Witchcraft

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

Witch Direction: The group for Leeds pagans
I’m proud of Witch Direction and the way we have grown stronger together over time.

The group used to be called the Leeds Pagan Moot before I took it over about a year ago. Read full story from yorkshireeveningpost.com

Alabama Wiccans find faith in nature
What do most students think of when they think of witches? Harry Potter? Halloween? “Hocus Pocus?”

Instead of thinking of fictional characters or a secular holiday, there is a more serious religious ideology that can be associated with the word witch. A number of Alabama citizens and local Tuscaloosa and Birmingham residents practice paganism or Wicca, which is a neo-pagan religion. Read full story from cw.ua.edu

Lost Abbey Ale may Change Label on Witch’s Wit after Wiccan ‘Brewhaha’
The bottle label shows a picture of a “witch” burning at the stake. Vicki Noble, who is “famous” in the pagan and Wiccan communities saw the bottle. What ignited was not just a witch on the bottle, but a fire storm about beer, being politically correct or offensive, and what is considered satire on a bottle label. Read full story from gather.com

Rise in paganism in Southeast Valley mirrors U.S. trend
Advocates of paganism say it is on the rise in the “Southeast Valley, mirroring a nationwide trend of growth in nature-based religions. Many local followers have been celebrating their beliefs and seeking the same acceptance and respect as any other religion. Read full story from azcentral.com

Michigan Woman Faces Civil Rights Complaint for Seeking a Christian Roommate
A civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate.

Psychic fair this weekend at Andromeda’s Alley in Mansfield
Mansfield — Those seeking a glimpse in to the future, an introduction to the Wiccan religion, or unique jewelry including crystals, gemstones and rune symbols can find all this and more at Andromeda’s Alley on North Main Street in Mansfield. Read full story from wickedlocal.com

Pagan Pride Day desgined to educated the public
Las Cruces— Ginette Novello, a retired schoolteacher, is saddened that some people consider pagans to be “godless.”

An interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone by Bernadette Montana
Today’s interview is with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone.  The contributions that they have given to the pagan community over these many years, are too numerous for me to mention here.  I would suggest printing out this interview for future use as a teaching aid, or as adjunct to the course that both Janet and Gavin teach, here at Sacred Mists.  Enjoy! Read full story from sacredmistsblog.com

Salem needs a new museum to explore its witch-trial past
OCTOBER HAS a special significance in Salem, where the month-long Haunted Happenings is the nation’s leading celebration of Halloween. It’s a unique event, combining everything from ethnic dance presentations to demonstrations by the city’s psychic community and followers of Wicca, to such family fare as haunted houses and fireworks. Read full story from boston.com

Victorian book proves Old wives aren’t all witchcraft and wizardry
First published in 1856 ‘Enquire Within Upon Everything’ was a how-to book for domestic life, first published in 1856 by Houlston and Sons of Paternoster Square. The book was a top-seller in its day, and was regularly updated with an encyclopedic collection of cheap and straight-to-hand remedies using day to day items found in an average house of the 1800’s (and latterly the 1900’s; its last edition was printed in 1976). Read full story from entertainment.stv.tv

Shamanism: Spirits in the valley
The cultural heritage of pre-Islamic philosophy and mythology is so interwoven into the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan that strands of it survive to this day. Religions born of their environments, the influence of centuries of Shamanism, Buddhism, Baoism and Zartosht are seen most clearly in their interaction with nature, where the word worship can be interchanged with respect for and love of. Read full story from tribune.com.pk

Media needs to stop enabling stigmas
The Senate is on the verge of change as 37 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election in November. However, one candidate for the senate in Delaware is causing quite a stir. Tea party favored Christine O’Donnell caused an upset when she became the GOP Senate candidate after the primaries. Though I disagree with everything the tea party stands for, my issue with O’Donnell does not revolve around her party affiliations, but rather her idiotic comments. Read full story from understatesman.com

A Jacksonville witch explains what witches are - and aren’t
Delaware’s U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell created a stir by declaring, in a televised political ad, that she is not a witch.

While meant to ease the concerns of evangelicals over reports of her interest in witchcraft many years ago, the ad has offended real witches by implying they are evil, says Jacksonville’s Judith “Holly” Charland. Read full story from jacksonville.com

Man stabbed in arms by friends who wanted to suck his blood
CHANDLER, Ariz. – Police say a man was stabbed for refusing to let two of his friends suck his blood.

Aaron Homer, 24, and Amanda Williamson, 21, are reportedly into “vampire stuff” and “paganism.” Read full story from azfamily.com

Halloween boo-ted by one day
CALGARY - Sweet-toothed little creatures of the night won’t have to wait as long to sink their fangs into treats in at least one southern Alberta town.