Archive for October, 2009

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News & Submissions 10/30/2009

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Does a Wtich live Next Door?
With Halloween coming up tomorrow, most folks are stocking up on candy and other treats to be given away to all the little ghosts, goblins and witches who will be trooping up to the front door screaming, “Trick or Treat.” Read full story from somd.com

Americans embrace alternatives to ‘pagan’ Halloween
WASHINGTON — Witches, beware. Mummies, be gone. Halloween may be a celebration of all things creepy and macabre, but a growing number of US communities are shunning traditional ghoulish festivities, seen by some as tainted by association with paganism and the occult. Read full story from google.com

Paganism, Just Another Religion for Military and Academia
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. — If personal tradition holds, just before sundown today, Michael York will stand before a colonial-style wooden cabinet in his bayside town house here and light a candle. As night falls, it will illuminate the surrounding objects — tarot cards, Tibetan silver bowls, a bell, and statues or icons of deities from the Greek earth-mother, Gaia, to the Lithuanian thunder god, Perkunas. Read full story from nytimes.com

It’s not about Satan – or the pagans
Having read the article in Tuesday’s Journal in which the Rev Jonathan Campbell linked the Halloween festival in Derry with Satanism and Paganism, I felt that I should write in on the issue. Read full story from Derryjournal.com

The True Spirit of Halloween, for Real Witches
Halloween is here again. Pumpkins deck our porches and Witches in pointy hats swoop across the walls of classrooms and offices. Children accost one another, asking “What are you going to be for Halloween?” and grownups stock up on candy. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

Inmate gets his wish: Witch name
Just in time for Halloween, former Fremont resident Billy Joe McDonald has received a judge’s permission to change his “Christian” name to his “witch” name: Hayden Autumn Blackthorne. Read full story from Omaha.com

Real Witches Practice Samhain: Wicca on the Rise in U.S.
This Saturday while her neighborhood outside Columbus, Ohio, is crawling with costumed witches in search of candy, Wigington and a group of other local witches will not be celebrating Halloween, but the new year festival Samhain, which also occurs Oct. 31. Read full story from abcnews.go.com

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News & Submissions 10/29/2009

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Day of the Dead honors ancestors
Día de los Muertos, meaning Day of the Dead, is celebrated on November first within the Hispanic cultures around the world. Originating in Mexico, this annual ritual dates back some 3,000 years in history. The rituals are about honoring and communicating with one’s dead ancestors, and was practiced among the Zapotec, Mixtec, Olmec, Maya, P’urhepecha, Totonac and Mexica societies. Read full story from The Examiner

Why the witches like to fly high
PICTURE the scene: it’s midnight on All Hallow’s Eve, the Witching Hour is upon you and flying above you are silhouetted figures with pointed hats, riding broomsticks, each with a black cat sat behind them. Their shrieking and cackles pierce the night sky. Read full story from theolivepress.com

Halloween: A User’s Guide
Halloween is no Hallmark Holiday. While it may have evolved into a kitschy festival of hard candy and plastic masks, its roots are actually thousands of years old and every bit as dark and sinister as we like to pretend. Read full story from piquenewsmagazine.com

From Samhain to Halloween in 2,000 years
Halloween today may seem — to some — like a played-out, secular commercial endeavour, used by candy companies and dollar stores to senselessly whore their cheap products to consumers, but the holiday also has deep religious historic roots, which Danzig hints at in the classic Misfits tune celebrating All Hallow’s Eve. Personally, I’ve always loved Halloween: the candy, the costumes, the pranks and the ghoulishly gothic atmosphere of graveyards and dark streets in autumn. Read full story from themanitobin.com

Founder of The Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt talks with Dr. Gina Ogden
Teacher, author, and founder of The Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt talks with Founder of The Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt talks with Dr. Gina Ogden about her groundbreaking healing work integrating sexuality and spirituality by using shamanic practices. Read full story from bignews.biz

Halloween’s magic
With Halloween around the corner, it is hard not to miss the green-skinned, warted witch who has been immortalized in popular culture by the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.” For those Broadway musical buffs our society has created an even more modern version, Elphaba from “Wicked.” Though sometimes we might not want to take the time to realize it, underneath all of the corporate packaging that goes into advertising Halloween, there lie remnants of ancient practices that honor and celebrate life’s less spoken of aspects. Read full story from Campus Times

Trick Or Treat
Spirit of Halloween explained, defended Pagans don’t believe in the devil, evil or hell Read full story from blog.syracuse.com

Wiccan, not wicked
Deborah Snavely cackled wildly when asked if she had a flying broom. For Snavely, a British traditional Wiccan priestess for 13 years, witchcraft is no matter of Hollywood hocus-pocus — it’s a reality. Read full story from dailyemerald.com

