Last year I came across an odd case in the news, it centered around a New Age/Magick-practicing couple from Durham County, North Carolina. The couple, Joy Johnson (a chairwoman of the local Democratic Party) and Joseph Scott Craig, were accused of kidnapping and raping another couple under the auspices of a “Satanic ritual”.

“Prosecutors have charged three people, including two ranking members of the Durham County Democratic Party, as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and kidnapping that prosecutors said involved satanic worship … Authorities have said little about the case outside of the information included in arrest warrants, which allege that [Joseph Scott] Craig beat a man and a woman, raped the woman and that [Joy] Johnson watched as he did so. Durham County Assistant District Attorney Mark McCullough said earlier this week that charges stemmed from some sort of satanic ritual.”

From the beginning things didn’t seem quite right, lawyers for the couple insisted that what happened wasn’t rape and kidnapping, but consensual sadomasochism, and I started to wonder if the accusations were vindictive.

“Let’s deconstruct this for a moment. One couple meets another couple, allegedly through “a shared interest in Satan worship”. They then engage in, on three occasions, what sounds very much like cuckold play, a very, very common kink. The basic scenario, in short, is that a man (or woman) is restrained (mentally or physically) and “forced” to watch his (or her) partner sexually gratified by a stranger. While I’m not ruling out mental coercion, or that the final instance may have been done without consent, we may also be dealing with what sex columnist Dan Savage calls “drastic, disgusted, after-the-fact denial” (NSFW language at link).”

Despite some weird inconsistencies (like the fact that they had access to money, phones, and cars, and continued to live with the couple even after the alleged incidents), and testimony from the accusers that the four had indeed been living together and in an admitted consensual sexual relationship, a judge allowed the case to go forward.  Soon after that, the local Assistant District Attorney admitted that “some if not all of the charges may need to be modified”, and bail was subsequently lowered for both Joy Johnson and Joseph Scott Craig.

Finally, nearly a year and a half after the case began, and their lives ruined by the publicity and criminal charges, the two were convicted of misdemeanors in a plea arrangement (more here).

“WRAL reported that 25-year-old Joseph Scott Craig and his 30-year-old wife Joy Johnson were each sentenced Friday to two 60-day suspended sentences and a year of probation. Search warrants said the victims were a man and a woman who moved in with Craig and Johnson after they became friends through their satanic interests.”

Notice that the “Satanic” slurs continue, even after the entire case has fallen apart. The DA’s office gets a plea arrangement, most likely because the defendants didn’t have confidence in receiving a fair verdict, or the cash for a lengthy trial-and-appeal process, and the accused get an end to this ongoing nightmare.

We will most likely never know what really happened, but it almost certainly wasn’t some sort of Satanic rape-kidnapping scenario, where one of the alleged victims says she was “channeling demons” during the process. Now the accusers have almost certainly gotten what they wanted, the ruination of their former friends/lovers, and the accused have to be happy with their freedom. Whatever really happened, I doubt anyone would claim this farce to be justice.

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I have a few news items to start off your Saturday, beginning with a story that’s spread like wildfire through the political and religious blogospheres gaining mainstream coverage, and its all about prayer. Specifically its about “imprecatory prayer”, the Christian equivalent to malefic “black” magic (you’re basically asking God to kill, maim, or trouble some person). While there have been a few high-profile imprecatory prayer stories popping up lately, the most recent centers on a meme and line of merchandise urging people to “pray” for President Barack Obama, invoking the biblical Psalm 109:8 “let his days be few; and let another take his office”. It seems rather harmless as imprecatory prayers go until you read the rest of the psalm in question.

“It was, most likely, intended as a joke.  But it isn’t really very funny.  Especially since the next verse reads, “May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.”  The passage goes on the same way--asking God to pulverize this poor fellow--that he lose all his worldly goods, that his orphans be abandoned, that his father be remembered as a sinner, and finally, that “his memory be cut off from the earth.” Thus, the “Prayer for Obama,” does more than anticipate that he leaves office; it entreats God to destroy the president.”

Supporters and opponents of this prayer are battling it out at Cafe Press, with stores being removed and reinstated. Meanwhile, pundits are split on whether this is harmless fun, or yet another sign that far-right Christianity is coming unglued and “trawling for assassins”. How should Pagans and occultists, many of whom believe in the power of magic and intention, react to these sort of stories? Harmless? Or the beginning of a particularly nasty egregore?

Turning from prayer to more material conflicts over belief, Chas Clifton reports on a Russian Orthodox priest who was recently murdered in his church. 34-year-old Daniil Sysoyev was missionary who bragged of converting 80 Muslims personally, and wrote several books critical of Islam, gaining many death-threats in the process. But while this seems a rather open-and-shut case of a Russian Muslim taking revenge against a firebrand converter of Muslims, authorities are also looking at other groups, like Russian Pagans.

