Paganism/Wicca

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing White Witches: Cunning Folk? , I thought about the word, “cunning.” It’s usually used with negative connotations such as sneakiness and calculating. The root of this word is in the Old English, "cunnan," meaning to know, which evolved into "konnyng," denoting clever, skillful or learned. According to several thesauruses, the term is still, but seldom, used with the positive meaning. Cunning folk were also referred to as the Wise Ones, a very constructive term.

I am 1/4 PA Dutch and grew up in this culture’s “country.” As an adult that I became interested in our history and began to study hex signs, Pennsy Dutch Magikcal Art, and PowWow: Pennsy Dutch Arcane Art. What I was taught about hex signs and magickal practices were that these things were mere superstition and nonsense. Research proved this otherwise.

My great-grandparents were called Mammy and Pappy by family and others, terms of respect. She was a very wise woman and he, a PowWow doctor, as well as wise. Connection! The Wise Ones, also a term of respect used by some Native American tribes, often applied to Shamans. I have discovered that this is used by other Europeans to refer to healers and those who worked with the Universe for positive purposes.

In the process of doing research, I learned about Witchcraft Wars, Trials and Hunts in Pennsylvania and the dark side of magick and persecution in Pennsylvania. There was a sensational murder trial that caused the governor to try to eradicate PowWow. The Voodoo Murder of Pennsylvania I: Background and The Voodoo Murder of Pennsylvania II, the Crime and Trialare about this.

American Pagan Folk Protection and Pennsylvania Deutsch Grimoire have information about protective and healing magick.

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing North Berwick Witches' Persecution and Witch of Edmonton, England, I began to wonder how many accused witches were executed during James’ reigns of both countries. He was James VI of Scotland from 1585 to 1603 and James I of England, 1603 to 1625. The exact numbers of victims are unknown because records weren’t always kept. Some, although accused of witchcraft, were charged with another capital crime. The Earl of Bothwell, alleged enemy of James VI, was accused of conspiring with witches, but charged with high treason for political reasons.



James was zealous about ridding witchcraft from his realms. The North Berwick witch persecution, 1590 – 1591, was responsible for witch hunts flourishing in Scotland. It’s estimated that seventy people were accused of witchcraft in North Berwick; however no records exist of the exact amount or how many were executed.



Although the number is high, it’s estimated that between 1563-1603, over 17,000 killed in Scotland.



James believed in the powers of witches.When he became King of England, the crime of witchcraft wasn’t a capital offense unless the alleged witch killed a person by sorcery. The next year, he changed this. Bewitching a person or animal carried a death penalty, even if this was done for a good purpose, like healing. It was also a crime for doctors to use a cadaver for medical research and for one to sell a corpse for this practice. This set the scene for even more intense witch hunts.



It’s estimated that, between 1600 and 1680, 40,000 people were executed for witchcraft in England. The first officially recorded one was Mary Pannel, 1603. The last ones so recorded during James’ reign, were 13 burned to death in Scotland and 2 executed in England in 1622.

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing Witch of Scrapfaggot Green, I thought about the Holocaust, the persecutions of Jews and the 6,000,000 other victims: “mentally ill,” Slavs, Gypsies and homosexuals, and parallels with the witches’ persecutions. Hitler’s secret agenda was to revive Germanic Paganism and exterminate those were in his way. His extermination of Jews resulted in a global outrage he hadn’t expected, leading to his downfall. Next on his agenda were Christians. Pagan Symbol of the Sun: Hitler and the Swastika

In both cases, the groups that spawned hatred within the society and times they lived in were hunted with rabid fervor, tortured and exterminated. Religion played a major role in both outrages. Christian targets were Pagans whom they believed were in league with the devil.

History and politics has their role in genocide. Hitler established the Third Reich. When the witches were persecuted, Christianity and royalty played a key role in governing the people, the former because of its influence on the latter. During the Burning Times, between the late 1500s and 1700s, there were 12,545 recorded executions. Estimates range from 35,184 to 63,850 victims in Europe and America.North Berwick Witches' Persecution is an example of how religion and politics played a role in this travesty. Animals weren’t exempt from the terror as Cats Persecuted as Familiars illustrates.

Other examples of persecution of witches are The Witches of Zugarramurdi, Stamford Witch Trials: Kinder, Gentler than Salem, Witchcraft Wars, Trials and Hunts in Pennsylvania, The Voodoo Murder of Pennsylvania I: Background and The Voodoo Murder of Pennsylvania II, the Crime and Trial.

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing Bat: A Powerful Pagan Symbol, I thought of my “bat experiences.” I think bats are cute, but don’t appreciate their flying near my face. When they walk, they remind me of mice with capes.



My grandmother had a bat that hung upside-down, hibernating, between her window and the storm window. It moved from time to time, then flew away in spring.



