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	<title>The Wild Hunt &#187; occult</title>
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		<title>Indianapolis Public Schools Block the Pagans</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/11/indianapolis-public-schools-block-the-pagans.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/11/indianapolis-public-schools-block-the-pagans.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:01:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[atheism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom From Religion Foundation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indianapolis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wicca]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3723</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Reminder: We are in the midst of our first annual Winter Pledge Drive! If you value this blog, its mission, and its content, please consider making a donation to keep The Wild Hunt open, ad-free, and updated daily. Spread the word, and thanks to all who have donated so far!

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<ul>
<li><strong>Reminder:</strong> We are in the midst of our first annual <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/11/2009-wild-hunt-winter-pledge-drive-nov-16-22.html">Winter Pledge Drive</a>! If you value this blog, its mission, and its content, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&amp;business=jpitzl%40wildhunt%2eorg&amp;lc=US&amp;item_name=The%20Wild%20Hunt&amp;currency_code=USD&amp;bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted">please consider making a donation</a> to keep The Wild Hunt open, ad-free, and updated daily. Spread the word, and thanks to all who have donated so far!</li>
</ul>
<p>The Wisconsin-based <a href="http://ffrf.org">Freedom From Religion Foundation</a>, you may remember them from <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/10/green-bay-nativity-case-fizzles-out.html">the Green Bay Nativity case</a>, is <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/censoredatheistwebsites.php">demanding that the Indianapolis Public School system change its current web access policy</a> which bans access to &#8220;occult&#8221;, &#8220;Wiccan&#8221;, &#8220;Voodoo&#8221; and &#8220;mysticism&#8221;-boosting sites.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;The Freedom From Religion Foundation, responding to complaints from concerned Indianapolis taxpayers, has sent a <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/ipsletter.pdf">letter</a> of strong objection to the Indianapolis Public School system for its <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/ipspolicy.pdf">policy</a> of censorship of web content that promotes or provides information about &#8220;atheistic views.&#8221; This policy, which also censors Wicca, Witchcraft, &#8220;voodoo rituals or any other for of mysticism,&#8221; is unlawful because it violates the Free Speech Clause as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, FFRF charges. This policy does not prohibit or even mention religious views such as Christianity.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>You can read the school&#8217;s web filtering policy, <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/ipspolicy.pdf">here</a>. You can read the FFRF&#8217;s letter to school Superintendent Eugene White, <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/ipsletter.pdf">here</a>. FFRF <a href="http://ffrf.org/news/2009/censoredatheistwebsites.php">is asking people to write to the Superintendent, Dr. Eugene G. White, and the local school board members</a>, urging them to drop this discriminatory web site blocking.</p>
<p>While I certainly support the individuals and groups working to remove these arbitrary web filters, one has to wonder if the policy was put in place because the school officials were anti-atheist and anti-Pagan, or if they were simply lazy. The open secret about content filters,<a href="http://www.peacefire.org/"> besides the fact that they can be easily hacked</a>, is that many of the site lists used in these filters had <a href="http://www.cyberbully.org/onlinedocs/documents/religious2.html">their genesis with conservative Christian organizations</a>. These lists are copied around and often added to by the churches many filtering companies also service, so when a seemingly secular company <em>&#8220;implementing technology in the classroom&#8221;</em> (in this case <a href="http://www.ena.com/">Education Networks of America</a>) comes along they may be instituting a site filter-list written by people with a inherent bias against minority religions. <a href="http://www.cyberbully.org/onlinedocs/documents/religious2.html">Something that the clients may not even know</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;When local school officials select and implement a filtering product, they are provided only a list of potential categories to be blocked, with a short description of the types of material blocked in the categories. Filtering companies protect the actual list of blocked sites, searching and blocking key words, blocking criteria, and blocking processes as confidential, proprietary trade secret information. Therefore, local school officials have essentially delegated control to filtering companies to make decisions about the appropriateness of material for students when there is no vehicle to determine how such control is being exercised.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>So who knows what<em> &#8220;content filtering product&#8221;</em> <a href="http://www.ena.com/products/">ENA is using</a>, but at least some of it most likely had its genesis with groups that were decidedly not unbiased or secular. In fact, <a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/cyberpat1.htm">almost all of the most popular Internet filters block Pagan sites</a>, something that doesn&#8217;t seem to bother the secular groups servicing government and government-funded groups and services, until they get in trouble of course. Because if a public school is blocking student access to some religions but not to others, that could be seen as bias, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Trees_School_District_v._Pico">and that is a no-no according to the Supreme Court</a>. So lets hope that Indianapolis Public Schools change their filtering policy ASAP instead of stonewalling and preparing for litigation, and lets also hope that<a href="http://www.ena.com/products/"> ENA stops offering to block access to minority religions in public schools</a>.</p>
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		<title>Quick Note: Pagan Halloween Hysteria!</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/quick-note-pagan-halloween-hysteria.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/quick-note-pagan-halloween-hysteria.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:45:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Halloween]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremiah Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Popculture Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samhain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samhainophobia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vampires]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War on Halloween]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wicca]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3592</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It just isn&#8217;t Halloween without some anti-Pagan Christian propaganda! Luckily, Jeremiah Films is ready to sate my need for schlocky scare-mongering with &#8220;Popculture Paganism: Neovampirism, Wicca, and the Occult&#8221;.

