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Show Witchcraft is legal in U.S. : cults may number in thousands By CHERIE HUBER Witchcraft, by and of itself, is not illegal in the United States. In fact Jitin the past J0 yeai 4hero has been , 6SodmyMBxnips to I present witchcraft in a favorable -I light, as those who celebrate and I honor nature. Nevertheless, it can I be the beginning of a dangerous path, especially for young people. x .There has never been any kind of census taken oh the number of wit-.1 wit-.1 chcraft and satanic cults ' in the 3 United States. It js possible, though, v that the number may be in the thousands. The majority of this number are "white" witchcraft i covens considered to be benign. ? These groups have sometimes been t mentioned in health and alternative life style magazines as healing and stress reducing groups. But there -are also countless "black" cults. -Witchcraft, as we think of u, began in Europe in the Middle 1 Ages. It followed the pilgrims to America and the anti-cult hysteria triggered the Salem witch trials in I Massachusetts in 1692. K.?tXVi. f Of course legends and stories j ;, concerning the powers of witches ; have always been popular. While ' j many people saw the legends as just stories, mere have always been 1 , other "true believers" who secretly telling, usually harmless in themselves, them-selves, have also led to an interest in ' the cults. A typical coven has 13 members, . but vthau number can ,tvan from gfOhp'to !grbur). Tfie" group meets v regularly, usually at the full moon. These gatherings ; are known as "sabbats." Also held several times each year are the Grand Sabbats on which major festivals are celebrated, Grand Sabbats occur on All Hallows Eve, Oct- 31, and . Walpurgis Night April 30. ' te fi In areas of the country where the Catholic Church is prevalent some , major holidays fall on important Roman Catholic holy days. Other ' days mark pagan festivals. Here in ,' Utah, many Satanic cults have ac-tivities ac-tivities that reflect the LDS religion, , simply because that is the religion , the new ,cultist are most familiar , .with.'; 1 , , ' -. 4 Covens pay homage to Satan, just as the traditional religions honor God. The original Black Mass took ; form in the Middle Ages as an act of defiance of the Catholic Church. In the Black Mass, satanic prayers are . substituted . for those from f Catholic services, The Lord's Prayer is recited backwards, crosses are inverted, black vestments are worm and chalices and host stolen from Catholic churches are used in the ceremony. s Animals are sometimes sacrificed sacrific-ed to Satan and their blood drunk in fertility rites or ; for other ceremonies.'" ----- Many of those who consider themselves "good" witches would like to discount the Black Mass and animal sacrifices. However in the "Encyclopedia; of. Witchcraft and ; Demonology" it points out "In New York, the covens have become largelj warped and perverted. A twisted sexual element has crept in more and more until today they are sado-masochistic, often homosexual, homosex-ual, and are using the occult as an excuse." , - 1 X Criminologists studying these matters suggest that when such people tire of their "staged" activities, ac-tivities, they are liable to, turn to ritual, motiveless killing. The alarming alar-ming fact is that many such murders occur in the United States today.' Satanic cults are often disguised as pseudo-counseling groups or self-awareness groups. These fronts flourish around college campuses, military bases and in large cities. A young person enrolls in a course, seminar or therapy session that advertises that it will helpput life in CONT.ONPG.8 s and at times openly practiced what Is sometimes referred to as the "old : religion." Many magazines are full of ads for magical potions, charms and even spells. All these activities. . are relatively harmless and should I not be confused with the murderous ' cults which are relatively new to the , .' United States.) .-'- v'va-i , On the other hand, people need to ' be aware that many members of the "black" cults came there from the i "white" covens which they had t f joined out . of curiosity. Interest in -: astrology, tarot cards and fortune 'Drawn deep into a web of deceit' CONT. FROM PG. 7 focus. "What follows is a period of careful screening and weeding out. In time, the chosen few find themselves them-selves drawn deeper and deeper into a web of deceit, rejection of traditional tradi-tional values, and conversion to the twisted beliefs of the group leaders," say Maury Terry in his book "The Ultimate Evil" One such group. The Process Church of Final Judgment came into being in .that manner. The founders of Process, Robert Moore and Mary Anne MacLean, met during dur-ing advanced training at the Hubbard Hub-bard Instituter of Scientology in London (LRon Hubbard was the developer of Scientology). Leaving Scientology they took die cult name of DeGrimston. The DeGrimstons began to experiment ex-periment with mind-control games and soon started a center for "Compulsion Analysis." They preached a doctrine of free choice.' Individuals, they said, were completely com-pletely responsible for their own fates and afflictions. For example, birth defects, they preached, were chosen in a past life and carried into the present life. , In 1967 Robert DeGrimston published pub-lished "As It Is" which spelled out the ' church's philosophy. "Christ said: 'Love thine enemy.' Christ's enemy was Satan and Satan's enemy was Christ. Through ldve, enmity is destroyed. Through ldve, saint and sinner destroy the enmity between theta. Through love, Christ and Satan have destroyed their enmity en-mity and come together for the End. Christ to judge, Satan to execute the judgment" In other words, killing in the name of Satan was actually killing for Christ, a divine mission. Most of the original Process cult members are British citizens. A group of them came to the United States on 90-day visitor's visas. Eventually many members of the group dropped from sight Some may have eventually returned to England, others stayed in the United States to spread The cult here. Now 20 years later, the seeds of evil they planted are beginning to yield bitter fruit |
