Title:	Wicca books brew up suspect information Teens could be drawn to religion with fuzzy history
Byline:	CATHY KARLIN ZAHNER Special to The Star
Edition:	METROPOLITAN
Section:	ARTS
Column:	FOR YOUNG READERS

Many people who love children's books don't understand why some parents worry about the witchcraft in the Harry Potter books.

"It's just fantasy," they say.

But while Harry's capers with hippogriffs and vicious trees are purely imaginary, the practice of modern-day witchcraft, known as "Wicca, " is real. Dozens of Wicca Web sites flourish on the Internet. A glance at our local Yellow Pages reveals bookstores, a masseuse and specialty stores offering magickal (that's how Wiccans prefer to spell it) supplies and services. A few weeks ago a car with a "Proud to be a Witch" bumper sticker passed me on Wornall Road.

So perhaps I shouldn't have been so shocked when a new book series on teen Wicca arrived on my doorstep recently. Yet I was surprised, for the Sweep series, by Cate Tiernan (Puffin; $4.99 each; ages 12 and up) is the first about Wicca I've seen in my 13 years as a children' s book reviewer. Even more amazing to me was how the series' enticing, Cinderella-story plot doubles as a training manual for teens on how to start their own covens.

"Some say Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the U.S.," announces the publisher, Puffin, a paperback division of Penguin Putnam. "In a recent poll on teen Web site Alloy.com, Wicca was cited as the second most popular religion among teens (Christianity was first)."

Enter Sweep. In the series' first title, Book of Shadows, Wicca's Prince Charming is Cal, a hottie who suddenly shows up at Widow's Vale High. Every female student, including the drab, shy Morgan (starring in the Cinderella part) drools over Cal's "riveting, ageless, gold- colored eyes."

Morgan, a Catholic girl embarrassed to admit she is still a virgin, worshipfully describes Cal as "a miracle" ... "a god in a mortal place" ... "supernatural" ... "universal." She marvels at his ability to fit in with every clique, from trendsetters to stoners.

Cal has a party, where he invites Morgan and his other new friends to join his coven. He teaches them to hold hands and move "widdershins, " or counterclockwise, in a circle around a fire in an open field. They happily chant "Blessed be" and "Thanks" to "the goddess" and "the god."

Afterward, the kids marvel about how wonderful their first Wiccan ritual was. "I felt so great afterward, like I just did yoga or massage or something," gushes Bree, Morgan's best friend. The occult bookstore becomes Morgan's second home as she and Bree buy Wicca books and make new witch friends.

Each day, at school or during coven meetings, Cal describes more about Wicca's history, rituals, chants, tools and powers.

"Our group was starting to listen to him like he was an apostle, teaching us," Morgan rejoices.

She "magickly" blossoms into a strong, beautiful, powerful young woman with supernatural powers.

When Morgan's worried parents object to their daughter's choice of Wiccan goddesses and gods over monotheistic Christianity, Morgan snaps, "I thought we believed in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's three."

Now, any Catholic first-grader could puncture that lame theology. But Morgan's parents can't figure out a reply. So Morgan eventually sets up a Wiccan altar in her closet and stashes her cauldron and other witches' tools in her bedroom. She enjoys shooting "crackly blue witch fire" at her enemies and listening to her "inner witch voice."

In the first book, Cal smoothly assures his new coven-mates (and young readers as well) that "there is no devil in Wicca. It's about the tamest and most inclusive religion there is, truthfully. It's all about celebrating nature."

If Wicca is so pure, then why, as the books progress, do the witches increasingly call on "the dark side" for evil spells and powers? Why is one of the seven so-called Wicca "clans" known as evil? Are we supposed to believe "the dark wave, the force of evil" that killed Cal's half brother and murdered a whole town of witches came from the Tooth Fairy?

Weirdest of all, in the fourth book, Dark Magick, Morgan discovers that Cal, her "main squeeze," is actually an evil witch who tries to burn her alive. Doesn't that pretty much establish Cal as a liar and ruin his claims about Wicca being "the tamest religion ... all about celebrating nature"?

The books' claims that Wicca is based on centuries-old Stone Age and Celtic traditions is controversial, at best. According to an article in January's The Atlantic Monthly, archaeologists and scholars have been unable to find evidence proving that ancient Celts or other pagan cultures ever celebrated the "eight feasts of the wheel" that are focal points of Wiccan liturgy. Nor is there conclusive archaeological or written proof that "any ancient people ever worshipped a single, archetypal goddess - a conclusion that strikes at the heart of Wiccan belief," writes the article's author, Charlotte Allen.

"The evidence is overwhelming that Wicca is a distinctly new religion, a 1950s concoction influenced by such things as Masonic ritual and a late-19th-century fascination with the esoteric and the occult," Allen writes.

Young readers could easily fall for Sweep's heady promises of romance, popularity and power through Wicca, a religion with a fuzzy history and even murkier purpose. It's my job to let parents know what's on the bookshelves. It's their job to decide whether their teens are "swept" away.

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