Archive for the ‘Pagan News’ Category

News & Submissions 11/23/2010

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Worst Act Of Aggression Against South Korea’ Since ’50s
We start the day with more about the unsettling news that “North Korea (has) fired at least 200 rounds of artillery at a South Korean island near the countries’ disputed western sea border.”

Two South Korean marines were killed and more than a dozen people injured in today’s incident.

On Morning Edition earlier, Dongseo University international studies professor Brian Myers spoke with co-host Steve Inskeep from Seoul. As Myers said, “this is the first time since the Korean War that we’ve had an attack on civilian territory with artillery shells. So, this is really … the worst act of aggression against South Korea that we’ve seen since the end of the Korean War.” (Myers was referring to the end of open warfare, of course, since the conflict between the North and South has never officially ended.) Read full story from npr.org

Selling souls for a celery stick and playing with Ouija boards
For as long as I can remember I’ve been into horror and all things related to it. Ghosts, demons, spirits, scary movies and anything having to do with the occult are always interesting topics to me. I think it would be cool to be a vampire and live forever off the blood of the innocent or a zombie, feasting on brains and other delicacies. Does this mean I truly believe in ghosts and goblins? Not at all. What is surprising, though, is how many people actually do.

Last week, at work, a coworker and I were talking about summoning a demon to the office. We used an online Ouija board and tried to bring a demon forth to haunt our workplace. Obviously it didn’t work. Later, when we told another coworker about it, she replied by saying, “Oh, I don’t mess with that kind of stuff.” Read full story from daily49er.com

Professor explores the Isle of Man’s fascination with fairies!
THE Isle of Man’s fascination with The Fairy Bridge and Manx traditions about fairies has resulted in a British historian arranging a visit to the Island to give a lecture on the subject in January.

Professor Ronald Hutton will deliver his lecture – ‘Traditional Fairy Beliefs’ – at the Gaiety Theatre and will explore the intriguing subject of fairies, including the value that fairy stories served, whether ‘real’ or not. Read full story from isleofman.com

How BP Clashed and Cooperated With Scientists
A detail-rich, 39-page working paper from staff members of the oil spill commission says the government and BP have “much to take pride in” for their response to the crisis, given that “neither was ready for a disaster of this nature.” It says, however, that the failure to get an accurate rate of oil flow early on may have “impeded” BP’s efforts to have oil-collection equipment ready when needed. Read full story from sciencemag.org

Energy Services Platform (ESP) (Source People Power)

Pope makes frank comments in new book (source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/22/2010

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Thanksgiving symbolizes Native generosity and kindness
VERONA, N.Y. – When the first immigrants from Europe arrived on the North American shores, they were homeless and hungry. They survived thanks to the generosity and kindness of Native peoples, who helped them through the first brutal northeastern winter and shared traditional methods of agriculture that would sustain them through future seasons.

That tradition of hospitality and help is replayed throughout Indian country during the Thanksgiving season in various acts of kindness by tribal nations. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

My Take: My top 3 books for the hotel nightstand
If you have ever contemplated being stranded in a hotel room without electricity, you might be happy to hear that the Gideon’s ubiquitous nightstand Bibles are no longer your only reading option. For some time, many Marriott Hotels have featured copies of the Book of Mormon, and, now, according to Kate Shellnutt at the Houston Chronicle, Hare Krishnas have placed roughly 7,000 copies of the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita in 100 Houston-area hotel rooms. Read full story from cnn.com

Banned medic vows to fight GMC ‘witch-hunt’
WHEN Doctor Sarah Myhill first began treating sufferers of ME and chronic fatigue syndrome, she saw herself as a pioneer – changing the lives of hundreds of patients who had nowhere else to turn.

But now, banned from practising medicine and under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) for posing a risk to patients’ health, Dr Myhill says her life has been engulfed by legal battles and her ongoing fight to clear her name. Read full story from walesonline.co.uk

Hundreds gather for interfaith Thanksgiving celebration
Members of more than a dozen religious organizations gathered in Central Austin on Sunday in advance of Thanksgiving to show their appreciation for one another.