&#8220;Recorded in Britain, India, and the United States, this film brings together over 30 years of research and interviews with Occultic experts, high-ranking witches, druids, and a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It just isn&#8217;t Halloween without some anti-Pagan Christian propaganda! Luckily,<a href="http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/products/pcp.html"> Jeremiah Films is ready to sate my need for schlocky scare-mongering</a> with <a href="http://popculturepaganism.com/">&#8220;Popculture Paganism: Neovampirism, Wicca, and the Occult&#8221;</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><!-- Smart Youtube --><span class="youtube"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/70wrl1WHV-M&amp;rel=1&amp;color1=d6d6d6&amp;color2=f0f0f0&amp;border=0&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;showsearch=0" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/70wrl1WHV-M&amp;rel=1&amp;color1=d6d6d6&amp;color2=f0f0f0&amp;border=0&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;showsearch=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355" ></embed><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span>&#8220;Recorded in Britain, India, and the United States, this film brings together over 30 years of research and interviews with Occultic experts, high-ranking witches, druids, and a former vampire. It gives viewers an understanding of the roots and dangers of this newly branded strain of paganism with exclusive footage of real-life ceremonies from the heart of England, featuring druidic rituals from Stonehenge and many witch covens.&#8221;</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span>Of course by <em>&#8220;over 30 years of research&#8221;</em> they mean a pastiche cobbled together from previous anti-occult films with a bit of  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(2008_film)">&#8220;Twilight&#8221;</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Blood">&#8220;True Blood&#8221;</a> thrown in to make it seem more timely. If all this &#8220;research&#8221; makes you hungry for more, you can always check out the 13-DVD <a href="http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/products/Pagan-Invasion">&#8220;Pagan Invasion Series&#8221;</a>, where everything from Mormonism to psychotherapy is thrown into the mix. Naturally, if you don&#8217;t want to give Jermiah Films any money, you can always wait until some crank reads a <a href="http://www.chick.com/default.asp">Chick Tract </a>and <a href="http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2145008">decides to write an editorial for the local newspaper</a>.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Halloween, which is the witches&#8217; New Year, originated among the ancient Druid priests from Britain and France. This pagan holiday is held to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of the Celtic year</em><em>. The festival is named after Samhain (sah-ween), the God of the dead. The druids believed that on this night the spirits of the dead would come back and walk amongst the living to terrorize and harass them, some even possessing the bodies of animals. Also, during this time human and animal sacrifices are common, the blood spilled believed to open the gates to the dead, releasing them. To ward off these evil spirits the druids dress up as witches, demons or in other evil costumes, some participating in satanic rituals.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Samhain <a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_sa.htm">God of the Dead!</a> It&#8217;s been too long old pal! See, now it really feels like Halloween. Forget <a href="http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_296000747.html">Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb filming in Salem</a>, this is the real mood-setter.</p>
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		<title>Raven Grimassi, Paris the Forest God, and the Demon-invoking Witch</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/raven-grimassi-paris-the-forest-god-and-the-demon-invoking-witch.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/raven-grimassi-paris-the-forest-god-and-the-demon-invoking-witch.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:05:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholicism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Comics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holly G]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jim Balent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lynius Shadee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raven Grimassi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supernatural]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wicca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Witchcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 &#8220;Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose&#8221;.

Raven &#38; Stephanie in action.
&#8220;&#8230;it’s a battle [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have a few, well, <em>odder</em>, odds-and-ends for you this Sunday. Starting with a seemingly improbable mystic super-hero, Wiccan author <a href="http://www.ravengrimassi.net/bio.htm">Raven Grimassi</a>. Grimassi, along with his wife Stephanie, <a href="http://panelsonpages.com/?p=13261">appear in the latest issue</a> of the <a href="http://www.the-isb.com/?p=980">“empowering”</a> (and not safe for work) soft-core comic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot:_Witch_of_the_Black_Rose">&#8220;Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose&#8221;</a>.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://wildhunt.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/grimassi_tarot_comic.png" alt="" /><br />
<small>Raven &amp; Stephanie in action.</small></p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;&#8230;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.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Raven Grimassi also conveys important life-lessons about ancient wisdom and seeking for knowledge, though I don&#8217;t know how effective &#8220;Tarot&#8221; is as a vehicle for such wisdom-teachings. Let&#8217;s just say that it is incredibly disconcerting to see Raven Grimassi talk about the &#8220;Library of Magick&#8221; when his head is placed right next to a gigantic, well, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameltoe">cameltoe</a> (the above panel is, in fact, one of the few that is &#8220;work safe&#8221;). 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 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot:_Witch_of_the_Black_Rose#Raven_Hex">a semi-nude woman</a> with improbable (even by comic standards) breasts? One wonders which <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/02/the-super-pagan-comic-book-team-up.html">&#8220;Craft superstars&#8221;</a> they will recruit to appear in the comic next. If you&#8217;d like to purchase this comic (soon, no doubt, to be a collectors item),<a href="http://www.jimbalentstudios.com/studio.htm"> it&#8217;s available at the Broadsword Comics web site</a>.</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural">&#8220;Supernatural&#8221;</a> featured <a href="http://io9.com/5378605/paris-hilton-must-be-destroyed-on-supernatural">a shape-shifting &#8220;forest god&#8221; that needed killing</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;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 &#8220;old school religion&#8221; sacrifice thing isn&#8217;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&#8230;&#8221; </em></p></blockquote>
