By JIM GENARO

About two dozen people gathered last Friday evening to chant Wiccan prayers of protection for a magnolia tree that is scheduled to be uprooted to make way for a condominium development downtown.

The tree, which stands in front of City Hall, is planted on a parcel of land that was bought earlier this year by developer Stewart Coleman. He plans to move or cut down the tree to make way for 40 condominiums and retail space.

But Coven Oldenwilde, the Wiccan group that sponsored the public prayer circle, hopes to halt the treeís destruction.

Wicca is a nature-based religion rooted in the ancient witchcraft traditions of Europe.

The group circled the tree for about half an hour chanting ìbarbarous words of power.î ó prayers ìso ancient that no one knows, no scholar knows, what language they were originallly written in,î Dixie ìLady Passionî Deerman, the covenís high priestess, said.

Specifically, the words were meant to ìimbue the tree with masculine energy,î she† explained.

Deerman said this was intended to counter destructive masculine energy, adding that while the exact meanings of the chantís words are unknown, ìwe know what it does,î and that the prayer had been handed down for untold generations.

Before starting the chant, she discussed the greater context of the treeís fate.

ìThis tree is symbolic,î Deerman told the assembly. ìItís indicative of what is going on throughout our region.î

She noted that while Coleman has offered to uproot the tree and move it, such an effort would cost as much as $20,000 and the tree might not survive.

Furthermore, Deerman said, there is no company in the region that has the equipment to move it.
ìItís not practical ó itís not doable,î she concluded.

Deerman also questioned the legitimacy of the land sale. Coleman bought the land from the county for roughly half its assessed tax value at the time. The tax office then raised the assessed value to be closer to what he paid for it one day before a story about the sale was printed in the Asheeville Citizen-Times.

Meanwhile, Coleman has offered to donate $20,000 to Quality Forward, an environmental group that plants trees, in lieu of moving the tree. Cuttings from the magnolia will be taken to grow new trees.