Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- Call for submissions for new book on Cernunnos
- Iceland’s Ásatrú Fellowship considers crowdfunding temple completion
- Shinto music and dancing to make debut in Poland and Hungary
Read more below…
Pagan News
The Book of Cernunnos – Call For Submissions
Patheos Pagan: Through The Grapevine
A new devotional anthology is being created. Editors Jason Mankey, Gwion Raven, and John Beckett are looking for your stories of Cernunnos and your devotional works to Cernunnos for a book that will be published later this year…
Norse Pagan Fellowship Considers Crowdfunding Temple Completion
Iceland Review
Iceland’s Ásatrú Fellowship is currently constructing its first and only Norse temple in Öskjuhlíð, but construction costs have already exceeded the budget set for the project…
Russian witches cast spell to help Putin defeat his enemies
New York Post
A coven of witches in Russia performed a “circle of power” as a way of sending mystical energy to help Vladimir Putin defeat his enemies…
Virginia Police Sergeant Suspended After Ties with Asatru Folk Assembly exposed
The New York Times
The Southern Poverty Law Center has called the Asatru Folk Assembly “perhaps this country’s largest neo-Völkisch hate group.”…
Taylor: Sick Judge at Gitmo a Victim of Witchcraft
Patheos Nonreligious
He says the judge was a victim of a “high-level witchcraft attack” intended to stop Trump from trying prominent Democratic leaders in those tribunals…
Remembering DJ Conway
The Wild Hunt
According to a post on her official Facebook page, D.J. Conway “passed into the loving arms of the Goddess on Friday, Feb. 1, 2019. She gifted this world and all of us with the knowledge of the Old Ones through her wit and wisdom. The cares of this world are now lifted from your body, mind, and spirit.”…
Is Tom Brady A Pagan?
New Boston Post
Altars, healing stones, belief in the “power of intention,” and positive references to witchery are among the approaches to success in football that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady cited during a charity appearance Thursday…
‘The Woodland Alchemy,’ Premiering At Boston Sci-Fi Film Fest, Rejects How Witches Are Portrayed In Media
WBUR
The Woodland Alchemy,” making its Boston premiere on Feb. 13 at the Boston Sci-Fi Film Fest, reveals how Zwicker and her friends practice pagan healing rituals…
New exhibition conjures the art of witchcraft, ritual and power
University of Queensland News
Second Sight: Witchcraft, Ritual, Power features renowned historical etchings alongside contemporary artworks and new commissions depicting or disrupting ‘witch iconography’ and impressions of witchcraft…
My Label and Me: I am privileged to be able to call myself a witch
Metro
My mother taught me that when someone calls you a witch, whether they mean it as a compliment or not, you must thank them, because it means they see your power…
The pagan boom – why young people are turning to non-traditional religions
Dazed
‘Paganism and witchcraft is about freedom. It puts the (spiritual) power back in your hands’…
Witches of the social media generation
BBC
Meet three witches who believe the social media era is transforming the way people view witchcraft…
You’re practicing witchcraft without knowing it
The Signal
Owner and founder of Phoenix and Dragon: Metaphysical Bookstore, Candace Apple, created the store in order to form a community dedicated to healing and peace. Recently, she’s seen more people coming in asking about Wicca…
Shinto News
Shinto music and dancing to make debut at Poland, Hungary shows
The Asahi Shimbun
Kuromori “kagura” (sacred Shinto music and dancing) may be centuries old, but audiences in Hungary and Poland will experience it for the first time in late February when a Miyako troupe performs there…
Ise to host 1st round of Religious Dialogue between Iran, Japan
MENAFM
On Saturday, the first round of Iran-Japan Religious Dialogue on ‘Family Status in Islam and Shinto’ was held in Ise, Japan…
Kabuki Superstar Ebizo, Sumo Celebrities Hurl Tons of Soybeans At Setsubun Crowd for Good Luck
Japan Forward
Every year Setsubun celebrations take place at Naritasan Shinshoji, where celebrities throw soy beans to a jubilant crowd praying for good luck…
Wasted Food, Leftover Meals: Japan Has to Chase Off the ‘Demon of Setsubun’
Japan Forward
Setsubun is the ceremony observed on the day before the beginning of spring, according to the lunar calendar…
Setsubun at Fushimi Inari
Green Shinto
Kyoto is blessed with Setsubun events, and so far I’ve done the rounds at Yasaka, Yoshida, Shogo-in, Heian Jingu, Rozan-ji, and Mibu-dera. This year I thought I’d try Fushimi Inari (next year it will be Matsuo Taisha)…
Setsubun Festivities in Kyoto
Nippon.com
Kyoto has many setsubun events, including an exorcism ritual dating back a millennium and maiko geisha trainees doing mame-maki…
Setsubun: Killing two birds with one bean
The Japan Times
This year’s Setsubun was a good reminder of the interconnectedness of global issues and the small steps that individuals can take to help solve them…
