Unleash the Hounds (Link Roundup)

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans and Heathens out there, sometimes more than our team can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up. 

News Update…

Charles Jaynes

Convicted killer Charles Jaynes, who has been serving a life-sentence for the murder and molestation of a ten-year-old boy, lost his three-year-battle to change his name. As reported in 2012, Jaynes petitioned to adopt a new name to coincide with his conversion to Wicca. The new name, Manasseh Invictus Auric Thutmose V, was reportedly was given to him by “God.”

As noted in the Dec 2015 appeals decision, Jaynes originally testified that his new name was required for his “Wiccan religious tenets” and that his “old heathen name is religiously offensive. It is also spiritually debilitating due to the fact that God and Jesus Christ had given me a new name.”

The Appeals Court upheld the original decision to disallow the name change, saying that it was not found to be required for the Wiccan religion nor was it in the best interest of the public. The ruling states, “We affirmed the probate judge’s denial of the petition, as ‘granting the petitioner a name change would likely cause significant confusion in the criminal justice system if he were ever released . . . [and] would not be in the public interest if the petitioner were able later to elude criminal prosecution and conceal his identity.’

Jaynes was up for parole in early 2015, but he declined the option. No new date for a parole hearing has been set.

More links:

• A recent Gallup poll on religion confirmed the statistics gathered earlier in the year by Pew Forum. Americans are slowly becoming less religious. According to the Gallup Poll, 75.2 percent of Americans identify as Christian; 5.1% as other religions; 19.6 as nones. By these stats, the Christian population is down 5 percentage points, while the nones are up by the same number. The “other religion” category lost .2 percentage points. But with the margin of error be +/- 1 percent, the population of non-Christians appears to have stayed constant. Unfortunately, this constancy cannot be explored further. The Gallup poll does not break down the “other” category, and therefore it is impossible to analyze anything specific about the population increase or decrease in any one of the minority religious practices.
• Capitalizing on Pew Forum stats, Inverse published an article titled, “Paganism grows on Campus.” Writer Sarah Slot concludes that, even though America is becoming less religious, Paganism is on the rise. She writes, “An all-you-can-eat buffet of naturalistic practice, polytheism, social awareness, and environmentalism, modern Paganism is both the outgrowth of Europe’s neolithic neuroses and a belief system well-suited to a generation grappling with the idea of privilege and rejecting the bromides offered by powerful institutions.” The article goes on to explore the growth and expansive nature of the religion both on campus and off, through a number of interviews.
• According to The New York Blog, women wrote the majority of top books checked out from New York City Public libraries. The NYPL system annually publishes its top ten most requested books in December. Lists are compiled system wide, per borough and per branch. Interestingly, the Eastchester Branch, located in the Bronx, had a Llewellyn book in the top slot. The locals in that area were reportedly most interested in Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names for Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids, Heathens, Mages, Shamans & Independent Thinkers of all Sorts Who are Curious About Names from Every Place and Every Time by K.M. Sheard.

Isis as represented in Goddesses Alive! 2015 [Phote Credit: Greg Harder]

• Speaking of names, this December saw a new surge in confusion between the Goddess Isis and the terrorist group Daesh. As reported, this confusion has led to some violence and vandalism. On Dec. 25, the news site Broadly decided to set the record straight in an article titled “The Women who worship Isis for Christmas.”  Writer Sirin Kale begins by saying, “No, not that ISIS.” She goes on to discuss the modern veneration of the Goddess Isis through interviews with several people, including Rowan Morgana, Holli Emore, Lady Nephthys, and Mani Novalight. Within the article, Kale shared a video showing a blessing, and several photos, including one from the Goddesses Alive! performance at the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
• Moving outside the United States, the BBC reported that the historic Boleskine House on Loch Ness had been partially destroyed by fire on Dec 23.The house was originally built in the 1760s and was the home of Aleister Crowley from 1899-1913. Due to his occupancy, the house earned somewhat of a notorious reputation. According to legends and stories, Crowley never completed some of his magical work within the space, leaving “demons” about. In the 1970s, Jimmy Page bought the house due to his interest in Crowley’s work. He then sold it in 1992, and the house has since passed through several hands. According to the reports, it was unoccupied when the fire broke out.
• In Japan, temple administrators are hoping tourism will save their sacred spaces. According to the Religion News Service, Japanese attendance at these temples is in decline, which is “crimping revenue.”  In order to pay for upkeep and support the monks in their studies, some temples are now looking to the booming tourism industry to help cover their costs. With new hotels and bullet trains nearby, administrators hope to capture some of the tourist money by providing a uniquely Japanese experience to would-be visitors.
• In November, while many were focused on Mar’s book Witches in America, some might have missed another new “Witch” book. Released in late October by publisher Little, Brown and Company, The Witches: Salem 1692 is an historical account of the Salem Witch trials. The new book has gotten rave reviews across mainstream media on both historical accuracy and the depiction of events, including one reviewer who remarked that the writing is “light on sensationalism.” That is often a rarity for Salem stories. The Witches was written by author Stacy Schiff, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the book Cleopatra: A Life.
• Now for something a little different, here is some folk music from Mali. It is categorized as Folk Wassoulou, and is performed by the talented Fatoumata Diawara.

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