Pagans.net Blogs

The ‘witch-hunts’ of history

WalesOnline: “The Oxford Dictionary of English describes a witch-hunt as ‘a search for and subsequent prosecution of a supposed witch’, or ‘a campaign directed against a person or group holding unorthodox or unpopular views’.
Historically, the term describes the investigative procedures used during witch-hunts of the Middle Ages up until the early Colonial period, when investigators were hunting for ‘witches’.”

(Via Wales Online.)

Review: Salem witchcraft hysteria in Kathleen Kent’s ‘Heretic’s Daughter’

St. Petersburg Times: “For centuries, Americans have autopsied the notorious Salem witchcraft trials, in which the worst elements of the national psyche boiled up and overflowed. Sanctimonious Puritans played on community fears to bring down neighbors. Panic fueled by hysteria turned the society into an engine of destruction.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller paralleled the Salem trials and the anti-Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era. Now an eloquent first novelist approaches this shameful segment of the past from a personal angle. Kathleen Kent writes in the character of an ancestor: Sarah Carrier, jailed at 11 because hysterical neighbors thought she was a witch.”

(Via St. Petersburg Times.)

Atheists have started advertising - ‘There’s probably no God’

‘There’s probably no God’: “Atheists have started advertising. The most talked about ad campaign in England, now plastered across the outside of 800 British buses, declares: ‘There’s probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ The campaign opened last week with rousing speeches by Richard Dawkins and representatives of the British Humanist Association, after a less aggressive campaign (240 buses) in Washington, D.C. back in November. The American Humanists chose the interrogative rather than the declarative mode for their message: ‘Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.’ After the great success of Dawkins’ book The God Delusion and Hitchens’ God is Not Great, atheism is taking the next step and forming itself into an organized movement.”

(Via Financial Post.)

Mystery behind Pendle Witches’ trial in 1612 revealed

Pendle Today: “High on a hill in the wild and lawless area of Pendle, a secret meeting is held at Malkin Tower.

By the end of the year, most of those present have been sentenced to death at Lancaster Castle - hanged for the crime of witchcraft.

‘Sabbat’, a new play by Richard Shannon, attempts to unravel the mysteries behind one one of England’s most famous trials, that of the notorious Pendle Witches.”

(Via Pendle Today.)

New University » Hitting the Books: Witches and Wizards and Vampires, Oh My

Witches and Wizards and Vampires, Oh My: “They’re everywhere. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, we just can’t. ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer’s Edward Cullen and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter are all over our Facebook walls, newsfeeds, quizzes, groups and bumper stickers. Especially those damn bumper stickers. As much as we hate seeing them when trying to find a witty or humorous bumper sticker to remind our friends of last night’s rendezvous, we can all honestly say that we recognize which characters an actor has played and which book-turned-movie they’re in.

This recognition of fictional characters is what the National Endowment for the Arts (NAE) would call an effect of ‘Reading on the Rise.’ In a 2008 study, the NAE found that for the first time in more than 25 years American adults are reading more literature. This increase in literary reading (referring to the reading of any novels, short stories, poems or plays in print or online) was particularly high among the young adults group (18 to 24-year-olds). So it’s no wonder why all that’s seen on women’s Facebook pages nowadays are fictional male characters and the 10 reasons why they’re superior to our mortal male friends.”

(Via New University.)