The “Witch’s Kettle” Newspaper Column 1970-1972

“The Witch’s Kettle” Newspaper Column 1970-1972

by Lady Phoebe Athene Nimue

(aka “Patience” in the column)

High Priestess of the Coven of the Catta

A local newspaper, then called the Berwick Enterprise, now the Press Enterprise, published a weekly column called The Witch’s Kettle from 1970 through 1972. These were written by the High Priestess of the Coven of the Catta, Lady Phoebe Athene Nimue, in Wapwallopen PA. She wrote this column under the pen name of “Patience”.

These newspaper clippings were saved by a “JC”. who was friends with her and Dr. Frederick LaMotte Santee during his college studies and the writing of his Master’s thesis, and who has graciously shared them with me and the Coven.

There are a total of 122 articles written and I have saved these to a PDF file which is just for coven members, but I am posting here some of the more interesting ones. The original newspaper articles were cut out, photocopied, scanned and then manipulated to look as clear as possible, so you may have to download them to view them better.

I have permission to publish these from the Press Enterprise as long as I add the disclaimer: “Reproduced by permission of Press Enterprise, Inc. No endorsement implied”. And like I said in a previous post, how amazing is it that back in the early 1970s that a local newspaper could publish something about witchcraft written by a witch without the business being burned down by fundies like it probably would be nowadays.

 Enjoy and Blessed Be.

Shawnus Merlin Belarion 3^rd* High Priest of the Coven of the Catta

Coven of the Catta Ritual Pictures 1971

As promised in the previous post i filled out the official Request to Reprint form for the Press Enterprise newspaper near Berwick, PA and received back permission to reproduce these old newspaper scans. As per their policy these can only be reproduced once so they are not able to be downloaded and saved by anyone. But if you need to download them to blow the articles up to read them then please delete them afterwards. Thank you. And I need to post this disclaimer: “Reproduced by permission of Press Enterprise, Inc. No endorsement implied”

This second set of scans are pictures taken and articles about a ritual at the Coven of the Catta in 1971. It seems that back in the day a local newspaper could run articles like this and there would not be lines of fundamentalist Christian protesters complaining how “politically incorrect” this news was. Dr Santee and Lady Phoebe made no secret about the coven and their activities, so they were very open for pictures and interviews to explain the truth about witchcraft to allay the misunderstandings that word entails.

Blessed Be, Shawnus

Sybil Leek visits Dr Frederick LaMotte Santee 1967

As promised in the previous post i filled out the official Request to Reprint form for the Press Enterprise newspaper near Berwick, PA and received back permission to reproduce these old newspaper scans. As per their policy these can only be reproduced once so they are not able to be downloaded and saved by anyone. But if you need to download them to blow the articles up to read them then please delete them afterwards. Thank you. And I need to post this disclaimer: “Reproduced by permission of Press Enterprise, Inc. No endorsement implied”

This first set of scans is from 1967 when Sybil Leek first visited Dr Frederick LaMotte Santee and Lady Phoebe at the Covenstead of the Coven of the Catta near All Hallows. It was then that she initiated them and this coven lineage was started in the USA.

I think if anyone has any doubt that Sybil Leek is the grandmother witch of our coven then these pictures and articles should put this question to rest. Blessed Be. Shawnus.