A young man or woman signs the contract to become a member of the United States Armed Forces. In exchange for military service, he or she is guaranteed certain benefits, including a salary, a housing allowance for family members, medical care, training, and in the event of death, a place of final rest in a federal cemetery. A memorial marker or headstone is provided without cost, with the veteran’s name, rank, dates of service, and a religious emblem engraved on the headstone or inscribed on the marker. The veteran’s family may choose a religious symbol from thirty-eight different "emblems of belief" approved by the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Many different religious emblems are available for a variety of Christian denominations, and for Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Muslim veterans. Faiths with smaller memberships, including Eckankar, the Native American Church, the Konko-Kyo faith, the Izumo Taishakyo Mission, the Baha’i faith, the Sufis, and the Tenrikyo Church each have symbols on the list which their military veterans can have included on their government-issued headstones. There are even emblems on the NCA list available to represent atheists and humanists.

However, there is no symbol of the Wiccan religion approved for use on markers to honor deceased Wiccan veterans.

The emblem used by most Wiccans to represent their faith is the Pentacle, an interlaced five-pointed star which symbolizes the five cardinal elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit, placed within a circle to signify wholeness. Wicca, a nature religion rooted in pre-Christian Europe, is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States.

According to military statistics, there are at least 1,890 Wiccans presently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. According to Stars and Stripes, a newspaper printed for service members in all branches of the military, U.S. Department of Defense statistics from June 2005 stated "more than 1,800 active-duty service members identified themselves as Wiccans." This figure does not include those serving in the U.S. Navy.

The Military Pagan Network estimates that there are over 4,300 Pagans presently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, of which more than half practice Wicca. Sociologists and other scholars have estimated that between 250,000 and one million Americans are members of the Wiccan religion and other forms of contemporary Paganism. A news report from December 15, 2006 published on WashingtonPost.com put the number of Pagans as 350,000 in the United States. Wiccan churches have had IRS recognition as tax exempt religious organizations for more than thirty years, and a section on Wicca appeared in the U.S. Army Chaplains’ Handbook on minority religions, beginning in 1978. According to the NCA, "The VA only permits graphics on government furnished headstones or markers that are approved emblems of belief." In the past, in order for a symbol to be included on the list, paperwork had to be filed containing a graphic design of the emblem, the meaning of the symbol, and the signature of a leader of the religious organization making the request. In 1997, the Reverend Pierre "Pete" Davis of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, a Pagan religious organization located in Washington State, was the first to provide this information and request that the VA add the Pentacle to its list. Davis, himself a veteran, also has a son serving as a Navy medic who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. Reverend Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary, an international Wiccan church based in Wisconsin and representing over 54,000 members in the United States, requested the VA add the Pentacle to its list under two different sets of VA procedures (those adopted in 2001 and in 2005). In hopes of having the NCA finally add the Pentacle to their list, Rev. Fox also discussed the matter with VA administrators in a series of meetings, including twice meeting face-to-face with William Tuerk, the head of the NCA and the Undersecretary for Memorial Affairs, in March and July of 2006. Yet after nearly ten years, the Pentacle still has not been approved as an emblem of belief by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration.

Over the past decade, several Wiccan churches and individuals have filed the necessary forms and met the requirements to have the symbol approved. In at least one instance, VA officials claimed to have lost the paperwork, yet when retired Navy veteran Scott Stearns searched under the Freedom of Information Act, he discovered that the paperwork was on file with the VA and received a copy. In letters about this matter, the VA has hinted that there are not enough members of the Wiccan faith serving in the military to make it feasible to approve the symbol. However, the Baha’i faith, with only nine members currently serving in the military, has its symbol on the NCA list.

