by Texe Marrs
Chapter 34: GODDESS, WITCHCRAFT, AND PAGAN SECTS
One of the fastest growing religious movements in the world today is Witchcraft, also known as the Earth Religion, and closely related to Paganism and Goddess worship. My estimate is that there are today in the United States some two million persons practicing a variety of forms of witchcraft and earth religion. In addition, millions more involved in promoting environmentalism often unwittingly embrace witchcraft doctrines and practices. Witches do not always identify themselves as witches. Some prefer to call themselves naturists, pagans, neo-pagans, druids, wiccans, mediums, or shamans. Increasingly, witches identify themselves as believers in the goddess or as those who practice “the Craft.” The feminist movement has been one of the principal factors in the rise of witchcraft and earth religion groups and sects.
The Bible has a lot to say about Witchcraft, the Goddess, and the Earth Religion. All forms of these practices are denounced in such biblical passages as Deut. 18:10-11; Leviticus 19:26,32; and Galatians 5:20. You may recall the Old Testament saga of the Witch of Endor (I Samuel 28). When King Saul sought out the Witch of Endor so that he could communicate with the dead prophet Samuel, punishment from God for this abomination was swift and sure. The very next day, the king fell on his sword and was killed in battle.
Goddess and earth worship is basically sorcery and primeval occultism. Yet these perversions are increasingly finding popular support. Witchcraft has enjoyed a great revival in Great Britain due to the works of Gerald Gardner, a male witch who died in 1964. His book, Witchcraft Today, caused thousands to turn to witchcraft. In America, Dr. Raymond Buckland published his Complete Book of Witchcraft which is used as a guide by many sects. For example, in a recent letter to an inquirer, a representative of the witchcraft group Church of the Crescent Moon commented: “Ray Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft is the best book that I have seen on basic witchcraft and I am sure that you will find everything that you need within its covers to guide you on the right path.”
The signs of witchcraft and earth magic seem to be almost everywhere today. For example, computer fans have created a computer bulletin board network called MagicNet. Tap into MagicNet and the computer enthusiast will find an astonishing array of rituals, wiccan events, information on spells, and counter-intelligence against the Christian fundamentalists so despised by witches. And there is more evidence of witchcraft and goddess worship. In the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper of May 30, 1990, was a story about “Mother Earth” appearing at a huge celebration at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Evidently a local goddess worship group dressed one of their members up in a Mother Earth outfit at a community celebration, complete with goddess gospel singers, dancers, and exhibits on global environmental problems. The international celebration was sponsored by the United Nations and funded in part by Monsanto Chemical Corporation.
Black Magic Religion
The basic Witchcraft/Earth Religion doctrine is that we are all part of the earth, that God is nature. Witches protest that they do not practice evil, or black magic; they say that theirs is white magic which harms no one. Indeed, the principal witchcraft motto is “Harm no one.” However, this is counterbalanced by another credo which states, “Do as thou wilt.”
Witches believe, as do other New Agers, in the Hinduistic concepts of reincarnation and karma. They are also prone to believe in forest, nature, and tree spirits, in fairies, gnomes and other little creatures, and in spirit beings. They especially celebrate the passing of the seasons and the coming of the new moon. Some ceremonies are held with members skyclad, or nude. This practice is believed to increase the release of energy forces. Occultic symbols are emphasized, especially the Satanic pentagram and the circle. Candles and incense are used in ceremonies as well as a ritualistic dagger called an athame. The symbolic elements of earth, fire, air, and water are embedded in rituals.
Witches do indeed cast spells and place hexes on supposed victims, just as we have seen in the movies. They also believe in healing by the laying on of hands. Some practice “astral sex” with spirit beings from beyond (incubus or succubus).
