Bunky Bartlett is a very lucky Wiccan.
From the Baltimore Sun:
Two months ago, when a tarot card told Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett that he should slow down and focus on his spirituality, Bartlett let out an exasperated yelp. The only way that was going to happen, he thought at the time, was if he won the lottery.
Yesterday, a day after he announced that he was one of four winners of a $330 million Mega Millions prize, Bartlett was back at the White Marsh New Age shop where the tarot cards foretold his future. Frustrated no longer, Bartlett says he now has the time he needs to contemplate life, as well as a few other matters.
"I've received one marriage proposal, there was one woman who wanted to sleep with me, and one person who wants me to adopt him," said the soon-to-be former accountant.
Bunky told a reporter about the moment he and his wife realized that they had won big.
Then we got to 5 and I was like, ‘Yay!’ And then she got the last one and I went, 'Holy crap!'
I don't know how I'd react if I won the lottery.
I don't think I'd say, "Yay" or "Holy Crap."
...Lottery officials will meet with Bartlett tomorrow to confirm his winning ticket. He's not sure whether he wants to take the lump sum of $49 million or an annuity, which would pay him $3.7 million a year until 2032.
But Bartlett said he knows how at least some of the money will be spent: helping shop owners Lori and Mick Perdue expand Mystickal Voyage to include a holistic healing center and yoga studio. The store has been open for about a year and already expanded once with the addition of a coffee shop. It's there that Bartlett regularly hosts "dragon coffee klatches" and conducts Reiki treatments, a form of Japanese energy healing.
...Through the store, Lori Perdue said she has met thousands of fellow Pagans and others interested in alternative religion, from all walks of life. They say they're hoping the attention from the lottery win and improvements to Mystickal Voyage will help attract new customers and dispel misconceptions about Pagans.
"There's far more [people interested in the Pagan religion] than you think," said Lori Perdue. "Five times a week, we have customers come in who are in the 'figuring it out' mode, who are pulling away from how they were raised and seeking deeper meaning. We want people to feel comfortable and welcome."
Bartlett is a practitioner of Wicca, a nature-based religion of magic and witchcraft. There are an estimated 800,000 Neo-Pagans in the United States, the largest subset being Wiccans.
Oh, good grief.
I doubt that Bunky's good luck will mean more people will become Pagans.
I've never heard of lottery winners using their good fortune to win over religious converts or converts to anything.
The Powerball winning Sargento cheese workers didn't express hope that their luck would boost cheese sales, did they?