“Toshidon”: The Visiting Spirits of Koshikijima, Kagoshima
Nippon.com
In November 2018, a UNESCO committee inscribed Japan’s raihōshin, masked deities who make ritual visits at key days of the year, on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The earliest such practice to be so inscribed are the toshidon visits on Kagoshima’s islands of Koshikijima…
Other News
Swiss Museum laments Facebook ban of images of naked Venus statue
WFMZ
A Geneva art museum says Facebook prohibited it from promoting an upcoming exhibit with images of two statues – a half-naked Venus and a nude, kneeling man…
The battle for the future of Stonehenge
The Guardian
Britain’s favourite monument is stuck in the middle of a bad-tempered row over road traffic. …
DfT confirms Treasury will need to pay for Stonehenge and Lower Thames Crossing
Highways
The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed it expects to receive billions in cash from the Treasury under the next Spending Review to pay for the Stonehenge tunnel (pictured) and associated works on the A303, and the Lower Thames Crossing…
The real life tale of a witch hunt that inspired new witchcraft novel
The Sun
The debut novel by Stacey Halls is a fictionalised account of the Pendle witch trials in the 17th-century in Lancashire…
Unique pig goddess drawing attention in Year of Pig
Focus Taiwan
The impending Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac has rekindled interest in a small temple in southern Taiwan, which honors a pig goddess that is believed to bring good fortune in terms of peace, marriage and wealth…
Japanese Yamabushi Monks Who Trek Up Mountains and Across Waterfalls Barefoot
My Modern Met
Once a forbidden religion, the practicing holy men in northern Japan follow a combination of Shinto, Buddhism, Animism, and Daoism, with the aim to pursue enlightenment by reconnecting with nature…
Over two thirds of children have never heard of classic fairytales
Mirror
Fairytales are dying out, with two-thirds of parents admitting their children have never heard of many classics…
China Ramps Up Religious Persecution
Japan Forward
Near my apartment in Kyoto is a Shinto shrine of ancient origins which is known for a sacred well and its healing waters…
The 30 Best Movies about Witches
Paste
When we consider the concept of “witches” in film, we tend to first fall back on the old bits of iconography…
DNA findings challenge Hindu Nationalist history
The Wild Hunt
A recent article, “The Genomic Formation of South and Central Asia”, found genetic evidence that challenges the Hindu Nationalist “Out of India” theory. That theory holds that the “Aryan race” emerged in India and then expanded into Iran and Europe. Members of the ruling party in India, have been reportedly trying to embed this theory into textbooks as history…
The Epidemic of “Witch Hunts” (part two)
The Wild Hunt
The murder of innocent people labeled as “witches” occurs in many countries, and often under reported in the media but according to a 2017 UN report complied by The Witchcraft & Human Rights Information Network (WHRIN) has reached epidemic proportions…
Fascinating stories of Irish witches unearthed in new book
The Irish Sun
While flogging, torture and burning at the stake were common punishments in the UK, in Ireland only a handful of women were actually executed for meddling with the occult…
Namibia: Call to revise witchcraft suppression law
Namibian
The Witchcraft Suppression Proclamation 27 of 1933 states that a person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a period not exceeding five years, or to a fine, or to any two or more punishments if they indicate that someone is a witch…
Forres Witches Stone recalls one of Scotland’s most horrific witch trials
Scotsman
At the foot of Cluny Hill in the royal burgh of Forres there stands a stark reminder of Scotland’s brutal witch-hunting past…
Tanzania ‘witchcraft’ murders: ‘Our son was robbed of his future’
BBC
“Witchcraft” and “superstitious beliefs” are being blamed for a spate of child abductions and murders in the Njombe region of Tanzania…
India: Woman accused of witchcraft, stripped by villagers; forced to parade naked
Mirror Now News
Accusing a 50-year-old woman of witchcraft, the residents of Mahesh Litti village paraded her naked and thrashed her publicly on Sunday evening…
Malawi: Man commits suicide after being accused of practicing witchcraft
Malawi24
A 72 year old man, Simeon Gusha Folijala, on Tuesday committed suicide by hanging himself in a tree behind his house after being suspected of practising witchcraft in Dowa…
Kenya: Kilifi fake pastors to be arrested for inciting residents to murder elderly over witchcraft
The Star
Kilifi County Commissioner Magu Mutindika has ordered arrest and prosecution of fake pastors and traditional medicine men for being behind the killings of people suspected to be practising witchcraft…
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In