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CONTACT: Amy Currie 512.478.2028

Halloween: Harmless Fun or Pagan Holiday?
Author says Wiccan and occult rituals seduce teen girls

REDDING, Calif.- Halloween has become a seemingly innocent holiday when kids dress up as their favorite ghoul or goblin and stuff themselves with sweets. But Halloween also has a deeper meaning for Wiccans, modern practitioners of witchcraft, whose feminist outlook and goddess worship often attracts teenage girls to their fold. For Wiccans, Halloween is a sacred day in which the dead are revered and even contacted. While some see this as a harmless aspect of the holiday, others believe Halloween and its connection to Wicca is satanic and should not be supported.
Author Jean Darby warns that, though Wicca is not directly related to Satanism, dabbling in witchcraft can open the door to many dark aspects of the occult for many teenage girls.
“Wicca promotes the feminine, so for young girls, witchcraft and its Halloween rituals can seem like a new, exciting concept,” says Darby. “However, I speak from experience when I say that it is a very real pathway to evil that many teens may not know they are traveling down.”
Darby has seen the negative effects of witchcraft on teenage girls firsthand: when her daughter, Diane, was in college, she brought home an unwanted 15-year-old girl who had been in an abusive family situation with a mother who practiced both witchcraft and religious Satanism. Darby’s new novel, Journey out of Darkness (Synergy Books, November 2006, ISBN 1-933538-41-4), is based on this inspiring story, detailing the young girl’s struggle to separate herself from her mother’s dark practices.
Though Halloween has become a children’s holiday, it actually stems from the ancient pagan festival of Samhain that Wiccans still celebrate today. According to witchway.net, Halloween is “a true time for witches,” and “a somber holiday, one of dark clothes and thoughts for the dead…when those of necromantic talents can speak with the dead.”
“Most people today are either ignorant of what Halloween really means, or just don’t care,” says Darby. “The modern practices of Wiccans may not be Satanic, but the evil beneath their sacred day of Halloween has an effect that cannot be denied. Young people often turn to vandalism and mischief-many are influenced by evil spirits on these nights without even being aware.”
A retired teacher, Darby resides in Redding, Calif, where she taught elementary school for 30 years. Previous works include the children’s book, That’s Me in Here, books for beginning readers and a series of biographies for young adults. For more information visit www.jeandarbyphd.com.

To request a review copy of Journey out of Darkness or to set up an interview with author Jean Darby, please contact Amy Currie at 512.478.2028 ext. 211 or acurrie@phenixpublicity.com.