Pagan & Shinto News: US Pastor Holds ‘Witchcraft’ Book-Burning Event

Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:

• US: Conservative pastor holds ‘witchcraft’ book-burning event
• UK: New street in Fife village to be named after ‘witch’ executed nearly 400 years ago
• Japan: Celebrities toss ceremonial beans at Setsubun festival in Chiba

Read more below…

*=Registration may be required.

Imbolc coverage

Ireland: Dublin hosts St Brigid’s Day events, celebrating the original Brigit
The Irish Times*
An inaugural day of celebration of the lives of women takes place in Dublin on Tuesday, the last St Brigid’s Day ahead of its designation next year as a bank holiday…

Ireland: Calls for ‘fresh thinking’ at the time of Imbolc – Offaly Minister
Offlay Express
New ideas around organic agriculture, scientific research, and women in politics were encouraged by Offaly Minister Pippa Hackett, during a Seanad speech on Tuesday, February 2…

Ireland: Hook Lighthouse to celebrate St Bridget with traditional festival
RTE
The world-famous Hook Lighthouse will celebrate St Bridget next weekend with an Imbolc traditional festival marking the beginning of spring…

Ireland: Why the time is right to choose Brigid, saint or goddess, to be an icon for women
The Irish Times*
Religious people honour St Brigid, while the disaffected turn to goddess Brigid…

How Ireland used to celebrate St Brigid’s Day in the past
RTE
From the Biddy boys and Brat Bríde to holy wells and Brigid’s crosses, February 1st was marked with great gusto in old Ireland…

Pagan News

UK actress Danniella Westbrook turns to witchcraft after EastEnders snub
The Mirror
Danniella Westbrook has been performing “rituals and spells” days after sharing her frustration about being replaced on EastEnders…

UK: Yorkshire witch quits nursing and invests life savings in new business
Yorkshire Live
An NHS nurse who has devoted over 40 years to caring for others has swapped her bandages for broomsticks to create a sanctuary dedicated to exploring the mystical and magical…

Finland’s pagan folk troupe Dust Mountain welcome you to the realms of the uncanny
Louder
Oranssi Pazuzu and Hexvessel members spread the pagan gospel with a new Dust Mountain video, Under My Spell…

Turkey cancels ‘The Masked Singer’ for ‘Satanic, pagan’ content
The New York Post
Turkey’s president has ordered that steps be taken against media like TV programs that are deemed contrary to Turkey’s “fundamental values.”…

Shinto news

Celebrities toss ceremonial beans at Setsubun festival in Chiba
The Asahi Shimbun
Fewer beans were tossed out by fewer celebrities at this year’s Setsubun ceremony at Naritasan Shinshoji temple here on Feb. 3, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued impacting the annual tradition…

Concerns raised about dangers of giving children setsubun beans
The Asahi Shimbun
Parents and teachers are being reminded of the dangers of allowing small children access to roasted beans ahead of setsubun events come Feb. 3 this year…

Setsubun’s lucky charms color the season at Hatayama Shrine
Japan Forward
It’s not too late to bring in your good luck for the year with lucky charms and festivities in celebration of Setsubun…

Japanese festival says thank you and goodbye to daruma good-luck dolls…with fire
SoraNews24
While it’s fine to keep it around as a decoration in your home or office, there’s a common belief in Japan that good-luck charms, such as daruma, omamori (cloth amulets), and ofuda (paper talismans) lose their effectiveness after about a year, at which point you’re supposed to return them to the temple or shrine where you originally got them…

Sega creates free digital omamori good luck charms to help you succeed at school and work
SoraNews24
If you need a further reminder that the company is still with us, there’s now a selection of Sega good luck charms, based on traditional omamori protection amulets sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples…

Other News

Archaeologists uncover temple ruins in southern Italy
The Guardian
Two ancient warrior helmets, metal fragments believed to have come from weapons, and the remains of a temple have been discovered at Velia, an archaeological site in southern Italy that was once a powerful Greek colony…

Turkey: Pieces of cult statues removed from Claros
Hurriyet Daily News
During the ongoing excavation works in Claros, located in İzmir and considered as the oldest oracle center in the world, some pieces of monumental statues of Apollo, Artemis and Leto have come to light…

US: Statue of African deity installed at former site of Confederate monument in New Orleans
The Art Newspaper
Leigh’s sculpture was unveiled at the symbolically charged site in the city centre during the closing weekend of the fifth Prospect New Orleans triennial…

Uruguayans celebrate Yemanja, Goddess of the sea
MSN
Believers of the Umbanda religion take to the waters of the Rio de la Plata in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo to make offerings to Yemanja, the Goddess of the sea…

UK: How science is uncovering the secrets of Stonehenge
The Guardian
If you see the majestic stones on Salisbury Plain as an emblem of England, think again. A major new British Museum exhibition connects them to many points and cultures across Europe through 1,500 years of immigration…

Voodoo in Benin
Wanderlust
In the tiny West African nation of Benin, Voodoo remains the state religion. Enter a world of python temples, haystack cults and oozing fetish shrines…

‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present

US: Conservative pastor holds ‘witchcraft’ book-burning event targeting Harry Potter and Twilight
The Independent
As debates around book banning and critical race theory rage around the country, a Tennessee pastor has encouraged his congregation to go after a different set of titles: burning works from the Harry Potter and Twilight series, as well as other supposed occult materials…

UK: New street in Fife village to be named after ‘witch’ executed nearly 400 years ago
The Scotsman*
A women burned to death after she was accused of being a witch aged just 17 will be remembered almost 400 years on with a new street in Fife named in her honour…

India: Couple killed, bodies burnt over suspicion of ‘witchcraft’ in West Singhbhum
India Today
A couple was killed at a village in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on suspicion of ‘witchcraft’…