It’s been hundreds of years since witches were burned at the stake, but local Wiccans in the community feel they are still being persecuted.
Norma Joyce, high priestess of the local Wicca coven, said she feels slandered by KEZI news anchor Lisa Verch’s report on Wicca and the Oregon Youth Authority.
“We want an apology and a fair airing of what the religion is,” Joyce said.
In August, Verch was contacted by Michelle Crane, a woman whose son is in prison and had met with Joyce to explore the Wiccan religion. State institutions are required by the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act to provide religious opportunities when inmates request them, said Karen Andall, spokeswoman for Oregon Youth Authority. Wicca is a religion recognized by the state of Oregon.
Crane was deeply worried about the interaction between Joyce and her son, and she asked Verch to research the topic and see if Wiccans had a right to talk to her son without her permission. Crane’s son is still a minor, and she would not release his name.
Verch researched for more than a month before determining there was a story, Crane said.
The broadcast was 7.5 minutes long, as aired. Six minutes of airtime was given to people who felt Wicca shouldn’t be allowed in state institutions. Only one and a half minutes were allowed for supporters of Wicca in state institutions.
“It wasn’t an indictment of Wicca,” Verch said. “It was examining the system — is this a good choice?”
Oak Creek Correctional Center opened its doors to Wicca earlier this year. Joyce said she and other women of her order have been reaching out to kids in correctional facilities because the kids want support.
“We teach them ethics and non-blaming behavior,” Joyce said. ” I can teach them how to protect themselves, but 99 percent of what we do is dealing with the psyche.”
Crane’s son heard that Joyce was meeting with other kids and requested that she meet with him. The night of the meeting he converted to Wicca, Crane said.
“One Friday night he called us up and announced, ‘I’m not Christian, I’m Wiccan,’” Crane said. She and her husband had no idea what Wicca was at that time.
“My son asked me, ‘Will you please check it out and find out what Wicca is about before you condemn it?’” she said.
Crane and her husband said she checked with her pastor but also went to a bookstore and researched the religion.
“What I read was so sickening and disgusting that I called Oak Creek and asked them what the hell they were doing,” Crane said.
Crane said the state refused to talk to her, so she took the story to the media. Verch agreed to look into the issue and ran the story at the end of August.
Verch interviewed two men that had been involved in Wicca for her story. One had been in Wicca for 20 years, the other had been convicted of ritualistic murder. KEZI displayed the convict’s words with a font that resembled horror-film lettering and placed an illustration of a blood-red upside-down pentagram behind a picture of his face.
” He is an admitted former Satanist,” Verch said. “An upside-down pentagram is an appropriate background for him.”
Some Wiccans also use the symbol of the pentagram, but it is only turned upside down by people that practice Satanism. “We didn’t use a pentagram for Norma Joyce,” Verch pointed out.
Joyce said the broadcast depicted Wiccans as irresponsible people who blamed crimes on their religion.
“(The men in the broadcast) took no responsibility for their actions,” Joyce said. “Wiccans believe in responsibility and free will.”
The broadcast also showed footage of the Dari-Mart murders that occurred several years ago, implying that Wiccans were involved in such activities.
“It’s a Hollywood idea that spells are things like human sacrifice.” Joyce said. “We don’t do sacrifice — we don’t even do communion.”