[I'm away at the Florida Pagan Gathering, and won't return to normal blogging activity until November 10th. In the meantime, I'm presenting some of my favorite posts to tide you over, consider it a "greatest hits" of The Wild Hunt. Today, I'm re-printing an interview I did back in 2008 with Pagan elders & teachers Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, both of whom are also currently presenting at the Florida Pagan Gathering. Enjoy!]

Authors, teachers, and elders, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have had an indelible influence on the modern Paganism movement. With her late husband Stewart Farrar, Janet helped pen some of religious Witchcraft’s most well-regarded tomes, including “Eight Sabbats for Witches” and “The Witches’ Way” (subsequently re-released as one volume entitled “A Witches’ Bible”). Towards the end of Stewart Farrar’s life, the couple were joined by Gavin Bone, a Pagan and registered nurse who entered into a personal and professional relationship with the couple.

Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone

Today Janet and Gavin are championing a new “Progressive Witchcraft”, teaching classes, and running workshops around the world. I recently had the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with Janet and Gavin about their current projects, the recently released biography of Stewart Farrar, and living the Pagan life in Ireland.

Both of you have been living and working in Ireland for some time now. What changes and progress have you noticed among Pagans in your adopted homeland? I suspect that when Janet and Stewart first moved to Ireland in 1976, there were few “out” Pagans of any sort, or any “Pagan community” to speak of.

Ever since Gavin moved to Ireland in 1993 we have seen a lot of changes in the Pagan community in Ireland. Before ‘93 there were probably only about two covens, including our own. The other one, believed to be Gardnerian, we had little contact with and it disappeared by the mid ’90’s. The big hub of activity up until then was the Fellowship of Isis, at Clonegal Castle, which of course, is still running. From that several groups began to spring up in the mid to late ’90’s including the Druid Clan of Danu, the first serious neo-Druid organisation in Ireland and the Grove of Sinann which became associated with it.

The real changes took place around about 1998. By this time the first pagan moots came into being and a conference of ‘interested parties’ took place in Dublin. The movement was beginning to blossom, but it was noticeable that the majority of the ‘movers and shakers’ were not Irish but ‘blow ins’ to use the Irish vernacular; they were English, Swiss, Scottish, and American. The real change has taken place in the last 5 years where we have really begun to see a real Irish pagan movement as such, with multiple paths appearing including a Druid and shamanic revival.

Janet, you have recently co-authored a book on the life of Stewart Farrar with Elizabeth Guerra entitled: “Stewart Farrar: Writer On A Broomstick”. Could you tell us a bit about the book, and the process behind getting it written?

Stewart had started to write his own autobiography with that title Writer on a Broomstick, back in the late ’90’s. This was only really a brief sketch of his fascinating life, he never, before his death got round to putting the ‘bones’ on it so to speak. So, a couple of years ago we approached Liz Guerra, a friend of ours for some years to write his biography. We decided to honour Stewart by using the original title he had decided upon and we went about, with Liz putting together all the research on his life.

Stewart being a professional journalist most of his life, kept a daily diary and habitually filed all the letters and replies he had ever written. The first year was taken up by Liz Guerra and ourselves going through all of this and recording the major events in his life from childhood, through his serving as an officer in the army during the second world war, through to his meeting with Alex and Maxine Sanders and joining the Craft, his writing career and finally up to his death.

We had to make some difficult decisions, one of these being whether we put everything in. We wanted to portray the real Stewart ‘warts and all’ so people could recognise him as a human being. In the end I believe we struck a good balance and people will be able to identify with him, not as a well known pagan author but as an individual like themselves who was lucky enough to have a fascinating life.

Speaking of Stewart Farrar, I understand that his novels (“Omega” being a personal favorite of mine) are in the process of being put back into print. Is there any definite word on when we might see them in our local bookstore or available for order?

Unfortunately, there have been some delays on publication of his novels. The publishing industry has suffered greatly from the current recession, so their publication has been on hold. We hope to have them republished in the next year though.

The two of you are now doing online seminars and classes with The College of The Sacred Mists. Can you describe what these classes entail? What are your opinions concerning the recent explosion of online schools? Do you feel this is a generally positve trend?

The decision to enter into online teaching wasn’t taken lightly. We wrestled with the concept for a while going through the ethics of it, and whether you could actually teach magical subjects in this way. In the end we decided it was no different to writing a book, except there was more interaction. It was this that eventually made our minds up to do it, and the fact that we had some positive experiences teaching one off online seminars.