People packed into University Baptist Church near the University of Texas during a nearly two-hour ceremony that featured prayers and songs from different religions. Read full story from statesman.com

Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims
At 18 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K., researchers have suspended pictures, face up, from the ceilings in emergency-care areas. The reason: to test whether patients brought back to life after cardiac arrest can recall seeing the images during an out-of-body experience.

People who have these near-death experiences often describe leaving their bodies and watching themselves being resuscitated from above, but verifying such accounts is difficult. The images would be visible only to people who had done that. Read full story from wsj.com

Ancient Roman bath found in Jerusalem
Jerusalem – Israeli archaeologists have uncovered a 1 800-year-old bathing pool which proves that Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city built after the destruction of Jerusalem, was larger than thought, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday. Read full story from news24.com

Secret chamber in National Library
KOLKATA: National Library has always been reputed to haunted. Now, here is a really eerie secret. A mysterious room has been discovered in the 250-year-old building a room that no one knew about and no one can enter because it seems to have no opening of kind, not even trapdoors.

The chamber has lain untouched for over two centuries. Wonder what secrets it holds. The archaeologists who discovered it have no clue either, their theories range from a torture chamber, or a sealed tomb for an unfortunate soul or the most favoured of all a treasure room. Some say they wouldn’t be surprised if both skeletons and jewels tumble out of the secret room. Read full story from indiatimes.com

Tiger Extinction: Tigers Could Be Extinct In 12 Years If Unprotected
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching, global wildlife experts told a “tiger summit” Sunday.

The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, a dramatic plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Arguments to take place in Oklahoma over ban on Islamic law in courts
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on a temporary restraining order against an Oklahoma referendum that would ban the use of Islamic religious law in state courts.

Oklahoma voters approved the amendment during the November elections by a 7-3 ratio. But the Council on American-Islamic Relations challenged the measure as a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order November 8 that will keep state election officials from certifying that vote Read full story from cnn.com

Are Some People Not Fit to Be Vegans?
What to eat? It’s still a touchy subject, and posts about food choices here at TreeHugger tend to draw (at best) sprited debate and at worst, heated ire. So here’s more fuel for the fire – dedicated vegan food blogger Tasha at the Voracious Vegan has turned her back on 3.5 years of veganism, drawing support but also ire from her readers. Some people say veganism doesn’t meet the nutritional needs (especially for B-12) of its practitioners. Others, including medical expert Dean Ornish, swear that a low-fat plant-based diet is better for the body and for the planet. Read full story from treehugger.com

A prayer for Fido: Pet lovers flock to Danvers church for monthly service with pets
DANVERS — The Rev. Thea Keith-Lucas began last night’s service at Calvary Episcopal Church in Danvers with an important public service announcement.

“Don’t be afraid if your friend needs to walk around or talk during the service,” she told the two dozen-or-so people and their canine friends.

On cue, in walked Addy, a Chinese crested powderpuff, with her owner, Lis Carey of Lawrence. Instantly, the room erupted in a chorus of barks, as suddenly-alert mutts looked around, angling to get a good glimpse or sniff of the late arrival. When order was restored, Keith-Lucas resumed. Read full story from Salemnews.com

Recent Discoveries Shed Light On Ancient Human Migration & Sport
In 2009, the Norwegian research magazine ‘Apollon’ reported that archaeologists had discovered a 70,000 year old religious site in the remote region of Ngamiland, Botswana. In the year since the announcement, little follow-up discussion and speculation has been undertaken despite the fact the discovery is both profound and history changing.

This discovery can not be underestimated, for not only does it shed new light on the mankind’s earliest religion but also on early human migration, biblical accounts in the Book of Genesis, as well as the historic significance of ancient stick and ball sports. The Ngamiland discovery is the first solid evidence of the ‘Serpent Religion’ being practiced by early man 30,000 years before similar sites appear in Europe and the Near East. In addition, it adds new fuel to the on-going debate on pre-Columbian New World civilizations and their ancient links to Africa and the Mediterranean. Read full story from boxscorenews.com

Public apology to Natives overdue
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – President Barack Obama will be asked – again – for a formal and public apology to Indian country on behalf of the U.S. government for past atrocities, said Don Coyhis, whose White Bison Inc. made a cross-country trek in 2009 fruitlessly seeking such an acknowledgment.