“Sysoyev also worked with former members of religious sects and wrote a book on Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovahs’ Witnesses. He also spoke out against nationalists and Stalinists, whom he criticized on his blog for ignoring the murder of innocent people.”

None of the articles specifically mentions Pagans when they mention “various religious sects”, but the ABC article links the phrase to another report they did on Russian Pagans, so they must know something we don’t. Clifton points out that Russian Pagans do come into direct conflict with the Russian Orthodoxy and “are more likely to have their own line of “blood and soil” rhetoric and to claim that they represent the true spirituality of their people”. All that said, I’m siding with Occam’s razor on this one, so the Russian Pagans and hard-liner Stalinists most likely have little to worry about during the investigation.

In a final note, it looks like “Agora”, which centers on the life (and death) of Neoplatonist pagan philosopher Hypatia, has finally found an American distributor and will hit theaters in early 2010.

“Alejandro Amenabar’s intellectual epic that had sat without a U.S. buyer for six months, has found a stateside home. Newmarket Films has picked up U.S. rights to the Rachel Weisz starrer and is prepping a release for the first half of 2010.”

Distribution deals finally materialized after the film starting doing far better than expected in European markets. So we’ll finally get a chance to see “Agora” on the big screen, anyone want to place bets on if/when it will gain American protesters?

I have a few, well, odder, odds-and-ends for you this Sunday. Starting with a seemingly improbable mystic super-hero, Wiccan author Raven Grimassi. Grimassi, along with his wife Stephanie, appear in the latest issue of the “empowering” (and not safe for work) soft-core comic “Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose”.

Raven & Stephanie in action.

“…it’s a battle between Raven Hex, Raven Grimassi, and his wife. That name may or may not mean anything to you, but Grimassi is a reknowned author of numerous books on Wicca and Witchcraft. Within the world of Tarot, he’s also the keeper of the Library of Magick and, alongside his wife, more than a match for Raven Hex.”

Raven Grimassi also conveys important life-lessons about ancient wisdom and seeking for knowledge, though I don’t know how effective “Tarot” is as a vehicle for such wisdom-teachings. Let’s just say that it is incredibly disconcerting to see Raven Grimassi talk about the “Library of Magick” when his head is placed right next to a gigantic, well, cameltoe (the above panel is, in fact, one of the few that is “work safe”). Will people, after reading this work, be unable to think of him without recalling that his cartoon stand-in was kicked in the face by a semi-nude woman with improbable (even by comic standards) breasts? One wonders which “Craft superstars” they will recruit to appear in the comic next. If you’d like to purchase this comic (soon, no doubt, to be a collectors item), it’s available at the Broadsword Comics web site.

Switching our pop-culture gears slightly, we turn from occult cheesecake comics to cheesy occult television. It seems that the most recent episode of the CW Network show “Supernatural” featured a shape-shifting “forest god” that needed killing.

“Turns out the monster is a washed-up forest god whose old stomping grounds were razed to make room for a Yugo factory. Her worshipers used to hand themselves over to her rapturously, allowing her to eat them for sustenance. But now that the whole “old school religion” sacrifice thing isn’t common anymore, the god has to take on the forms of celebrities to eat people. As long as it munches on people who adore it, the god is satisfied. Plus it gives Sam and Dean a little lecture on how celebrities are the new gods…”

It’s a plot-point that should warm the cockles of multi-media magicians everywhere. Naturally the final form the fallen god takes is that of Paris Hilton, who bemoans the fact that people have lost touch with “old-time religion” before having her head chopped off. You can watch the entirety of “Fallen Idol” at the CW Supernatural web site. I’m not sure exactly where this sits on my personal offended/amused scale of things, but you have to give them points for originality. It isn’t often a forest god takes the form of Gandhi and tries to eat someone.

In a final note that is sadly not fiction, a publicity-starved occultist, “Magus” Lynius Shadee, claims he has conjured a demon inside a Catholic church in Cambridge that could drive parishioners to suicide.

“Magus Lynius Shadee says the demon could possess parishioners and drive them to suicide. He claims to have instructed the evil spirit to “dwell” in the famous church to “cleanse it”. The occultist, who calls himself the King of All Witches, says he let loose the entity to prey on worshippers at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Hills Road.”

This brazenly idiotic publicity stunt came in the wake of vocal concerns by local Christian church leaders over Shadee opening up an occult center near Cambridge University. Shadee is yet another sad, self-proclaimed, “king of all witches”, who needs to stir the pot in order to feed his no-doubt incessant need for attention. I hate to say it, but I’m rather rooting for the Catholic exorcists in this instance.