Our current course has several different facets to it: Including written Lessons, practical exercises, regular chat room sessions to answer questions and discuss topics and the use of MP3s for teaching, which we have just incorporated in to the course. There is also homework and students are expected to keep a Course Diary which everyone can read online. This has resulted in a community feel to the course, with ourselves and the students interacting and assisting each other on a daily basis, something we really enjoy! To be honest, once this started to happen all our doubts about its viability as a method of teaching went out of the window – it began to feel like we were teaching in a college. The technology may be different but the experience is the same.

To answer your question as to whether it is a ‘positive trend’. Just as there are really good books out there, there are really good online courses, and likewise there are some really bad books written by authors with little experience. It isn’t a positive or a negative trend, its just a trend and it isn’t new. Correspondence courses on magic have been around since at least the early 1980’s, the difference is the technology being used which opens up new possibilities. In the end the community will decide whether they will work or not. If a course is bad, the word will get around the community really quick and people will simply stop signing on to it.

On the College of the Sacred Mists web site, it says that your current practical work is in the area of Spiritism and Trance Prophesy. Could the two of you touch a bit on these explorations for my audience?

First, we should explain, so that there is no misunderstanding, that this is not what the course with College of Sacred Mists is about. With the College we’re doing a seven month course called Progressive Magic. There are some things you can teach on line and other things you can’t, and this is definetly a subject which requires a ‘hands on’ approach.

I (Janet) have always been a natural medium. When I came into the Craft and was taught Drawing Down the Moon I went to it like a ‘duck to water’. I always assumed that everyone had the same experience as myself; going completely into deep trance. As Stewart and myself started to travel in the 1980’s we found that this was not the case and that I was luckily naturally gifted.

Gavin and myself started to explore this more deeply in the mid 90’s. Experimenting with different techniques including traditional Drawing Down where you use a silver bowl, and several trance induction techniques. Both of us had an interest in the Norse and Anglo-Saxon techniques used in what is called Seith or Seidr, and after seeing Diane Paxson; one of the foremost exponents of Seidr trance practise, at work with one of her trance groups, we became inspired to do more. We ended up studying other traditions including Shamanism, Santeria and Voudon (’riding the Loa’), to understand how these traditions used and induced trance and brought deity-spirits through.

It became very clear to us that there were some inherent problems with the current Drawing Down the Moon ritual used in modern Wicca, the main one being an actual lack of trance technique. So we went about creating a safe generic technique to teach trance-prophesy using what we have called The Underworld Descent Technique. Part of this process is using energy (Chakras) and visualization pathworking using a hypnotic induction technique.

We also teach that the Gods and Goddesses are REAL, not just Jungian archetypes. That they are spirits with their own personalities, capable of communicating with you through trance and in some cases positively possessing you when the circumstances are right. We have had quite a few seers and seeresses possessed by deities at different times. Originally we taught this as part of a weekend workshop (The Inner Mysteries) but it has become so successful that we now teach evening and one day sessions.

Aside from your publishing, teaching, and spiritual pursuits, are either of you involved in any activst or charity-related projects? If so, could you talk a bit about that? In a related note, what is your collective take on the M3 expansion through the Tara valley? I know that at least one member of Teampall Na Callaighe is actively involved in direct actions to help stop the current progress.

We’re not involved as much as we’d like in activist activities. Unfortunately the current situation since 911 has made it difficult for us to be involved in direct action, particularly regarding the M3, as we cannot afford to be arrested or ‘black marked’ by the authorities, as this would affect our ability to gain entry into the US for tours. Most American citizens are unaware that if you are arrested as a political activist outside the US you will be denied a visa and entry.

The whole situation with Tara and the M3 is part of bigger problem currently occurring in Ireland with the conflict in the Irish psyche between spirituality and materialism. In the 1990’s we had an upsurge of economic expansion, and at the same time the decline of the influence of the Catholic Church here. The Irish have always been a very spiritual people, but the scandals around the Church here, have resulted in a cynicism taking its place, and movement towards more materialistic values. Now every family wants two cars which they can replace every year and a new house. To quote Francesca Howell: ‘they have a nasty dose of affluenza!’. This conflict between the material and the spiritual in the culture has over flowed into the Irish countryside and the M3/Tara Valley conflict is symbolic of this change in social perspective.

Many people outside of Ireland are unaware of the other problems we face here: Peoples rights are being eroded and we widespread corruption in the Government. It is common for Government bodies to go through ‘processes of consultation’ with local communities to give an impression of democracy and then totally ignore that communities wishes. At present we are involved (alongside the M3 campaign which is linked) with a campaign to stop Eirgrid, the electricity provider putting up monster pylons across the countryside. Nobody wants them, they are a risk to the environment, wildlife, people’s individual health and the archeology. But, any complaint against this damage is ignored. We are pleased to say that this has resulted in a groundswell of public dissension – Irish people are beginning to realise that they have power at a grass roots level.

