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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 14090
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
10/11/2005
7:20:50 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 8,627
RSS: 19,079
Comments: 9
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Harry Potter Wannabes Line Up; Witches Get Tax Break
Author: Bloomberg Source: Bloomberg
Title: HARRY POTTER WANNABES LINE UP; WITCHES GET TAX BREAK
Margarita Rongen, who teaches spells and potions to witches in the Dutch village of Appelscha, says a court ruling that gave her trainees a tax break brought in hundreds of potential new recruits.
Rongen, 56, who offers the Netherlands' only program that certifies witches, is getting applications from as far off as Australia and Dubai, she said. The court, in the Dutch town of Leeuwaarden, ruled on Sept. 26 that the 1,830-euro ($2,208) cost of her course is tax deductible.
Interest in witchcraft worldwide has been ``resurgent,'' according to the Web site Bible.com, which promotes the Christian religion. Bible.com cites the popularity of the ``Harry Potter'' books as a reason. The Columbia Encyclopedia attributes a revival in witchcraft partly to attempts at new forms of healing and a reverence for nature.
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Community Thoughts: There are 9 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Um, | Oct 14th. at 4:56:07 am EDT
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Autumn Damiana (San Jose, California) - Email Me
How does learning to be a good Christian help the job market, exactly? Especially considering that a lot of Christians (depending on the sect, of course) go off to foreign lands on Missions to "convert" others using their churches' tax-free income?
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| Paying The Teacher | Oct 13th. at 10:39:54 am EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, West Virginia) - Email Me
Assuming that it is indeed a responsibly-taught course, I can very easily see a few ways in which a course in Witchcraft could be beneficial to one's career...
...and none of them involve a money spell or personal glamoury on interview day.
Magick as a philosophy teaches habits of introspection and an internalizing of one's locus of control that certainly have the power to empower practitioners with a sense of confidence and capability. People who are confident and believe themselves to be capable are generally more enthusiastic, more productive workers and more efficient learners.
It is true that "Witchcraft" does not necessarily imply "Wicca," and therefore does not imply an adherence to the Wiccan Rede or a similar code...
... but most Pagan religions stress learning and growth, ethics, and personal responsibility (with its connotations of personal accountability) as fairly core tenets of moving along the developmental Path.
Those qualities are of benefit to any employee-- and any employer-- without ever bringing up the question of what religion they were acquired in the name of (if any) .
Here in America, anyway, they also appear to be quite scarce. Our workforce certainly seems as if it could reap great benefit from such training.
Though I do wonder exactly who set the guidelines for certifying a Witch (it was a divinely bestowed ordination in my case, but I do not presume myself to be normative) , I decline to quibble over whether or not an instructor of Witchcraft should reap a financial profit from the teaching.
I will say that, in bygone times, many communities are believed to have taken it upon themselves to support their sacerdotal class (and, in times more recently gone by, their secular teachers) so that those individuals might fully dedicate themselves to the understanding of life's mysteries and the teaching of the community.
So long as she provides an ethically structured education that fosters understanding instead of more blind babes playing with candles, I see nothing wrong with getting paid.
I take the stipulation that it is a "Year-and-a-Day" course to imply that she is indeed trying to pass along a solid education rather than simply trying to make as much money as possible by fleecing the seekers...
... but I also realize that my perception is an assumption and may in fact be utterly in error.
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| Ummm | Oct 12th. at 5:15:53 pm EDT
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William (Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia) - Email Me
Rongen, 56, who offers the Netherlands' only program that certifies witches, is getting applications from as far off as Australia and Dubai, she said.
Certifies witches under whose authority?
Is there a central department of witchcraft certification now?
Does that make those who do not attend these types of 'agencies' uncertified and forbidden from practising because they aren't 'qualified'?
I am amazed at those who capitalize on everything they can... even to the point of having some kind of self-proclaimed (see... it CAN be useful) authority to be a spokesperson for everyone else... to decide who is and who is not a 'real' witch... to be 'in charge'. Makes me wanna puke.
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| Why Should Xtians Have All The Gold? | Oct 11th. at 4:08:36 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
I find it hilarious that the xtians should vehemently demand to know how learning to be a witch would be useful on the job market. By the same token I have to ask what good has being an xtian done for them, and why it should bother them that someone else wants to share a tax free status too. Perhaps they'd better keep their queries low key- before some politician starts wondering why they need to be tax free at all, when that money could better serve some other way.
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| 366? | Oct 11th. at 3:21:33 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
I remember an interest in WitchCraft and Mysticism, not to mention Mythology, well before the availability of LotR.
How long has A Year And A Day meant extra duress for those whose year includes a Leap February? I wouldn't even care about the Year, as long as the day arrives that not even I could predict.
And, yes, Christians are certainly interested in Tax Breaks in the US, with the ULC sometimes described as the First Church of the Two Dollar Tax Deduction.
Arawn
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| *laughs* | Oct 11th. at 11:54:55 am EDT
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web
Oh Christian propoganda, how you amuse me.
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| Talk About Wannabes | Oct 11th. at 9:09:55 am EDT
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Rhiannon (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
"Jesus Christ Wannabes are lining up for tax breaks by opening churches. "
How much would you pay to see THAT as a headline? Of course it won't happen. Do these people think that witches only came to be because of a children's book? If it weren't for my spiritual convictions I would not have gotten into the medical field. Prior to my "conversion" I worked in a deadend job as a secretary. Since then I have been working as a nursing assistant in a rehab center and substitute aide for handicapped children. Currently I work in a chiropractic office as a massage therapist and plan on expanding into physical/occupational therapy. I am also doing volunteer work in a women's crisis center. These are things I never considered in my more "christian" days.
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