Pagans.net Blogs

Are some worried the Palins are Pagans?

GetReligion: “The essay makes several good points (with inexplicably hostile language, but whatever) and I’m glad, as a libertarian, that someone is noticing Palin’s libertarian streak. But read that first part again. Did she really name two of her children after witches? Hunh?

“Apparently that ‘fact’ came from someone you should be careful taking seriously: the once-interesting Andrew Sullivan. He alleged that the children were named after television show witches based on, um, reader email. Never mind that the dates don’t match up.”

(Via GetReligion.org.)

Greece: Pagans call on Athena to protect the Acropolis

The Guardian: “Thrusting their arms skywards and chanting Orphic hymns, Greek pagans yesterday made a comeback at the Acropolis as they added their voices to protests against the imminent inauguration of the New Acropolis Museum.

Ignoring a sudden rainstorm and irate officials, white-clad worshippers gathered before Greece’s most sacred site and invoked Athena, the goddess of wisdom, to protect sculptures taken from the temples to the new museum. It was the first time in nearly 2,000 years that pagans had held a religious ceremony on the site.”

(Via Guardian UK.)

University’s ‘quackery’ courses slammed

Lancashire Evening Post: “New science degrees in Chinese medicine on offer in Preston have been labelled ‘quackery’ by a senior lecturer at the city’s university.

From next month, the University of Central Lancashire will run the qualifications in herbal medicine and acupuncture in conjunction with the Northern College of Acupuncture.

But one member of staff has accused the university of running courses that would ’severely damage’ its reputation and have ‘no academic justification’.”

(Via Google News.)

White witch casts bad weather spell on Cromwell celebrations

The Ely Standard: “More than 300 English ‘witches’ died during a two-year reign of terror between 1645 and 1647, orchestrated by Cromwell’s self-titled Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. Twenty people of both sexes were imprisoned in Ely Gaol (now Ely Museum on Market Street), accused of witchcraft.

Records survive documenting a woman from Sutton known only as Moore, was reported to the authorities for ‘bewitchings’ by two male villagers, but historians speculate the men, who were related to the lord of the manor, were involved in a dispute over common land and the woman was in fact, innocent. “

(Via Google.)

After 1,500 years, pagans plan Acropolis prayer

The Associated Press:: “A small group of pagans pledged Thursday to hold a protest prayer among the ruined Acropolis temples, more than 1,500 years after Christians stamped out worship of the ancient Greek gods.”

(Via AP.)

Buffy Causes Wiccan Revolution

Buffy Causes Wiccan Revolution: “Have you noticed a lot more Wiccans running around lately? Us either! But we don’t live in the United Kingdom, which is apparently crawling with would-be witches. And what caused all these witches? No, not Satan. Sarah Michelle Gellar.

According to a study published in something called  Women and Religion in the West, 50,000 women have abandoned traditional Western religion to study paganism.

‘Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In short, women are abandoning the church,’ The report reads.

Yeah! Let’s get rid of female empowerment!”

(Via G4 TV.)

‘Lace Reader’: A witches’ stew of dark secrets - USATODAY.com

‘Lace Reader’: A witches’ stew of dark secrets: “Salem, Mass., home of the 17th-century witch trials, is the brooding backdrop for The Lace Reader. It’s a contemporary tale of family secrets, intolerance and fanaticism.

Brunonia Barry’s debut, initially self-published and now part of a sizable two-book deal with William Morrow, has been drawing comparisons to memorable gothic novels, including Rebecca and The Thirteenth Tale.”

(Via USA Today.)

The Press Association: Council’s internet filter slammed

The Press Association: Council’s internet filter slammed: “A council has been told that it could face legal action for blocking its workers from looking at atheist websites.
Software used by Birmingham City Council stops employees from accessing sites about atheist beliefs, but sites about conventional religions are readily available.
The National Secular Society said that such filtering was discriminatory and it may take legal action against the council unless it changes its policy.”

(Via UKPress.)

Wicca: Magickal Beginnings of the Practices

The Esoteric Book Review · Wicca: Magickal Beginnings of the Practices: “Over the last few months, many people - some of whom have not yet read our book Wicca Magickal Beginnings have written to us, or asked us in passing why we wrote it. This is a complex question and one which can probably in part at least, be answered by this extract from the introduction we wrote for the book.”

(Via Ritual Magick.)

Bigfoot, Monsters and Ghosts: Why We Want to Believe

Bigfoot, Monsters and Ghosts: Why We Want to Believe: “Monsters are everywhere these days, and belief in them is as strong as ever.

What’s harder to believe is why so many people buy into hazy evidence, shady schemes and downright false reports that perpetuate myths that often have just one ultimate truth: They put money in the pockets of their purveyors.

The bottom line, according to several interviews with people who study these things: People want to believe, and most simply can’t help it.”

(Via FOX News.)