<p>It&#8217;s a plot-point that should <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Multi-Media-Magic-Explorations-Identity-Practice/dp/1905713142/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_8">warm the cockles of multi-media magicians everywhere</a>. Naturally the final form the fallen god takes <a href="http://io9.com/5378605/paris-hilton-must-be-destroyed-on-supernatural">is that of Paris Hilton</a>, who bemoans the fact that people have lost touch with &#8220;old-time religion&#8221; before having her head chopped off. <a href="http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/supernatural">You can watch the entirety of &#8220;Fallen Idol&#8221; at the CW Supernatural web site</a>. I&#8217;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&#8217;t often a forest god takes the form of Gandhi and tries to eat someone.</p>
<p>In a final note that is sadly not fiction, a publicity-starved occultist, <a href="http://www.occultcentre.com/home.cfm">&#8220;Magus&#8221; Lynius Shadee</a>, claims <a href="http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=454587">he has conjured a demon inside a Catholic church in Cambridge</a> that could drive parishioners to suicide.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Magus Lynius Shadee says the demon could possess parishioners and drive them to suicide. He claims to have instructed the evil spirit to &#8220;dwell&#8221; in the famous church to &#8220;cleanse it&#8221;. 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.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>This brazenly idiotic publicity stunt <a href="http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/displayarticle.asp?id=452959">came in the wake of vocal concerns by local Christian church leaders</a> over Shadee opening up an occult center near Cambridge University. Shadee is yet another sad, self-proclaimed, <a href="http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/2009/10/09/cambridge-churchmen-in-fear-of-king-of-all-witches/">&#8220;king of all witches&#8221;</a>, who needs to stir the pot in order to feed his no-doubt incessant need for attention. I hate to say it, but I&#8217;m rather rooting for the Catholic exorcists in this instance.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s all I have for now, have a great day!</p>
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		<title>Quick Note: Boing Boing&#8217;s Occult Blogger</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/quick-note-boing-boings-occult-blogger.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/10/quick-note-boing-boings-occult-blogger.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:18:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogosphere]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boing Boing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mitch Horowitz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Occult America]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3522</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the three or four of you who don&#8217;t read Boing Boing, that compendium of wonderful things is currently in the midst of hosting guest-blogger Mitch Horowitz author of “Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation” (which I mentioned recently here). So far he&#8217;s blogged about what the occult is exactly, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the three or four of you who don&#8217;t read <a href="http://boingboing.net/">Boing Boing</a>, that compendium of wonderful things is currently<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/28/occult-historian-mit.html"> in the midst of hosting</a> guest-blogger <a href="http://www.mitchhorowitz.com/">Mitch Horowitz</a> author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553806750?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewildhunt-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0553806750">“Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation”</a> (<a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/quick-note-america-is-an-occult-nation.html">which I mentioned recently here</a>). So far he&#8217;s blogged about <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/28/mitch-horowitz-what.html">what the occult is exactly</a>, <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/01/esoteric-classics-a.html">classic esoteric texts</a>, the <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/03/the-american-spirit.html">American spirit</a>, and the <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/05/saint-expedite.html">popularity of Saint Expedite</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;One of the most interesting aspects of folk religion in America is the enduring figure of Saint Expedite &#8230; Simply put, Saint Expedite is the patron of those who need help in a hurry: with jobs, relationships, money, etc. In Brazil, he is the venerated helper of people looking for work; in America, so says Wired magazine, he is the &#8220;patron saint of the nerds,&#8221; i.e., a figure who can help untangle internet connections and the keep communications networks flowing; to church authorities he is merely an icon of &#8220;popular religiosity&#8221; who never historically existed.&#8221; </em></p></blockquote>
<p>While this certainly<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/11/interview-with-crowl.html"> isn&#8217;t Boing Boing&#8217;s first foray into all things occult</a>, it does seem to be the first time they&#8217;ve approached the topic in such a enthusiastic and sympathetic manner, so kudos to them. To keep track of Horowitz&#8217;s posts, <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/guestblog/">you can follow Boing Boing&#8217;s guest-blogger tag</a>. As for Mitch Horowitz himself, he&#8217;s been just about everywhere promoting his new book, from <a href="http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/09/mitch-horowitz-occult-america.php">The Washington Post</a> to<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112998783"> NPR</a>. I guess releasing your book about America&#8217;s occult roots right around the same time <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/a-chat-with-some-guy-named-dan-brown.html">a mega-popular fiction writer is tackling some of the same subjects</a> does pay off.</p>
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		<title>Turns Out it Was Teenagers</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/turns-out-it-was-teenagers.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/turns-out-it-was-teenagers.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:25:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cemetery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[desecration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ghost-hunters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grave-robbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The St. Petersburg Times reports on the case of a grave desecration in which a skull was stolen. Turns out it wasn&#8217;t practitioners of Santeria, Vodou, Satanism, or any other &#8220;occult&#8221; religion, it was some stupid kids out for a thrill.