In response to Wiccan requests, the VA has frequently stated that it could not approve the Pentacle because the procedures to approve emblems of faith was being "updated" or "revised." Yet between 2002 and 2004, while keeping to this excuse for the Wiccan Pentacle, the VA approved and added to its list six different emblems for other religions and belief systems, with each approval taking a matter of weeks or months, not years. Approval of the Sikh emblem was expedited in 2004, in order to honor a Sikh sergeant killed in combat who was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. The approval and headstone inscription of the Sikh emblem took less than a month from the time the Sikh religious leader submitted the necessary information.

In October 2005, the VA’s NCA adopted revised procedures for adding emblems to its list. In early November 2005, NCA officials wrote letters to Wiccans who had applied, informing them that new procedures were now in place and inviting them to reapply. These new procedures required an emblem addition request to have "an immediate need" - that is, to be attached to a marker request for a deceased veteran.

On January 6, 2006, Circle Sanctuary reapplied under the new procedures in connection with the marker request for a Korean War veteran. Included with Circle Sanctuary's application were letters of support from Covenant of the Goddess and the Sacred Well Congregation, two other major Wiccan churches with international memberships. Shortly thereafter, Aquarian Tabernacle Church appended additional material required by the 2005 procedures to its original 1997 application, including requests for a marker to honor a young soldier killed in the War in Iraq and a request to add the Pentacle to the headstone of Abraham Kooiman, a decorated World War II veteran buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Despite these immediate needs, the VA decided months later that instead of finally approving the Pentacle, their procedures must be revised yet again.

Wiccan and Pagan service members and veterans applaud the swift approval of other religious symbols, yet continue to struggle for equality for their own faith. Veterans of all religions deserve to have their sacred emblems placed on their memorial marker or headstones. As those who have served in the military will understand, anyone who faces combat duty needs to have the assurance that their religious preference will be recognized. Those who make the ultimate sacrifice for this great country must have a guarantee that their beliefs will be honored. War widows and veterans’ family members deserve the comfort that a religious symbol offers.

As America’s population becomes more diverse, VA officials must understand that individuals who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces will come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including different religious faiths and spiritual practices. The American Legion Magazine estimates that 68% percent of military personnel are Christians - which means that nearly one third of all service members practice a faith or belief system other than Christianity. The Department of Veterans Affairs must accept that the veterans of the current conflicts will hold a wide variety of spiritual beliefs.

Again, why is the Wiccan Pentacle not an approved symbol for military veterans’ memorial markers?

If prejudice is at work, it is likely due to misunderstandings about Wiccan religious practices and beliefs. However, Wicca is a nature religion, similar in many ways to traditional Native American religions. It is not Satanism or anti-Christian, and its practitioners do not believe in or worship any type of devil figure. As with other religions, the Wiccan religion promotes values of honesty, integrity, service, and responsibility. A tenet of Wicca states that individuals are ultimately responsible for the consequences of their own actions, and need to consider others rather than act from self-centeredness. Many Wiccans serving in the military and civilian forms of law enforcement believe that acting to protect our country and defend America will be rewarded with long-term peace.

Since 2002, the need to have the Pentacle added to the NCA list as an emblem of belief has increasingly become critical. In December of 2002, decorated WWII veteran Abraham Kooiman passed away. During his term of service, Mr. Kooiman received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. Kooiman, a Wiccan, was interred in Arlington National Cemetery in 2003. His widow, Rosemary Kooiman, applied to have the Pentacle placed on his headstone. Instead, the VA offered an "interim" marker with his personnel information but no religious emblem, until the Pentacle could be approved. VA administrators told Mrs. Kooiman that the regulations for the approval process were still in draft form and not yet implemented. Mrs. Kooiman learned from the American Legion that paperwork to approve the Pentacle had already been filed with the NCA. She continued to request that the VA acknowledge her husband’s religious emblem, so that it could be placed on his memorial headstone. However, after three years of waiting with no action from the VA, Mrs. Kooiman died in March of 2006, without her last wish being fulfilled. Her husband’s grave has yet to receive the Pentacle, the symbol of his Wiccan religion.

