Posts Tagged ‘Wicca’

News & Submissions 11/24/2010

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Ross: Being thankful on Thanksgiving
Sometimes it’s simply about saying “thank you;” nothing more, nothing less.

The prayers went on forever. Actually, they lasted – usually – about 45 minutes, maybe an hour. It really did seem like they would never end, though.

And the worst part was that he knew what he was doing to us! He knew that it was torture – the smells, the sights, the waiting. He and grandma put all of the boiling meats and the red hot dogs and the sweets all on the little table with the yellow, vinyl table cloth on it – right there for all of us to see. We all knew that the potato salad was going to be good and mustardy, and we knew that we were gonna get some pop that was not warm Cragmont Cream Soda. And it was simply mean, what he was doing, gosh darn it – the smells were incredible! Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Deputy: Woman Advised To Leave Gun On Grave To “Clear Her Spirits”
BOILING SPRINGS, S.C. –A gun was found sitting in a box on a grave in Boiling Springs after a woman says she was advised by a medium to leave something behind that was given to her by the deceased.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office says a .45 caliber pistol was found in a box sitting on a grave at Good Shepard Memorial Gardens Tuesday afternoon. Read full story from wspa.com

TIBET – CHINA Dalai Lama to retire in six months
Dharamsala – The Dalai Lama plans to retire from political life over the next six months, a spokesman said today, thus reiterating what the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said two days ago in an interview with an Indian TV network.

The 76-year-old spiritual leader, who fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959, wants to step down in order to return to his homeland as an ordinary citizen. The current 14th Dalai Lama, who wants to die on the “roof of the world”, is not likely to convince the Chinese to grant him this wish. Read full story from speroforum.com

Australian Poltergeist Video
GT reader David S. contacted us about a “ghost hunter” from Queensland Australia who is said to have captured some compelling evidence of poltergeist activity.

NQGHOSTHUNTER is the ghost hunter’s username on YouTube. His videos show some interesting and clear shots of objects being tossed around and moved by unseen forces….or strings.

Check out the first clip. In this clip, we see lights being flicked on and off and some basic object movement: Read full story from ghosttheory.com

China says it is world’s top greenhouse gas emitter
BEIJING (Reuters) – China acknowledged on Tuesday it is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases stoking global warming, confirming what scientists have said for years but defending its right to keep growing emissions.

China’s chief negotiator in international climate change talks, Xie Zhenhua, made the comment while spelling out his government’s position ahead of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 over a new global pact to fight global warming. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy One
We spend billions of dollars each year looking for happiness, hoping it might be bought, consumed, found, or flown to. Other, more contemplative cultures and traditions assure us that this is a waste of time (not to mention money). ‘Be present’ they urge. Live in the moment, and there you’ll find true contentment.

Sure enough, our most fulfilling experiences are typically those that engage us body and mind, and are unsullied by worry or regret. In these cases, a relationship between focus and happiness is easy to spot. But does this relationship hold in general, even for simple, everyday activities? Is a focused mind a happy mind? Harvard psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert decided to find out. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

Illinois Christmas traditions vary
GALESBURG —There was a time when Christmas went uncelebrated at Knox College.

“It was seen as an unnecessary celebration,” said historian Owen Muelder, director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Freedom Center at Knox and a former administrator at the college.

The college was established by Congregationalists and Presbyterians who followed strict religious practices and codes of behavior.“They did not want to in any way have celebrations at Christmas that had to do with pagan tradition,” Muelder said. “The founders of Knox College didn’t celebrate Christmas the way we do. They didn’t celebrate in any way other than recognition of Christ’s birth. No parties. No Christmas trees. Read full story from galesburg.com

California Dreaming? The Golden State Takes the Lead in U.S. Efforts to Combat Climate Change
SACRAMENTO—Only two weeks after California voters turned back an effort to suspend the state’s program to combat climate change, a cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas emissions saw its first trade, a swap of a climate-change pollution permit for 2012.