While I’m on the subject of Ireland’s spiritual landscape, I notice that you do tours of ancient sites in Ireland, and Janet has produced a DVD of Celtic fairy stories. Is Ireland’s pre-Christan past a big influence on your spirituality and practice?

Pagan tour groups started approaching us several years ago, in fact one of the first groups was one run by Starhawk as far back as the early 1980’s. It seemed natural to advertise that we were ‘open for business’ in this area. So far we have toured groups from the United States, Mexico and Australia. We have an advantage in this area as we live central to most of the major ancient sites in Ireland, and we also know where all the lesser known, more intimate ones are which attract ‘activity’ of a spiritual nature.

When you live in Ireland you can’t ignore the heritage around you. If you are a pagan or a witch you certainly can’t ignore. Just about every coven we know links itself to the spirituality of its environment. Our coven is linked to Slieve na Callaighe (The Hill of the Witch), part of a series of hills in County Meath known as Lough Crew which has neolithic burial tombs stretched across them. Only just recently we went up at dawn to watch the sunrise on this hill as the tomb on top is aligned with the Spring Equinox.

Many of our coven, including ourselves link to deities outside of Ireland, including Freya, and Diana, but we do not ignore the heritage of this land or the ancestral spirits of it. At Imbolg we make offerings to Brid and at Lughnasa to Lugh and also throw offerings into our local river to our local river goddess Boann. Witchcraft here is linked very much to the land here, and the mythology of the Irish can be found in every hill and at every ancient site.

What new books and other projects can we expect on the horizon from the two of you?

You may not see any new books from us for a while. We do have one book being written at the moment on our experiences with trance and psychism but its publication is a long way off. At present we are concentrating on the practical workshops and the online courses. We are touring again this year, and will be in New York State, Connecticut and Washington DC towards the end of August and September.

As both of you continue in your roles as elders and teachers within the wider Pagan community, what do you think will be your greatest legacy to the modern Paganism movement?

That’s a good question, and we’re not really sure that it is our place to say! In the end I think we will be judged on what effect we have had, what we have done, rather than any claims we have made about ourselves. If we have changed one person, and allowed them to find their spirituality and connection to divinity then we are happy that we have achieved something. It only takes one person to change the world.

Previous Wild Hunt interviews: Starhawk, Gus diZerega, Jeff Sharlet, Brendan Cathbad Myers, Rita Moran, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, Phyllis Curott, Tim Ward, Lupa, J.C. Hallman, Margot Adler.

While some Pagans have yet to perform their rites,and our friends in the Southern hemisphere are just wrapping up Beltane, a good number most likely performed some sort Samhain ritual observance last night (including Reclaiming’s annual Spiral Dance). Naturally, once Halloween is past, the flood of press interest in Pagans and their seasonal observances slows down to a mere trickle, so we get very little in the way of post-mortem or after-the-fact reflection. The best we can hope for (from the mainstream media at any rate) are the yearly accounts-taking of that New England-style Mardi Gras that is Salem’s Halloween celebrations.

“Vampires sporting sunglasses, whimsical wizards, and at least one Teletubby roamed the streets of the Witch City yesterday, reveling in a magical brew of warm weather and witchery. Salem police estimated about 80,000 revelers converged on a city where the population is about 41,000. With the temperatures rising over 70 degrees and Halloween falling on a Saturday for the first time since 1998, police brought in reinforcements to ensure public safety.”

It seems that the recession didn’t hit Salem’s October tourist trade this year thanks to warm weather and Halloween falling on a Saturday. Some estimate that close to 100,000 people mobbed the city of 41,000. Sadly there is no word on how well the various Pagan and Pagan-run events did this year, though I suppose, given the numbers, the answer to that question is “very well”. It no doubt makes the Witch School folks happy about their impending move. I was somewhat taken aback to see almost no mention of the Salem Witches in the various Salem-themed pre-and-post event articles this year, but perhaps they are simply taken as a given now. It’s Salem after all, there will be Witches there.

As for myself, I’ll be celebrating the “true” Samhain in Florida this year at the Florida Pagan Gathering, where I’ll be giving some talks and no doubt meeting all sorts of wonderful folks. If you’re in the Florida area I hope to see you there! Meanwhile, if any of my loyal readership spots any post-mortem looks at Samhain rituals (or Beltane rituals if your Australian) in the press, please share the link in the comments sections.

I have a few stories of interest before we dive head-first into our Samhain celebrations, starting with an Omaha World-Herald story about a Wiccan inmate who had his request granted to change his legal “Christian” name to his chosen “Witch name”.

