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News & Submissions 3/3/2011

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

‘Witch’ killings described in book
A 350-year-old notebook which describes the execution of innocent women in East Anglia for consorting with the devil has been published online.

Puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington wrote passages on his attitudes to life, religion, the civil war as well as the witchcraft trials of the period.

By 1654 Wallington had catalogued 50 notebooks, of which only seven are known to have survived. Four are in the British Library, one in the Guildhall Library, one in the Folger Library in Washington DC, and one at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

The Tatton notebook describes battles and skirmishes of the English Civil War period and the disturbing violence of the 1640s in which dozens of East Anglian women were killed. Read full story from newsletter.co.uk

Government releases UFO sighting and policy files
(Reuters) – The government Thursday released 35 previously classified files documenting sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the military and members of the public dating back to the 1950s.

The files contain around 8,500 pages which mainly cover the period from 1997 to 2005 and include photographs, drawings and descriptions of flying saucer sightings, as well as letters the Ministry of Defence sent eyewitnesses in response to their accounts.

Policemen, a soldier, a RAF officer and members of the public report sightings of objects including a “chewy mint shaped solid craft” and aerial objects resembling a “ring,” a “jellyfish” and a “silver voile spin top.”

In one account a man said he believed he had been “abducted” by aliens in October 1998 after seeing an unidentified craft hover over his London home and finding he had gained an hour of time in the process. Read full story from reuters.com

My Take: The Bible really does condemn homosexuality
In her recent CNN Belief Blog post “The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality,” Jennifer Wright Knust claims that Christians can’t appeal to the Bible to justify opposition to homosexual practice because the Bible provides no clear witness on the subject and is too flawed to serve as a moral guide.

As a scholar who has written books and articles on the Bible and homosexual practice, I can say that the reality is the opposite of her claim. It’s shocking that in her editorial and even her book, Unprotected Texts, Knust ignores a mountain of evidence against her positions.

It raises a serious question: does the Left read significant works that disagree with pro-gay interpretations of Scripture and choose to simply ignore them?

Owing to space limitations I will focus on her two key arguments: the ideal of gender-neutral humanity and slavery arguments. Read full story from cnn.com

Spiritual panel explores ideals
The Nordic Lounge was host to the Anthropology Student Association and Pagan club’s Spirituality Panel on Thursday Feb. 24, where leaders and teachers from different faiths shared their personal stories and discussed the main aspects of their respective faiths.

Hinduism; Spirituality of Recovery Programs, also known as the 12 -Step Program; Asatru, a Norse/Germanic Paganism; Soka Gakkai, a form of Buddhism; and Wicca were represented.

The speakers talked about their faiths and shared with the audience their gods, myths and history.

Dennis Price, an undecided major, said, “I really am grateful that the Anthropology and Pagan Clubs make this possible for us. I think it is essential for us to know about the spiritual paths that they took. It’s like putting on different glasses to see different effects.” Read full story from lbcvikingnews.com

US declares eastern cougar extinct
WASHINGTON – The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern cougar officially extinct Wednesday, even though the big cat is believe to have first disappeared in the 1930s.

The eastern cougar is often called the “ghost cat” because it has been so rarely glimpsed in northeastern states in recent decades. It was first placed on the endangered species list in 1973. Read full story from rawstory.com

13 face charges of arson
THERE was pandemonium at the Naphuno magistrate’s court in Limpopo when 13 people appeared in court for allegedly burning the houses of people they accused of practising witchcraft.

The accused, all aged between 19 and 50 years, were arrested on Monday and appeared on Tuesday on charges of public violence.

Their appearance follows an incident at Santeng village outside Hoedspruit on Sunday when a group of angry villagers allegedly set alight seven houses belonging to people accused of practising witchcraft.

This followed allegations that a 13-year-old girl was caught naked casting a spell over a neighbour’s house just after midnight.

The girl was allegedly arrested and forced to appear before the village’s kangaroo court where she was grilled by the villagers. Read full story from sowetanlive.co.za

Grandmothers get support from safe
In most rural areas in Malawi, elderly people, who are not longer active and need the support of canes to walk, are always suspected of being witches.

One such victim of old age is Daitoni Wala of Nyanu Village, T/A Malemia in Zomba. He lost his wife and two children in 1954 due to a flood that hit Mulanje in the year. Since then, his life has been a misery. Wala says he used to live a good life until he lost his family. And as he grew older, he says, society became hostile towards him.

He says people in the community always suspect elderly people of witchcraft and blame them for any bad thing that happens in the community. Wala says he has no one to assist him and he lives alone in a house which is in a bad state.

However, his dream to live a better life may one day be realised even though he is old. The Sub-Saharan Family Enrichement (Safe), a non-governmental organisation working in Malawi, introduced a group called goo Grandmothers, to provide a support system for the elderly. Read full story from nationnw.net

Sweat lodge trial fuels Native American frustrations
Growing up on a reservation in lower Saskatchewan, Alvin Manitopyes learned early to respect the sweat lodge. He was 10 when he attended his first sweat ceremony, and for more than 15 years tribe elders instructed him in his people’s ways.

He understands the spiritual mandate he was given as a healer to serve as an intermediary between people and the spirit world. He carries with him the ancient ceremonial songs, passed on through generations.

He knows how the natural elements – earth, fire, water and air – work together to cleanse people, inside and out, and create balance. At 55, he has spent more than 20 years conducting ceremonies in sweat lodges, where water is poured over hot lava rocks as part of a purifying ritual.

“If you have the right to do it, then the environment you’re creating is a safe place,” says Manitopyes, a public health consultant in Calgary, Alberta, who is Plains Cree and Anishnawbe. “But today we have all kinds of people who observe what’s going on and think they can do it themselves. … And that’s not a safe place to be.” Read full story from cnn.com

Funeral protest ruling painful but right
(CNN) — The Supreme Court ruled that a Kansas church whose members travel the country to protest at military funerals, holding signs that say “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God blew up the troops,” has a right to continue such demonstrations.

The case was brought by Albert Snyder, whose 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq in 2006. The family-dominated Westboro Baptist Church, run by Fred Phelps, protested at Matthew Snyder’s funeral to spread their opinion that American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for U.S. immorality and tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.

CNN.com talked to CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin about Snyder v. Phelps, which pitted the right of families to grieve in privacy against the First Amendment right to free expression. Read full story from cnn.com

Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
Led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, a group of scientists and journalists left Germany Tuesday, on a mission to Guatemala in search of a lost Maya treasure allegedly submerged under Lake Izabal.

According to the German newspaper Bild, which sponsored the expedition, the expedition includes two reporters from the publication, a photographer, a television camera, and a professional diver who will submerge into Lake Izabal in an attempt to find eight tons of gold said to have been lost there. Read full story from foxnews.com

Charlie Sheen, you are sooo hexed!
A trio of Salem witches, offended by Hollywood hell-raiser Charlie Sheen’s proclamation that he is a “warlock,” are planning a spiritual housecleaning for the “Two and a Half Men” train wreck in the Witch City on Sunday.

“If he doesn’t get some spiritual help, he could end up dead,” said a witch who goes by the name of Lorelei. Just Lorelei. She’s hosting the Sheen-orcism at her witchcraft emporium Crow Haven Corner.

So what will you do Sunday, Loreliei?

“Sacrifice him,” deadpanned the witch, who was immediately chastised by her conjuring colleague Christian Day.

“We’re going to use high ritual and high magic to give him all the help he needs,” declared Christian.

Salem’s sorcerers have their cloaks in a twist ever since Sheen, in an interview with “Today,” said CBS had “picked a fight with a warlock.” Day, a self-proclaimed warlock and the owner of Hex, an “Olde World Witchery” shop, said Charlie seems to be confusing warlocks with warlords. Read full story from bostonherald.com

The Great Debate – What is Life? (source The Science Network)

Richard Dawkins on his book The God Delusion – full show (souirce Youtube – AllenGregg)

Tags: arson, Asatru, Buddhism, Charlie Sheen, Devil, Eastern Cougar, funeral protest, Ghost Cat, God, hexed, Hinduuism, Homosexuality, Native American, Norse/Germanic Paganism, Pagan, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Soka Gakka, Spells, The Bible, The God Delusion, The Nordic Lounge, UFO, Warklock, Wicca, Witch, witchcraft
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Sunday Morning Post

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

Welcome to juju nation!
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is home to some of the most devout Christians and Muslims in the world. The composition of the population is about 50-50, with the believers enjoying unprecedented peace and harmony, as they go about their worship since Independence nearly 50 years ago. Therefore, the findings of a recent survey that lists Tanzanians among the leading believers in witchcraft and worshippers of traditional African religions in sub-Saharan Africa will come as a surprise to many.

