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News & Submissions 10/26/2010

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Millions around the globe set to observe ‘Earth Hour 2010′
Millions of homes around the world are geared up to observe the ‘Earth Hour 2010′ on Saturday, March 27, 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in order to conserve energy and pay attention towards global warming. Read full story from themoneytimes.com

Albuquerque police and media take steps to learn about Wiccan religion after stabbing
30 year old Angela Stanford has been accused of stabbing a man to death on March 22 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Claiming self-defense, the woman told police that she had taken the man into the woods near a hiking trail to perform what she claims was a Wiccan ritual for spring.  Sanford says when the man sexually assaulted her, she stabbed him with a “Wiccan dagger” to save herself.  Early news reports and statements from police showed a lack of understanding by the media and police force of the Wiccan religion. Read full story from examiner.com

Spirituality and reincarnation through Wiccan eyes
What is “spirituality?” It’s a great marketing tool for preachers and writers, but it doesn’t have much real meaning for nearly anybody today. The problem is that we don’t understand the relationship between the finite part of ourselves the part that lives and dies and our eternal part. Read full story from statesman.com

The Episcopal Church, Wiccans, and the Divine Feminine
In this holiest of Christian seasons, on the evening before Passion Sunday, the Cathedral of All Souls Episcopal Church in Asheville, N.C., hosted an event in its parish hall for an organization called The Mother Grove Goddess Temple. The purpose of the event? To celebrate the spring equinox of course. Wait, you say, that’s not Christian, that’s pagan. But there’s more. According to Mother Grove’s website, its mission “is to create and maintain a permanent sanctuary where people of all faith traditions may openly and safely celebrate the Divine Feminine.” According to Byron Ballard, a Wiccan priestess and a member of the temple, Mother Grove “isn’t a Wiccan group, though some of us are Wiccans.” Just in case you were wondering, Ballard goes on to explain that “Wiccans may also refer to themselves as witches.” Read full story from worldmag.com

Witchcraft exists everywhere – even in you
Witchcraft, argues Malcolm Gaskill, PhD, a researcher in early modern history at the University of East Anglia (UEA), leading expert and author in witchcraft, is not a thing of the past or something that only exists in developing nations Read full story from independent.co.uk

Judge: Wiccan inmates have no right to sweat lodges, raw meat
CARSON CITY — A federal judge has ruled that prison inmates have no right to sweat lodges and raw meat to practice the Wiccan religion.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro rejected the civil rights suit of Scott Fletcher, who claimed the federal law on religious rights of prisoners required the prison to provide such things. Read full story from lasvegassun.com

The Easter Bunny Must Die
Among the peeves I keep as pets, chief is my loathing of the Easter Bunny.  There are many reasons to hate the Bunny.  I will get into why in particular the Bunny, but first to some other pressing business. Read full story from ncregister.com

Police Work With Wicca Community After Stabbing
A self-proclaimed Wicca practitioner and murder suspect faced a judge Wednesday as police try to learn more about the woman’s practices. Read full story from koat.com

Religious groups fear ‘witch-hunt’
RELIGIOUS groups fear the Equal Opportunity Bill debated in State Parliament yesterday will launch a witch-hunt against them and schools, forcing some to secularise or disband. Read full story from theage.com

30 days of advocacy against Witch-hunts in Africa
The words witch and witchcraft are used predominantly as an accusation throughout Africa, either to describe a number of clearly defined traditional religious practices that do not self-define as witchcraft, as well as a number of variable urban legends perpetuated by religious leaders, churches and traditional healers, or to identify women, children and men who are not actual Witches. Read full story from therichmarksentinel.com

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News & Submissions 3/19/2010

Friday, March 19th, 2010

TV presenter gets death sentence for ‘sorcery’
(CNN) — Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for “sorcery.” Read full story from cnn.com

Asheville Mother Grove Goddess Temple to celebrate spring equinox
ASHEVILLE — After making it through the harsh winter, people in Western North Carolina are looking forward to the warm sun of spring. Some are preparing to celebrate the season’s change with an ecumenical ritual. Read full story from citezen-times.com

Towards gaining unique insights
It includes middle-roaders who say science and religion are two sides of the same coin since they both spring from human minds, while tacitly maintaining an eternal edge always separates the sides. And it includes those scientists who see some sort of deep mysterious beauty in the cosmos but remain atheists and religious mystics who shun dogma but retain a personal faith. REad full story from economictimes.com

