Wicca bicka my friend Flicka, the spirits are about to speak.
Sorry, I get carried away. I sometimes revert to Rocky and Bullwinkle rhymes to make sense of things.
Wicca practitioners, incensed when The News-Press ran a story last week linking accused son-killer Leslie Wallace to the Wiccan religion, lambasted reporter Mike Hoyem with e-mails.
I’m happy to report Hoyem doesn’t appear to be under any spell.
Here’s a sampling of the umbrage:
Charles Copeland, Stevensville, Mont.: “As a practicing Wiccan of several years, I can tell you most certainly that this insane, homicidal mother was no Wiccan. The fact that the sacred word Wicca ever rolled off this psychopath’s tongue sickens me unimaginably.’’
Linda Caliri, Aberdeen, N.C.: “I hope that you realize that her practice of Wiccan didn’t cause her to kill her son - her insanity did. There are hundreds of practicing Wiccans and pagans in the United States. We are your neighbors and coworkers. We love our children, take care of our homes, go to work and pay our taxes like everyone else.’’
Bill Kilborn, Melbourne: “When a killer is Christian, do you mention that? Why not? Most are ya know, or at least would claim to be.’’
Chris Taub, Tempe, Ariz.: “Leslie abused and twisted the actual practice of witchcraft. Someone who is ignorant to the actual methods of practice often feels they can win the lottery with the boiling of a bat head or obtain the will of a man with a potion. A spell in witchcraft is the equivalent of lighting a candle in front of a saint’s statue in the Catholic church.’’
Rowan Wakefield, Hemet, Calif: “She did not follow the Wiccan Rede and was in no way practicing the Wiccan faith, although she obviously dabbled in some very negative aspects of witchcraft.’’
The Wiccans have spoken.
John K. Simmons, a professor of religious studies at Western Illinois University, is an expert on Wicca.
“Trying to grasp the Wiccan religion is like trying to grasp a handful of mercury,’’ he says. “It’s very hard to speak in a broad sense.’’
Simmons hedges his opinion by saying never say never.
“Wicca is an opportunity for women to take a leadership role in an alternative religion,’’ he says. “Wicca is an earth-centered spirituality, which 99 percent of the time is completely harmless.’’
Unfortunately for the Wallace family, Leslie Wallace was in the 1 percent.
“They would never imagine this sort of violence,’’ Simmons says. “The fundamental, basic understanding is that Wicca is diametrically opposed to Satanism.’’
Simmons says law enforcement upholds a conspiracy theory that Satanists use Wiccans to recruit members, but he doesn’t buy it.
“That Satanists mask their activities by recruiting through Wicca makes no sense,’’ he says. “Satanists are so mixed up, sociologists say they couldn’t organize anything like that.’’
Simmons says there is always that 1 percent that crash jets into World Trade Center towers or an unbalanced mother who kills her son.
“She is a woman who is disturbed with her place in life and is a seeker,’’ he says. “Witchcraft is a red flag.’’