Shattering news from my homeland England came over the BBC News Online service today reporting the theft of 8,000 Harry Potter books despite the "unprecedented security around the launch" of book #5 in the 7 part Harry Potter series.

The new books "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" were stolen on Sunday and "anyone caught trying to sell - or even buy -" these books "could face criminal charges" reports Stephen Dowling of the BBC World Edition News.

Earlier this month another theft took place when a forklift driver stole pages of the new book and offered them to national newspapers.

The astonishing news does nothing but further hype the worldwide release on the Summer Solstice, June 21, of author J.K. Rowling's latest smash hit. Never before in publishing history has a book had these strict embargoes that prohibit any type of pre-glimpse before it goes on sale at 0001 British Standard Time on Saturday June 21st.

Britain's Amazon.com, the internet booksellers, have 300,000 copies securely tucked away in a dedicated warehouse in the English countryside ready to send to UK buyers on its Saturday due date. UK book chain Waterstones children's book buyer said, the "books are arriving in sealed boxes. We need to keep them locked off from the shop floor until 12 0'clock. We have to make sure the customers can't get to them, and staff can't get to them, apart from the one person who has the key."

Even review copies are under strict supervision curtailing media attempts to pass judgement before Sunday, though BBC News Online boasts they aim to publish one of the UK's first reviews on Saturday. Good luck to those having to speed-read the almost 900 pages to meet publishers deadlines. Translators were hoping to get pre-release copies to translate it into 55 languages for global distribution into over 200 countries, but they too must wait along with the rest of us.

The wait for a new book has been 3 years for Potter fans since the July 2000 release of book #4. Fans did however get their Harry-fix through Warner Brother's blockbuster movies based on the first two books. Warner Bros. proudly flaunted that film #1 based on book #1 was "an accurate portrayal of Witchcraft".

The young Wiccan, Harry Potter, then only 11 years has taken the world by storm. According to the Pagan Federation of England the interest of thousands of teens to learn more about witchcraft has been stimulated through Harry Potter and television programs like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

Pacific News Service reports that the Spanish speaking world, where Harry's sales top the bestseller lists in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela, have Latin American critics complaining, "that the world of magic through which Harry Potter travels is a metaphor for the New Age philosophy that is hostile to the Christian faith, and thus Harry Potter is an assault on Latin American values."

In the Siberian City of Novosibirsk, after the release of book #4, Harry Potter fans were believed to have been poisoned after drinking a "magic potion" inspired by the Potter books. Local police suspected older children had stolen from a school lab and fed copper sulfate to 23 young children, who were taken to hospital, after a Potter initiation ceremony.

While critics accuse me of failing to realize that Rowling's use of witchcraft in the Potter series is only a literary device, these examples show only too well that children believe in the so-called "fantasy" magick of Harry's world to be real, and in a craving to control their lives long for Harry's power to be real to them.

Harry's author, J.K. Rowling, now richer than the Queen and the wealthiest woman in show business, told Malcolm Jones, in a Newsweek interview, "I get letters from children addressed to Professor Dumbledore (headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the book setting), and it's not a joke, begging to be let into Hogwarts, and some of them are really sad. Because they want it to be true so badly they've convinced themselves it's true."

J.K. Rowlings promised "The books are getting darker….Harry's going to have quite a bit to deal with as he gets older. Sorry if they get too scary!" In a Newsnight interview on BBC2 TV last week she told how "she cried after killing off a 'significant' character" in her new fifth book.

The first three books were heavily promoted through the American school system by the American publisher Scholastic Inc who has also provided school curriculum materials for over 80 years. It seems interesting that while the teaching of traditional values based on Christian ethos has been removed from schools through reading the Bible in class, saying prayers or posting the ten commandments, Harry Potter, based on the religious teachings of occult professors and wiccan students at a school of witchcraft and wizardry can be read aloud in American classrooms.

J.K. Rowling admits her books teach "morality" but many argue it is an anti-Christian morality that encourages children to lie, cheat and steal in Harry fashion. In the books, when Harry gets caught he gets rewarded for his dishonest behavior. This worldview of shifting morality supports much of the content of Outcome Based Education and Goals 2000 taught in public schools today. Perhaps that's why the Potter books based on relativism, reincarnation type life after death, and other pagan values is endorsed by educators and mainstream society. It appears paganism is mainstream and mainstream has gone pagan.

8.5 million copies of "The Order of the Phoenix" have been printed for the US market and millions will see the cover of the colorful phoenix rising above the flames of a red hot fire on Saturday but what is it's significance? In Barbara Walker's "Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" she says, "The Phoenix is part of Egyptian mythology and identified with the bennu bird, a spirit associated with the phallic obelisk. He rose to heaven in the form of the Morning Star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth. He embodied the sacred king cremated to be reborn".

Is it a coincidence that Adolf Hitler also used the phoenix as his symbol of reincarnation and "born again" power to resurrect the second riecht to his third riecht in an attempt to bring about the New World Order? His Nazi uniform boldly emblazoned both the phoenix and another powerful occult symbol, the lightning bolt. Interestingly enough, the so-called descending phallus of Heaven, the lightning bolt believed to impregnate Mother Earth, or the sea-womb with life, is the curse mark Harry's arch enemy, the Evil Lord Voldemort scarred Harry's forehead with when he murdered Harry's parents on Halloween night.

Today, millions of children take Harry's curse mark on their own foreheads to show their loyalty to Harry. The Bible teaches that at the ruling of the One World leader in the end times, the whole world will take "the mark of the beast" on their foreheads to show their allegiance to the world dictator. Are our children, and the global child, being conditioned for something much bigger than even we understand?

Caryl Matrisciana, writer and producer of the Award Winning video, "Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged. Making Evil Look Innocent" has branched out on her own after 21 years as Jeremiah Films Creative Director and co-owner. Visit www.caryltv.com for info on the DVD that carries a bonus hour on the dangers of Harry Potter.