The report has revealed that although the majority are either churchgoers or attend prayers in mosques, a good number of them still believe in witchcraft, evil spirits, sacrifices to ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation and other elements that are the cornerstones of traditional African religions.

More than half of the people surveyed between December 2008 and April 2009 in 19 countries, including Tanzania, in the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project of the United States, confirmed that they practise superstition and trust the supernatural world of spirits. In the five-member East African Community (EAC), Tanzanians were said to be the most superstitious and ranked third after Senegal and Mali, among the 19 countries. Burundians are the least superstitious in the EAC, followed by the Rwandese and Kenyans. Ugandans are the second most superstitious in the EAC, and came 11th in the survey. Read full story from thecitizen.co.tz

Lafayette gives psychic business evil eye
Lafayette city officials are dusting off a little-known municipal code in an attempt to shut down a self-proclaimed psychic who police say misled customers into giving up thousands of dollars.

On Thursday, the city issued a cease-and-desist letter to Patricia Johns, owner of Astrology Gallery on South Street, said Ed Chosnek, the city’s attorney. If she doesn’t shut down the business soon, the city will consider legal action.

“Not within hours, but within days of the receipt of the letter we expect her to be in compliance with the ordinance,” Chosnek said.

He said Johns is violating a code on the books since at least the 1970s. It bans fortune-tellers and clairvoyants from profiting off those services.

Johns came to the city’s attention after police heard from two of her former customers. They said they were misled into giving Johns cash or items worth $80,000, said Lafayette Police Detective B.T. Brown. Read full story jconline.com

Pagans campaign for Census voice
Pagans are campaigning for druids and witches to declare their religious affiliation in next month’s Census to gain greater recognition for the group.

The Pagan Federation says it wants the same recognition as other faiths.

Secularists say the optional question about what religion people are could lead to artificially large numbers identifying themselves as Christian.

That in turn could lead to an over-provision of faith schools, the British Humanist Association argues. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Neglected graves home to ‘invisible dead’
Gore, Georgia (CNN) — Duncan Shropshire stops at the edge of the treeline, where the meadow becomes a forest. His yellow linen shirt is misbuttoned and crooked, leaving the bottom of his belly slightly exposed.

His 8-year-old daughter, Mia-Grace, stands a foot or so behind him, wiping her runny nose with the sleeve of her blue sweatshirt. After about a minute, she lets out a sigh of boredom.

Shropshire, 51, clasps his daughter’s hand and begins leading her into the Northwest Georgia forest.

“This is where your ancestors are buried, back here,” Shropshire says. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

And with a loving tug, Duncan Shropshire shares with his daughter a key piece of their family’s history. Read full story from cnn.com

Ancient child burial site found in Alaska
Alaska researchers have found the cremated remains of a 3-year-old child whose parents were among the first immigrants to North America, crossing over the then-existing land bridge from Asia to the New World through the region known as Beringia.

The 11,500-year-old remains were found buried on the banks of the Tanana River in the hearth of what appears to be a summer home for the early Beringians, the earliest known habitation for these first American settlers.

Archaeologists already know quite a bit about these early people based on sites where the groups gathered briefly to hunt, skin and consume large game, said archaeologist Frank E. “Ted” Goebel of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the current research. Read full story from latimes.com

Listening to dreams can help build self-esteem
Jan Brehm of Portland woke up from a dream confused and shaken to her core. Lisa Espich of Tucson woke so deeply disturbed by a dream featuring her husband that she knew her marriage would never be the same. Jennifer Lambert of Virginia Beach felt such agitation over her dream that she cried for 30 minutes straight when she woke up — and then called her sister, from whom she’d long been estranged.

Dreams can rock us, scare us, and in some cases, inspire us. But is listening to our dreams right up there with calling a psychic hotline? Not at all, say leading experts. “People are now using their dreams as tools to make their lives better,” comments Marcia Emery, PhD, a psychologist at Holos University.

Don’t be robbed of a good night’s sleep! Use these strategies to get your zzzz’s.

This is relatively newfound respect. Many researchers used to believe that dreams simply reflected the random firing of nerve signals while we sleep. “The thinking was that the dreams were meaningless and didn’t serve any function at all,” says Harvard psychology professor Deirdre Barrett, PhD. But today, many scientists feel that dreams play the vital role of clarifying what truly matters to us. “Dreaming is thinking — just in a different biochemical state,” explains Dr. Barrett, author of “The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Dreams for Creative Problem-Solving — and How You Can Too.” “It’s a mode of contemplation that’s much more visual, intuitive, and emotional, as opposed to the patterns of waking thought.” Read full story from msnbc.com

Voodoo sex ceremony starts fatal fire, officials say
New York (CNN) — Candles used in voodoo sex ceremony caused a fatal five alarm fire after they tipped over and ignited bed sheets in a Brooklyn, New York, apartment, authorities said Friday.

The fire left an elderly woman dead and injured 20 firefighters and three Brooklyn residents, according to a New York Fire Department statement.

A voodoo priest allegedly placed the candles on the floor around the bed on Saturday after a woman paid him $300 to perform a ceremony with a sexual component, that was meant to bring her good luck, fire department officials said. Read full story from cnn.com

Book bound in human skin goes on display in Devon
When Devon murderer George Cudmore was sentenced to hang at the Lent Assizes in 1830, he knew that part of his sentence was that his dead body would be taken to an Exeter hospital to be dissected.

What he probably was not aware of was that a chunk of his skin would eventually be flayed, tanned and used to cover an 1852 copy of The Poetical Works of John Milton.

The book is now housed at the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter.

It will go on show to the public for the first time on 26 February as part of Devon’s annual Local History Day. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Tags: Ancient burial site, Dreams, Druids, Evil eye, graves, Immigrants, Invisible dead, Pagan, Psychic, Religion, self-esteem, Shamans, Voodoo, Wicca, wiccan, Witch, witchcraft
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Saturday Morning Post

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Toronto’s one-stop Occult Shop
The next time you’re satisfying a serious ice-cream craving at Dutch Dreams on Vaughan Road, wander a little bit north and you’ll find a large, white building containing an inconspicuous store framed by clouded windows. The red, weather-beaten, wooden sign hanging above the entrance reads, “The Occult Shop,” and despite its humble facade, the store serves as a gathering place for a range of spiritual subcultures in Toronto.

Tamarra and husband Richard James (pictured at right) opened The Occult Shop in 1979 at a location on Queen Street West (where Doc’s Leathers & Motorcycle Gear now resides). After a few years of moving around, they finally settled into their current home at 109 Vaughan, where they dole out spiritual advice with their herbs, incense and candles.

“We make sure that we know our product really, really well,” says Richard, who, with Tamarra, also also founded the Wiccan Church of Canada (WCC) around the same time that they opened the store. The church’s headquarters and main temple—which holds open rituals every Sunday at 7pm—is housed in the same building as The Occult Shop. The James started the group partly because of customer demand, but also to educate people on this often misunderstood faith. The church currently has a satellite temple in Hamilton and around 100 members, although Richard points out that that number fluctuates. Read full story from eyeweekly.com

It’s a witch…It’s a boat…It’s Salem
These three words, together with a logo that can be seen as either a sailboat or witch hat, were unveiled yesterday as a new brand Salem will use to sell itself.

“We want this to be a tool for communication and for sharing what we are here in Salem,” said Kate Fox, executive director of Destination Salem.

A nonprofit funded by a combination of city money and advertising dollars, Destination Salem is charged with promoting the city and attracting visitors. The group paid Rattle, a Beverly advertising, design and marketing firm, $25,000 to create the logo and tag line.

When it was first shown at the end of a video about the city, the Salem business owners and managers who gathered in a Peabody Essex Museum auditorium broke into applause.

“I’m super excited about it,” Mayor Kim Driscoll said. “What it says to me is that the more we change and grow, in many respects, the more we stay the same.”

