Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’

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News & Submissions 10/27/2009

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/26/2009

Monday, October 26th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/24/2009

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/19/2009

Monday, October 19th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/17/2009

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/13/2009

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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News & Submissions 10/10/2009

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

The fantasy and folklore of All Hallows
Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. Read full story from KMPH.com

Angel Valley Resort Sweat Lodge Incident: 2 Die, 19 Overcome at Arizona Retreat
PHOENIX — A sauna-like sweat lodge at an Arizona resort meant to provide spiritual cleansing became the scene of a police investigation Friday when more than a dozen people became ill during a two-hour session and two later died. Read full story from The Huffington Post

St Damien: The leper priest of Molokai
Tomorrow, Pope Benedict XVI will be canonising Fr Damien de Veuster, known everywhere as the Leper Priest of Molokai. Read full story from timesofmalta.com

Allegations of witchcraft causing panic at Kissy Low Cost Housing Estate
Some residents of the Low-cost Housing Estate at Kissy at the past weekend alleged that witchcraft is being practiced in their community. Read full story from Awoko.org

Spirituality group shares bond of womanhood
Some of the recent meetings have centered around learning about Reiki; watching a video about Jizo, a Buddhist figure, and then making Jizo peace panels out of muslin; making bundles of lavender and fall leaves to hang above a door after learning about Earth-centered religions; having angel readings by a local practitioner; meditation; learning about the origins of May Day and making May Day baskets; visiting a Sand Tray therapist; learning about labyrinths; experiencing a traditional Seder meal; and watching “The Secret.” Read full story from standard.net

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News & Submissions 10/8/2009

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Religion Largely Absent in Argument About Cross
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court argument on Wednesday about the fate of a cross in a remote part of the Mojave National Preserve in southeastern California largely avoided the most interesting question in the case: whether the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion is violated by the display of a cross as a war memorial. Read full story from The New York Times

Festival honor’s earth-based faith
SAVANNAH, Ga. — For hundreds, maybe thousands of years, forms of paganism reigned over human spirituality. Read full story from ledger-enquirer.com

Homa, Soma and Sacred Plants (drugs)
Since the dawn of time man has asked himself about his origins and the existence of God. While all the major religions of the world are currently monotheistic and have no belief in the spiritual realm, the ancient religions and their customs have now become less popular. The whole question of religious drugs is looked at from a different angle. Read full story from iranian.com

The Religious Roots of Halloween
It’s October, and Halloween is coming up! All around town, the celebrations are beginning, and festive displays are present in every self respecting retail store. Halloween is a fascinating mixture of several religious influences, and a secular desire to party, which have blended to create the modern U.S. holiday we celebrate today. Read full story from the Examiner

B.C. town plans to erect its own Stonehenge
Barriere’s version would be a scaled-down model of the real 100-metre-wide Druidic temple that has stood on the Salisbury Plain for about 4,500 years. Read full story from vancouversun.com

NASA Moon “Bombings” Tomorrow: Sky Show, Water Expected
With its “bombing” of the moon early tomorrow, NASA’s LCROSS mission may beat a telltale signature of water out of a shadowy crater—and all you may need to see it is a good backyard telescope. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com

Religion requires moral absolutes
The Augusta Chronicle’s Oct. 3 Faith section article on the Wiccan belief system (“Proud to be pagans”) merely revealed what many postmodern religions are made of, and compels a response. Read full story from Augustachronicle.com

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