feminine-genius

Finally peeked at this

I've seen the headlines about Code Pink and finally looked into their new strategy to defeat the war effort: witchcraft. Hmmm.

The women's anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for "witches, crones and sirens" day, the last of the group's weeklong homage to Mother's Day. "Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we're going to end war," Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.

Well, that's legit, I suppose. It's what Dave Carlin calls religious feminism.

But for some feminists, feminism provides what other people get out of religion: a feeling that life is meaningful, a code of ethics, an object of devotion that is larger than oneself, and a "sacred" community (a quasi-church) made up of people who share one's beliefs and values.

Okay, a stretch, but then any time you create your own religion, it becomes a hodge-podge of clever ideas that seem to fit the present circumstances. These gals want peace so "incantations for peace" is as good as anything on the market.

On Tuesday, Code Pink's theme was "fierce mothers raging against war," Joi said, to talk about all the mothers killed and raped in war. Wednesday's theme was "bring your daughter to the protest," where daughters explained why they don't want their parents fighting the war. Thursday is "sisters don't allow sisters to live in war zones" day, and the week wraps up Friday with "witches, crones and sirens" day.

It's worth a try, unless you happen to know that "peace is a product of right order" (Thomas Aquinas). In that case "raging against war" would be counter productive. It would seem odd to say "sisters don't allow sisters to live in war zones" while bringing their own sisters and daughters into the fray. And if war is from the pit of hell, then inviting more demons into the debate would seem to diminish any chance of "peace in our time."

Wondering about Wicca?

"What is behind the Wiccan mystique?" Catherine Edwards Sanders tries to answer this question in an excellent book called Wicca's Charm. Written from a Christian point of view, the author has done her homework in probing the reasons that teens and women raised Christian are turning to this pagan world view, knowing full-well that the myths surrounding it are myths (history made of whole cloth) and that it's nothing more than "create your own God/ess."

Part of the attraction is the shallowness of pop culture, the thirst for ritual, the empowerment that girls/women seek, and the exotic, earthy nature of Wicca. I'll write a fuller review shortly, then an article, but in the meantime, I highly recommend this book as an intro. One cannot engage in discussion about the meaning of life without understanding what wiccans accept and reject, even if there is no dogma under which they operate.

If your kids aren't playing with this, their friends are. Arm yourself.