“Just in time for Halloween, former Fremont resident Billy Joe McDonald has received a judge’s permission to change his “Christian” name to his “witch” name: Hayden Autumn Blackthorne. In requesting the change for religious reasons, McDonald — er, Blackthorne — wrote that he is “a lifetime member of Witch School,” a “recognized Wiccan Priest” and a person who has “successfully completed Correllian Wicca — First Degree.” And, oh yeah, McDonald also noted that he is a sex offender who has been successfully convicted of sexual assault — first degree.”

While the Wiccan angle makes it newsworthy, the event itself isn’t all that uncommon. Prison inmates request to change their names, often for religious reasons, quite often. That said, these requests aren’t always granted, a Heathen inmate in Nebraska who wanted to change his name to “Sinner Lawrence Bilskirnir” was denied on grounds that it didn’t satify “legal requirements”. Blackthorne’s request was most likely granted because he had letters of support from local clergy, and proof of long-time religious activity within the prison.

Turning from prisons to the world of “adult” film, The Sydney Morning Herald interviews porn star Monica Mayhem about her new book “Absolute Mayhem”, which apparantly mentions her adherence to Wicca.

“It helps me to stay grounded and it helps me to cope with things a lot better … it’s not like you see in the Hollywood movies, it’s actually just a more free and naturally way of living … it’s all about mother nature and the universe.”

Considering how many “stars” in the adult industry are treated, I sincerely hope that Wicca really does help her cope, and ultimately brings her a deeper connection to the earth around her.

In a final “we must be doing something right” note, both Pravda Online (a remnant of the once-mighty official organ of the Communist Party) and The Vatican have warned against celebrating Halloween due to its pagan and occult origins!

The Holy See has warned that parents should not allow their children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls on Saturday, calling Hallowe’en a pagan celebration of “terror, fear and death”. The Roman Catholic Church has become alarmed in recent years by the spread of Hallowe’en traditions from the US to other countries around the world … The Vatican issued the warning through its official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, in an article headlined “Hallowe’en’s Dangerous Messages”. The paper quoted a liturgical expert, Joan Maria Canals, who said: “Hallowe’en has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian.”

So there you go! Celebrate Halloween properly and you’re defying both The Vatican and members of Russian Orthodoxy who write for post-Communist propaganda tabloids. Talk about rebellion!

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

You knew it was coming, the religion news-writers were priming the pump, and with Halloween/Samhain only days away a veritable flood of articles, opinion-pieces, and interviews featuring or discussing modern Pagans have been unleashed into the world. There’s no way to justly discuss and analyze them all, so instead I’ll simply give you a quick run-down, a sampling, of the annual Pagan publicity rush. Lets start with the dissenters shall we? They are often the most fun to talk about. We’ll begin with a piece that isn’t really a Halloween piece, but very well could be, as it sets the mood so nicely.

“Several Christian denominations see New England as a “mission field” – a term often associated with unchurched, foreign lands. As they evangelize and work to plant new churches, they speak of possibility, but also frustration. The area’s highly educated population is skeptical and often indifferent to their faith.”

New England? Wait, isn’t the “witch city” of Salem in New England? One wonders if they’ll be seeing more conflicts between preaching Christians and partying Pagans this year? It’s a possibility the story, sadly, doesn’t explore. Meanwhile, Charisma Magazine lets Christians know that merely setting out a pumpkin makes you an unwilling tool of Satan!

“Mother earth is highly celebrated during the fall demonic harvest. Witches praise mother earth by bringing her fruits, nuts and herbs. Demons are loosed during these acts of worship. When nice church folk lay out their pumpkins on the church lawn, fill their baskets with nuts and herbs, and fire up their bonfires, the demons get busy. They have no respect for the church grounds. They respect only the sacrifice and do not care if it comes from believers or non-believers.”

This sort of demonic mush is repeated in Trumpet Magazine as well. Thankfully some Christians, in this instance a Catholic, seem to really understand the spirit of the holiday, and doesn’t cower at the imagined demons haunting the evangelicals.

“As a friend of mine observed recently, there is something medieval about Halloween. The masks, the running around in the dark, the flicker of candles in pumpkins, the smell of leaves and cold air—all of it feels ancient, even primal, somehow. Despite the now-inevitable preponderance of media-inspired costumes, Halloween seems, in execution, far closer to a Last Judgment scene above a medieval church door, or to a mystery play, than it does to Wal-Mart. To step outside on Halloween dressed as someone—or something—other than yourself is to step into a narrative that acknowledges that the membrane between our workaday, material world and the unseen realm of spirits is far thinner and more permeable than many of us like to think.”

Frankly, their All Saints’ Day dress-as-your-favorite-saint party sounds like a ton of fun. Once I get into better shape, I’d probably dress as St. Sebastian, complete with arrows and mock-tree. Now, lets leave the Christians alone, and turn to intrepid reporters talking to Pagans! The Canadian weekly SEE features an article by Marliss Weber, who attends a full-moon gathering and finds herself, despite having to sing the “vagina moon song”, moved by the experience.

