Wicca and Teens

[ginoparadela]

Here in the Philippines, witchcraft is evident but is quite concealed within Catholic Syncretisism. From Ancestor worship through cures using charms and witch-doctors - we got 'em all. I guess this was the case since after we’ve been “Christianized” by the Spaniards…

However, there is quite a fast and alarming rise of witchcraft practitioners in the country - most of them below 18 years old. I think they’re mystified with the things they can do with “magick” (I should know, I practiced it before). Can you please help me how to talk to teens with affiliations with the “Craft”?

Thanks!

In Christ,
Gino

 

[Victorious]

Follow the example of St. Dominic and make the Rosary your primary weapon.

 

[Spencerian]

Here in the Philippines, witchcraft is evident but is quite concealed within Catholic Syncretisism. From Ancestor worship through cures using charms and witch-doctors - we got 'em all. I guess this was the case since after we’ve been “Christianized” by the Spaniards…

However, there is quite a fast and alarming rise of witchcraft practitioners in the country - most of them below 18 years old. I think they’re mystified with the things they can do with “magick” (I should know, I practiced it before). Can you please help me how to talk to teens with affiliations with the “Craft”?

Thanks!

In Christ,
Gino

Hi.

Michelle Arnold, a staff apologist of Catholic Answers, wrote an article for the Catholic Culture site on witchcraft and wicca that may give you some starting arguments as well as significant cautions on refuting such occultism.

God bless.

 

[ErichK]

I see it more as a phase and a means of rebellion. I, too, dabbled in paganism while I went through my soul-searching. I tried out the old Norse spirituality, and while it was attractive, there was something wrong with it - something eerie, lurking in the shadows, as if the paradise was all but an illusion, and the devil was just waiting for the picture to fade so he could jump out from behind the canvas and devour me.

Hopefully, they’ll grow out of it, although that isn’t the case for many people. My mother is well into her fifties and she practices wikka. I try to talk to her about it and voice my concern, but she just dismisses me and goes about doing it.

The best thing to do is pray for them and pray for their salvation, and pray for your soul, so that it might be saved from the evils and turmoil that dance around it.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I’m leaving for the Philippines tomorrow night. I know that this witch doctor junk exists there just like in Mexico, unfortunately. There are several abuses of these things and of Catholicism in general in the Philippines. My wife was born and raised in Baguio, Philippines, and she still is appauled at the image of filipinos having themselves crucified during Good Friday, people making pilgrimages to see the black nazarene statue praying for wealth and good fortune if they can touch it, etc. There is a great deal of superstition and questionable devotions in the Phils.

But there is something far more frightening in the Philippines than witchcraft…

WOWOWEE and SHOWTIME and Boy Abunda! Talk about an evil trinity!

 

[Soldier_X]

The best thing to do is pray for them and pray for their salvation, and pray for your soul, so that it might be saved from the evils and turmoil that dance around it.

Amen. Preach it.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Glory!

Amen. Preach it.

 

[Soldier_X]

I have friends whose experiences with witchcraft and the Occult will make your skin crawl. Not Wicca, but pagan magic dabbling. It’s a very personal issue for me, so I pray hard for anyone who is caught up in this battle (investigating it, trying to leave it, or family & friends who are enslaved in it).

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

A little too much World of Warcraft or D & D and they’re sucked in like a vacuum!

I have friends whose experiences with witchcraft and the Occult will make your skin crawl. Not Wicca, but pagan magic dabbling. It’s a very personal issue for me, so I pray hard for anyone who is caught up in this battle (investigating it, trying to leave it, or family & friends who are enslaved in it).

 

[ginoparadela]

I see it more as a phase and a means of rebellion.

Yeah your right. I too fell prey before before I had my religious experience in Christ. I just hope they grow out of it. And thank for referring me to the Rosary. I will surely pray for the youths in distress.

 

[ginoparadela]

Wicca hits the Youth. The worse part is they don’t even know what they’re getting themselves into.

 

[kenofken]

For the vast majority of teens, it’s just a phase. It’s a way to latch onto an identity and to have a bit of rebellion. It’s another subculture like skaters, punks, emo, you name it. People that age simply don’t have the maturity or life experience to approach it in any depth. (Most serious covens I know won’t accept anyone younger than their late 20s). Without that, most will grow bored with it soon enough and drift into something else. The few that don’t belong on that path, and you shouldn’t waste your time or theirs trying to “save” them.

 

[Sarah_Angel]

A little too much World of Warcraft or D & D and they’re sucked in like a vacuum!

That’s actually untrue. Most people who are involved in either don’t dabble in witchcraft. There are studies that show this.

 

[PaganSpirt]

I wish you guys would just leave us Pagans alone.

