Archive for the ‘Pagan News’ Category

News & Submissions 11/6/2009

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Hallowe’en: trick, treat and a total travesty?
Hallowe’en, as we know it now, is a fake. It was imported from America in the 1980s, which is when British children found out from the film ET (1982) how to go about trick-or-treat. It may not be long ago, but it is long enough to seem immemorial to anyone under 30. To them, Tesco’s Hallowe’en Frankenstein cake or Asda’s “Bride of Chuckie’s very own recipe for Creepy Cupcakes” seem just like the commercialisation of Christmas. The difference is that there’s really nothing behind them. Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

Obama pledges new relationship with Native Americans
Washington (CNN) — President Obama said Thursday that the federal government was guilty of mistreating Native Americans in the past and promised to forge a new relationship between the federal government and tribal leaders. Read full story cnn.com

News & Submissions 11/5/2009

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

The Wild Hunt at The Florida Pagan Gathering
Assuming that all went well yesterday with my flights, by the time you read this I’ll be enjoying my first day at the 2009 Samhain Florida Pagan Gathering! During the three-day event I’ll be giving talks, and enjoying presentations and performances by festival co-headliners Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone, Donald Michael Kraig, and musical guests Kellianna & Coyote Run. The event runs from November 5-8th (the theme being “Hail the Honored Dead”), and has gotten positive reviews from former presenters  Thorn Coyle and Chas Clifton. Read full story from The Wild Hunt

Familiars, pets and totem animals
Many Pagans have a favorite “familiar” –  a household pet that is very close to their hearts and souls. Familiars may inspire writers and artists, become very interested in any rituals or magick you may be performing or watch you as you fashion your own ritual tools. (And don’t worry, familiars may cross into and out of a sacred circle without the customary cutting of a door. The innocence and pure spirits of small children and animals confirm that they are safe to do so.) Read full story from The Examiner

The reality of impermanence in this month of November
In the Buddhist traditions of our country the dead are always remembered with periodic and regular almsgivings and various meritorious acts. In addition special remembrance days are also observed in memory of the valiant military that died in the continuing war we have had for almost thirty odd years. Ranaviru day is given special significance and continues to keep in our minds the debt the nation owes to the service personnel who fought so valiantly and sacrificed their lives on many an occasion. Dr. Narmmasena F. Wickremesinghe, former head of Ranaviru Seva Authority in an article referring to the sacrifice of the forces states that the ballad of Bill Ray Cyrus adapted and sung at the Memorial Service for the late Lt. Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa,is very apt :“All gave some, some gave all, Some stood through for a nation, so true and some had to fall ,and if you ever think of me ,think of all your liberties and recall some gave all’. So we will always continue to honour and remember with various acts   of merit , those who defended the peace and integrity of Mother Lanka. Read full story from DailyMirror

Child Exorcisms in Africa deserve attention, help
Do you believe in witchcraft? No? I don’t either. But I do think there are a good number of believers in Africa, as we can see by the number of children tortured, mutilated and murdered following accusations of witchcraft. There have also been more than a few bodies found disemboweled and missing their organs (which are believed to be used as charms). Read full story from jackcentral.com

‘Christmas’ to stay in name of event in Birdsboro
Wiccan resident suggests name of event emphasizes Christianity; council disagrees Read full story from readingeagle.com

Confederate flag banned again
HOMESTEAD – Just days before the annual Veterans Day parade in Homestead, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) group announced on Wednesday that the Confederate battle flag has been banned from the event Read full story from sfttime.com

Atheists take message on road
TAMPA – Motorists along one of Lakeland’s major thoroughfares are being greeted with a billboard asking a provocative question: “Don’t believe in God?” Read full story from TBO.com

Historic sites teach Thanksgiving from a Native American view
As she often does at this time of year, Richmond was explaining the origins of Thanksgiving from a Native American point of view — how the so-called “First Thanksgiving” was actually part of a much larger cycle of Native American thanksgiving festivals and how roast turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie probably weren’t on the menu. (Instead, the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag dinner guests most likely sat down to a meal of venison served with dried corn and fruit). Read full story from Read full story from projo.com

News & Submissions 11/4/2009

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Dan Halloran Wins, Alice Richmond Loses
It looks like a split decision last night in the battle of the Pagan candidates, resulting in a historic win for Republican candidate Dan Halloran. In a very close race Halloran defeated his Democratic opponent by a margin of 1300 votes to become the next New York City Councilman for District 19. This is a dramatic win for the beleaguered Theodsman, and his victory represents a dramatic first for modern Paganism, the first openly Pagan/Heathen candidate to gain an important political office. We await an official statement from Halloran, in the meantime, you can read congratulations from his supporters, and commentary from a snarky but somewhat humbled Village Voice (not to mention a peeved-sounding Steven Thrasher). Read full story from The Wild Hunt

