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News & Submissions 8/2/2011

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Arts & Entertainment:

Gif Recap: ‘True Blood’
Oh, yes.  It’s finally happened!  Sookie and Eric!  Well, that is until King Bill walks in on them.  Damn it Bill!  Royal or not, you have crappy timing!  We wanted to see some Sookie/Eric sex!  And really, Sookie shouldn’t have stopped Eric from staking Bill with that poker.  Instead, Eric kneels before his liege.  Oh, that isn’t going to end well. Read full story from screenjunkies.com

Harry Potter joins the billion dollar club
With his last movie gasp, Harry Potter has finally joined the billion dollar club after a strikingly successful weekend at US cinemas.

Figures show that Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the eighth and final instalment of the boy wizard franchise, has surpassed $1bn (£615m) in global box office returns. The previous best of the series was $974.8m set by the first movie 10 years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Events:

UPCOMING POW WOWS 2011
Nationwide pow wow calendar covering all events including Gathering of the Nations and more. Check for the next Pow wow in your state or city.

“The Response” Promises Toxic Mix of Racism and Bigotry
A mix of racism and bigotry against American Indians, Palestinians, Muslims, Jews, gay people and others is the backdrop to a mass rally billed as “A National Day of Prayer” that will take place in Texas the first weekend in August.

August 3 , 2011 – Open Lughnasadh/Lammas Ritual (Bring a DISH)
Merry Meet! Come and join in the celebration of the next turninsg of the wheel. 13 Magickal Moons is hosting an Open Lughnassad/Lammas Ritual on Wednesday August 3 at 7:30pm during Tea Nite. Join us for an evening of magick and mystery! Bring a dish to share and be sure to dress accordingly for the weather!!!

News:

Woman killed over suspected sorcery
BARIPADA: A 45-year-old woman was arrested from Thakurmunda area in Mayurbhanj district for allegedly killing a tribal woman suspecting her to be practising sorcery. The accused Jaba Tudu was produced in the court on Monday and remanded in judicial custody.

Police sources said Tudu, a resident of Nunadiha village, beheaded Jamuna Hansda (55) suspecting that the latter practised black magic on her husband. Read full story from ibnlive.in.com

Religion:

Druid Heights in Marin County
On August 11th the Golden Gate National Park Conservatory is offering an exciting opportunity and no doubt local Pagans will want to get in on this deal.  For on the 11th there will be a hike to Druid Heights in Marin; which is located just above Muir Woods.

Local Pagans might have heard of Druid Heights, but then again, the area has been kept so secret that maybe they haven’t.  The community is typically off limits to hikers and random visitors, but for only two days this summer (the first was July 30th) a lucky group of people will be treated to a hike and evening of amazing poetry amongst the beautiful architecture that is known as Druid Heights. Read full story from examiner.com

The Hindu secularists : Liberals or Hypocrites?
Today, we can find many people who are quick to christen famous Hindu gurus as “dhongis” and “pakhandi”. Such people generally hold the view that to become a guru all one needs is to chant a few mantras and promote the supertitions. These people think that the millions who follow the advice and teachings of such gurus are “fools” and ignorant of the modern science. Moreover, they not only percieve Hinduism as a mix of cast system, dowry, sati pratha etc but also use these assumptions as a basic elements of their argument to further denigrate their own culture and the ancient knowledge. These are the set of people who have never read even the bhagvad-Gita, the works of the world famous scholar Sri Aurobindo or the testimonials of the famous scientists like Heisenberg, Nicholas Tesla, Albert Einstein etc. Read full story from chakranews.com

Media:

Understanding the religious history of the Knights Templar
The group has come to everyone’s attention because of Anders Behring Breivik’s killing spree in Norway, now just over a week ago. He claimed in his rambling manifesto to represent a modern-day “Knights Templar”. Read full story from cnn.com

Sect Leader Warren Jeffs Defends Polygamy, Threatens Court With ‘Sickness and Death’ From God
Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs may be the one on trial, but he told court officials that if they don’t stop prosecuting him on two counts of sexual assault of a child, they would face an even bigger problem — the wrath of God. Read full story from abcnews.com

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 7/26/2011

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Headlines:

Jacobs, Benefiel To Spend 40 Days Laying Spiritual “Seige” To Washington DC
Last week we posted a video John Benefiel, head of the Heartland Apostolic Reformation Network, explaining how he had gone to Washington, DC in order to exercise his “spiritual authority” to “divorce Baal” and rename the city “the District of Christ.” Read full story from rightwingwatch.com

Why Pagans Need Community Centers
In response to the Sacred Paths Center’s financial situation, opinions have been circulating that Pagans don’t need community centers.  I realized that we assume the reasons for community center projects are obvious.

In some of the conversations online, the feeling that we get is that some folks are looking at just what they need instead of the needs of other people and the whole of the Pagan community.  If your first response is that you don’t need X (be it a building or whatever) to practice your religion, so that X isn’t a valid reason for Pagans to have a center, ask yourself this…  Are there are a lot of other folks who would benefit from that function of the community center?  What would having X mean for the Pagan community.  Just think of all of the Pagans in just the DC region.  What about the regions with large numbers of Pagans? Think of all of the Pagan groups and all of the Pagan event organizers.  Just because you don’t feel that you’re in need of a community center doesn’t mean that the Pagan community wouldn’t greatly benefit from a community center. Read full story from openhearthfoundation.blogspot.com

Arts & Entertainment:

10 Creepy, Sexy Fairy Tales That Should Be Films
— If there’s one thing we learned this past week at Comic-Con, it’s that Hollywood is obsessed with fairy tales. They’re magical, they’ve got instant recognition… and they’re public domain. But Hollywood keeps hitting on the same five stories.

With all due respect to both Emma Watson and Guillermo del Toro, the absolute last thing we need is yet another take on Beauty and the Beast. We also don’t need a Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, and god forbid someone try again with Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood. Rather than returning to the same well-worn stories, here are ten slightly lesser-known fairy stories worthy of Hermoine and the Hellboy director, as well as anyone else in Hollywood. Read full story from io9.com

News:

S.African ‘corpse’ wakes up, scares off morgue staff: report
A 50-year-old South African man thought to be dead woke up in a chilly morgue on Sunday and shouted to be let out, scaring off two attendants who thought he was a ghost, local media reported.

“His family thought he had died,” health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo told the Sapa news agency.

“The family called a private undertaker who took what they thought was a dead body to the morgue, but the man woke up inside the morgue on Sunday at 5:00 pm and screamed, demanding to be taken out of the cold place.”

This caused two mortuary attendants on duty to flee the building in the small town of Libode in the rural Eastern Cape as they thought it was a ghost. Read full story from yahoo.com

Saudi Arabia’s ‘Anti-Witchcraft Unit’ breaks another spell
The unit, established in 2009, is charged with apprehending sorcerers and reversing the detrimental effects of their spells in the Gulf country.

