It seems to happen with almost every strange animal death, law enforcement and journalists start wondering if the event had “occult” or “Satanic” connotations. Since a “Satanic” (or Santeria/Voodoo) headline sells more papers than “disturbed teenagers”, we rarely get an injection of common sense in these proceedings. Often, the more mundane truth is briefly reported long after the sensationalist damages have already been done. For instance, a recent deer beheading in Knustsford, England had all sorts of wild Satanic speculation behind it (including linking it to a blatantly obvious attention-seeking e-mail from a “Satanist”).

“The incident came just days after the Guardian received an anonymous email claiming Satanists were worshiping in Knutsford … Deer are said to be used in satanic rituals as sacrificial animals. It is also believed their skins are used as cloaks and headdresses during devil worship rituals.”

Naturally, actual Satanists objected to being portrayed as maniac deer-beheaders. In that same article, tucked away at the very end, the most likely scenario is reported.

“However, last week it emerged the killing could have been a failed attempt at poaching. A man who attended the scene, but would not be named, said the criminals appeared to have gutted the young stag to prepare it for sale.”

But you see, “bungling poachers” doesn’t have the same zing to it as some mythical occult underground in Knutsford. Some moron trying to make some money by poaching just doesn’t excite the audience. It’s a farce disguised as journalism, a scary puppet-show that can lead to “Satanic Panics” and ruin people’s lives.

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

Thinking of holding a Pagan conference at a resort on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean? You might want to think twice. It seems the mere rumour of a “witchcraft conference” caused a huge controversy.

“The State-owned Radio St. Lucia first alerted listeners about the supposed meeting, when it claimed that witches from around the world were gathering here for the conference that would also involve members of the island’s elite. The radio station said that the conference had created “a media sensation” and that a local pastor, Anderson Cato of the Stream of Power Tabernacle, had condemned the authorities for allowing the gathering. “I think we have to consider what we allow ourselves to be exposed to as a people. There is a God and there are certain things that he is pleased with and others he can’t be pleased with.  In the Bible it is clear that God has spoken against witchcraft, sorcerery, adultery and sin,” Cato said. President of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) Anthony Bowen said while he was unaware of such a conference, the “witches” were within their right if they decided to meet in St. Lucia.”

The rumour-mill and finger-pointing caused loads of political strife and angry denials. So if you’re thinking of going to St. Lucia, you might want to tuck in that Pentacle/Hammer/Awen/etc necklace.

Canadian paper The Star lists Wicca, witchcraft, and Sybil Leek as selling-points for visiting the recently created New Forest National Park in Britain.

“It’s common knowledge that the forest is still home to Hedgewitches, women who continue their Wicca practices in a solitary way. Witches’ spells, the best-sellers in the local witchcraft shop, are made by local Hedgewitches. There was a time when Sybil Leek, a past resident of Burley and a well-known “white witch” of the 1950s, incurred the wrath of the locals when she started dressing like the more sinister variety of witch, which made her, uh, unwelcome with the superstitious locals. She moved to America where she had a long and successful career as an occult writer and restaurant owner.”

What, no mention of Dorothy Clutterbuck and the (in)famous New Forest Coven? The British tourism industry should put together a comprehensive “history of modern Witchcraft” tour ASAP.

A woman from Louisiana visits Portland, Oregon and finds that it isn’t so bad. Of special note in her sojourn in “Hippie Land” is an encounter with a Wiccan on a bus.

“…a pagan/Wiccan evangelist on the bus. He started his pitch with “Do you like my rose quartz?” while brandishing a crystal worn around his neck. He then told a young woman on the bus that his quartz held special “mother goddess powers” and asked if she believed in the mother goddess. The answer? A very awkward “kinda.” Can’t really argue with that.”

Wiccans! How exotic! How unlike the South! Well, except for the hundreds of Pagans from Louisiana, not to mention the thousands of Pagans living in the Southern states. In fact, the entire column seems less about Portland, and more about her defensive excuses for not recycling, and how bums in Louisiana know their place.