&#8220;Nick Macchione wanted the skull. On his knees, he reached inside the broken crypt and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/teens-accused-of-taking-skulls-return-to-help-clean-old-hernando-cemetery/1036724">The St. Petersburg Times reports on the case of a grave desecration in which a skull was stolen</a>. Turns out it wasn&#8217;t practitioners of Santeria, Vodou, Satanism, or any other &#8220;occult&#8221; religion, it was some stupid kids out for a thrill.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Nick Macchione wanted the skull. On his knees, he reached inside the broken crypt and felt around the bones and rotting clothes until he grasped it. When he couldn&#8217;t get it out, court documents say, his friend Seth McCarty grabbed a chunk of broken concrete and pounded until the heavy lid protecting the old wooden casket gave way.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>According to accounts, the two teenagers were inspired by ghost-hunting web sites that portrayed Spring Hill Cemetery as full of <a href="http://www.westfloridaghostresearchers.com/photos_2">supernatural phenomena</a> and <a href="http://paranormalsoup.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=27893">spooky ephemera</a>. Not satisfied with taking pictures or recording audio, they instead went for a &#8220;souvenir&#8221;. Because of this desecration, and other disturbances at the graveyard, the caretakers want to install new lights, and for the perpetrators to post messages to ghost-hunting web sites <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/teens-accused-of-taking-skulls-return-to-help-clean-old-hernando-cemetery/1036724">reminding people that Spring Hill is private property</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Alyce Walker, the 82-year-old caretaker of the graveyard, which is tucked back in the woods off Fort Dade Avenue west of Brooksville &#8230; is more interested in heading off any more incidents. She is trying hard to get security lights and a gate erected at the site. She wants the heavy weeds and underbrush along the rear fence cleared away. As for Macchione and McCarty, she wants them to go online, to the same sites that drew them to the cemetery, and post messages telling other people that the cemetery is private property and to stay away. She wants to see a printout of their warnings. And she wants it done soon. Halloween is approaching, she said, and that attracts vandals and ghost chasers to the graveyard like moths to a flame. All she really wants, Ms. Walker said, is for people to respect the cemetery.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>No doubt that respectable hunters of the supernatural are horrified by the actions of these teenagers, and will no doubt spread the word that this cemetery is now off-limits to further investigations. After all, it&#8217;s only good policy to not insult the ancestors of the very ghosts your trying to hunt is it? As to the incident itself, it is just another sign that when some random desecration or vandalism happens, <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/dark-magic-of-disturbed-teens.html">when animals are killed and discarded in non-ritualistic circumstances</a>, chances are its not a practitioner of the occult at work, but a misguided or disturbed teenager instead.</p>
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		<title>The Never-Ending War Against Satan</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/the-never-ending-war-against-satan.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/the-never-ending-war-against-satan.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:20:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ritual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satanic Panic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satanism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spiritual warfare]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3396</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you thought the &#8220;Satanic Panic&#8221; years were over, that the global hysteria over &#8220;ritual abuse&#8221; in the 1980s and 1990s that ruined countless lives and enriched unscrupulous con-artists was nothing more than a fading bad memory, think again. According to Private Eye magazine the core of true believers never stopped believing and they&#8217;re mounting [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you thought the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081269192X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewildhunt-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=081269192X">&#8220;Satanic Panic&#8221;</a> years were over, that the global hysteria over &#8220;ritual abuse&#8221; in the 1980s and 1990s that <a href="http://www.witchhuntmovie.com/">ruined countless lives</a> and <a href="http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss098/warnke_index.htm">enriched unscrupulous con-artists</a> was nothing more than a fading bad memory, think again. According to <em><a href="http://www.private-eye.co.uk">Private Eye</a></em> magazine the core of true believers never stopped believing <a href="http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back&amp;article=105&amp;">and they&#8217;re mounting a come-back</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;&#8230;despite the fact that there has been not a shred of credible, physical, forensic evidence to substantiate the existence of Satanic ritual abuse, anywhere in the world, there is still an international network of zealots hell-bent on reviving and spreading the myth. For a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s the believers quietly went to ground. There was a backlash here and in the US &#8230; Believers stopped talking about Satanic or ritual abuse and instead started using the terms organised or extreme abuse &#8230; there is now a growing and dangerous fight back in the form of books and conferences featuring speakers defiantly and proudly proclaiming the existence of “ritual abuse” and how to treat “survivors”.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>A quick look at Amazon reveals that SRA (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse">Satanic Ritual Abuse</a>) &#8220;survivors&#8221; are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141963626X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewildhunt-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=141963626X">still writing</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Seventh-Ritual-ebook/dp/B002GWVZJ0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1252513399&amp;sr=8-7">memoirs</a>, and two books seemingly aimed at mental health and law enforcement professionals interested in SRA cases (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934759120?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewildhunt-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1934759120">&#8220;Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century&#8221;</a> and  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Forensic-Dissociative-Identity-Psychotherapy-Monograph/dp/1855755963">&#8220;Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder&#8221;</a>) were published in 2008. If the Satanic panics are making a come-back we all know what could happen next, <a href="http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/index.htm">a moral panic that will see innocent men and women jailed</a>, sometimes for decades. Creating a situation where Pagans and occultists <a href="http://www.ra-info.org/faqs/ra_faq.shtml#ideology">will have to watch their backs.