News

Pagan Community Notes: Fake Selena Fox profile, Witch Way Magazine awards, Dawtas of the Moon conference and more

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TWH – It was reported April 23 that an unknown user has created a fake Facebook account using Selena Fox’s name. Several users alerted the real Fox immediately after being contacted by the owner of the fake account. Some users reported being contacted by the fake Selena Fox via Facebook messenger. Fox immediately changed her profile photo so others would know it was her, and announced publicly: “I have had several reports of someone who is claiming to be me doing some grant scam as well as making rude comments that are not my way. If you have encountered this person, please report these posts right away to Facebook. I have already done this, but need others to help so that Facebook can stop this person and take additional action so others are not hacked and not scammed.”

Hounds

Unleash the Hounds! (link roundup)

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

Today marks the birthday of Doreen Valiente, who is largely considered to be the mother of modern Witchcraft and Wicca. Valiente was born in London in 1922, and eventually found her way into Witchcraft. Much of the written work used today in Gardnerian practice was written by Valiente. Upon her death in 1999, Valiente left her legacy to the care of John Belham Payne.

Perspectives

Column: California Wildfires

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Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
— Robert Frost
At the time of writing, 22 different wildfires in Northern California have burned 217,566 acres, killed at least 40 people, and destroyed over 5,700 buildings, including entire neighborhoods in the city of Santa Rosa; an alarming departure from past wildfires, which have mostly affected rural areas. Over 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate and the smoke caused “the worst air quality ever recorded for smoke in many parts of the Bay Area.” It is common sense that California’s prolonged drought exacerbated many wildfires, but last winter’s pouring rains were no relief, for they too abetted the intensity of the current fires by encouraging the proliferation of annual grasses, which have already died and turned into a fuel source. The fires have also burned the primary wine and marijuana-producing region of California, a region indisputably ruled by the god Dionysos, blackening the skies and bloodying the sun with the ashes of grapevine and cannabis. But Frost’s poem and the current fires bring a different set of powers to mind as well.

Paganism

Column: Spartacus and the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement

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In nomine Spartaci, Sibyllae, et Furoris Bacchici

The name of Spartacus has withstood over two millennia of slavery and empire, and become immortalized within the insurrectionary tradition. The personal name of his wife, “a prophetess (μαντική) subject to visitations of the Dionysiac frenzy,” has been not been passed down by the written record, but her title—the prophetess—endures, as does her source of inspiration: the Dionysiac frenzy. The revolt which began with the prophetess, Spartacus, and a handful of his fellow gladiators lasted two years (73-71 BCE) spread across Italy to include thousands of liberated slaves, as well freeborn “herdsmen and shepherds” who joined the uprising. The rebellion terrified the Roman elite, threatening the very center of the empire both geopolitically and socially. In the United States, slavery was never abolished: it was codified as “punishment for crime.”

Paganism

Column: Antifascism and the Dionysian Spirit

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[Heathen Chinese is one of our talented monthly columnists. Monthly he brings you insight and analysis about issues coming from within or affecting our collective communities. If you enjoy his work, consider donating to our fall fund drive today. It is your dollars and your support that make it possible for Heathen Chinese and our columnists to continue their dedicated work, and for us to bring on more talented monthly voices. Please donate today and share the campaign!