The dual-purpose logo acknowledges Salem’s popular “Witch City” identity but also celebrates its maritime roots. Read full story from salemnews.com

Norse code as Vikings return to York
WE’RE used to seeing the occasional blood-spattered Viking wandering the streets of York. But for nine days you won’t be able to move for axe-wielding Norsemen, even when you are doing the weekly shop in Monks Cross.

Next weekend they will even be rampaging across the racecourse.

The annual Jorvik Viking Festival starts today and this year hundreds of warriors will descend on the city to commemorate King Ethelred’s battle to capture York. Read full story from yorkpress.co.uk

Thomas Reed Interview: Part 2 (Conclusion) (Video)
Well everyone, here it is! The long awaited conclusion of the Thomas Reed Interview. It’s been a long time coming and it took quite a lot of editing to get it to a manageable length but I did it.The Reed Saga is quite extraordinary and I hope I was able to do it justice. In the conclusion we talk to Tom about his mid to late abductions as well as those of his brother Matt. We also were able to speak with Debbie Kauble and get her input as well as a video clip she took during a MUFON investigation of Matt’s SUV after his latest experience. Read full story from ghosttheory.com

Renowned atheist draws crowd at Nova Southeastern
t was more than an hour before the biology professor walked onto stage at Nova Southeastern University, but dozens of fans had already lined up Thursday night in hopes of getting in to hear his much-anticipated speech.

Universities are naturally magnets for academics to talk about their study, but this was no average scientist.

A sold-out crowd was already inside.

If it’s possible to conceive a God of the world of atheism and evolutionary biology, Richard Dawkins would be hard to beat for the title.

One of the most prolific atheists and secular humanists living today, he spoke on “The Fact of Evolution” and his stance against creationism in an hour-long chat that spanned topics from philosophy and theology to biology and gene mutation. Read full story from miamiheral.com

Rob Zombie Talks ‘The Lords of Salem’
Rob Zombie is touching on some of his inspirations for his next film “The Lords of Salem.”A co-production between Haunted Movies (“Insidious”) and Alliance Films, “The Lords of Salem” is written and directed by Zombie (“The Devil’s Rejects,” “Halloween”).

The film will center on contemporary Salem, where the residents encounter a 300-year-old coven of demonic witches.

“I’m going to probably start pre-production in March,” Zombie said in an interview with List.co.uk. “Hopefully I’ll shoot it around June. … ‘Lords of Salem’ is an original idea, it’s a new thing. Read full story from rabiddoll.com

Why Are Some Paranormal Beliefs More Attractive to Males While Others Are More Appealing to Females?
There are interesting differences between men and women on so-called “paranormal beliefs,” such as the belief in astrology, ESP, UFOs, Bigfoot, and ghosts. An abundance of research in the sociology of religion has found that women are more spiritual than men in a variety of ways. Women are more likely to belong to conventional religious organizations and hold traditional religious beliefs. They are also much more likely than men to believe in psychic powers, astrology, the power of mediums, and ghosts.

Men are more likely than women to believe that some UFOs are extraterrestrial craft and about equally likely to believe in creatures such as Bigfoot. Concerning an escalation of participation to the level of active research, men are also more likely than women to pursue these beliefs by becoming Bigfoot or UFO “hunters.”

These discrepancies indicate that men have a tendency to approach the paranormal differently from women. Men are more likely to see the paranormal as a means of discovery—i.e., they hope to capture Bigfoot to prove to others that it is (empirically) real. Females are more likely to see the paranormal as a source of personal discovery and enlightenment, a route to achieving a more thorough understanding of themselves and their relations to other people. Such lines of interest may also be pursued in the effort to “become a better person.” scienceandreligiontoday.com

Buying a new home? Add a touch of witchcraft (source necn)

Couple Finds Image of Jesus in Wooden Chair (source ktla)

Tags: Atheist, ghost-hunters, Jesus, Jorvik Viking Festival, Norse, Occult, Pagan, Paranormal, Richard Dawkins, Rob Zombie, Salem, The Lords of Salem, Thomas Reed, UFOs, Vikings, Wicca, wiccan, Wiccan Church of Canada, Witch, witchcraft
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News & Submissions 2/18/2011

Friday, February 18th, 2011

PantheaCon 2011: Pan-pagan convention returns to San Jose on February 18
PantheaCon, an interfaith pagan convention that brings together thousands of people from across the United States, will be happening in San Jose, CA this coming President’s Day weekend.

The convention’s dates are Feb 18-21 and will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel. As usual for PantheaCon, they will be taking up the entirety of the hotel’s function space.

The theme for this year’s gathering is “Walking the Talk.” People who submitted presentations for the event were encouraged to focus on the meaning of that phrase for pagans in modern times. Read full story from examiner.com

Malawi’s jailed witches get a lease of life
A human rights group in Malawi is causing a stir as it embarks on a mission to gather 10,000 signatures from locals to force President Bingu wa Mutharika free several jailed witches.Association of Secular Humanism (ASH) says most of the convicts are women jailed for teaching witchcraft to children. Reports say some are doing jail time of up to six years.

“I’m asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts,” a senior official of the association, Harold Williams is quoted saying.

The petition reads: “Belief in witchcraft is widely held in Malawi by people of all levels of education and stature in society. Whereas the law does not accept the reality of witchcraft, the Police and judicial authorities, many of whom share the belief, distort the law to punish those who are accused of witchcraft”

“It is mainly the elderly, men and women, who are accused of witchcraft and there are many very elderly and infirm imprisoned throughout Malawi – sentenced for up to 6 years without anything that would pass as substantive evidence in courts which do not accept superstition and suspicion as adequate.”

“The Association of Secular Humanism in Malawi has made several attempts to persuade the authorities to release these unfortunates and has visited many in our prisons. We need your help!” Read full story from afrik-news.com

Witchcraft Legal Aid in Africa
NEW YORK — Accusations of witchcraft in Africa have gained increasing attention because of the severe impact they can have on the lives of those accused, including imprisonment, deprivation of property, banishment from villages and in some cases physical violence.The human-rights law program I direct recently partnered with an N.G.O. in Malawi to run a mobile legal-aid clinic focusing on witchcraft cases in two rural communities.

Men, women and children flocked to our clinic seeking legal assistance. The cases were challenging and engaged the question of how to confront accusations of witchcraft, particularly when children and elderly women disproportionately bear the brunt of such accusations.

The persecution of accused witches has not historically been confined to Africa. Witch-hunts have occurred in Europe, America, ancient Rome, Aztec Mexico, Russia, China and India. But the practice persists in poor settings in part because witchcraft can be used in communities without routine access to modern medicine and science to explain seemingly inexplicable instances of death and misfortune. Read full story from nytimes.com

‘Adventures’ every witch way in Salem
With its witch-hunt past and embrace of all things ethereal, Salem is hallowed ground for anyone interested in the paranormal.

So when the crew from the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” (tonight at 9) wanted to up the ante in season four, they pointed their Electronic Voice Phenomena recorders to the North Shore.

“I actually have been dying to come back to anywhere near my hometown for a couple years now,” “Ghost Adventures” investigator Nick Groff, a former Pelham, N.H., resident said. “Everybody knows about Salem, the witch trials, the movies — everything that’s been done here.” Read full story from bostonherald.com

New York City’s Official Apocalypse Manual
Should New York City face a “very grim” situation, the government has the right to “establish curfews, quarantine wide areas, close businesses, restrict public assemblies and, under certain circumstances, suspend local ordinances,” the New York Times explains in a feature this morning about the legal rulebook that governs potentially apocalyptic times. It’s terrifying in theory, but also very boring because it’s written by lawyers. The “New York State Public Health Legal Manual,” a/k/a The Oh My God We’re All Goin’ to Die book, “provides a catalog of potential terrorism nightmares, like smallpox, anthrax or botulism episodes.” But don’t worry, they have a plan. Read full story from villagevoice.com

New Bigfoot sighting near Pittsburgh
It was early Tuesday morning February 8th 2011, Sam was just exiting route 60 at about 7:45AM and about to turn into the PA turnpike when something odd caught his attention.The intersection was in the middle of a rolling landscape with hills on every side. The tenacious winter weather of the season had coated the hills with much snow, and every hill was glistening white in the early morning sun. But to his left a large dark brown figure stood out in stark contrast to the colorless background. It was a massive dark brown humanoid figure, trudging its way effortlessly through the deep snow that covered the hillside to his left. Sam was shocked and amazed. The figure was familiar to him, he had seen it so many times before on documentaries and cable television specials. He was watching a Bigfoot creature first hand from about 100 yards away. Read full story from examiner.com

Capture of wanted killer sheds light on life in polygamist cult
THE revelation that one of Australia’s most wanted killers took sanctuary in an obscure polygamist cult in the Cairns hinterland has finally lifted the veil on the secretive sect, which former followers say has thrived for more than 30 years.

