Repent Amarillo became an almost-constant presence, shouting through bullhorns, blasting Christian music, haranguing club members, following swingers in vehicles and sticking video cameras into people’s faces. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has been called out twice. Police records show that nearby businesses have called frequently with noise complaints. Repent even showed up on occasion when the Route 66 building was rented out for non-swinger events. “They have been here every time we open our doors, regardless of what kind of functions we have, whether I’m down here doing maintenance, cleaning, whatever,” Mac says. “They don’t have a life. Well, I guess we are their lives. We’re their blood. At three or four in the morning, we’ll open the door, and there they are. They come waddling out of their vehicles with their cameras.”

Lives and livelihoods were destroyed, and local officials took a decidedly “hands off” approach to their borderline legal tactics. So with this “victory” under their belt, who are they going after next? It’s hard to say since they have so many targets. But in a television interview from last year, it’s clear that their leader, David Grisham, has a special obsession with Paganism.

If you look at their “warfare map”, you’ll see a whole category dedicated to “Occult Witchcraft”, which includes a local nature center, a UU church, palm readers, and shops that sell Pagan “paraphernalia”. So expect a campaign against a relatively defenseless target, maybe a local psychic, sooner rather than later.

This sort of active militancy isn’t unique. Colorado’s New Life Church (formerly headed by disgraced pastor Ted Haggard), during its ascension into power, orchestrated a cleansing of Colorado Springs, driving Witches and New Agers from their homes with tactics very much akin to Repent Amarillo’s.

“He move the church to a strip mall. There was a bar, a liquor store, New Life Church, a massage parlor. His congregation spilled out and blocked the other businesses. He set up chairs in the alley. He strung up a banner: SIEGE THIS CITY FOR ME, signed JESUS. He assigned everyone in the church names, taken from the phone book, they were to pray for. He sent teams to pray in front of the homes of supposed witches -- in one month, ten out of fifteen of his targets put their houses on the market. His congregation of “prayer-walked” nearly every street of the city.”

Repent Amarillo is a fringe group, but the New Life Church was once a fringe group. We once dismissed the rabid prayer-warriors that clustered together in a New Apostolic Reformation (born in Colorado Springs) , until we saw one of their number gain the Republican vice presidential nomination. We can no longer ignore these militaristic “prayer warriors” simply because their numbers are small, that just empowers them to pick off weak targets (like the swingers) and grow in status and power.

That doesn’t mean we need to out-militant them, but it does mean that Pagan communities, especially small and vulnerable Pagan communities, need to prepare for the coming storm. They need to come out of the “broom closet” now to their employers and family before they are outed by these “soldiers”, they need to be prepared when the faux-military trucks and loud-speakers roll up to their events, they need to know the law and how to use it, and they need to be ready to network with the larger Pagan community and other sympathetic minority faiths so we can get the word out, show solidarity, give aid, and withstand these bully tactics. They may have come for the swingers first, but if we show no shame, and stand up, it can end with the Pagans.

“In the “Bad Romance” video Gaga “makes her trademark ‘Eye in the triangle’ hand gesture after her initiation to make it clear who owns her now…the Illuminati. The final scene shows Gaga lying in bed with the burned skeleton of the Russian mafiosi. Notice how everything is burnt except the two gazelle heads. The real “intercourse” happened between Gaga and Baphomet. The guy was a tool, a middle-man who was sacrificed in the process of Gaga’s initiation.”

So, as someone who actually does look for occult themes in music, what do I think? I think some creative people latched on to some pretty universal symbols in order to look cool, sell CDs, and get people talking. And even if Jay-Z is a Freemason, and decided to litter his videos with references to his (alleged) allegiance, so what?

The problem here is that people are getting all Dan Brown on us. The big conspiracy is probably that there is no conspiracy, except perhaps in the minds of certain graphic designers looking for a new way to sell t-shirts. We shouldn’t confuse the pretty standard pop-occultisms of modern music (a topic authors have been exploring for decades) with actual allegiance to any sort of occult philosophy or order. Now, if Jay-Z or Gaga want to out themselves as ritual magicians, then by all means, have at it. But I haven’t seen any clear-minded sign of such a confession. If you really want a band who understands and (sorta) takes seriously the occult imagery  in their videos, I suggest the KLF.

They were gaga before Gaga was gaga. Over and out.

