h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Before I ask several serious questions that won't come across right since I have insomnia and unrelatedly can't ever really be serious, I want to say, congratulations on the engagement! (did my homework...)

Alright, let's begin. Your article on the Persecution of Wicca was a frontpager...the ninth. whatever day that was. Read through it. And the conversations. No, not some of them; insomnia, remember. I admit I know virtually nothing about the religion of Wicca. Which should mean that what I have heard should be the mainstay of the faith, no details, just the facts, Ma'am. I am well-traveled, but have only ever met two individuals who professed to be Wiccans. Wiccers. Wiccists... As I said, don't know much.

Anyway, they both put weight on the idea of Elements having great significance, but nowhere in any of the convos did I see anything about elements. They always talked about Earth, Wind, and Fire, as well as many other bands, teehee, but seemed to think of these in addition to water, as being sort of cardinal powersources. Is this not the case, with relation to you?

They too insisted that they didn't have to prove anything but could if they wanted to, if they focused, whatever. After reading a very large amout of narrowminded posts along both sides of the fence, I still say this is a cop-out (No offence, what with the law enforcement thing, ) Don't get mad... Powerless, powerful, it doesn't mean a thing to me. As long as it means something to them, I am perfectly fine, as I have my own system of beliefs that I take solace and comfort in.

However, (You saw that coming, right?) if the religion of Wicca brings peace and hope to it's practitioners, than it's 0 for 2 in my experience.

Bootcamp, Navy, Greatlakes, Ohio. We had a guy in our division who was a Wicca person. (Is that PC?) He said there is a lifeforce in everything that is aligned with one of the earlier mentioned elements, thus never killed anything. So he quickly got the nickname Flowerpower. Soon after that he wound up with the nickname Captain Planet, since we wanted to know when the 4 elements combine their powers and the Cap comes out and saves the day. Kids can be so cruel. Even in the defense of their nation and religious freedoms. Anyway, he was kinda weird and may not be a shining example of Wicca. One day he said my Aura was spiky orange-red. I said his was going to be bruised black and blue, and he eventually got the additional nickname of Ms. Cleo. Can you guys (That's right; you are now in a box. Sorry) read auras and futures and thingys like that? Then one day he was gone. Nobody knew where he was. Then he shows up a week later, and slashes his wrists with a piece of broken glass. The right way. I guess I should say the wrong way. I was on watch at the time, and had to watch the stupid gank bleed himself into a coma while waiting for the Paramedics. Not a good first impression.

I'm on my submarine a year or two later, and we get a radio (a new guy who works in the radio division) named Hoffman who is a Wicca and claims to be a fire...person. He says that is his main element and when focused he can control fire, and is never harmed by it. I told him that fire was just the tip of the physics iceberg known as heat, or local average kinetic energy, ideas that directly disproved the idea of fire as a Platonic solid, but he was adamant. So I requested a demonstration. He got himself a week to focus and store energy, or do whatever it was he wasted a week on. So he came to me on the big day and said that he was now in control of all fire on the boat. A Submarine with a Nuclear fission reactor and a pressurised water reactor, mind you. I said congratulations, Hoffman, before we begin the show could he hand me that thing right there... you got it, burned his dumba**! He cried like a baby. I actually felt a little bad about that. In between bouts of laughter. Nukes can be so cruel. Anyway, couple months later, kid wigs out and becomes a bedwetter. Immediate submarine disqualification. Off the boat. 0 for 2.

Sorry this got kinda long. As I read the posts, at first you didn't get many replies, than you got front page and received lots (I know, I read them) which one idiot said was a proof of the power of the faith. Had a good laugh at that. Anyway, eventually your enthusiasm waned and you began to say you never wanted this to happen, meaning getting the whole demographic, not just the open-minded and even-tempered. So this post is probably dredging up lots of great memories for you, but in addition to several questions I hid throughout the above paragraphs, I just want to know what YOU get out of your system of beliefs. Are you reassured to know that everyday, what? What keeps you strong in your religion? What would get, say, an ignoramus like me to want to delve further into the grand mystery of Wiccanastics. I made that word up. Speaking of words, I wanted to tell one spitfire who called himself an ardent atheist who kept misquoting bible verses that atheist and ignoramus come from the same root word. But I don't like to stir things up, and he was way to closed-minded to accept that fact.

Whoa, tangent. Anyway, if you could address one of more of the issues I tried to present, that would be great. You know you probably won't change my mind, but please consider this a chance to at least help a lost idiot become just a little more tolerant of others. If that helps. Swerve.

Talk to you later. Well, read, anyway.

Ki O Tskete

NC*

Hi!

We're called Wiccans

It's nice to get some honest, even-tempered questions for once. I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.

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You're right, earth, air, fire and water are the four cardinal power sources. They play a very significant role in the casting of spells because the elemental categories play a role in the power of the ingredients and your intended outcome. I may not have mentioned that in the article.

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Wicca is a highly individualized religion. You get out of it what you put into it. I was raised a Catholic, which (as you may or may not know) is a very, very extremely strict and rigid religion. Wicca is nothing like that. There are no churches, no meetings, no rules to follow, save for one, which is the Wiccan Rede. I think I covered that in the article.

For me, that was best. For some, like the guys you've been describing, it's not. But often the people who are unstable and psychotic (who, by the way, exist in every religion) would be that way no matter what they believed. So it's not wiccans that are unbalanced, it's people.

Does that answer your questions? Did I miss any?