“…modern witchcraft is welcoming and inclusive, and so are the witches I’m with tonight. They all help me as I stumble through the four elements and the four directions, and as I try to express how I feel in the moment, again I find myself near tears.”

While Weber attends a full-moon gathering, most papers are talking to Pagans who are gearing up for Samhain, like the Pennsylvania Black Hat Society Network, the practitioners at the Temple of St. Brigid’s Doom, the proprietor of the Fly-by-Night store in Ohio, and a British traditional Wiccan coven in Oregon.

“On such a night, Wiccans like Anton and Snavely gather in a sacred, circular space. Placing a drop or two of fine-smelling oil, they “dress” the candles they will use to focus their intent in four directions. Living things have an energy field that people perceive in various ways, but witches operate outside of our official defined five senses. They gather in a circle to contain energy, then raise the energy by dancing, singing and using their bodies. “We are between worlds, the energy world and the tangible,” Snavely said, adding that this is why it is bad to bring watches into the circle. The priestess directs the ritual to a crescendo, and everyone focuses on transferring the energy into a physical object such as a necklace or a worry stone meant for a son going to Iraq.”

But while (some) Christians close the blinds and turn off the porch light, and while many Pagans prepare for their Samhain rites and Witches’ Balls, others prefer to be wet blankets about the whole thing.

“I don’t like Halloween’s gimme-gimme nature. A holiday celebrated by sending children out to ask for candy leaves me cold, to say nothing of the absurdity of encouraging gorging on sweets in a nation with a serious obesity problem. I don’t like the phrase “trick or treat,” even though the implied threat is rhetorical. But I also don’t like when kids don’t bother to say “trick or treat,” but just reach out to grab candy. Or when they don’t bother to put on a costume. Or when they are either very large children with facial hair and men’s voices, or they are adults. And the wastefulness is mind-boggling — from those individually wrapped packets to all the candy that gets thrown out because even children have their limits.”

Man. What a Debbie downer. It must be TONS of fun at her house. She must be suffering from my new favorite malady, “Samhainophobia”. Anyway, that is just tip of the journalistic iceberg, expect even more in the next few days. If you find a particularly good (or bad) Samhain-themed article, feel free to share it in the comments.

After years of Witch School International trying to build a “Salem of the Midwest” in the Rossville-Hoopeston area of Central Illinois, a move that garnered plenty of publicity and hostility as the Witches tried to co-exist in a town dominated by conservative Christians dealing with a depressed economy and a troubling meth problem, the school has decided its time to move on.

“Witch School Headquarters are closing in the Rossville-Hoopeston area of Illinois. Witch School settled from Chicago to Central Illinois in 2003, and became the center of protest by many of the Christian Churches in the area. A well-documented spiritual battle has been waged for the last six years, with open hostilities and long quiet truces by various Christian factions. Simply put, this has not allowed Witch School the staff and resources needed to keep up with their growth. On Halloween, Witch School Rossville will close permanently, and Witch School will be moving its HQ to ‘The Witch City’, Salem Mass.”

As rumored since earlier this year, Witch School will stop trying to build their own Salem, and simply join the Salem that already is. Becoming a part of the massive tourist-friendly oasis custom-built for media-hungry Witches with outsized personalities. With the move now underway, Witch School CEO Ed Hubbard wants us to know it wasn’t because of Christian hostility that they are going, but because of a lack of communications resources.

“The Churches are not the cause, they are a symptom of the problems in rural areas, and that is the lack of useful educational resources. While the United States Urban areas have been undergoing a communications and information revolution, the Digital Divide between those areas and places like Rossville IL, which has very few Internet carriers, all very expensive, and very undependable, has continued to grow. Our Internet provider has terrible customer service, and been down as much as a week at a time, on a regular basis, and we use the same one the city government uses. Also attempts to provide computer training and employment saw pressure on participants to quit and boycott the business. The Churches believing that they were ‘protecting’ the community, have rejected and blocked several attempts by Witch School to improve Internet Service in the area. So it has become necessary to find a place where we can get the online access and staff we need to continue our growth.”

Not that it will stop Hoopeston-area pastors from bragging anyway. While I’m fairly certain their Internet service will be better (and the neighbors friendlier) in Massachusetts than in rural Illinois, it isn’t a leap to assert that the costs of doing business will be far higher in Salem, so it remains to be seen how well Witch School will actually do. As for Witch School’s students, they seem for the most part to be understanding and optimistic about the change in location. No doubt you can expect Witch-School folks to be popping up on reality television shows and taking advantage of national Halloween-oriented coverage of Salem any time now.