“While our federal government is sitting on its hands, California is moving full speed ahead to a clean-energy future,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his weekly address on November 19. “We are creating a consistent, long-term energy policy—something that has eluded Washington for decades. In fact, Washington should take a lesson from what is happening right now here in California.” Read full story from scientificamerican.com

Crazy Things You Didn’t Know You Could Compost (Plus, Some You Can’t), Holiday Edition
Fresh on the heels of the pizza box scandal, in which EcoSalon cleared up some mysteries with recyling, we’ve uncovered more items that you can’t compost — and some surprising ones you can. This being the holiday season, we enter a whole new level of composting controversy. Seriously, Santa, lay off the tinsel. Here’s how to navigate the festivities with an eye to the bin and the bucket. Read full story from treehugger.com

Pope raises possibility of resignation in book (Source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/20/2010

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News & Submissions 11/16/2010

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Hajj (Source National Geographic)

Lost Mummies of New Guinea (Source National Geographic)

News & Submissions 11/15/2010

Monday, November 15th, 2010

On trial: Faith, delusion or excuse for crime?
He’s a self-proclaimed prophet who called his bed an altar.

He wore robes, grew his beard long and penned a rambling manifesto.

He said he received revelations and was destined to take 49 wives.

And he is on federal trial for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, now 23, and moving her across state lines for sex. Read full story from cnn.com

Saudi Arabian court rejects ‘sorcery’ death sentence
Amnesty International has welcomed a decision by the Saudi Arabian Supreme Court this week not to ratify the death sentence on a Lebanese man convicted of “sorcery”.

The court in the capital Riyadh said that the death sentence for ‘Ali Hussain Sibat was inappropriate because there was no proof that others were harmed as a result of his actions.

The court ordered that the case be retried in the original lower court in Madina with a view to considering commutation of his death sentence and deportation to Lebanon at the end of his sentence. Read full story from amnestyusa.org

How modern day witch trials are destroying rural Africa
Sixteen-year-old Sapavi was sitting in her English class at the Assemblies of God primary school in Ghana, following a lesson she can no longer remember, when she felt something or someone knock her on the head.

The concrete room’s tiny windows meant the airless space stayed relatively dark. It was crowded with low desks and bench seats filled with lanky Ghanaian students wearing uniforms of blue skirts or pants and short-sleeved white blouses. When Sapavi turned to see who was annoying her, what she saw was the ghostly apparition of an old woman holding a long knife and a bowl made from a dried gourd. Read full story from nypost.com

Expert insists end of world is not nigh
DESPITE WHAT you might have heard, the world is not set to end on December 21st, 2012. There are no asteroids to worry about, nor astronomical alignments nor changes in the Sun that will destroy Earth, according to one of Ireland’s top astrophysicists. Read full story from irishtimes.com

Roman Ruins Show Modern Sea Level Rise Didn’t Start Until Industrial Revolution
Over the weekend the New York Times ran an article on sea level rise, which for the seasoned TreeHugger reader may not add tons new to the discussion (Climate Progress has some analysis of it and gives it mostly a thumbs up, rare for mainstream media reporting on climate), but check it out if you need a refresher course. But what caught my eye was a really interesting companion article, highlighting research on Roman seaside ruins which indicate that for the past two millennia or so that sea levels have been comparatively steady, and that the level of increase we witness today really started with industrialization. Read full story from treehugger.com

Rainforests, wildlife preserved by indigenous spiritual beliefs
New research within the native Wapishana and Makushi communities of Guyana suggests that indigenous cultural beliefs such as shamanism help preserve tropical forests and wildlife.

The analysis, published in the September 2010 Journal of Latin American Geography, draws from a massive data set that tracks wildlife populations, hunting kill sites, and spiritually significant features of the landscape within a 48,000-square-kilometer area in southern Guyana. The authors recruited the hunters themselves to record much of the data. Read full story from mongabay.com

The ‘Wee Good Folk’ – what are they?
A remarkable amount of confusion surrounds the subject of fairies, so let’s take a closer look.

