It is hardly a deniable fact anymore that Christianity, the standard European religion of the last two millennia, is on its last legs. From total domination of the Western world five hundred to a thousand years ago, it has fallen to the level of a minor voice in world affairs. While it continues to grow among the uneducated peoples of the third world (the islands of the South Pacific are now where it has the most success at acquiring new converts), Christianity has proven itself incompatible with our modern scientific understanding of the world. Its insistence on a literal "person of cosmic heft", as Shaw cleverly put it, and its claim that blood sacrifice (the death of the fictitious Jesus Christ, himself a pastiche of various Middle Eastern mythologies) can redeem sin, can no longer convince educated people. And where Christianity told us we would find an underground landscape of forked-tailed demons torturing the souls of the dead, modern science has found only molten rock.

However, this does not mean that the antiseptic, mechanical world-view of science is the only one possible for the well-educated modern man or woman. In fact, the latter part of the twentieth century (as Christians reckon it, at least -- we really need a new calendar now that the year 1 BC, or 4 BC, or whenever they now claim Jesus was born, is no longer of any significance to us) has seen a revival of a tradition much older than Christianity, yet paradoxically more in tune with our modern scientific understanding of the universe. This venerable ancient tradition is commonly called Wicca, or "witchcraft".

I imagine at this point some of my readers are wondering how incantations performed with the eye of a newt have anything to do with modern science, to say nothing of flying around on a broomstick or copulating with the Devil. The answer is that these things have nothing to do with real witchcraft; they are mad fantasies invented by the torturers of the Christian Inquisition during the Middle Ages, men driven mad by sexual repression to the point that they delighted in torturing the most deranged "confessions" out of peasant women, most of whom were themselves Christians. (One often encounters the claim that the "witches" killed by the Inquisition were actually Wiccans, and that the Inquisition was part of Christianity's attempt to stamp out all other religions. While this notion makes for nice melodrama, and allows modern Wiccans to take part in the general culture of victimhood that we have been suffering through for the last several years, it is not in any way supported by history. The sad truth is that the Inquisition was nothing even as rational as a conscious attempt by the adherents of one religion to force everyone else to believe as they did. It would be better described as an outburst of insane, vicious sadism, having more in common with Jack the Ripper and other mad sex killers than with world domination.)

Well, then, if the standard Hansel-and-Gretel version of witchcraft isn't Wicca, one might well ask what is. The answer could be very complex, as Wicca has as many aspects as the Goddess herself, but ultimately it comes down to the revival of traditions common among pre-Christian pagan ("pagan" essentially means "not Jewish" in this context) cultures of Europe and the Middle East. This, in turn, divides naturally into two categories: love of the Earth, and having one hell of a party. Next, I'll cover these two aspects in more detail.

One of the worst flaws of the secular scientific world-view is its focus on mechanism, its tendency to visualize everything as simply the result of unintelligent natural processes. It has no room for the spirit. This, of course, has a lot to do with the fact that we have lived for half a century now under the continual fear of nuclear war, since nuclear weapons are themselves one of the most signal creations of the scientific mind. No Wiccan would have been willing to invent machines capable of destroying all life on Earth, because our focus is not on temporal dominion but on what is best for the world as a whole and all its creatures. The Earth itself has a soul just as we humans do, and the advanced Wiccan can communicate with her just as easily as with other people. This is why the great modern Wiccan, Starhawk, wrote in her book The Spiral Dance, that when she is asked if she "really believes" in the Goddess, she replies, "Do you believe in rocks?" Once you have had this experience, you cannot deny the Goddess, and you understand that the worship of her must be the paramount force in your life.

As for the "hell of a party", well, I'm being mildly facetious there. But it is certainly true that Wiccan rituals are not only different from, but vastly more enjoyable than, the Catholic Mass. No boring Latin. No mock-celestial organ playing. No ridiculous costumes -- no costumes at all, in fact, as Wiccan ceremonials are typically performed in the nude. We sing and dance, and burn incense, and celebrate the Earth. It's a lot of fun, and very spiritually rewarding, too. Ishtar, my little daughter, is particularly fond of what she calls "the milk and cookies part", where we eat blessed little cakes and drink non-alcoholic wine to bring the essence of the Goddess into our bodies. (Some superficial critics of Wicca, such as the Rev. Aidan Kelly, have claimed that this sort of thing is evidence that Wicca is really just a perverted form of Christianity. This is not the case, however, and is no more so for Rev. Kelly's inability to distinguish between cakes and wafers.)

Whereas Christians have to go "confess their sins" and receive penance, Wicca takes a more positive attitude to spiritual guidance. We consult the Oracle in a tradition inherited from the ancient Babylonians. When a man has a serious question that only the Gods can answer, he goes to one of the Priestesses and performs a sacrifice with her. During the sacrifice, she enters a trance in which the voice of the Goddess speaks through her. She cries out the answer to the question at the climax of the sacrifice.

The consulting of the Oracle is a very serious and sublime ritual; some of our men are so devoted that they consult it daily, which is rather exhausting for the Priestesses since we currently have only three of them. It must be admitted, however, that even some Wiccans don't always approach the Oracle in the right spirit. One of our members coarsely refers to it as "consulting Janey's pussy," which is doctrinally incorrect. Janey is only her mundane birth name; in ritual contexts, it is proper to refer to her as Priestess Kybele Demeter Persephone.

Personally, my favorite part of the ancient ways is the revival of the old fertility rituals. I remember well my first midsummer ritual, when I was new to Wicca in the common year 1999. The high priestess took us all out to the little vegetable garden in her back yard in the Santa Cruz hills, and to celebrate and stimulate the growth of the tomatoes, we all threw ourselves down and had the most amazing orgy I had ever seen (well, I've seen better ones since, but that one, at the time, was quite a mind-blower for me). I apparently picked up a nasty case of the crabs that day, though I'm not quite sure from whom, but it was worth it.

Since starting my own coven after achieving the Grade of High Priest last year, I have been further developing the revival of ancient ways for the greater glory of the Goddess. A few months ago, we were joined by a lady who I don't think is Oracle material. Some might call her an "earth mother type", but in all honesty, I think "frumpy, middle-aged hausfrau" would be more to the point. But we let her join anyway (I gave her the holy name Hecate; she's learning how to handle the Crone aspect of the Goddess) because she brought her daughter along. Goddess, what a treasure, and only 14 years old! I immediately realized that we had sadly neglected another ancient tradition. This failing has now been corrected with the re-institution, for the first time in centuries, as far as I know, of droit du seigneur. This venerable ancient way provides for the proper attuning of a young lady's innocent, virginal soul to the Goddess by an infusion of male energy performed by the High Priest (in this case, me) in a ceremony of the Wand performed in total privacy. Our first ritual was enormously successful, and several of our other members are now asking me to do the same for their daughters. I had to explain to one parent that age 8 was a bit too early, which gives you an idea what an enthusiastic and devoted community we have. I mean, I'm as concerned for the spiritual welfare of 8-year-old girls as anyone, but mysteries can only be revealed at the proper time. She'll have to wait until she turns 12, just as my little Ishtar will.

I hope this brief introduction has sufficed to let all readers know of the healthy alternative that Wicca offers to the post-Christian secular world. Indeed, the world is not merely "dead matter"; it has a soul all its own, the Goddess herself, and it is with great joy that we, her worshippers, celebrate the Universe, which is itself Her incarnation.

Blessed be!