There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up. But first, let me offer my prayers and support to the people of Japan, who just suffered a 8.9 magnitude earthquake, and all those potentially affected by subsequent tsunamis in the Pacific basin. For updates, resources, and information, check out the Google Crisis Response page.
- Circle’s Selena Fox was in Madison, Wisconsin yesterday in solidarity with protesters there, and is posting pictures and updates to her public Facebook page. For more Pagan perspectives of the protests, check out PNC-Minnesota.
- Capital Witch/PNC-Washington DC has just posted an article on gender identity within Washington DC’s Pagan community, featuring the stances of several local groups, and interviewing Radical Faerie transgender Goddess-worshiper Potpourri.
- T. Thorn Coyle has just posted the audio from a panel discussion on Hindu-Pagan dialog for PantheaCon featuring Thorn, Selena Fox, (Circle Sanctuary), Easan Kitir and Dr. Mihir Meghani of the Hindu American Foundation. Direct download, here. You can also subscribe to the Elemental Castings podcast via iTunes or RSS. For more on this panel, do check out the guest post here from panelist Dr. Mihir Meghani.
- From the department of stopped clocks being right at least twice, I’m pretty much in agreement with the Telegraph’s Damian Thompson (who I’ve had my disagreements with) that the child-abuser Colin Batley and his followers were not a “fully fledged Satanic cult whose demonic theology incorporated the ritual abuse of children.” It was about power and sex, and the occult trappings were just a means to an end, a method of control.
- At the HuffPo’s religion section, Saumya Arya Haas clears up misconceptions about animal sacrifice, zombies, and possession within the religion of Vodou. An earlier article also covers basic concepts and history of the faith in the Americas.
- The ugly testimony from survivors keeps coming in the James Arthur Ray trial, with Ray being painted as completely out-of-touch with the chaos and death surrounding him. Witnesses also describe not wanting to trigger Ray’s famous temper, by inquiring about the safety of others during the sweat. Meanwhile, professor Wambli Sina Win writes an editorial for the Native American Times regarding the dangers and selling and misappropriating the Red Road.
- A Witch in the UK had his 5-inch athame confiscated, and was put on curfew for four months, though the judge allowed exemptions for religious ritual. This exemption seems to have caused quite a bit of fuss, though no violence or resistance occurred during the incident.
- Yuliya Popova explores Pagan holidays in the Ukraine for the BBC’s Travel section.
- Over at PNC-Minnesota, Cara Schulz continues her coverage of the reality program Alt for Norge (All for Norway), which includes the involvment of Twin Cities performer and Völva, Kari Tauring. This episode, in which Tauring was eliminated from the contest, was, in Schulz’s words, “a blatant disregard for religion and the religious ethics of the contestants throughout the series.”
- Over at The Christian Century, Philip Jenkins does a just a little bit of fear-mongering over “alternate and unauthorized forms of folk Catholicism, centered on evil or criminal entities” in Mexico.
- Hey Hindus and Indo-Pagans! Beware of fake “virtual puja” scam sites!
That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.
