# Wiccans ready to celebrate sacred holiday

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiccans-ready-to-celebrate-sacred-holiday/328819>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 31, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiccans-ready-to-celebrate-sacred-holiday/328819 "2005-10-31T22:54:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiccans-ready-to-celebrate-sacred-holiday/328819/1 "2005-10-31T22:54:31Z")

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[Wiccans ready to celebrate sacred holiday  
Halloween is time to dispel myths for pagans](http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051031/NEWS01/510310311/1002)

> [@](#):
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> SALISBURY – When she saw the devil costume in a local store, frustration boiled inside her.
> 
> Everything classic about the devil was there, said Morning Dove. There were horns and red makeup, but the pentacle – the symbol of her Wiccan religion – was like a slap in the face.
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> ADVERTISEMENT
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> “How am I supposed to protect my son from that, that pentacles represent evil,” she said of how the symbol was represented on the costume. “It’s a sacred symbol of earth, and Mother Earth is our goddess.”
> 
> Beyond complaining, Morning Dove, a practicing Wiccan who asked that her given name remain anonymous, said all she can do to change the perception of Wiccans is to educate people.
> 
> “People need to realize that that’s not what Wicca is about. It’s not about the devil,” she said. “We are moral people who are not out to hurt anyone.”
> 
> Wicca  
> The biggest misconception about Wicca – the largest religion under Paganism – is that its followers worship the devil.
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> “Most pagans don’t acknowledge Satan as an actual being,” said the Rev. David Andrews of the Church of Eclectic Pagan Fellowship. “Those that recognize him as a deity are from Christianity.”
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> Instead, Wicca is a modern religion that borrows from contemporary to ancient traditions.
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> “We look at everything around us and recognize that everything has a soul,” said the Rev. Heidi Andrews, also of the CEPF. “Everything has a spark of the divine.”
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> The three practicing pagans said not all pagan paths are the same. It is not only impossible to give a number of practicing Wiccans, but also explain their traditions or make assumptions.
> 
> “We all have different paths,” David Andrews said.
> 
> Most Wiccans are polytheistic, believing in the Lord and Lady, which rule over different parts of their yearly calendar. They have a golden rule, or moral rede, which says, “If it harm none, do as ye will.”
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> Morning Dove said Wiccans believe the earth is divine and seek spiritual growth and connection with the divine.
> 
> “All religions are like that,” she said. "We just go about it in a different way

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