Headed by millionaire property owner Daniel Landy-Ariel, the Jesus People preach an orthodox Christian lifestyle in which adherents speak ancient Aramaic and some forms of violence against women and children are allegedly encouraged.

Guided by their spiritual father, the cult’s 150 followers are crammed into urban properties in Sydney and Cairns, as well as three massive kibbutzes in remote areas of Queensland and NSW.

Police are now investigating the extent to which cult members may have sheltered convicted murderer Luke Andrew Hunter, 42, and whether or not they helped him obtain work with Queensland Health. Read full story from theaustralian.com

Cast Your Love Spell with a Love Potion
A love spell has been described as a positive love-thought that you send out to the universe as an affirmation in the way of an incantation, or simply in the form of a prayer, and then you visualize with intense feeling what you desire to attract to your life.

Put these ingredients of manifestation together with the power of a ritual and you have a love spell that is simply spell-binding! During my years of studying metaphysics I am honored to have close friends and soul sisters from my home land in Australia, Deborah Gray and my late friend Athena Starwoman, both self-confessed and practicing white witches who lived in a coven and follow a spiritual way of life.

Having kept such company, over the years a little of their white magic rubbed off, and for this Valentine’s Day, I have created a concoction suitable for your star sign so you can cast your very own love spell. Read full story from nydailynews.com

Tags: Apocalypse Manual, Bigfoot, Cult, interfaith, Love Spell, Pagan, Pan-Pagan, PantheaCon, Paranormal, Polygamist, Potion, Salem, Witch, Witch Hunt, witchcraft
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News & Submissions 2/17/2011

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Demand for uranium threatens Grand Canyon biodiversity
The natural beauty and unique species of the Grand Canyon are “in the crosshairs” because of renewed interest in the region’s uranium reserves. That is the warning from critics of the mines, ahead of the release of a government report on Friday on the potential impact of fresh mining.

Mining has been banned within the Grand Canyon national park since President Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1908. But since 2003, foreign companies have submitted 2,215 claims to prospect on the edge of the canyon.

Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, temporarily withdrew 1m acres of land from exploration in 2009 to allow time for an environmental assessment. Salazar must decide by July whether to ban “mineral entry” for two-thirds of the claims for the next 20 years.

Uranium deposits mineralise in 2,000-feet deep “breccia” pipes, a geological feature common to the world-famous golden brown sedimentary rock in the canyon. When left alone, the uranium is not harmful. But once dissolved in water, it can leach into springs and aquifers that then feed into the Colorado river, which ultimately supplies 18 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The water can remain contaminated for decades after a mine shuts. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

How a ‘teen witch’ found the Church
My parents bought me a cauldron for my 16th birthday. Providing no explanation, I had asked for that and a chalice. At a loss, mum suggested it would look nice outside with the geraniums.My interest in Wicca began as I entered my teens. Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Danger, the booklet I wrote recently as part of the Catholic Truth Society’s Explanations series, condenses – after some factual basics about the philosophy and practice of “white” witchcraft – the conversations I had with a Catholic friend and her family that eventually led to my conversion to the Catholic faith. The booklet has caused controversy on the blogosphere: it sold out on Amazon.com and cropped up on the websites of the Telegraph and Daily Mail. What began as a small document to inform Catholics about the realities of Wicca – eg that it isn’t Satanism – appears to have re-ignited the persecution complex among Wiccans that I was hoping to diffuse.

I am concerned that as a culture, perhaps as a Church, we can too easily dismiss the spiritual needs of young people. In my family, religion was something to explore and debate. Both my parents are Oxford graduates and historians, my father a Doctor of Maths and Philosophy. His atheism prevailed over my mother’s Anglicanism, and neither I nor my sister were baptised. Read full story from catholicherald.com

Ancient druid tradition workshops to be held this weekend
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Druidry means following a spiritual path rooted in the green earth, according to www.druidry.org.

It’s also known as a “mysterious school of the ancient Celts, one that has been successfully revived by modern practitioners,” say organizers of a Druid workshop and ceremony series happening this weekend.

Its connection with nature is part of what drew Annie Caskey of Grand Junction to study the ancient tradition for the past three years.

She and her husband are “ovates” the second level of study, between a bard and a druid. Read full story from gjfreepress.com

Statue of Akhenaton, Other Stolen Egyptian Antiquities Recovered
CAIRO – A Cairo teenager found a priceless statue of Pharaoh Akhenaton near a garbage bin after it was stolen from the Egyptian Museum during anti-regime protests, Egypt’s antiquities chief said Thursday.

The museum’s world-renowned collection was burgled and several artifacts went missing last month, including statues of King Tutankhamun and Pharaoh Akhenaton — and many of the looted antiquities have been returned or discovered, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

In addition to the Akhentaon statute, the missing Heart Scarab of Yuya was recovered near the museum gardens, where wooden fragments belonging to a damaged coffin were also found. A search team found one of the eleven missing shabtis of Yuya and Thuya underneath a showcase. Fragments belonging to the statue of Tutankhamun being carried by the goddess Menkaret have been found; all the located fragments belong to the figure of Menkaret. Read full story from foxnews.com

What caused the revolution in Egypt?
When interpreting something like the Egyptian upheaval, people tend to project their own passions on to the screen. The twitterati see a social media revolution, the foodies see food price hikes at its core, others see a hunger for democratisation, human rights groups see a backlash against routine torture and abuse. So I thought I’d try to pull together and categorise the full range of different “drivers of change” involved in bringing about a revolution.

First, consider the demographics: an explosive mix of high population growth, leading to a “youth bulge”, combined with urbanisation, jobless growth partly linked to structural adjustment, and the rapid expansion of university education has produced what the BBC’s Paul Mason calls “a new sociological type, the graduate with no future”. Two-thirds of Egyptians are under 30, and each year 700,000 new graduates chase 200,000 new jobs. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Senate Passes Bill To Teach Bible In Ky. Schools (video)
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Bible classes could be taught in Kentucky public schools under a bill that’s made it halfway through the legislature.

State Senator Joe Bowen wants Kentucky public school students to have an opportunity to take classes about the bible.

“No doubt about it, the most important book ever written and obviously, it’s had so much influence on our society and all of western civilization,” Bowen said. Read full story from wlky.com

Solar flare eruptions set to reach Earth
Scientists around the world will be watching closely as three eruptions from the Sun reach the Earth over Thursday and Friday.

These “coronal mass ejections” will slam into the Earth’s magnetic shield.

The waves of charged solar particles are the result of three solar flares directed at Earth in recent days, including the most powerful since 2006.

The biggest flares can disrupt technology, including power grids, communications systems and satellites.

The northern lights (Aurora Borealis) may also be visible further south than is normally the case – including from northern parts of the UK.

“Our current view is that the effect of the solar flare is likely to reach Earth later today (Thursday GMT), possibly tomorrow morning,” said Alan Thomson, head of geomagnetism at the British Geological Survey (BGS). Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Montana governor threat: shoot wolves now, ask questions later
(Reuters) – Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer declared on Wednesday he was ready to order state game officials to kill off entire wolf packs in defiance of federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the two-term Democrat cited his authority as governor to uphold citizens’ rights “to protect their property and to continue to enjoy Montana’s cherished wildlife heritage and traditions.”

Schweitzer said he was driven to act out of an urgent need to assist ranchers and sportsmen left unable to control wolves posing a serious threat to livestock and elk herds.

“If there is a dang wolf in your corral attacking your pregnant cow, shoot that wolf. And if its pals are in the corral, shoot them, too,” Schweitzer told Reuters in a telephone interview. Read full story from reuters.com

Delivered in a Daydream: 7 Great Achievements That Arose from a Wandering Mind
The ability to concentrate on a task is a prized skill—the secret to success, many claim. But recent research suggests that intense focus on a problem does not always usher the fastest progress or, at least, such focus is not always sufficient for the necessary brainstorm. Insights often occur subconsciously while the mind wanders, reports Josie Glausiusz in the March/April Scientific American MIND. Albert Einstein, for example, came up with his theory of relativity only after letting his thoughts stray from the mathematics itself. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

MPM brings mummies to life: Better than zombies?
The Milwaukee Public Museum is hosting what is considered the largest exhibition of mummies and related artifacts ever assembled.The purpose of the exhibition is to show viewers the various processes of mummification, and how and why today’s researchers study mummies. Throughout the exhibit, several scientific techniques are described, such as the use of MRIs, radiocarbon dating, and rapid prototyping, a process that allows three-dimensional replicated models of the specimens to be created. These tools help researcher study the dead without disturbing their natural state.

