A week ago I put the spotlight on a local Pagan festival being held today in a quaint tourist-trap “village” in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. The local paper got interested in the event because some of the businesses in the village objected to the Pagans renting out the space and planned to close their doors (avoiding the dirty Pagan money).

“A festival designed to celebrate the nature-centered spirituality of pagans and witches is getting a mixed reaction from shop owners at Stoudtburg Village in Adamstown, where the event will be held Sept. 12. While some of the village’s shops will be open during the festival, others will close because of the group that is sponsoring the event — Reading Pagans & Witches.”

Since then, a number of things have transpired. Some local churches are organizing prayer and fasting to spiritually shield the area from our demonic taint, and are planning to encircle the village and pray for an hour.

“We pray a hedge of protection around the area, asking for the blood of Jesus to cover their boundaries, gates and bridges, that they would stand strong against the schemes of the enemy. We declare the enemy will have no foothold in Adamstown, or the larger  Lancaster County area.”

Meanwhile, the Lady Liberty League has issued an action alert urging Pagans to attend and show support for the Reading Pagans & Witches.

“The intended purpose of the Celebrating Earth Spirituality Festival is to bring Pagans of many paths together for education, celebration, and community outreach. However, this Festival is now also becoming a public stand to uphold Pagan rights and religious freedom … take part in some or all of the Festival. Celebrate Paganism and Pagan religious freedom throughout the day. Be part of a peaceful Pagan presence. Be polite. Dress conservatively. Don’t argue with protesters …  spiritually connect with the Festival from wherever you are. Send blessings in advance as well as while it is going on. Send blessings of peace, understanding, protection, and success to the Festival, Festival organizers, and Festival participants.”

Oh, and this story got picked up by the Associated Press, so it has gone national.

“In town Friday, one shop had a wreath and a sign on the door that said “Proud to be an American.” A note on the door says the owner would be in Washington on Saturday “actively supporting my political beliefs. And of course NOT SUPPORTING the activity taking place in the village today.” In Hertzog’s Yard Sale Store, owner Terry Hertzog finished off a cup of ice cream and said he plans to close his store the next day. “We just don’t believe we can support witches and pagans,” Hertzog said.”

You hear that Pagans! No yard-sale store for you! However, not all store owners are planning to close, and one store that was listed as closing down because of the Pagans in an initial article (Stoudtburg Village Coffee Shop) now protests that it isn’t so.

“Don’t put me on this list…. I’m closing due to, I have a House Showing…. My house is for sale!”

All the fun should be underway now, and I hope we’ll be getting reports soon on how everything went. Will it be a big turn-out? Will the Christians keep their promise to be peaceful? We’ll just have to wait and see. One thing is for certain, what was originally going to be a small Pagan gathering at a quaint tourist-village has certainly exploded into something far bigger. I wonder if any of the shop owners realize the irony of the current situation. They close to keep the Pagans away, but only draw more to their village in the process.

UPDATE: I’ve posted a message from Jen Anderson-Wenger, president of Reading Pagans and Witches, concerning the event.

The shops in a quaint tourist-trap “village” in Adamstown, Pennsylvania are apparantly split over a local Pagan group renting out the place for their Celebrating Earth Spirituality Festival (a local take on the national Pagan Pride Day gatherings), with several refusing to open or closing early to avoid touching Pagan money.

Jane Lesher, who owns The Soxy Lady but doesn’t live in Stoudtburg Village, said her business, which is usually open on Saturdays, will be closed during the festival … As a merchant, Lesher said, she believes the Earth Spirituality Festival is “not the image we want to portray for Stoudtburg Village.” … Lesher said that if the event were held in a “more urban place, it might not have the negative image it would have around here … I am a Christian, and anything that is not worshipping God is something I object to. You can’t force it on another, but you don’t need to support it in any way, either. I base this on what God says. I’m not just a stick-in-the-mud and can’t change my mind, but I base it on what I believe is an absolute.”

I didn’t know you could worship God by selling yarn and notions, makes you wonder if she questions each customer about their faith before ringing them up. Joining Lesher in her retail shunning are Country Pastthymes (a tchotchkes shop) and the Stoudtburg Village Coffee Shop (who is closing after the apparently God-approved morning customers have left). All this ruckus caused the local paper to interview Jen Anderson-Wenger, president of Reading Pagans & Witches, in order to understand who these Pagans are.

“Who are the pagans and witches who will descend upon Adamstown next weekend, and what do they believe? That’s not an easy thing to answer, according to Jen Anderson-Wenger, president of Reading Pagans & Witches. Her group is sponsoring the Celebrating Earth Spirituality Festival at Stoudtburg Village on Sept. 12. The event has divided the village’s shop owners, with several saying they will close because Anderson-Wenger’s group is sponsoring the festival … Pagans and witches are an eclectic group of people with many varying spiritual paths, Anderson-Wenger said. “If it leads to a moral and just life, then it’s the right spiritual path for you,” she said … The group is charitable, holding food drives and adopting a highway and a battered women’s shelter, she said. “There are misconceptions that we have no morals. We raise our children together. We are a family. We’d give the shirt off our back for you or your children,” Anderson-Wenger said.”