Checklist: Spring is here, so pet your hares
All you pagan moonchildren will likely be petting your sacred hares this weekend when the vernal equinox rolls in from Spokane on Saturday. Read full story from wenacheeworld.com

Celebrating Spring: The Vernal Egguinox
Since the earliest times, the egg has been humanity’s obvious and essential symbol for the significant atmosphere of the vernal season: birth, fertility, growth, eternity. The purely primal power, which comes from the handling of eggs at the equinox, has been a principle influence on many popular spring ritual practices throughout time and across culture. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

California first to create position for Native American vets
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – On March 3, Roger Brautigan, director of the California Department of Veteran Affairs (CalVet), swore in Pedro “Pete” Molina, Pascua Yaqui, as the nation’s first assistant secretary for Native American Veterans Affairs. This position was created by the state to oversee the administration of services to Native American veterans in California, which boasts the largest population of American Indian veterans in the country. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

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News & Submissions 3/18/2010

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Avatar Is The Work Of The Devil, Says Idiot Pastor
Pastor and shit-stirer Mark Driscoll claims that Avatar is the devil’s work, aimed at promoting paganism and primitive lifestyles. Sounds like somebody just needs to make “Tsaheylu.” Of course, after watching the “Na’vi” on chatroulette, he’s got a point. Read full story from io9.com

Tribes need to prepare for inflationary future
NEW ORLEANS – American Indian tribes achieving unprecedented economic progress in the past decade now must brace themselves for future inflation, delegates attending a recent Native American finance conference were warned. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Spring: Leeds folklore expert and weatherman’s view
The name ‘vernal equinox’ sounds vaguely mystical and conjures up images of shrouded figures moving through ancient stone monuments on mist-laden dawns. Equinoxes are one of those things I feel I ought to be more familiar with but, like most people of the TV generation, I’m not. Read full story from yorkshireeveningpost.com

Dallas County jail guard fired over remarks
A sheriff’s department review concluded 59-year-old Stephen Johnson persisted in giving his religious opinions and speaking out against homosexuality. Read full story from dallasnews.com

Arizona Town to Rescind Ban on Church Meetings in Homes
A controversial ban on holding church meetings in private homes in a rapidly-growing town in Arizona could be rescinded as early as next week, officials say. Read full story from foxnews.com

EPA to target flea and tick treatments
Washington Complaints of dogs and cats injured and sometimes even killed by flea treatments have increased significantly, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer. Read full story from latimes.com

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News & Submissions 3/17/2020

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

March 17th Celebrate All Snakes Day!!! & Support your local and global pagens and the Return of the Snakes.
As the snakes remind us, remember to embrace the random and to ride the spiral ’till it ends as it may just go where no one’s been. Do this by being fully present as much as you can, and always remember to evolve responsibly and feed your will organic optimism. Read full story from evolver.net

The story behind St. Patrick’s Day
For thousands of years, the Irish have celebrated March 17, the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in the fifth century, as a religious feast day, according to the History Channel Web site. Read full story from spartandaily.com

New Jersey State Board of Education approves Pagan/Wiccan holidays for the 2010-2011 school year
This morning, the New Jersey Board of Education voted to approve their list of religious holidays permitting pupil absence from school for the 2010-2011 school year. Included for the first time on this list are the eight Pagan/Wiccan holidays, or sabbats.  This marks the first time any state has approved Pagan holidays to a state calendar, and will set a precedence for other districts and states across the country. Read full story from examiner.com

College, university presidents pledge to make ‘Pathways’ a priority
SEATTLE – American Indian/Alaska Native students have a lot of strength to draw from at home: Family, identity, indigenous knowledge and teachings, language, spirituality. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Political correctness strikes back: Jedi believer wins apology after being kicked out of Jobcentre for wearing a hood
When benefits claimant Chris Jarvis was asked to put down his hood in a Jobcentre, he said he was entitled to wear it because of his Jedi ‘faith’. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

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News & Submissions 3/16/2010