Should an unsanctioned Santeria ritual in a cemetary get you ten years in prison? A woman in Massachusetts sacrificed a rooster at an old grave and then set it on fire, prompting a call to the police. The Eagle-Tribune lays out exactly what she could face if prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“Officer Ariel Montas was sent to the scene and after an investigation arrested Portalatina, charging her with malicious damage to property over $250, animal cruelty, willful and malicious killing or poisoning of an animal, willful destruction of a gravestone and setting a fire in the open without the permission of the Fire Department. The malicious damage to property charge carries a penalty of up to five years in state prison, two and a half years in the house of correction, and a fine of not more than three times the value of the damaged property. The charges of animal cruelty, willful and malicious killing of an animal, and willful destruction of a gravestone each carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, two and a half years in the house of correction, and up to $5,000 in fines.”

Sacrifice a rooster, lose years of your life in prison? Yet another reason why we need a sane set of regulations and guidelines for those who want to engage in animal sacrifice.

In a final note, we take a look at the dark side of magic and religion. Authorities in Spain have broken up a Nigerian human trafficking ring that used Vodou to intimidate women in prostitution.

“The traffickers lured their victims with promises of a better life in Europe and took them to a voodoo priest before departure, the police said in a statement. The traffickers then smuggled them to Spain, where they told the victims they had to become prostitutes to repay a hefty debt for their journey or face the wrath of voodoo spirits. Musikilu Mojeed, a journalist for the Nigerian online newspaper 234Next.com who has written about voodoo and human trafficking, said voodoo, known in Nigeria as juju, was a fairly common tool of intimidation used by traffickers. Women were taken to a voodoo shrine and made to swear before a priest that they would never reveal the identities of the traffickers, he said. The priests took pieces of fingernails or hair from the women as part of the ritual.”

A reminder that pre-Christian, alternative, or minority religions are also capable of committing abuse and instilling terror. No faith is immune from human weakness or evil intentions.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Four recent news reports tie into two larger stories, the first is the issue of Pagan burial space, a matter that will become more prominent as the Baby Boomers travel further into their retirement years. There are already dedicated spaces in Wisconsin and Washington in America, and an Asatru-dedicated space in Denmark. Now we can add at least two more, an Asatru space in Norway, and a Pagan-inclusive interfaith woodland burial park in the UK.

I’ve seen some pretty bizarre reporting and editorializing in my day, but this particular instance exists on a plane all its own. Remember my story last week criticizing how assumptions were made by law enforcement concerning Santeria and animal sacrifice? At the time I dinged the Newport Beach police for chalking up the dumping of several dead animals on the beach to Santeria (and then ignoring the matter on “religious grounds”) despite a scholar warning that the deaths were inconsistent with Santerian ritual.

“Paul Apodaca, who specializes in folklore, mythology, American Indian studies, and California, Southwestern and Mexican culture at Chapman University, said the inconsistencies in the incidents raises questions. “The different manners of the disposal of the remains of the animals, some careful, others not, some beheaded, some not, some interred with other materials, some not, makes this description seem not to be a Santería ceremony carefully following a ritual but someone with a disturbed personality making personal variations,” he said. “Bona fide religious sacrifices are highly ritualized methods and the remains of the animal are carefully disposed of to preserve the sanctity and affective power of the ritual.” Police said Apodaca is entitled to his opinion, but there’s nothing to lead police to believe the killings are malicious and they are not investigating the incidents.“

So the same paper that ran the initial story, The Daily Pilot, then decides this would be a great opportunity to ask the following question to a Religious Science New Age church leader, a United Church of Christ pastor, and a Jewish Rabbi.

“Recently, the remains of a few animals have been found in Newport Beach. Officials say they were likely beheaded as part of a Santería religious ceremony that includes animal sacrifice. Authorities say they won’t intervene because the courts have protected this sort of practice. What do you think of this and should the law regulate this sort of ritual?”

