Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- Pietas builds a new temple to Apollo in Italy
- The Wicker Man: the pagan horror film will have the right to its series
- US: Activists call for exoneration of Connecticut victims of witch trials
Read more below…

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Pagan News
Pietas builds a new temple to Apollo in Italy
The Wild Hunt
A new temple to Apollo was built in the city of Taranto, Italy, last month by the Italian Religio Romana organization, Pietas – Comunità Gentile…
The Wicker Man: the pagan horror film will have the right to its series
Saxon
A new version of the horror classic The Wicker Man is about to see the light of day, and as a series produced by Andy Serkis…
UK: Mysterious ‘screaming’ figure found on Dartmoor may be witchcraft
Devon Live
A mysterious small clay figure found at the edge of a stream on Dartmoor has baffled history fans and caused a stir online as people try to work out what it is…
US: Actress Vanessa Hudgens explores witchcraft in ‘Dead Hot’
AsAm News
Vanessa Hudgens will be going on a spiritual witchcraft journey with her best friend, singer and producer GG Magree, in an unscripted documentary called “Dead Hot: Season of the Witch.”…
Real witches on whether ‘Hocus Pocus’ offends: ‘disappointing at best’
Newsweek
Newsweek reached out to several witches and witchcraft experts to learn what they thought of the film franchise…
Ireland: Reports of being “fairy led” from Pagans
The Wild Hunt
An Irish woman has reported her experience of becoming ‘fairy led’ in the Irish press recently…
Are witches real? Of course! Witch historian and modern practitioners share history, types.
USA Today
Here’s a breakdown on the history of witchcraft and an answer to the age-old question, “Are witches real?”…
How witchcraft became a multi-billion dollar industry
Big Think
You can buy over 400,000 products tagged “witch” on Etsy, from candles to spell bottles to pentagram necklaces…
US: Want to be a full-time witch this spooky season? There’s a growing West Michigan group for that.
M Live
Initially created in August 2021 so friends could discuss “witchy things,” the Facebook group called “Witches of West Michigan” now has nearly 2,500 members…
The astrology of Halloween 2022 is both mystical & intense
Bustle
It’s spooky season, and a lot of intensity is happening in the cosmos…
US: Misconceptions of the non-mainstream
The Post
Alternative religions, expressions of spirituality understood by OU students, Athens residents…
‘She Will’ explores witchcraft as a way of empowerment
Collider
The movie echoes a feminist perspective of the witch-hunting movement…
Shinto News
Takayama Autumn Festival held for 1st time in 3 years
The Japan News
The Takayama Autumn Festival, registered as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, was held in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, on Sunday and Monday for the first time in three years…
Crying sumo contest for babies returns to Shinto shrine
NHK World
A crying sumo contest for babies has returned to a shrine in central Japan after a more than two-year break because of the pandemic…
Northern Mariana Islands: Katori shrine group returns after over 2 years
Saipan Tribune
Representatives of the Katori Jingu shrine in Japan visited the Saipan Mayor’s Office last Oct. 3 in their first visit to Saipan since travel restrictions were put in place due to the outbreak of COVID-19…
Japanese minister visits war-linked Yasukuni shrine before festival
Kyodo News
Yasutoshi Nishimura, economy, trade and industry minister, visited the war-linked Yasukuni shrine on Friday ahead of its autumn festival next week, sources close to him said…
UK: Set in stone – Jomon Japan
The Past
As a new exhibition opens at the Stonehenge visitor centre, curator and archaeologist Susan Greaney explores the incredible artistry and ingenuity of people living during Japan’s Jomon period and the parallels to their contemporaries in Britain and Ireland…
Cashless payments
Mimusubi
The (belated) spread of cashless payments in Japan is an issue for jinja, both for practical reasons, and because the physical offerings have religious significance…
Other News
Archaeologists may have found temple of Poseidon in Greek Samicum
The Jerusalem Post
Ancient texts describe a temple dedicated to the Samian Poseidon located near the ancient city of Samicum…
Turkey: Archaeologists discover 1,800-year-old military Medusa medal
The Jerusalem Post
Medusa means guardian in Ancient Greek and her likeness was depicted on shields and weapons in ancient times…
Massive “rare” ancient Roman mosaic, “rich in details,” unearthed in Syria
CBS
Dr. Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, said among the scenes the mosaic shows is a rare portrayal of Ancient Amazon warriors in Roman mythology…
UK: Elgin Marbles – New body aims to return sculptures to Greece
BBC
A former Conservative culture minister will chair a new body aiming to return the so-called Elgin Marbles to Greece…
New Zealand: Hinemoa Elder on the power of the Māori moon goddess
Stuff
Dr Hinemoa Elder, author of the top-selling New Zealand non-fiction title of 2021 Aroha, wants to help you connect with the energies of Hina, the Māori moon goddess…
‘Witch hunts’ past and present
US: Activists call for exoneration of Connecticut victims of witch trials
News12 Long Island
Activists and descendants of those accused and convicted of ‘witchcraft’ in Connecticut are calling for witch trial victims to be publicly exonerated nearly four centuries later…
Belgium: Ghent developing curriculum on ‘witch’ persecution
The Mayor
Last week, authorities in Ghent, Belgium, started work on developing a curriculum for secondary schools that raises more awareness about ‘witch’ persecution…
Nigeria: Nigerian advocacy group urges protection for old woman brutalised, dehumanised by mob for alleged ‘witchcraft’
Sahara Reporters
A group fighting to end witch-hunting and witch persecution in Nigeria, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW), has decried the viral video of an elderly woman confessing to have killed people and causing illnesses in her community…
Malawi: Govt urged to honor Police officers who save lives of ‘witchcraft’ suspects
Malawi24
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) has urged the government of Malawi to honor Assistant Superintendent Arnold Mwalwimba and two other officers in Karonga for successfully intervening and preventing the murder of a person accused of ‘practicing witchcraft’…
Scaring the patriarchy: the literary legacy of the witch
The Bubble
As Halloween draws near, images of witches and broomsticks enter our minds again, symbols of fear and fascination. But the representation of witches cannot be reduced to a costume – they have been written about for centuries, typically as an ugly and unruly threat, a vision of what a woman should not be…