Witches League of Public Awareness International educational
organization based in Salem, Massachusetts,
which works to end prejudice and bigotry against
Witches and Witchcraft, especially in the media.
The Witches League of Public Awareness (WLPA)
was organized in 1986 by Salem Witch Laurie Cabot to
protest the filming of John Updike’s novel The Witches of
Eastwick. The novel concerns three “witches” who are involved
with the Devil.
The League networks with major witch groups around
the world. It also works with the American Civil Liberties
Union regarding religious freedom interests, and with
police departments concerning occult crimes not committed
by Witches but automatically blamed on them. The
WLPA exposed “File 18,” a secret newsletter compiled in
the 1980s by a police officer, which constituted an “occult
hit list” for police, falsely naming individual Witches and
Craft organizations as those who could be suspected of occult
crimes.
The WLPA maintains a network of “Information Resource
People” who act as resource contacts for media and
the public and who monitor the media in its portrayal of
Witches. Where there are inaccuracies and misrepresentations,
the League responds by sending the appropriate
educational and legal information.
The WLPA does not handle individual discrimination
cases.