“Police are investigating a case of possible animal cruelty after the remains of 75 animals and a large altar composed of primate skulls were found today inside a house in the city’s Feltonville section. The animals are believed to have been sacrificed as part of satanic worship and Santeria rituals, investigators said. Pentagrams were also seen in the house … George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania SPCA, said the agency’s officers had entered the living room and found an altar constructed of about 50 primate skulls. “This is a huge find,” Bengal said. Those involved in the rituals “usually take the skull and the feet and the blood and drain the blood from the animal. They’ll drink the blood and use the skull and feet as part of the altar.” Neighbors said that a man in his 50s or 60s lived at the property, but that they had not seen anyone there for months.”

Satanism? Santeria? The “altar” found in the house, and the supposed rituals described in making it, don’t follow traditional practices for either faith (indeed, most modern Satanists don’t even sacrifice animals). I’m also curious as to why this is a “huge find” for them. Because it involves so many animal corpses? Or is it because it fits into certain preconceived notions about what those faiths do with animals? Remember, the George Bengal quoted above is the same George Bengal who recently warned of mysterious Winter “high holidays” where animals were sacrificed in large numbers.

“An animal welfare official says a beheaded dog and cat found in Philadelphia appear to be the result of a ritual sacrifice. George Bengal, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals director of investigations, said the dog and cat were found … near a bike path in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood along with three beheaded chickens. He said he believes the animals were killed elsewhere and the remains dumped where a passer-by found them. Mr. Bengal said there is usually an increase in ritual animal sacrifices at this time of year because of “a lot of high holidays that different groups celebrate.” But he said most of those sacrifices involve goats and chickens.”

So never mind that various experts in religion and animal abuse cases agree that “huge finds” like this usually aren’t manifestations of Santeria or Satanism, but of disturbed individuals (often teens) who usually construct a hodge-podge of half-understood ritualism to justify their aberrant urges and behaviors. Why go with the boring old truth when you can create a darkly sinister religious “other” to battle? Why listen to experts when you can hector innocent Satanists on bogus abuse charges instead? I would really like to know who exactly is training animal control officers and local ASPCA officials in Pennsylvania concerning ritual sacrifice. Do they even know what a normal Santeria ritual is like? Have they even met a real Satanist? This current trend could be heading for a train-wreck of racial and religious profiling that could seriously damage the effectiveness of animal control officials among minority faiths. After all, why report a co-religionist who’s abusing animals if they’ll just think you’re in on it too?

“An animal welfare official says a beheaded dog and cat found in Philadelphia appear to be the result of a ritual sacrifice. George Bengal, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals director of investigations, said the dog and cat were found … near a bike path in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood along with three beheaded chickens. He said he believes the animals were killed elsewhere and the remains dumped where a passer-by found them. Mr. Bengal said there is usually an increase in ritual animal sacrifices at this time of year because of “a lot of high holidays that different groups celebrate.” But he said most of those sacrifices involve goats and chickens.”

Despite George Bengal’s bizarre statement about Winter-holiday animal-killings, most experts, including officials at the ASPCA, agree that dead animals left in public places usually aren’t put there by Santeros, Pagans, or Satanists, but by disturbed individuals and messed-up kids.

“According to experts, like local anthropologist and folklorist Dr. Eoghan Ballard, and Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of anti-cruelty services for the American SPCA, sacrificial remains found in parks, especially those adorned with talismans like candles or pennies, are most often the work of religious novices, teens or satanic dabblers.”

Yet, in the same article, a PSPCA official warns adherents of faiths that practice animal sacrifice that there is no  “free pass on animal cruelty issues”, as though all the very public court battles over the issue were simply done so these priests and priestesses could secretly torture animals with impunity. Do Pennsylvania SPCA officials have some sort of special hostility towards minority faiths? That seems to be the assertion of the Rev. Jack Winters, who claims a Humane Society Police Officer and member of the Lycoming County SPCA, while investigating a report that he mistreated his pets, repeatedly stated that Satanists sacrifice animals while noting Winters’ Satanic-themed decor.

Is it just some sort of strange synchronicity that all of these quoted SPCA officials are from Pennsylvania, or is there something else at play here? Are these PA organizations being fed misinformation by  the sort of “cult experts” in “ritualistic crime” thoroughly debunked by Pagan activist, and former Vancouver police officer, Kerr Cuhulain? Or is it a case of fossilized “common knowledge” passed down from the Satanic Panic era? Whatever the case may be, one has to wonder how many animal welfare agencies across this country have been tainted by bad information, superstition, and religious bias. How many officials are out hunting for Satanists or Santeros when they should be paying attention to the neglected and abused children most likely to engage in animal abuse. Just think how much good they could do solving these cases if they weren’t so busy telling police to round up the usual suspects.

