Walt Disney was Wicca ?

Question

I have heard this story many times, but i haven't found any web site about it.
The rumor is not due to the witches he included in his movies, but to the fact he was involved in magick.

Answer 1

He wasn't according to this website:
http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Walt_Disney.html

which states: "
Walt Disney was born into and raised in a family of devout Congregationalists. Walt was named after the preacher at his family's Congregationalist church: Walter Parr, a close friend of his father's. [Source: Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original, Hyperion: New York, NY (1994), pages 24-25]
From "Walt Disney on Faith, Church, Bible Study, Prayer & God" on Disney Dreamer website (v. 29 April 2005):

...I am personally thankful that my parents taught me at a very early age to have a strong personal belief and reliance in the power of prayer for Divine inspiration. My people were members of the Congregational Church in our home town of Marceline, Missouri. It was there where I was first taught the efficacy of religion... how it helps us immeasurably to meet the trial and stress of life and keeps us attuned to the Divine inspiration... Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life. I have watched constantly that in our movie work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether it deals with fable or with stories of living action. This religious concern for the form and content of our films goes back 40 years to the rugged financial period in Kansas City when I was struggling to establish a film company and produce animated fairy tales. Many times during those difficult years, even as we turned out Alice in Cartoonland and later in Hollywood the first Mickey Mouse, we were under pressure to sell out or debase the subject matter or go "commercial" in one way or another. But we stuck it out... Both my study of Scripture and my career in entertaining children have taught me to cherish them... Thus, whatever success I have had in bringing clean, informative entertainment to people of all ages, I attribute in great part to my Congregational upbringing and my lifelong habit of prayer...
[Quoted from Roland Gammon's book] Faith is a Star, New York E. P. Dutton & Co. 1963. Roland Gammon went on a search of famous people for content on his 1963 book about prayer... Walt Disney wrote the article above for this publication. Walt Disney held deep personal beliefs. Elias Disney (Walt's Dad) was a deacon and named Walt after the family minister Walter Parr. (St. Paul Congregational Church in Chicago) Walt's brother Herbert had a daughter named Dorothy and she married a minister, Glenn Puder. It was at Walt's request that the Reverend Puder delivered the invocation at Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955. Represented at the dedication were Catholic, Jewish and Protestant faiths.

At this website:http://www.startedbyamouse.com/archives/WaltPrayer.shtml

it is stated:"Walt held deep religious convictions, although he rarely attended church in his adult life. His father Elias was a church deacon and had named his fourth son after the minister of St. Paul Congregational Church in Chicago, Walter Parr. Walt’s brother Herbert had a daughter named Dorothy and she married a minister, Glenn Puder. It was at Walt’s request that the Reverend Puder delivered the invocation at Disneyland’s grand opening on July 17, 1955. Alongside the Reverend Puder were representatives of the major American faiths at the time: Catholic, Jewish and Protestant."

Deeds Rather Than Words
By Walt Disney

In these days of world tensions, when the faith of men is being tested as never before, I am personally thankful that my parents taught me at a very early age to have a strong personal belief and reliance in the power of prayer for Divine inspiration. My people were members of the Congregational Church in our home town of Marceline, Missouri. It was there where I was first taught the efficacy of religion ... how it helps us immeasurably to meet the trial and stress of life and keeps us attuned to the Divine inspiration. Later in DeMolay, I learned to believe in the basic principle of the right of man to exercise his faith and thoughts as he chooses. In DeMolay, we believe in a supreme being, in the fellowship of man, and the sanctity of the home. DeMolay stands for all that is good for the family and for our country.

Deeds rather than words express my concept of the part religion should play in everyday life. I have watched constantly that in our movie work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether it deals with fable or with stories of living action."

Answer 2

So True Michael Has Done So Much And it Turned Out To Be:Guys That Want To **** Every Girl In The World Walt Wanted Children To Have A Dream It Turned Out To Be :Disney Stars Showing Vagina,Then Dancing In A Pole In Public Horrible How This World Turned Out To Be

Answer 3

I doubt very much ol' Walt was into Wicca. One doesn't have to be Wiccan to perform magick as we never claimed to be the source of it. Magick is just a part of our faith. The reason I don't think Walt was into Wicca is as you said, the way witches were included in his movies. The only two roles in his movies that showed someone using magick for good was "Bedknobs and Broomstick" and "Mary Poppins", Of course I could be missing one or two references but for the most part witches were evil in Walt's movies, which I imagine kept the majority of the religions happy.

Answer 4

Was Hitler a Superman? Did Johnny Appleseed really plant apple trees?
Walt Disney was a rich man, he had the money to make his ideas real. Don't let yourself get caught up in catch phrases, like Wicca, witch and magic; or any other one word phrases that attempt to explain whole ideas.

What do you think Walt Disney was and is saying, by the ideas he gave us?

Answer 5

I don't think that this is correct.

I can say that the people who worked on Fantasia 2000 certainly knew how to appeal to Pagans with some of the imagery and thematic elements. So perhaps some of the animators/computer illustrators were Pagan?

Do you remember the Winter Queen/Goddess sweeping through the forest, with the tail of Her garments leaving ice behind, and the GORGEOUS finale sequence, with the theme of death and rebirth in Nature?

Breathtaking visual imagery.

Answer 6

It sounds like a rumor to me. My college roommate's father worked as an artist at Disney studios, and I never heard this about Walt Disney. He had a great imagination, and had wonderful, resourceful, gifted people working for him, as well.

Answer 7

I wouldn't think it was due to the witches in his movies anyway, since the stories were usually fairy tales that predated him, let alone his company.

I've never heard that rumor before, though, but I'll see what I can find out.

From what I can see so far, he was a Christian...

http://www.disneydreamer.com/Waltfaith.htm

Answer 8

My grandfather drew for him back when the cartoon's were actually drawn. I know in his early years he was agnostic, but I don't know about Wiccan.

I think that's a natural assumption with all the bipp-it-e-bop-it-y-boo, spells, witches, etc. that was ever present in his stories, however; I don't think his being Wiccan is considered a fact.

Answer 9

This is highly improbable. Wicca was hardly known until it was popularized in 1954 by its originator, Gerald Gardner. Disney died in 1966.

Answer 10

No. Walt Disney was a very positive light. But his work attracted the attention of dark forces, which worken their way into his organization. When he died, they took over and shifted his legacy into a dark direction. That's why the Song of the South was shut down, and why there is so much sexual innuendo in modern disney works.

Answer 11

False