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is prepared to eat crow.” Gzowski very
graciously interviewed me live on his Morningside show in February of 1993.
The program aired again the following August. Now at least some of his
listeners have learned the truth. Yet there are still a lot of people out
there who haven’t. I recall a statement that I read in
evangelist Clifford Alford’s manual, Occult Crimes Investigations:
“Police officers and ministers represent authority, the law, the
right-hand path of God.” Many people in Western society make this assumption.
The major organized religion in Western society being Christianity, people
naturally assume that someone who wears a uniform as a representative of that
society must be Christian too. Many people presume that the uniformed officer
that just arrived at their door is Christian and conservative. The reality is
that both society and police departments are much more diverse than most
people realize. I am proof of this diversity. I recall one shift walking the beat: I came across an individual who had set up
a card table and a chair in the entrance way of a store which was closed for
the day. This man was reading Tarot cards for people passing by. I watched
his face as I approached, I could plainly see his consternation. The
approaching police uniform spoke to him of conformity, of conservatism, of
dogma. He thought that some conservative defender of church and family values
was about to give him the third degree about corrupting public morals with
his “occultism.” His face was a study when I walked up to him and said, “I
see that you use the same Tarot cards that I do.” The Wiccan community of which I am a part
is not immune to such assumptions. I am almost as amused by the reactions of
some of the members of my Wiccan community to the cop in their midst when I
first went public with my beliefs. In an interview with author Kevin Marron,
one young Witch made the following observation about me, “He looks like a
real cop, the kind you’d be scared of, if he stopped you for speeding.”
Marron went on to describe me in his book, Witches, Pagans and Magic In The New Age: “There is certainly
nothing in his physical appearance or manner that would make him stand out
from his fellow officers. On the contrary, most people who met him off-duty
would probably guess that he was a cop from his clean-cut face, courteous
self-assured manner and alert, but wary, look.” Over the years I have occasionally overheard co-workers conversing nearby
referring to a woman that they don’t like as “a Witch.” Then somebody in the
group notices my presence and everyone blushes when they realize that I’ve
probably overheard the remark. My presence reminds them that the stereotype
that they are using to disparage another doesn’t match the reality. These stereotypes against which I am measured are the product of the mythologies predominant in Western society. The larger religious groups in Western society have influenced the nature of our society’s laws, morals, and perceptions. The average person raised in Western society is thoroughly indoctrinated in Christian forms of thought even though they may not attend church and do not consider |
Creating reality, pg 2
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Dispatches: Volume 2 No. 6 Samhain/Calan Gaef/Einherjar 2007 |