Representatives of U.S. religious, university, and medical organizations assisted in developing the exhibition. The mummies and artifacts on display are from 20 museum and university collections around the world, according to information provided in the exhibit. Read full story from thedigitalnp.com

Dr. Phil exposes suspected Chimayo cult (source krqe)

Dr. Phil exposes suspected Chimayo cult: krqe.com

Tags: Akhenaton, Bible, Brian Schweitzer, Church, Cult, Druid tradition, Earth, Egypt, Egyptian Antiquities, Grand Canyon, Mummies, Pagan, Revolution, solar Flare, Spells, Uranium, Wicca, Witch, witchcraft, Wolves, Zombies
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News & Submissions 2/8/2011

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray From Lesson Plan
Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national surveyof more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation’s classrooms.

Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

That leaves what the authors call “the cautious 60 percent,” who avoid controversy by endorsing neither evolution nor its unscientific alternatives. In various ways, they compromise.

The survey, published in the Jan. 28 issue of Science, found that some avoid intellectual commitment by explaining that they teach evolution only because state examinations require it, and that students do not need to “believe” in it. Others treat evolution as if it applied only on a molecular level, avoiding any discussion of the evolution of species. And a large number claim that students are free to choose evolution or creationism based on their own beliefs. Read full story from nytimes.com

Catholics change position on Wicca and witchcraft
London, UK – According to Elizabeth Dodd, a former Wiccan, in her pamphlet: Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Danger, published by the Vatican associated publisher, the Catholic Truth Society in England, the Roman Catholic Church has changed its position on the treatment of persons who are Wiccans and witches. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353517/Catholic-Church-issues-guide-convert-Harry-Potter-witches-Christianity.html;http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/04/catholic-church-issues-guide-on-how-to-convert-witches. In the guide, the author says that it is important to recognize that Wiccans are on a genuine spiritual quest providing a starting point for dialog that may lead to their conversion. She goes on to say that “whether spellwork is effective or not has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another.”John Lenz, the assistant manager of the popular Kansas City religious bookstore, Aquarius Books, and a Second Degree Initiate of Wicca, commented on the statements in the article. He noted that most former Catholic witches have left the Church because they have been “bludgeoned” with the Love of Christ. He means that they have been told that to believe in a spiritual path not approved by the Church would be a sure pathway to hell and that because people love you and want to help you, you should not follow this path. He points out that true followers of the Path of Wicca do not believe in harming others as the adopt the creed of Wicca, which is “Do what thou willst, harming none.” Read full story from wwrn.org

Which witches?
A while back I watched a rather chilling history program about the occult, witchcraft and witches down through the ages. I guess the main object was to establish as undeniable fact that such things do exist.

With the plethora of horrendously violent, gory and mind-boggling computer-enhanced movies and TV productions roaring forth nowadays, a lot of it replete with magic, the occult and just plain horror, I suppose that younger folks would have thought this was pretty innocuous and boring stuff. Asked if they believe in witches, and they’d probably answer: “which ones?” But, to me, it’s rather disturbing to consider how prevalent such evil activities actually are and, apparently, have always been.

I have a rather large book that traces a branch of my ancestry about 500 years back into England from whence my English ancestor immigrated to America in 1626. I remembered even that obscure genealogical volume contained some reference to witchcraft, so I looked it up and re-read it. Read full story from thetandd.com

St Brigid, a pagan goddess turned christian saint in Ireland
Spring in Ireland officially starts on St Brigids Day which is February the 1st in our calendar? Which may not be accurate as this is a celebration that has its roots along way back in pre-christian times, some 6000 years ago actually when there was no written tradition. Like many other cultures around the world female deities ruled supreme, the similarities between Egyptian mythology and Irish mythology being quite remarkable? For example most people will be familiar with Egyptian ritual from the Book of the Dead, of Isis breathing life into the mummified corpse, well not many know that the same scene is depicted in stone at the foot of a high cross in Ireland. Read full story from irishcentral.com

Romania may get even tougher on witches
BUCHAREST, Romania — There’s more bad news in the cards for Romania’s beleaguered witches.

A month after Romanian authorities began taxing them for their trade, the country’s soothsayers and fortune tellers are cursing a new bill that threatens fines or even prison if their predictions don’t come true.

Superstition is a serious matter in the land of Dracula, and officials have turned to witches to help the recession-hit country collect more money and crack down on tax evasion.

Witches argue they shouldn’t be blamed for the failure of their tools.

“They can’t condemn witches, they should condemn the cards,” Queen Witch Bratara Buzea told The Associated Press by telephone. Read full story from washingtonpost.com

What gets on your Wiccan?
There’s no denying the appeal of witches. When I was a teenager I was dead keen on the notion of being one. Partly this is because teenage girls are mental, partly it was because I am of a generation that has been exposed to a lot of Duran Duran music videos and cinematic adaptations of Stephen King novels, hence I was of the belief that exercising witchly powers would also involve dramatic backlighting and some kind of localised wind generation that would make your hair look all supernatural and cool. So clearly, my interest was deeply spiritual.

And this interest was very superficial. I never read any books on Witchcraft or attempted any spells. Why spend time gathering ingredients, following a specific set of instructions and then crossing your fingers that it all works if you don’t get a banana cake at the end of it? Madness.

No, really any tendency toward the Wiccan crafts that I might have had was slight and probably stemmed from a love of the book The Changeover by Margaret Mahy as well as a general feeling that I was a bit of a dork and wouldn’t it be cool if you could get the upper hand with some kind of magic (because sure as eggs, I wasn’t going to get anywhere on social cachet alone, given that I didn’t have any). And then I grew up and realised that a good vocabulary, manners, and confident demeanour (faked) could be just as useful. And suddenly a desire to do magic only reared its hopeful head in the changing cubicles in women’s fashion outlets. Basically, I figured out that I don’t need so much of a helping hand as I may have thought (except with skinny jeans). But I did think it would be cool to make stuff fly across the room (Lord knows it’s sometimes a chore getting up to fetch that remote control from the coffee table). Read full story from stuff.co.nz

Jury told of ‘witch stuff’, then killing
A man accused of a stabbing death then inflicting knife wounds to himself, claimed the dead man had been calling up Maori gods and going on about “witch stuff’, a jury in the High Court at Rotorua was told today.On trial is Christopher Allan Heenan, 51, an artist, carver and tattooist, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Raukawa Newton, 38, at Rotorua on October 11, 2007.

Opening the Crown’s case, prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said Newton had suffered from a bi-polar illness but with medication this was under control at the time of his death, although his condition could be aggravated by alcohol. Read full story from tvnz.co.nz

Revisiting the “Moon”: An Interview with Ben Whitmore
Ben Whitmore shares what led him to author of a critique of Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon.

Editor’s Note: Ben Whitmore is an Alexandrian High Priest, Co-Freemason, Morris dancer, artist, and software engineer. He is the author of Trials of the Moon: Reopening the Case for Historical Witchcraft, a critique of Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. You can read an excerpt of his book on his website. He lives in rural Auckland, New Zealand, with his partner and daughter. Read full story from pantheos.com

Revisiting the “Moon”: An Interview with Ben Whitmore

Ben Whitmore shares what led him to author of a critique of Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon.

Show: Is Church of Scientology violating human rights? (source Youtube – engramBT)

Colbert: Bill O’Reilly Believes God is the Answer to Everything (source Colbert Nation)

The Colbert Report

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Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Christian, Creationism, God, Moon, Pagan, Romania, Scientology, Spells, St. Brigid, Wicca, wiccan, Witch, witchcraft
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News & Submissions 2/3/2011

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

How to convert witches to Catholicism
Witches can and should be converted to Catholicism, according to a robust new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society that portrays spell-casting as spiritually empty, exhausting and immoral. Instead of “seeking to change God’s mind or violently alter his plans through circle-casting”, it says, Wiccans should be encouraged to surrender this often frightening burden and accept the love of Christ.

