A Few Quick Items
A somewhat slow news day today, but there were a few things of interest. Starting off with an update on a story I mentioned in last week’s News of Note. It seems that the South African Air Force and Pagan chaplain Donna “Darkwolf” Vos have reached a settlement concerning her dismissal from a position she was initially hired for until they found out she was a Witch.
“She applied for the position at Ysterplaat Air Force base in 2003. Vos claimed the colonel who interviewed her called Paganism a cult and said he could not “unleash” Vos on people. The two parties appeared in the Equality Court on Friday, where a settlement was reached, according to Vos. “We are very happy with the outcome, and their attitude to everything was very amenable,” she said of the Air Force, which has conceded to consultation and negotiation around paganism. “There is scope to work together.” She said she would not pursue the case any further.”
While this settlement means the legal case has been postponed indefinitely, Vos retains the right to take it up again should the SAAF renege on their agreement concerning “consultation and negotiation around paganism”. It should be interesting to see exactly what shape that consultation will take.
Turning from the courtroom to network television, word has come out that ABC has ordered a pilot based on Bill Willingham’s award-winning comic series “Fables”.
“ABC has commited to a pilot for a series based on the comic, written by Six Degress Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner and directed by David Semel. The pilot will be produced by Warner Bros. TV and will take the form of an hour-long drama.”
“Fables” concerns the lives of famous storybook characters (the Big Bad Wolf, Snow White, Little Boy Blue) living in America, exiled from their fictional homelands by “The Adversary”. One can only hope they do the comic justice, as the stories are filled with magic, intrigue, romance, and the occasional mythological figure.
In a final note, did you know that Ludwig van Beethoven was a tool of the conspiracy?
“In 1779, a composer, writer, teacher, and dreamer named Christian Neefe arrived in Bonn, Germany, to work for the Electoral Court … Before long in his new post, Neefe found himself mentoring a genius. Meanwhile, in his spare time, he signed on with a plan to, as it were, rule the world.”
Yes, that’s right, Beethoven’s tutor was a member of The Bavarian Illuminati. Jan Swafford claims that nothing much came of this other than the famous composer taking up Schiller’s Ode to Joy for the Ninth Symphony, but is exactly what they want you to think!
4 responses so far
The story regarding Donna Vos would be more optimistic and compelling if she weren’t the most unethical priestess I’ve ever met in my life….
Care to put your name to that comment Anonymouse? And fill us in on the gory details while you are at it?
I’m not going to post my name in that I am not the only person who stands to have a problem if I do so–it’s more for the protection of others than myself that I remain anonymous. So I hope that’s forgivable–if not, then so be it.
There are a number of issues that I have with Ms. Vos, but they can all be listed under the same heading, and that is that she purports to be a Wiccan but shows little to no interest in following what are the Wiccan tenets, most particularly the Rede, and this has caused problems for other Wiccans because the public sees what she does and judges the rest of us accordingly. While this may be a rather dogmatic attitude, I have to say that I resent her advertising herself as a Wiccan when she is a very different kind of Wiccan than I am, and that most of the Wiccans I have met are, and when that advertisement reflects badly on the rest of us. I understand that not all pagans do follow the Rede, and that’s perfectly fine–so long as one does not say that one is a Wiccan. But when one lives in a way that does harm to those around one, and then claims to adhere to a “harm none” type of tradition, then it’s no wonder that Ms. Vos is regarded with some skepticism–it’s hypocrisy of the highest order.
I understand that she has a lot of spaghetti behind her name that would lend credibility to her expertise, but there is a difference between learning and living what one learns. To me, that simply means that one does know better, and yet simply ignores what one knows–and that is more a problem than if one causes harm or misrepresentation via ignorance.
My experience with her is that she has a hard time behaving in a way that correlates to what she supposedly believes, and that kind of mixed message is harmful not only to those who deal with her on a personal basis, but to all of us who are painted with a broad brush because of her reputation. My personal belief is that we all have a responsibility to one another, especially in these times when an impeccable reputation can do much to support all pagans. Because she has a bit of the limelight, particularly, it would be especially important for her to be aware of how her reputation reflects on the whole of the community, but I’ve never witnessed any indication that she knows–or cares–about that.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but as a Wiccan, I look at this and know that what she does can impact the kind of work I can do, and the way that I am seen by the public. I resent that, personally and for all the people that I do know who hold a higher standard of ethics, and who should be respected for that, rather than to be lumped in with a person who is not willing to practice what she preaches.
[...] piece seems to illuminate a split in opinion among South African Pagans and Witches, while some want to be accepted and named as Witches, and are fighting against anti-witchcraft laws for fear it will affect them as well, Williams (and [...]