The Devil is a Christian Invention Say Witches
Almost all witchcraft, goddess, and earth/nature worshippers vehemently deny a belief in the devil. They say that Satan, or the devil, is a Christian invention. Yet many conjure up, venerate, and worship the horned god Pan, an ancient mythological character who is in reality the devil in another form. There have been many claims that witches sacrifice animals and even human beings to the devil. However, this practice is no doubt quite rare and uncommon, being done only by those witches and pagans into hard-core satanic ritual and magic.
Many are drawn into witchcraft and goddess worship today because they have rejected the (male) God of the Bible. Others have been conned into believing that the earth is a sacred being, a Goddess (the “Gaia Thesis”) which must be protected. Many honestly feel that what they are doing is ethical and responsible. Yet, we recently received one letter from the leader of a major witchcraft group who warned that anyone contemplating becoming a witch should be very careful because “There is sexism in modern witchcraft, also there is racism in the Craft, and internal witch hunting by witches and pagans against other, real witches... And there is widespread abuse of power.”
This is an admonition that certainly should be heeded. It should also be understood that even though those in the witchcraft and goddess sects deny that they worship Satan, nevertheless, famed British satanist Aleister Crowley was a known worshipper of Nuit, the Mother Goddess. So, there is among some witchcraft and earth religious groups a close connection with satanism and other extreme forms of occultism.
A Multitude of Groups and Covens
There are so many new witchcraft and goddess groups springing up that it is impossible in this limited space to list and describe them all, but I will mention a few. First, there is Circle, also known as Circle Sanctuary. Operating out of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, Circle Sanctuary publishes an annual Circle Guide to Pagan Groups which lists the “names, addresses, and descriptions of covens, groves, temples, churches, study circles, and other types of groups reflecting a variety of pagan/nature spirituality paths, including: Wiccan ways, Shamanism, Egyptian Magic, Scandinavian Folk Religion, Feminist Spirituality, Druidism, Neo-paganism, Native American and other native people spirituality.” Circle Sanctuary was founded by one of the world’s best known witches, Selena Fox, in 1974.
Another Wiccan (witchcraft) group is the Seminary of Wicca, also known as Our Lady of Enchantment. Founded by Lady Sabrina, an initiated high priestess in both Celtic wicca and Egyptian ceremonial magic, and Lord Phoenix, high priest, the Seminary is a school dedicated to teaching the ancient mystery religion of Wicca along with other occult philosophies. It offers a wide variety of regular classes and special programs, including home study courses.
The New Wiccan Church is a group out of California which publishes a newsletter, The International Red Garters. The New Wiccan Church says that its branches are “secret religious organizations dedicated to promulgating English Traditional Wicca in its various traditions, rites, forms, and orders.” Among its international officers is Queen Haragno.
Pagans for Peace is a pagan/wiccan/goddess organization which has as its goal the promotion of world peace through development of the sacred energies of the earth. Yet another group promoting the earth religion is the Children of the Green Earth. The latter group recently received the One World Award from Baha’i for its work in planting trees. The Rowan Tree Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a group that has also dedicated itself to the earth. Claiming to be “Neo-Alexandrian,” it teaches its members how to become priests and priestesses and conducts Full Moon and Sabbat Rituals. The Church of All Worlds, founded at Westminister College in 1962, became well-known for publishing the journal, The Green Egg. It says it is “an organization of individuals who regard the earth and life on it as sacred.” Like most witchcraft and goddess and nature groups, the Church of
All Worlds emphasizes the evolution and divinity of man and proclaims a Golden Age soon to come when people everywhere will worship the Earth Religion.
Other groups include the University of the Trees, Boulder Creek, California; Women’s Alliance, Oakland, California; the Center for Community Resources, Metford, Massachusetts; the Seax-Wicca Seminary, Charlottesville, Virginia; the Covenant of the Goddess, Berkeley, California; the Georgian Church; the Church of the Eternal Source; and the Reform Druids. In addition, there are tens of thousands of witches and goddess worshippers who practice their rituals independently of any organized group.