In other words, come to Mass, leaving your broomstick at the door.

Actually, I should make it clear that Wicca & Witchcraft: Understanding the dangers by Elizabeth Dodd doesn’t make any silly cracks about broomsticks. But I can’t resist. There’s no eco-bore like a Wiccan eco-bore. I’ve met a few and, believe me, you need to be under a spell to sit through a three-hour whinge about Mother Gaia from a practitioner of white magick. It makes one long for the days when witches restricted themselves to a quick cackle before riding off into the night. (Just kidding, witches and pagans! Seriously, last time I had a go at them they reported me to the Press Complaints Commission, which proved resistant to their magick.) Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

Pagan Spirit Gathering Moves to Illinois
Pagan Spirit Gathering, one of America’s oldest and largest outdoor Pagan festivals, has announced that it has moved its base of operations from Missouri to Illinois. This is the festival’s second move since cutting ties in 2009 with Wisteria (and Ohio-based Pagan-friendly campground). Read full story from wildhunt.org

Coffin abandoned in woods sparks mystery
About a month ago, Scott Owens set out to find a prime fishing spot near Slidell.

The 37-year-old outdoors photographer from River Ridge thought he had found one off winding, tree-lined McManus Road. But before he crossed the woods and got to the water, he stumbled across an open and empty casket that might have been unearthed from a nearby graveyard that was flooded during Hurricane Katrina.

Owens, struck by the mystery of whom it belonged to, called a local television news reporter. The reporter notified authorities and aired a story about the discovery during the weekend, launching an effort to find the deceased person’s relatives and properly recover the coffin.

But on Monday, coroner’s office investigators determined that the woman who once rested in the casket is indeed properly buried. Though Hurricane Katrina’s flooding unearthed the coffin years ago, authorities subsequently managed to recover the remains and bury them again; the funeral box, however, was apparently discarded nearby and forgotten. Read full story from nola.com

The stuff of folklore
THE Rabbit or Hare is an emblem of longevity and is regarded as a symbol of fertility or innocence (a prey animal). The fourth animal sign in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac, the Rabbit has built a legend that revolves around the Moon.

In Chinese astrology, the year 2011 is said to be the Year of the Rabbit.

According to Chinese folklore, the white Hare with its gleaming fur is a divine creature that has lived 1,000 years. Its coat was blue if it lived only 500 years, according to author Ruth Q. Sun in The Asian Animal Zodiac.

Legend has it that during the Chou Dynasty, white hares once frisked on the streets of Ch’ang-an, the capital city. Thereafter, it became customary that whenever a white hare was found, it would be caught and delivered to the emperor. Read full story from thestar.com

Vikings considered Stone Age objects ‘to have magical qualities’
Oslo, Feb 3 (ANI): Vikings considered Stone Age objects to have magical qualities, and such ‘antiques’ were more important in Viking culture than previously understood, according to new archaeological findings.

Excavation of around 10 Viking graves in Rogaland, southwest Norway, had uncovered Stone Age items, such as weapons, amulets and tools.

Olle Hemdorff of Archaelogical Museum in Stavanger told Aftenposten newspaper that he believes these items were buried so that ‘they would protect and bring luck to the dead in the after-life’. Read full story from yahoo.com

Chilean miner sheds light on underground religious life
One of the rescued Chilean miners shed new light Thursday on the intense religious and spiritual experiences of many of the miners while trapped underground for 52 days last year, saying that faith was a key part of surviving t he ordeal.

“We realized we had only one alternative and that was God himself,” said Jose Henriquez in an address to the National Prayer Breakfast on in Washington, speaking to a crowd that included President Barack Obama.

“We were different creeds and churches,” Henriquez said, speaking in Spanish with simultaneous translation. “So I got them in a circle and made sure everyone could pray in a participatory fashion. And as we prayed we began to know the presence and blessing among us of God in the mine. We were strengthened, our spirits were revived.” Read full story from cnn.com

Download: Cult Of Youth’s Unnerving Goth-Folk Terror “New West”
Lean toward the folksy and brooding? Not afraid of the dark? Chances are you’ll bump into Cult of Youth frontman Sean Ragon in 2011, as his New Year’s resolutions seem to make him the busiest man in the Brooklyn indie underground. After quitting his house-painting job and vowing to go “all in,” Ragon has become a black-clad mogul-in-training. There’s his vintage record store, Heaven Street, located in the back of Greenpoint’s Fox & Fawn: “As far as used vinyl goes, it’s highly edited, so no endless rows of Molly Hatchet records.” There’s his record label, Blind Prophet: “I’m up to the fifth release now — the amazing debut LP from the Argentinean duo Mueran Humanos, out Valentine’s Day.” And of course, there’s his own band, Cult of Youth, which has evolved from a bedroom project into a fleshed-out goth-folk-punk terror. Mixing the unnerving shanties of The Wicker Man with the post-apocalyptic strum of Current 93 or Angels of Light, Cult of Youth is definitely walking in the shadows, even if their jaunty, fiery grooves remind us more of Wall of Voodoo, Adam Ant, and Big Country. The Morricone-core of “New West” is the first track off their self-titled debut (due February 22 on Sacred Bones), a rollicking dust-sucker that teams a Gun Club-style twang-punk screed with soaring strings and post-industrial ‘tude. Read full story from villagevoice.com

TRENDING: Obama delivers major speech on personal faith
President Barack Obama gave an unusually personal speech about his religious faith on Thursday, saying that “it is the biblical injunction to serve the least of these that keeps me going and keeps me from being overwhelmed,” in address to a prayer breakfast in Washington.

The speech, delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast, comes on the heels of public opinion surveys that show only a minority of Americans know that Obama is a Christian and that a growing number believe he’s a Muslim. Read full story from cnn.com

Visitors to Reading shop say Virgin Mary statue is crying
READING, Ohio – Some are calling it a miracle.

There is a statue of the Virgin Mary that appears to be crying tears inside a Reading shop.

In the back of the small shop is a statue of Mother Mary. It looks like she is weeping and there are two teardrops on her face.

The statue of Mother Mary crying inside Our Lady Queen of Reading religious lending library is bringing tears to some visitors’ eyes. Read full story from wcpo.com

Tags: Chinese zodiac, Christian, Coffin, Cult of Youth, Folklore, God, Hare, Hurricane Katrina, Muslim, Pagan, Pagan Spirit Gathering, Rabbit, Religion, Virgin Mary, Wicca, Witch, witchcraft
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News & Submissions 1/27/2011

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Pagan Studies Conference a success
Pagan scholars discussed “Building Community” on Jan. 22 and 23 at the 7th Annual Conference of Current Pagan Studies in Claremont. More than 70 Pagans gathered to hear the ideas and results of research by the 27 Pagan scholars, researchers and leaders who came from greater LA as well as from other areas of the country.

They gathered to discuss issues that relate to the Pagan community at large. It is important to that community’s health and growth to meet and learn from one another. It’s also important for all Pagans to be involved in the public arena and have their voices heard. With an estimate of over a million Americans now self-identified as Pagan, the Pagan religion is coming of age. And it is feeling, now more than ever, the need for trained leaders and clergy to build stronger Pagan communities that also see themselves as a part of a larger community. Read full story from examiner.com

Rabbis warn Rupert Murdoch: Fox News and Glenn Beck ‘using’ Holocaust
Four hundred rabbis, including the leaders of all the main branches of Judaism in the US, have signed an open letter calling on Rupert Murdoch to sanction the head of Fox News and one of the channel’s most famous hosts for frequent inappropriate references to the Nazis and the Holocaust.

The rabbis chose a poignant place to make their protest: they took out an advert costing at least $100,000 in one of Murdoch’s own newspapers, the Wall Street Journal. The advert was printed today – the UN-designated Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In the letter, the Jewish coalition calls on Murdoch to take action against Roger Ailes, the bombastic president of Fox News, as well as against Glenn Beck, the channel’s most notorious rightwing commentator. “We share a belief that the Holocaust, of course, can and should be discussed appropriately in the media. But that is not what we have seen at Fox News,” the letter says. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Do You Need an Exorcism? Take the Quiz!
Anthony Hopkins portrays Father Lucas Trevant, a veteran exorcist, in the new film The Rite, which opens Friday. The story follows Trevant as he teaches a younger priest how to tell if a person is possessed by a demon, and what to do if that is indeed the case.