Instead, Coyhis noted, the president issued an “Apology to Native Peoples of the United States” last December that was buried in the Defense Appropriations Act and was “never properly presented to Native Americans and to the American people.”

The apology said, in part, that the U.S. through Congress, “recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the federal government regarding Indian tribes.” Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Islamic community center developer seeks federal funding
The developer behind the controversial Islamic community center and mosque planned for Lower Manhattan has requested federal funding through the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to support the project known as Park51.

The funding would come from money the Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated to help rebuild the neighborhood after the 9/11 attacks.  “Park51 has applied for a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grant,” said Sharif El-Gamal, CEO of SOHO Properties, the developer behind the Islamic center. Read full story from cnn.com

News & Submissions 11/21/2010

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Atheists don’t have to share religious beliefs, but they also don’t have to share ill will, either: Regina Brett
Americans are going to be hit with a blitz of billboards, TV, newspaper and bus ads promoting the “joy and wisdom of atheism” according to an article in the New York Times last week. Four organizations that represent atheists, free thinkers and humanists plan to launch the campaign in time for the holidays.

Some ads will cite barbaric excerpts from the Bible and the Koran; others will quote famous non-believers, like Albert Einstein. Reporter Laurie Goodstein wrote that the groups are trying to recruit the “untapped” people who identify themselves as having “no religion.” About 15 percent of American adults claim no religion, according to a study quoted in the article. Read full story from clevland.com

Where the legends rest
It’s overgrown and old, and it’s the type of place you’d only be seen dead in. It’s a cemetery. It’s not any cemetery though. It’s Highgate Cemetery. This iconic resting place in London probably has more famous dead people per square metre than anywhere else in the world. What’s more the place is a monument to Victorian era tombstone culture.

I first visited Highgate Cemetery in the mid-1980s, when Margaret Thatcher was taking on the last bastion of organised militant labour, the mineworker’s union, led by its dyed in the wool Marxist leader Aurther Scargill. There was more than a hint of left wing radicalism in the air, so it seemed quite apt to visit the grave of Karl Marx. To my surprise, however, I found the cemetery to have a lot more going for it than just Marx’s tomb. Read full story from deccanherald.com

WRITERS WRITE: Grandma’s secret life, hidden in an old box
As I probed further, I discovered that Grandma Mary had led a secret life. She had put herself in the hands of a mail-order psychic. This Christian pillar of the church was involved in psychic readings and astrological charts. I was more than a little shocked. This was not the grandma I had known.

I learned that by subscribing to the New York Magazine of Mysteries, the Exalted Mystic would send a pamphlet which would teach her how to tell the names of people she had never seen before. Read full story from wiscnews.com

Hindu Bhagavad Gita to Join Bible in Some Houston Hotels
Pull open a drawer in some Houston hotel rooms, and beside your room-service menu and Gideons Bible, you might find a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

The sacred Hindu text is making its way into nightstands across the country through a campaign to spread the scripture and awareness about Lord Krishna, the deity believed to have spoken the philosophical teachings millennia ago. Read full story from nbcdfw.com

Facebook-banning NJ pastor acknowledges threesome
NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP, N.J. – A pastor who said Facebook was a “portal to infidelity” and told married church leaders to delete their accounts or resign once testified that he had a three-way sexual relationship with his wife and a male church assistant.

The Rev. Cedric Miller confirmed the information reported Saturday by the Asbury Park Press of Neptune, which cited testimony he gave in a criminal case in 2003. The relationship had ended by that time. Read full story from yahoo.com

Sharia fear-mongering threatens religious freedom
Much of the news media seemed bemused or bewildered when Sharron Angle warned of an Islamic-law takeover in America during her unsuccessful bid to unseat Sen. Harry Reid.

