Witches are Real People Too: Understanding American Neo-Paganism from a Christian Perspective

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Overview

In the summer of 1997, two Pentecostal Christian ministers opened a locked gate on a remote dirt road in the San Gabriel mountains, drove through the gate, and locked it behind them. They looked at one another, and nervously joked about being invited to be the sacrifice for the Pagan celebration. Half a mile down the dirt road, there was an adventure waiting, but this was not the kind of adventure from an Indiana Jones movie with crazed Pagans pulling out hearts, and sacrificing virgins. It was an adventure into a world of learning about neighbors, and soon to be, close friends. By 1999, they would be living in WitchCity - Salem, Massachusetts, and Witches and assorted Neo-Pagans would be part of their everyday activities. From their Southern California lookout in the mountains, this was a new and wild place for a couple guys who had spent much of life in a staid church environment. The 1980's were filled with sensationalist propaganda from both Hollywood and Evangelical Church circles about the occult world of Witches and their dark secrets. When two pastors locked the gate behind them this day, it was the beginning of a long engagement with an anthropology of acceptance, and a realization that Witches are real people too.This book is the early "white papers" for a lifelong project, and the beginning of a series on intersections of Neo-Paganism and Christianity.