Witches can and should be converted to Catholicism, according to a robust new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society that portrays spell-casting as spiritually empty, exhausting and immoral. Instead of “seeking to change God’s mind or violently alter his plans through circle-casting”, it says, Wiccans should be encouraged to surrender this often frightening burden and accept the love of Christ.
In other words, come to Mass, leaving your broomstick at the door.
Actually, I should make it clear that Wicca & Witchcraft: Understanding the dangers by Elizabeth Dodd doesn’t make any silly cracks about broomsticks. But I can’t resist. There’s no eco-bore like a Wiccan eco-bore. I’ve met a few and, believe me, you need to be under a spell to sit through a three-hour whinge about Mother Gaia from a practitioner of white magick. It makes one long for the days when witches restricted themselves to a quick cackle before riding off into the night. (Just kidding, witches and pagans! Seriously, last time I had a go at them they reported me to the Press Complaints Commission, which proved resistant to their magick.)
Ms Dodd is reasonably polite about Wicca/paganism, but she’s not buying any of its bullshit about being descended from prehistoric totemic and animist religion via the Pharaohs, Rosicrucians, Cunning Men, Illuminati etc. “Modern Wicca’s origins lie in Victorian occultism,” she says (also finding room to mention the movement’s early links with Aleister Crowley). “Wiccans are encouraged to develop their own pantheon of gods and goddesses with whom they are comfortable to work – a religious ‘dream team’ … There are no limits to the creativity Wiccans can employ when creating their religious pantheons: it would not be uncommon to come across a Wiccan who worshipped Odin, Poseidon and the Buddhist Bodhisattva Kawn-Yin simultaneously.” (And was willing to talk about it in detail, I’ll bet.)
As for the overlap between white and black magic, Dodd makes this point: “Whether or not a Wiccan can successfully communicate with the dead or summon a spirit, whether spellwork is effective or not, has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another. Wicca has no hierarchy or support structure in place for these vulnerable young people … The use of magic, the practice of witchcraft, offends God because it is rooted in our sinful and fallen nature. It attempts to usurp God.”
You wouldn’t read anything this feisty from the Bishops’ Conference, but that’s typical of CTS, which stopped watering down its Catholicism years ago and is thriving as a result. Whether Dodd’s tips for evangelising witches actually work I can’t say – you’re supposed to emphasise that Christianity frees us from the self-centredness of Wicca and to find common ground over ecology (though even here Dodd is combative, accusing Wiccans of worshipping creation itself).
One thing’s for sure: should a group of right-on Wiccans convert to Catholicism, they’d be welcomed a damn sight more warmly by certain south coast bishops than the members of the Ordinariate. There’s always room for female eco-fanatics in the episcopal bureaucracy. Especially if they’re already members of a magic circle.