Chapter 35: Hare Krishna (International Society of Krishna Consciousness)
The New Age cult group with perhaps the worst reputation is undoubtedly Hare Krishna, officially the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. Actions of Hare Krishna devotees in crowded airport terminals and on street corners in attempting to con the unwitting out of their money has brought the Hare Krishnas much criticism—and justifiably so. Hare Krishna disciples have been trained to use what they call “transcendental trickery” to obtain donations through public soliciting. On one occasion, during the Christmas season, Hare Krishnas were arrested for soliciting without a permit while dressed in Santa Claus suits. As a Hindu sect, the Hare Krishnas do not celebrate Christmas and thus it was quite obvious that this was merely an attempt to deceive the public.
Recently, as colleges opened across America, Hare Krishnas scattered out on the various campuses collecting money and recruiting new converts. With their saffron robes and their shaven heads, their chanting and their crude musical instruments, they are easy to spot and avoid. Consequently, their un-American dress is now giving way to more conventional clothing; yet they remain anathema to many onlookers, being viewed as arrogant, aggressive beggars bent on deceiving the naive out of their money and perhaps their very souls.
It would be easy for us to dismiss the Hare Krishnas as a bunch of weird, hippie-like dropouts. But the fact is that the average Hare Krishna is a fair representative of overall society. Studies have shown that some 70 percent of those in this cult formerly attended a Christian church. Disciples of Hare Krishna are no doubt deeply sincere and they genuinely believe in absolute, unswerving devotion to their Hindu guru on planet earth as well as to the Lord Krishna, the supreme Hindu deity whom they worship.
Hinduism and Hare Krishna
Hare Krishnas do not attempt to hide the fact that their religious philosophy is based on the Bhagavad Gita, a set of Hindu scriptures—actually a lengthy Hindu poem—written some 2000 years ago (although the Hare Krishnas and Hindus claim that its origins lie some 5000 years ago). It is significant that the Bhagavad Gita depicts indifference to those who are poor and suffering. It teaches unconditional surrender of one’s will to a human master while neglecting the needs of the living. It is because of such scriptures as the Bhagavad Gita that India has toiled and labored for centuries under its despicable caste system.
Life for a Hare Krishna, whether the individual is single or a member of a family, can be very harsh and regimented. The initiates rise at 3:00 a.m. for a cold shower and begin shortly thereafter to worship the temple idols who represent various Hindu deities. These deities are even dressed and “fed.” Then the devotees are led in chants while counting their beads. Next they are off to the streets to solicit money and to preach of the love of their lord Krishna.
The life of the Krishna devotees, then, is mostly work and praise. In the evening there is more chanting and more worship of the gods. Drugs, alcohol, coffee, and certainly meat—since Hindus abhor meat and are vegetarians—are all prohibited to the Krishna devotee. Outside world contact is discouraged. A person is expected to depend solely on their local Hare Krishna temple for sustenance and shelter. Children are taken from parents and placed in special training schools. There they learn the principles of fundamental Hinduism.
To signify their unswerving devotion to their master, the Hare Krishna disciples are given a new Sanskrit name and a secret mantra, which consists of words or phrases for chanting. Women leave their hair in a much more natural condition, while men shave their heads.
Beginnings and Organization
The Hare Krishna Hindu cult was begun by Swami Prabhupada, who came to America in 1966. First he drew only a small group of counter-culture hippies to his cause, but today, the Hare Krishna is a worldwide organization with 20 commissioners to administer various regional and geographical units.
Modern-day disciples of Prabhupada are formed into a world-wide confederation of ashrams, schools, temples, and communities. When Prabhupada passed away in 1977 in India, he was succeeded in America by another guru who presides over some 48 centers and foreign communities within the continental United States. Hare Krishna also has centers in Canada, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Australia, Africa, Asia, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, and literally in most countries around the world.
