covens. Most covens meet privately a few times each month, usually in conjunction with the cycles of the moon, but a few covens have open memberships. Witches also celebrate eight seasonal holidays, called sabbats.
While witches believe all sabbats mark times when increased spiritual awareness becomes possible though cyclical communion with nature, one of their most important holidays, Samhain (pronounced sau-wen), also known as Halloween, comes at the end of the harvest in October.
Witches regard this as a season of death, leading to rebirth. Many of them believe the veil between our world and the spirit world is very thin at this time, and they commonly ask — but never command or compel — the spirits of the dead to be with them.
To honor their ancestors, for hundreds of years some witches have observed a ritual called a "mute supper" in which they placed the best fruits of the harvest in a place in their home intended for their ancestors. Eventually, this tradition evolved to include carved pumpkins with candles burning within. The flickering light from jack-o-lanterns, they believed, would guide home the spirits of the beloved dead and ward off evil spirits.
"Samhain is considered the witches' new year," says New Hope resident Kris Rogy, store manager at Mystickal Tymes and a practicing witch for many years. She pauses to caress the store's free-roaming white cat, Morgana.
"You review your life throughout the past year and give thanks, and set goals for the new year," she says. "It's a great time to recognize and remember those who have passed on, because they are all around us. They're there to give us guidance and messages and just maybe to be loved and come into our life."
Usually, witches keep a diary of sorts, sometimes called a Book of Shadows, in which they document their rituals. Like any diary, these books are highly personal and are rarely published. After centuries of persecution (depending on the historical source, the number of witches killed for their beliefs could number in the thousands or even millions) witches have wisely learned to be secretive with their craft. Many witches will openly talk about their beliefs, but they rarely discuss the details of their practices.
Since there is no census for witches, it's difficult to tell how many there are in the United States. The closest estimate Mr. Lee offers is his store's mailing list: 21,000 names, in the U.S. and overseas. A recent gathering of witches hosted by his coven, The Circle of Ancient Paths, drew more than 450 people for a Samhain celebration and charity benefit for the Rainbow House, a long-term care residence in Ewing Township for females and young mothers who are HIV positive or have AIDS.
"Witches do take vows of secrecy, which is actually a throwback from the Middle Ages when there was active persecution of witches," Mr. Lee says. "You don't necessarily speak of your craft, for it could be used against you. But that's an old, archaic kind of concept nowadays, even though today it's being brought up in divorce cases and custody cases. Since Wicca is still a taboo kind of concept, people don't always talk about it."
"Wicca" is a term used by witches since the 1940s to refer both to their religion and their magical system. According to A Beginner's Guide to Witchcraft, by Teresa Moorey, it refers to group witchcraft and "can also be a means to self-development." The word "witch," which meant "wise one" long before early Christians came along and deemed the craft's practitioners to be devil worshippers, is not a gender-specific word. Male and female witches practice Wicca.
The rumors about witches and pentagrams are quite correct. Although there are many different varieties of witchcraft — Celtic traditions from the British Isles, Egyptian traditions and even Native American practices — the five-sided star, with one of its points in the upright position, is almost universally recognized by witches as a symbol of the "Old Religion."
Witches believe four of the five points of the pentagram represent the four elements of life — air, fire, water and earth — while the top point symbolizes the creator. To the layman, this could easily be confused with a satanic pentagram, which has one of its points pointed down, meaning that the material world is superior to the creator.
One of Wicca's more outspoken practitioners, Norm Vogel, a legally ordained Wiccan minister who lives in South Bound Brook, says he often wears a jacket with a large pentagram in public.
"I hear a lot of people whisper, 'He's a witch,' " Mr. Vogel says. "You can sort of feel their eyes on you. I've had people in stores refuse to wait on me, but I don't always wear pentagrams. From the look of me, you couldn't tell I was a witch. A lot of people say I look like an accountant or dentist.
"I work at a computer company. I wear a tie. I'm a witch. Frankly, I'm very much down on the whole goth thing, where people look like Halloween all year round. That offends me. They wear pentagrams and people think that all witches look like that."
Witches believe four of the five points of the pentagram represent the four elements of life — air, fire, water and earth — while the top point symbolizes the creator.
As a witch, Mr. Vogel has been completely out-of-the-closet for years. He says a few of his neighbors choose not to talk to him, and he occasionally receives awkward glances when he goes to church with his wife, a Methodist. Most of the time, though, he says New Jersey is a fairly tolerant place to live.
"Everybody in the church knew who and what I am," he says. "They didn't talk to me much, but that's their problem. I have no problem being in a Methodist church because I'm worshipping the same creator they are.