Angle was widely ridiculed for citing Frankford, Texas (a town that no longer exists), and Dearborn, Mich. (with a large population of Arab-Americans living under American law), as examples of the imposition of Islamic or sharia law. Read full story from firstamendmentcenter.org

Experts: Mystery contrail was from Chinese missile (Source wnd.com)

News & Submissions 11/20/2010

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

2010 Wild Hunt Winter Pledge Drive, Nov 15-21
Since it started in 2004, the Wild Hunt has become a vital news source for modern Pagans, and a crucial resource for those outside the Pagan movement who want to explore the issues that are important to us.

The Wild Hunt doesn’t simply alert you to the interesting (or infuriating) stories of the day, but adds analysis, context, and unique features. Read full story from wildhunt.com

Battle Over Public Christmas Displays Begins Again
And so it starts. Cities are again battling over whether to allow religious Christmas displays in public squares during the “winter holidays.”

Freedom from religion groups start lawsuits over Christmas, disagreements by school boards occur over whether children can sing songs about Christ in holiday programs. It happens every year. Read full story from yahoo

Pyramidal Tombs at Syrian Forgotten Cities
Damascus- Dead cities were built on low height mountains in the provinces of Aleppo, Idleb and Hama governorates and called by the archeologists as “The Desolate Cities, or the Forgotten Cities”, Tishreen daily said Saturday.

The daily added that those cities are distinguished by unique characteristics, attracted the attention of a number of archeologists and international organizations including the UNESCO which works now on preparing a file to register those archeological sites on the World Heritage List. Read full story from dp-news.com

Thanksgiving: A Holiday For Believers and Non-Believers
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Ken Guthrie and his partner will be at his aunt’s house for Thanksgiving, sharing a table with his grandmother, siblings and cousins — a veritable holiday crowd.

But when it comes time to express thanks, Guthrie, a board member of Salt Lake City Pagan Pride, will not be speaking to the Christian God his relatives might address.

“I’m thanking, first, the universe for allowing me to be alive. I’m thanking my family for being with me, and I give thanks to the turkey that gave its life, the plants on our table, to the Earth itself for being abundant.” Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Frankly, the future is all too predictable
Today I am going to write about psychic powers, but you knew that already, didn’t you? Because according to a recent “study”, humans have the ability to predict the future. Which means that even when you were reading about William and Kate, and all the while you were taking in the wise words of Simon Heffer, you were well aware that you were moments away from a piece about extra-sensory perception. That, or this article has been flagged up in the previous pages.

Anyway, Professor Daryl Bem of Cornell University in New York carried out nine different experiments involving more than 1,000 volunteers, all but one of which appeared to indicate that people have psychic powers. In one of his experiments, students were told to memorise various words. Astonishingly, they tended to recall the ones they would later be asked to type. Cue the Twilight music, please. Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

News & Submissions 11/19/2010

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Astronomers Discover Alien Planet In Our Milky Way
We’ve talked about colliding galaxies on this blog before. But this piece of science news today is a little weirder: The journal Science reports that astronomers have found the first extragalactic exoplanet in our Milkyway. Read full story from npr.org

Ghost caught on camera
People who are open to the supernatural see ghosts everywhere. For instance a speck of dust as it moves on an air current and caught in a camera flash becomes an ‘orb’: a ball of otherworldly energy left by the souls of the departed. Read full story from manchesterconfidential.co.uk

Cherokee Nation News Release
The Cherokee Nation is in the beginning stages of developing a Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge, a web-based system designed to provide Cherokee citizens and the general public access to a comprehensive digital space filled with authentic Cherokee knowledge related to the tribe’s history, language, traditions, culture and leaders. Read full story from cherokee.org

Scientists capture antimatter atoms in particle breakthrough
(CNN) — Scientists have captured antimatter atoms for the first time, a breakthrough that could eventually help us to understand the nature and origins of the universe.

Researchers at CERN, the Geneva-based particle physics laboratory, have managed to confine single antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic trap.

