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

The BBC Radio 4 program “Beyond Belief” devoted yesterday’s program to Witchcraft, ancient and modern, complete with unnecessary links by the host to the latest Harry Potter film.

“Ernie Rea and guests discuss the beliefs underpinning witchcraft. Do modern witches have anything in common with their forebears? And, have the Harry Potter books and films inspired greater interest in the craft?”

Among those interviewed are Christina Oakley Harrington of Treadwell’s bookshop in London, who handled the rather salacious questions of Ernie Rea quite well. You can listen to the program online, here.

Over at the Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog, Pagan panelist Starhawk weighs in on Jimmy Carter’s recent stand against the religious justifications for discrimination against women, pointing out a basic assumption prevalent through much of modern Pagan thought.

“Why does it matter if women can hold positions of responsibility and leadership in spiritual and religious life and communities? Many years ago, Mary Daly wrote: “If God is male, then the male is god.” That which is sacred to us is what we most deeply value and care about. It sets the pattern for what we value, all down the line. So if our only images of the sacred are male, and all positions of spiritual authority are held by men only, inevitably women will be devalued.”

One of the great disconnects between women (and men) attracted to various forms of Paganisms and the patriarchal monotheisms is the role of women. Despite our many flaws, feminine conceptions of the divine aren’t placed into a subordinate (or non-existant) role, and women are given full access to positions of spiritual leadership. This assures us that while we may take an occasional misstep, the institutional discrimination and devaluing of women won’t be among them.

In an update to a story I mentioned on Saturday, the Vodou priest at the center of a mysterious death during a cleansing ritual breaks his silence and speaks to the press.

“Authorities are awaiting results of a toxicology test to determine the cause and manner of Hamilton’s death, which has not been deemed suspicious. No charges have been filed, and Salva, who goes by “Houngan Hector,” said he is “100 percent confident” there was no wrongdoing on his part. Salva, soft-spoken and polite with a constant smile, said that no drugs were involved in the spiritual cleansing called the Lave Tet, but that small amounts of rum sometimes are consumed. “Maybe a sip,” he said, but he added that Hamilton had “passed on the rum.” …  “She was happy, very positive,” he said. “She seemed very fine as far as everyone knew.” What happened about 11 p.m., Salva said, is the same scenario he told dispatchers during a frantic 9-1-1 call. “She was taking a nap and we woke her up to see if she was hungry, and she was nonresponsive,” he reiterated yesterday. “We kept calling her name and she wouldn’t respond.” The other participants in the ritual could not be reached for comment. Salva declined to provide their names.”

The report also says that Hector Salva did contact Lucie Marie Hamilton’s mother (something friends of Lucie criticized him for not doing), and sent flowers to her funeral. Due to the firestorm of press, and negative speculation from neighbors, Salva is moving out of his current home to a new location.

In a less serious update to a previous post, the folks at Wookey Hole caves in Somerset, England have found their new professional full-time witch, Carole “Carla Calamity” Bohanan.

In the end, the judges opted for 40-year-old estate agent Carole Bohanan, of Shepton Mallet, Somerset. She will resign from her job and go by the name of Carla Calamity. Carole – or Carla – said: “I am going to be a great witch. All it takes is a little bit of magic and a little pizzazz. It’s a natural progression from my old job as an estate agent. I have been using my witching skills to sell houses for a long time.”

Bohanan apparently won over judges with a song about Wookey Hole and throwing candy snakes to the audience. While many “real” Witches seemingly applied for the job (you can see some pictures, here), there is no official word on if “Carla Calamity” is “one of us” as it were.

In a final note, Louis A. Ruprecht at Religion Dispatches ponders the Christian roots of the New Age movement, specifically “The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ” by Levi H. Dowling. This 1908 publication set the stage for numerous trance-induced gospels to come and helped spark interest in the new idea of an “Age of Aquarius” to come.

“Among the papers Levi Dowling left at his death was one explaining his conviction that the Earth and our Sun were entering the Dispensation of Aquarius, a literal New Age. Aquarius is an air sign, he noted, and the triumphs of the twentieth century were destined to be aerial rather than watery. Think of the Wright Brothers; think of humanity’s first tentative steps into outer space.”

While the “New Age” is often thought to be something that smacks of Paganism (or Eastern mysticism), it’s good to remember that Christianity had a key role in the formation of the “New Thought”.

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

OddcultTV has posted a profile of the acclaimed occult/metaphysical London bookshop, Treadwell’s. Leading the tour of the shop is owner and manager Christina Oakley Harrington.

Back in 2007 I did a blog post on the store where I said (somewhat hopefully) that Treadwell’s raises the standards for future occult-oriented shops. I only wish there was a shop like this near me! When you’re done with that video, you might also want to check out OddcultTV’s other interviews, including one with the Keeper of the Stones at Avebury.

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

The New York Sun prints an article on modern Pagans and opines that if mainstream integration poses too many stumbling blocks, they would fit in well with America’s long history of secluded religious enclaves.

“Drag yourself to enough roadside historical plaques around the nation’s midsection and you realize this place was built of enclaves … being remote can be good. There’s nothing like a little added geography to solve social friction. Your neighbors will bother you less if you don’t see them. Thanks to the Internet – the witch school is online, after all – and thanks to simple things like decent highways, the isolation is optional. And from trekking Mormons to the kind of frontier refugees who populated the literary prairies of Willa Cather or Laura Ingalls Wilder, there have been few things more American than finding autonomy by opting for isolation.”

