Saturday, May 21, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JANE ANN MORRISON: Earnest witch crafts series of courses about living up to Wiccan values

Frankly, my first lunch with a witch failed to meet expectations.

I was looking for someone who might share stories of orgies in the forest and turning people into toads. Someone carrying eye of newt.

Instead, Candace Kant spoke seriously about her religion as a Wiccan, about following the moral ethic to harm no one -- no person, animal or plant. How could I make fun of that?

She didn't even look like witch material. Her short, spiky white hair was hip, not witchy. At 55, she's a mother of two adult children and a longtime wife of a retired defense contractor. She drives a Jetta, not a broom.

During our interview at the marginally mystical Marie Callender's, it was hard calling her a witch to her face. In my world, being a witch is a bad thing.

When I first noticed that Kant, a history professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada, was teaching a noncredit continuing education class on Wiccan Mysteries, my first thought was that, while I'm not a trained witch, I probably have prerequisite skills culled from 34 years in newspapers.

When I called her, Kant hesitated to speak, fearing I wanted to sensationalize her deepest beliefs. "This is my religion," she reminded me.

Showing I have "the power," I talked Kant into an interview, explaining that I'd be writing about her class anyway but that her voice would not be heard if she chose not to speak with me. Kant opted in.

In a series that started May 7 and will continue through Sept. 10, Kant and her daughter, Caren Carrero, are teaching four separate courses on Wicca. I almost signed up, just to find the answer to this tongue-twister in the catalog: "Why would a witch walk widdershins?" But the time commitment (two hours on Saturday mornings over five months) was too intense.

Before anyone gets too excited, these are noncredit continuing education classes and do not involve state money. The cost is borne by the students.

The first course drew 14 students willing to pony up $52. All but a few are women because this is a religion that respects and empowers women, especially older women, which is part of its appeal to Kant.

Her interest in Wicca began about six or seven years ago when she started teaching a history class about witchcraft at the community college.

Wicca offered her something that had been missing before.

"It gave me a belief system in which I did not have to set aside my reason or rationality to hold that belief," Kant said. "Wicca asks you to use your mind and your common sense. If it doesn't make sense, don't believe it and don't do it."

Her daughter and husband have joined with her. Her son, an astronomer, has not and lovingly views his mother as "eccentric."

Kant hopes to combat stereotypes about witches by setting an example. Her appearance isn't far from the norm, and her goal is to demonstrate the teachings of Wicca "by living up to its values, by treating people with respect, by keeping promises."

Some surveys estimate that 750,000 Wiccans live in the United States. Kant estimates that there are several thousand in Southern Nevada.

In her first class, speaking to students ranging in age from their 20s through their 60s, Kant made it clear that there would be no spells to get people to love you -- and nobody dropped out. The second class focused on Wiccan ethics, about taking responsibility for one's actions, and about the Law of Three: that the energy you put out, whether positive or negative, comes back to you three times amplified.

The most recent news stories about Wicca are from Virginia, where a woman who belongs to the Broom Riders Association has been rejected by an appellate court in her efforts to offer prayers before the Richmond Board of Supervisors.

While Wiccan prayers have been delivered at mayoral prayer breakfasts in Southern Nevada, don't expect Wiccans to be permitted to start delivering prayers at the Nevada Legislature, the County Commission or the city councils.

But really, how much could witches' prayers hurt politicians as they engage in their own mischief ... without the benefit of witchcraft.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.