This will allow them to conduct a more detailed study of antihydrogen, which will in turn allow scientists to compare matter and antimatter. Read full story from cnn.com

Fox News gets Sitting Bull history wrong
WASHINGTON – In the same week Fox News President Roger Ailes assailed President Barack Obama for being un-American, the Fox News website attempted to paint the president as out of touch for admiring Indian Chief Sitting Bull. But the network got its history wrong. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Stoneham library revisits Spiritualism movement
Stoneham — Séances and medium meetings may sound like the practices of Salem witches, but these rituals were actually common in Stoneham, according to a local historian.

Spiritualism, which supports the idea that the dead can communicate with the living, was a popular belief among middle-class residents in Stoneham in the l870s, according to Medford historian Dee Morris. This Thursday, Nov. 18, Morris, who has been studying spiritualism for the past 15 years, discussed some of Stoneham’s most influential spiritualists in a free discussion at the Stoneham Public Library. Read full story from wickedlocal.com

MORRIS MEN ROUSE SPIRITS
BLOODSTONE Border Morris, pagans and druids gathered at the Longstone last Sunday (October 31) to celebrate the pagan festival of Samhain that falls on Halloween.

First the Morris dancers roused the spirits of the noontime gatherers at the Neolithic monument with a selection of their jaunty dances, incorporating stick brandishing and sparring along with menacing snarls and grimaces. Read full story from wgazette.co.uk

Bridgewater State offers magical course for those who grew up with Harry Potter
BRIDGEWATER —When her 11th birthday had come and gone, Kelsey Bergeron was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten an invitation to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Now 18, Bergeron still loves the Harry Potter book and film series she grew up with, and she has a unique opportunity to study them in college.

The Bridgewater State University freshman is enrolled in “The Ethics of Harry Potter,” a sociology seminar that relates the themes of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series to the ideas of Aristotle. Read full story from wickedlocal.com

HARMONY – A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT OUR WORLD (Source harmonymovie.com)

Harmony Movie Trailer from Balcony Films on Vimeo.

Bad boy rapper Shyne goes kosher (Source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/18/2010

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Pastor to N.J. church leaders: Thou shalt not Facebook
NEPTUNE, N.J. — Thou shalt not commit adultery. And thou also shalt not use Facebook.

That’s the edict from a New Jersey pastor who feels the two often go together.

The Rev. Cedric Miller said 20 couples among the 1,100 members of his Living Word Christian Fellowship Church have run into marital trouble over the last six months after a spouse connected with an ex-flame over Facebook. Read full story from lansingstatejournal.com

Fairy DogParents? A Magic Wand for Hard-Luck Families
Jenney Hemboldt was distraught. She had lost her job, had a young child at home and her 11-year-old dog Sable (below, right) wasn’t eating and was very ill. Unemployed, broke and teary, she feared her only choice was to surrender the family’s German Shepherd mix to a dog shelter through the Massachusetts Society for the Prevent of Cruelty to Animals, so that Sable could get the surgery he needed.

Instead, in a stroke of serendipity, she learned of Fairy DogParents, a nonprofit that could intervene, providing the near-fairytale help that would keep Sable with the family that adored her. And just when she needed a little magic, Marlo Manning, the organization’s founder, stepped in with a vet that would do the surgery at a reduced cost and and an offer of dog food so that Sable could remain with the Hemboldts. Read full story from tonic.com

Britain’s Spiritual Inversion
Last month, the Charity Commission recognized druidism as an official religion. Druids in Britain, of which there are about 10,000, can now claim tax exemptions and have access to other valuable “rights.” For instance, druids in prison may now take twigs, or magic wands, into their cells, and can request time off work to worship the sun.

Many are concerned that this decision will crack the door open for Britain’s growing number of witches, warlocks and wizards to seek legitimacy from the Charity Commission.