They may be moral, charitable, and family-oriented, but belong to the wrong religion and should not be served coffee or allowed to buy a stuffed animal. Now, it is certainly the perogotive of these businesses to close down if they want to, but this protest  just seems somewhat strange. Would they have preferred that the village (a secular organization) had broken the law in refusing a rental to a valid not-for-profit? Do they really think they have never taken a Pagan dollar in the course of being open? How do you think the Pagans heard of, and wanted to rent, the Stoudtburg Village? To operate in a tourist-trap, a place that exists to draw in as many people as possible to spend money, but then get picky about the law-abiding groups that come to enjoy the place seems to be a poor business model. Perhaps all the local Pagans should tell all the people they know that these shops that closed down don’t want non-Christian business, after all, we wouldn’t want to trouble them with the thought of taking money not sanctified by the Lord.

Ben Windham of the Tuscaloosa News travels to New Orleans to visit the tomb of Marie Laveau, perhaps the most famous practitioner/“Queen” of Louisiana/New Orleans Voodoo. He quickly discovers that Laveau’s tomb has become a bigger place of pilgrimage and offerings than any of the local Christian churches.

“In the more than 160 years since its construction, her tomb has become a shrine, a magnet more powerful than any in this city’s “legitimate” churches. Even visitation to the St. Roch chapel, with its astounding assortment of crutches, shoes and plaster casts of body parts, is eclipsed by the crowds of faithful or curious who come daily to Courtesy of Mary Angelyn Fisher. Offerings of candles, beads, coins, trinkets, tobacco, toys — almost anything you can imagine — are strewn in front of the tomb. Its sides are covered with crosses or X’s, usually in threes. Some are scrawled in red chalk.”

VooDoo in New Orleans, like Witchcraft in Salem, is a thriving tourist industry, so it is difficult to tell how many sincere adherents there are among the various hucksters and opportunistic hangers-on, but there must be a significant number if even a fraction of Laveau’s many offerings come from active practitioners. Then again, there seems to be a strong thread of belief (some would say superstition) in Laveau’s powers among the many “normal” visitors.

“I know one thing, however. I made sure that all of our offerings were left on Marie Laveau’s tomb and that we left with nothing that wasn’t ours. Years ago, I visited the tomb with a friend, a self-styled tourist guide. As we were leaving, I swiped one of the offerings from the grave — a blank piece of metal, the size of a coin. I figured it would make a good luck piece for Alabama’s football season. I don’t know if there was any direct cause and effect but I suffered for two years after I took that slug. I got cancer. I almost lost my job. And Alabama sports tanked. It has been only this year that I’ve dared to visit the tomb again. And this time, it was with a new — and profound — respect for Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans.”

It would be interesting to know all the places of spiritual/religious pilgrimage in our country that step outside the Judeo-Christian norms. The ever-growing popularity of places like Laveau’s tomb seem to speak of a growing post-Christian (and post-secular) atmosphere where an organic process of reenchantment is taking hold. A process that seems to be allowing new and outsider faiths and customs to cement themselves within our cultural outlook.

The Latin American Herald Tribune reports that Spain, hoping to boost their tourism revenue, is developing more occult and witch-themed tours through the Basque region. While Galicia has always been a popular destination for tourists interested in pre-Christian remnants and sorcery, thanks in part to the famous Queimada ritual fire-drink, Navarre is stepping up to capitalize on the Basque witch trials and the various witch-related landmarks in the area.

“This joining of Galicia and witchcraft and the claim that there are witches in that region, however, has been superseded – at least touristically – by Navarre’s initiative to exploit the richness of its own black magic traditions. Organizers in Navarre have set up a tour through 16 towns so that visitors can seek out and get to know, without fear, the areas where Spain’s best-known witches once lived, and perhaps still do … To speak of witchcraft in Spain is to speak of Zugarramurdi, the cave where people from every social class gather to worship the devil in the form of a male goat. It is there, to the side of the rocky outcrop where the cave is found, that “akelarre” is celebrated. That term, derived from the Basque words “aker” – male goat – and “larre” – field – refers to the spot where the “sorginak” (witches) gather. Zugarramurdi is the starting point for the new tourist packages being pushed by Navarre, a magical site located along the so-called “Border, superstition and witchcraft” route.”

In addition to the “Border, superstition, and witchcraft” route, there is the “First persecutions of witchcraft in Navarre” route, and the “Mountains and caves, between mythology and witchcraft” route, which explores sites sacred to the Basque goddess Mari.

“…passing through Anocibar, Alli, Areso, Intza and Olague, and the route is based on mythological beliefs, the celebration of religious rituals in natural settings and the worship of the earth god Mari, practices that also resulted in inquisitorial persecutions.”

