Are wiccans always peaceful? Maybe not?

SALEM, Mass. 鈥? A self-proclaimed high priestess of Salem witches and a second person were accused of tossing raccoon parts on the doorsteps of businesses, allegedly as part of a Wiccan community feud.

Sharon Graham, 46, and a fellow Wiccan, Frederick Purtz, 22, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of littering and malicious destruction of property. Graham also was charged with intimidating a witness.

They were accused of putting a raccoon head and entrails on the doorsteps of Angelica of the Angels and the Goddess' Treasure Chest in May.

The historic seaport, famous for holding witch trials in the 17th century, has an active Wiccan community and thriving witch-related tourism.

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David Gavegnano, a lawyer for Graham, and Sean Wynne, a lawyer for Purtz, both denied that their clients had anything to do with the incident. They also argued that at any rate, the malicious destruction charge wasn't valid because the storefronts weren't permanently damaged.

A witness, Richard Watson, told police he accompanied Graham, Purtz and other people when they put the raccoon remains on the doorsteps. He said Graham hoped to frame a Wiccan businessman who had fired Graham from a psychic telephone business last spring.

Watson also said Graham had a disagreement with the owners of the two targeted businesses over proposed regulations that would limit the number of psychics who come to the city during the Halloween season. He said he was told the group had found the raccoon dead.

Gavegnano declined to comment on Watson's accusations Thursday. Wynne told The Boston Herald said there were likely "internal issues within the Wiccan community," but the tossing of raccoon entrails may be a "bastardization" of Wiccan practice because the religion doesn't condone harming others.

I made no judgemental statemen regarding Wiccans. I asked a question. This is a forum for questions...correct? This article just seemed to paint a slightly different view of Wicca than is portrayed in here, and I asked for folks opinions on this news article.

Just because a religion does not condone something does not mean that someone will not use the name of that religion as "justification" for their actions.

Christianity does not promote hatred, yet Christians have the Westboro Baptists.

Islam does not promote hatred, yet Muslims have Al-Quida.

Judaism does not promote hatred, yet Rabbi Mier Kahane's words are used to "justify" poor treatment of the Palestinians.

Pagan religions do not promote hatred, yet virulent racists/nationalists have attached themselves to some pagan practices INCLUDING the worship of both the Norse and Greek Gods.....

This is another unfortunate example of the same thing......

Wicca doesn't condone harm at all!

"An harm it none, do as you will." It's part of their Rede.

Does that mean there aren't Wiccans who don't follow the Rede? Nope, they're just rare.

You can't say that every member of any group always has one particular personality trait.

Not all Wiccans are.. not all christians are.. not all jews are.. not all muslims are.. not all atheists are.. not all pagans are.. not all heathens are.. not all buddhists are.. not all hindus are..

Get it yet?

Pretty much all Wiccans accept that harming for food or for self defense is ok. But there are insane people in all walks of life.

Every religion has people who claim to follow its tenets and actually don't. Assuming they actually did what they're accused of doing, their actions would be frowned upon by most Wiccans, at least of my acquaintance.

It's also a common misconception that the Wiccan Rede forbids Wiccans from causing harm. This is not the case: it simply suggests that all actions that result in the least possible harm are acceptable actions. Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to act assertively and defensively if I or my loved ones were in danger. And I eat things that have been killed in order to survive.

u think that is bad maybe you should try and make a list of all the bad things christians do, that 1 would go on 4 a while

In any barrel of apples there will always be a few bad ones, so also in any large amount of people in a particular group or religious affiliation there will always be a few who will display bad behavior that is not typical or condoned by the rest of the people in that grouping. There are well over a million Wiccans in the US, some are not always the best of them, and some are going to be posers. The Pagan Community is not at all different or immune to the small amount of people who are belligerent, ignorant, and/or immoral who call themselves one of us, and then go on to be the worse kind of bad example of a Pagan in the wake of their poor behavior.

Lord AmonRaHa

you know, i thought that you might have a point,,, until i read FOX NEWS. after that it is almost as laughable as the National Enquirer.

if indeed it was done, it is a direct violation of the core beliefs of Wicca. but then again, every religion has it's crazies.

i would like to see another source for this story.

Hahaha! ::Wipes her eyes and stops laughing::

Okay, really...Like it was mentioned before, the creed is "Harm None". If these people took animal parts and threw them on the doorsteps of some...what...business??? To try and frame someone? I'm sure it had nothing to do with their choice of religion and everything to do with getting revenge.

But to ask if all Wiccans are peaceful, that's like me asking if all Catholics spit as they pass cemeteries. You can't judge people's behavior based on their religious practices. You shouldn't judge, ever if you are going to claim yourself as a true Christian. However, Pagans and Wiccans always seem to get portrayed in this light due to their preferences.

I won't go into gory details of the Christian history and the things done in the name of God. At least Pagans and Wiccans follow their law of Harm None.

Wicca doesn't condone harming others, (meaning it's not at all supported), hence them saying it's a bastardization of some practice if it has any origins in Wicca.

However the fact is you get all sorts in all walks of life, whilst Wicca as a system says no to violence, you will still have the odd practitioner who does something violent. But their teachings still tell them not to, it's the individual's responsibility when it comes to their behaviour, not the religion's.

Wiccans have roughly the same percentage of idiots as every other religious community.

And let's be clear...this is not about being peaceful. These people are just being juvenile morons.

There's nothing in Wicca that makes it implicitly peaceful. Many Wiccans feel strongly about fighting for what is right so long as they face the possible consequences. But that's not what's going on here. These people are just being idiots.

1. Not everyone calling themselves Wiccan, is Wiccan.

2. The scattering of animal parts does not denote violence, disgusting yes, but without proof that the people scattering the parts killed the animal, not a violent act.

3. No one who actually know anything about Wicca would say it is a peaceful religion, any more than you can say that all of nature is peaceful. Nature is, as has been said by many a wise one, "Long of tooth and bloody of claw"

4. Those who think that "An it harm none, do what thou will", means don't hurt anyone have a very shallow understanding of the Rede. But there are a lot of folks with a shallow understanding of the religion they say they follow.

It is human nature, there are going to be bad representations in EVERY group.
)o( Blessed Be!