You never know, the next Salt Lake City (famously founded by a Mormon enclave) could start with a group of Pagans fed up with Christian-dominated politics.

Speaking of politics, Democrat Elaine Lite, who was running for a spot on the Asheville City Council, has lost her bid.

“Challengers Dwight Butner and Elaine Lite failed to chip away at incumbents’ support … Lite, a Democratic environmental activist, wanted to slow city growth through greater restrictions on development. The publisher of Critter magazine differed with fellow progressives Freeborn and Newman on partisan elections, opposing the switch from the current nonpartisan system.”

Lite was the target of a political smear campaign that mocked her involvement in a environmental rally led by modern Pagans. Local conservative blogs spared no time in gloating over her defeat, labeling her “Elaine ‘Dances With Witches’ Lite”.

While metaphysical shops in America my enjoy fiscal success from time to time, in England it seems you can also win mainstream critical plaudits. Such is the case for Treadwell’s in London which is listed as one of the “finest bookshops” by The Guardian.

“Treadwells is full of mysterious books about magic, myth and belief amid incense and even magic wands! There’s also a lovely sofa to relax on while you read and think.”

American metaphysical shops take note!

Hillsboro, New Hampshire Police Lt. Darren Remillard is publicly apologizing to Witches and Pagans after suggesting that a dug-up grave may have been the work of local Witchcraft practitioners.

“I offer my apology to all witches and certainly did not intend to offend anyone by insinuating this was done by a witch or witchcraft. This could be a sick prank or someone misusing some sort of religion.”

The officer’s off-the-cuff statement to a local news team lead to a local outcry from the Pagan community over this misguided profiling. One wonders if this police force were visited by occult “experts” who spread disinformation about Pagan faiths?

For those of you who love beer, and you know who you are, Guest on Tap takes a look at the pagan history of beer and some modern beers made from ancient recipes.

“Leading the pack is Froach Heather ale. Dating back 2,000 years – a full five centuries before the Romans first invaded – this Scottish brew replaces hops with sweet gale and flowering heather, producing a light, mildly bitter brew redolent of honey and zesty lemon. I first had it near Hadrian’s Wall in Scotland, but you can find it in good bottle shops in the Northwest as well. Froach also brews an Elderberry Black Ale called ‘Ebulum,’ based on a drink formerly enjoyed by 9th-century Welsh Druids. Made with roasted oats, barley and wheat, it is boiled with herbs and then fermented with ripe elderberries, yielding a rich black ale with fruity aroma, soft roasted flavour and gentle finish – perfect by-the-fireplace-sipping beer.”

In accordance with my Germanic roots I’m partial to a tall Hefe-weizen with a twist of lemon. Its very tasty.

English Pop Idol star Rik Waller has decided to stop singing professionally after marrying a star-struck fan in a Pagan ceremony.

“Waller, who was once thrown off Celebrity Fit Club for binge eating, said they planned to have a pagan wedding ceremony. Miss Bliss, 23, agreed – but only if Waller ended his singing career. ‘This is definitely the real thing and, although our pagan beliefs mean that ours isn’t an engagement in the conventional sense, we have bought rings as a gesture of love and commitment to each other,’ said the singer.”

No word yet on why his Pagan wife would want him to stop singing, especially since most Pagans are quite fond of music and performing.

Finally, The Salem News takes a look at the aftermath of Salem’s yearly Halloween extravaganza and defends the towns role as a magnet for witch-loving tourists.

“Strangely, there are some who seem to pine for the days when the Essex Street pedestrian mall became a barren expanse the day after Labor Day, and every other storefront had a vacancy sign. You can visit many other older urban retail districts for that experience – and we bet their mayors would dearly love to have an event like Haunted Happenings that kept stores, restaurants and parking facilities full for a month each autumn.”

You can bet that so long as Salem is pulling in profits of over 100,000 dollars (after expenses), then the spooky, Pagan-friendly festivities will certainly continue.

That is all I have for now, have a good day!

British newspaper The Independent has posted a profile of the esoteric book store Treadwell’s. Author Gary Lachman interviews owner and manager Christina Oakley Harrington, and explores how the shop is transcending the usual conceptions of “occult” book stores.

A customer inside Treadwell’s Bookshop.

I’m particularly fond of the mission statement for Treadwell’s given by Harrington.

“To provide a place for people who have a spiritual, or occult, or pagan interest, but who don’t want to thrown their brain out the door. A place that can link the pagan and occult world to the world of literature, art, and philosophy. To the thinking world.”

That sure sounds like a place I would enjoy frequenting, too bad it’s on a different continent. But the existence of this new store (opened in 2003) leads us to perhaps hope that expectations and standards are starting to change by those wanting to open occult/Pagan book stores. When most of the mass-market books on magic and Paganism can be easily found at Borders or online, stores catering directly to the Pagan/occult market need to raise the bar and provide something different and more in-depth.

If I simply wanted to buy the latest Llewellyn releases I know I could go to any major book chain and find (or order) them, but it takes a special sort of store to stock the autobiography of Patricia Crowther or a history of British Magick after Crowley. I can only hope this article is an omen for the future, and not an isolated bright spark.