When the severed head of a wolf wrapped in women’s lingerie turned up near the city of Tabouk in northern Saudi Arabia this week, authorities knew they had another case of witchcraft on their hands, a capital offence in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom.

Agents of the country’s Anti-Witchcraft Unit were quickly dispatched and set about trying to break the spell that used the beast’s head. Read full story from jpost.com

Photography:

Photographers Capture Mysterious, Beautiful Patterns in Sand
One day these shells and rocks will be sand. See photos at wired.com

Religion:

Atheist group wants to stop World Trade Center cross
(CNN) — A group of atheists has filed a lawsuit to stop the display of the World Trade Center cross at a memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The “government enshrinement of the cross was an impermissible mingling of church and state,” the American Atheists say in a press statement.

The group says it filed the lawsuit this week in state court in New York and posted a copy of the lawsuit on its website. Read full story from cnn.com

Anders Behring Breivik: Christian terrorist? Right-wing extremist? Madman?
When news broke about the bombing in Olso, many commentators assumed links with Islamic extremism. When reports came of the massacre on Utøya island, perpetrated by a “tall, blonde, Nordic, man,” speculation quieted down until Anders Behring Breivik was identified. News reports first described Breivik as a “Christian terrorist,” largely on the basis of his Facebook profile and his postings to Christian fundamentalist Web sites. After his manifesto became public, Breivik was characterized as a “right-wing extremist.” To most, the Christian terrorist/right-wing extremist distinction makes little real difference: Only a madman could engage in such wanton killing. REad full story from washingtonpost.com

Science:

The Science Behind Dreaming
For centuries people have pondered the meaning of dreams. Early civilizations thought of dreams as a medium between our earthly world and that of the gods. In fact, the Greeks and Romans were convinced that dreams had certain prophetic powers. While there has always been a great interest in the interpretation of human dreams, it wasn’t until the end of the nineteenth century that Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung put forth some of the most widely-known modern theories of dreaming. Freud’s theory centred around the notion of repressed longing — the idea that dreaming allows us to sort through unresolved, repressed wishes. Carl Jung (who studied under Freud) also believed that dreams had psychological importance, but proposed different theories about their meaning. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

“Spectacular” Double Meteor Shower This Week
A celestial traffic jam may be on tap this week as two meteor showers combine forces to put on a brilliant sky show.

One of the best shooting star events of the year is the annual August Perseid meteor shower. (See Perseids pictures.) However this year’s peak, on August 12, happens to coincide with a bright full moon—drastically cutting down the number of meteors visible to the naked eye.

Yet while the main event might be blocked out by the blinding moonlight, the opening act promises to be much better. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com

Where House Cats Roam: Researchers Compare the Mysterious Wanderings of Pet and Stray Felines
Anyone who has ever owned an outdoor cat knows that it tends to disappear for hours, sometimes days, at a time. Where do cats go when they are lurking out of sight? The question is of interest not just to pet owners but also to conservation scientists who study the impact of free-roaming cats on wildlife populations.  Scientists at the University of Illinois and the Illinois Natural History Survey recently attached radio transmitters to the adjustable collars of 18 pet and 24 feral cats in southeastern Champaign-Urbana and tracked the animals by truck and on foot for more than one year. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

Media:

Norway attacks show why you can’t blame the muslims
In the immediate aftermath of 1995’s Oklahoma City bombing, much of the news media rushed to suggest that a Muslim, or at least a Middle Eastern connection, was behind the attacks.

News reports on television and in print featured Middle East terrorism experts claiming the Oklahoma City attack echoed a World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and that it contained parallels to recent Mideast attacks.

The FBI picked up Ibrahim Ahmad, a Jordanian American, for questioning in an initial dragnet.

Does ‘Christian fundamentalist’ label fit Norway terror suspect? Read full story from cnn.com

Breivik Attorny Speaks Out (Source – CNN)

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Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 7/14/2011

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Archeology:

Study Sheds New Light on Archaeology of the Dura-Europos Expedition
A recent study of the photographic archives of one of the 20th century’s most sensational archaeological excavations and discoveries lends powerful credence to the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Tucked away carefully within the archival collections of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, more than 5,000 unpublished photographs taken between 1928 and 1937 recount a story in visual detail that cannot be fully told in the printed words of excavation reports, site journals or the popular press of the time. Read full story from popular-archeology.com

Native American:

Cherokee Nation becomes First Tribe to receive Electronic Health Records Incentive
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — The Cherokee Nation recently received the first incentive payment from the Oklahoma State Medicaid Electronic Health Record incentive program for its implementation and use of electronic health records at W. W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah. The tribe started using electronic records in its nine health centers and the hospital more than seven years ago but recently certified its system, enabling Cherokee Nation to become the first tribe eligible to receive the incentive payment.

The first installment of the incentive payment was $21,250 and was presented to Dr. Greggory Woitte, a provider who qualified for the incentive at Cherokee Nation’s Hastings Hospital. Woitte qualified by having a specified percentage of his patients on SoonerCare, Medicare and Medicaid while utilizing the electronic health records system. Read full story from cherokee.org

News:

Gay Couple Told to Move to Back of Bus
Singer Ari Gold and his boyfriend were told to move to the back of the bus for holding hands, he said Sunday on Facebook.

When Gold refused, the Shortline bus driver pulled over and called the police.

Gold said “we were both listening to Whitney Houston on an iPod double jack and loving her love songs,” and holding hands, when the driver pulled over to tell us to “stop sitting in the front.” Gold said no, “and that’s when the driver called the state trooper.” Read full story from advocate.com

Romney, Pawlenty say no to controversial marriage pledge
Republicans Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty will not sign a controversial marriage pledge pushed by a conservative Iowa group.

The pledge by the Family Leader calls on candidates to support marriage between a man and a woman and to reject same-sex marriage, pornography and Islamic sharia law, among other issues.

The conservative group, which plays a key role in the Iowa presidential caucuses, removed controversial language from the pledge’s preamble that suggested black children born into slavery had a better family situation than black children today. Read full story from usatoday.com

Photography:

7 Conservation Photographers Saving The Planet Through Amazing Pictures
Conservation photography may be a discipline you’ve never heard of. While the foundations have been around since the beginning of photography itself — using images to make people aware of, and respond to, environmental issues — the genre has only been given a name in the last few years. And yet, it is one area in which some of the best photographers in the world are spending their energies, using the power of photos to conserve natural spaces. Meet seven of the best in the business, and see their stunning shots. Read full story from treehugger.com

Religion:

Irish report damns Catholic Church abuse response
The Catholic Church in Ireland did not take serious steps to stamp out child abuse by priests even after the scandal blew up worldwide and the Irish bishops put rules in place to stop it, a new report says.