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

St. Patrick’s Day: Did Patrick become Christian for the tax breaks?
We credit St. Patrick for bringing Christianity to Ireland and banishing the island’s snakes. But post-glacial Ireland never had snakes and the saint recognized on March 17 is actually a combination of two men, Patrick and Palladius, with the latter being the first to bring Christianity to the Celts. Read full story from csmonitor.com

Celebrating “Under God” Whether There is a God or Not
The Ninth Circuit did a good thing by upholding the propriety of reciting the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. And before everyone starts screaming, let me explain both why I make that claim and why the upside for those who value religious freedom is actually far greater than immediately presumed. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Shamrock shortage in Ireland threatens the “wearing of the green”
What would St. Patrick’s Day be without shamrocks? They are the most commonly associated symbols of St. Patrick’s Day along with the ethereal leprechaun and his even more elusive pot of gold. Read full story from examiner.com

The Marine and the Black-Eyed Kids
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who is tougher than a U.S. Marine. These soldiers are trained in combat, survival and to face the threat of imminent bodily harm or death. But perhaps they’re not quite prepared when it comes to encounters with the unknown. Consider this report from a Marine, using the name Reaper 3-1, who had an unexpected and altogether unnerving experience with the mysterious phenomenon of the black-eyed people. To make it even more harrowing, these black-eyed entities appeared to be small kids. This is the Marine’s story…. Read full story from about.com

Richard Spencer’s Nordic Supermen
I have always been intrigued by the bizarre. I’m familiar with every weird movement in the book: from astral projection to suppressed Nazi technologies to black magick — yes, with a ‘k’, if it’s loony, I’ve probably studied it. (With apologies to John Avlon, anyone who thinks that Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann represent the lunatic fringe of America is not being very adventurous.) Why exactly I take such an interest in the field is something of a mystery even to me. I suppose that, to a degree, I’m attracted to the creepy, mystical aesthetic surrounding it. It’s also continually fascinating to explore the outer regions of the human experience Read full story from frumforum.com

Native farmers eagerly watch Obama African-American deal
WASHINGTON – Native American litigants in a long-running case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture are hoping the nation’s first farmers won’t be the last to see resolution by the Obama administration on discrimination claims. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

To Dry the Eyes of Indian Adoptees
The arrest of white missionaries trying to adopt allegedly orphaned Haitian children struck a chord with me. Similar media stories about well meaning white celebrities adopting pretty babies of color from poor third world countries have also rubbed me the wrong way. You see, American Indians have a long history of white folks trying to help us by taking away our children.  It is estimated that between 1941 and 1978, white parents adopted 35 percent of American Indians in the U.S., often forcibly.  Indians have learned that no amount of good intention can wipe away the painful loss of our culture. Read full story from dailyponder.com

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News & Submissions 3/12/2010

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Syracuse University’s newest chaplain is pagan priestess Mary Hudson
Hudson earlier this month became the 11th chaplain on the Hendricks staff, taking her place among representatives of more mainstream faiths like Episcopalianism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Read full story from blog.syracuse.com

Pow wow marketing 101
If these events are well-attended, dancers feel a greater sense of appreciation, tribal members feel honored and vendors stand to make more profit. If these events have a low turnout the collective self-esteem of the tribe may suffer, vendors may have difficulty making ends meet and the outside public cannot benefit from the richness of learning about American Indian culture. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Court rules “God” in pledge, on money, okay
A ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected arguments that the word “God” or phrase “In God We Trust” violate the separation of church and state. Read full story from stl.com

Lesbian teen back at school after prom flap
JACKSON, Miss. – Constance McMillen didn’t believe her Mississippi school district would really call off her senior prom rather than allow her to show up with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. Read full story from msnbc.com

Man finds tombstones in basement of Triangle home
A man helping ready a Triangle home for the rental market found two tombstones in its basement Wednesday.

