White mischief
Young people take their faith as seriously as anyone else, especially those young people who have a faith outside of the mainstream religions. You can’t really get further away from the mainstream than witchcraft. But witchcraft is, according to its followers, a growing alternative.
| It’s not hocus-pocus, it’s just getting together and thinking about everything. |
Nicolas Hoyle is 14. He goes to school. He hangs out with his friends. He’s just like any other kid. Except for one thing. He’s a witch.
Nicolas is a perfect example of a young person enticed towards alternative religions. But what exactly does being a witch entail?
Nicolas has given us an insight into the mysterious world of witchcraft.
“I believe that everything is connected, that the earth is alive and we have a special connection with the earth and the spirits. It’s not really like hocus-pocus, it’s just getting together and thinking about everything and thinking about energy.”
Nicolas’ has a clear view on his religion; he simply has his own beliefs.
So it’s not all hocus-pocus then. But where does the great fascination in Wicca lie? As many people would assume, youngsters are being influenced by such TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But Nicolas had different reasons for entering into the ‘craft’:
“I just sort of realised that there’s a lot of flaws in the Christian faith, in what it says and I sort of just grew into paganism.”
Nicolas’ mum Debra has been a Pagan for the past 16 years. He said she didn’t inflict her beliefs onto him.
“She actually tried to deter me from going into it. If you get parents who are Christian they’ll obviously try and entice the child to go into Christianity. My mum and dad, they let me choose what I wanted to be.”
Nicolas would happily let his children become witches. “I’m not going to force Paganism onto anyone. I want them to choose what they want to follow.”
Debra told us that being a witch means “Dedicating yourself to the earth and to the people in it and to the planet, the animals, the trees, nature, and to your own spiritual.”
Delving further into information on Paganism, I’m starting to think that it might bit much for a teenager to get their head round.
“Every religion is complicated. If you think about it, there’s more similarities than differences, our beliefs are the same, it’s just the way that you believe in it is different and that’s the only place where complications lie,” said Nicolas.
There will always be a strong hype and fear factor surrounding witchcraft. It is often connected to black magic and devil worshipping.
“Black magic and Satan are Christian creations, we were here a lot longer before them and they got Satanism into it as if to say, ‘Oh, there’s this devil down there if you don’t follow God.’ “
But Nicolas keeps an open mind.
“People can believe what they want, as far as I’m concerned, but it sort of angers me to think that some people think like that because it puts a bad light on us and it’s just not what we are, we are actually trying to do good. We respect all religions, why can’t they respect us?”
He understands that this is an issue that won’t disappear. “There will always be opposition to every single religion, the Jews got it from the Germans during World War II, the Christians got it from the Romans.”
You could say Nicolas is one the fortunate ones, having a mother who knows all that is worth knowing about Paganism and not getting much flack from anyone.
“In school the only people that know I’m a Pagan or a witch are my closest friends and they accept it, the others don’t realise what I am.”
If anything, Nicolas’ religion helps him develop an open mind in an ever-narrowing world. He seeks clarity from his faith.
“If I’m having a bad day I just go out and sort of sit and close my eyes and think about everything and it calms you down an awful lot. Its like you’re able to connect with everything and you understand how the world works.”
The followers of Paganism view their faith as just as viable a religion as Catholicism, Buddhism or anything else. Young Pagans take their faith just as seriously as anyone else. “I reckon there wouldn’t be much of a world without it,” said Nicolas.
Nicolas feels that he won’t be able to fully enter the Pagan realm till he reaches his adult years.
“One of the things that’s actually holding me back is going to school and my mum doesn’t let me out to go to a lot of the meetings because they’re held late at night, but whenever I’m older I reckon I will get into it a lot more and be able to explore it.”
As Wicca and Paganism are quite underground beliefs, not many of us are aware of quite how many followers these religions have.
“There are a lot more than people realise, a lot of people are quiet and don’t bring it out because they’re scared but there are an awful lot of people out there and it is growing, as people are realising it’s more nature based, they’re coming in and following it.”
Nicolas’ mother Debra says she has psychic abilities passed down through her family line. “I come from a long, long line of psychics and mediums, which means that I sometimes see amazing things and can do amazing things.”
She feels extremely strongly about her religion: “It’s there 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Paganism is something you don’t switch off, you don’t just go on a Sunday and that’s it, it is part of you, once you’re committed it’s part of your life, it is an everyday thing, even whenever you’re sleeping it’s there, it’s coming through in dreams.”
She continues; “It is a beautiful way of life, I have not regretted a minute of it.”
Debbie sends a clear message to those Christians who oppose witchcraft and dismiss it as being evil.
“Go and look at it, go and read and meet people that are doing it before you pass judgement, remember that as Jesus said, ‘My father will judge you as you judge others’, so…”
About the team
This story was produced by Orlaith Graham Wood and Amanda McAteer, 14. It was published on Sky TV's Reach for the Sky website.