What are we to make of these winged, ephemeral creatures that inhabit the hidden regions of the human psyche and the overgrown forests where our ancestors once worshipped their mysterious Old Gods? It is easy to see why a strange mystical state, enveloping fairies has arisen when we examine the various (at first seemingly contradictory) factors attached to these splendid beings.

For the sake of simplicity I shall hereby explore the preeminent working strands of thought-process connected to Fairy Lore.

FAIRIES FROM THE OLD GODS AND AS A SUPPRESSION OF NATIVE CULTURAL PAGAN BELIEF Read full story from ufodigest.com

Lead in reusable grocery bags prompts call for federal inquiry
Lead found in some reusable grocery bags is raising concerns that the toxin could pose environmental or health concerns to consumers.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is asking for a federal investigation into the reusable bags following a series by The Tampa Tribune. The newspaper found lead in bags purchased at Winn-Dixie, Publix, Sweetbay, Walmart and Target. Read full story from usatoday.com

Maya pyramids pose acoustic riddle
Crumbled ruins of pyramids litter Central America’s jungles, trees growing from their tumbled staircase blocks.

Why the ancient Maya abandoned these towering temples remains one of the big riddles of archaeology. But there is one other question: Why build them in the first place? Read full story from usatoday.com

Adventurer’s photos capture a bygone Mecca (Source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/12/2010

Friday, November 12th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News & Submissions 11/08/2010

Monday, November 8th, 2010

EU drug law will shut me down, says herbalist
A PRACTITIONER in traditional Chinese medicine says she will be forced out of business by a change in the law which will take effect next year.

New European Union regulations are set to stop anyone other than fully-licensed medical practitioners importing and prescribing hundreds of herbs, roots and tinctures. Read full story from oxfordmail.co.uk

Faith Groups Split on Resolution to N.Y. Islamic Center Debate
WASHINGTON, D.C. — American faith communities are split on the best way to resolve the disagreement regarding the Islamic center proposed to be built in New York City near the location of the Sept. 11 attacks. Muslims, Jews, other non-Christians and non-religious Americans are more likely to favor retaining the current location as originally conceived, or transforming the center into an interfaith institution. The majority of Catholics, Mormons, and, to a lesser degree, Protestants, believe the center should find another location. Read full story from gallup.com

A witch trial victim’s family reunion
SALEM — Kathleen Kent took the stories shared by her mother and grandfather and wove them into “The Heretic’s Daughter,” a novel based on her relative Martha Carrier, who was hanged as a witch in Salem in 1692.

Little did Kent know that her writing would bring together more than 250 of Carrier’s descendents, who gathered in Salem this weekend. Read full story from gloucestertimes.com

The Witching Hour at BMAG
Featuring photography, painting, sculpture, printmaking, film, animation and installation, The Witching Hour is an exhibition that explores darkness and dark things in the work of over 20 artists from, or based in, Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Supposedly the time of night when strange things happen, the witching hour is associated with the supernatural, witchcraft and folklore, represented in the exhibition in the form of baroque skeletons, macabre fighting insects, shadowy figures, ghoulish faces and ritualistic paraphernalia. Read full story from birminghamnewsroom.com

Abolish all witches camps
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Action Aid International, Madam Joana Kerr, has called for the immediate abolition of witches camps and witchcraft accusations against women and young girls, which is considered an acceptable cultural practice by the people of the Northern Region of Ghana.

According to her, the practice was not only outmoded and dehumanising, but also offered opportunities to vindictive persons in the affected societies to torture, harass, humiliate, and violate the fundamental human rights of the suspected witches. Read full story from modernghana.com

Business ‘brooming’ at new witchcraft shop
Self-proclaimed “wiccan” Julie Bliss has opened a witchcraft store in Darwin’s northern suburbs.