On September 25, 2005, Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart of the Nevada National Guard gave his life for our country. He was killed in action in Operation Enduring Freedom when his helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Four other soldiers were killed during that attack, including Sgt. Stewart’s fellow crewman, Chief Warrant Officer John Flynn, also of Nevada. Sgt. Stewart was a chief flight engineer who had flown missions in Korea, Operation Desert Storm, and stateside, as well as being a hero of the War on Terror. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

In February 2006, Stewart’s widow Roberta Stewart sought to honor her husband in the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery in Fernley, Nevada. Warrant Officer Flynn had already had a plaque in his honor placed on the Wall of Heroes with his name, rank, dates of service and emblem of belief, a Christian Cross. Mrs Stewart wrote to the VA to request a plaque with her husband’s emblem of belief, the Wiccan Pentacle, and was told that she must furnish answers to all the questions required for emblem of belief addition requests under the October 2005 procedures, in addition to filling out the standard request form for a marker, headstone, or plaque.

Mrs. Stewart received support from her minister, Rev. Selena Fox, who informed her that all she had to do was add her request to the existing Circle Sanctuary reapplication, a 24-page document which had been submitted to the VA on January 6, 2006. She did so. Mrs. Stewart also asked U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada for assistance with the emblem approval process so that a plaque with a Pentacle could be furnished by the VA to honor her late husband. The VA assured a member of Senator Reid’s staff that the NCA would expedite the request and make a decision in two to four weeks. U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons also contacted the VA on behalf of the Stewart family and stressed the importance of fulfilling Mrs. Stewart’s request. However, after the "two to four week" period had expired with still no Pentacle approval by the VA, Mrs. Stewart and Rev. Fox intensified their communication efforts with the NCA and others, in hopes of having the Pentacle added to the list and a VA-issued plaque with Pentacle installed by Memorial Day, 2006.

This national holiday honoring veterans and those who gave their lives in service of our country has come and gone, as well as Veterans Day 2006, with no further action by the VA to approve the Pentacle.

In July 2006, Rev. Fox and Mrs. Stewart went to Washington, DC, accompanied by one of Senator Reid’s staff members, and spoke with VA officials in person at VA headquarters across from the White House. Undersecretary William Tuerk discussed the matter with them, but was unable to offer a timeline for Pentacle approval or explain the latest efforts by the VA to again revise its procedures. Upon hearing that the VA had determined that it had not adopted its 2005 procedures properly, both Rev. Fox and Mrs. Stewart asked Undersecretary Tuerk to approve the Pentacle under its 2001 procedures, which the VA had previously used to add other emblems of belief to its list. Mrs. Stewart was later told that her request was denied.

Approval for the Pentacle being added to the NCA list of emblems of belief has received bipartisan support from many federal and state elected officials, as well as the general public. However, the VA has continued to stonewall the efforts of Wiccan leaders, war widows, combat veterans’ family members, and lawmakers to have the Pentacle approved as an emblem of belief.

On September 12, 2006, the Governor of the State of Nevada offered Mrs. Stewart a plaque with Pentacle to honor her late husband Sgt. Patrick Stewart, which she accepted. The state Attorney General had determined Nevada had jurisdiction over its state veteran cemeteries. Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn empowered the Office of Veterans Services to order and place a memorial plaque with a Pentacle for Sgt. Stewart on the Wall of Heroes at the Northern Nevada Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Fernley. Installation of the plaque was completed just prior to Roberta and Patrick Stewart’s wedding anniversary on November 22, 2006. On December 2, 2006, Rev. Fox, Mrs. Stewart, U.S. Army Chaplain William Chrystal, and others dedicated the plaque in an interfaith ceremony, with extensive media coverage.