The witches and witchcraft in Wells and Arundel
Wells minister Rev. George Burroughs was hanged as a witch during the Salem delirium of 1692. A century later, widow Elizabeth Smith of Arundel was accused of witchcraft at the York County Court of Common Pleas and Sessions in Biddeford. Read seacoastonline.com

Witchcraft merchants in Tampa: It’s all good
On a rainy day in August, Kelley Sattley sat in the atrium of her apartment complex, waiting for the rain to stop so she could get to her car. She felt depressed and anxious about a pending divorce. An old woman she had never seen before sat down next to her and told her everything would be okay. Read full story from tampabay.com

New local network welcomes witches, pagans and others
While staunch Roman Catholic parents were teaching her about that church, she said, some maternal aunts were secretly grooming her to be the family’s next strega — Italian for female witch. It made for an interesting childhood — with memorable Sunday services Read full story from post-gazette.com

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News & Submissions 10/27/2009

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

GRAND OL’ PAGAN: What Does the Republican ‘Heathen’ Running for New York’s City Council Actually Believe?
Lou Sancio and Joseph Bloch were more forthcoming. The two have been involved with New York-area heathen groups for the past two decades, including Halloran’s New Normandy. Recently, Sancio was released from his oath to Halloran so that he could form the eastern Pennsylvania group, Arfstoll Thjod. He was the best man at Halloran’s wedding, and has been his friend for more than 20 years. Bloch, another member of the new tribe, has written numerous texts on heathenry. Read full story from The Village Voice

Breaking stereotypes: Are Pagans religious?
Sticks and stones are often thinly disguised as words. Read full story from The Examiner

Beyond Trick-or-Treating – Halloween Food History
While cold-hearted Halloween detractors might blame candy corn and bite-size chocolate bars for bulging kids’ waistlines and tooth decay, holiday celebrants once held Halloween foods responsible for determining whom they’d marry and whether their spouses would be true. Read full story from slashfood.com

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Events 10/27/2009

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Historic Occoquan Ghost Tours
Walking tour of Occoquan, VA. history and haunting.

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News & Submissions 10/26/2009

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Halloween Presents Opportunity to Look at Growing Number of Wiccans
ReligionLink, which is run by the Religion Newswriters Association, recently noted that Paganism seems to be more socially acceptable these days: Read full story from Poynter.org

Press Release: Witch School leaving Rossville, Seeking a new future in ‘The Witch City’, Salem, Mass
Rossville, IL(October 26th, 2009) — Witch School Headquarters are closing in the Rossville-Hoopeston area of Illinois. Witch School settled from Chicago to Central Illinois in 2003, and became the center of protest by many of the Christian Churches in the area. A well-documented spiritual battle has been waged for the last six years, with open hostilities and long quiet truces by various Christian factions. Simply put, this has not allowed Witch School the staff and resources needed to keep up with their growth. On Halloween, Witch School Rossville will close permanently, and Witch School will be moving its HQ to ‘The Witch City’, Salem Mass. Read full story from witchschool.com

Witch’s secret worship
Bishops Frank and Chearle Bugge believe the unrepentant rapist is innocent and blame his victims for his crimes. Read full story from heraldsun.com

ALL RELIGIONS PRACTICE WITCHCRAFT – PAGANISM IS THE ONLY ACCESS TO GOD
There is too much religion in the developing world right now, too much pre-occupation with spiritually false and ineffective money spinning religious enterprises of con-artists, especially in the hapless African world of abject poverty and ignorance; resulting in the colossal loss or waste of precious and productive energy and time that all of mankind could have jointly harnessed to move civilization significantly forward. Read full story from modernghana.com

Congregation honors all spiritual paths
Growing up in Salem, Mass., Rhiannon Melanson became interested in aspects of the supernatural. Read full story from hamptonroads.com

Wicca-Wicca Witchcraft
On Halloween, kids get the opportunity to dress up and assume another identity. For me, it wasn’t enough to just dress up as a witch; I wanted to be one. Read full story from newuniversity.org

Man carried weapons for pagan religion
A MAN carried a police-style baton, nunchucks and a ceremonial throwing knife because of his religious beliefs, a court heard. Read full story from echo-news.co.uk

Pagan festival seeks tolerance
Paganism is a word that carries many different connotations. To some, this is not only acceptable, but is encouraged. Read full story from redandblack.com

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News & Submissions 10/24/2009

