[ MAUKA-MAKAI ]
Marshaling blue It is Halloween night, a particularly "magickal" one coinciding with a blue moon -- the second full moon in a single month, and one that has taken on an especial meaning since Sept. 11.
moon magic
The pagan faithful break their
creed to hex bin Ladenby gary c.w. chun
gchun@starbulletin.comAs a modern witch and practitioner of the Wiccan faith, you've decided to take matters into your own hands, even if it's contrary to your pagan creed: "Do what thy will, but harm none."
An enemy of the American people must be stopped. A near-demon, you feel, has been responsible for the terrorist attacks in America that resulted in immense death and destruction, misery and sadness.
You will be casting a spell on a poppet, a voodoo doll made for just such an occasion. Made of black cloth and stuffed with special herbs and paper strips, the doll will give you a psychic link to that person whose photocopied visage has been placed on its head. It now bears the face of the man considered evil incarnate.
After proper preparation and meditation, you are ready to cast your spell. You tie the poppet's hands and feet together with red, white and blue-colored string. And you recite softly:"Osama bin Laden, I consecrate thee
Now, with this doll, do I have power over thee
Your hands and feet I do bind
Your tongue doth still for all time ..."
The incantation was written by Michelle Wheatley, a self-described witch and worker at the Prosperity Corner in Kaimuki, the "metaphysical" shop that is getting a lot of attention as Halloween approaches, what with "The Zombies of Montrose" play being performed there in the round -- the last of the free shows are at 7:30 and 9 p.m. tomorrow -- and makeup artist Bryan Furer busily getting werewolves and princesses ready for Wednesday.
The 12th Avenue corner storefront is run by Wiccans as well. Co-owners DJ Colbert and her sister Niki Taittlinger are sitting side-by-side (DJ dressed predominantly in black, Niki in white) in the tea and tarot card reading room, chatting about all things Wiccan while Colbert sews together a bin Laden poppet.
"I myself am a third-generation Wiccan," Colbert says. "And it's like being a witch, although the word derives from Christianity. The Lutherans use the word Wiccan. So a witch is what I am and Wiccan is my faith.
"As a Wiccan, I'm more concerned about affecting things around me. I don't worry about going to Heaven. That's not my primary goal. It is, instead, to make the best of the here and now."
"We worry about today instead of some afterlife," added Taittlinger. "We're concerned with sharing love and being kind to each other."
"The Wiccan faith is different from other pagan religions," said Colbert, "in that it's a looser structure, but there are rules we abide by, in particular our creed, 'do what thy will, but harm none.' In practicing magick, we work with the elements, putting ourselves in tune with the universe.
"Spell casting is part of what we do," she said.
It's something she and her sister never take lightly, using Halloween observances to educate their clients on the properties of magick, spelled with a k to connote the metaphysical applications of herbs, candles and other items. "We don't do magick for anybody," cautions Colbert. "Magick is of a personal nature."
"Most people don't know how to use that psychic energy for their benefit, and they end up playing catch-up. Like a woman comes to me, saying she's in need of a husband and wants me to put a love spell together for her. But sometimes, you know, the reality base is not there, because it ends up there's a guy at work she wants to start dating, but he's married!
"This is not about changing someone's free will. While magick can, in fact, impose itself over free will, it's just like trying to hold down a weeble doll; regardless of how long you hold it down, you're going to tire sooner or later, and when you let go, it'll pop up again," Colbert said.
"It's better to ask the universe to send someone to you. But it's very important that, in casting the spell, that you be specific, say exactly what you want in putting out that energy. Most of us don't know how to ask properly," she said.
"We never use magick to enslave someone," Taittlinger adds, "because that negativity comes back to you tenfold. We generally work on the light side of magick, relying on our common sense. Everybody has magick!"
The shop regularly holds classes on Wiccan magick. And the coven of witches the sisters are involved in always open their equinox and solstice ceremonies to both the curious and committed. Instead of the malevolent melodrama of Satanic worship conveyed in Hollywood films, these outdoor ceremonies are friendly and benign, with an altar placed in the middle of an encircled pentagram.
"For instance, for the summer solstice, we asked everyone to wear white, to be clean in both body and spirit, and to bring anything that they wanted blessed and consecrated to be placed on the altar," Colbert said. "In welcoming the summer, we served cakes and ale and also encouraged people to wear flowers in their hair.
"And witches can be either male or female; the name 'warlock' is totally made-up!" she said. "We even had one guy who was a Taoist that incorporated his religion's ritual with ours."
Because of this Halloween's special "blue moon," a rare occurrence in which there are two full moons in the same month, Taittlinger said it will be the right time "to ask for important magick for yourself, to bring things to you."
In keeping with that focus, she also said that to pray for peace in these unsettling times will be especially effective. Hence, the Osama bin Laden poppets and the spell.
" ... Your terror and interference I do bind
While we, ourselves, stay free
No longer willing to hide or flee.
Deeper and deeper do you become entangled
in this horror of a mangle ..."
Colbert claims that "some pagan-based religions can be aggressive during wartime. During World War II and Hitler's time, there were even some underground pagan believers who banded together as a hit squad." But the bin Laden dolls she has been sewing are meant to ward off his evil, to banish it from the world and bind it into bin Laden's body.
She and her sister also said that, of the "10 strong covens" on the island, "a large number are made up of rank-and-file military personnel. In fact, we sent off a letter to the chaplain at Ft. Shafter, protesting his not allowing Wiccans to practice on base, in the name of religious freedom."
Colbert said some military couples use protection spells and amulets, especially in these times. "The military, historically, has always used magick in wartime. It began with the Druids, who were first religious leaders of Celts and later became warriors using magick on a regular basis.
"Wiccans definitely believe in evil. We don't dare use ouija boards because they allow the sludge of the spirit world to enter ours through the portal opened up by their use. We caution anyone not to meddle in things you don't know!"
" ... What ye sow, so shall ye reap
Until I release your hands and feet.
As I do will, so mote it be.
Blessed by the power of the stars for me."
As the spell is repeated, the Osama bin Laden doll is burned in a vessel on an altar, or a pit that's been dug for this specific purpose. Lit candles that were used during this ritual are then extinguished.
With that, as is writ in the shop's card, "know that your desire for world peace will be done ... Blessed Be."
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