I’ve written before about how witchcraft persecutions have become an international problem, how that fanaticism is slowly being exported to the “civilized” West and is cross-pollinating with the first-world churches that support them, but that hardly prepares one for the shock and horror of knowing that these (often American-funded) Christian churches are directly responsible for the death, mutilation, and exile of children.

“His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him — Mount Zion Lighthouse. A month later, he died. Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of “witch children” reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files. Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” “It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity,” said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.”

Many of these witch-hunting pastors belong to churches that are members of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) who say they can’t police their membership, though they can find it within themselves to collect membership dues. Indeed, the persecution of children for witchcraft is so “mainstream” in places like Nigeria that even the popular mega-pastors admit to horrid abuses.

“Helen Ukpabio is one of the few evangelists publicly linked to the denunciation of child witches. She heads the enormous Liberty Gospel church in Calabar … Ukpabio makes and distributes popular books and DVDs on witchcraft; in one film, a group of child witches pull out a man’s eyeballs. In another book, she advises that 60 percent of the inability to bear children is caused by witchcraft … “Witchcraft is real,” Ukpabio insisted, before denouncing the physical abuse of children. Ukpabio says she performs non-abusive exorcisms for freeHowever, she then acknowledged that she had seen a pastor from the Apostolic Church break a girl’s jaw during an exorcism. Ukpabio said she prayed over her that night and cast out the demon. She did not respond to questions on whether she took the girl to hospital or complained about the injury to church authorities.” and was not aware of or responsible for any misinterpretation of her materials. “I don’t know about that,” she declared.

Ukpabio is very much like the “spiritual warriors” here in America, except that her accusations of witchcraft and demonic possession fuel a trend of death and sorrow.

“Pastor Joe Ita is the preacher at Liberty Gospel Church in nearby Eket … There are nearly 60 branches of Liberty Gospel across the Niger Delta. It was started by a local woman, mother-of-two Helen Ukpabio … Many people in this area credit the popular evangelical DVDs she produces and stars in with helping to spread the child witch belief. Ita denies charging for exorcisms but acknowledges his congregation is poor and has to work hard to scrape up the donations the church expects. ‘To give more than you can afford is blessed. We are the only ones who really know the secrets of witches. Parents don’t come here with the intention of abandoning their children, but when a child is a witch then you have to say “what is that there? Not your child.” The parents come to us when they see manifestations. But the secret is that, even if you abandon your child, the curse is still upon you, even if you kill your child the curse stays. So you have to come here to be delivered afterwards as well,’ he explains patiently.”

The plight of “child witches’” is well known now, so where is the outrage and orchestrated refusal to send money to witch-hunting churches? Where is the Pentecostal-led movement to reverse this trend and isolate people like Helen Ukpabio? It seems almost non-existent, instead, acknowledged witch-hunters have been feted in America, giving blessings to prominent politicians. As for Ukpabio, she is no longer isolated to West Africa, and has a church in Rome. How far will this madness spread before the hundreds of church-bodies who have a stake in Africa do something?

“Please stop the pastors who hurt us,” said Jerry quietly, touching the scars on his face. “I believe in God and God knows I am not a witch.”

For those who want to help the witch-children, two good organizations to send money to are Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN (Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network). We can also urge the press to continue to ask difficult questions of American churches that support witch-hunters but plead ignorance.

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

Raven & Stephanie in action.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As George W. Bush’s administration fades away into history more details about its character are starting to see the light of day, perhaps some of the most revealing so-far come from former Bush speech-writer Matt Latimer’s new book “Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor”. Filled with embarrassing quips from George W. Bush and other top administration officials, it also seems to confirm a sneaking suspicion among modern Pagans that Bush and his administration had a unique obsession with Witchcraft and the occult.

Latimer writes that administration officials objected to giving author J.K. Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because her writing “encouraged witchcraft” (p. 201): “This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged withcraft.”

This newly-revealed “Harry Potter encourages witchcraft” attitude, along with Jim Towey’s misguided comments, the VA interpreting old anti-Wicca Bush quotes in order to make policy, and the snubbing of a Wiccan military widow (that Bush later apologized for) seems to confirm at the very least that Bush’s people (like the VA) either broadly interpreted his past anti-Witchcraft comments, or that conservative Christian attitudes towards minority faiths were pervasive.

Considering the newly hyper-partisan anger among conservative “values voters”, it could certainly be read as a movement in turmoil over being removed from the access to the executive power they felt was their right. Looking at the preferred candidates of conservative Christians over the years, we see a certain evolution (if you’ll pardon the term) in preference. From Ronald Reagan (who now looks moderate by comparison) and George W. Bush to Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. Conservative Christian activists are increasingly demanding adherence to troubling strain of charismatic Christianity that isn’t afraid to engage in a little malefic prayer-warring to get the job done. If Bush’s mild (by comparison) anti-Wiccan comments and subsequent reliance on folks like James Dobson were enough to color the executive branch as it did, imagine if someone the “values voters” really love got into the president’s chair.

