John Morehead (of Sacred Tribes, mentioned earlier) blogs about his discovery of “Morwics,” Mormons who have adopted Wicca. (He lives in Salt Lake City, it should be noted.)

It seems that ex-Mormons not only gravitate toward evangelicalism and atheism as their religious choice options, but also toward Paganism. This makes sense in terms of a religious logic in that a rejection of what is considered a strict form of Christianity might lend itself toward identification with a variety of nature-based spiritualities such as Wicca.

As he rightly notes, Mormonism has a strong root in Western magic: divination, prophetic dreams, evocation of spirits, the works. This is not something that the LDS church advertises to outsiders. Those 19-year-old “elders” who show up at your door probably will not talk about it. But it’s there.

Back when I was in graduate school, I gave some paper on Gerald Gardner and Wicca at the Rocky Mountains-Great Plains regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion. I looked down at the guys in the front row: shiny black shoes, short hair, clean-shaven, Brigham Young University name tags–and listening intently.

(Much more ex-Mormon humor here. Not all work-safe.)

Tags: Wicca, Latter-day Saints, Mormons