Kate being a "witch"

[chrisw@wwa.com (Chris Williams)]

> I have one more question.  About six years ago, I heard a rumor from some
> people who weren't fans of Kate, but were familiar with her music, that Kate
> is a bona-fide witch.  They said they know this for sure, but I have never
> read anything saying this.  I suppose it could be implied from songs like
> "Waking the Witch" and her other pagan allusions in her music.  Anyone want
> to answer?

   Sometimes a rumor is just a rumor. Kate was a raised a Catholic, 
went to a convent school and was comfirmed (comfirmation name was "Mary"). 
Later in life her older brother Jay and her father were interested in
the writings of Gurdjeff, and Kate incorporated his system of movement
in her own dance and mime. Jay developed an intense interest in karate
as a philosophy, and his recent poetry is devoted to it. He described
it to a friend of ours as "...only being understandable by someome at
the same level of training. His keen interest in archery was adopted
by Kate, and this was reflected in the single and video of _Running
Up That Hill_.

   Kate's personal religous beliefs can be politely described as a
hodgepodge of different thinks. The *last* time this came up, I described
her as a "religious dilletante", a description that one of the more lucid
respondents took exception to, feeling that she had expressed deeper
interest than that phrase indicated. But *NO ONE* has ever offered the 
slightest proof of their belief that Kate is a "wiccan" "witch" or 
any of the other terms for "modern pagan" religious practices. Not one 
iota.

   She has exchanged letters about her religious beliefs with one
Love-Hound, but he isn't talking.

   The paragraph above is a reasonably complete list about what is *known*
about Kate's religious beliefs. Yes, she has brought words and imagery 
from a variety of different religious beliefs and practices, running
the gamut from Christianity to Buddhism to Native Australian Animism
to who-know-what. But that doesn't have *anything* to do with her own
belief in *any* of it. She used "Om mani padme hum" on her first album,
and then confessed in the Club Newsletter that she *didn't know what it
meant*!   

So, unless someone can offer actual proof, some single fucking statement, 
one solitary phrase where Kate describes herself as a "witch" or "wiccan" 
or "pagan" can we *please* let this particular idiotic rumor die? Please? 

P.S. Samantha, I'm not picking on you, please understand. But this
rumor is spread by non-fans and casual fans. It may be simple ego,
but if Kate *was* a practicing witch, by this time, we would know.

P.P.S. To any other "witches" out there, bite me, ok? I have no more
interest in your beliefs than I do christianity. At least those who
grow up in a religion have some excuse for possessing a set of
beliefs. Adopting a religion as fashion is nauseating.