Yesterday a coalition of U.N. officials, NGOs, and representatives from affected countries addressed the United Nations asking for governments to face the full extent of witch hunts across the world. Far from being a localized phenomenon in “primitive” or isolated villages, witch hunts and witch killings are now global in nature and spreading.

(Trigger Warning!) An Indian “witch” being beaten and paraded through her village.

“Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is spreading around the world and destroying the lives of millions of people, experts said Wednesday … “This is becoming an international problem — it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe,” Jeff Crisp of the U.N.’s refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organized by human rights officials of the world body.”

According to some U.N. experts tracking the issue “at least” tens of thousands have died due to witch hunts, while millions have been beaten, abused, isolated, and turned into refugees. While economic hardship is given as a reason for the recent escalation in witch-related violence, experts at the UNHCR also claim that the rise can also be attributed to”religious practitioners” who exploit local fears and superstitions.

“Some religious practitioners make a living from exorcising alleged witches and charging exorbitant fees to those who request the ritual. In Foxcroft’s experience, the most vulnerable members of society – children and the elderly – are often the victims of these accusations.”

Who, exactly, are these “religious practitioners”? The IHEU is far more specific.

“Witchcraft is still widely practiced in many countries in Africa by witchdoctors who often use human body parts in their spells. Some witchdoctors employ gangs of young men to attack and kill victims, often young children, for their body parts, which are frequently removed while the victim is still alive. An estimated 300 people are killed each year in South Africa alone as a result of this practice. But horrific though this practice is, it is only part of the problem. In Nigeria, in both the Muslim North and the Christian South, witch hunts are not uncommon and this has led to a second form of abuse. Some unscrupulous pastors, many linked to Pentecostal churches, have a lucrative trade in making unfounded accusations of witchcraft against young children. [The pastors then agree to “cure” the witches for a substantial fee. Many children are being ostracized and abandoned by their parents as a result of these accusations.]“

These Christian pastors aren’t isolated to Africa, they tour churches in America bragging about their battles with the occult, and have established ministries in Ireland and the UK. Commingling with an increasing anti-occult fervor among some Western Christian groups. Meanwhile, actual modern Pagan communities in places like India and South Africa are facing the possible ramifications of intensifying witch-hunts and witch persecutions.

If this trend isn’t seriously addressed soon, we may find this madness turning its eye towards “safe” occultists and Pagans in places like America, the UK, Australia, Brazil, and Canada. Don’t think it could happen? All it takes is a pseudo-militant occult-fighting Christian movement cross-pollinating with a reviving “Satanic Ritual Abuse” movement, stir in some anti-government populist anger and frustration, and you have all the makings for an American witch-lynching.

“When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: “Be careful.” The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.”

The anger and hardship that cries out for a scapegoat is right here in our backyard. Right now “socialism” or “the government” may be the popular/populist nightmare,  but that can change. A global epidemic of witch-hunts is our issue, not because we share some theological bond with a “witch” killed in Nigeria, or imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, but because we don’t live in an enlightened vacuum, free from the troubles of the “third world”. Nor will outraged Internet petitions stem the tide, what we need is a concerted international campaign of education, aid, and better policing in the “hot” spots like Nepal, Kenya, India, and Nigeria. Those who have grown powerful on witch-hunting rhetoric won’t go quietly, and only the surety of secular law can ensure some semblance of safety. Meanwhile, those of us who are “safe” need to realize that what happens to “witches” in India and Papua New Guinea is no longer a string of  isolated incidents that will always stay “over there”. A “global” problem means it could indeed happen here, and perhaps sooner than any of us would want to admit.

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

Looks like all is not happy in the land of the Cabot Witches, it seems that Laurie “Official Witch of Salem” Cabot accused her daughter Jody Cabot (also a Witch) of forging a check in her name two years ago. A restitution agreement was made, but due to non-compliance and failing to appear in court, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest.

“Last year, Jody Cabot was granted a general continuance in the case on the condition that she pay restitution of $1,328 to her elderly mother. Had she done that, the charges would have been dismissed. But earlier this year, Jody Cabot defaulted on the agreement and the case was put back on the court’s docket, where it was heading for trial. Attorney Steve Reardon tried to convince Judge Richard Mori not to issue a warrant for his client, saying she had stayed home because she had a severe headache that was a result of a past head injury.”

