Witch Willows WanderingsOne Step Forward, Two Steps Back
January 16th 2007 14:39
Photo by: Karl Terry/Freedom Newspapers
The Portales News Tribune in New Mexico printed a story about a woman that was jailed and charged her for killing her 6-year old son on January 4th of this year. Her name is Teresa Gillman and she is 24 –years old and supposedly told the police that “the devil was in my son”. Gillman also has an 8-year old daughter that told the police that the morning her brother was killed, her mother had encircled his body with salt. The police also stated that they found writing that would resemble something used in a “ritualistic type ceremony”.
So how does religion play into this story? Well, hold onto your broomsticks because here it comes: The police took a warrant to the Portales public library to obtain some books on “witchcraft” that Gillman had checked out. They said they were trying to find materials that resembled the writings they had found in her home with her dead son. Apparently they don’t seem to think that the woman’s confession of “the devil” being in her son would point to oddities of Christianity. Instead they found “writings” and a salt circle, coupled with the books from the library, and so now they are pointing a finger at Paganism. I think the woman checked out the books about Paganism at the library and used them as references, because she thinks that it is related to Satanism. So she is a God-fearing Christian and seemed to think her son had “the devil” inside….what would she do? Ah yes, go to the library to do a little research.
Why do I think this is what happened and not an “abuse” of Paganism? Because the medical investigator stated that the boy died because of a blunt force to the head and possibly drowning. It sounds to me like she was trying to “purify” her son from “the devil” via water (baptism) and then salt….which salt is not only used by Pagans to purify...Christians use this as well. But never-the-less, they are pointing fingers at Paganism, or at least the news article is making it seem this way.
Here are the books they confiscated from the local library: “The Magic Power of White Witchcraft” by Gavin and Yvonne Frost; “Making the Gods Work for You: The Astrological Language of the Psyche,” by Caroline Casey; and “The Witch’s Book of Magical Ritual: Use the Forces of Wicca to Direct Your Psychic Powers,” by Gavin Frost.
In a one sentence statement following the list of books, the paper also said “Police also collected a book about Scientology.” They did not state what the book title was nor did they say anything about why she would possibly have a book on Scientology and all of those books on Paganism. I think the newspaper is a little biased, imagine my surprise.
The brilliant district attorney stated that he thinks the child abuse to her other 3 children and the death of her son has something to do with what is in the books. Oddly enough, I have never read a book on Paganism and found where they say you should abuse your children or hit them in the head and drown them to rid them of the devil. And these people are paid to uphold the law?! I’m glad I don’t live around this area or even in this state. I’ll have to add New Mexico to the list of states I refuse to live in, based on utter ignorance and stupidity. I know that I do not know exactly what took place with this case nor do I know this woman, but they should at least be a little more open-minded as to why she did it. They shouldn’t use Pagan books as a scapegoat, but unfortunately this is how it is going for now. Why don’t they point fingers at Scientology? I doubt this horrible even was the fault of Scientology either, but then again….look at Tom Cruise.
No, but seriously…in another story that was linked to this one, it has been stated that Gilman had been arrested for drug paraphernalia that you would use with methamphetamines and marijuana. Apparently the house was cluttered with dirty clothes and trash, as well as no gas service even though the house was equipped for natural gas. There was only 1 mattress in the house, which the children apparently shared in order to stay warm since they only had 2 space heaters to help ward off the cold. To top things off, there was no working toilet and the only water they had running in the house was from a hose that went to the kitchen sink from the washer.
So these children had very poor living conditions and their mother was apparently a drug addict that spent all of her money on drugs instead of necessities such as heat and working fixtures, but let’s point the finger at books on Paganism. Yep, that seems rational. I have an idea! Why don’t they start pointing the finger at this woman’s family, that had apparently just spoken to her the night before she killed her son! Her own mother had just talked to her and her father made comments that “he had never SEEN his daughter take drugs but heard her talk about it and noticed that she had lost weight in the past few years.” Because her own family apparently wanted to “look the other way”, they allowed her to abuse her other children and then murder the little boy because of “Satan”? All I can say is WTF???
Blessed Be
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Comment by Raven Snowstar
I hope the higher ups in the Pagan community, ie) Selena Fox, Starhawk, etc. speak out publicly about what Paganism is NOT and clear this up now before it becomes a bigger snowball than it already is.
Raven Snowstar
British Columbia, Canada
Comment by Miss Faith
However, Ms. Fox and some of the others are working with Unitarian churches and other religious groups to help bring more religious tolerance to the country. Hopefully in the end, all they have done will not be in vane.
Comment by Anonymous