The Cloyne report demolishes claims by the Catholic Church there that policies it put in place in 1996 have enabled it to get a handle on the problem. Read full story from cnn.com

A pledge, not prayer, for politicians
Congratulations to the Salisbury City Council for doing something that President Barack Obama and the Republicans can’t seem to do: come up with a compromise. Where congressional Republicans seem to think compromise constitutes collaboration (alliteration alert!), members of the Salisbury City Council see compromise as the hybrid fruit of the democratic process.

And huzzah to all that!

Of course, the matter on which the Salisburians compromised has no place in an American government setting, but you still have to appreciate their regard for accommodation.

The Salisburians had to decide if it’s appropriate to open City Council meetings with the Lord’s Prayer. Read full story from baltimoresun.com

Why we’re drawn to Harry Potter’s theology
It’s been 13 years since the first Harry Potter book landed on store shelves and provoked some Christian conservatives to begin voicing opposition to J.K. Rowling’s world of wizardry.

“Let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God,” said Becky Fischer, a Pentecostal pastor featured in a documentary called Jesus Camp. “And I don’t care what kind of hero they are, they’re an enemy of God.”

“Had it been in the Old Testament,” Fischer continued, “Harry Potter would have been put to death. You don’t make heroes out of warlocks.” Read full story from cnn.com

Austrian driver’s religious headgear strains credulity
An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”.

Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.

Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.

The Austrian authorities required him to obtain a doctor’s certificate that he was “psychologically fit” to drive. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Media:

Criticism, lawsuit plague prayer rally
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Next month’s mega prayer rally – The Response – at Houston’s Reliant Stadium could be in trouble. On Wednesday, a group called the ” Freedom From Religion Foundation ” filed a federal lawsuit to stop Gov. Rick Perry from taking part.

Atheists and agnostics make up the organization and say Perry is violating the constitutional ban on the government establishing a religion. They have also asked the court to keep the governor from participating in the meeting or using his office to promote or recognize it. Read full story from kxan.com

Extremely Rare Leopards Caught on Film in Russia
Catching a glimpse of just one critically endangered Armur leopard is enough to wow any nature lover, but spotting a dozen is rarity indeed. Film footage released today by WWF, obtained from camera traps in the remote forests of the Russian Far East, is offering a welcome indication that the imperiled leopards may be making a comeback. With fewer than 50 of the big cats thought to be in existence in the wild, the appearance of 12 individuals in the latest video survey has wildlife experts feeling a bit more optimistic about the leopards’ future. Read full story from treehugger.com

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

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Hump Day Herbs – Hawthorn

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Hawthorn

Botanical Name: Crataegus Oxyacantha

Folk Names: Ban-Sangli, Bread and Cheese Tree, Gazels, Hagthorn, Halves, Haw, Hazels, Hedgethorn, Huath, Ladie’ Meat, May, Mayblossom, May Bush, Mayflower, Quick, Thorn, Tree of Chastity.


© Copyright David Hawgood and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Hawthorn is a member of Rosaceae family. A spiny tree or shrub, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America, It may reach a height of 30 feet.

The hawthorn has been regarded as the symbol of hope. The branches were carried by the ancient Greeks in wedding processions, and were used to deck the altar of Hymenaios. In Celtic folklore, the hawthorn plant was used commonly for rune inscriptions along with Yew and Apple. It was also used to heal a broken heart. In Serbian and Croatian folklore, hawthorn is deadly to vampires, and a stake used for slaying must be made from its wood. In Gaelic folklore, hawthorn marks the entrance to the other-world’ and is strongly associated with fairies. It has been said, it is very unlucky to cut the tree at any time other than when it is in bloom, during this time it is cut and decorated as a May Bush. (Beltane)

Deities: Cardea, Flora, Hymen

Element: Fire (Courage, Exorcism, Health, Lust, Protection, Strength)

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Mars (Courage, Exorcism, Hex-Breaking, Lust, Protection, Sexual Potency, Strength)

Powers: Chastity, Fertility, Fishing Magic, Happiness

Medicinal Uses: Hawthorn helps to lessen pain in the heart and adjacent areas. It also increases warmth in cold hands and feet where the drop in temperature is due to poor circulation. Hawthorn can also play a part in lowering cholesterol levels and removing plaque that has accumulated in the arteries. The plant parts used medicinally are usually sprigs with both leaves and flowers, or alternatively the fruit.

Magical Uses: At Beltane, the blossoms are used to symbolize love and the union of marriage. Newlywed couples will dance around a Hawthorn tree to bless and ensure a long and fruitful marriage.

Young women would eagerly await the first blossoms. When found after appropriate regard to the trees guardian spirit, a sprig of the blossom would be taken and kept as a charm to encourage the interest of a suitable husband.

It is said the Hawthorn is sacred to Fairies. Make a wish, then tie ribbons and shreds of personal belongings to the thorn, as a gift to the Fairies. The strips should be symbolically appropriate to the nature of the wish, (i.e. blue for health, pink or red for love, green or gold for prosperity) and if pleased, they would grant your wish.

Care should be taken when removing any of its branches. Damage to the tree is said to anger the guardian spirit. Any Hawthorn tree standing alone should be avoided, and only parts from trees forming hedges should be taken. In Ireland and Britain it is part of the fairy-tree triad known as the:  “Oak, Ash and Thorn”, and where all three trees grow together it is said that one may see the fairies.

The tree is regarded as a powerful symbol of protection, and often planted near a house to protect it against lightning and damage from storms.  In the past most witch’s gardens contained at least one Hawthorn tree, to protect the house against evil spirits. In Ireland it is believed that food left over from the May Eve dinner should not be wasted, but left near the Hawthorn tree as an offering to the spirits that inhabit the tree.

Hawthorn wood is excellent for making talismans and wands for protection, health and luck, as well as tools in rituals to enhance spiritual development and communication.  If you cut a piece of live wood from a tree, be sure to do so with reverence and thanks to the tree’s guardian before hand.  Another option, take the discarded branches to be found after a heavy storm. To make a talisman, strip off the bark while the branch is still green and before it dries hard onto the wood. Store it outside until you are ready to work with it, this will stop the wood from drying out too quickly. Carving is easily done on green wood before it dries. The wood of the Hawthorn is especially hard.

Another custom was to make a Hawthorn globe or charm ball from its twigs and foliage. This is made at first light on the old Celtic New Year’s Day (Samhain) and tied with a white ribbon.  The old charm ball from the previous year is then burned on a bonfire of straw, ash twigs and acorns.  This represents all the previous years troubles.  Your new hopes and aspirations can then be forged into the new globe and hung in a safe place until the next New Year.