“They don’t know what they’re getting into”. That’s BS. I began identifying as a Pagan at age 12. I’m now 20 and I have no intention of ever giving up my faith. For me, Paganism is the only path. But I don’t try to convert people. If people want to be Catholic, in my opinion, that’s their choice. Paganism and Wicca is NOT evil. We don’t do evil things. We don’t worship Satan. I don’t even believe in Satan! Satan is a Christian invention. I don’t focus on evil things, like Satan. People who are preoccupied with evil will only become evil themselves, like all those christians that burnt poor innocent people at the stake, hanged them, killed them for nothing. THOSE are the evil people. I have never hurt, harmed, killed anybody. Those are my religion values. Why do you feel the need to convert people who don’t want to be converted? Why can’t you just leave people alone? So many of the wars have been started by religion- people trying to convert others.

My two best friends are very devout Christians and I am a very devout Pagan. We get along just fine. Why can’t everybody else do that? My dream for the world is religious freedom, where as long as people are not harming anybody else, they are free to practice whatever they want to, believe whatever they want.

HARM NONE.

 

[PaganSpirt]

I have friends whose experiences with witchcraft and the Occult will make your skin crawl. Not Wicca, but pagan magic dabbling. It’s a very personal issue for me, so I pray hard for anyone who is caught up in this battle (investigating it, trying to leave it, or family & friends who are enslaved in it).

Wicca is not a cult. There are some people who do evil things. Most of those people are Satanists, which is a form of Christianity. The vast majority of Pagans don’t believe in Satan and those who do are Christo-Wiccans.

Pray for us all you want, but don’t try to convert us.

 

[AnAtheist]

My two best friends are very devout Christians and I am a very devout Pagan. We get along just fine. Why can’t everybody else do that? My dream for the world is religious freedom, where as long as people are not harming anybody else, they are free to practice whatever they want to, believe whatever they want. .

Amen to that.

 

[Victorious]

I wish you guys would just leave us Pagans alone.

Then why do you voluntarily come to a Catholic forum to mix it up with Catholics?

I have never hurt, harmed, killed anybody. Those are my religion values. .

How can you be sure you have lived a life of virtue when you have rejected objective standards of good and evil?

Why do you feel the need to convert people who don’t want to be converted? Why can’t you just leave people alone?

Oh, I don’t know. Probably the same reason I’d want to throw a rope to a drowning man.

 

[Publisher]

Wicca is not a cult. There are some people who do evil things. Most of those people are Satanists, which is a form of Christianity. The vast majority of Pagans don’t believe in Satan and those who do are Christo-Wiccans.

Pray for us all you want, but don’t try to convert us.

I am close friends to a family who is Wicca. The parents are now in their late 40’s to early 50’s…they have three teenage children all involved as a family.

The most sinister activities I have witnessed concerning Wicca has been by “Christians” who see the devil under every rock and Satan slithering around every tree.

These good friends do not believe in the Christian devil…they do not worship him…that is a Christian belief that not all Christians hold. Satanism IS a “Christian sect”…it’s mythology is based on Christian beliefs, doctrine and the Bible plus the “Christian flavor” of the darker side of the Western Esoteric Tradition.

Modern Neo-paganism has nothing to do with “Christian” belief…

One of the funniest things my friend told me about their interaction with Christians was when he was trying to explain the resurrection to his young son…“After three days Jesus came back alive.”…“Cool!!!” exclaimed his son…“Jesus is a zombie!”…the dad went on to exclaim that such statements would be offensive to Christians…“Jesus is not a “zombie” as we understand the word. He came back alive and joined his God.”

Wicca has a totally different mythology than Christians…the two are totally separate.

The Wiccan teens I know are great students in the top of their class percentile. They are respectful…albeit a little “goth” for my taste.

Wicca is no more harmful to teens than Christianity.

 

[Tyuiop411]

I see it more as a phase and a means of rebellion. I, too, dabbled in paganism while I went through my soul-searching. I tried out the old Norse spirituality, and while it was attractive, there was something wrong with it - something eerie, lurking in the shadows, as if the paradise was all but an illusion, and the devil was just waiting for the picture to fade so he could jump out from behind the canvas and devour me.

Hopefully, they’ll grow out of it, although that isn’t the case for many people. My mother is well into her fifties and she practices wikka. I try to talk to her about it and voice my concern, but she just dismisses me and goes about doing it.

The best thing to do is pray for them and pray for their salvation, and pray for your soul, so that it might be saved from the evils and turmoil that dance around it.

I was almost the exact same way, I too even practiced Asatru for a while. Wicca is big in a lot of High Schools here in the US among teens, but i’ve noticed that as soon as they graduate and go on to college they generally fall into some kind agnosticism. My overall analysis is that teens think it makes them “different” and individual too be pagan in a Christian society.

 

[Victorious]

My overall analysis is that teens think it makes them “different” and individual too be pagan in a Christian society.

Whereas if they really wanted to be revolutionary, they’d be orthodox Catholics.