WitchDoctorJoe
The Adventures of a Wiccan Prison Chaplain
Spells for Cells part two
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As promised this the second edition of my new series about the more subtle nuances of Pagan Chaplaincy within the field of corrections, "Spells for Cells."
Over at the Wild Hunt today, Jason Pitzl-Waters posted A Quick Note on Avoiding Bottom-Feeding Trolls in Mass Media. Pause for applause, because as always Jason is spot on in his perspective and approach to an issue. I'm a big fan of Trollspotting, it's required reading in our Coven, and I think it should so be everywhere elsewhere. Just sayin.
Much like one commenter, I'm also "as guilty as the next guy" of feeding the trolls of my past. And I had a very difficult time not dropping a house on Debra. But I commend myself, on my ability not too, and I'll be talking about how I did that below (whoop). But sometimes Trolls can serve a greater good. Like many people, she really pissed me off, which got the blood pumping, carrying fresh oxygen to my cobweb shrouded brain. There was a cough of dust and smoke, and I began firing on all pistons.
And here I am, again, with something to say on the matter.
Although the argument could be made that I may look like or resemble a Troll, the fundamental difference here is context. While my words here are also largely my opinion, they are based on factual knowledge and direct experience. Unlike the aforementioned Troll.
Feel free to call me a Bottom-feeding Troll if you don't like what I have to say, But at least I actually know what I'm talking about, and I'm much, much nicer about it.
Today I'd like to address that little quip at the end the numbers quote from last time:
"A 2007 corrections survey found 183 Wiccan inmates - compared with 42,666 Protestant, 28,884 Muslim, 23,160 Catholic, 8.296 Native American and 2,678 Jewish inmates. Those big five religions for which the department hires paid, full-time chaplains. A survey five years earlier found 598 Wiccans, which suggests witchcraft could be melting in the Californian prison community." (emphasis mine)
By my math the number of Wiccans dropped by 415 over a five year period. By far, the majority of Pagans will have no trouble accepting the conspiracy laced theoretical possibility that the CDCR "rolled" the numbers to suit their interests. But let's not take the easy way out and deny ourselves the responsibility of further analysis, and the opportunity to do a little "rolling" of our own.
To paraphrase, the numbers being cited suggest that Wiccans could be "melting" in the California prison community. Please recognize that I am ignoring the poorly executed pun here, and am focusing on her point which seems to be that there are less Wiccans in prison. This does not strike me as a bad thing.
The other day on a Facebook group page, which I like to refer to as a "discussion board forum" because it sounds so much more official; We were talking about this very topic and Wade Long (Full-Contact Philosopher) said:
"Or ... maybe Wiccans are just better at staying out of prison."
And that's an interesting idea, because in my time as a religious volunteer I have had two separate chaplains, at two separate times and two separate locations say the same thing to me. Which was basically "You know I'll give it up to you and your guys Nick. The one thing I can say about your congregation is that all your guys own up to what they did to get here. They take responsibility for their actions and admit they're guilt. All my guys makes accuses for everything"
Both times I was speechless. But not thoughtless. I was speechless because I couldn't say what I was thinking which was: "That's because we don't blame our actions on the devil, and we don't get to ask for forgiveness and wipe the slate clean."
I strongly believe that we need to define and identify ourselves though positive terms like "a life affirming spiritual practice," not through the negative techniques like "We're not devil worshipers!!!" I always challenge myself to find a way to explain and express my religion without mentioning or comparing it to another religion.
But, this is not one of those times hahaha.
I'm totally going there, but not quite yet. First, I'd like to offer an example of a positive application of Wicca within a correctional environment. As a Veritas Wiccan I teach our application of the Athame, which is to cast circle "...to better contain our own energies."
While they cannot have an Athame, they can practice its use. Casting magic circles to keep bad stuff out, but also keep stuff in. We can learn to use the Athame to govern ourselves, to have self-control. I can cast a circle of protection, to keep me from kicking your ass, or dropping a house on you (there it is). *please see the aforementioned whoop.
You may laugh, but it works. It works for me, and it works for them. It keeps us from getting ourselves in trouble. The really cool thing is, that's only one tool. We have a set of thirteen. But that's another post. My point is that Wiccan inmates can actually benefit from their religious beliefs and practices, and actually improve themselves, escape and avoid prison through the practice of Witchcraft.
There was a recent Georgia State University Study done here, which makes for an interesting discussion:
"Through purposeful distortion or genuine ignorance, the hardcore offenders we interviewed are able to exploit the absolvitory tenets of religious doctrine, neutralizing their fear of death to not only allow but encourage offending."
Now I'm not going to name any names or point any fingers here, but I will say that those absolvitory religious doctrines were predominantly monotheisticly-Abrahamic.