I Saluted a Witch

An Army base in Texas becomes the hotbed for earth-goddess worshippers called Wiccans

The high priestess lifts her arms to the crescent moon, her bright silver pentagrams shimmering in the light of a burning cauldron. About her stand hooded figures, some with long forked staffs bearing stag horns and hawk feathers, animal skins and other talismans. "Circle of power," she chants, "I conjure thee to ban such things as named by me...Attract such things as named by me...Be cleansed of all impurity...So mote it be." Surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes, the others chant back in litany, "So mote it be."

The ceremony is a "moon ritual," and the 20 people who gathered two weeks...

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