"Witches are very eclectic. They take from different religions because we believe that all religions are valid, but because they are man-made, they are imperfect. So many people have been brought up in their own religion, and they've been brainwashed not to look at anything else."
Many Wiccans, although not all of them, practice magic, but Mr. Vogel generally downplays the importance of the implements used during ceremonies. Real magic, he says, comes from within. Witches commonly cast spells for protection, healing, health and wellness.
"As far as magic is concerned, people say to me, 'Well, how do you know it's not coincidence?' My response to that is, 'It works much more often than it doesn't.' I myself have about an 80 percent success rate with it. I personally believe that all magic and all prayer is answered, but sometimes the answer is that what we want is not meant to be.
"We don't worship trees or the moon or any other of that stuff. We recognize the divinity of all things and we respect that. Much like in the Catholic Church, if someone bows or kisses a statue, they're not worshipping a piece of plaster. They're worshipping what it symbolizes."
Mystickal Tymes is located on 127 South Main St., New Hope, Pa. For information, call (215) 862-5629. Also check out the store's web site at www.mystickaltymes.com. In addition, Mr. Vogel maintains an informative web page at www.blast.net/norm3vog/fact.html.
Celebrating Halloween in one of the oldest ways
By Daniel Shearer
Princeton Packet Staff Writer
Friday, Oct. 29, 1999
For centuries, they've been society's outcasts. Widely misunderstood and regarded with suspicion, witches do not worship Satan or any other malicious gods.
They do not fly through the air on brooms, sacrifice animals or shoot lightning bolts from their magic wands, but some of them do, on occasion, use cauldrons to make potions. In fact, several witches living in New Hope, Pa., have a large black cooking pot sitting near the front door of their store on South Main Street.
Inside, they sell more than 500 different kinds of herbs, along with occult books, incense, bath salts and an assortment of oils made at the shop by — you guessed it — real-life witches.
"We don't sell any animal products whatsoever," says Mystickal Tymes co-owner Eric Lee, who said he has been a practicing witch for more than 15 years. "It's against our kind of rationality and our belief system. We get skeptics, definitely. People come in and make their jokes and ask for eye of newt, and we respond and say, 'Well, that's black-eyed-susan. You can get it at the florist.'
"It's a continuous educational project for us, because when people come in and say, 'Oh, do you have a spell to get back at my boss?' we immediately jump in there and say, 'Well, before you do any magic, why don't you learn a little about the history of it?' We try to pull them away from spellcrafting until they're stable and balanced enough to start working magic."
With long hair and a ring on nearly every finger, Mr. Lee doesn't have the look of a conformist. He doesn't look bizarre, either. After all, the only difference between witches and other people is that witches cast a few spells every so often. Most of today's witches see no difference between what they do and what practitioners of the world's larger religions call "praying."
"I started reading tarot cards when I was eight-years-old, and from the bibliography of the book I used, it led me in the direction of various spiritual books," Mr. Lee says, adding that his parents raised him with a mixture of Protestant beliefs.
"But, it's like, you've got these emotions within you telling you that there is more than what they're telling you in church. And then when you question, they don't give you answers that you're looking for. So finally, when it finally manifests, or fits within you, you feel totally balanced and kind of one with everything."
Depending on the individual, witches may practice their craft alone, either indoors or outdoors, or they may participate in groups called covens. Most covens meet privately a few times each month, usually in conjunction with the cycles of the moon, but a few covens have open memberships. Witches also celebrate eight seasonal holidays, called sabbats.
While witches believe all sabbats mark times when increased spiritual awareness becomes possible though cyclical communion with nature, one of their most important holidays, Samhain (pronounced sau-wen), also known as Halloween, comes at the end of the harvest in October.
Witches regard this as a season of death, leading to rebirth. Many of them believe the veil between our world and the spirit world is very thin at this time, and they commonly ask — but never command or compel — the spirits of the dead to be with them.
To honor their ancestors, for hundreds of years some witches have observed a ritual called a "mute supper" in which they placed the best fruits of the harvest in a place in their home intended for their ancestors. Eventually, this tradition evolved to include carved pumpkins with candles burning within. The flickering light from jack-o-lanterns, they believed, would guide home the spirits of the beloved dead and ward off evil spirits.
"Samhain is considered the witches' new year," says New Hope resident Kris Rogy, store manager at Mystickal Tymes and a practicing witch for many years. She pauses to caress the store's free-roaming white cat, Morgana.