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

If you have over 160,000 Euro (235,551 USD) to spend, have I got a hot property for you! Wouldn’t you like to build a cabin right next to the famous Boleskine House on Scotland’s Loch Ness? Hadn’t heard of it? Well then, you must not be up on your Aleister Crowley-lore, for it once belonged to the master-mage and is apparently considered to be the Thelemic Qiblah, the direction O.T.O. Lodges, Profess-Houses and Gnostic Mass Temples are ideally to be oriented towards.

“A beautiful plot on the shores of Loch Ness, next to Jimmy Page and Aleister Crowley’s old property Boleskine House is for sale. A wonderful plot on the shores of Loch Ness with planning permission for a three-bedroom log cottage has come onto the market. The plot, which comes to just under two acres, used form part of the Boleskine House estate which was previously owned by Aleister Crowley, the famous master of the occult, and subsequently by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.”

Oh, and some lad in a rock band once owned the place too. Once there you can build a nice three-bedroom cottage, enjoy the tranquil scenery, go Nessie spotting, plan major Thelemic workings, and try to avoid “King Kevin” as he traipses about Loch Ness drumming up publicity in a red bathrobe.The only real drawback is, well, it’s only accessible by boat.

“The only drawback is access which is only available by boat from along the shore and materials to build the property must also be transported by barge; on the plus side the property is guaranteed to provide peace and quiet amongst the hills.”

But if you’re into privacy while you pursue the Great Work, that’s an asset not a drawback! So contact Strutt and Parker today to make your bid.

The world of magic and the occult is nothing if not versatile, and we have three recent news items to prove it. We start with a story from Miller-McCune magazine about suburban teens getting involved in gangs. While the bulk of the story sticks with the problems of drug-related activity, gang-banging, and violence, they also interview “consultant on gangs” Dan Korem. A former independent journalist and “Christian illusionist”, he now offers a profiling consultancy service that claims to have solved the problem of school shootings. Like many Christian gang experts, he can’t help but lump occult activities in with dealing crack and killing people.

“Korem, who wrote about the phenomenon of spreading gangs in his 1994 book Suburban Gangs, The Affluent Rebels, identified four types of juvenile gangs. Ideological gangs include people with a particular worldview, such as neo-Nazis, skinheads, anarchists or even environmental extremists. Cult gangs get into Satanism or other occult activities. Delinquent gangs are packs of kids whose activities can start with graffiti and vandalism and escalate to theft, assault and even catastrophic violence such as school shootings. At the time Korem started studying the phenomenon in the 1980s for Suburban Gangs, these delinquent gangs were the most common type. As the population of teens contracted in the ’90s, delinquent gangs fell, then rose again as the population expanded in the mid-2000s. Street gangs are a subclass of delinquent gangs.”

Cult gangs! Yeah, you see those everywhere. I heard the other day where there was a drive-by spell-casting perpetrated by the East-side LaVeyans on the West-side Setians over control of a local occult shop. A dozen Wiccans were reportedly wounded in the astral cross-fire! I’m not sure about Todd Pitock, the author of this article, but when I’m looking for an expert to quote I check their background first. While I’m sure Mr. Korem is a capable and smart individual, an expert in gangs and profiling who doesn’t list his academic and practical training should set off red flags.

Turning from something that’s faintly absurd to something intentionally funny, the Scotsman’s Edinburgh Festival guide profiles “occult comedian” Andrew O’Neill.

“It is wholly personal, fascinating stuff, original and left-field to the point of bumping into the perimeter fence. He has a spirited discussion with himself about black metal, death metal and Swedish death metal and does a couple of knock-knock jokes before carrying on to The Satanic Bible and Aleister Crowley. I suggest you do not leave Edinburgh before hearing him on the subject of the trials and tribulations of being a vegan transvestite (loved the neon pink stockings, by the way). O’Neill is a charming, genuine stage presence. Most of the time he is anecdotal or enthusiastically explaining the benefits of the occult and black magic, about which he certainly knows his stuff. What adds an extra layer of enjoyment is that he can, out of the blue (or perhaps the black) be wonderfully punny one minute and thrillingly acid the next.”

You can find out more about O’Neill at his web site. You can see a clip of him mocking British astrologers, here. Is this the first stand-up act to self-consciously bill itself as “occult”? Could Andrew O’Neill be the start of a occult-flavored comedy underground? Will Discordians start sweating now that they have some serious competition as the “funny ones” at festivals? These, and other pertinent questions remain open.

