Interview With a Witch

Reprinted from the LA Free Press

Dame Sybil Leek is in this area to apply finishing touches to a soon-to-be-published book, and for one speaking engagement Tuesday night, Dec. 14, at the Ionic Building, 1122 S. La Cienega.

As I drove out to North Hollywood (where ELSE would a witch stay?), I recalled my dictionary’s definition:

“WITCH: a person, now especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic, especially black magic Or the black art; a sorceress. 2. an ugly or malignant old woman; a hag.”

Don’t you believe it!

Sybil Leek is a plump, pleasant matron with red hair and violet eyes; I found her to be charming, intelligent, and articulate.

Mainly because of her vigorous efforts the ancient English laws pertaining to witchcraft (including the death penalty) were abolished...only 13 years ago!

“In the next few years,” she assured me, ‘dictionaries and encyclopedias will completely rewrite their definitions of witch.” She knows all about black magic (Great Britain had an outbreak of It the past five years) but she’s never practiced this dark art.

She wants to set the record straight: witches don’t go in for black magic. That’s the province of highly intelligent professors partnered with Satan for destructive purposes. Witchcraft is positive and creative.

Born in the Midlands region of England, Sybil Leek had only 3 years of public schooling. Her family has been traced back some 500 years and Includes Mollie Leigh, one of the best known British witches.

At the age of 7, Sybil’s remarkable powers of ESP were observed and duly reported in a widely circulated news story. Since the age of 15 she has been a professional journalist, with an impressive career—or series of careers—since that time:

Playwright, newspaper columnist, radio and television writer-researcher—personality, and authoress of nine published books. Sybil Leek does NOT come flying in on a broomstick. Nor does she cast spells or wear a black peaked hat. She IS the best-known of some 8,000 (her figure)witches in England today, and the foremost authority lecturing on the Occult world and witchcraft.

And don’t think the U.S. is immune from witches: she estimates there are at least 500 bonafide ones in this country (she met two her last time in L.A.), with no fewer than 40 authentic covens. Dame Sybil concluded with this comment: “All that witches ask is the freedom to practice our religion. We don’t wish to convert anyone because you must be born with this extra sense. And the practice of my religion is good only If it is related to the present time.”

I’m from Missouri, but I went away convinced that this unique woman certainly is of our era. If YOU have any questions, bring them to her lecture this Tuesday night.