WWII & HP

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 1161

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer 
<linsenma at h...> wrote:
> Hi everyone --
> 
> A friend of mine (who lurks on this list & is on vacation right now 
in
> any case) was asking me about something she remembered reading in 
the
> Archives about the witches & wizards of Britain "casting spells" 
against
> Hitler during WWII.  She mentioned this to her daughter, and now her
> daughter's social studies teacher is interested in her doing more
> research on this topic.  Given our recent discussions, my curiosity 
was
> piqued.  I started searching our new Archives and didn't find 
anything.
> Since my friend & I also belong to hpanonymous, I searched those
> Archives.  Bingo.
> 
> 31 July 1940 is allegedly the date that the witches & wizards of 
Britain
> raised a "cone of power" that "stopped" Hitler's planned invasion of
> England.  My memory is that Hitler abandoned Operation Sea Lion 
sometime
> in Sept 1940, when it became clear that the Luftwaffe would be 
unable to
> achieve air superiority in time for a viable crossing of the English
> Channel that year.  Sea Lion was never revived for a variety of
> reasons.  Nonetheless, I'm very very intrigued by this "cone of 
power"
> business.  The person later responded that her source for this
> information was Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook  for 2000 (presumably 
the
> 31 July entry).  She says there's also a fictional account of the
> raising of the "cone of power" entitled "Lammas Night" -- she 
couldn't
> recall the author.  I just searched amazon, and the author is 
Katherine
> Kurtz (1987) but the book is out of print.  I may see if I can find 
it
> though, as I'm quite interested.
> 
> BTW, Brooks I'd be more than happy to beta-read your fanfic if you 
want
> some comments.
> 
> Penny


Hi, I'm a witch (a real one) or wiccan and can shed some light on 
this.

Modern witchcraft was revived in the 20th century through the work of 
Gerald Gardner, and friends.....it of course is a nature based 
religion, and has nothing to do with Satan, evil or worshipping Satan.

There is a tradition in England among witches that a grand coven
did a spell that helped turn back the Spanish Armada, and one that 
came together to turn back Hitler's invasion of Britain.

In all seriousness, there is a good chance that such a 
gathering/coven did occur. My personal belief is that magic (real 
magic)is defined as energy affecting matter..that our thoughts and 
energy can affect the real world (many Christians I know would agree -
- that prayer can make real change). However, magic doesn't usually 
make things happen -- it pushes the probabilities.

In the tradition cited above, at least one person died during each 
ritual -- it is considered akin to the royal sacrifice, that the King 
or Queen will voluntarily give their life for their people (Obi Wan 
does it in Star Wars). Mary Renault talks about it in the "King Must 
Die". 

Lammas Night is indeed about this event.

Susan