News

UK Pagans respond to London terror attacks

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LONDON — The English capital city saw a number of terrorist incidents on the night June 3, when 8 people were killed and 48 injured. The three identified attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then got out repeatedly stabbing people in nearby Borough Market before being shot dead by police. Since the attacks, the mood in London – a city that endured bombings throughout WWII and by the IRA campaigns later in 20th century – remains calm and defiant. Citizens have been taking to social media to deny that the population is in shock. The Pagan presence in London is considerable, and the area around Borough Market is of special interest to many of them, because it contains the Crossbones Cemetery, a Medieval burial ground for prostitutes and the outcast dead.

News

John Belham-Payne 1952 – 2016

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It was announced on Monday that High Priest, Elder and Witch John Belham-Payne had died from kidney disease. John was Doreen Valiente’s last priest, the co-founder of the Centre for Pagan Studies, and the founder of The Doreen Valiente Foundation. He was a fixture in the UK Pagan community and dedicated to the mission of upholding the values of his teachings and sharing his magical inheritance and all he had learned with others. John was born Jan. 5, 1952 in Dudley. He showed an early interest in music and the arts, which gave him the foundation that inspired his early career choices.

News

Jean Williams 1928 – 2015

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On Saturday, it was announced the Wiccan High Priestess Jean Williams had died on Friday, Dec 25. The announcement read, “Gracious, sociable and non-dogmatic, [Jean] relished the variety of paths and personalities in paganism. Also in some ways a very private person, in her personal spiritual life she was a Wiccan high priestess of the Gardnerian tradition, with a quiet and close-knit coven who are very much her intimate family.” Jean Elen Williams was born in the village of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and was the third child of a Church of England vicar. From a very early age, she attended private boarding school, and then later enrolled at theUniversity of College London, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, then want on to have a very successful career as a social researcher.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: BBC Reports on Witchcraft, CPWR Calls for Programs, Starhawk says “Vote!” and more

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[Pagan Community Notes is a series focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. Reinforcing the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. If you enjoy this series and our other recurring entries, please consider donating to our 2014 Fall Funding Campaign. Your support and donations make it possible for us to keep sharing the news and these important stories with you. Now let’s get started!]

In recent weeks, the BBC and other media outlets have published articles on the increase in Witchcraft related violence in the UK.