In a final, somewhat frivolous, note, gossip tabloids are alleging that pop-star Jessica Simpson hired a Witch to curse her ex-boyfriend, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

“A source told National Enquirer magazine: “Jessica is normally a really sweet girl, but she still can’t believe Tony callously dumped her.” “She found a woman in California. The two met at the star’s Beverly Hills home where they lit a candle, burned some incense and performed a couple of incantations.” The scorned singer-and-actress hopes the meeting will also taint the sportsman’s career, and is waiting in readiness for his next match on September 13, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”

I suppose interested parties can now check the sports highlights to see if Simpson got her (alleged) money’s worth. If it doesn’t work, maybe should hook up with some of the occult gangs hanging around in suburban neighborhoods, they are no doubt more “hard-core” for the down-and-dirty curse-magick.

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

The Daily Grail alerts us to a forthcoming book by one of their contributors, Mitch Horowitz, concerning an often untold history of the United States of America. Entitled “Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation”,Horowitz takes us on a unique journey through American history, from the mystical practices of Johannes Kelpius to the Spiritualist séances of Mary Todd Lincoln.

“In early 1871, the chamber invited the first woman to address a joint congressional committee. That winter day, it was a free-love advocate – and avowed trance medium – named Victoria Woodhull who took the floor. Poised and handsome, Woodhull delivered a rousing brief in defense of women’s suffrage, which she later said had been dictated to her in a dream by a ghostly, tunic-wearing Greek elder-a spirit guardian who had guided all of her public utterances ever since she was a young girl. By the time of Woodhall’s appearance, Spiritualism could not be hooted down, even in the Senate. Its acolytes included Mary Todd Lincoln and a range of industrialists, congressmen, and figures from everyday life. The year following Woodhull’s speech, suffragists nominated her as the first female candidate for president.”

“Occult America” sounds like it will not only be a fun read, but a welcome corrective to the idea that American history stayed well on the Protestant Christian theological straight-and-narrow until fairly recently. It brings to mind a book I’m currently reading, “Grimoires: A History of Magic Books” by Owen Davies. It too casts an entirely new light on “occult” and magical dealings through history.

“Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present.”

You’ll hopefully be hearing more about “Grimoires” soon, as I’m in the process of trying to arrange an interview with Davies regarding the subject matter in his book. As for “Occult America”, it is being released September 8th in America and the UK. You can read more about Horowitz’s work at his web site, here. With this recent flurry of historical re-evaluation, how long before we see “America is an Occult Nation” bumper stickers?

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s this gigantic blockbuster film featuring dystopian super-heroes coming out later this week called “Watchmen”. Perhaps you’ve seen an ad or two. The film is an adaptation of one of the most critically lauded comics of all time. It, and several other works from writer/creator Alan Moore, have been turned into would-be blockbusters against his wishes. This reluctance to play the Hollywood game, and his outward eccentricities, guarantee a run of profiles by journalists often amazed that he doesn’t want to cash in.

At 55, the Northampton hermit will take no more credit for the film than he did for From Hell, the screen adaptation of his Jack the Ripper comic book, which starred Johnny Depp, or for the anodyne film version of his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore’s name will not appear on the credits of Watchmen and his share of the cash goes to his illustrator on the series, Dave Gibbons.

So what? Aren’t “Hollywood botches the book” or “Hollywood cashes in against the wishes of the writer” stories a dime a dozen? What’s different is that Moore is, for all intents and purposes, “one of us”. By that I mean he’s an occultist/magician who possibly worships the “sock-puppet god” Glycon, and is currently hard at work writing a “a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences”. In addition, he also wrote an outstanding 32-issue comic series that doubled as primer in magic entitled “Promethea”. Yet, despite all that, Moore isn’t really a figure of much discussion outside the small subsection of comic-book collecting Pagans and occultists. Neil Gaiman in contrast, who has a comparable track-record of critical and mainstream successes, has a huge Pagan following. Perhaps it’s that Gaiman is far more outgoing, Internet-savvy, and willing to work with Hollywood? Whatever the reason, you’re far more likely to hear a Pagan talk about “Coraline” (which was great) than the fact that Moore’s upcoming “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” comic sequel (due out in April) will prominently feature fictional/literary versions of Aleister Crowley.

“…an apocalyptic plot masterminded by obscure W. Somerset Maugham villain Oliver Haddo, a parody of Aleister Crowley; it almost goes without saying that Moore seizes the moment to populate Haddo’s entourage with fictional creations of the actual, prolific Crowley, while steeping the diabolist’s scheme in arcana from Crowley’s 1917 novel Moonchild.”