Ritual Uses: May poles were once decorated by the Hawthorn, where witches have long danced and performed rites  It was also believed that the thorn were witches transformed. Use Hawthorn to cleanse an area before ritual, protection spells, attract love or communicate with those who have passed.

Other Uses: The wood of some hawthorn trees can be very hard and resistant to rot. It has been used for tool handles and fence posts in North America.

Warning: May interfere with digitalis medications.

References:

Note: Consult with a Physician or a certified herbologist if you are seeking medical remedies. The information is not intended as medical advice. PagansWorld.org is not liable for the misuse of the herb listed above.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 4/5/2011

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Art’s and Entertainment:

“THE WICKER TREE” grows in the U.S.
Fango has learned that writer/director Robin Hardy’s THE WICKER TREE—the British helmer’s semi-sequel to his 1973 classic THE WICKER MAN—has been picked up for distribution in North America and the UK, as early as this fall. The film’s international sales agent, High Point Media Group, will screen THE WICKER TREE at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival on May 14 and 16. Read full story from fangoria.com

Art exhibition offers a psychedelic experience
Visitors are invited to take a trip through hallucinogenic patterns, optical illusions and cosmic landscapes when the latest exhibition at The University of Queensland opens this weekend.

New Psychedelia takes over the entire ground floor of the UQ Art Museum from Saturday, May 7 with pieces by 43 contemporary Australian artists, including one that requires 3D glasses.

“A new psychedelia has undoubtedly emerged in the past decade as an off-spring of the rave party, but also out of the décor of virtual reality and what William Gibson dubbed the ‘consensual hallucination’ of cyberspace,” Dr Edward Colless writes in the exhibition catalogue.

Curator Sebastian Moody said it was debatable whether recent explorations of psychedelia are in fact a countermovement to the “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out” mentality of the 1960s. Read full story from ug.edu.au

Environment:

Deadly weather in US could become the norm
It’s been a severe start to the spring season in the United States. Tornadoes have ravaged the southeastern US, flooding threatens much of the Midwest, and wildfires are scorching Texas. But according to researchers, a confluence of seasonal oscillations in weather patterns, rather than climate change, is to blame. And growing populations mean that grim casualty figures from such events may become the norm.

“I don’t think there’s any way of proving climate change is responsible for the weather patterns this week and week before,” says meteorologist Howard Bluestein, of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Read full story from newscientist.com

Native American:

Apache Leader Jeff Houser on Use of Geronimo’s Name
The day after the news spread that the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, or bin Laden himself, was code-named Geronimo, Fort Sill Apache Tribe Chairman Jeff Houser asked President Obama to issue a formal apology for associating one of the most enduring and heroic figures in Indian country with the name of the man who epitomized global terrorism. Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

News:

Barack Obama pays 9/11 respects at Ground Zero
Barack Obama spoke no words as he laid a red, white and blue wreath at the centre of Ground Zero. But then he didn’t need to: the location and the identity of the individuals gathered round him spoke for him.

The location was in the shade cast by the Survivor Tree, an oak that was recently planted at the World Trade Centre for a second time. The first time was in the 1970s, but the tree was later engulfed in rubble on 11 September 2001. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Bin Laden killing left ‘uncomfortable feeling’ – Rowan Williams
The archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said the killing of Osama bin Laden had left a ‘very uncomfortable feeling’. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The archbishop of Canterbury has said the killing of Osama bin Laden left a “very uncomfortable feeling” because it appeared as if justice had not been done.

Bin Laden was shot dead in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on Sunday. It has since emerged that he was unarmed when US Navy Seals fired at him.

Lambeth Palace had previously refused to comment on the death of Bin Laden but, when asked at a press conference what he thought of the killing, Dr Rowan Williams replied: “I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling; it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Paranormal:

How Many Intelligent Aliens are Out There?
OK, I’ve had enough. I’ve been looking up at the night sky for 20 years and not once have I ever seen anything that has aroused my suspicion that an alien visitor has popped by Earth to take a look.

The thing is, I am contacted far too often by people saying they have seen an unidentified flying object, or UFO. Being terribly literal, they probably have seen something “unidentified,” and it may look like it’s flying; whatever it is, it certainly is an “object,” but it doesn’t mean it’s aliens. Read full story from discovery.com

UFO, zombie, ghost and witch sightings revealed
DYFED Powys Police has revealed how many sightings of UFOs, zombies, ghosts, witches and vampires occurred in the county in the past five years.

The figures, made public because of a Freedom of Information Request Act, reveal 14 recorded UFO sightings in the past five years, along with 26 reports of ghosts, 11 witches and two of zombies and vampires respectively. Read full story from countrytimes.co.uk

Religion:

The US evangelicals who believe environmentalism is a ‘native evil’
Watching from afar how the environmental debate plays out in the US can be perplexing for many onlookers. Arguably, nowhere is the so-called “culture war” between left and right so heavily fought.

What is often not fully absorbed by onlookers, though, is the underlying role that religious doctrine – or “pulpit power” – plays in the environmental debate in the US. On the one hand, you have the “Creation Care” movement which is prevalent in some quarters of the Christian Church. On the other, particularly among evangelicals, you often see a vitriolic reaction aimed towards environmentalism. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

South Korean man found crucified, police say
(CNN) – A South Korean man was found crucified, local police told CNN on Thursday.

Police in Munkyuong said they were overwhelmed with the investigation and declined to provide further details.

But local media depicted an elaborate reconstruction of the crucifixion of Jesus, with the victim wearing a crown of thorns and dressed only in his underwear. He put nails into the cross first, then drilled holes in his hands and hung himself on the cross, reports said. Read full story from cnn.com

Contaminated Zam Zam holy water from Mecca sold in UK
Holy drinking water contaminated with arsenic is being sold illegally to Muslims by UK shops, the BBC has found.

Zam Zam water is taken from a well in Mecca and is considered sacred to Muslims, but samples from the source suggested it held dangerous chemicals.

Tourists can bring back small amounts from Saudi Arabia, but it cannot be exported for commercial use.

An undercover researcher found large quantities of bottles being sold in east and south London, and in Luton.

The president of the Association of Public Analysts said he would “certainly would not recommend” drinking it. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

World:

Nigerian kids ‘slain as witches’
HUNDREDS of Nigerian children have been severely beaten, burnt or killed after being accused of witchcraft, a British charity was to tell an inquiry overnight.