While Sgt. Stewart has received his emblem of belief on his memorial plaque, other service members have yet to be granted the same honor. The VA continues to refuse approval of the Pentacle as a symbol for all other Wiccan and Pagan veterans interred in federal or state veterans cemeteries. In June and August of 2006, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State wrote letters to the VA, formally requesting that the Pentacle be approved, as it is unconstitutional to favor certain religious groups over others. On September 26, 2006, attorneys for Americans United again wrote the VA and asked that it cease their discriminatory practices, or face litigation on grounds of First Amendment violations. With the Pentacle still not approved, on November 13, 2006, Americans United filed lawsuits against the VA in two different federal courts. The suits were filed on behalf of Circle Sanctuary and two of its church members, Mrs. Stewart, and Karen DePolito, the widow of another deceased veteran, Jerome Birnbaum, who served in the Korean War. Also being represented by Americans United is the Isis Invicta Military Mission, a church which first filed paperwork for Pentacle approval in 1998. A third lawsuit against the VA was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims by the American Civil Liberties Union, representing the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, the Correllian Nativist Church, the survivors of Abraham Kooiman, and the gold star mother of James Price, a combat veteran killed in Iraq. This suit is also being pursued on the behalf of retired Navy veteran Scott Stearns.

The quest for Pentacle approval by the VA and its inclusion on memorial markers for deceased veterans has been discussed on many national televised news programs and through AP, UPI, Reuters, and other wire services, in newspapers, magazines, and media websites, including the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, the Washington Post, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, National Public Radio, Stars and Stripes, and the New York Times. Public opinion has continued to be supportive and favorable. Christianity Today published an article entitled "Stand Up, Stand Up for Wicca," suggesting that the VA honor requests to approve the Pentacle. The MSNBC News.com website reported that 80% of Americans polled are in favor of the Wiccan holy symbol being accepted. Congressional and state representatives have spoken in favor of adding the Wiccan emblem of belief. VFW spokesman Joe Davis stated, "Anyone who serves their country honorably in uniform should have their religious symbol on their headstone, regardless of their religion." The issue has also been discussed in detail on the Witches’ Voice website, www.witchvox.com by Pagans worldwide.

The need to add the Pentacle to the NCA list continues to grow. On May 11, 2006, PFC Stephen Snowberger III, an 18-year-old Wiccan soldier from Pennsylvania, was killed in action in the War in Iraq. His family grieves and awaits the approval by the VA of the Pentacle. In June 2006, the remains of a Wiccan veteran who served in the Air Force in the Vietnam War were placed in a private cemetery, but this gravesite remains unmarked because the VA has failed to authorize the use of the Pentacle for veteran grave markers. In August 2005, Sgt. Gerwin Dee Combs, a Wiccan and Army veteran who served in Germany during the Cold War era, slipped into a coma and remains in critical condition at the VA hospital in Chillicothe, Ohio. His wife not only has to contend with the stress of his medical ordeal, but the VA’s failure to treat Wiccan veterans and their families equally. Wiccan and other Pagan veterans of all branches of the service have spoken about their need for their religious symbol as a final monument.

As the War on Terror is being waged and Operation Enduring Freedom continues, more military service members are considering their spiritual needs. And as our population ages, we reflect on our end-of-life quality and our final requests. These issues are very important to Wiccans, as well as people of other religions. In recent years, many Wiccan and Pagan veterans have passed away, and active service members have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Wiccans and Pagans wish to have their emblem of belief placed on memorial markers, as a matter of faith as well as a matter of honor and dignity.

David Aldag served in the U.S. Army during the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm. He was one of the first soldiers to have the Army stamp Wicca on his dogtags. Dave is president of Caer na Donia y Llew, a legally recognized Pagan ecclesiastical corporation (church), and an ordained minister. He has a background in shamanism, ceremonial magic, Mithraism, and Cymri (Welsh, Celtic) Paganism. He is also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

A.C. Aldag is Dave’s wife. She is a Cymri Pagan and has training in Alexandrian Wicca. Dave and A.C. are Pagan activists, parents, and writers who live on a tiny little farm near beautiful Lake Michigan.