Ms Bliss said business was brooming because Darwin had a thriving wiccan community. Read full story from ntnews.com.au

Navajo health may improve with ozone curbs
FARMINGTON, N.M. – Tribal and conservation groups applauded an Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could improve the health of Navajo people and reduce by 80 percent a power plant-induced haze that has clouded the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National Parks and other scenic southwestern venues. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

The magic of the mummies
“I am the Sata-snake, long of years, who sleeps and is reborn each day. I am the Sata-snake, dwelling in the limits of the earth. I sleep and am reborn, renewed and rejuvenated each day.”

This is a translation of a spell (right) from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, on display at the British Museum, which enables the speaker to change into a snake. It may not read like a spell – eye of bat, skin of toad – but it was expected to have a magical effect and to be recited by a mummy – the dead person in the tomb. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Are dreams trying to tell us something
The woman lies asleep next to her husband in a lovely house in the Scottish countryside.

She is a film maker. She has made several award-winning documentaries about science. Her three children are abed. She is dreaming. Suddenly, she wakes up, feeling very scared. In her dreams, her horse, George, has spoken to her. He has told her that he is dying. Trembling, she ventures outside in the dark night. George is lying on the ground. He is dead.

The woman, normally rational and sceptical, tries to put the horse dream out of her mind. Some nights later, an even more shocking dream crashes into her life. In it, her ex-partner tells her that she will die before her 49th birthday. He is sorry to bring this news. She is 48 years old. In a few months she will become seriously ill. Read full story from heraldscotland.com

Green Festival November 2010: Why The Green Festival Still Matters
This weekend, San Francisco held the biannual Green Festival, the nation’s largest green consumer living event. Thousands of people flocked to the Concourse Exhibition Center, spilling out onto the sidewalks, to see over 300 exhibitors and hear over 125 speakers. There have been many green festivals this Autumn, two examples are West Coast Green and Bioneers. Many of these green festivals shared the same exhibitors: Sungevity, Earth Island Institute, Presidio School of Management, to name a few. So what makes Green Festival unique, and why does having yet another green conference matter? Green Festival stood out to me for its sheer number of attendees, its festive atmosphere, and its rallying call to action after the sobering November 2010 election results. Read full story from treehugger.com

‘More ghosts’ after earthquake
The “sheer strength and power” of the September 4 earthquake has more than doubled the number of reported supernatural events in Canterbury, a paranormal investigator says.

Christchurch Paranormal Investigators founder Anton Heyrick said his team had received an “interesting influx” of phone calls and emails after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, with more than double the usual number of inquiries. Read full story from stuff.co.nz

National UnFriend Day Announcement Featuring William Shatner (source cbsnews.com)

Homeless church fights to hang on (source cnn.com)

Gay Christians: WWJD? (source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/04/2010

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Faith in America; The Transformation of Religion
From the gods of ancient Greece to Catholicism, religious beliefs have been very influential in the progression of civilizations. In the modern day, however, it seems as though religion is now very different in terms of people practicing it, and how people are beginning to leave the religion in which they were raised. The morals of religion are, unfortunately, also being left behind as well as more people abandon religion altogether.

The world has many different religions. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are major faiths that have believers across the globe. In the United States, religion is still a major part of the country’s make-up. Politics surrounding issues such as abortion and gay marriage are directly influenced by teachings of the Church and other religions. However, recent studies show that Americans in the 21st century are now changing the way they recog­nize religion in their lives. Read full story from theskylineview.com

An introduction into the world of Wicca
Massage therapist Star Kenney of Overland Park, Kan., is a witch. She practices the pagan religion of Wicca or witchcraft.