According to the Pagan Federation, which defends and promotes the interests of witches, druids and other “followers of polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshiping” groups, there are now 300,000 pagans in Britain. Pagans are in every strata of society too, as one pagan recently admitted: We are “civil servants, teachers, housewives, accountants, university lecturers, farmers, bakers, child-minders, historians … sailors, gardeners, call-center workers, office cleaners and dancers and shop workers.” Read full story from thetrumpet.com

First American in Europe ‘was native woman kidnapped by Vikings and hauled back to Iceland 1,000 years ago’
A native woman kidnapped by the Vikings may have been the first American to arrive in Europe around 1,000 years ago, according to a startling new study.

The discovery of a gene found in just 80 Icelanders links them with early Americans who may have been brought back to Iceland by Viking raiders.

The discovery means that the female slave was in Europe five centuries before Christopher Columbus first paraded American Indians through the streets in Spain after his epic voyage of discovery in 1492.

The genes that the woman left behind have now been discovered in the DNA of just our distinct family lines. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Most Americans say Obama’s religious beliefs different than their own
A majority of Americans say that President Barack Obama’s religious beliefs are either somewhat different or very different than their own, a poll on religion and the recent elections found.

The poll report, by the Public Religion Research Institute, identified Obama’s religion “dilemma,” as the institute called it, as one of three significant emerging religious issues to watch toward the 2012 election cycle. Read full story from cnn.com

Consulate works to restore Dia de los Muertos
n many small towns in Mexico, the main export isn’t the local chocolate, coffee or peppers, but labor.

An event Wednesday evening in Yuba City marked a concept to change that trade deficit, while celebrating both small business and a traditional Mexican observance.

Marta Sol, of the Chiapas state in Mexico, beamed as she used a modern coffeemaker to incorporate Chiapas coffee beans and chocolate to make hot beverages — leavened with spirits — to toast deceased loved ones. Read full story from orland-press-register.com

U.S. religious freedom report faults China, among others
Religious freedom remains under threat in China, especially for followers of the Dalai Lama and Muslims in the west of the country, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday in a major report.

China harassed members of religions Beijing does not recognize, and disbarred, harassed and imprisoned lawyers who tried to defend them, the State Department said. Read full story from cnn.com

At 92, Dallas woman is the Johnny Appleseed of herbs
Lane Furneaux doesn’t waste time. “I’m 92 ½ years old, you know.”

It was decades ago that she earned the unofficial title of Dallas’ pioneering herb advocate, and she has not let her cause lapse. She’s adamant that the knowledge she has accumulated must live on after her. Furneaux (pronounced fur-NO) feels the need urgently now to educate the public about herbs: their fragrance, their flavor, their symbolism; how they grow, where and why; to pass the language of herbs on to the next generation. Read full story from dallasnews.com

Science of Winter (Source National Geographic)

News & Submissions 11/17/2010

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Obama signs order clarifying church-state relationship
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Wednesday clarifying the ground rules for religious groups partnering with the federal government through the White House’s controversial faith office.

The order says that religious organizations receiving federal funds must conduct explicitly religious activities in a time and place that are different from when and where they do government-financed work. Read full story from cnn.com

Sketch of King Richard II’s skull found among medieval tomb relics in museum basement
Relics from the tomb of medieval English king Richard II and sketches of his skull and bones have been discovered in boxes in the basement of the National Portrait Gallery.

Objects thought to have come from inside the tomb were found inside a cigarette box by archivists cataloguing the papers of the gallery’s first director, Sir George Scharf.

The box contained fragments of wood, possibly from the coffin itself, and a piece of leather, thought to have been part of the king’s glove.Read full story from dailymail.com

Panic Strikes Trinidad and Tobago School After ‘Devil Attack’
Panic broke out at Trinidad and Tobago high school after students fell mysteriously ill, began rolling on the ground and blabbering in a strange tongue, triggering fears of a demon attack, the Guardian Trinidad and Tobago reported. Read full story from foxnews.com

Roman settlement unearthed in Syon Park, west London
A Roman settlement filled with ancient artefacts and human remains has been found on a west London building site.

