(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
Chas Clifton (via Caroline Tully) links to a video excerpt featuring part-time Anglican Vicar Peter Owen Jones participating (skyclad) in an Australian “Urban Witchcraft” ritual. This journey into “darkness” is part of the ongoing BBC documentary series “Around the World in 80 Faiths”, where Owen Jones ventures into the rituals and rites of religions across the globe.
For more on this program, check out my original entry on the subject (which includes a comment from a member of the coven Peter Owen Jones visited). As for the rest of the series, I suppose I’ll have to wait for the DVD.
Are Vodun leaders and converts in Benin “impenetrable” to HIV education? That’s the allegation of local health officials in a UN news report, but local priests deny they are “closed off and autocratic”, and insist that the problem is a lack of commitment, funding, and consistency from non-profits.
Efforts to convince voodoo followers to abandon dangerous and deadly practices are sporadic, underfunded and inadequate said voodoo priest and a leader in traditional practices, Dah Alligbonon Akpochihala. He told IRIN he has been trying to change how things are done in the religious rituals he leads, but that overall, people do not realise the danger their traditions pose.
Similar problem were faced during the “Bird Flu” scare of 2006. The simple answer to this problem is to win trust and pose solutions that don’t overtly threaten long-standing traditions. Vodun can modernize and change, but it takes a path of mutual respect and dialog to get there.
The Post Chronicle cribs from a CBN report on the rise of “Satanism” in Italy from April of last year.
The seat of Roman Catholicism is now regarded as the chief office for the devil. “‘Rome has been called the most satanized city in Italy’” per George Thomas of CBN News. Instead of worshiping Christ as Savior God, people are talking to the devil, acting out his wishes and teaching others how to communicate with the dark powers. Magicians in particular have become quite popular, that is, not the traditional stage performers but those equipped to connect with demons.
The article goes on to chatter some nonsense about 800 Satanic groups and that there are over half a million Satanists operating in the country. Stuff that several people have already debunked (try 240 Satanists instead of 600,000). Sometimes I wonder if Christians like this would actually be happier if all this stuff were true, if Satanists and Pagans were taking everything over… tomorrow!
Need to spice up a story in the UK? See if Marina Pepper is involved somehow. A second-generation Witch, and former Playboy/Page 3 model who got involved in local politics, Pepper-related headlines almost write themselves.
Playmate, witch and now eco warrior trying to shut down Heathrow … One of the organisers of a mass protest trying to shut down a Heathrow terminal is a former soft-porn model turned witch … The Evening Standard can reveal today that a leading member of protest group Climate Rush is a former Playboy playmate of the month.
The story is more about Marina Pepper showing up than it is about her involvement with Climate Rush, or why people are protesting the Heathrow expansion. But I suppose all publicity is good publicity (especially when you’re talking a protest).
In a final note, the New York Times looks at Italy’s own version of Santa Claus, the witch La Befana.
The story of La Befana has been told in Italy since around the time Leonardo da Vinci painted the “Mona Lisa.” Origins of the legend, some say, are far older and rooted in a pagan goddess. But last Tuesday, a modern incarnation of the story played out in the cafeteria of a Roman Catholic school in Forest Hills, Queens, with a hint of the day’s lunch of ziti with meatballs and red sauce lingering in the air. La Befana is a character in Italian folklore, sometimes referred to as the Italian Christmas witch. A soot-covered old woman, she is said to fly on a broom to the homes of sleeping children, entering through the chimney and bearing gifts.
Why bother with those “Santa Shaman” claims when we have a living breathing Winter tradition involving a witch? I expect some serious La Befana meme-spreading come next Winter.
That’s all I have for now, have a great day!
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