So when you head off to the theatre to see “Watchmen”, keep in mind that what you see on the screen is merely an echo, a fannish recreation (warning: spoilers at that link) of a work specifically created for the comics medium. A work not intended to be adapted to big-screen action. Or better yet, why not spend the weekend (and the money you might have spent on admission, a large popcorn, and soda) getting to know one of most brilliant writers of his generation. A writer who happens to share with us an interest in the practice of magic. I think that in retrospect, historians of our wider religious and philisophical movement will pay far more attention to the influence of people like Moore than the dozens of “Wicca 101″ niche writers we currently argue and debate over. Perhaps it’s time more of us got a jump on those historians.

I realize that this has already been posted at Boing Boing (and Lashtal), but if you haven’t seen it, here is an interview with John Yorke, son of Gerald Yorke, a friend and disciple of Aleister Crowley.

The interview, conducted by Julian “Chemical Wedding” Doyle, discusses Yorke’s collection of Crowley related items (including Crowley’s wand), and shares anecdotes about The Rolling Stones and Kenneth Anger.

Hollywood Reporter brings us the news that Columbia Pictures has made a six-figure deal to bring the novel “Deryni Rising” to the screen, with hopes that it could become a successful fantasy movie franchise.

Deryni Rising cover art.

“Columbia Pictures is bringing Katherine Kurtz’s “Deryni Rising” to the big screen. In a six-figure deal, the studio has picked up “Deryni” as a spec by Alex Sabeti. Jimmy Miller is producing via his Mosaic banner. “Deryni” is a historical fantasy novel first published in 1970 that launched Kurtz’s “Deryni Kingdom” series that, almost 40 years later, encompasses five trilogies, short stories and reference books. The story is set in a medieval kingdom of humans alongside the Deryni, a race of people with psychic and magical abilities. The first novel centers on a young prince who, after the death of his father the king, must defend his throne from a Deryni usurper.”

The Deryni novels are written by Katherine Kurtz, an esoteric Christian (founder of the Michaelines) who is remarkably Pagan-friendly. Back in the early 80s she wrote “Lammas Night”, a classic in the “Pagans save the world”* genre that artfully melds several Wiccan (and esoteric) myths concerning WWII (and adds in a healthy dollop of Margaret Murray’s “divine king” theory). So needless to say, many Pagans will be eagerly anticipating (or, given Hollywood’s track record, dreading) this film.

It should be interesting to see how they portray magic (especially ritual magic), the kingdom of Gwynedd (loosely modeled after Britain), and the Holy Church of Gwynedd (loosely modeled after the Roman Catholic Church). Will Catholic groups complain about the blending of esoteric practices into what is obviously their church? Will the religious elements get downplayed or watered down (as in the film version of The Golden Compass)? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

* My favorite “Pagans save the world” novel is Stewart Farrar’s “Omega” (which you can buy used for a PENNY at Amazon).

Way back in 2006 I reported on a band new comic mini-series that was debuting called “Phonogram”. The book revolved around the lives of magicians (called “phonomancers”) who use music as their medium.

Phonogram t-shirt design.

“Music is Magic. You know this already. You’ve known this from the first time a record sent a divine shiver down your spine or when a band changed the way you dressed forever. How does something that’s just noises arranged in sequence do that? No-one knows. It’s just…magic. Everyone knows that. It’s just that some realise that it’s more than metaphor.”

That series, now collected in graphic novel form, was an exercise in excavating one’s musical youth as a phonomancer races to stop a blasphemy against his Britpop past. Now writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie are returning for a second Phonogram series that explores a club night from seven different perspectives.

“To explore how much subjective experiences of a shared social event can differ. There’s a quote I’m probably going to lob at the front of the trade from Wellington: “The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball…” His point being that you can’t write a history of a battle because it’s too confusing and the individual perspectives and understanding of events vary so much. You may as well try and write what happened at a party. “The Singles Club” flips that observation — and a party can be an awful lot like a battle. When a DJ plays a certain record, to one person it could be the best thing imaginable. To someone else, it may be the thing to totally destroy you.”

Phonogram “B-Side” art by Daniel Heard

In addition to the main story, each story will feature back-up stories (“b-sides”) from “guest DJ” artists like Daniel Heard, Marc Ellerby, and Emma Vieceli. Being something of a music fanatic, and a strong believer in the magical power of music, I really enjoyed the first series and I’m looking forward to these new “singles” (which debut on December 10th). Ask your local comic-shop to order you a copy, and be sure to check out the 11-page preview of the new series. If you happen to be a fan of the intersections between pop-culture, myth, and magic, I think you’ll enjoy “Phonogram”.