Culture

Column: “In Venezuela, Witchcraft is everywhere”

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Pagan Perspectives

[Today’s column is our first from our new international columnist, Alan D.D. Alan’s column will cover Paganism in Venezuela. In addition to writing for The Wild Hunt, Alan is a journalist, blogger, and novelist. We’re thrilled to have him aboard, and we hope you will be too.]

Thinking of the relationship between Venezuela and Witchcraft could be complication. Before I met L.J. Tang, I supposed there were no names I could consider when searching for a reference in the Venezeulan national context. Tang, however, who has a bachelor’s degree in international studies with a speciality in etiquette and protocol, dedicates most of his time to the Craft through the courses he teaches and the articles he writes about the occult.

When asked what made him start studying Witchcraft, Tang first specifies that he sees a difference between being a magician and being a Witch: “You can be a ceremonial magician without being a Witch, but my Witchcraft tradition contains a strong influence of ceremonial magic.”

Culture

Columna: “En Venezuela la brujería está en todas partes”

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Pagan Perspectives

[Today’s column is our first from our new international columnist, Alan D.D. Alan’s column will cover Paganism in Venezuela. In addition to writing for The Wild Hunt, Alan is a journalist, blogger, and novelist. We’re thrilled to have him aboard, and we hope you will be too.]

Pensar en Venezuela y Brujería podría resultar complicado. Antes de conocer a L. J. Tang, suponía que no había nombres que se pudieran considerar a la hora de buscar un referente en el contexto nacional. Sin embargo, el venezolano, que también es Licenciado en Estudios Internacionales con una especialidad en Etiqueta y Protocolo, dedica la mayor parte del tiempo al Arte por sus clientes, cursos que dicta y la escritura de artículos sobre Ocultismo.

Living

Column: Triptych

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Pagan Perspectives

[Today’s column comes to us from Luke Babb. Luke Babb is a storyteller and eclectic polytheist who primarily works with the Norse and Hellenic pantheons. They live in Chicago with their wife and a small jungle of houseplants, where they are studying magic and community building – sometimes even on purpose.]

The old man likes to corner me. I worked for a while in high end kitchen retail – the sort of small business that can only exist in big cities, where the wealthy come to buy designer pots and “give back to the community.” One of those stores that really wants customers to access those ancestral memories of the general store they saw on Anne of Green Gables as a kid. Playing into that hometown feel, once a year this store participates in a neighborhood street festival and sells something that is only available on that weekend – apple pies.

News

“Religious freedom for some” critics say of new DOJ Task Force

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WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions has formed the Religious Liberty Task Force to help implement the various legislation and policies that were put into place last year. The task force will be co-chaired by acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio and Beth Williams, who is the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy. At a July 30 meeting on religious freedom this year, Sessions told attendees, “A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. There can be no doubt. This is no little matter.

Paganism

University of Exeter looks at the best way to summon fairies

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EXETER, UK – The University of Exeter is currently sponsoring a postgraduate research project on how to summon fairies and demons. Researchers will be examining the role of fairies in grimoires dating from the 15th to the 17th centuries, old magical texts which contain instructions for performing spells and necromancy. Fairies have obviously played a major part in British folklore for generations, appearing in the works of Shakespeare as well as local stories and legends. The West Country, where Exeter is situated, is full of such tales, from the uplands of Dartmoor to the coasts of Cornwall. Not always benign, these supernatural entities both fear and fascinate, but the aim of some of the spells in the study is to obtain the help of fairies in achieving the goals of the magician.