Pagan & Shinto News: World leaders visit Itsukushima shrine during G7 summit

Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:

• Japan: World leaders visit Itsukushima shrine during G7 summit
• UK: Pagan labyrinths pose threat to ancient landscape of Iona
• Italy: Ancient Romans sacrificed birds to the goddess Isis, burnt bones in Pompeii reveal

Pagan News

UK: Pagan labyrinths pose threat to ancient landscape of Iona
Herald Scotland*
Tourists are “vandalising” the ancient landscape on Iona by making Pagan labyrinths out of stones, it was warned…

UK: Derbyshire hospice gives cancer patient Pagan handfasting to remember
BBC
The couple took part in an intimate hand-fasting ceremony – an ancient ritual in which the hands are tied together to symbolise the binding of two people’s lives – in respect of Mr Odams’ Pagan faith.

UK: Pre-historic stone circle discovered on TV host James Corden’s Berkshire estate
International News
American TV host James Corden has expressed his willingness to cooperate in the investigation of the enigmatic druidic temple located in his backyard…

UK: Singer Robbie Williams credits ‘white witch’ mother for UFO obsession
Yahoo!/BANG Showbiz
Robbie Williams’ UFO obsession came from his “white witch” mother…

UK: Inside the sprawling Somerset property once home to an Arch Druid
Somerset Live
A substantial property once home to the Arch Druid of Glastonbury has come up for sale…

UK: ‘Marxism, Narcissism and Paganism’ among Tory fears during bizarre gathering
HuffPost
Figures on the right of the party line up for some “woke”-bashing – and warn of John Lennon’s “dystopian fantasy” – at the National Conservatism conference…

US: The once-reviled Goddess Movement gets a second chance
Art In America
It wasn’t long ago that the mention of goddesses or matriarchy would have condemned an artist to the nether world of irrelevance. But now, Mutu emerges as one of the foremost practitioners of contemporary Goddess Art, and these become words of praise…

What is a ‘black moon’? Why May’s new moon has an unusual name.
Live Science
The term “black moon” has several meanings — none of them astronomical but all of which occur only once every few years…

US: Metaphysical shop sells tarot cards and more in Gastonia
Gaston Gazette
Sherry Patronete has been interested in Pagan spiritualism for years, but her interest blossomed into a business idea after she began answering questions as an admin in a Wiccan Facebook group…

US: A Wiccan, writer, and puppeteer helps build New Jersey’s only LGBTQ magazine
Out In Jersey
Unlike the United States or the United Kingdom, Calafiore says he found acceptance among fluid sexual identities in magical communities…

Rational magic
The New Atlantis
Why a Silicon Valley culture that was once obsessed with reason is going woo…

Interested in witchcraft, Wicca, and Paganism? Here are 13 books to get you started
The Mary Sue
With all the new titles coming out every year, though, it can be hard for newcomers to figure out where to start learning about witchcraft, paganism, and Wicca…

Pagans in interfaith relationships
Patheos Pagan: John Beckett
Interfaith marriages have been a thing for a very long time, whether between Christians and Jews, Protestants and Catholics, or any other combination – including Pagans and people of other religions, or of no religion…

Shinto News

World leaders visit Itsukushima shrine during G7 summit
The Independent*
World leaders visited the Itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima as they gathered for the G7 summit in Japan on Friday, 19 May…

680-year-old Shinto ritual of horses running up earthen ‘wall’ draws animal abuse complaints
Japan Today
Tado Taisha, a Shinto shrine in the ton of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, was founded roughly 1,200 years ago..

Tokyo Koenji Awaodori festival will fully take place for the first time in four years this August
SoraNews24
The energetic, dance-filled festival will make its grand outdoor return to the streets of Tokyo for the first time since before the pandemic…

1,100-year-old shrine undergoes renovation, opens temporary building designed by modern artists
Japan Today
There are many shrines in Japan, but Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, located in Dazaifu, just outside of the city of Fukuoka in Kyushu, has a strong claim to being one of the most important…

500 people dressed in Heian aristocratic costumes parade in Kyoto’s Aoi festival
The Mainichi
Some 500 people clad in aristocratic costumes paraded in the Aoi Matsuri Festival in this Japanese ancient capital on May 16 for the first time in four years, after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic…

Kanda Festival brings back excitement for 1st time in 4 years
The Asahi Shimbun
Ignoring occasional heavy rain, revelers hauled golden portable shrines in Tokyo with spirited chants as they welcomed the return of the Kanda Festival for the first time in four years…

The religious right’s hidden sway as Japan trails allies on gay rights
The Japan Times*
To millions of Japanese, the Shinto faith is not so much a spiritual practice as a cultural one…

Australia: Poetic drawings by Yuria Okamura meditate on the sacredness of plants
Colossal
Evoking animism and the Buddhist and Shinto beliefs she encountered during her childhood in Japan, Okamura’s renderings in pen and acrylic create sites for meditation and contemplation with symmetries, muted color palettes, and subdued, calming auras…

The masters of a 5,000-year-old craft
BBC
Thatching, in fact, is closely related to Japan’s Shinto religion, with the imperial family at its head…

Other News

Italy: Ancient Romans sacrificed birds to the goddess Isis, burnt bones in Pompeii reveal
Live Science
The ancient remains of at least 10 birds have been found at a temple of Isis in the Roman city of Pompeii, indicating that birds were a key feature of worshipping the goddess…

China: Thousands celebrate sea goddess in Fujian
China Daily
More than 10,000 people gathered in Meilin village in Nanjing county, Fujian province, on Thursday to celebrate the birth of Mazu, the sea goddess…

US: Native American former student sues Oklahoma school for removing feather at graduation
AP
A Native American former student is suing an Oklahoma school district for the removal of an eagle feather from her graduation cap prior to her high school graduation ceremony…

‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present

UK: Fife conference exploring Scotland’s witchcraft trials is cancelled
Fife Today
A conference on Scotland’s shameful persecution of witches, scheduled to take place in Kirkcaldy this weekend, has been cancelled…