</a></p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;In the United States, Canada, and Europe, people have reported being ritually abused under the banner of satanism, Christianity, <strong>various pagan and pantheistic belief systems</strong>, white supremacy movements, nazism,<strong> Santeria, voodoo</strong>, etc. At the present time, satanism is either the most common ideology under which ritual abuse is practiced or it is receiving the most attention.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Remember, the last time this exploded into the mainstream <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRYm5YtaCQo">even Oprah jumped on the Satanic Panic bandwagon</a> (something I don&#8217;t think she ever apologized for). How do these Satan panic peddlers stay afloat when the inevitable backlashes happen and the light of truth and reason shines on their money-making schemes? One has only to look the extensive underground network of conservative evangelicals and Pentecostals who are still convinced that Satan is not only a spiritual adversary, a personification of evil, <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/2009/08/28/top-urgent-from-ps-danny-please-take-time-to-read-fresh-blood-found-from-sacrifice/">but has &#8220;troops on the ground&#8221; as it were</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;A month ago I was with my wife and two other ladies in the car, including one who was formerly a witch but now a full on born-again Christian. In fact I have personally cast out many demonic spirits out of her. She told us that one of her friend’s (who also was a witch) father was a high priest in the coven. When she was a small girl, he told her that he had a surprise for her birthday. He blind folded her and told her to cut the cake. After cutting, her blind fold was removed and she was horrified to see that she had cut through the neck of a baby. Could this be happening in Australia?? Yes, it is.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The non-stop culture of <a href="http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/2009/09/05/spiritual-warfare-operation-on-mount-ainsley-in-canberra/">&#8220;spiritual warfare&#8221;</a> against imaginary Satanic &#8220;witches&#8221; and &#8220;warlocks&#8221; inevitably leads to spiritual (and sometimes physical) action <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/10/update-ii-palins-anti-pagan.html">against real-live Witches</a> and ultimately <a href="http://wm3.vox.com/">the horrors of false accusation</a> for owning the wrong books, listening to the wrong kind of music, or practicing the wrong religion. You may think it would never happen to you, but if the police ever search your home after a false accusation of &#8220;Satanic abuse&#8221;, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/sep/07/judging-criminal-suspects-books">what will they find on your bookshelf</a>?</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;If they came for you tomorrow, innocent or not, what would your bookshelf tell the world about you? Go and have a glance now, and ponder whether those volumes you&#8217;ve accumulated really are the possessions of an innocent person…&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The best way to combat this hysteria ever reaching the mainstream again is to be as out and open as possible. To be visible, outspoken, and unafraid of the &#8220;mainstream&#8221;. This doesn&#8217;t mean we have to lose the mysteries central to some of our faiths, but that  we must constantly dispel the shadows of rumor and gossip so we can combat the lies with reason. <a href="http://www.pagannewswirecollective.com/">To engage with the media and press on our own terms</a> so that never again will another innocent man or woman be jailed or put on trial by a &#8220;spiritual warrior&#8221;, unscrupulous therapist, &#8220;occult expert&#8221;, or child (grown or not) who&#8217;s imagination has been warped and led astray.</p>
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		<title>The Occult Expert and the Ninja Murderer</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/the-occult-expert-and-the-ninja-murderer.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/the-occult-expert-and-the-ninja-murderer.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:09:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kobus Jonker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[litigation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morne Harmse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satanic Panic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satanism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Africa]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3365</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The South African press is currently riveted with the story of Morne Harmse, a young man who seemingly experienced some sort of psychotic break, donned a Slipnot-esque mask, and went on a rampage with a ninja sword killing one teenager and wounding three others. Harmse, who plead guilty to the crimes, just underwent a sentencing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The South African press is currently riveted with <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?um=1&amp;ned=us&amp;cf=all&amp;ncl=dV_N0krptzvtXdMe1yUGt6N0NrhkM">the story of </a><span><a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?um=1&amp;ned=us&amp;cf=all&amp;ncl=dV_N0krptzvtXdMe1yUGt6N0NrhkM">Morne Harmse</a>, a young man who seemingly experienced some sort of psychotic break, donned <a href="http://www.slipknot-metal.com/main.php?sk=masks">a Slipnot-esque mask</a>, and went on a rampage with a ninja sword killing one teenager and wounding three others. Harmse, who plead guilty to the crimes, just underwent a sentencing trial where <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&amp;click_id=13&amp;art_id=vn20090901125023688C150023">the court called expert witness </a></span><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&amp;click_id=13&amp;art_id=vn20090901125023688C150023">Dr. Kobus Jonker</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Sword killer Morne Harmse may not have been a practising satanist, but he was dabbling in the occult.  This was according to satanism expert Dr Kobus Jonker, who testified this morning in the pre-sentencing hearing of the teenager who went on the rampage with a ninja sword at his school last year, killing a fellow pupil.  He took the stand as the expert witness called by the court.  Jonker, a retired policeman, said he had established the police&#8217;s occult-related crimes unit after being told to look into the issue by former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok.  Between 1981 and 2000, Jonker investigated hundreds of occult-related crimes and testified in 30 to 40 murder cases. This earned him several nicknames, including &#8220;Donker Jonker&#8221;, &#8220;The Hound of God&#8221; and &#8220;God&#8217;s Detective&#8221;. His unit was disbanded after human rights groups claimed that it was not constitutional in a country that guaranteed religious freedom.