Hecate, the Greek goddess of mystery, change and initiation, was honored Monday night at Western Associated Students club Pagans and Students Together’s first ritual of the fall.

Members of the Pagans and Students Together Club pose for a photo at the Rock Rings sculpture on south campus where they held the Dark of Moon with Hecate ceremony Sept. 29. Photo by Graig Hill.

Western’s Pagans, witches and druids from all different denominations of Paganism, came together at the rock sculpture on south campus, which they call Stonehenge. They attempted to call on the universe for help in changing themselves spiritually for the better and building good energy for the cycles ahead, said Western junior Jamie Stolz, president of WWU Pagans, a Facebook group for connecting all types of Pagans at Western.

“On Monday, there was a dark moon, meaning that the moon was not visible in the sky, and it marked the beginning of the moon cycle,” Stolz said. “This is a time to build good energy for yourself spiritually and set new goals. Whatever energy you have at the time of the ritual you’ll reap as the cycle builds toward the full moon.”

Stolz is a witch who practices Wiccan Paganism, one of the many different types of the Pagan religion. She uses magic, not witchcraft, to change herself by connecting with good energy.

“Most Wiccans call themselves Pagans, though Paganism is an umbrella term that encompasses all kinds of faiths that might not even have anything to do with Wicca, magic or witchcraft,” Stolz said. “So we don’t want Wiccans to be confused with witches. There is a big overlap in beliefs of the two, but there are some people that are one and not the other.”

A Wiccan is a person who follows the neo-pagan, naturistic religion of Wicca, a specific branch of Paganism, not to be confused with a witch, who is someone of any religion who practices magic, Stolz said.

Western junior Alejandra Gonzalez has been a solitary Pagan witch since she was 7 years old.

“Paganism itself is an individual path, so I follow my own intuition with regards to spirituality,” she said. “Spirituality is what Paganism is all about.”

Although Paganism and Christianity sometimes have contrasting views, they also sometimes overlap and share similar holidays called sabbats. The Pagan sabbat Ostara celebrates the rebirth of the sun and fertility, and generally, eggs are involved in a similar way to Easter, Gonzalez said.

“Pagans celebrate the Yule sabbat, which is like Christmas," Gonzalez said. "It’s around the same time. Sometimes people decorate trees. There are similarities in songs or hymns, and some Pagans even give out presents. These are some of the things that Christianity assimilated as it spread across Europe.”

Western junior Tina Koch, another Wiccan Pagan, has been a witch for one year. She recently worked with a witch on campus in the Resource Outreach Program who invited her to attend a Pagan ritual. She said the ritual provided something she felt had been missing in her life. Despite her enthusiasm for being a witch, she is still hiding the fact from some people in her life.

“I just fear low levels of persecution for being a witch. Coming out as a witch is kind of like coming out of the closet when you’re gay,” she said. “Sometimes we joke around by calling it coming out of the broom closet.”

Western sophomore Allison Goar, secretary of WWU Pagans, is also wary about who she wants knowing she is a witch. She picks and chooses whom she tells because she fears persecution from some people.

“It’s not that I’m afraid of being burned at the stake in Red Square because I am a witch, but just being harassed on campus,” Goar said. “It’s not uncommon for your labels to be used against you.”

Stolz said the group was created to form a community of Pagans, to provide a forum for the general public and to provide an opportunity for Pagans to perform rituals. The group holds meetings every Thursday in Viking Union room 462 which are open to all Western students.

Western junior Kenneth Peddicord, a male witch, said there are many misconceptions about witches and Paganism.  

Gender has nothing to do with what makes someone a witch; he said a witch is simply someone who practices magic as a way to communicate with nature. Magic works like types of music, where many different variations exist that different witches favor, he said.

“A scientist uses a scientific method for figuring things out, whereas a witch uses a magic system to work with energy, which is like a highly refined way of prayer,” Peddicord said.

Former Western student Jamie Freeman is the co-creator of Pagans and Students Together. She said she came to Western from Seattle Pacific University, which she said had a strong Pagan community, only to find no Pagan community at Western.

“I knew that there were people like me out here, because there always is," Freeman said. "I wanted to bring them out of the woodwork by offering them a place they can go and express their ideas. Not only does this group bring some people out of the broom closet and get their questions answered, it gives them a safe place where they can do that.”

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