However, this tale doesn’t end in tragedy, Jody Cabot went to court the next day and thanks to her mother’s current reluctance to testify against her daughter a new plea agreement was made. According to reports Jody, as her mother has in the past, appeared in “traditional witch garb” for the hearing. Now that this unpleasantness is done with for the moment, lets remember Jody from (seemingly) happier times when she posed for pictures with sister Penny (taken by photographer Stephen Muskie).

Two teenage female ringleaders of a racist gang accused of orchestrating a spate of brutal attacks against non-Slavic foreigners were sentenced to jail terms of up to ten years. The gang is believed to be an offshoot of a Slavic Pagan group called “Native Belief”, a group accused of bombing a McDonalds and murdering several people.

“The verdicts were the latest convictions of young people for racist attacks in Russia and come amid growing concern over the frequency of attacks on non-Slavic foreigners in the country. The presumed ringleaders, Yevgenia Zhikhareva – a 17-year-old girl linked to pagan sects that worshipped ancient Slavic gods – and Ilya Shutko, 19, were jailed for eight and 10 years respectively, Russian news agencies reported … Zhikhareva is also suspected of involvement in a series of blasts in Moscow between 2008-09, including at a branch of US fast food chain McDonalds, carried out by a pagan group calling itself ‘Native Belief.’ The gang members were accused of carrying out up to four attempted murders and one actual murder of citizens of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan between February 12 and March 7, 2008.”

Sadly there is a strong undercurrent of racism and antisemitism within some Slavic Pagans groups, though that isn’t  universally true. However, it seems that the groups who do espouse racism are becoming increasingly strident and violent. No doubt economic hardship and social upheaval have much to do with this development, but these excuses don’t justify distorting pre-Christian beliefs for racist political causes.

Religion Dispatches brings us two interesting articles on African diasporic faiths, starting with an interview with sociologist Salvador Vidal-Ortiz concerning the recent animal sacrifice court victory for Santero Jose Merced, the place made for gays and lesbians within Santeria, and how perceptions of Santeria are (slowly) evolving in America.

“Generally speaking, when we are talking about racial and ethnic minorities, the United States’ racial (and racist) system tends to find much of what is non-white “suspicious.” That’s why Santería continues to be categorized as a cult by some, and why the media usually frame practitioners as somehow “criminal” in the coverage we see in the news. That tendency is mirrored in entertainment media. For at least the past two decades, portrayals of Santería practitioners in movies and television shows have resisted the opportunity to represent them as religious people and focused instead on Santería as a hypersexual space, recalling earlier representations of Africans as savages. That does seem to be changing, at least incrementally.”

Then, religion scholar Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado takes possession of a Vodou doll/poppet that had several seemingly rational faculty members at her university seriously spooked.

“The doll who sits in my office is not the type of doll you stick needles in. I am not even sure he is a Vodou doll. And yet, his black cloth skin and his scarf evoked feelings of fear and mistrust among a group of university professors. The mythology of evil surrounding Vodou, surrounding black religion, remains. I have nestled him between an image of the Mayan god Maximon and an image of the Yoruban orisha Bablú Ayé. I decided he would feel at home with other marginalized and often misinterpreted religious figures. He has been with me now for twenty-four hours. I am happy to say, as a type this reflection, that my computer is working fine.”

A simple rule to remember is that most mysterious dolls aren’t actually magical poppets, and even if they were, not every poppet is aimed at you. If it were simply some child’s toy I’m glad it ended up on her shelf, where it could be reclaimed some day, and not buried in a hole with rum and gunpowder as on faculty member suggested.

The Taliban are now targeting the Kalash in Pakistan, Indo-European pagans believed by some to be descended from a commingling of Alexander the Great’s army and local peoples, who have survived in prominently Muslim areas thanks to living in remote valleys. Now, an outsider who had been raising money for the Kalash has been kidnapped.

“While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis. But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter. Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum. They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.”

I don’t know if this is a sign of desperation on the part of the Taliban in Pakistan, or simply an escalation in their fervor to eliminate any group that theologically deviates from their extremist form of monotheism (or maybe both). Kalash leaders are attempting to negotiate a release, and it remains to be seen what the government of Pakistan can really do to help, especially amidst recent accusations that the government’s spy organization can’t disentangle itself from the Taliban and that US aid money has been going towards anti-Indian defenses.

In a final note, Boing Boing reports on a legal ruling that may make some Pagan festival/event organizers rest easier.

“The California Supreme Court has denied the appeal of Anthony Beninati, the Los Angeles real estate manager who unsuccessfully sued Burning Man organizers for failing to restrain him from walking into a fire.”

So if some idiot waltzes, jumps, or walks into a fire-pit, you aren’t liable for their stupidity concerning “obvious dangers”.

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