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Near stadium, Cowboys have a new rival: Satan
ARLINGTON — A wee bit o’ Scotland has come to the outskirts of Cowboys Stadium, and with it a foggy auld controversy over whether a Scottish sculpture park is also a pagan shrine that might hex the Dallas Cowboys. Read full story from star-telegram.com

Wiccan Ways
This is a busy time for Wiccans as they prepare for the pagan New Year. Read full story from fresnobee.com

Archaeologists may have unearthed beer hall of ancient Viking kings in Denmark
Copenhagen, October 19 : Archaeologists have unearthed a large mud building in Denmark, which may have been a cult place or beer hall of the ancient Viking kings. Read full story from irishsun.com

Buddhists gather with the goal of being in the moment
SALISBURY — In a relaxed atmosphere, dedicated Buddhists gather for meditation and discussion by candlelight. Read full story from delmarvanow.com

‘I’m a good witch’
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — What? No long black hair? No piercing green eyes? What about the wrinkled, gray complexion? Her hands aren’t gnarled. Her nails aren’t claws. She isn’t even wearing a tall black hat. Read full story from sundaygazettemail.com

Basic Tools of Wicca
Wiccan ritual and spell work can be as simple or elaborate as you want to make them. There is a multi-million dollar market in America for supplies for witches to perform their magick. Many new to the path will obsess about obtaining all kinds of fancy tools in hopes of enhancing their magical workings. While no tools are rally needed, let’s look briefly at the most common ones and their uses. Read full story from bellaonline.com

Salem, Mass., witch hunt of 1692 resulted in deaths of many innocents
When a colleague told me that one of his wife’s goals in life was to spend Halloween week in Salem, Mass., I felt it only fair to warn him. I was brewing up an anti-Salem column in my cauldron. Read full story from kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com

Wiccan Says Firing Was Religious Bias
HARTFORD (CN) – A sales manager says she was fired unfairly for making her annual religious pilgrimage to Salem, Mass., to celebrate the Wiccan New Year. She claims her boss told her, “You will need a new career in your new year. … I will be damned if I have a devil-worshipper on my team.” Read full story from courthousenews.com

Hey, Brainheads, Hallowe’en is Not A Pagan Holiday
I say this every year at about this time–in fact, I say this so often that I should probably have it printed and hand it out to strangers every day of the world–Hallowe’en is not a Pagan holiday. Read full story from the Village Witch

‘New Years Around the World’ series examines Wicca in time for Halloween
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Gory ghouls and fang-bearing vampires may bang the doors for candy or heave toilet paper into trees in your neighborhood come Halloween. Read full story from silive.com

Season of the Witch
October has became the season of the witch in the collective consciousness. The “witch” despised and demonized flies again on her broomstick carrying with her ancestor memories and our fears about women, death and lately commercial income. Read full story from the Examiner

Pop Culture Paganism: Wicca, Neovampirism, and the Occult
Paganism is quickly becoming the most influential ideology in both Europe and America as millions practice it worldwide. Many are still active members of the Christian Church. The Law of Attraction, the power behind The Secret is examined with a shocking conclusion! Research is brought to life with dramatic unmasking of it’s original author and ties to Alchemy . Read full story from jeremiahfilms.com

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News & Submissions 10/22/2009

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Fairfax teen may have died in Korean exorcism, police say
Someone pummeled and smothered 18-year-old Rayoung Kim in a bedroom of her home in a new suburban subdivision in Fairfax County. She fell unconscious and later died. Read full story from WashingtonPost.com

The unholy trinity: The three rebel sculptors that shocked the art world with their pagan forms
If you find yourself being troubled on the doorstep by a god-botherer, try playing the pagan card. You may find it’s effective in its off-putting-ness. The modern missionary is used to dealing with monotheism and atheism and versions of these things. But polytheism is trickier. Someone who seems to believe in a variety of divinities is rather hard to pin down for a conversion. Read full story from independant.com

Neigbors concerned that Wiccan is sex offender
SHELTON — A Greenfield Drive man’s plans to hold a Wiccan autumn celebration at his home last month never materialized, but his neighbors are still concerned about the intended use of the home he is building after learning that he is listed on the state’s Sex Offender Registry. Read full story from ConnPost.com

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News & Submissions 10/19/2009

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Dead Man Mistaken for Halloween Decor
LOS ANGELES (Oct. 17) — Residents of a Southern California apartment complex say they saw a lifeless body slumped on a neighbor’s patio, but didn’t call police because they thought it was part of a Halloween display. Read full story from news.aol.com

Sex fiend Robin Fletcher a high risk
The egomaniac sex offender is no longer behind bars but can’t roam free thanks to a strict court order aimed at protecting the community. Read full story from heraldsun.com.au