It is claimed by the cult that there are some three million members, one million of whom reside in the U.S.A. I have reason to believe that this is a vastly inflated figure and that the real number, in the United States at least, is no more than 100,000 at best. Interestingly, however, among apostate theologians the Hare Krishnas are today finding unexpected support. For example, at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 1990, 30 scholars, theologians, and clergy met with Mukunda Goswami, the Hare Krishna minister of public affairs. Goswami summarized the basic philosophy of the Hindu group and commented that the assistance of the theologians was needed to help fight persecution against the disciples of Hare Krishna. According to news accounts, his listeners were duly impressed.
“God is Darkness, Also”
One vehicle that the Hare Krishna movement uses to gain influence is its slick and colorful magazine Back to Godhead. In a recent issue (volume 23, number 5) one finds the usual Hindu philosophies of the Hare Krishnas. One article talked about the sexual affairs of the lord Krishna and a Hindu goddess. There was also a feature article on members who celebrated the Festival of the Chariots in New York City, carrying their bongo-like drums and chanting as they proceeded down busy streets in that metropolis. Here is just a sample of the philosophies spouted in Back to Godhead magazine:
Religion means to abide by the laws of God. That is all. It cannot be “Hindu,” “Muslim,” “Christian”... Therefore, you cannot say “Christian religion,” “Hindu religion,” “Muslim religion.” Religion is religion, God is neither Christian, nor Hindu, nor Muslim. God is God. God is one.
God is everything. God is darkness, also. Through meditation, by concentrating one’s mind upon God, the Yogis try to see Him within their heart. God is within yourself.
It is important to realize that to the Hare Krishna followers their guru is their master. He is literally the one they must worship on planet earth as a representative of the various deities and especially the supreme deity, Lord Krishna. Thus, when the founder of Hare Krishna, Swami Prabhupada, declared “I am God realized,” it was believed. We see in Hare Krishna the traditional New Age view that man has the capability within himself to become fully god, fully divine, achieving union with all of the gods that exist in the universe and thereby achieving oneness. Hare Krishna devotees teach that the name of Krishna is supreme and that no other name can match it. They say that his name is higher than the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Isaiah—higher than the name of Jesus Christ. There is no question, then, that this is a decidedly unchristian religious cult.
To learn more about the Hare Krishnas I highly recommend the outstanding book The Roaring Lion of the East by Marvin Yakos, published by Pentecostal Publishing House (8855 Dunn Road, Hazelwood, Missouri 63042). This is a book which reveals Yakos’ stunning escape from the Hare Krishna movement. Marvin Yakos today is a devoted Christian. In his book he shows clearly how the Hare Krishna movement deceives its followers, bringing them into a most unholy worship of eastern religions and demonic influences—which are portrayed as “ange
ls of light.” As Yakos writes: “I have journeyed into this kingdom of the eastern spirit to the very edge of the deceptive pit, but then I re-entered truth with the only sources of love, truth, and salvation: Jesus Christ.”
Chapter 36: HIMALAYAN INSTITUTE
In Homesdale, Pennsylvania, nestled in the rolling hills of the Pacona Mountains in Northeastern Pennsylvania, lies a beautiful brick complex. Inside an area of some 422 acres and surrounded by spectacular views of wooded hills and valleys, this is the Himalayan Institute. Founded in 1971 by Swami Rama, a Hindu guru, the institute maintains that it “integrates the latest scientific knowledge with the ancient principles of yoga to manage complex problems of modern life.”
Swami Rama purports to have been raised from childhood in the Himalayas by a great master of yoga. He also says that he pursued a formal education at Oxford University in England, though he did not graduate, and then continued his studies in Germany and Holland for three years before coming to the United States. The literature of the Himalayan Institute contends that, “Swami Rama is widely respected in the East, where he held, and later renounced, the office of Shankaracharya, India’s highest spiritual position.”
In 1969 Swami Rama came to the United States where, reportedly, he participated with the Menninger Foundation in a study to determine, under laboratory conditions, whether conscious control of autonomic mental and physical functioning could be achieved. It is unclear whether these experiments successfully proved that Swami’ mind powers are as potent as his followers claim.
