Witchcraft and Wicca, The Heart of the Harry Potter Controversy

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Witchcraft and Wicca, the Heart of the Harry Potter Controversy

Harry Potter has become a record breaking phenomena and is the 21st century's opening fairytale. Within the pages J.K. Rowling created a World of Wizards and Witches, and unwittingly exposed the fastest growing religion in America to hundreds of millions of people. The faith is called Wicca and its members are Witches, and it is at the core of the controversy that Hogwart's School has created.


(PRWEB) July 15, 2005 -- In 1997, a young mother wrote a book called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," and it was published. Little did she know, nor could she imagine how much the world needed Harry Potter and his wonderful story. J. K. Rowling created a phenomena that brought magic to the forefront of human thought and unwittingly reopened a new round of an ancient battle, Christianity's battle to destroy witchcraft in all its forms. Harry Potter has rekindled interest in beliefs that were already growing in the United Kingdom and United States for more than fifty years, and that belief is a faith called Wicca.

Wicca is a religion which practices as its core faith Perfect Love and Perfect Trust. Wiccans practice earth friendly ways of living, believing in nature as sacred and the world as personally important and valuable to them, being an inheritance for the children even unto seven generations. They believe in fairies, spirits, Gods, Goddesses and a spiritual life which has become largely invisible to the average human around them. Wiccans believe in reincarnation and they practice all sorts of mind enhancing skills in seeking personal evolution. The Wiccan accepts visions, oracles, and prophecies are part of our life as much as fact and logic. Wiccans use magic and sciences with equal familiarity, and believe them to be one and the same. They have a world view and an inner education which changes them into a being capable of understanding and even creating wonders and miracles. Most importantly Wiccans are also known as Witches and that is the what is what makes even discussing them taboo in Western Christian society. They are biblically condemned.

The practice of Wicca has been striving to survive in Western Civilization in various forms and under various organizations and names over the centuries. The Modern practices emerged in the 1950's from the books of Gerald Gardner and soon a flow of hereditary traditions and modern converts created a movement that membership in for most of the last two millennium was worthy of being burned or killed in many imaginative ways. Fortunately reason won out and a progressive British Government, followed by other nations began to allow Wiccans protection from being persecuted for their beliefs. This was like putting a match to kindling, and the Modern Wiccan movement grew like wildfire. By the dawn of the 21st Century Wicca was the fastest growing in religion in America by many accounts. Today Wicca is a fully legal and recognized religion with full equal rights, even if they are not allowed to practice by some authorities who are acting improperly and sometimes in defiance of the Constitution.

So what does this have to do with Harry Potter? Well nothing, in the sense that it is a story created from the imagination of a young woman, and with her story she has entertained a whole world. Harry Potter has many components that are similar to Wicca, but really is a work of fiction. But it speaks well of the idea of practicing magic and according to some Christian authorities plants unacceptable thoughts about Witchcraft and the practice of things that are occult in nature in our youth. Simply put, Harry Potter is making Witches more acceptable and leading kids to practice witchcraft which will destroy them. That is the Christian line against Harry and his comrades, and why he is condemned? Harry is the devil's own, no matter how positive the story. He is being seen as the voice of the darkest occult lord and is seducing people to become Witches, and that can never be allowed.

What does this have to do with Wicca? Wicca, as a faith and practice is being greatly challenged by Christian authorities, and they are seeking every legal means to stop the Wiccan faith from ever getting a foothold in the American mainstream. In the simplest terms, the Christian preachers quote 'Never to suffer a Witch to Live' as biblical law, and are immediately faced with the Constitution and equal protection under the law. So they seek every possible tool to discredit Wiccans similar to the actions they have done to Native and Indigenous people for centuries, and seek to assure no one ever takes Witches seriously. Harry Potter breaks through that rule, and while fiction, does open the mind to the possibility of magic and that Witches might be real. So Harry Potter might kindle interest, and those interested might find out that a real Wiccan community with schools, temples, and a growing culture actually exists, that these Nature Worshipping people are not Christians and believe many things that contradict their world view. It challenges everything Christians want us to believe, and why Witchcraft in all it's form, fictional and real must be stopped by Good Christians at all costs. It's really that simple, Christians believe they have the right, they even say commanded by God, to destroy anything and anyone they call evil, and Witches are the ultimate enemy for them.

Wiccans face a future of growth, possibly emerging as the third largest religion in America in the next two decades, and a constant and continuous fight with Christian authorities to be allowed their equal and free rights. As Wiccans go about practicing their faith the biblically driven controversy will continue, and anything that professes a good word for a witch or a wizard, even lovable Harry, will find themselves at the end of two thousand year taboo, and be attacked publicly. This will be an interesting crossroads in America and will be one of the defining moments in the true meaning of religious freedoms. For the Wiccan the future is simple to see and they see that Love and Trust will always be the core of true American Freedom, and they will practice it daily. After all, America is home to the free and the brave, and that describes the true heart of Wicca.