An introduction into the world of Wicca

This conversation took place at the Black Dog Cafe in Lenexa, Kan. Read full story from kansascity.com

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

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

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

Beyond This Mortal Coil
“The traditional celebration of Dia de los Muertos started over 3500 [years] ago by the Aztecs, who practiced a month-long celebration that honored those who had died and welcomed their spirits back to Earth for a visit. During this ritual, they would often display skulls that they had collected as symbols of life, death, and rebirth.” (“Sugar Skulls: History & Significance of Dia de los Muertos [Day of the Dead]” By Karen L. Hudson, About.com.) Read full story from sandiegoreader.com

Atheists: Utah Trooper Crosses “Offensive & Unconstitutional”
I received an email today asking why American Atheists was “attacking” the Utah Highway Patrol Memorial. The email accused American Atheists of having an “issue with honoring fallen Utah peace officers.” It wanted to know why we could not just drive past it and see it as a MONUMENT (their use of caps). The writer then went on to say that it doesn’t matter if the peace officer is Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or atheist: they are just being honored. Read full story from opposingviews.com

My Take: Why I changed from ‘Faith’ to ‘Being’
Since I left print journalism to study theology two decades ago, I’ve thought a great deal about the limits and possibilities of words – especially when we try to navigate the spiritual territory of human life.

And when I started a public radio program on religion, ethics and meaning seven years ago, I was also quite aware that I was inviting people to put words around something as intimate as anything we try to talk about, and as ultimately ineffable. Read full story from cnn.com

Earth will take 100,000 years to recover from global warming say geologists
A conference organised by the Geological Society in London this week will bring together scientists from around the world to look at how the world coped with climate change in the past.

By studying rock sediments from millions of years ago geologists have been able to model how increases in greenhouse gases led to temperature change and extinction of species. Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

Bel Air leaves in place ban on fortune-telling (source abc2news.com)

News & Submissions 11/03/2010

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

All Christians ‘targets,’ Iraqi militant group says
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — All Christians in the Middle East are now “legitimate targets,” al Qaeda in Iraq announced Wednesday, as the group’s deadline for Egypt’s Coptic church to release alleged Muslim female prisoners expired.

An audio message released Monday gave the church 48 hours to disclose the status of Muslim women it said are imprisoned in Coptic churches in Egypt. Read full story from cnn.com

Christian holiday celebrations are out of date
John Philips (Write Back, November 1) states that Christianity “cleverly sanitised” pagan festivals in spring and mid-winter into Easter and Christmas.

While these festivals may have been “sanitised”, it was not that “clever”. Many of the pagan rituals remain in these festivals, including the use of evergreen decorations, such as holly, ivy, mistletoe and pine trees. Read full story from belfasttelegraph.co.uk

5,000-year-old practice comes around again
Unlike a maze, which includes dead ends and tall walls that are meant to confuse, a labyrinth traces a single path that leads inexorably to the center. It has ancient roots in pagan pre-Christian beliefs, Celtic traditions, and even Wicca, and many consider it a spiritual journey to walk one. Read full story from philly.com

Chief Oshkosh controversy brings back painful memories
OSHKOSH, Wis. – The decision by the mayor of Oshkosh, Wis., to use the name and image of Chief Oshkosh to promote beer drinking in his tavern highlights long-standing cultural dissonances between Natives and non-Natives. Though less than one percent of the population of Oshkosh is Native American, its proximity to the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin has made the mayor’s promotion a focus of the ongoing controversy over how and by whom names and images of Native American leaders may be used. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Mexicans Seek Charms, Potions To Ward Off Bad Luck
The Sonora Market near the center of Mexico City is a labyrinth of narrow alleyways that wind between overstuffed stalls where the air is thick with sage smoke. One entire section is known as the mercado de brujeria, or the “witchcraft market.”

In a country facing tough times, Mexicans come to the market to buy potions, herbs and charms that supposedly will bring good luck and protection. Read full story from minesotapublicradio.org

Journey Through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead – review
Statues are speaking at the British Museum. The dead are coming to life. The statue in front of me is a small painted wooden figure of the god Osiris, just over half a metre high, in a glass case in one of the first rooms of this engrossing exhibition. It is instantly striking, because of the bright green of its face and hands, but its verbal eloquence lies hidden inside. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Carving a contemporary tribute to history
NIWOT, Colo. – Annual Nostalgia Days festivities in this community north of metro Denver recall the past for the area’s original descendants as well as for those whose 19th century ancestors settled here.