My first in-home encounter with a bat was when my son was fifteen. I noticed something flying about. At first, I thought it was a huge moth. Then, I realized what it really was! I yelled to my son about the bat. He threw me his fishing net, a dowel and an Army helmet.



The next encounter was years later. I worked on a psychic line then and was talking to a client. We weren’t allowed to end calls for any reason. The bat kept swooping at my face. Later, I opened the bathroom window and chased the bat in there. It finally left.



The last was when I was temporarily staying at a place until I could find an apartment. I finished drawing a picture of a bat when my roommate talked in her sleep, something about a bat being in the room. Odd…. As strange as it was, it was even eerier when I saw a bat flitting in our room.



I knew we had to open the hall window, but there was a heavy air-conditioner in it. Another woman brought her stepson and his friend over to trap the bat. It bit one of them. Before they told me about the bite, the boys opened the window and the bat was gone. I told the boy he had to get rabies shots, just in case.

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing Witchcraft and Werewolves, I thought about my first werewolf “encounters.”

I was either a preteen or a teenager when I saw The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney on TV when stations featured old movies instead of late night talk shows. Larry Talbot returned to his homeland, Wales, and was attacked by a gypsy who was a werewolf. His fate was to become a werewolf during the full moon.

I found it amusing rather than scary primarily because of the so-faked make-up used to turn Chaney into a werewolf.

The next movie I remember is I Was a Teenage Werewolf starring Michael Landon as Tony Rivers, an angry young man who’s transformed into a werewolf via a drug and hypnosis by a crazed scientist in the guise of a psychotherapist.

There were others, less memorable, but equally amusing movies. So much for Hollywood and werewolves…..

The idea of a person turning into a werewolf intrigued me, so I read about werewolves. When I wrote Werewolves: Legends, Cases, Theories, I’d already researched trials as well as physical conditions that attributed to their lore.

While I was doing research on paranormal happenings in New Orleans, I discovered something that had me chuckling.

I had never read or seen anything about werewolves being afraid of something, as vampires shrink from the cross and sunlight.

Cajuns are of French ethnicity. They brought their lore with them when they came to the New World, first to Acadia, then to New Orleans.

Along with them came the belief in werewolves. The loup garou was the most feared of the werewolves, lupins or lubins being the other “breed.” And, there was something the loup-garou immensely feared. Frogs! Ranidaphobia much, Loup Garou?

Posted by Jill Stefko

Flashback, 1950s…. Four room elementary school house with six grades…. Special days celebrated: Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and May Day. The traditions of these special days have Pagan roots. May Day, Beltane, is a major Pagan Fire Festival. Its traditions include those described in Pagan May Day Festival: Beltane, Beltane: Pagan Spring Celebration and German Pagan Roots: May Day Trads.

We children looked forward to May Day. Each grade had its own special program to present. The highlight was the sixth grade girls, dressed in long formal gowns, dancing around the Maypole, a metal one with ribbons hanging from it so they could weave in and out, braiding the staff. A sixth grade May Queen, elected by her classmates, had a court of the other girls.

After the entertainment, an ice cream vendor provided refreshments. There was a “fishing pond,” a person behind a screen, who, when we “fished,” would put prizes on our toy fishing rod hooks. Plastic ducks, numbers on their bellies, “swam” in a small rubber pool. Prizes corresponded to the number on the chosen duck. Cake walk…. A numbered circle was chalked into the asphalt. Music was played and whoever stopped on the number that would be drawn won a cake.

We didn’t know the highlight of the day was based on Pagan tradition, as many other celebrations share. The following articles explore Pagan influence on other holidays.

• Halloween: Pagan Celebration
• Samhain Traditions and Lore
• Mabon, Fall Equinox-Second Harvest
• Lughnasadh: Pagan Celebration
• Pagan Midsummer: Summer Solstice
• Ostara/Easter Celebration
• Pagan Roots of Easter Customs
• Imbolc: Pagan Fire Festival
• Christmas Tree: Symbol of Eternity
• Pagan Yule: Christmas Plants
• Yule Pagan Celebration
• Thanksgiving Pagan Symbolism
• Thanksgiving: Pagan Roots

Posted by Jill Stefko

While I was writing Magickal Pagan Power Tools , I thought about what led me to research witchcraft and Paganism.

My earliest memories of witches were them flying on brooms, having black cats and doing bad “stuff.” We were discouraged from talking about witches, except for Hallowe’en when it was fun, because the adults told us they didn’t exist. I knew witches did exist, and not just in faerie tales.

We had Sneakers Sal, a harmless lady who always wore sneakers and carried a big basket to sell vegetables and flowers. We children were convinced she was a witch and ran when we saw her.

When I young, I was taught, in school, about hex signs and the “superstitious” Pennsylvania Dutch. Their only purpose was to keep witches away. Later, I learned about PowWow: Pennsy Dutch Arcane Art and about the meaningsof the signs, Pennsy Dutch Magikcal Art. I readPennsylvania Deutsch Grimoire with fascination.

