The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/category/paganism/witchcraft)
“When contemporary commentators describe authoritarian politics as ‘pagan,'” writes Manny Moreno, “they risk reinforcing an exclusionary narrative: that Christianity civilized power, while paganism represented brute force. That binary not only oversimplifies history; it marginalizes living religious minorities.”
In this week’s Pagan Community Notes, we begin with some good news: celebrations of Imbolc and the Feast of Brigid offered beautiful videos and thoughtful lessons; Via Lactea Sanctuary reached a property tax settlement in New York; and a federal judge allowed The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit against the City of Boston to move forward. Then comes the strange: reports of David Hume’s grave being vandalized with so-called “satanic” imagery. And stranger still, the National Prayer Breakfast unfolded largely as predicted, while New Hampshire lawmakers introduced a constitutional amendment to move the state toward Christian theocracy.
This week’s National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance and National Prayer Breakfast present contrasting tones but a shared theology, exposing how Christian nationalist ideas about sin, repentance, and national identity are being woven into the fabric of American political and religious life.
New analysis of a famous Anne Boleyn portrait suggests it was deliberately altered to counter witchcraft slander, revealing how art, politics, and gendered attacks shaped the posthumous image of Henry VIII’s ill-fated queen history.
TWH speaks with two members of the Twin Cities Pagan community, Sister Donyelle Headington and Benjamin Kowalsky-Grahek, about their perspectives on Operation Metro Surge and the community’s response to it.
TWH wishes our readers in the southern hemisphere a blessed Lammas, in the north a happy Imbolc, and to all a most auspicious Groundhog Day.