An eagle capture was depicted in a massive carving dedicated at the high point of a celebration for area residents and Northern Arapaho tribal members from the Wind River Reservation, in Wyoming. Noted Arapaho leader, Niwot (Left Hand), gave the town its name and brokered a temporary peace with white settlers in the gold rush era. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

Sacred Spaces: inside a Buddhist fire rite ceremony (source cnn.com)

News & Submissions 11/01/2010

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Friends honor Wiccan with Halloween burial
BARNEVELD — On a warm, sunny Halloween day, a group of 20 people drove up a rural road at Circle Sanctuary, a nature-based pagan church and ecological preserve here, to spread and inter the ashes of one of their own.

Bruce Parsons, of Milwaukee, who identified as a Wiccan or pagan, died in June at age 63, but his Circle Sanctuary ceremony was held Sunday afternoon, coinciding with the sanctuary’s green cemetery dedication. Read full story from madison.com

The PC’s guide to arresting a witch: It’s normal for people to be naked, bound and blindfolded and whatever you do, don’t touch their book of spells
When out pounding the beat for a spell, a policeman never knows when he might bump into a witch.

So it’s best to be prepared – with a 300-page guide which includes instructions on how to deal with members of the pagan community.

The Metropolitan Police has produced a diversity handbook offering officers a range of dos and don’ts when it comes to followers of a range of religions and beliefs, from atheism to Zoroastrianism, druidry and shamanism. Read full story from dailymail.co.uk

Arizona retiree says, ‘My witchery is my faith’
“It’s our new year. It’s the beginning of the new year for us. It’s the end of what we call the wheel of our year,” she said.

“Samhain to us is when the veil between the worlds are at the thinnest. It’s when you can call your ancestors, when you can honor the dead, when you can have more contact with the netherworlds and the other beings that are out there.” Read full story from lvrj.com

Magic circle charms visitors
SALEM — For Tammy Honickman and Lori Ann Busel, both practicing Wiccans, no place beats Salem for Halloween, which is their religion’s New Year.

“My best friend and I thought it was the best way to celebrate Samhain,” Honickman said. Samhain is the name for the Wiccan holiday on Oct. 31 when the dead are remembered. Read full story from salemnews.com

BBC accused of neglecting Christianity as it devotes air time to pagan festival
The BBC has been criticised for extensive coverage of a pagan festival to mark Halloween and accused of neglecting Christianity.

The corporation’s 24-hour news channel devoted considerable time to the celebrations in a riverside meadow where witches gathered to celebrate mark Samhain, the turning of the year from light to dark.

Dressed in hooded gowns, women were seen standing in a circle around a cauldron while ritualistic acts were conducted. Read full story from dailymail.com

Native Americans fill out census forms
Census Bureau and South Dakota tribes say new tactics to encourage American Indians to fill out the 2010 Census forms appear to be paying off.

Data recently released show the Yankton Sioux reservation had 55 percent of households mail back their forms, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux reservation had 53 percent.

That’s lower than the overall state participation rate of 76 percent but officials tell The Argus Leader they’re still pleased. Read full story from indiancountrytoday,com

Uprooted in hail’s wake, tribe wants help
KEWA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) – For the first time in more than two years, Dominique Martinez, 2, has been able to sleep through the night.

Dominique, who suffers from cerebral palsy, had been struggling to breathe at night because of mold in her family’s home. After a hailstorm earlier this month damaged the family’s 1916 adobe home at Kewa Pueblo, Dominique was displaced along with four family members, including her sickly grandmother, Andrea Calabaza.