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>If that names seems familiar, it&#8217;s because Jonker was essentially the face of &#8220;Satanic Panic&#8221; in South Africa. Jonker and his now-disbanded &#8220;Occult Related Crimes Unit&#8221; essentially <a href="http://www.penton.co.za/archive/the_right_to_religious_freedom.htm">spread Christian propaganda regarding the &#8220;occult&#8221; and &#8220;Satanism&#8221; under the auspices of law enforcement</a>. Jonker and his group  <a href="http://www.witchvox.com/whs/dt_whs.html?aid=cabc&amp;id=8980">were also profiled by Kerr Cuhulain</a>, who pointed out the many troubling aspects to the (mis)information this unit was spreading. So what did this &#8220;expert&#8221; have to say about Harmse? <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&amp;click_id=15&amp;art_id=vn20090902034253504C765206">That he wasn&#8217;t a Satanic murderer because he didn&#8217;t fit his almost comical list of stereotypes</a>.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span>&#8220;Dr Kobus Jonker, testified that although Harmse had been experimenting with Satanism and witchcraft, his involvement in such practices was superficial &#8230; </span><span>Jonker said certain items and rituals typically present in a Satanic murder were absent in Harmse&#8217;s case &#8230; </span><span> the bedding and curtains in Harmse&#8217;s bedroom were coloured, whereas a practising Satanist would have had only black or red. There were also no blood smears or animal parts found in his bedroom &#8230; </span><span> candle wax found on the ouija board under his bed was white, pink and yellow, whereas a Satanist would have used only black and red candles &#8230; </span><span>Jonker said that on the day of the murder, Harmse had not spoken in any demonic language&#8230;&#8221;</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span>What demonic language exactly? Backwards Latin? What? That Jonker was allowed to peddle this nonsense at a high-profile murder trial mocks the entire proceeding. The family of the murdered boy and the family of Harmse have to sit and listen while this man prates on about black and red candles? He and the judge that allowed this should be ashamed. <a href="http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/aefc322480364290bd7b57fc05dc5afc/01-09-2009-09-13/Judge_Harmse_decision_not_easy">A judgement on sentencing is expected by September 10th</a>, let&#8217;s hope that decision is aided by real expert/clinical analysis and not the imagination of a born-again Satan-hunter.<br />
</span></p>
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		<title>(Pagan) News of Note</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/pagan-news-of-note-20.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/09/pagan-news-of-note-20.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:21:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asatru]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chaplaincy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cherry Hill Seminary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Odinism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pagan Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pagan News of Note]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[racism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert McDonnell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3362</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
Should you be judged by your graduate thesis? That very issue is heating up the Virginia governor&#8217;s race where Republican candidate Robert F. McDonnell is fielding questions concerning a 1989 thesis he submitted to Regent University in Virginia Beach. In it, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.</p>
<p>Should you be judged by your graduate thesis? <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/31/AR2009083103855.html">That very issue is heating up the Virginia governor&#8217;s race</a> where Republican candidate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McDonnell">Robert F. McDonnell</a> is fielding questions concerning <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/McDonnell_thesis_082909.pdf">a 1989 thesis he submitted to Regent University in Virginia Beach</a>. In it, McDonnell rails against feminism, homosexuality, contraceptives, and &#8220;occult&#8221; television shows damaging children. The solution to these problems? The government must empower the (Christian) church.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;&#8230;government at all levels must help create the legal and financial conditions to unleash the power of the church to restore broken families and create the safety net of pastoral care for families &#8230; every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The local Democrats <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYiDHgBIqlA">are jumping all over this</a> while <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNHP4QrNvvCFJXZ6rT63WjHzht2QD9AE60800">McDonnell claims that he&#8217;s &#8220;moderated&#8221; his views</a> since that &#8220;academic exercise&#8221; in 1989 and shouldn&#8217;t be judged by it. However, as <a href="http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/wendy_kaminer/2009/09/god_government_and_the_virginia_gubernatorial_race.php">Wendy Kaminer at the <em>Atlantic</em> explained in a recent editorial</a>, the thesis does bring up some deeper questions about McDonnell, such as what role he now believes sectarian religious beliefs should have within government. Can non-Christians in Virginia trust that he&#8217;s &#8220;moderated&#8221; enough to treat all religions fairly once in office?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.splcenter.org">The Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, in their Fall 2009 Intelligence Report, <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1075">focuses on the growth of Odinist and Asatru prison groups</a> in the wake of court decisions granting them &#8220;certain rights&#8221; that prisons must accommodate. This being the SPLC, the majority of their focus is on racist manifestations of Norse Paganism behind bars,<a href="http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1075"> though they do admit that Asatru is largely &#8220;benign&#8221; in the free world</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;As practiced by Owen and others outside prison, Odinism tends to be a benign form of paganism, tolerant of others and close to nature. Behind the walls, however, it is likely to take on a more sinister cast, and many prison wardens have long regarded Odinism as the religious arm of white supremacist prison gangs. The U.S. Supreme Court has nonetheless ruled that Odinist inmates have certain rights that prisons must recognize. So while a decade ago a pagan volunteer like Owen would have been dismissed as a kook or, at worst, a gang liaison, Odinist inmates today can wear Thor&#8217;s Hammer pendants under their jumpsuits and request visits from outside leaders.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>The piece also debates what percentage of incarcerated Norse Pagans/Odinists/Asatru are racists. While one Asatru chaplain (Valgard Murray of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81satr%C3%BA_Alliance">Asatru Alliance</a>) says the number is as low as ten percent nationally, the Texas prison system says that racists are 90% of their Odinist/Asatru population. They also touch on a case where Murray testified against incarcerated Odinists in an ongoing lawsuit, <a href="http://www.odinistpressservice.com/2008/01/17/presenting-the-truth-regarding-valgard-murrays-deposition/">garnering the ire of other Odinist groups</a>. On the whole, this is a fairly even-handed report for a hate-groups watchdog and they should be commended for seeking out and interviewing Asatru/Odinist prison chaplains.