Stepping Stones Nigeria has compiled a dossier of more than 250 cases of severe violence against children accused of being witches in Akwa Ibom state. Children as young as two have been burnt, poisoned, buried alive or chained up because their families believed they were witches, according to the report. Read full story from australian.com

Media:

Is bin Laden pure evil? (Source: CNN)

Bin Laden’s wives — and daughter who would ‘kill enemies of Islam’ (Source: CNN)

Blogspot:

  • Ghost Theory – Assange: US Intelligence Uses Facebook, Google, Yahoo To Spy On Us.
  • Inspired by Life – Out of the Broom Closet
  • The Pagan Household – Pagan Parenting to Combat the Violence of the World Today
  • Phantoms & Monsters – St. Clair Shores, Michigan: USO, UFO and Alien Entity Encounters
  • The Wild Hunt – Quick Notes: Dogwood Protests, Wicker Tree Gets Distribution, and Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 4/19/2011

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Arts & Entertainment:

Summer Movie Preview, with a Witchly Touch
My question isn’t “What films will you be seeing this summer,” it is “What movie besides Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” will you be seeing.  LOL!  For us Pagans of all types, this is the pinnacle of film.  It has opened the world up to the possible fact that Witches and Wizards exist and we’re not that bad.  When you say you are a Witch, the fist image in their head isn’t the Wicked Witch of the West, but maybe of Hermione or, in my case, Looney Lovegood.

Here are the films this summer with Pagan content and do yourself a favour, find your nearest Drive-In theater.  Enjoy a film under the stars! Read full story from apaganslifefor me

It’s Horror Month on SundanceNOW
I’m slowly becoming a big fan of watching films “instantly”, be it through Netflix, Hulu, FearNet or any other online provider. Well, Sundance has gotten in on the action with SundanceNOW, and April is horror month. (You can view a full line-up of their horror films right here).

While most of their films rent out from $3.99-$4.99 SundanceNow is offering our readers three films for only 99¢ each. That’s a pretty good deal, especially considering NONE of these are currently available through Netflix on Demand. Here’s the lowdown on the films and how to view them…Read full story from brutalashell.com

Environment:

Gulf Oil Spill Anniversary News and Pictures  (See links at nationalgeographic.com)

30,000 Confidential Government Documents About The Gulf Oil Spill Made Available By Greenpeace
Here’s one for the more enterprising investigators in the TreeHugger audience: Under the Freedom of Information Act Greenpeace has collected some 30,000 confidential documents related to the Gulf oil spill and made them available in the new PolluterWatch Research site. Included in the documents are internal correspondence with BP, flight records, notes about the types of animal carcasses collected and much (much) more. Read full story from treehugger.com

News:

What is Gov’t Doing to Rescue Women in Witch Camps?
Democracy, education, technology and modernity still haven’t changed the mindset of people in this 21st Century. The beliefs and practices of people pre-dating this modern era still rule the lives of people today.

In the northern part of Ghana, the baseless accusation of aged women as being witches has made old age a nightmare for many women.

Witches’ camps in the northern part of Ghana have been in existence since time immemorial.

The reason behind the creation of these camps was to protect society from the harmful attacks of alleged witches, and the level of false accusations and brutalities compels the victim seek protection from a higher authority if the rest of the society is not willing to protect them. Read full story from allafrica.com

Paranormal:

JFK sought documents on UFOs 10 days before his assassination
Adding new speculation to the assassination of President John F Kennedy, two documents revealed by an author researching the JFK presidency show Kennedy’s interests in gaining access to UFO information.

In letters sent by President John F Kennedy to the CIA, and revealed by author William Lester to AOL News, as reported byThe Daily Mail, Kennedy requests access to top secret information on UFO sightings, with particular interest in sightings reported over the former Soviet Union. Read full story from digitaljournal.com

Religion:

Religion’s interconnectivity comes full circle in Rome
ROME – While chanting monks, accordion players and the Italian version of “Beauty and the Beast” I saw last week were very cool, I’m here to talk to you about a different kind of tune than what you’ll find in the rest of this paper: “Music of the Spheres.”

This ancient philosophy explains there is a harmony between God and heavenly beings that move around the Earth, especially the Sun and the Moon. The idea was later explained in a literal and physical sense by Johannes Kepler, astrology scholar David Plant said. Kepler explained that geometry, astrology and other sciences worked together to explain the movement of the planets.

Last week for class, I watched the film “Agora.” It displays a clash of ideologies in 5th-century Alexandria (Roman Empire), running the gamut from Roman Paganism to Judaism and  Christianity, to astronomy and philosophy. It is impossible for me to go in depth, but what you need to know is that every denomination of faith in the film is portrayed in a bad light. Read full story from temple-news.com

Islam Converted the Pagans But Did Paganism Convert Islam?
The Arabia of Mohammed was religiously diverse during his childhood and throughout the region you had Pagans, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Sabaeans, and other faiths. Therefore, Arabia was multi-religious and extremely diverse and many faiths co-existed and thought patterns were openly debated because countless families will have been religiously mixed.

However, once Mohammed obtained power then the “no compulsion in religion” became “kill the apostate.” This small aspect of the Koran and Hadiths point to a period of weakness and moderation during the early stage but once powerful, then Mohammed desired power mechanisms in order to defeat and control the economic system of the non-Muslims.

Mohammed and orthodox Muslims in the world today believe that the next stage was about monotheism and the eradication of Paganism within the body politic of Islam. However, while it is true to say that Muslim forces did defeat the followers of Paganism it is also true to say that Paganism defeated Islam within the tenets, customs, rituals, and sayings of Mohammed. Read full story from aina.org

Media:

Waynesboro Police Say Full Moon Affects Crime Rate (Source – WJBF)

Pregnant Kate Hudson Dabbles In Light Witchcraft To Predict Baby’s Sex (Source – TheFabLife.com)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 3/28/2011

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Headlines:

Witchcraft accusations and human rights abuses in Africa
Witch‐hunts have become epidemic throughout Africa. Although witch‐hunts have historically been viewed as gender specific, with a large percentage of victims still identified as elderly and solitary women, recent reports show that victims of witch‐hunts include both women and men of all ages. read full story from paganrightsalliance.org3

Whistle-blowing witch grounded by TSA (Source msnbc)
Here’s a situation for all you aspiring managers: If you were the boss at a U.S. government agency and one of your employees complained that she was afraid of a co-worker’s religious practices, what would you do?

Would it change your decision if the religion were Wicca, and the employee feared her co-worker because she thought she might cast a spell on her? Read full story from msnbc.msn.com

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Arts & Entertainment:

Exploring power held by goddesses (Book Review)
GODDESSES FOR EVERY DAY: EXPLORING THE WISDOM AND POWER OF THE DIVINE FEMININE AROUND THE WORLD – BY JULIE LOAR
Her intention is clear: to provide goddess stories drawn from ancient myths that can empower women to find from within the courage, power, strength, love and wisdom they need to live their lives to the fullest — to “save the world one woman at a time.” Read full story from mysanantonio.com

Rob Zombie Gives a Peek at The Lords of Salem film
And so it begins. Here are a few shots from my recent scouting in Salem. Great town, great locations. Stay tuned to this blog for all upcoming LORDS updates. Much more to come since we are now moving full steam ahead. See photos at rzfilms.blogspot.com

Astronomy:

Coldest Star Found—No Hotter Than Fresh Coffee
Dubbed CFBDSIR 1458 10b, the star is what’s called a brown dwarf. These oddball objects are often called failed stars, because they have starlike heat and chemical properties but don’t have enough mass for the crush of gravity to ignite nuclear fusion at their cores.