Many religions claim that humans can be possessed by demonic spirits, and offer remedies to address this inconvenience. The Bible recounts six instances of Jesus casting out demons, while voodoo and Catholicism proscribe elaborate rituals and cleansings to remove spiritual stains.

The Vatican (which, as the film accurately notes, offers courses on exorcisms) accepts only a small percentage of demonic possessions as “authentic,” which of course suggests that there are a lot of unauthentic cases of possession out there. The Vatican issued official guidelines on exorcism in 1614, and revised them in 1999. Read full story from discovery.com

Popularity of vampires spawns subculture, scholar says
(Reuters) – They work as doctors and lawyers by day but lurk as vampires by night. While they may not wish to suck your blood, there are plenty of willing victims on tap, according to a top U.S. scholar on a subculture that emulates the undead.

Idaho State University sociologist D.J. Williams, newly hired as a consultant for a proposed television documentary about “self-identified vampires,” said true modern acolytes of Dracula seek consensual blood-sharing relationships.

The popular fascination with vampires dates back to the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, and later books such as Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles.”

But it exploded in recent years with the best-selling “Twilight” series of novels by Stephenie Meyer and movie adaptations. The seductive vampire character Edward Cullen in the movie, played by actor Robert Pattinson, became a teen idol and made vampires cool. Read full story from reuters.com

Woman claims literal witch hunt in dead cats case
A Jackson County woman charged for keeping more than 100 dead cats in a freezer says she is being persecuted because she practices the Wiccan religion.

Gabriella Bernabei, 46, and her husband, Robert J.A. Grassi, 56, are charged with child neglect, 16 misdemeanor counts of intentional mistreatment of animals and a felony count of animal mistreatment.

Grassi has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that calls for probation. Bernabei has vowed to fight the charges.

“It’s a total all-out assault with everything that’s got to do with my religion, with my cats and how I look,” Bernabei said. “It’s a witch hunt.” Read full story from lacrossetribune.com

New course reconnects students with nature
A new 12-credit learning community will focus on the importance of reconnecting with nature. The series, which is now open to students eligible for advanced registration, will consist of three different courses that meet different requirements for the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree in ecology, religion and political science.

Jerry Hall, a retired faculty instructor, spearheaded the program’s creation. Hall, a Native American, offers a cultural perspective central to the themes within the sequence.

Stan Taylor, chairman of the Lane Peace Center, teaches the Environmental Politics course in the module said that students studying in learning communities have a very unique learning experience. “Students in learning communities form lasting relationships. The experience for many is very transformative,” Taylor said.

Clif Trolin, who teaches the Nature, Religion and Ecology class, said the course of study includes a Native American perspective and has both a scientific and cultural view that fits well with his religion class. Read full story from lcctorch.com

Filmmaker Psychs Out Psychics and ET Believers
Many of us have given a few bucks to some alleged psychic to tell us stuff we already know, but what if you spent your entire life savings looking into the future, attempting to contact ghosts and protecting yourself from aliens?

That’s the premise behind filmmaker Blake Freeman’s newest documentary, “Gawd Bless America,” in which he travels across America with a 69-year-old “believer” named LeRoy Tessina who’s gone bankrupt after years of buying into fraudulent fortune-tellers and alien-protection devices.

In hopes of setting Tessina straight, the duo set out on a weird cross-country adventure to debunk self-proclaimed psychics, healers, alien-abduction experts and ghost hunters. Read full story from aolnews.com

“The Rite” stuff: interview with exorcist Fr. Gary Thomas
Since priests and demons frighten me, my colleague Peg Aloi, who in addition to being a fine critic and writer is also a practicing Wiccan, agreed to conduct this interview with the exorcist who inspired the new film “The Rite,” which opens Friday.

Here’s Peg’s story:

Father Gary Thomas is the subject of Matt Baglio’s book “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist” (Doubleday Religion), which was the inspiration for Mikael Hafstrom’s film “The Rite,” opening in theatres January 28, 2011. I spoke with Father Thomas on the phone last weekend, and excerpts from our conversation appear below. Read full story from thepheonix.com

U.S. missionary in Mexico fatally shot
(CNN) — An American missionary was fatally shot in Mexico on Wednesday, police said.

The preliminary investigation indicated that Nancy Davis, 59, and her husband were traveling on a Mexican highway near the city of San Fernando, Mexico, when they were confronted by gunmen in a black pickup, the Pharr Police Department in Texas said in a statement. San Fernando is south of the border city of Reynosa in Tamaulipas state.

“The gunmen were attempting to stop them and the victims accelerated in efforts of getting away from them,” the police statement said. “At a certain point the gunmen discharged a weapon at the victim’s vehicle and a bullet struck the victim Nancy Shuman Davis on the head.” Read full story from cnn.com

Tags: Demonic spirits, Dracula, Exorcism, ghost-hunters, Glenn Beck, Holocaust, Missionary, Native American, Nature, Pagan, Paganism, Psychics, Rabbis, Religion, Rupert Murdoch, Vampires, wiccan, Witch Hunt, witchcraft
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News & Submissions 1/19/2011

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

International Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2
Coming out to someone is a decision only you can make and it’s a decision best made when you are ready to do so. IPCOD encourages Pagans who are ready to come on out!

There are benefits, personally and for our religious community as a whole, as more Pagans come out. Some of these benefits include the reduction of anxiety caused by living a double life and creating a climate of greater acceptance for all Pagans. Read full story from pagancomingoutday.com

Bountiful a ‘cult,’ says polygamous leader’s brother
The isolated polygamous commune of Bountiful, B.C., is a “cult” where religion is used to control residents and take away their rights, says the brother of one the community’s leaders.

Truman Oler, whose brother James leads one of two divided factions within Bountiful, left the fundamentalist Mormon community in southeastern B.C. several years ago and has rarely seen his family since.

Oler, now 29, testified Tuesday at a B.C. court case examining Canada’s anti-polygamy law, describing a community where children are taught from an early age that anything less than complete obedience — including entering into polygamous marriages– would mean an eternity in hell.

“My thinking about Bountiful and the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) has evolved the longer I have been away from the community,” Truman said in a written affidavit filed in advance of his testimony.

“I now think that the FLDS is like a cult and that it is damaging for children to grow up in that environment. The FLDS does not permit anyone free choice. You are told what to do.” Read full story from ctvbc.ctv.ca

Savannah officials reject ghost film in cemetery
The Syfy TV channel wants to shoot an epsiode in a Savannah cemetery, but city officials won’t approve the idea.

Producers want to film an episode of “Fact or Faked,” which would examine a tourist’s 2008 claim that he filmed a ghostly image of a boy running through the cemetery.

Acting City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney and Jerry Flemming, director of cemeteries, say they’re following city policy on the use of cemeteries.

“The municipal cemeteries are not for sensational or entertainment purposes. Any tours or events marketed as haunted, paranormal, or involving ghosts, spiritualists or mediums are strictly prohibited from any of the municipal cemeteries,” the policy states.

Aldermen Tony Thomas, Mary Ellen Sprague, Clifton Jones and Larry Stuber agreed the sanctity of the cemetery and the respect owed to the deceased and their families has to be considered. Read full story from ajc.com

Faith & Religion: ‘Living Library’ allows the curious to explore other faiths at Ann Arbor event
In small circles inside the Social Hall at the Temple Beth Emeth/St. Clare Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, “patrons” leaned in close to hear “living books” like Doug Jackson talk about their religious experiences.

As part of the Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County’s “Living Library” program last Sunday, representatives from various religions and faiths shared their experiences and answered questions while maintaining the feel of a traditional library.

“My first patron asked about my life, the success and failures in my own practice of Christian Science,” said Jackson, representing the First Church of Christ, Scientists.

Each representative was given a call number and patrons were allowed a 20-minute checkout.

“It’s nice for me to hear the variety of paths people have taken,” said Mark Salzer of Ann Arbor Township.

Salzer, who attends a Mennonite church, was conflicted as to whether he wanted to look into the Pagan or Universalist faiths next after having heard about Science of the Mind. Read full story from annarbor.com

An act of faith, desperation or protest: Self-immolations through time
(CNN) — Night had fallen when the men heard the sounds on the mountain. First it was a chime, then a recitation of verses, followed by the crackle of wood burning. They scrambled to the summit to see what was happening.

There, seated with his palms together and facing west, was their friend. Flames leapt around the peaceful man, engulfing him. It was just as he’d intended.