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/arts/television/01bizarre.html">The New York Times gives a rather critical review</a> to the new travel series <a href="http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_World">&#8220;Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World&#8221;</a> for not being all that, well, bizarre.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;He’s kept “Bizarre” in the title for branding purposes, but based on the Cuba episode, it now barely applies. In the course of an hour his most extreme activities are eating barbecued tree rat and taking part in a Santeria ceremony. The sight of his bald scalp covered in chicken blood is a bit unsettling, but he undercuts it with some all-American mugging and a big thumb’s up for the camera.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Oooh chicken blood! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer%C3%ADa">Santeria!</a> How bizarre! Nothing like exploiting a local religion to amuse your audience. The New York Times also dings Zimmern for conveniently overlooking the politics that led to all the &#8220;bizarre&#8221; idiosyncrasies of Cuban life (the fishing is great for tourists because Cubans aren&#8217;t allowed on boats, people eat tree-rats, all the cars are super-old), after all, we wouldn&#8217;t want to get too bizarre and upset the Cuban government now would we?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/08/31/more_patients_seeking_spiritual_guidance_from_chaplains/">The Boston Globe reports on the increasing demand for hospital chaplains</a> as patients admitted to hospitals now tend to be sicker and need spiritual guidance in dealing with life-or-death issues.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Since 2004, requests for chaplains at the Brigham have jumped 23 percent. At Massachusetts General Hospital, requests have grown 30 percent since the hospital began tracking visits in 2006. And at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which expanded its pastoral care program last year, monthly visits are expected to rise to at least 540 this month, a 10-fold increase over the same time last year.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>It remains unsaid in this article, but if demand for priests, ministers, rabbis and imams are growing, it stands to reason that requests for minority-religion chaplains are also increasing. This makes credible and thorough training for Pagan chaplains an increasingly important issue, one that growing organizations like <a href="http://www.cherryhillseminary.org/">Cherry Hill Seminary</a> (disclosure: I&#8217;m on their BOD) are trying to address in their curriculum. As Paganism&#8217;s second wave hits retirement and deals with the illnesses that often come with old age, will our movement be ready to meet their spiritual needs?</p>
<p>In a final note, congratulations to Pagan blogger Betsy Phillips at <a href="http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/">Tiny Cat Pants</a> and <a href="http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/">Pith in the Wind</a> who is starting <a href="http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/08/31/nice-to-be-here/">a guest-stint at the major-league feminist blog Feministe</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;I’m a heathen, though not a very formal one. I hope we can talk about that, too, why I, the daughter of a Methodist minister, left Christianity and became a polytheist. I know paganism, broadly, is loaded with feminists, and yet, it seems to me, we rarely talk openly about what we pagans believe and why to other feminists.  And for good reasons. I know I feel like a damn fool when I talk about it, but it’s important to me and a lot of the reason I left Christianity had to do with being a woman, so maybe we can just try it and see how it goes.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>You can read all of her guest-posts, <a href="http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/author/aunt-b/">here</a>.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s all I have for now, have a great day!</p>
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		<title>Inside the Mind of Linda Harvey</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/inside-the-mind-of-linda-harvey.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/inside-the-mind-of-linda-harvey.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:44:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Linda Harvey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SperoNews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Witchcraft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3350</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Catholic-run news agency SperoNews features an interview with Linda Harvey, founder of Mission:America, and author of “Not My Child: Contemporary Paganism &#38; the New Spirituality”, which claims to uncover the “casual occultisms” that lead teens towards “radical” Pagan spirituality. While I&#8217;m usually loathe to give people like Harvey any publicity, this piece does provide [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Catholic-run news agency <a href="http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&amp;idsub=170&amp;id=20214&amp;t=Harry+Potter+and+Paganism+reviewed">SperoNews features an interview with Linda Harvey</a>, founder of <a href="http://www.missionamerica.com/wholinda.php">Mission:America</a>, and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Not-My-Child-Contemporary-Spirituality/dp/0899570348/ref=sr_1_109?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1206282799&amp;sr=1-109">“Not My Child: Contemporary Paganism &amp; the New Spirituality”</a>, which claims to <a href="http://www.missionamerica.com/bookinfo.php">uncover the “casual occultisms”</a> that lead teens towards “radical” Pagan spirituality. While I&#8217;m usually loathe to give people like Harvey any publicity, this piece does provide a <a href="http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&amp;idsub=170&amp;id=20214&amp;t=Harry+Potter+and+Paganism+reviewed">harrowing look into her demon-haunted mind</a>, and by extension, the minds of conservative evangelical Christians like her.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;A narrow definition of witchcraft would be a series of rituals, spells and actions that attempt, whether they realize it or not, to contact the demonic realm to try to get the evil spirits to cooperate with them with whatever they want to do &#8230; [witchcraft and the occult] has penetrated virtually all areas of entertainment and the media &#8230; Unfortunately, all these children have to do to get information is get on the Internet. <strong>Several Web sites have a youth section where kids can go and find covens in their cities and suburbs. Yes, these youth are going right from these books and media to these fora.</strong> All it takes is for them to have a little more interest and then going a little further with their interest and looking it up.