With surface temperatures hovering around 206 degrees F (97 degrees C), the newfound star is the coldest brown dwarf seen to date. (Related: “Dimmest Stars in Universe Spotted?”)

“Over the years there has been steady but slow progress in pushing the boundaries of finding the coldest stars,” said study leader Michael Liu, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

“But with this latest discovery we have made a big leap forward—besting the previous record holder by at least 150 Kelvin [270 degrees F, or 150 degrees C],” he said. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com

Environment:

First Practical “Artificial Leaf” Powers Fuel Cells for Rural Homes
Scientists have long been trying to mimic the photosynthesis perfected by leaves — turning sunlight and water into energy that can be stored. While many have made attempts, there seems to be one group of scientists that have pulled it off. The news comes from the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, where the researchers made their announcement. The “artificial leaf” would be used to generate power for off grid homes in developing areas, and the hope is that one such “leaf” could provide enough energy for an entire household. Read full story from treehugger.com

Lifestyle & Religion:

Mass graves replace elaborate funerals in northern Japan
Kamaishi, Japan (CNN) — Ikuo Fujiwara stops in front of the wreckage of the Buddhist temple, brings his hands together and prays.

The monk bursts into tears, an involuntary act, as he asks heaven what he can do to comfort his destroyed hometown and begin to rebuild his house of worship.

Fujiwara needs heaven to speak to him, for he must preside over Kamaishi’s first mass burials in memory. Behind his temple, the sound of heavy machinery digging giant ditches for unmarked coffins echoes through the shattered remains of the 300-year-old building. Read full story from cnn.com

Herbalists Form National Network
Kigali — Practitioners of traditional medicine from across the country, yesterday, met in Kigali to establish a forum that will protect their rights and regulate the profession.

Herbalists currently operate without clear guidelines, although the Ministry of Health, says that it has prepared a document that spells out the ethics for the practice of traditional medicine, guidelines for quality assurance and assessment, good agriculture practice and guidelines for research. Read full story from allafrica.com

Too Many Psychics in ‘Witch City’?
Salem, Massachusetts is famous for its modern witches and history of witch persecution. The city’s unique past supports a thriving menagerie of businesses selling everything from magical charms to fortunes, but some fear the number of psychics flocking to the community north of Boston could be too many.

In 2007, the city lifted a cap on the number of psychics allowed to operate and now some believe the ‘Witch City’ is getting overrun.

Barbara Szafranski is a long-time psychic license holder who conducts readings at her downtown shop Angelica of the Angels. She needed no crystal ball to tell her business would take a hit when more fortunetellers hit the scene. Read full story from foxnews.com

Christians and the pagans
In her letter Dr Emma Chung, President of Leicester Secular Society, stated that Christians had “purloined” Christmas and Easter from pagans (Mailbox, March 16). This is wrong.

In the time of Rome‘s dominance (a pagan society), Christians were in the minority.

It was emperor Lucinius, a pagan, who “ordered” Christians to treat Sunday as a day of rest, as it suited Rome. Later, Emperor Constantine “ordered” Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus on the same day, December 25, pagans celebrate the re-birth of the sun following winter (the Feast of Natalis Solis Invicti), as it suited Rome. Read full story from thisislleicestershire.co.uk

A deity diverse and divisive
In the wide, red land led by an atheist and where evolution has prevailed in its political war with creationism, God has not died. But Australia’s almighty has become a far more diverse and divisive deity, still influencing laws and values and maintaining the potential to undermine social cohesion.

The complexity of beliefs haunts policies and legislators. Christians fear suffocation by political correctness and attack from opposing fundamentalism; Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists complain of bias; pagans rail against marriage laws and the ban on pagan chaplains in the military.

Indigenous Australians say their spirituality has been bundled with paganism and dismissed as a valid belief system, further undermining their ability to manage their affairs, and damaging the fragile process of reconciliation. Read full story from nzherald.co.nz

News:

Radiation levels at Japan nuclear plant reach new highs
TOKYO — As radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reached a new high Sunday, workers contended with dark, steamy conditions in their efforts to repair the facility’s cooling system and stave off a full-blown nuclear meltdown. Wearing respirators, face masks and bulky suits, they fought to reconnect cables and restore power to motor pumps the size of automobiles. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

Vietnam Zoo Owner Gets Jail Time For Selling Dead Tigers
A zoo keeper in Vietnam was charged with the illegal selling of five endangered tiger carcasses and was sentenced to 3 years in jail. The owner had raised the tigers on his farm near Ho Chi Minh City, but after they died (reportedly from bird flu and choking on a bone), he attempted to sell the carcasses — a product that can earn big money on the black market. Read full story from treehugger.com

Radiation From Japan Plant Seeping Into Pacific
Radiation from a crippled atomic plant northeast of Tokyo has wafted into the air, contaminating farm produce and drinking water as well as seeping into the Pacific Ocean, although officials stress there is no imminent health threat.

Highly radioactive water has been found seeping from reactor two’s turbine building, the operator said Monday, worsening fears that it is leaking into the environment.

Engineers are racing to restore cooling systems knocked out by the tsunami, but have been hindered by pools of highly radioactive water thought to have leaked from the steel-and-concrete reactor casings or their pipe systems. Read full story from discovery.com

Paranormal:

Who you gonna call? Family send in paranormal experts after ‘capturing ghost’ in home video
A spooked family have called in a real-life ‘ghostbuster’ – after claiming to have captured on video a poltergeist moving a chair across a bedroom.

Lisa Manning and her children Ellie, 11, and Jaydon, six, have fled their house in terror several times because of bizarre goings-on.

They include pots and pans being thrown around the kitchen, window blinds moving up and down by themselves, lights being switched on and off and drawers being opened. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Media:

Exclusive: Neil Gaiman confirms ‘American Gods’ film (Source Digital Spy)

Syfy ‘Destination Truth’ Sandstorm spirits (Source Syfy)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great week!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 3/25/2011

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Headlines:

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS – Japan Disaster Relief (Click to Donate)

Events:

Pagicon - Friday, March 25th through Sunday, March 27th, 2011. Doubletree Park Place in St. Louis Park, MN.

Festival Invites Public to Stand With Japan – Beginning at 6:30pm on March 24, people will gather at Sylvan Theater (15th Street and Independence Avenue, SW) before walking the Tidal Basin. All donations received throughout the fundraising effort will go directly to the National Cherry Blossom Festival Red Cross Online Donation Site, benefiting the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.