The year was 527.

This story of Daodu, a Buddhist monk, is told in James Benn’s “Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism.” Benn, an associate professor of religion at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, writes that the act of setting one’s self on fire dates back in Chinese Buddhist tradition to the late fourth century.

But no matter how old, self-immolation still leaves people horrified, riveted and moved. Read full story from cnn.com

Psychotherapy and the healing power of narrating a life
An important part of the psychotherapy process, as I understand it and have practiced it, involves constructing a narrative of one’s life.

This may seem like a curious task given that we all know or should know the story of our lives. We’ve been imagining the movie to be made from that story forever, right?

Well, that may be true of some us, but a surprising number of people actually don’t have a coherent story: something that hangs together, makes sense, and has some internal consistency. The story may have large, important chunks missing. Or the narrative is fragmented and chaotic. Sometimes the story is there but it is self-condemnatory and unfair.

A woman who was raped at the age of 16 was telling herself that she consented to sex with a man much older than she was, someone she barely knew. She thought of herself as a slut. All the adults in her family would agree (if they knew the story): a 16-year-old is a grown-up and responsible for her actions. Read full story from scientificamerican.com

India must face up to Hindu terrorism
For far too long, the enduring response of the Indian establishment to Hindu nationalists has rarely surpassed mild scorn. Their organised violent eruptions across the country – slaughtering Muslims and Christians, destroying their places of worship, cutting open pregnant wombs – never seemed sufficient enough to the state to cast them as a meaningful threat to India’s national security.

But the recently leaked confession of a repentant Hindu priest, Swami Aseemanand, confirms what India’s security establishment should have uncovered: a series of blasts between 2006 and 2008 were carried out by Hindu outfits. The attacks targeted a predominantly Muslim town and places of Muslim worship elsewhere. Their victims were primarily Muslim. Yet the reflexive reaction of the police was to round up young Muslim men, torture them, extract confessions and declare the cases solved. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Russians seek omens and foretell husbands in winter ritual
MOSCOW — On winter nights set aside for fortune telling, young Russian women drip hot wax, throw shoes out of the window and crumple newspapers, hoping to foresee their future husbands and careers.

In a ritual vividly described in 19th century literature and still alive today, Russians tell fortunes in the evenings between Russian Orthodox Christmas (January 6-7) and the festival of Epiphany on January 19.

While fortune-telling is practised between Christian holidays, it is frowned upon by the Russian Orthodox Church, which sees it as a remnant of paganism. Read full story from google.com

Church letter warns against mandatory reporting of child sex abuse
Belfast, Northern Ireland (CNN) — Irish victims of sexual abuse are “disgusted” by a newly revealed letter in which a Vatican official expresses “serious reservations” about requiring bishops to report suspected abuse by priests to police, they said Wednesday.

Abuse survivors will question the cardinal leading a special papal delegation to Ireland about the letter, they said.

“We are disgusted by details revealed in the letter. Many of our members just can’t take this in and have been deeply affected by the revelations,” Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse spokeswoman Margaret McGuckin told CNN. Read full story from cnn.com

Yoga For Unity Flash Mob (source YouTube – YogaForUnity)

Unreported World: Witches on Trial (source YouTube – TrVelocita)

Tags: Broom Closet, Buddhism, Christian, Cult, faith, Hindu, interfaith, IPCOD, Muslim, Omens, Pagan, Paganism, Polygamous, Psychotherapy, Religion, rituals, Self-immolations, Unity, Wicca, Witch, witchcraft, Yoga
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News & Submissions 1/13/2011

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Hub City Hogwarts? Magic classes on offer
MONCTON – Witchcraft class: for many, the term calls to mind a bunch of little wand-toting English kids running around yelling ‘Expelliarmus!’

Okay, so there’s no Hub City Hogwarts concealed in a secret dimension off St. George Street. But wannabe witches and warlocks are, in fact, lining up for local classes in witchcraft and wizardry.

The instructor is Tony Raven, a 36-year-old Moncton business owner and practicing witch for 20-plus years. The aim? Training credulous New Brunswickers in the basics of magic.

The term ‘witchcraft,’ Raven explains, means different things to Wiccans, Pagans, and Stregheria (to cite just a few strains of modern magic). The traditional witchcraft that Raven teaches traces its roots to ancient Europe. As he defines it, magic means the “art and science of causing change to conform to one’s will.” Read full story from herenb.canadaeast.com

East Meets West in the Bedroom
When it comes to sex, there’s a lot of noise out there. Do it this way! Buy this! Try this! Do it more! Do it now! Do it today!

It’s a message we see and hear all around us. It makes you wonder what the real deal is. So, I thought I might take a step off the well-beaten path and look in an entirely new direction for some insight — Eastern religion and philosophy. I wondered if I might be able to find a little quiet in the sex storm, and I did.

So, here it is. The top things we can learn about sex from the Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Shinto philosophies. Read full story from foxnews.com

Third mass grave found in Ivory Coast, says UN
A third mass grave has been discovered in Ivory Coast, according to the UN, following weeks of politically motivated killings that have raised fears of a new civil war.

After two days of deadly clashes it was also claimed that a UN vehicle had been set ablaze and its driver dragged out and beaten.

Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told Reuters that her officials had been denied access to three mass graves including a site alleged to contain 80 bodies.

“I am very concerned now that a third mass grave has been discovered,” Pillay said in Geneva. “Not only my representative there but the UN representative has not been allowed access to the mass graves.” Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Worship has no place in schools
Lots of children like studying religions. They enjoy thinking about religions, philosophy and morality. They are engaged by questions about capital punishment, euthanasia and whether prayer actually works. What they don’t like, they tell me time and time again, is feeling that it’s “being rammed down their throats”, or that they’re “being told what to believe”. Such activities should have no place in our schools.

To argue, as The Church Mouse does, that it is “hard to imagine how a child’s spiritual development can be supported if they never experience any form of worship” is fallacious, and conflates the terms “spiritual” and “religious”. We should see “spiritual’ as a flexible term, that could incorporate the religious and the nonreligious. Look, for example, of the definition Ofsted offered in 2004:

“[Spiritual development] is about the development of a sense of identity, self-worth, personal insight, meaning and purpose. It is about the development of a pupil’s ‘spirit’. Some people may call it the development of a pupil’s ‘soul’; others as the development of ‘personality’ or ‘character’” Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Monks make, donate casket for youngest victim in Arizona shooting
A group of Trappist monks in Iowa have donated a handmade casket to bury 9-year-old Christina Green, the youngest victim in the Saturday attack that killed six and wounded 13 others in Arizona.

Sam Mulgrew, the general manager of Trappist Caskets in Peosta, Iowa, told CNN a family representative of the Greens reached out to the monks at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque after her death. The custom-made casket arrived in Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday morning.

“We didn’t want to send an adult coffin that would be too big, we wanted something just for her,” said Mulgrew, who is not a monk but who manages the 11-year-old casket business that is part of the abbey. Read full story from cnn.com

The Housing Slump Has Salem On a Witch Hunt Again
SALEM, Mass.—There’s a certain look and feel to a foreclosed home, and 31 Arbella St. has it: fraying carpet, missing appliances, foam insulation poking through cracked walls.

That doesn’t faze buyer Tony Barletta since he plans a gut renovation anyway. It’s the bad vibes that bother him.

So two weeks before closing, Mr. Barletta followed witch Lori Bruno and warlock Christian Day through the three-story home. They clanged bells and sprayed holy water, poured kosher salt on doorways and raised iron swords at windows. Read full storyi from wsj.com

Conservative Media Attack Native American Blessing At AZ Memorial Service
Hume: “While I’m Sure [Native American Ritual] Has An Honorable Tradition With [Gonzales'] People, It Was Most Peculiar.” After Fox News aired the Tucson memorial live on January 12, several Fox News anchors commented on the service. Brit Hume said he thought the “sobriety you might have expected was not to be found” at the service and attributed this “tone and atmosphere,” in part, to the “opening blessing” by Gonzales, which he called “most peculiar.” From the Fox coverage following the service: Read full story from mediamatters.org

Not all in northern Sudan embrace Islamic law (source cnn)

Tags: Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Islamic law, Ivory Coast, mass graves, Monks, Native American, Pagan, Religion, Salem, Stregheria, Sudan, Taoism, wiccan, Witch, Witch Hunt, witchcraft, Worship
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