There are many things I enjoy about being a cosmetics department shop girl, and one is the interesting people I meet... and that includes fellow shop girls.
One of the strangest women I worked with was an austere older woman named Julia Light who worked in the cosmetics department with me four years ago. With her sober expression, silver hair pulled severely back from her face, and black garb, the pentagram she wore at her neck completed the picture. She was an overt pagan and practicing witch (claiming to be a "white witch"). Behind her counter she kept catalogs of pagan mail order products, and she frequently referred to "the goddess" in conversations. I always thought Julia Light's name was quite ironic for one who dabbled so in darkness.
We worked together well, although Julia knew I was a Christian and I knew she was a witch. But when she invited me to her home with the rest of the cosmetics department, I had mixed feelings. News that her previous parties usually took an odd turn at some point during the night had already reached my ears. I prayed about it and felt led to go as a way to reach out to her as well as to get to know my fellow shop girls better.
When I arrived, I discovered that much like the home in Carman's song, her house was filled with occult symbols and art celebrating "the goddess." Julia herself was clad in a long, flowing black gown, and she invoked the name of "the goddess" on numerous occasions throughout the evening. She also laughed and said she had laced the wine with an aphrodisiac called "damiana." I drank Sprite. I socialized with my department for an hour, but when a seance was announced, I knew it was time to leave.
The next year I again attended the department's party at her house (and I brought my own iced tea). I was not comfortable with the perverse sexual conversations, so I politely made my excuses and left early.
Julia frequently brought up sex and religion. When she talked badly about Christians (at work), I pointed out that Jesus was not to be blamed for what erring Christians might have said or done, that Christians are imperfect people in need of a Savior, and that she should consider looking at Jesus instead of at Christians. Our conversations about religion were always civil and at her initiation. She was polite but not open. She preferred to trust in "the goddess" and in karma.
Her stated belief was that karma wold take care of the trials of life. She said she never let anything upset her because if someone wronged her, she would just let karma take care of the problem. "What goes around, comes around."
One night a young woman whom I knew from a hobby group came in to shop, and she noticed Julia's pendant. Sheila asked me what it was, and I told her it was a pentagram. A few weeks later Sheila cornered me at a club meeting and pursued the topic. In shock she asked, "Does she know what that is? I mean, she is never very friendly but I always thought she was at least a nice person." I explained that while Julia was a practicing witch, she was nice enough to work with. This conversation took place four years ago and was the only time we discussed the matter.
Earlier this year I was called into the store operations manager's office. Julia had made an official complaint against me and wanted it taken to the corporate level. According to Julia's complaint, I had recently approached a young woman while at work and divulged Julia's religious and sexual orientation. The young woman -- my friend Sheila from the hobby club -- had allegedly run straight to the cosmetics department and told someone about the hypothetical conversation.
After being warned by the operations manager that I was NOT to discuss this with anyone at work, I called my young acquaintance and asked her what had really happened. Sheila said she had recently been shopping in the cosmetics department, and again Julia was wearing her pentagram. Talking to the shop girl waiting on her, Sheila complained that she had not been able to wear a cross when she worked at the Disney store. Sheila stated that she found the pentagram offensive and thought it was unfair that Julia was able to wear it to work.
"How did my name enter the conversation?" I asked Sheila. "We never mentioned you," said Sheila. When pressed as to how my name became attached to the incident, all she could come up with was, "Everyone there knows we are friends."
I explained to the operations manager what I had learned, and I told him Sheila was willing to come in and tell him herself. In spite of this, I ended up having a formal report issued by the corporate office finding me guilty of discussing Julia's religion and sexual orientation in the workplace and also rebuking me for involving the customer! I was never contacted by the corporate office during their "investigation" ... nor was Sheila. I requested a copy of the corporate rebuke but the operations manager refused to allow me to copy it.
The irony is Julia was outspoken about her religious and her sexual preferences. She brought up religion and sex at work frequently, and she spoke disparagingly about Christians at the workplace with no repercussions. But an unsubstantiated false accusation brought against a Christian was treated as a serious offense.
I will probably never know for sure what actually DID transpire in the cosmetics department that day as I was told it would jeopardize my job if I ever discussed it. But I do know that a co-worker I thought I was on good terms with didn't trust karma or "the goddess." She went straight for the jugular. I guess a witch can't bank on karma after all. On the other hand, while a shop girl may not be able to trust in justice in the workplace, I can trust in my God. And next time, this shop girl will think twice before she accepts a witch's invitation.
Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
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