300 Years & Counting 1H KILLS - On The Issues Magazine

farm in the summer of 1990, she was unawarethat rumors about her had been circulatingfor years. As Mercer County State's AttorneyAlan Duppler later reported, "There havebeen rumors flying around Mercer Countythat these three ladies are witches and they'resacrificing animals and doing general culttypethings." According to the story, the guesthouse was a church, and visitors were seendancing around a pit fire. (The "dancers" wereapparently construction workers putting outgrass fires started by sparks from the newlyburnedpit in the yard.)When Jim Reppen, who worked for a tireservice company, and Dean Unterseher, afarmer, heard the story, they "decided theywere going to go down and eliminate theproblem," says Duppler. Reppen andUnterseher, both armed, were arrested onSinger's farm in August and charged withconspiring to murder her."I'm stunned my neighbors could believethese things when we lived here 21 years,"Singer said. "And instead of calling me to findout if they were true, they circulated themaround until they became like an atomic blastmushrooming out of the prairie."Karina Singer was an independent landowner,with different spiritual interestsfrom those of her neighbors. She is one ofmany women — including feminist politicians— who are faced with modern-daywitch hunting.In reality, witchcraft is far from negative orevil. My definition of "witch" is a priestess orpriest of wiccecraeft skilled in healing andpsychic work and occult magic: A person ableto bend or reshape universal energies, or anindependent, uppity, powerful, or daringwoman.I define a "feminist" as a female or male whois female-centered or female-oriented; or aperson who is not prejudiced against othersbecause of their gender or sexual preferences;or anyone who, in a patriarchal society, workstoward the political, economic, spiritual,sexual, and social equality of women.Modern witchcraft includes a variety of denominations,or "traditions." The most feministof these is the Dianic tradition, named forthe Roman Goddess Diana, woodland Goddessof Freedom, huntress, and patroness ofwitches. One branch of Dianic witchcraft includeswomen and men as practitioners, andhonors the God (of Nature, Love, etc.) as wellas the Great Goddess. Another branch islesbian and separatist, refusing to acknowledgemales either as practitioners or in theform of Diety (which may be considered reversesexism).ON THE ISSUES SUMMER 1992But three months ofintensive, and oftensuccessful, work showedme that the problemsfaced by this project aredeeper than the lack ofmoney or a permanentsite.I found resistance to theproject among Salemarearesidents. I foundthat the figures I hadbeen given for the costsof bronzing wereinaccurate. Most dangerousof all, I found thatthe creator and majordecision-maker of thisproject, YiannisStefanakis, is a man whoundermines his ownproject and does notkeep important commitments.On January 2, 1992,1withdrew as the mainfundraiser for the SalemWitch Trial Memorialstatue, and the Institutefor Feminist Studies, ofwhich I am the ExecutiveDirector, ceased itssupport of the project.I apologize to all thesupportive donors,volunteer publicists andenthusiastic publicationsthat became involvedwith Stefanakis' Salemstatue because theytrusted my word.—A.F.Some witchcraft denominations often havefemale leaders and, to an extent, honor theGoddess. But others practice antiwomen sexism,and few witchcraft practitioners of anydenomination are overtly involved in feministissues (though a portion are in peace or ecologygroups).During the past two decades, Americanfeminists have changed much of the outwardlook of witchcraft. There are more femaleleaders visible, and there is a great dealmore emphasis on Goddess culture. But, despitethe long human heritage of Goddessworship around the world, and despite thereality that European witch hunts that lastedfor centuries were primarily directed againstwomen, contemporary witchcraft includes andaccepts sexists, people who have conductedinternal witch hunts, and other kinds of bigots.And witchcraft too often tends to speak inmale terms, to assume a greater importancefor male deities and male spokespeople, andto assume antifeminist or antigay rightsstances.Feminists involved in witchcraft have madea difference, however. The foundation of witchcraftis rooted in female power and femaleconcerns. Much can be learned from feministwitchcraft that one can find useful as a feminist.Because Dianic witchcraft emphasizesthe perception of universal creativity andenergy as feminine, as the Goddess, womenare thereby empowered as vital and importantbeings in the universe. So, it becomesnatural to assume that: Women are creativein all ways; women are leaders; women havea deciding voice in all that matters to them;women are responsible for their actions;women are able to communicate directly withDeity (or universal energy or Nature); andwomen have sexual freedom, reproductiverights, and the right to define their bodilylives.Feminist witchcraft encourages the developmentof intuition as an effective part ofhuman life. Each human being has intuition,an inner voice, a way of deciding quickly whatis right or wrong for oneself, and what to do25