There seems to be a growing trend for occult, pre-Christian, and supernatural-themed tourism. From Catemaco in Mexico to the Pendle Witch Experience tours in Britain, travellers seem fascinated by witchcraft and magic. One wonders what percentage of these tours are filled by modern Pagans & Witches and other spiritual seekers looking to experience an older and deeper connection to a history they identify with. Do these tours also create new converts in addition to providing entertainment to folks on holiday? It would be interesting to know. Perhaps some of these tours will, over time, morph into something more like a pilgrimage than a thrilling historical jaunt.

Ever wish you could make a career from your practice of Witchcraft? Wish no longer! Wookey Hole Caves, a tourist attraction in Somerset, England, is looking for a full-time Witch to do witchy things all day long.

“So the job is straightforward: live in the cave, be a witch, and do the things witches do. Wookey Hole is advertising nationally and hopes to attract a strong field of candidates, with the £50K salary serving as a major incentive. Interviews for the post, which will involve on-site assessment incorporating a range or standard tasks, will take place on Tuesday 28th July at 11am. Given the nature of the role, Wookey Hole has decided to run the process on an “open audition” basis. Ambitious witches, looking for a key career move, should turn up dressed for work and bring any essential witch accoutrements. A limited range of potion ingredients will be available.”

Could this be Kevin Carlyon’s big chance? Will they film the auditions? But before some of the more, ahem, flamboyant members of our community consider emigrating for a chance at the job, keep in mind they have some pretty firm ideas of what their ideal witch would be like.

“Wookey Hole wants the appointee to go about her everyday business as a hag, so that people passing through the caves can get a sense of what the place was like in the Dark Ages. This was when an old woman lived in the caves with some goats and a dog, causing a variety of social ills including crop failures and disease. She also turned the local milk rancid.”

I can turn milk rancid, but only by forgetting in the back of the fridge for too long. As for social ills? Well, we support gay marriage. Would that do? They whole thing seems rather embarrassing and offensive, but then again, in this economy a decent salary is hard to come by.

The Iraqi government is re-opening the ancient site of Babylon over protests from the state board of antiquities and heritage that the ruins are in bad neglect and shouldn’t be accessible to tourists yet.

“The Iraqi government plans to open Babylon to visitors on 1 June, according to news reports. Iraq’s state board of antiquities and heritage is opposing the move, on the grounds that the site needs further protection and investigation before being reopened. This follows the controversial reopening of Baghdad’s National Museum on 23 February, after a government decision to proceed with this, defying opposition from curators who felt that it was too early.”

So why is the government pushing for this re-opening despite experts saying that there is “considerable evidence of damage” from the years of occupation and war? The best guess would be a combination of prestige, tourism revenue, and the appearance of a return to normalcy in the country. What better way to transmit that Iraq is stabilizing than to re-open its archaeological treasures to the world? Further, Babylon has a huge place in our cultural memory, it was the home to the Hanging Gardens, it had a huge influence on the Abrahamic faiths (to the point where it became a favorite Biblical villain), and it would draw tourists interested in Biblical history, archaeology, and pre-Christian Assyro-Babylonian religions. Let’s just hope that in their haste to draw in tourist dollars once more, they don’t furhter damage a site that has already endured the ham-fisted rebuilding efforts of Sadam Hussein and years of war (including one site being used as a helipad for American forces).

The Associated Press has a profile up of spiritual tours of Egypt that cater to New Age and Pagan clients. The article interviews Heartlights/Wonder Egypt Travel (who work together organizing tours) about their business, and talks to various clients, some who’ve made the journey several times.

“Diane Winkey, 61, who describes herself as 27 at heart, has traveled to Egypt eight times. She keeps returning because she says the ancient sites awaken a dormant part of herself. She describes a moment entering the Temple of Karnak in Luxor and feeling as if Isis, ancient Egyptian goddess of motherhood, was sending her a message. Tears started rolling down her face, and she says was taken back by her strong emotions.”

While an interesting article, I’m disappointed that they didn’t explore the tensions created by a predominately Muslim country hosting “pagan” tour groups who dance, sing, engage in trance-work, and even lay in sarcophagi. We’re only given a small hint that these tours are unpopular with the locals.

“In this predominantly Muslim country, Egyptologist and spiritual tour guide Amro Mounir, 34, said he encounters many Egyptians who criticize his tours for practicing a form of paganism. But Mounir says the tours are about tapping into the energy of the earth and helping people find the truth.”

We have to remember that Egypt is still a place where you can be put to death for the crime of “sorcery”, and Islamic fatwas threaten the safety of the country’s rich archaeological heritage. Are we headed for an international incident if someone decides the “shirk” (polytheism) being tolerated during private tour groups is too great an offense to be ignored? Will the lucrative government-approved tourist trade in Egypt eventually clash with the Muslim leaders who want to see all signs of “paganism” destroyed? It is certainly an issue that needs to be explored.