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Religion News Report - Paganism / Witchcraft 24.

Back from a spell ...The Age/Guardian (Australia), July 4, 2000

Something most irregular is occurring in the world of pentagrams and pointy hats. After 2000 years of persecution and bad publicity, have finally been rehabilitated as icons of female power.

Don't believe me? Switch on the television and there's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the sisters of Charmed acting as unofficial pagan ambassadors. Visit the newage section of any bookstore and behold how the shelves are crammed with dozens of glossy tomes devoted to spells and magic.

On the Internet, ecovens and Wicca mailing lists are a growth area.

It is a curious phenomenon, this resurgence of interest in the dark arts, particularly among otherwise rational, 21st-century women. Is it a quest to reconnect with an authentic, intuitive inner goddess or another manifestation of an innate sense of powerlessness?

Kate West heads the Hearth of Hecate, a coven in Norfolk, in the UK, with 20 members. She believes women are embracing ''the craft'' in droves, not because they need miracle spells but because they want to form more profound links with nature and their own unconscious. ''Ultimately, it's about the belief that you can change the world around you - that's a nurturing, female concept. It is also liberating to accept that there is a goddess protecting us and our Earth.''

Now she is writing a handbook for young witches for the post-Harry Potter market, offering stepbystep guidance to becoming a witch. ''There are a lot of misconceptions. People think magic will solve all their problems and it won't. Most of my work is used in healing. I do 10 to 12 spells per month but I don't charge. West is adamant that the vast majority of witches use their power to good ends. Even her own principles have their limits, however. ''I'm not ashamed to say I often cast spells to find a parking space in a hurry.''

West claims not to have read Harry Potter, probably the real source of the current boom in bewitchment. ''I'm not sure if Harry Potter is a good thing,'' says Sally Taylor, a thirdgeneration witch who has read the books. ''It makes magic seem too simplistic.''

Taylor should know; she previously ran a school for witches, the Kent College of Magic and Metaphysics, which sounds suspiciously like the Hogwarts School of J.K. Rowling's fiction. ''There are fake covens around, people with plastic bats nailed to their doors - we've got a real bat cave here. There's a lot of hypocrisy, too, particularly when dealing with kids. Most children are taught their first spell at the age of three - blow out the candles and make a wish. Then it's all stamped out of them.''