Notice that the question doesn’t mention the fact that an expert (quoted in their own paper) thinks these killings were done by a disturbed individual and not Santero/as, only that “authorities” think it’s “likely” they were part of a Santeria ceremony. So how does this panel of people, who know next-to-nothing about Santeria, respond to “what they think” and if the practice should be “regulated”? The Religious Science pastor gives a rather hedged defense, but claims Santeria will have to eventually change its practices, the UCC pastor (who seemed to actually read the initial report) has “mixed feelings”, while the Jewish Rabbi unleashes with both barrells at those evil, evil, practitioners of Santeria.

“The rituals of the remains of animals is familiar to what the Germans did to the Jews years ago. The experiments carried out by German scientists on Jews who then were considered to be sub-human animals is thus come to life again. Both cases are cruel and inhumane, not to speak of immoral. For obvious reasons, such acts today should be stopped by us. They are unethical, unhealthy for our planet and serve no purpose but to disgust people. Foolish experimentation or sacrifice of parts of animals is barbaric. Human rights are being flagrantly disregarded, and such acts should be stopped immediately: No cruelty to animals. The atrocities committed by the German in World War II of experimentation and mutilation should be so abhorrent, we should never consider using similar rituals ever to be repeated on animals in our society today. Also, the animal’s remains is a violation of Earth Day as well. I feel that appropriate laws should be enforced to stop the performance of these disgusting rituals.”

Do Jewish Rabbis get some sort of special dispensation for making reductio ad Hitlerum arguments? I think this may be the first time I’ve seen practitioners of Santeria compared to Nazi scientists. It is also strange that this outraged religious leader doesn’t mention the fact that his own faith practices ritual slaughter on a massive scale. Too bad the paper didn’t think to let him in on the fact that there is some doubt that these killings were even performed by a Santero/Santera, and that the cops may be claiming “religious exemption” to avoid doing a lengthy investigation, his response might have been a bit more measured in tone concerning a faith he obviously knows nothing about.

Before I was simply criticizing the police for chalking up these animal killings to “Santeria”, but now this newspaper is culpable in damaging relations between faiths by blithely spreading misinformation in order to spice up an editorial feature. How many people are now going to be convinced that pracitioners of Santeria are lawless amoral killers? This is highly irresponsible journalism, even for an editorial feature. How will this affect the law-abiding Santeros/Santeras who quietly practice their rites in private? There a serious consequences for labeling every dead and dumped animal as beloning to a “Santeria” (or “Voodoo”) ritual, and we are starting to see the fruits of that lazy reporting.

Lately, it seems that every time a dead and mutilated animal shows up suspicion immediately turns towards Santeria and other Afro-Cuban/Caribbean faiths that engage in animal sacrifice. This is despite the fact that academics who study these religions repeatedly claim that randomly mutilating and dumping various dead animals isn’t their style.

“Paul Apodaca, who specializes in folklore, mythology, American Indian studies, and California, Southwestern and Mexican culture at Chapman University, said the inconsistencies in the incidents raises questions. “The different manners of the disposal of the remains of the animals, some careful, others not, some beheaded, some not, some interred with other materials, some not, makes this description seem not to be a Santería ceremony carefully following a ritual but someone with a disturbed personality making personal variations,” he said. “Bona fide religious sacrifices are highly ritualized methods and the remains of the animal are carefully disposed of to preserve the sanctity and affective power of the ritual.” Police said Apodaca is entitled to his opinion, but there’s nothing to lead police to believe the killings are malicious and they are not investigating the incidents.”

So these cops in Newport Beach ignore a warning that a deranged individual could be on the loose because it’s easier to chalk it up to “Santeria” and ignore what could be warning signs of a disturbed mind’s escalation. The Santeria excuse within law enforcement (and animal control) has become so popular that even when it’s blatantly obvious it isn’t a Santero/a’s work officials are hesitant to let go of a convenient scapegoat.