"You review your life throughout the past year and give thanks, and set goals for the new year," she says. "It's a great time to recognize and remember those who have passed on, because they are all around us. They're there to give us guidance and messages and just maybe to be loved and come into our life."
Usually, witches keep a diary of sorts, sometimes called a Book of Shadows, in which they document their rituals. Like any diary, these books are highly personal and are rarely published. After centuries of persecution (depending on the historical source, the number of witches killed for their beliefs could number in the thousands or even millions) witches have wisely learned to be secretive with their craft. Many witches will openly talk about their beliefs, but they rarely discuss the details of their practices.
Since there is no census for witches, it's difficult to tell how many there are in the United States. The closest estimate Mr. Lee offers is his store's mailing list: 21,000 names, in the U.S. and overseas. A recent gathering of witches hosted by his coven, The Circle of Ancient Paths, drew more than 450 people for a Samhain celebration and charity benefit for the Rainbow House, a long-term care residence in Ewing Township for females and young mothers who are HIV positive or have AIDS.
"Witches do take vows of secrecy, which is actually a throwback from the Middle Ages when there was active persecution of witches," Mr. Lee says. "You don't necessarily speak of your craft, for it could be used against you. But that's an old, archaic kind of concept nowadays, even though today it's being brought up in divorce cases and custody cases. Since Wicca is still a taboo kind of concept, people don't always talk about it."
"Wicca" is a term used by witches since the 1940s to refer both to their religion and their magical system. According to A Beginner's Guide to Witchcraft, by Teresa Moorey, it refers to group witchcraft and "can also be a means to self-development." The word "witch," which meant "wise one" long before early Christians came along and deemed the craft's practitioners to be devil worshippers, is not a gender-specific word. Male and female witches practice Wicca.
The rumors about witches and pentagrams are quite correct. Although there are many different varieties of witchcraft — Celtic traditions from the British Isles, Egyptian traditions and even Native American practices — the five-sided star, with one of its points in the upright position, is almost universally recognized by witches as a symbol of the "Old Religion."
Witches believe four of the five points of the pentagram represent the four elements of life — air, fire, water and earth — while the top point symbolizes the creator. To the layman, this could easily be confused with a satanic pentagram, which has one of its points pointed down, meaning that the material world is superior to the creator.
One of Wicca's more outspoken practitioners, Norm Vogel, a legally ordained Wiccan minister who lives in South Bound Brook, says he often wears a jacket with a large pentagram in public.
"I hear a lot of people whisper, 'He's a witch,' " Mr. Vogel says. "You can sort of feel their eyes on you. I've had people in stores refuse to wait on me, but I don't always wear pentagrams. From the look of me, you couldn't tell I was a witch. A lot of people say I look like an accountant or dentist.
"I work at a computer company. I wear a tie. I'm a witch. Frankly, I'm very much down on the whole goth thing, where people look like Halloween all year round. That offends me. They wear pentagrams and people think that all witches look like that."
Witches believe four of the five points of the pentagram represent the four elements of life — air, fire, water and earth — while the top point symbolizes the creator.
As a witch, Mr. Vogel has been completely out-of-the-closet for years. He says a few of his neighbors choose not to talk to him, and he occasionally receives awkward glances when he goes to church with his wife, a Methodist. Most of the time, though, he says New Jersey is a fairly tolerant place to live.
"Everybody in the church knew who and what I am," he says. "They didn't talk to me much, but that's their problem. I have no problem being in a Methodist church because I'm worshipping the same creator they are.
"Witches are very eclectic. They take from different religions because we believe that all religions are valid, but because they are man-made, they are imperfect. So many people have been brought up in their own religion, and they've been brainwashed not to look at anything else."
Many Wiccans, although not all of them, practice magic, but Mr. Vogel generally downplays the importance of the implements used during ceremonies. Real magic, he says, comes from within. Witches commonly cast spells for protection, healing, health and wellness.
"As far as magic is concerned, people say to me, 'Well, how do you know it's not coincidence?' My response to that is, 'It works much more often than it doesn't.' I myself have about an 80 percent success rate with it. I personally believe that all magic and all prayer is answered, but sometimes the answer is that what we want is not meant to be.
"We don't worship trees or the moon or any other of that stuff. We recognize the divinity of all things and we respect that. Much like in the Catholic Church, if someone bows or kisses a statue, they're not worshipping a piece of plaster. They're worshipping what it symbolizes."
Mystickal Tymes is located on 127 South Main St., New Hope, Pa. For information, call (215) 862-5629. Also check out the store's web site at www.mystickaltymes.com. In addition, Mr. Vogel maintains an informative web page at www.blast.net/norm3vog/fact.html.