'The Early Show' - Samhain 2000

The WLPA in the Media

NOTE: This segement can be viewed online by going to 'The Early Show' link in the right hand menu and then going to their 'Halloween' section - I don't know how long they keep things up, but it is there as of Nov 1 at noon.

Bright and early Samhain Morning, 'The Early Show' on CBS featured a great segment on real life Witches, featuring none other than Cheryl Sulyma-Masson, head of the Witches' League for Public Awareness - and what a great segment it was!

It was short, as most morning show segments are, but they packed a TON of great information into that scant ten minutes, and thanks to Cheryl's great media presence, the whole thing came off as a great boost to Witches everywhere.

What I liked most about the segment was the fact that they made a conscious effort to show Witches not only in Circle, in our ritual garb dancing the Spiral; they also took the time to come to work with a few of the Witches, including visiting the vet clinic that Cheryl works at as a technician and paying a visit to a local fire station, where Joe White, another member of the WLPA, works as a fire fighter.

The segment was really well put together, showing a local Samhain Faire that Cheryl and her church put together a few weeks ago. The report made the point of showing that, a few pentacles and magic wands aside, this public festival was no different from other church fairs, with music, games, food and fun.

I do think some of the best coverage was given to the Samhain ritual that was held after the Faire - it showed the spiritual side of Samhain without seeming cliche or silly, showing a lot of people (There must have been 60 people in circle, maybe more) worshipping in the Old Ways.

The also featured a great contrast to the open Samhain festival - a small group of witches meeting in the basement of a Conneticut Magick Shop, not yet 'out of the Broom closet' and voicing real concerns of modern Witches who don't feel they can be as open as Cheryl and her church. It was a good and sobering reminder of what we at the WLPA fight for every day - acceptance, tolerance, and understanding.

And fight we do. Cheryl got a lot of good information and education about modern Witchcraft into the short clips of interview they showed, getting the truth of our religion out to literally millions of people, and making all of us at the WLPA very proud! The show was well done, and I think that even though it was a 'Halloween' episode, stuck in between the spooks and Al Gore masks, it was certainly a boon to the Modern Witchcraft movement.

My only complaint (Yes, of course I have one) is very minor, considering it's Halloween for most people - during 'The Early Show' there were a few ugly, 'Halloween' witches, with pointy black hats and painted up faces, one even stirring a bubbling cauldron (With a broom - what's up with that?). I understand that it's a classic Halloween stereotype and isn't going anywhere soon, but I just had to make my point.