Tanzania’s albinos celebrate death sentences for body part killers
Ngeme Luhagula has not had a peaceful night’s sleep since she saw her daughter hacked to death before her eyes two years ago. Read full story from timesonline.co.uk

Google Sued For Sexual, Religious Discrimination
Google (NSDQ: GOOG), an organization that received top marks in 2009 for respecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, is being sued by James Bara, a Georgia-based former employee for sexual and religious discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act. Read full story from informationweek.com

Celebration provides a different goodbye
Swaying to an animalistic rhythm, dancers led the crowd at Caras Park in an enticing limbo, ensuring the uncertainty of death was celebrated with lively revelry. Read full story from montanakaiman.com

Expert Speaks Out About Cult Findings Found in a San Juan Home Raid
HIDALGO COUNTY – Alfredo Murillo considers himself a spiritual guide; an expert in many religions and faiths, even in what he calls dark and white magic. Read full story from krgv.com

Strategic shamanism and the new world order
Many will know of the dream behind the First Earth Battalion through The Men Who Stare at Goats. But, as part of Jon Ronson’s takeover, Jim Channon explains that it’s the government and large corporations who really need to hear the message Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Italy in uproar over court ruling against crucifix
STRASBOURG/ROME (Reuters) – The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Italian schools should remove crucifixes from classrooms, sparking uproar in Italy, where such icons are embedded in the national psyche. Read full story from uk.reuters.com

News & Submissions 11/3/2009

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

It’s Election Day!
Today is the day, elections are being held, and we’ll soon find out if two out/outed Pagan candidates will win their respective races. The higher-profile story, that of Republican New York City Council candidate, and Heathen Theodsman, Dan Halloran, has gotten a bit ugly in the final hours. Read full story from The Wild Hunt

Candidate’s Religion Is Point of Contention in Queens Race
Dan Halloran, the Republican candidate for a City Council seat in northeastern Queens, actively practices Theodism, a neo-pagan faith which attempts to reconstruct the pre-Christian tribal religions of the European Germanic people. Read full story from nytimes.com

First Amendment doesn’t shield us from private infringements
Every American is protected by the guarantees of the First Amendment, but protections for religious liberty and free expression apply only when government actions are involved — and therein is the rub for some of our fellow citizens. Read full story from firstamendmentcenter.org

News & Submissions 11/2/2009

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Days of the Dead
From October 31st through November 2nd, a number of festivals, holidays and solemnities take place, all loosely related and revolving around remembrance of the dead. Halloween, Samhain, All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, the Day of the Dead and other festivals trace their origins back to Celtic, Aztec, Roman and Christian traditions. Halloween is largely a secular observation these days, All Souls and All Saints remain mainly Catholic observations, and the Day of the Dead is still largely a Latin American tradition, its roots in Mexico’s Aztec heritage. Collected here are photographs over the past week from the varied observations of the Days of the Dead around the world. Read full story from boston.com

Tribes claim wind farm would destroy sacred ritual
MASHPEE, Mass. (AP) — From a blustery perch over a Cape Cod beach, Chuckie Green gestures toward a stretch of horizon where he says construction of the nation’s first offshore wind farm would destroy his Indian tribe’s religion. Read full story from Associated Press

Native community reclaims history of Alutiiq masks
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – For more than 100 years, more than 70 Alutiiq ceremonial masks were housed in a museum in France, honored as art yet completely cut off from their original cultural context. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

PERFECT EXCUSE FOR A LITTLE WITCHCRAFT
Before pumpkins were so widely available people would use a large turnip or swede instead (as I did as a nipper) and everyone bobbed for apples, face first into a tin bath full of cold water. It’s all very ancient. In pre-Christian days, October 31 was celebrated as All Hallow’s Eve, when ghosts and spirits were thought to be at large, so superstitious people took steps to ward them off. Read full story from express.co.uk

Going green? What about going pagan?
Since the rise of the major world monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and of secular culture, pagans have gotten a pretty bad rap. When we switched to one God or no god at all, we labeled pagans as heathens and idol worshipers, connoting uncivilized primitiveness and even evil. Read full story from statepress.com

For heathens’ sake
Till death do they part: On Halloween, a ‘Catholic witch’ and a pagan tie the knot with a most unusual twist Read full story from washingtonpost.com

Wiccans celebrate autumn holiday in their own fashion
CAMBRIA — An ancient celebration that evolved into Halloween and All Saints Day celebrations was observed this weekend. Read full story from wiscnews.com

Are Wicca and Witchcraft the same?
The subject of this article comes up a lot in books, online, and in conversation (not to mention misleading films and television shows). Ancient civilizations knew more about the answer to the above question than most people do today. Read full story from The Examiner

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

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

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

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

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