By Robert Grant

Is witchcraft real? According to a student at Fitchburg State University, it is. This student, who wishes to remain anonymous, practices the modern pagan religion of Wicca. Raised Catholic until the age of 18, she says she was never fully satisfied with her religion. She felt she was being pushed to being a better Catholic by her family and friends.
“I hated myself,” she says with a frown on her face. “There was too much pressure to be perfect.” A friend introduced her to the religion of Wicca which she says was a perfect fit.
When asked what aspects of the religion were over exaggerated her response was spells. “They think it’s all charms or just crazy.” She says instead of casting spells over a cauldron she prays. She then adds that there is a calming energy about praying to her God and Goddess. It is a common practice of the Wiccan religion to pray to a Moon Goddess and a Horned God.
Before becoming a Wiccan, she says she always had trouble sleeping and only after taking up the religion was she able to fall asleep for the entire night. Another exaggeration that people can make without knowing about the religion is the look of witches. She is proof that the old ladies with the long gray hair and warts on their noses that are often associated with witchcraft is a common stereotype for the religion.
The FSU student goes on to talk about how she loves that the religion is much more “go with the flow” than other religions. He says that since it is not an organized religion, you do not have the pressure of constantly being judged like she did when she was a Catholic.
Though she does not like the Catholic religion for herself, she is not against people that are in that religion. “Do whatever you choose,” she says with a smile. “It just wasn’t for me.”
She then kindly pulled out her pentacle which is the iconic symbol of the religion. She pointed to each point of the star and said that each one represents an element. The five points represent earth, fire, water, air and spirit.
The energy she gave off was intoxicating as her eyes sparkled from the excitement of talking about her pentacle. The spellbinding religion has cast its own spell on the FSU student and many men and women across the country.