Archaeologists excavating the listed Syon Park site made the discovery of more than 11,000 Roman items just half a metre below the ground Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Vision Statements Are Not Enough. Backcasting a Pathway to Sustainability.
I’ve never liked vision statements. All too often they smack of wishful thinking and fantasy. Yet the environmental movement is rife with them. As I have argued many times before, the green movement needs a concrete plan, and that plan needs to embrace strategic thinking. Luckily, vision statements are just one tool in our tool box. But there’s another tool that can help turn visions into pathways. It’s called backcasting.

The idea behind backcasting is to first envision the future you want to see—but be specific both in terms of goals and timelines. Whether it is a fossil-fuel free town by 2050, or a household that is 100% debt free by 2015, the idea is to not just say what you want, but when you want it too. Read full story from treehugger.com

BP deep-cleaning Gulf beaches amid new worries
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — What’s typically a beautiful, quiet stretch of beach in the fall now resembles a construction site. Bulldozers and yellow dump trucks shake the ground; a giant sifting machine spits clean sand out one end, tar balls out another.

With its Macondo well dead and few visitors on the coast during the offseason, BP has launched its biggest push yet to deep-clean the tourist beaches that were coated with crude during the worst of the Gulf oil spill. Machines are digging down into the sand to remove buried tar mats left from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

LA: Plastic Bags BANNED In Parts Of Los Angeles County
LOS ANGELES — Parts of Los Angeles County have joined other California communities in banning stores from using single-use plastic bags.

County supervisors approved the measure 3-1 on Tuesday in hopes of preventing billions of bags from polluting neighborhoods and waterways. It bans stores from giving customers single-use plastic bags and would require them to charge 10 cents for each paper bag. Read full story from huffingtopost.com

Strickler Responds to Phenomenology
Over the past several months, I have commenced to rejuvenate and hone my capabilities for gathering information on spiritual targets by using my subspace mind. In other words, I shift my awareness from one place to another or remote view. Read full story from thecinfluenceblog

New Plan of Attack on Climate: Shame Big Polluters?
Yes, the climate bill is dead. No, we’re probably not going to see any meaningful legislation to address carbon pollution for years to come. But climate change is still occurring. Which means that if we’re going to head off the worst case scenarios, we’re going to have to find another route outside of Congress. So now that we’ve collectively moaned and mourned and licked our wounds, it is, once again, strategy time. How do we achieve big carbon cuts without passing sweeping laws that reign in big polluters? People around the interwebs are starting to chime in with suggestions, and I’ll be looking at a number of them over the coming weeks. First up — Shaming big carbon polluters in the public eye. Read full story from treehugger.com

For Iraqi Christians, fear is knocking (Source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/16/2010

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Schrader: A visit to a local witches’ coven
Two years ago, while driving in the eastern part of DeKalb, I was intrigued to see the car ahead of me with bumper stickers that read: “I’m Pagan and I Vote” and “No war was ever fought over witchcraft.” The driver parked at a residence, so I noted the location and returned sometime later to inquire about the strange slogans.

The woman who answered the door explained she was a modern-day witch and belonged to a coven of witches in northern Illinois. I swallowed hard and said I would get back to her and maybe do a column on witchcraft someday. Read full story from daily-chronicle.com

Author wants to rebrand Muslims from terrorists to environmentalists
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is a second generation American Muslim, radio personality and a policy advisor in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.

In his new book, Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet, he challenges Muslims and non-Muslims to be stewards of the earth. He hopes the book will help rebrand  Muslims from terrorists to environmentalists. Read full story from cnn.com

Making the promise real: ACLU looks at justice in Indian country
PORTLAND, Ore. – The American Civil Liberties Union put a face on justice in Indian country Oct. 29 at its first Northwest Civil Liberties Conference in the Pacific Northwest. Judges, attorneys, professors and nonprofit leaders came together to discuss important current civil liberties and civil rights issues affecting their communities. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Court OKs Law Allowing ‘God’ Pledge In Schools
BOSTON — The constitutionality of a New Hampshire law that requires schools to authorize a time each day for students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance has been upheld by a federal appeals court that found the oath’s reference to God doesn’t violate students’ rights. Read full story from thebostonchannel.com

