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Warts and AllLee Ann Kinkade discusses the realities of witchcraft and the Wiccan faith.

Posted Friday, Oct. 31, 2008, at 4:58 PM ET

Slate contributor Lee Ann Kinkade was online on Washingtonpost.com to chat with readers about her Wiccan faith and the hassles of trying to organize a coven for Halloween. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

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Lee Ann Kinkade: Good Samhain or Happy Halloween, whichever you prefer. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

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Little Rock, Ark.: Merry met! First of all, thank you so much for your wisdom and honesty in your Slate article. Second of all—well, I could use a bit of advice. When I was a graduate student, I began to question and to seek out that path that goes beyond myself, with the help of my roommate, my dear wise pagan sister Maggie. A year later, we both ended up leaving school (we were both horn performance majors, and had performance injuries within six months of each other), and for now are relegated to long talks on the phone, and visits whenever I can afford the plane fare to Seattle.

That "perfect love and perfect trust" makes me think of what I would love to share and celebrate—but I'm not sure how, especially that I'm so far away from my mentor and teacher. I feel adrift, particularly now that my eyes have been opened, and I'm stuck in this ... less-than-open-minded part of the country. There's still so much that I don't know, and yet, don't know where to begin. Might you have any advice for a stranded traveler?

Lee Ann Kinkade: Hi Little Rock.

As with any relationship, a magical working relationship is a precious and fragile thing. I appreciate your frustration with a long distance partnership. Many people don't find anyone they can work with at all. Since you have someone whose guidance has been important to you, I would encourage you to foster that relationship through whatever paths are open to you.

I know that when I was beginning to take my own practice more seriously, I felt that there was so much to learn and so few to teach me that I was going to be relegated to half a practice, at best. I would encourage patience. Uncertainty seems to be a component of most faiths. Ours is no exception.

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Quakertown, Pa.: Is your ceremony in a public place or private? Are you ever fearful of protesters or other interlopers? Rule-by-committee seems a fair-minded, but chaos-inviting, way of deciding things. In my community, whichever high priest or priestess is running the sabbat gets to call the shots on their ceremony. The more direct participants (elements, readings, great rite, etc.) are invited/appointed by the high priest(ess). We do have our own share of politics, but that is unavoidable in any community.

Lee Ann Kinkade: I have always been fortunate to have private lands on which to practice. Protesters are less of a problem than badly behaved pets. My working partners' dog has an ill-timed interest in cakes and ale.

I have visited covens whose organizational structure is more closely aligned with the community you describe. I have always been fairly committed to having as little hierarchy as possible. Although, believe me, I see the appeal of a more structured planning process.

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Anonymous: I know this question may come across as naive and insensitive, as no one ever asks if any Catholic also attends Jewish services, although such a thing has been known to happen, yet: are there Wiccans who attend services of other religions, or are most Wiccas purely Wiccan in their devotion? I ask because I wonder if there is any cross-identification among religions among Wiccans, or maybe not. That's why I ask.

Lee Ann Kinkade: I cringe at the thought of the reaction I would get if I presumed to speak for most Wiccans. But I like your question. One of the fun things about pantheism is that I cross-identity on any given Thursday. The above isn't true for all witches I know but I really think they are missing some of the fun.

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jmbusse: I understand the frustration of bringing a group of people together to agree on—not just an end, also a means to an end—but isn't it always so, no matter if the group is comprised of witches or Christians? Let's not sensationalize this aspect unduly. Samhain is a great time to celebrate, but my real concern is how much it has been commercialized. What are Christians actually doing on this day? Why are small girls buying sexy witch costumes? It is not the pagans who are directing this—the market, and yes, parents are making this happen. I would like to reclaim the holiday as a time for remembering ancestors—the veil is thin between the living and dead, but this should not be frightening, it should be uplifting. We need to honor our lost loved ones. Wearing a batman costume or a princess costume does not do this.

Lee Ann Kinkade: Actually, rather than sensationalizing the conflict inherit in ritual planning, what I was hoping to do with this piece was to focus on the ordinariness of Pagan experience.

It seems like there's a high level of mystification around witchcraft. For many of us, it simply feels like home.

As for what Christians are doing, I think you should ask them.

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Anse: A proper religion would make a claim on Truth. I think that's the turn-off for me when it comes to paganism, really. This whole do-your-own-thing-and-never-judge-anybody-else approach to spirituality is pretty superficial. If you think your own brand of faith is true, wouldn't you strive to make that claim in a public forum?

This is not about condemning nonbelievers or whatever. Buddhists and Hindus don't really do that (the whole karma thing carries some punishment aspect, I guess, but reincarnation isn't exactly the same as hellfire and eternal damnation, is it?), yet a Buddhist probably will tell you the only way to find true peace is to follow the path of the Buddha. That is itself a claim on truth. Modern pagans celebrate this aspect of their "religion," but this is why it seems so silly to the rest of us, at least for me.

Lee Ann Kinkade: The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.

I don't want to get all how-many-metaphors-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin but spirituality is concerned, I am a finite being contemplating the infinite. It seems like any claims I make to Truth should be suspected of hubris and bad taste.