Anderson describes lighting a "smart candle" before trials and reports winning every one of roughly two dozen gun cases following the Heller decision. She wears her pentacle openly in court alongside Masonic pins from Le Droit Humain, a co-Masonic lodge admitting men and women equally. On ethics, she refuses love spells that override free will, citing the threefold return and "harm none, do as ye will." Her reincarnation view differs from Buddhism: witches enjoy being on Earth and view each life as opportunity rather than a cycle to escape, suggesting souls may incarnate on other inhabited worlds between lifetimes. A caller announces he has been praying against Anderson, claiming credit for the night's persistent Skype failures. She responds that Satanism requires belief in Satan, which requires Christianity, and she follows none of those faiths.
Art Bell names Anderson the show's resident witch by night's end.
Key Moments
Wiccan vs witch: Anderson, an old-school third-degree practitioner, draws the distinction listeners always argue about: Wicca is the formal coven structure descended from Gerald Gardner, while witchcraft is broader spell-casting that doesn't require a coven - and she calls herself a witch, not a Wiccan.
Yes, you can kill with witchcraft: Pressed by Bell on whether her craft could be used as a weapon, Anderson - a sitting D.C. criminal defense attorney - answers without hedging that witchcraft can kill, and that the very witches strong enough to do it are the ones smart enough almost never to use it.
Skype goes haywire: Mid-conversation about protective magic, Anderson's Skype connection breaks up with a strange whining interference, then drops entirely; Bell can't reconnect for several minutes and openly wonders on air whether the topic is causing it.
Spell-casting before trial: Anderson explains that she lights a smart candle the night before every trial and asks the goddess Bast - represented by her familiar Mr. Butch - to give her client every consideration possible, treating spell-craft as part of her professional defense work.
Why she won't cast a love spell: Asked whether love spells work, Anderson says yes, theoretically - but refuses to cast one, calling it baneful magic that violates the Wiccan rede 'and ye harm none, do as ye will,' and invokes the law of threefold return as the reason ethical witches don't force another's will.