Chinese mine project threatens to destroy major 7th Century Afghan Buddhist site
Kabul, Nov 16 (ANI): Archaeologists in Afghanistan have warned that they are racing against time to rescue a major 7th Century religious site unearthed along the famous Silk Road from a Chinese company that is eager to develop the world’s second-biggest unexploited copper mine, which lies beneath the ruins at the site. Read full story from oneindia.in

The Hajj (Source National Geographic)

Lost Mummies of New Guinea (Source National Geographic)

News & Submissions 11/12/2010

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Astrological Gardening: Voodoo or Cool?
Personally, I think it’s very cool! Astrology has played an important role in gardening since our ancestors first began planting seeds in the soil to grow food, medicinal herbs and flowers. In ancient times the sun, moon and stars were critical because they were constants in our ancestors’ lives. Today we have the internet, iPhones and cable TV to remind us that the astounding celestial world outside is still spinning on schedule! Some gardeners and farmers may scoff at the idea of planting by the moon signs and phases while many others claim the natural rhythms of the universe helps to make their crops more prolific. These gardeners found that crops fared better when planted at certain times of the moon’s phase. My feeling is why not play around with it and see what happens? Take a small section of your garden and do a test run of planting crops according to the cyclical movement of the planets. (I wish I could tell you that I have tried planting by the moon but, sigh… I am just a fickle, impatient and impulsive gardener from New York City so I have not.) Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Rubin Museum: Sacred Symbols Across Two Cultures
A museum is not the best place to view religious art. To get the full import of images with profound religious meaning you need music, chanting, incense, no buzz from the outside world. Museums by their very nature can’t reproduce the ambiance of a monastery or a cathedral, but they can gather materials you might never have the chance to see elsewhere. The Rubin Museum’s new show Embodying the Holy presents two distinct religious traditions, Eastern Orthodox and Tibetan Buddhist, in the most reverential manner possible in a museum in the heart of New York City. Read full story from luxist.com

Pagans are on the march – but are they harmless eccentrics or a dangerous cult?
Dressed in long, hooded cloaks, the women stand in a circle around an iron cauldron.

The chief witch sweeps her broom around the coven, making their circle a sacred space.

A candle is lit, incense is burnt, and spells are mixed in the cauldron.

These are the witches of Weymouth, the latest foot soldiers in the march of paganism in Britain. And this ceremony marks the festival of Samhain — the turning of the year from light to dark. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Hindus welcome inclusion of Paganism in UK’s Lincolnshire County schools
Nevada (US), Nov 11 : Hindus have welcomed the reports of Lincolnshire County Council in United Kingdom (UK) allowing its schools to teach Paganism to students along with six other world religions.

Welcoming the inclusion of Paganism, prominent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that all religions were different ways to relate to the Divine, different responses to the Reality and were a positive sign of God’s generosity. Read full story from newkerala.com

OFFBEAT: Williamsburg, not just Salem, has its share of witch trials and folklore
DATELINE – - Colonial Williamsburg – - Philip Potempa is writing while traveling in Virginia this week.

While a student at Valparaiso University from 1988 to 1992, one of the history courses I truly enjoyed was HIST 316, The Great Witchcraft Delusion, taught with great zeal by Professor Marian Rubchak. Read full story from nwi.com

Earthen Mounds All that Remain of Ancient American Civilization (Source voanews.com)

Happy Veterans Day!

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Thank you to all who have and continue to serve!

Five ways to help a veteran today
(CNN) — Veterans Day is a day to honor and celebrate the military veterans who have served our country, but if you don’t have a veteran in your family or even know one, the meaning of the day may be lost.

The Veterans Administration says there are 23 million living U.S. Veterans. A veteran could be your neighbor, your co-worker or the person sitting next to you on the train. They are silent heroes we may run into every day and while we may appreciate their service, many people are not quite sure exactly how to help a veteran. Read full story from cnn.com