Ordinary People -- Except for the Witch Part

October 29, 2006

Author: Lara Farrar

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/10/29/ordinary_people____except_for_the_witch_part/?page=2

[Lori] Bruno, 66, founded her witches' coven, Our Lord and Lady of the Trinacrian Rose Church and Grove , in 1992 . Initially, the church met in the basement of Bruno's Medford home , then briefly in the back room of a Bickford's in Woburn. Since last year, the group has held its regular weekly meetings in Bruno's new home in Somerville.

When everyone is present, there are about 15 witches, all of whom practice Wicca -- a pagan religion that combines nature and magic -- and "Sicilian Witchcraft." Some are middle-aged, some are young. Most are female, but some are male. Some have what they consider to be magical powers -- they are psychics, healers, herbalists, or believe they can see the dead.

Otherwise, they are fairly ordinary: a Postal Service clerk, a seamstress, a nursing student.

"We are everyday regular people," said Bruno, the coven's high priestess, who founded the group when she was 51, the age she says one must be to teach witchcraft.

The coven generally meets every Sunday around 2 p.m. in a small room adjacent to Bruno's kitchen. The room is layered with trinkets of witchery: candles, golden gargoyles, broomsticks, and bowls of camphor (to fend off evil energy). Sicilian Witchcraft, Bruno says, "is something very secretive, and always will be."