When I was a teenager, I read my first book about witchcraft. This fueled curiosity. When I was in college and took a required religion classes, my paper was about witchcraft as a religion and how alleged witches were persecuted.

I was appalled with Rosemary’s Baby! How dare Ira Levin call satanists witches!

I read Sybil Leek’s books. She was a famous British witch. I continued my research. I learned about the different types of witchcraft and spellwork.

I have an Italian friend who is highly educated and very successful. She thought some put the Malocchio on her. What is The Evil Eye? I consulted one of my books about Stregheria, Italian Witchcraft. I told her how to find out if this happened. She did. There was no Malocchio.

I continue to research, write and learn. There can never be too much knowledge.

Posted by Jill Stefko

Jackalopes are American Southwest legends. There have been sightings of horned leporidae. The legend might have been brought to North American by German immigrants based on Raurackl, horned rabbit, of folklore. The legend might stem from horn-like growths found on the heads of rabbits infected with Shope papillomavirus, a rare disease that afflicts wild rabbits and hares.

I first learned about jackalopes in the 1980s. The critter was portrayed as Trickster, like Coyote, Raven and Crow. I remember it was mischievously running around, saying no one could catch it. It was a jack rabbit with horns fastened to its head.

While I was writing my latest article, Rabbit/Hare: Trickster-Fear Caller in the course of research, I read more about the jackalope.

In Douglas, Wyoming, according to legend, in 1920, LeRoy Ball, a hotel owner, was the first to display one.

Horned leporidaewere sighted by the pioneers of the western plains. They were described in popular hunting and fishing magazines in the early 1900's. Jackalope postcards have been available since the 1930's. Several towns offer novelty hunting licenses for these critters.

It is a scientific fact that the papillomavirus can cause horn-like growths on rabbits' and hares’ heads. From a distance, these infectedleporidae, seem to have horns. These animals are most likely responsible for the jackalope, raurackl, rasselbock, dilldapp and wolpertinger horned rabbit and hare legends and naturalists belief that horned leporidae exist.

Other related articles: Coyote, Pagan Symbol: Trickster, Crow: Mysterious Pagan Symbol and Raven, Enigmatic Pagan Symbol.

Posted by Jill Stefko

I remember Easter when I was a child. We couldn’t wait to find the baskets the Easter Bunny hid on the holiday morning. They were filled with colored hard boiled eggs and candy in the shapes of chocolate bunnies, eggs, and lambs, jelly beans and marshmallow chicks.

My grandmother would hide Easter eggs in her yard, so we, the grandchildren, had our own egg hunts.

Every year, Dad would give Mother and me corsages to wear at Easter. The house was decorated with tulips, lilacs, daffodils, potted hyacinths and Easter egg trees. Mother colored real egg shells and hung them on small tree branches.

Easter dinner always featured ham, asparagus and devilled eggs. My grandfather made eggnog.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I got curious about the roots of holiday customs and began researching them. Last year, I wrote about Ostara, A Pagan Celebration of Spring,and the Pagan Roots of Easter Customs. My most recent article is Ostara/Easter Celebration.

I discovered holiday customs often have Pagan roots because adopting the Olde Religion’s traditions facilitated the Christian conversion of European Pagans. Some of our Easter customs are based on those of Ostara.

Some Pagan influences…. Eggs and rabbits are symbols of fertility. Spring flowers decorated altars on Ostara. Traditional foods included ham, egg dishes and spring and leafy green vegetables.

I hope you enjoy these articles and the recipes which are old family recipes or those I created.

Posted by Jill Stefko

My latest article is Bear: Powerful Pagan Symbol. Recently, I wrote about Wild Boar: Pagan Warrior Spirit.

One of the things I enjoy about writing articles is the research and constantly learning. I never knew that Suidae weren’t indigenous to the Americas. Europeans brought them for food and sport. I also learned the panda is, now, classified as an Ursine. Until zoologists did scientific testing, they were classified as raccoon family members.

I like swine. One of my earliest memories of pigs happened on my grandfather’s farm. One stuck its snout out of the bottom of the fence of the pen. My father’s Scottie decided to investigate and sniffed this strange object. The pig emitted a loud squeal which scared the dog immensely. While he didn’t enjoy the experience and I felt sorry for the dog, his reaction was comical.

I had an encounter with mamma bear and two cubs. I was showing the new owner of a stable the back trail to a local state park. I saw what I thought was a large bush and two smaller ones. Then, I noticed they moved in a lumbering way. I said “Bill, bears!” He told me it was my imagination. My only fear was that the horses might spook. They didn’t. When we returned to the stable, the first thing Bill told people was about the encounter. I asked him why he said there were no bears. He replied he was afraid I would panic.

What do bears and wild boars have in common, according to Celtic belief? Both are perceived as having male and female energies. Female and male boars have different powers while bears don’t.

I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did writing them.