“In total, upwards of six-in-ten adults (65%) express belief in or report having experience with at least one of these diverse supernatural phenomena (belief in reincarnation, belief in spiritual energy located in physical things, belief in yoga as spiritual practice, belief in the “evil eye,” belief in astrology, having been in touch with the dead, consulting a psychic, or experiencing a ghostly encounter). This includes roughly one-quarter of the population (23%) who report having only one of these beliefs or experiences. More than four-in-ten people (43%) answer two or more of these items affirmatively, including 25% who answer two or three of these items affirmatively and nearly one-in-five (18%) who answer yes to four or more. Roughly one-third of the public (35%) answers no to all eight items.”

This increasing trend of heterodoxy undermines the idea that the Religious Right, and other vanguards of religious orthodoxy, have much sway outside their main base of support. When nearly a quarter of America Christians say they believe trees possess spiritual energy, I’m far more convinced we’ll see a post-Christian culture than some sort of Family-style conservative Christian coup in the years to come. This transition may upset some, but I suspect that most Pagans, especially the eclectic and syncretic, will feel right at home.

In Other News: Pagans seem to be the ultimate test of how “open” your local city council’s opening invocations are. When a government body is accused of engaging in primarily sectarian prayer, as is the case in Bakersfield California, they usually point out that the invocation slot is welcome to any faith tradition that wants a turn. But as Americans United senior policy analyst Rob Boston points out, that openness often grinds to a halt when a Wiccan signs up.

“When communities try to set up a totally open forum for prayers, “what usually happens is that sooner or later someone comes along from a religion that is unpopular or misunderstood” — such as a Wiccan or Pagan — “and the conservative Christians throw a fit,” he said in an e-mail.”

Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan says Bakersfield is ready to pass the Pagan test, stating that “it would be their turn”. Did you hear that Bakersfield Pagans? Time to step up! They are ready. It’s your turn! Whether the “include a Wiccan” gambit would help them in a lawsuit is still an open question.

In Toronto, a con-artist who bilked a woman out of tens-of-thousands of dollars isn’t just up on charges of fraud, but also on charges of pretending to be a witch.

Det. Constable Jones says it’s rare to charge someone under Section 365, but the circumstances of this case fit. “It’s a historical quirk,” says Alan Young, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. Some sections of the Canadian criminal code reflect offences that were more prevalent centuries ago. When the code was enacted in 1892, witchcraft per se was no longer a punishable offence, he says, but lawmakers wanted to ensure witchcraft wasn’t used as a cover for fraud. Section 365 states that any one who fraudulently pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, or enchantment or who “undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes … is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.” “It’s not really about occult activity,” Prof. Young says. “It’s about defrauding people.”

One would assume that a real Witch would be immune from such charges. One would also hope that this near-forgotten law won’t be abused in a crusade against honest psychic practitioners, as they have been in America.

The Daily Grail features an excerpted essay from Greg Taylor that is very close to my heart, the history of occult practices in rock music.

“There is a vast amount of related material we could cover: from the influence of the occult upon Norwegian Black Metal, to Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson’s interest in Aleister Crowley, which has recently resulted in a feature film. Or perhaps even The Mars Volta’s use of an Ouija Board in the creation of their 2008 album The Bedlam in Goliath (considering the mayhem that allegedly resulted, perhaps they should have listened to David Bowie’s advice…). But, ultimately, rock music is about transcending the intellect, and just losing yourself in a maelstrom of sound and feeling.”

That essay, and others, is from Darklore volume 2, available now from Amazon.com. Also, in a somewhat related note, Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth’s “Thee Psychick Bible” (a project initiated by Industrial music pioneer Genesis P-Orridge) has been re-released in an updated, expanded, corrected edition. Perfect gifts for the occult music-lover in your family, and if all this talk of occult and Pagan music has you wanting to listen to some, why not check out my weekly podcast?

In a final note, the Houston Chronicle looks at the massive December pilgrimages in Mexico, with many traveling to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe (her feast day is on Saturday), located on a former pagan shrine. While nearly a million travel to gain the blessings of the “goddess of Mexico”, the local priests want you to know that there is no trace of pre-Christianity left in the rites and traditions surrounding this popular saint.