For the last week, Edward Grogg has been doing handy work at the a one-story home on Triangle Street, helping landlord Elliot Diamond get the 60-year-old house ready to be rented again, after two “unfavorable” tenants abruptly left with little notice two weeks ago. Read full story from starexponent.com

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News & Submissions 3/11/2010

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Satan worshipers possible suspects in Simon slaying
UTICA —The last hours of Kimberly Simon’s life in 1985 were likely spent with a group of young men who worshiped the devil, tortured cats, used hallucinogenic drugs and sexually abused women, according to investigators who have been probing her homicide for the past 16 months. Read full story from uticaod.com

Court ruling says Amish farmers exempt from livestock registration rules
NEILLSVILLE, Wis (WSAU) A central Wisconsin judge says an Amish farmer does not have to register his livestock premise with the state, as required by a five-year-old law. Emanuel Miller Junior of Loyal said the law violates his religious beliefs. And in a ruling yesterday, Clark County Circuit Judge Jon Counsell said the state failed to prove that its need to protect food safety and animal health could not be achieved by adopting something less restrictive. Read full story from wsau.com

Air Force Academy chaplain convinces Catholic League to end call for probe
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has called off its Feb. 3 demand for a congressional probe of the U.S. Air Force Academy in response to a perceived insult to Christians. Read full story from denverpost.com

ICWA: Individual and tribal survival at stake
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Children, grandchildren, and tribal nations – enrollment and inclusion can spell collective survival, because “Every tribe is one generation away from cultural and political extinction,” according to Maylinn Smith, a law professor. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Ore. faith-healers sentenced to prison for son’s death
OREGON CITY, Ore. — The judge who sentenced a couple to prison yesterday for the death of their son says members of their church must quit relying on faith-healing when their children’s lives are at stake.Read full story from firstamendmentcenter.org

‘Archaeology’: Priestess tomb unearthed on Crete
An unearthed tomb on Crete reveals a dynasty of priestesses reigned on the isle during the “Dark Ages” of ancient Greece. Read full story from usatoday.com

Barking up the wrong sacred tree
Pagans on the whole are a fairly interesting if occasionally goofy set of folks – whereas I’m just sour-tempered and my car is ugly and smashed into the backyard fence at a comical angle on a bed of empty beer cans. By comparison, “occasionally goofy” isn’t a bad thing at all. Most of the “goofy” part comes via the names the pagans adopt to replace their given names. Read full story from theday.com

Reservist feels vindicated after state declines charges in beating
The Rev. Alexios Marakis of Greece said he was beaten bloody with a tire iron after asking the reservist for directions near downtown Tampa. Read full story from tbo.com

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News & Submissions 3/9/2010

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

The New Paganism
As many commentators and “global warming skeptics” have observed, climate science has metamorphosed into a religion—or, more accurately, a cult in religious dress. It has its high priests (Al Gore, David Suzuki, James Hansen, Rajendra Pachauri), its sacred texts such as computer models whose inconsistencies and disparities are blithely ignored by the myriads of true believers, its prevailing orthodoxies that cannot safely be questioned or violated, and its Second Ecumenical Council of the Global Warming Vatican (after Kyoto), known as the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Carbon taxes resemble the traffic in Indulgences during the Medieval era as energy sinners buy absolution from a profiteering clergy. A divinity called Gaia now receives the prayers and invocations of a vast sodality of devout worshippers. The new religion is here, a resurgent faith, as George Will writes, “in man-made global warming [which] is now a tissue of assertions impervious to evidence.” Read full story from frontpagemag.com

Funeral Flap: Justices Weigh Religion, Speech Rights
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to delve into the sensitive question of whether the First Amendment protects anti-gay protesters carrying placards outside military funerals, bearing “America is Doomed,” “Thank God for 9/11″ and other volatile slogans, like “Thank God for dead soldiers.” Read full story from wired.com

3 Va. tribes gain state recognition
RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Indian Patawomeck Tribe has ended a 16-year battle for state recognition in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Approximately one week after an appearance by Patawomeck tribal member and entertainer Wayne Newton, the Virginia House and Senate approved HJ 150 granting the tribe state recognition and a seat on the Virginia Council on Indians. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Teen to wed schoolgirl in pagan ceremony
A TEENAGER plans to marry a schoolgirl in a pagan ceremony next month with the bride’s mother officiating.

