Community Corner

Prominent Pagan Activist Helping New Port Richey Witch After Attacks

Selena Fox, a Wiccan priestess and pagan activist, has offered advice and support to Kyrja Withers, whose home was targeted in several minor attacks recently.

Selena Fox, a prominent Wiccan priestess and activist, has taken an interest in the attacks on the home of a New Port Richey author.

Fox has reached out to Kyrja Withers, a practicing pagan and elemental witch, in the wake of the recent incidents and provided support through her organization the Lady Liberty League.

The league is a religious freedom and civil rights organization sponsored by Wiccan church Circle Sanctuary, which Fox founded. It recently deployed a security specialist to the colorful Withers home on Washington Street in New Port Richey to make suggestions about ways to heighten security there, including adding cameras and lamps.

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“We are assisting law enforcement in helping protect Kyrja, her family, and home," Fox wrote in a press release.

Withers, the author of a series of childrens' books, launched an online fundraising campaign to pay for security measures and got her project fully funded in a matter of days.

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Fox has also been drawing attention to the incidents at the Withers' home and working with them and police.

Withers reported to police that the windows of her home were shot at on March 28. Her truck was also shot at, and the Withers found signs of BB pellets hitting the vehicle. On April 15, two bottle “bombs” were thrown at her house while her stepdaughter was outside.

There haven't been any arrests yet in the incidents. Police are investigating the attacks.

Withers has ideas for the reasons behind the incidents.  

"Because much of the language which has been uncovered during the investigation has directly pointed to our being Witches and Pagans, we are very much convinced that it is the lack of education regarding our faith which has caused the attacks on our home,” she said in a message to Patch. “… I don't think most people even know what a Witch is, only that we're 'bad.' I think that the more people who meet witches, the less fearful they will be about who we are, what we do, and how we conduct our lives.”  

Fox is known for her faith and activism. She founded the Wisconsin-based Circle Sanctuary in 1974, and serves as its senior minister. Circe Sanctuary  serves as a Wiccan church, pagan resource center and nature reserve., 

Circle Sanctuary teamed up with military widows and fought for permission to mark the graves of Wiccan soldiers with a pentacle symbol.

As a settlement in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Circle Sanctuary and the widows, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2007 added the symbol to the list of emblems of religious belief that can be added to a veteran’s headstone, marker or plaque.

"Whenever hate against Pagans surfaces, we need to work together to dispel it and to stand strong, collaborate, and support those who have been targeted," Fox stated in a press release.

For more information about Circle Sanctuary, visit its website.

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