Essex County Chronicles: Early inhabitants lived in fear of Mammy Redd, Old Luce
As Salem’s Haunted Happenings celebration cranks into full gear, the city’s streets are often filled with visitors dressed and made up as evil old crones, the likes of whom once terrified the residents of local communities. Read full story from salemnews.com

Speak Your Piece: Selling Indian Spirituality
The recent tragic deaths of two people inside a sweat lodge at Angel Valley near Sedona, Arizona, (a third participant died on Saturday) compelled me finally to write something about an issue that has long haunted me: the expropriation of American Indian culture and ritual by New Age entrepreneurs. Read full story from dailywonder.com

Witches, Ghosts and Hauntings..Oh My!
Pauline Bartel is an accomplished author, President and Chief Creative Officer of Bartel Communications, Inc., an award winning a corporate communications firm. She is a teacher, a sought after keynote speaker, and self proclaimed psychic. Read full story from troyrecord.com

What the Hex is going on in Canberra?
If you happened to be in Canberra for the weekend but limited yourself to the usual tourist circuit, you missed out on quite the exorcism. Danny Nalliah, the head of Catch the Fire ministries – convinced that Canberra witches’ covens had cursed our federal government with blood sacrifices on Mount Ainslie – gathered some 50 Christians to the North Canberra mountain to drive Beelzebub out. Read full story from WAtoday.com.au

Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches
The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Read full story from latimes.com

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News & Submissions 10/17/2009

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Happy Diwali
A very happy Diwali to all my Hindu and IndoPagan readers. Diwali, the festival of lights, is a major Indian holiday representing a spiritual new year, and a triumph of good over evil. Read full story from The Wild Hunt

The Spiritual Journey
Man is a religious animal, the only religious animal, and he has many religions at his disposal. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and is tempted to cut his throat if his theology differs. He has spilled vast quantities of blood across the globe while trying to bring heaven to his fellow man. Read full story from areawidenews.com

Church claims Halloween trick or treaters ‘side with the Devil’
For many children it is simply the time of the year to don fancy dress in the home or charming the neighbours out of a few sweets. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

President Obama Celebrates Hindu Holiday
America’s minority religions certainly are getting a nice reception at the White House these days, with the latest celebration — the Hindu holiday of Diwali — taking place this afternoon in the East Room. Known as the Hindu “festival of lights,” it begins Saturday. Read full story from washingtontimes.com

The ‘Trick’ in the Treat
I grew up in a day when Halloween was little more than pumpkins, fall festivals, hayrides, and dressing up as a pirate or a farmer to go trick-or-treating. That is what it held for my now post-Halloween-age children as well. As a result, I’ve had a built-in resistance to those Christians who bash October 31st as a pagan festival that followers of Christ have no business supporting, much less engaging. Read full story from KPXQ1360.com

Paganism more than witchcraft, pentacles
When thinking of religion, we often only consider Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Read full story from redandblack.com

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News & Submissions 10/13/2009

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Beliefs Matter: When Richard Dawkins and I Agree
We believe that all religions are basically  the same- at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation. Steven Turner, “Creed” Read full story from stltoday.com

The Neopagan Temptation
In this book Professor Philip G. Davis, a Canadian academic, proves with compelling scholarship that the present-day “goddess” cults have no detectable linkage with any ancient pagan beliefs. Apart from being anti-Christian anyway, they have no association with even the traditions and dignity of classical paganism. Read full story from spectator.org

A day for examining the unusual
WILKES-BARRE – Standing near Martz Pavilion in Kirby Park, Jay Fink lit afire two pieces of poi fruit attached to tethers and began spinning them through the air to the beat of music. Read full story from timesleader.com

Wicca and Witchapalooza! By Paul Dale Roberts
Did you ever wonder how much of Wicca can be traced to the Celts? Wicca is a religion based on ancient northern European Pagan beliefs in a fertility Goddess and her consort a horned God. The religion is a modern creation and some of its sources pre-date the Christian era by many centuries. Read full story from sacramentpress.com

Anti-LDS message left in vandalism at five churches
Vandals threw rocks tied with antagonistic notes at five LDS Church meetinghouses overnight Saturday in South Jordan and Riverton. Read full story from sltrib.com

City Woman: Who is the goddess?
Wife, mother, daughter, friend, colleague… today’s woman fulfils a variety of roles every day. Read full story from getbracknell.co.uk

Halloween protest planned
A CHURCH leader has branded Halloween as ‘the worst thing we ever imported from the United States’ and says the event has become ‘beyond a joke’. Read full story from thewestonmercury.co.uk

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