For the past week, they have been staying at the Love Your Heart Program administrative building, where offices are filled with cots, blankets and a few personal items for several displaced pueblo families. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com

News & Submissions 10/28/2010

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Lifestyle?
Pagan Lifestyle? Christian Lifestyle?  Gay Lifestyle? Heterosexual lifestyle? Hippy Lifestyle? Green Lifestyle?

Huh?

I can’t speak for others, but I don’t have a ‘lifestyle’, I LIVE a LIFE.  No, not just A life, I live MY life. Read full story from fernsfrondblogpost.com

Anglesey Druids open book of the dead for Halloween
They will be holding a mourning tea at Glynllifon Mansion, Llandwrog, near Caernarfon, on Saturday to remember and celebrate loved ones who have died.

They believe this is the time when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Druids Recognised; Daily Mail Angry
Druidry is to become the first pagan practice to be given official recognit­ion as a religion in the UK. After a four-year fight, the Druid Network has been granted charit­able status by the Charity Comm­ission for England and Wales, making it the first pagan group to be recognised under the 2006 Charities Act. This guarantees the group, set up in 2003, valuable tax breaks, although it doesn’t currently earn enough to benefit from this. It could also pave the way for other minority faiths to gain charitable status. Read full story from fourteantimes.com

Trick or Treating Debate: Saturday or Sunday?
There is a bit of a controversy brewing in this year’s Halloween cauldron over when to Trick or Treat. Each October 31st, little vampires, witches, ballerinas, and astronauts know it is time to head outside to fill their baskets, pillow cases, and buckets with candy.

But what happens when Halloween falls on a Sunday? Read full story from cnn.com

What, no pumpkins? Before Halloween went to Hollywood. .
Say the word ‘Halloween’ in most parts of the world, and the reaction will be: pumpkins, candy apples, trick or treating, lanterns, fancy-dress parties, and of course, teenagers getting sliced and diced in leafy Californian suburbs by masked maniacs with mommy issues.

Halloween, after all, is as American as apple pie and the Fourth of July, right? Read full story from independent.ie

Baltic diaspora and the rise of Neo-Paganism
RIGA – An interesting follow-up to last week’s article on the status of religion in the Baltics concerns the religious beliefs of the Baltic diaspora. Not often discussed, the religious tendencies of Latvians abroad do differ from Latvians in the homeland. In addition, the revival of ancient religions and neo-pagan movements also tend to have their base, not in the land where they began, but in the U.S. and Canada.

Ruta, age 86, came to Minnesota from a German displaced persons (DP) camp sponsored by the Lutheran church in 1950. Her story is nearly identical to thousands of others from Balts seeking to start a new life abroad after World War II. She explains in her own words what religion means to her. Read full story from baltictimes.com

Hitler, The Holocaust and the Vatican’s Blood Libel Against Paganism
Today, many people erroneously believe that there is a vast difference between Paganism and the Occult. This is a common and understandable misconception; therefore I shall try to shed a little more light on the subject.

Paganism is an earth-orientated way of intimately synchronising oneself with the planet that we call home and the changing seasonal cycles, for the benefit of self and others. Read full story from ufodigest.com

Burning Holy Books Is A Loathsome Act: Prof. John Hare
Prof. John E. Hare is the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at the Yale University’s Divinity School. A British classicist, philosopher and ethicist, he is the author of several well-known and best-selling books in religion and morality including “God and Morality: A Philosophical History”, “The Moral Gap”, “Ethics and International Affairs”, “Why Bother Being Good” and “Plato’s Euthyphro”.

John Hare has in his background the experience of teaching philosophy at the University of Lehigh from 1975 to 1989. In his “God’s Call” book, Hare discusses the divine command theory of morality, analyzing texts in Duns Scotus, Kant and contemporary moral theory. Read full story from eurasiareview.com

A Peek Inside a Haunted Mansion (Source mercurynews,com)

Zen at your desk: how to meditate (Source cnn.com)