Pagan Tama
Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- Researcher: ‘Japan’s Shinto religion is going global and attracting online followers’
- France: A new Stonehenge-like site set to be built in central Brittany
- Shinto priest blesses Domino’s pizzas to bring love to those who eat them on Valentine’s Day
Read more below…
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Pagan News
UK: Witch who works as a carer wears veil to shield herself from patient’s negative energy
Mirror
Sophia Griffiths, 33, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, says wearing the veil helps her avoid taking on the stresses of the day, and avoid bringing home any negative energies…
UK: ‘I went to a secretive pagan festival in Llanberis and it wasn’t at all what I expected’
North Wales Live
Wales’ rich history spans many beliefs and ideas though one that remains popular today is Paganism due to its roots in Celtic and Welsh mythology…
Those who burn books will eventually burn people
Patheos Pagan (John Beckett)
Last week, Greg Locke, pastor of Global Vision Bible Church east of Nashville held a book burning that included Harry Potter, Twilight, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and materials relating to Freemasonry…
Shinto news
Japan’s Shinto religion is going global and attracting online followers
The Conversation
Over several years of studying social media posts, participating in livestreams and conducting surveys and interviews, I’ve heard many people’s stories of what draws them to practice Shinto and how they navigate the difficulties of doing so outside of Japan…
Shinto priest blesses Domino’s pizzas to bring love to those who eat them on Valentine’s Day
SoraNews24
Special religious ceremony adds the essence of Japanese love deities to chain’s heart-shaped pizzas…
Demon-like ‘namahage’ emerge for traditional winter festival in northeast Japan
The Mainichi
An annual event combining a centuries-old Shinto festival and demon-like “namahage,” a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage from this northeast Japan city, started on Feb. 11…
Messages praying for skating star Yuzuru Hanyu to win gold at Beijing fill Kobe shrine
The Mainichi
The Beijing Olympics are currently underway, and numerous “ema” woodblock tablets with messages from fans praying for Yuzuru Hanyu to win a third consecutive gold medal in men’s figure skating have been filling the lush premises of Yuzuruha Shrine in Kobe’s Higashinada Ward…
Japan cherry blossom forecast 2022: sakura are expected to bloom later
Time Out
Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are expected to see the flowers a few days later than the usual this year…
Plants in Shinto practice
Mimusubi
Plants are widely used in Shinto matsuri. The most prominent is sakaki, the broad-leaf evergreen that is placed on a kamidana or displayed in prayer halls, and used to make tamagushi…
Japan sees spiritual experience in the humble bath
Nikkei Asia
Early forms of Shinto, Japan’s polytheistic nature-worshiping faith, required devotees to engage in ritual bathing before they could participate in festivals or enter sacred spots…
Oshi kamidana – Literal altars you can build to enshrine your favorite anime character or idol
SoraNews24
It’s not at all unusual for hardcore anime or idol fans to have a corner of their room that they’ve set up as a “shrine” to their favorite character or performer. So why not make your shrine look like a shrine?…
Other News
France: A new Stonehenge-like site set to be built in central Brittany
The Connexion
‘Megalithic practices must come back to where they originated,’ the co-founder of the association behind the project told The Connexion….
Stonehenge tops bucket list of places in the UK you need to see before you die
The Mirror
It’s been around for 5,000 years but Stonehenge proves old is best when it comes to Britain’s finest sights…
Greek statue lent to Italy in exchange for Parthenon gesture
ABC News
Greece has lent Italy an ancient statue of the goddess Athena, to be displayed in a Sicilian museum for four years in return for the long-term loan to Athens of a fragment of the celebrated Parthenon Sculptures…
UK: Ancient chalk sculpture is ‘most important prehistoric art’
BBC
The chalk drum, which is not believed to be a musical instrument, was discovered lying above the head of a child, which was holding the other two younger ones “in a moving scene”, and may have been intended as “talismans” to protect the children, archaeologists said…
The fascinating ancient artefacts that show Wales’ LGBT+ history dates back thousands of years
Wales Online
One find from Wales sheds light on the followers of Greek-Roman god Attis, which mythology remembers as the “consort” of the mother goddess and harvest goddess Cybele…
Designer creates ‘robotic druids’ to save world’s forests
Yahoo!
With roles including seed planting and data analysis, Industrial Design student Segev Kaspi’s Forest Ranger Druids are designed to support reforestation efforts and sustainable forest management…
What the mythical Cupid can teach us about the meaning of love and desire
The Conversation
Each Valentine’s Day, when I see images of the chubby winged god Cupid taking aim with his bow and arrow at his unsuspecting victims, I take refuge in my training as a scholar of early Greek poetry and myth to muse on the strangeness of this image and the nature of love…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
India: Women beaten to death on suspicion of ‘practicing witchcraft’ in Udalguri
Northeast Now
A 52-year-old woman has been beaten to death on suspicion of ‘practicing witchcraft’ at Simaluguri village in Assam’s Udalguri district…
Ghana: 55-year-old man escapes ‘witchcraft’ lynching in Damongo
Modern Ghana
A 55-year-old man from Damongo Zongo in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region, Issahaku Mahamadu, is battling for his life at the Damongo hospital after he escaped lynching over ‘witchcraft’ accusations…
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