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Like all accomplished conspiracy theorists, there is no room for any competing theories or explanations, the secular world is an evil Satan-ruled place, and it is funnelling children towards Witchcraft covens. Anything that is not constantly sanctifying the Christian God is not only suspect, <a href="http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&amp;idsub=170&amp;id=20214&amp;t=Harry+Potter+and+Paganism+reviewed">but actively anti-Christian</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;My family doesn’t celebrate Halloween since I became a Christian &#8230; October 31 is the pagans’ highest holiday and we are helping them celebrate it. What a slap in the face to our wonderful God! &#8230; keep [your children] in a good Christian school or home school them. Do not send them to public school &#8230; read and watch everything your children read and watch. Don’t assume anything your children read or watch is harmless. There are all kinds of accommodations to pagan beliefs and other practices throughout children’s media.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Obviously Linda Harvey doesn&#8217;t speak for all Christians, or even most Christians, but she does represent a sizable demographic. It is with these sorts of believers that no real dialog can be accomplished, to the Linda Harvey&#8217;s of the world we are Satanic zombies overrunning all that is good, and the only solution is to wall themselves off and await God&#8217;s wrath/love to set the world to rights. No amount of logic or rational explanations of how <a href="http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/10/rowling-settles-score.html">Harry Potter isn&#8217;t some sort of Wiccan recruitment tool</a>, or how we don&#8217;t invite children (without parental consent) into our covens is going to change her made-up mind. So instead, consider this an instruction into a certain worldview, hopefully one that is shrinking away in our post-Christian world.</p>
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		<title>Occult Gangs, Occult Comedians, and Occult-Using Stars</title>
		<link>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/occult-gangs-occult-comedians-and-occult-using-stars.html</link>
		<comments>http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/occult-gangs-occult-comedians-and-occult-using-stars.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:52:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paganism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew O'Neill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comedy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Korem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jessica Simpson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[occult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satanism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wildhunt.org/blog/?p=3331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>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 href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture_society/the-un-banging-of-middle-america-1368">a story from Miller-McCune magazine about suburban teens getting involved in gangs</a>. While the bulk of the story sticks with the problems of drug-related activity, gang-banging, and violence, they also interview &#8220;consultant on gangs&#8221; <a href="http://www.ifpinc.com">Dan Korem</a>. A former independent journalist and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Powers-Testing-Supernatural-Danny-Korem/dp/0830812776">&#8220;Christian illusionist&#8221;</a>, he now offers a profiling consultancy service that <a href="http://www.ifpinc.com/Rage%20Files/Why%20Texas%20Hasn%27t%20Had%20a%20Columbine%20-%20TASA%20Article%20-%20Winter%202008.pdf">claims to have solved the problem of school shootings</a>. Like many Christian gang experts, <a href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture_society/the-un-banging-of-middle-america-1368">he can&#8217;t help but lump occult activities in with dealing crack and killing people</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em><span>&#8220;Korem, who wrote about the phenomenon of spreading gangs in his 1994 book <em>Suburban Gangs, The Affluent Rebels</em>, identified four types of juvenile gangs. Ideological gangs include people with a particular worldview, such as neo-Nazis, skinheads, anarchists or even environmental extremists. <strong>Cult gangs get into Satanism or other occult activities.</strong> 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 &#8217;90s, delinquent gangs fell, then rose again as the population expanded in the mid-2000s. Street gangs are a subclass of delinquent gangs.&#8221;</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span>Cult gangs! Yeah, you see those everywhere. I heard the other day where there was a drive-by spell-casting perpetrated by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVeyan_Satanism">East-side LaVeyans</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Set">West-side Setians</a> over control of a local occult shop. A dozen Wiccans were reportedly wounded in the astral cross-fire! I&#8217;m not sure about </span>Todd Pitock, the author of this article, but when I&#8217;m looking for an expert to quote I check their background first. While I&#8217;m sure Mr. Korem is a capable and smart individual, an expert in gangs and profiling <a href="http://www.ifpinc.com/Dan%20Korem/Dan%20Korem%20Biographical%20Data.pdf">who doesn&#8217;t list his academic and practical training</a> should set off red flags.</p>
<p>Turning from something that&#8217;s faintly absurd to something intentionally funny, the <a href="http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/default.aspx">Scotsman&#8217;s Edinburgh Festival guide</a> profiles <a href="http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/viewreview.aspx?id=753">&#8220;occult comedian&#8221; Andrew O&#8217;Neill</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;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.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>You can find out more about O&#8217;Neill <a href="http://www.andrewoneill.co.uk/frontpage.html">at his web site</a>. You can see a clip of him mocking British astrologers, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRN5rkRXig">here</a>. Is this the first stand-up act to self-consciously bill itself as &#8220;occult&#8221;? Could Andrew O&#8217;Neill be the start of a occult-flavored comedy underground? Will Discordians start sweating now that they have some serious competition as the &#8220;funny ones&#8221; at festivals? These, and other pertinent questions remain open.</p>
<p>In a final, somewhat frivolous, note, gossip tabloids are alleging that <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/Entertainment/CelebZone/Article.aspx?id=1054708">pop-star Jessica Simpson hired a Witch to curse her ex-boyfriend</a>, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.</p>
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<blockquote><p><!--par0--><em>&#8220;A source told National Enquirer magazine: “Jessica is normally a really sweet girl, but she still can’t believe Tony callously dumped her.&#8221; “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.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>I suppose interested parties can now check the sports highlights to see if Simpson got her (alleged) money&#8217;s worth. If it doesn&#8217;t work, maybe should hook up with some of the occult gangs hanging around in suburban neighborhoods, they are no doubt more &#8220;hard-core&#8221; for the down-and-dirty curse-magick.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s all I have for now, have a great day.</p>
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