holidays. Four occur at the time of the solstices or equinoxes, the other four fall roughly midway between. Historical research shows that these holidays were celebrated throughout Europe and the British Isles in early pre-Christian times. Many festivals were so popular the Church couldn’t stamp them out, so they appropriated and linked many to various saints.
“Brigantia, or Imbolc, the day when newborn lambs begin to nurse, became the Christian Candlemas, honoring the purification of the Virgin. Held February second, it marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Brigantia is the day of Brigit, the Irish goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry. Moving on toward spring, the vernal equinox usually falls around March twentieth.”
“Twelve hours of darkness and twelve hours of light,” I said.
She nodded. “Roman Catholics turned this one into the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Next comes Beltane, on May first.”
“The day for dancing round maypoles.”
“Exactly. An obvious fertility ritual. Summer solstice, the longest day of the year, falls around June twenty-first. For Wiccans, the summer solstice is when the maiden gives way to the mother aspect of the Goddess.
“Lammas, celebrated around August first, announces the coming of autumn and the beginning of the harvest. Then it’s on to the fall equinox, around September twenty-third.”
“The point when day becomes shorter than night and winter looms.”
“Right again. The fall equinox was also the time of the second harvest, and of winemaking. For Wiccans, it is when the mother prepares to yield way to the Crone aspect of the Goddess.
“Samhain falls on the last day of October, and is celebrated today as Halloween. In ancient times, it was customary to slaughter livestock and begin smoking meat on Samhain. In the old Celtic calendar, it was the end of one year and the beginning of the next, so the separation of the living from the dead was especially dicey at this time.”
“So we dress up in scary costumes to keep the spirits at bay?”
“That’s one interpretation. Finally, the winter solstice falls on or about December twenty-first. Also known as Yule, this is the shortest day and longest night of the year. For Wiccans, it’s the period of the year during which the Crone aspect of the Goddess reigns. Many religions have placed the birth of their gods at the solstice. Jesus, Horus, Dionysus, Helios, and Mithras all claim Yule as their birthday.”
“Makes sense to me. The days begin growing longer, so it’s a time of rebirth and regeneration.”
“Right on, again. So, to make a long story short, tonight we’re not celebrating anything special. Just coming together for companionship and to worship the God and Goddess.”
I thought of Slidell’s reports from neighbors concerning activity the night before Jimmy Klapec was found.
“How often do you gather?”
“Typically, the second Tuesday of each month.”
Funderburke first spotted Klapec’s body the previous Tuesday.
“Always?”
“Usually.” Her brow furrowed. “Why do you ask?”
“What about last Monday?”
“Yes, of course. There was a planning session that night for the Samhain festival. I forgot because I wasn’t here.”
Maybe she was being honest, maybe not. Her expression gave no hint.
“Did Asa Finney attend that meeting?”
She looked off into space.
“No. He attends very few.”
“Do you know where he was?”
She shook her head.
“Did you try contacting him?”
“I called several times to see if he would be going out to camp that night.” She looked down at her hands. “I got no answer.”
I watched the bonfire reshape the features of her face, elongating her nose and deepening the hollows below her eyes and cheekbones.
She looked up into my gaze.
“Asa is incapable of harming another human being.”
“He’s a self-proclaimed witch.”
“So am I. So is every person here.”
I said nothing.
“Asa is fully committed to Wicca, and, therefore, to a reverence for life. I know in my heart of hearts he could never take a life.”
She shook her head in frustration.
“There are so many misconceptions about us. We’re linked to Satanism, vampirism, Freemasonry. Some say we engage in group sex and human sacrifice. It’s all madness, based on ignorance.”
She turned to me, body tense, reflected firelight flickering in the darks of her eyes.
“Fear of women’s power runs like a subtext through most of today’s religions. Modern church doctrines are full of stories of sirens and witches and enchantresses under the full moon. Empowering male propaganda.
“And it’s so ironic, because ancient artifacts suggest people first worshipped a female deity, a goddess or earth mother. Did you see the image over the coven house door?”
“It’s modeled after the Venus of Willendorf,” I said, referring to a Paleolithic figurine unearthed in Austria in 1908.
“Of course.” She smiled. “You would know your prehistoric archaeology. And you would also know that the earliest written records suggest worship of both gods and goddesses. And that these early female deities eventually lost out to patriarchal storm gods like Baal, Raman, and Yahweh.”
Her eyes moved over my face.
“Wiccans are modern pagans who imagine our first mother as the Goddess worshipped in prehistory, before the old boys’ deity network came along. We strive to bring the subtext of female subjugation to the forefront, and to change that mind-set. We want a different world here and now, one in which women and men are equal, in which assumptions about who should hold power and what has value are different.
“But we want change brought about peacefully. Wiccans honor the feminine, but, first and foremost, we view our religion as a personal, positive celebration of life. We revere the creative forces of nature, symbolized by both a god and goddess.”
She took my hands in hers.
“Let me introduce you to the others. Let us show you who we are, what we believe, what we do. You’ll see. No one among us could take the life of another.”
“All right,” I said. “Show me Wicca.”
So I met Sky Bird, Raven, India, and Dreamweaver. I witnessed dancing and drumming and chanting. I ate. I listened. I asked questions.
I learned that Wicca claims an estimated 400,000-plus practitioners, making it the tenth largest religion in the United States, behind Christianity, nonreligious/secular, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, agnostic, atheist, Hinduism, and Unitarian Universalist.
I learned that Wicca has no official book, central governing agency, physical leader, or universally recognized prophet or messenger.
I learned that there are many Wiccan traditions, each with its own distinct teachings and practices, including Alexandrian, Faery, Gardnerian, Odyssean, Reclaiming, Uniterranism, and dozens of others.
I learned of the Law of Threefold Return, the belief that both good and bad deeds reflect back on the doer, and of the Eight Wiccan Virtues: mirth, reverence, honor, humility, strength, beauty, power, and compassion.
Despite the tarot cards, and grimoires, and crystals, and love spells, I sensed an unaffected genuineness in all I met.
I came to understand that Wiccan beliefs and practices remain largely unknown because followers hide out of fear of persecution.
Persecution of the sort sold wholesale by Boyce Lingo.