Using a simple length of rope, Alex Stewart-Pole and Jenni Birch will become partners for “a year and a day” through the ancient ritual. A handfasting can then be renewed for the same or a longer period. Read full story from southern-star.whereilive.com

Dowsers hold divining workshop
The Canadian Society of Questers, a group that promotes the ancient art of divining, will hold their spring conference at the agricultural college north of Calgary from May 14-17 and hope to open the minds of skeptics. Read full story from calgarysun.com

500 butchered in Nigeria killing fields
Dozens of bodies lined the dusty streets of three Christian villages in northern Nigeria yesterday. Other victims of Sunday morning’s Muslim rampage were jammed into a local morgue, the limbs of slaughtered children tangled in a grotesque mess. Read full story from timesonline.co.uk

Nail from Christ’s crucifixion found?
The four-inch long nail is thought to be one of thousands used in crucifixions across the Roman empire Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

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News & Submissions 3/8/2010

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Occult funeral for drug addict killed in ritual
A pagan rocker died at his drug-den farmhouse after a witchcraft ritual went nightmarishly wrong. Read full story from belfasttelegraph.co.uk

National Women’s History Project’s 30th anniversary brings new emphasis on women in history
Used to be, a woman had to wield a sharp instrument to get any respect in history class. Until the late 1970s, those who got the most ink in school textbooks were Betsy Ross, the widowed upholsterer who is said to have sewn the first American flag in 1776, and Carrie Nation, the hatchet-wielding, Bible-thumping temperance activist who broke up saloons in the early 1900s. Read full story from nj.com

Office Depot Foundation honors Navajo code talkers
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Office Depot Foundation – the independent, nonprofit foundation that serves as the primary charitable giving arm of Office Depot – has recognized the legendary Navajo code talkers with the organization’s highest honor: the “Listen Learn Care Award.” Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

He Who Casts the First Stone
Some protesters, mostly young men in their teens and early 20s, wore black hoodies and military fatigues. The men, Amarillo would soon learn, were foot soldiers of Repent Amarillo, a new, militant evangelical group that advertises itself as “the Special Forces of spiritual warfare.” Their leader, David Grisham, a security guard at nuclear-bomb facility Pantex who moonlights as a pastor, explained the action. “We’re here to shine the light on this darkness,” Grisham told the Amarillo Globe-News. “I don’t think Amarillo knew about this place. This is adultery. This is wrong. There’s no telling how many venereal diseases get spread, how many abortions.” The goal, Grisham says, was not just to save the swingers’ souls, but to shut the club down. Read full story from texasobserver.com

Did Saint Patrick banish snakes from Irleand?
Legend has it that St. Paddy stood on a hilltop, dressed in his formal green attire, and waved his staff to herd all the slithering creatures into the sea, expelling them from the Emerald Isle forever. And low and behold, there hasn’t been a snake seen in Ireland since 461 AD (expect for the odd household pet and zoo creature). Read full story from irishcentral.com

Submitted Story: Vancouver Island Poltergeist
The following submitted personal story is about what happened to Karen M. Her encounter with a poltergeist was far more noisier than a typical ghostly knock. Sounding like “10 people with long sticks pounding the walls“, Karen’s poltergeist encounter has haunted her all these years. Read full story from ghosttheory.com

The Rosary of the Unborn
If you’re a Catholic and want to fight abortion, there is a NEW and POWERFUL method for you to combat abortion — and it doesn’t require explosives! That’s right, for a limited time only, you too can purchase a special rosary to ask Mary to stop those evil abortionists: Read full story from unreasonablefaith.com

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News & Submissions 3/7/2010

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Double, double fun and bubbles
Nobody’s getting burned at the stake. No one’s flying around the Benicia Clocktower on a broom. And there won’t likely be a curse cast on anyone questioning the admission charge. Read full story from timesheraldonline.com

Witches brew up a ball at Benicia Clocktower
“The Witches’ Ball is basically a celebration. They’re traditionally held around Halloween, but we decided it’d be much more fun to have a springtime Witches’ Ball,” said JoHanna White, president of sponsoring organization the Pagan Alliance. Read full story from timesheraldonline.com

Organization meeting set to explain pre-Christian pagan religion
Chant, of Rapid City, is hosting an organizational meeting for people interested in the teaching and practice of the ancient pre-Christian religion that dominated much of Europe thousands of years ago. Read full story from rapidcityjournal.com

‘Black metal’ movie to be filmed here
Part of Shackleford’s mission in the documentary is to let American imitators of black metal know that the music is inspired by Paganism, not Satan-worship. Read full story from news.cincinnati.com

Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution
Christian-based materials dominate a growing home-school education market that encompasses more than 1.5 million students in the U.S. And for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth’s creation is exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children “religious or moral instruction.” Read full story from tbo.com

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