(Pagan) News of Note

Some articles that have caught my eye today.

The Wiccan/Pagan Times has a new interview up with Canadian author Arin Murphy-Hiscock. Murphy-Hiscock talks about being a solitary, Paganism in Canada, and studying under the infamous Silver RavenWolf.

“Some people have told me that I can’t be both a covener and a solitary, and I’ve never understood the either-or mentality. If you believe that you can only practice in a circle environment with others, then I think you’re missing one of the points of Wicca, which is to make it a way of life. In my coven, I work with others within the structure of a tradition; alone, I work in a much more free-form fashion, but I still work within the Wiccan configuration. I celebrate sabbats and moons both alone and with my group. I find I get different things out of each method. In the end, it all comes down to you and the gods, after all.”

Murphy-Hiscock also keeps a blog on her web site.

Was Rome the first multinational corporation? That is the assertion of Stanley Bing (aka Gil Schwartz) author of “Rome, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the First Multinational Corporation”. Bing mines Roman history to take a satirical look at modern corporate culture.

“A family business prospers through a productive series of brutal consolidations and rational growth. Then the rise of an executive class that pits one egotistical senior manager against another in senseless internal conflicts eventually leads to a long line of demented CEOs, excessive expansion, and foolish diversification?and a high cost in shattered lives. In the end, a series of reverse takeovers leave the once-proud but now overextended and corrupt parent company at the mercy of the mom-and-pop operations that previously cringed at the grandeur of the corporate brand. Enron? WorldCom? Try Rome, whose rise and fall carry a moral that lingers to this day for the managers, employees, and students of any global enterprise.”

Chas Clifton notes on his blog, that he has been approached by the producers of Supernanny. They are looking for Pagan families willing to air their child-rearing problems to the entire world.

“Apparently Wiccans are now a go-to minority group. I just got an email from someone with Ricochet Television soliciting my help in locating Wiccan families with rowdy kids who might want to appear on Supernanny…”

Has our community learned its lesson after Wife Swap? I can only hope.

Finally, a recent study declares that churchgoers live longer.

“Our culture, particularly our medical culture, tends to have a strong secular bias. This data shows in ways that are unquestionable that there’s something going on in people’s beliefs and practices that makes them healthier. To ignore this phenomenon would be foolish…there is something about being rooted in a religious community associated with mediating a positive health effect and a substantially longer life expectancy…” – Dr. Daniel Hall, a fourth-year surgical resident, and ordained Episcopal priest.

Hall’s study doesn’t mention if these benefits would apply to non-traditional religions. Does attending Blots and esbats count? Do you have to sit in a pew to reap the benefits of those extra 2-3 years?

Tags: Paganism