Arts & Entertainment:

Paranormal research session to air tonight
MILLERSBURG — Ghosts who reside in the Victorian House Museum in Millersburg apparently had their say Saturday, shutting down a planned live Internet stream of research being conducted in the house by the Central Ohio Paranormal Research Group.

However, there is good news for ghost hunters.

Saturday’s session, which Mark Boley, director of the Holmes County Historical Society, said again revealed “lots of activity,” will be available for viewing tonight on the Internet.

Beginning at 8 p.m., the session will be available at the web site www.centralohioparanormalresearchgroup.com/Livewebstream.html. A chat room also will be available. Read full story from timesreporter.com

History:

The First Pocahontas May Have Been a Viking
Genes from the Beotuk, a long-extinct branch of Canada’s aboriginal peoples, have shown up in samples of 80 people from Iceland, a team of anthropologists and geneticists has revealed.

A study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology indicates that a woman of that line may have been brought to Iceland by the Vikings 1,000 years ago, the Montreal Gazette and other media outlets reported on Thursday. The study was conducted by researchers from Iceland and Spain. Read the full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Lifestyle & Religion:

Diary reveals the horror of the Witchfinder General trials
A 350-year-old notebook which describes the execution of innocent women for consorting with the Devil, has been published online by The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library. Puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington wrote passages on his attitudes to life, religion, the civil war as well as the witchcraft trials of the period. Read full story from pasthorizons.com

Coast home to 500 witches: psychic
A FAMOUS TV witch says the Sunshine Coast is a sacred and magical haven to as many as 500 practising witches.

Stacey Demarco, a judge on the 2009 psychic Australian television show The One, said the region had a variety of covens and had attracted them because the Coast’s earth had a “deep and powerful energy”.

Ms Demarco, voted Australia’s 2009 psychic of the year, will be on the Coast this weekend to teach one of her invitation-only workshops for “intermediate” witches. Read full story from bollinaadvocate.com

News:

Research Firm to Study Tribes’ Economic Impact on California
A coalition of American Indian organizations in California hired a prominent research firm to analyze tribes’ contribution to the state’s economy, states a California Nations Indian Gaming Association news release.

Beacon Economics, a consulting firm based in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, will measure the economic impact of tribes by examining Indian-owned casinos, businesses, tribal government programs, purchases of goods and services and charitable donations, amongst other things.

“This study is an important undertaking by tribal governments,” said Daniel Tucker, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association. “It’s significant that CNIGA, the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations and the California Association of Tribal Governments are participating, as it will provide a more complete picture of how tribal economic development and self-sufficiency are benefiting California taxpayers.” Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Red Cross warning over Japan tsunami donation scam
The Red Cross has warned prospective donors who want to give money to the Japan Tsunami Appeal to beware scam emails purporting to be from the charity.

A spokesman for the charity said: “There are some fraudulent emails circulating claiming to be raising money for the Japan Tsunami Appeal. These may request that you donate through companies like Western Union or Money Bookers, which we would never do. If you suspect an email is fraudulent please do not open any attachments or click on any links. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

‘Thorn from Jesus’s crucifixion crown’ goes on display at British Museum
It was plundered in the Fourth Crusade, sold to French royalty and has spent the past 200 years in safekeeping at a British public school.

Now a relic claimed to be a thorn from Jesus’s crown is to go on display at the British Museum.

And while no one can doubt the item’s rich history, there is less evidence to support the claims of its provenance. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Media:

A change of faith (Source CNN)

38% of Americans Believe Japan Disaster a Sign From God (Source – YouTube: Atheistmediablog)

Question & Answer Session with Thai Buddhists  (Source – YouTube: gyalwarinpoche)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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News & Submissions 3/21/2011

Monday, March 21st, 2011

Eastpointe fortune tellers to tell all … about themselves
Psychics or fortune tellers who want to predict the future in Eastpointe will first have to share their past with police under conditions spelled out in a new city ordinance.

The Eastpointe City Council recently finalized a fortune telling ordinance that requires anyone who works in the city as a medium, clairvoyant, mind reader or similar craft to obtain a license and provide any information on past criminal convictions.

Councilwoman Veronica Klinefelt said the new regulations were largely in response to newspaper articles detailing how people — in particular, seniors — were being financially victimized by unscrupulous psychics.

“We were concerned about certain individuals who say ‘You have a bad aura, for $1,000 I can remove it.’ We want them to post their charges up front to make sure they are legitimate,” she said. Read full story from macombdaily.com

Minorities feel rising tide of bigotry
DISTRUST of Muslims and hostility towards homosexuals and pagans remain widespread in Australia, a new Australian Human Rights Commission report to be published today says.

The biggest snapshot of Australian attitudes about religion in more than a decade, the report also suggests rising political involvement by religious groups, tension between religious and secularist groups and great wariness about rights legislation.

The report, Freedom of Religion and Belief in 21st Century Australia, reveals a vastly more complex religious landscape than 1998, when the last similar survey was done.

The research involved community consultations with 274 religious and secularist groups, and with governments, human rights groups, ethnic and city councils, plus more than 2000 public submissions. Read full story from smh.com

Centuries old Nepal banishment ritual endangers girls and women
The centuries old practice of chhaupadi in Nepal can cause prolonged depression in girls and women. In extreme cases it can also cause death.

Chhaupadi pratha, or ritual practice, places Nepali women and girls in a limbo of isolation. In history it is a practice that has been largely accepted. The word chhaupadi, translates in the Achham local Raute dialect as ‘chhau’ which means menstruation and ‘padi’ – woman.

Today the ritual of banishment surrounding chhaupadi still affects girls and women on all levels of Nepali society.

This dangerous practice also isolates woman during and after childbirth as they are banished for up to eleven days away from family members, causing critical danger and increasing complications that can, and do, lead to maternal and child mortality due to the possibility of excessive bleeding and asepsis following labour. Read full sotry from womennewsnetwork.net

‘Myth Makers’ tells a historical tale about the Cherokee Tribe
Isaac Smoke could neither read nor write but when he heard the white man’s creation story, he closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

“Paper talks,” the medicine man hissed. He had other uses for the Indian newspaper that cost all of $2.50 a year.

Above is an excerpt from the book “The Myth Makers” by author J. Houston-Emerson.

The Fort Smith Museum of History held a reading and book signing with Judith Houston-Emerson on Saturday (Mar. 19). Guests arrived early and mingled before Emerson discussed her family heritage and her book.

After discussing her Cherokee heritage, Emerson read from her book, which is a work of historical fiction but based on facts. The book took Emerson more than four years to write and publish. She has already started to work on the sequel.

