A pagan club.
Group activities would include charity work, discussion groups and benevolent witchcraft. The teens' plans have raised everything from nonchalant shrugs to suspicion. And, they hope, some awareness.
"The purpose of the club is to open people's minds about this. We want them to understand that there's other things out there (besides mainstream religion)," said Amanda Daniels, a 16-year-old sophomore. Daniels and friend Mike Ramirez, also a sophomore, are would-be co-founders of a New Age club at the northwest Manteca school.
Tuesday, they decried rumors ensconced in stereotype, stressing that their pagan subsect honors peace and nature -- not Satan. "People are saying that we're Satanists or something," complained Ramirez, 15. "This does not have anything to do with Satan." Instead, he and Daniels said, the club will center on charity fund-raisers and discussions of New Age music, literature, poetry and astrology.
Detractors were unswayed.
"That weirdo thing?" said Joe Duarte, a 16-year-old junior. "I heard about it. I don't think things like that should be brought into school. ... Don't bring religion into school." Duarte does support a spot on campus for Peace, a Christian extracurricular club, "because the majority of people around here are Christian."
Others at school Tuesday neither rebuked nor embraced the club, which would celebrate pagan holidays and practice benign witchcraft. "If they believe in it, that's fine, because not everybody has to join a club," said 17-year-old senior Jami Hayes. "Yeah, you don't have to agree with everything," added senior Jenny Bauer, 17. "It's kind of sensitive issue," said 17-year-old Gina McKeever, also a senior. "I don't see why (the club) is needed. But if they feel they need to start it, then more power to them."
Though sometimes painted as black sheep by the brush of youth consensus, Daniels and Ramirez are in many ways typical teens. They have that dual craving for acceptance and independence, to fit in while standing out. They seek a poetic forum for their angst, excitement and fears.
What sets them apart, perhaps, is a premium on nonconformity. Daniels wears green nail polish; Ramirez drapes about a dozen necklaces -- dog collar included -- over his jeans and T-shirt ensemble. They said they embrace paganism on faith, just as others intuitively believe in Christ.
About three years ago, Ramirez, seeking a non-Christian faith, studied religions of American Indians and Egyptians, among others. "I literally just felt pulled to (Wicca, the religion of witches)," he said. Daniels learned of the faith through friends, and she, too, felt the tug. The pair worship a goddess of Mother Nature and mother earth. Rituals involve nothing more odd than candles, herbal teas and meditation, they said. And the witchcraft? Said Ramirez: "It's not the stereotypical sacrificing of cats or anything like that." He uses it for "healing, helping people, healing and cleansing yourself, to draw luck."
In pressing for the New Age club at East Union, the pair have penned a constitution, pored over guidelines with school administrators and lined up 15 to 20 prospective members, they said. They still need a faculty adviser and formal approval from the school's principal, activity director and student leaders. Principal Linda Frost said she has no problems with the club. "Everybody's got to do their thing," she said. "We can't discriminate against people just because they don't believe in the same things we do."
Frost downplayed the stir on campus, citing just two phone calls from
concerned parents. But students have been more vocal, more opinionated
and often more critical. "I was so surprised (by some people's negative
responses)," Daniels said. "I lost some friends over it. "But," she smiled,
"we wanted a reaction."
Letters to the Editor in response to this article:
| The pagan club
(Published: Saturday, February 28, 1998) Not only do our tax dollars prepare youngsters
for the future, in Manteca, they may go to support a few misguided
and unfocused souls and allow them to form a "pagan" club at East
Union High School.
BILL ANDREWS
|
High school pagans
Horrors! The watchful eyes of The Bee have
uncovered anarchy right here in the safety of the Valley Bible Belt,
land of the super-religious and very self-righteous, in the form of a group
of students at East Union High School in Manteca who dare to
step out of line to propose the forming of a high school pagan club. What
sinister thoughts have motived these students to think that freedom
of speech, thought and choice applied to them?
JAY DISMAS
|
Teen-age pagans
(Published: Thursday, March 12, 1998) Regarding "Teens pushing for high school
pagan club" (front page, Feb. 25): As a Wiccan, I applaud the
students. I am, however, concerned that they
CINDY L. MARTIN
|