“Arriving by bus, car or bicycle, the faithful first stop at the artesian stream springing from the roots of a huge and ancient cypress tree. They don crowns made of fresh flowers and leave petitions to God hanging from the fence posts, wash in or drink from the spring and dance before the statue in a small chapel … When their dance is finished, the pilgrims ride a few miles down the mountainside to the village of Chalma itself, where they walk through a gantlet of vendors and restaurants to arrive at the church. There they attend Mass, get blessed by priests and leave petitions or letters of thanks to God hanging on walls. “It is 100 percent Catholic,” Manzanares said of the pilgrimage, “based in Catholic belief for the Catholic faithful.” Chalma’s shrine was erected by Spanish friars in the 1530s conquest in a cave that the Aztecs once worshipped as the dwelling of Ozteatl, a god represented by a large man-sized black boulder they believed had healing powers. The friars destroyed the stone, according to some accounts, and a Christ statue appeared in its place.”

Catholic perhaps, but grown from “pagan” soil and tradition. Whether Guadalupe is “100% Catholic” or a Christianized version of the Aztec moon goddess Tonantzin, she is still the most-venerated goddess/saint in the Americas, and neither Catholic nor Pagan should take that lightly.

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

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, you may remember them from the Green Bay Nativity case, is demanding that the Indianapolis Public School system change its current web access policy which bans access to “occult”, “Wiccan”, “Voodoo” and “mysticism”-boosting sites.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation, responding to complaints from concerned Indianapolis taxpayers, has sent a letter of strong objection to the Indianapolis Public School system for its policy of censorship of web content that promotes or provides information about “atheistic views.” This policy, which also censors Wicca, Witchcraft, “voodoo rituals or any other for of mysticism,” 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.”

You can read the school’s web filtering policy, here. You can read the FFRF’s letter to school Superintendent Eugene White, here. FFRF is asking people to write to the Superintendent, Dr. Eugene G. White, and the local school board members, urging them to drop this discriminatory web site blocking.

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, besides the fact that they can be easily hacked, is that many of the site lists used in these filters had their genesis with conservative Christian organizations. These lists are copied around and often added to by the churches many filtering companies also service, so when a seemingly secular company “implementing technology in the classroom” (in this case Education Networks of America) comes along they may be instituting a site filter-list written by people with a inherent bias against minority religions. Something that the clients may not even know.

“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.”

So who knows what “content filtering product” ENA is using, but at least some of it most likely had its genesis with groups that were decidedly not unbiased or secular. In fact, almost all of the most popular Internet filters block Pagan sites, something that doesn’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, and that is a no-no according to the Supreme Court. So lets hope that Indianapolis Public Schools change their filtering policy ASAP instead of stonewalling and preparing for litigation, and lets also hope that ENA stops offering to block access to minority religions in public schools.

“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.”

Of course by “over 30 years of research” they mean a pastiche cobbled together from previous anti-occult films with a bit of  “Twilight” and “True Blood” thrown in to make it seem more timely. If all this “research” makes you hungry for more, you can always check out the 13-DVD “Pagan Invasion Series”, where everything from Mormonism to psychotherapy is thrown into the mix. Naturally, if you don’t want to give Jermiah Films any money, you can always wait until some crank reads a Chick Tract and decides to write an editorial for the local newspaper.

“Halloween, which is the witches’ 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. 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.”

Samhain God of the Dead! It’s been too long old pal! See, now it really feels like Halloween. Forget Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb filming in Salem, this is the real mood-setter.

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!

“One of the most interesting aspects of folk religion in America is the enduring figure of Saint Expedite … 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 “patron saint of the nerds,” 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 “popular religiosity” who never historically existed.”

While this certainly isn’t Boing Boing’s first foray into all things occult, it does seem to be the first time they’ve approached the topic in such a enthusiastic and sympathetic manner, so kudos to them. To keep track of Horowitz’s posts, you can follow Boing Boing’s guest-blogger tag. As for Mitch Horowitz himself, he’s been just about everywhere promoting his new book, from The Washington Post to NPR. I guess releasing your book about America’s occult roots right around the same time a mega-popular fiction writer is tackling some of the same subjects does pay off.

“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’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.”

According to accounts, the two teenagers were inspired by ghost-hunting web sites that portrayed Spring Hill Cemetery as full of supernatural phenomena and spooky ephemera. Not satisfied with taking pictures or recording audio, they instead went for a “souvenir”. 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 reminding people that Spring Hill is private property.

“Alyce Walker, the 82-year-old caretaker of the graveyard, which is tucked back in the woods off Fort Dade Avenue west of Brooksville … 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.”

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’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, when animals are killed and discarded in non-ritualistic circumstances, chances are its not a practitioner of the occult at work, but a misguided or disturbed teenager instead.