This week I’ve enjoyed listening to NPR’s series on New Religion in America. Thursday’s piece “looks at the popularity of Wicca, or witchcraft, in America”.
Two points that intrigued me:
1) Girls and love
Narrator Barbara Bradley Hagerty said that according to Lauren Westphal (spelling?), manager of Celebration New Age in Colorado Springs, “even 9 and 10 year old bring their parents” to the store, and “kids want to learn about spells”. Westphal was quoted in the clip as saying “If its a boy, a lot of times…[the spell they want] …it’s protection, especially if it’s about sports. Girls, it’s always love.”
2) Free will and love
One of the principles of Wicca though is that “you can’t do anything” to affect someone’s free will. So, as Barbara Bradley Hagerty pointed out, “Love spells are typically a bad idea because they play with someone else’s free will”.
How interesting that girls seem to want love while boys want protection. But also interesting was the acknowedgement – from those who practice witchcraft and cast spells – that love must come from free will.
Love can’t – or at least shouldn’t – be concocted or controlled. It must be freely chosen.