“Denton Infield of Newark’s Associated Humane Society, which is contracted to pick up animals from 30 area municipalities, he said he has seen a large increase in calls from the town of North Bergen to pick up dead and abandoned animals in the township. He said that in his seven years as manager of the shelter, this has never been an issue before … He said his agency has been called to retrieve dead dogs, cats, skunks, raccoons, sheep, and goats throughout North Bergen. Infield said his agency has filed complaints with the New Jersey Department of Health to get to the bottom of the situation … Infield noted that sometimes, livestock like goats are found dead in the area because animal sacrifices are part of the Santeria religion, which is practiced in this area. However, the recent trend seems different because of the other animals found.”

Yes, it “seems” different. Not, is totally out of line with what practitioners of Santeria do, but “seems different”. Since when do African diasporic faiths sacrifice skunks, raccoons, and cats? Either this Humane Society official is wildly ignorant of what normal Santeria sacrifice entails, or is so hung-up on a group that he knows sacrifices animals that he can’t let them completely off the hook. This all makes me wonder how many sadistic teenagers, distrubed adults, and potential serial killers are escaping suspicion and notice because everyone is so worried about what practitioners of Santeria are doing with goats and chickens inside their home.

The New Hampshire Union Leader reports on an animal cruelty case where the defense wanted to introduce evidence that the main witness (and owner of the cat allegedly killed by the defendant) lacked credibility because she was a Witch.

Vanilla-Clove Moonstone wept on the witness stand yesterday as she described seeing her former neighbor whip her cat, Buddha, to the brink of death with a white cord in summer 2007 … Before the trial began in Sullivan County Superior Court yesterday, Judge John Arnold ruled the defense could not introduce evidence that Moonstone practices witchcraft because her beliefs are irrelevant to her credibility as a witness. “Your honor, I think there’s a vast difference between Christianity and witchcraft,” Hulser argued before the ruling. “This goes to credibility.”

There may indeed be “vast” differences between Christianity and Witchcraft, but the judge wisely saw that allowing a witness to be undermined because of her faith isn’t justice. The “she’s a Witch” tactic is usually used in divorce cases, and its unusual to see such a slimy and dishonorable maneuver used in a animal abuse case. Of course, being prevented from calling the witness a witch didn’t stop the defense from calling her a liar anyway.

The defense contends the cat was hit by a car and placed on Robie’s porch, and Moonstone’s accusation is the product of bad blood between neighbors. “Ms. Moonstone, I don’t mean to be insensitive,” public defender Michael Hulser said on cross-examination, “but your cat got run over, didn’t it?” “No, it did not,” Moonstone said. “Shame on you! Mr. Robie didn’t beat your cat, did he?” “I watched him do it,” she said.

Shame on you? What is she, twelve? Is this really how lawyers talk? As for the “Witch Gambit”, while I’d like to think it isn’t as effective as it used to be, some of the comments on the article seem to prove me wrong.

Garlic -Clove Moonshot? Seven cats? Ahem, ah not quite sure what happened but I think we can move on without too much concen … With a name like Vanilla-CLove Moonstone she kind of loses credibility right off for me. Sorry….but it is what it is.

So long as you get enough people on the jury who think non-Christians are weirdos who are not to be trusted, you’ll continue to get unscrupulous lawyers trying to undermine their testimony (and tragedies that arise as people exploit those biases). Let’s be glad that it didn’t happen this time around.

ADDENDUM: Jury: Man guilty of whipping, killing cat.

After an hour and 20 minutes of deliberation, a Sullivan County Superior Court jury convicted a Claremont man yesterday of whipping his neighbor’s cat to death with a cord in July 2007. Robie, 41, cried at the defense table and then embraced his wife and children after the jury foreperson announced the verdict. He faces a maximum penalty of seven years in state prison and a fine of up to $4,000 for the felony animal cruelty conviction. A sentencing hearing will be held within 60 days.

Interestingly, a juror said they discounted Moonstone’s testimony due to inconsistencies. So even if she had been branded a Witch, it seems that it wouldn’t have affected the outcome.