Pagan & Shinto News: Lithuania Breaching Human Rights By Not Recognising Romuva Religion, Court Rules

Pagan News

European Court sides with Romuva religion

The Wild Hunt
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Lithuania has violated the human rights of Romuva by not recognizing the religion. Romuva is the reconstructed and revived Indigenous faith of Lithuania…

Expert defends Gen Z’s obsession with a spiritual trend
Yahoo! Finance
Gen Z has modern technology at their fingertips — therapy via text, virtual doctor’s visits, a portable search engine that can answer any question they’ve ever had — but when times become rocky and unstable, many are seeking out centuries-old iconography in the form of tarot cards…

US: Southern Ill. Pagan Alliance celebrates Summer Solstice
KFVS12
After 18 months, the Southern Illinois Pagan Alliance will come together to celebrate the Summer Solstice…

UK: Edinburgh witch says solar eclipse can help address toxic masculinity and reset
Edinburgh Live
Alice Tarbuck, whose book about her relationship with nature and magic A Spell in the Wild: A Year (and Six Centuries) of Magic came out last year, explains why a solar eclipse is the perfect time to recharge and give yourself a fresh start…

UK: Pagan meaning behind EastEnders Jessie Wallace’s massive back tattoo
OK!
Above the reindeer on Jessie’s back there’s a pattern which appears to be the Pagan symbol of the Triple Moon, featuring the waxing and waning crescent moon in a circle…

Summer solstice 2021: everything you need to know about the longest day of the year
The Telegraph*
Stonehenge in Amesbury, Wiltshire is the most popular place for Pagans to celebrate the longest day because it famously aligns to the solstices…

Shinto News

West Japan Iwami Kagura sacred dances livestreamed to keep tradition alive
The Mainichi
A number of Iwami Kagura theatrical dance performances have in recent months been streamed from the west Japan prefecture of Shimane to try to raise funds and keep the tradition alive…

Kyoto shrine visitors use hoop to pray for health
NHK World
A shrine in Kyoto has set up a grass hoop for people to walk through and pray for good health this summer…

The ancient religion and unsung artists behind Pokémon cards
Art & Object
Since its 1996 debut, Pokémon has grown from a children’s video game and trading cards to a worldwide pop-cultural phenomenon. To Japanese fans, however, Pokémon carries far more cultural significance due to its strong connection to the still widely practiced Shinto faith—an ancient Japanese pantheistic religion, heavily connected to the natural world…

Other News

New museum in western Turkey to welcome back stolen goddess Cybele
Daily Sabah
A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, which was returned to its native home of Turkey’s Afyonkarahisar after being smuggled nearly 40 years ago, will now be displayed at a new museum being built in the city where it was first discovered…

Israel: New discovery highlights how Jews and Christians were once ‘naughty with magic’
The Daily Beast / Yahoo! News
The Israeli Antiquities Authority recently released an announcement about their acquisition of an ancient magical amulet, reportedly from Arbel in Northern Israel, that bears the Divine Name of God…

Greece faces row over wheelchair pathway at Acropolis
Reuters
A new concrete pathway to facilitate wheelchair access to the Acropolis in Athens has fuelled a row between authorities aiming to broaden access to Greece’s most famous ancient monuments and critics who say it ruins the classical harmony of the site…

Greeks demand sneaker recall after Nike misspells name of ancient Goddess
Greek Reporter
Many Greeks were angered by the apparent misspelling of the name of the Greek goddess Nike on the newly launched sneakers by the American multinational of the same name…

Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica in Israel that may have been built by Herod the Great
Artnet
Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed the largest ancient Roman basilica in the nation, a 2,000-year-old building dating to the reign of the Biblical figure Herod the Great, who may have built it…

Spain’s Prado museum acquires Alonso Cano’s Goddess Juno
La Prensa Latina
The Prado museum in Madrid on Tuesday showcased ‘Goddess Juno,’ a rare mythological artwork by Spanish painter Alonso Cano…

Elk teeth reveal a Stone Age soundscape
The Wild Hunt
Researchers at the University of Helsinki have reconstructed a soundscape from the Stone Age through experimental archeology…

‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present

Rising numbers of women in Papua New Guinea attacked after being accused of ‘witchcraft’
The Independent
One woman was tied up and burned alive after being accused of ‘sorcery’…

India: Father-son duo beaten to death over suspicions of practising witchcraft
Hindustan Times
A 55-year-old man and his 22-year-old son were thrashed to death by villagers who suspected them of ‘practising witchcraft’ in the tribal-dominated Gajapati district of Odisha…

South Africa: Man bludgeoned to death after being accused of ‘witchcraft’
Sowetan Live
A 58-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man was beaten to death on Saturday, allegedly by a group of youngsters who accused him of ‘witchcraft’…

US: Celebrating the 400th birthday of Salem witch trials victim Rebecca Nurse
WBUR
At age 71, Nurse became the oldest woman killed at the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693…