“The Myth Makers” starts in the early 1800s and ends in 1838 with the arrival of her ancestors in Tahlequah. It deals with witchcraft, missionaries, and white intrusion of every kind. Emerson weaves a historical tale about her Cherokee forbearers, their lives and belief systems and the wondrous world of mythic animals before their removal. Read full story from thecitywire.com

Do You Believe in Vampires, Witch’s and Ghosts?
Vampires and Witch’s have been around forever, including ghosts. I met a ghost once and she was murdered and she talked to me. I solved the murder case, found her mother walking one day and spoke to her softly and asked the mother of the deceased daughter, if she was the mother, name withheld, and she told me yes, that indeed she was.

We went to her home, and good thang I had my tarot card with me in my large sized purse made of wooden handle and straw, that look tattered and old, as bought it at a yard sale long time ago, way before the birth of my two sons, whom are into wiccan religion and magick such as I am. They used to attend church but decided my religon of Wiccan is much better to grasph the concept of. Now back to my true story. I dealt the cards and amazed at what I saw in the cards. I felt a strong presence too, and then I told the mother of the deceased woman, the names of the murderers and told her to write the wicked ones names down on a pad of paper. So she did accordingly, to my instructions. She did not hesitate to telephone the police about all this and two days later they found the evidence in his closet and he was arrested for the murder. Now this is a true tale, not fiction at all.

I have found lost things, items so to speak for many folks. I used to own and operate my own Witchy sites, and no longer do as is quite costly. I do accept reqeusts from friends to cast magical spells for them as well as strangers, that write me and desire a spell to be granted. I do invoke the spirit guides as they help me with psychic powers and spell craft.Read full story from modernghana.com

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News & Submissions 3/17/2011

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Pagans and the census
Sunday 27th March will be Census Day in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As you all know, the census is conducted every 10 years to gather a broad range of information about people and households across the countries of the UK.

In 2001, the census included questions on religion, that made it possible, for the very first time, to prove that there were many thousands of Pagans in these islands. That we were, in fact, the seventh largest religion in Scotland and that our numbers were growing rapidly as other religions diminish. Census data on the number of Pagans proved to be of tremendous value in winning greater respect and recognition for Paganism.

This year, the census will again include a question on religion. And the Scottish Pagan Federation appeals to all Pagans in this country to enter “PAGAN” – in the “Another Religion” box provided. Read full story from shetlandtimes.co.uk

Divine control-freakery can go to hell
To claim – as John Richardson appears to – that eternal punishment in hell is necessary to make this a just universe is illogical and incoherent. Justice has of its nature to be proportionate – and eternity is infinite, whereas the most horrific crimes of human beings are of their nature limited. Moreover, the ideas about hell held historically by most religious believers are of disproportionately severe punishments. You look at the imaginatively foul tortures being dished out in the hells of Hieronymus Bosch, or some Buddhist art, and reflect that the worst people in human history do not deserve to be endlessly devoured and shat out by a canary-shaped demon.

Of course, however, those who believe in hell are a very long way from reserving it for Hitler and Pol Pot. Many believers think that most sins – or things they regard as sins – lead straight to hell. The inadvertently hilarious comic-book tracts of Jack Chick make this very clear – playing Dungeons and Dragons? Leads to hell. Reading Harry Potter? Leads to hell. I am quite a nice person – kind to people, only over-eat occasionally and give money to beggars – but there are so many reasons why many believers think I am on my way to the eternal bonfire that it would be tedious to rehearse them. Ah, but, they say, the real sin is not what you do – it is your disobedience of God’s commands, however arbitrary. So we are not talking about justice, we are talking about divine control-freakery. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

The rise of Europe’s religious right
Europe is generally regarded as the most secularised continent in the world. But in few EU member states is there a complete separation between church and state. The old interweaving of religious and worldly authority still makes itself felt in many countries today.

In England, the head of state is also titular governor of the church and bishops are members of the House of Lords. Finland and Denmark still have an official state religion, and in Greece up until recently, the Orthodox church was in charge of the public civil status register. Everywhere, churches maintain a firm grasp on education, the care and medical sectors, and the media. Churches have formal and informal positions of exception by law, which are sometimes used to refuse public services such as abortion or same-sex marriage, or to evade secular authority in cases of child abuse. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Report: Nantucket child killed in exorcism
NANTUCKET — The woman accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter earlier this week believed God had instructed her to stick a rose in the young girl’s throat to ward off the devil, according to documents filed in Nantucket District Court.

Dora Alicia Tejada Pleitez, 26, of 13B Pine Tree Road was held without bail pending a mental competency hearing following her arraignment Tuesday on a murder charge. She was taken off the island Tuesday for the evaluation and is scheduled to appear in Nantucket District Court on Monday for a pretrial hearing.

The police were called to the family’s home at about 12:40 p.m. Monday, according to a six-page narrative describing police interviews in the investigation.

Officers found Pleitez’s daughter, Nicole Garcia, lying on a table inside the home and attempted to resuscitate her until paramedics arrived.

The girl was taken to Nantucket Cottage Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at about 1:18 p.m. Read full story from capecodonline.com

The Roman Ninth Legion’s mysterious loss
The disappearance of Rome’s Ninth Legion has long baffled historians, but could a brutal ambush have been the event that forged the England-Scotland border, asks archaeologist Dr Miles Russell, of Bournemouth University.

One of the most enduring legends of Roman Britain concerns the disappearance of the Ninth Legion.

The theory that 5,000 of Rome’s finest soldiers were lost in the swirling mists of Caledonia, as they marched north to put down a rebellion, forms the basis of a new film, The Eagle, but how much of it is true?  Read full story from bbc.co.uk

6 other calamities blamed on divine retribution
Age-old questions about divine punishment are back. Again.

On Tuesday, the governor of Tokyo apologized for saying the earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands of Japanese were divine retribution for national egoism.

Television and media personality Glenn Beck, meanwhile, has sent mixed messages about whether he thinks God is behind Japan’s natural disaster. “I’m not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes,” he said Monday, adding he’s “not not saying that, either.”

“Whether you call it Gaia, or whether you call it Jesus, there’s a message being sent and that is, ‘Hey, you know that stuff we’re doing? Not really working out real well,’” Beck said. “Maybe we should stop doing some of it.”

Blaming human sinfulness for natural and man-made disasters is nothing new. “This kind of thinking is actually typical rather than atypical in world history,” says Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion professor and CNN Belief Blog contributor. Read full story from cnn.com

Estranged son of anti-gay Westboro pastor says father does ‘evil’ (source cnn)

Dog in Japan stays by the side of its ailing friend in the rubble
It’s a universal truth that dogs are man’s best friend, but they’re pretty darn loyal to their own as well. Case in point: this tear-inducing video, via the website Jezebel, showing a dog, shivering and disoriented, remaining loyally by the side of a stricken fellow canine amid the devastation of the Japanese tsunami. Read full story from yahoo.com

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