Non Fluffy Wicca

Hungary: Clients at Hungary's only private ceremony will soon be able to choose a Buddhist, Shinto or Pagan funeral in addition to the Christian and civil options already offered.

Jávor says the cemetery only indirectly benefits from the new services, as it does not act as a middleman between the clients and the priests. However, he stresses, such services are not available in other cemeteries.

In theory, it is absolutely possible to have such funeral services in other cemeteries as well, but so far this has not been offered as a service at any such facility, he explains. We expect that the increasing influx of foreigners to Hungary will also increase the demand for religious funeral services other than those of the Christian churches.

Posted by mikki at 11:05 AM | Permalink

England: A rapist's cynical attempt to use bigotry to influence the jury failed, when Luke Weekes was convicted of an horrific attack on a 27-year-old woman.

Describing his victim as a Goth Pagan with vampiric overtones, he claimed she had not only seduced him, but insisted on the blood games that followed.

Posted by mikki at 06:27 PM | Permalink

If only Godwin's Law applied to elections...

Six months after the Republicans went apoplectic over a video contest submission to MoveOn.org that compared Bush to Hitler, the Bush campaign has a video ad on their web site comparing Democrats with Hitler.

Note that the MoveOn.org ad was just... [Morons Dot Org]

Posted by mikki at 10:52 AM | Permalink

Cooooool. It's just sad that the web interface itself is such a kludge

New website takes visitors to the 'center of the circles.' [Christian Science Monitor: All Stories]

Posted by mikki at 01:58 PM | Permalink

Well gee...that sounds rather uh....strange?

More than a dozen lawmakers attended a congressional reception this year honoring the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in which Moon declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons." [Washington Post: Front Page]

Posted by mikki at 01:56 PM | Permalink

I finally did what I've been making threats to do for awhile. I took my favorite stuff and put it on a website for sale. If anyone knows of anyone else with really good stuff who wants to wholesale so I can help them make sales (I hope) please email ooblick at ego dot org. Really cool fun stuff. Anyway, the website is at http://www.enchantedworks.com and you are invited to go there and have a great time. Please provide feedback, including ideas for new products, links I may have broken, etc. etc. Happy happy joy joy.

Posted by mikki at 08:29 PM | Permalink

Several wonderful readers have given me some great sites for really beautiful BOSs. As I feared, they are quite expensive, but you know, sometimes you actually get what you pay for. And if people are going about hand making beautiful pieces, they deserve to be paid for their craftsmanship and materials, as well as a bit of profit. People have often asked me why my jewelry is so "expensive." It's basically the same idea. The stones and beads are as good a quality as I can get, they're the genuine articles, and I don't skimp on fittings, wires, etc. Not to mention the design work, and the work I put into creating them.

Anyway, re: BOSs, Check out these two:

Brahms Bookworks . Really pretty designs. Great looking hardware. Different sizes. Utterly wonderful.

The other one, at ebay isn't quite as bad as it first looks. For example, you can get them without the really silly Charmed spells (although for people who like that sort of thing, they're cool :-)), and you can get them soon with interchangeable pages and things.

Thanks again, gentle readers.

Posted by mikki at 08:50 PM | Permalink

From the Indy Star

Woman vows revenge against squirrels

LAPORTE, Ind. -- A 78-year-old woman tired of squirrels raiding her bird feeder got out her shotgun to kill the critter, but instead accidentally shot and injured herself.

Alberta Jones loaded her 16-gauge shotgun Sunday and carried it with the barrel pointed down to the back door to take aim, police said. The gun accidentally discharged, police said, and shotgun pellets ricocheted off the floor.

Both of her legs were struck by the pellets, and one in her knee required surgery Tuesday to remove. Her hospital condition was not available Tuesday evening.

"I've tried everything to shag them away, and they keep coming back," Jones said of the squirrels after the incident.

Conservation officer Jerry Shepherd with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said it is not squirrel season, and that hunting game out of season is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine. Authorities are not pressing charges.

Jones vowed to keep shooting at squirrels and using firecrackers -- as she has done several times before -- to discourage them from getting into her bird feeder. She also shoots groundhogs and other animals she considers a nuisance.

"My neighbors call me Annie Oakley," she said.

Posted by mikki at 01:43 PM | Permalink

If this is true, it certainly would explain some of the Shrub's rather, uh.....confusing policies?

United States: Fun Neal Pollack article in The Stranger about President Bush's kooky religious beliefs.

This is also the kind of country where the president meets with the members of a radical, far-right millennialist Christian sect three weeks before he counteracts all known international law and opinion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian situation. That sect, known as the Apostolic Congress, opposes any deal with the Palestinians because it believes that Christ won't return to Earth until all of Israel belongs to the Jews and Solomon's temple is rebuilt.

Posted by mikki at 11:07 AM | Permalink

As a lawyer, I understand why they did what they did. And I also understand that the Supremes don't like deciding political hot potatoes before the election. The "non decision" may actually have been a boon for the Kerry campaign, as the rabid fundies will not be rushing out in quite as rabid droves to vote for the Shrub to "put God back into our schools." Anyway, the suit can be brought again if either the current plaintiff receives custody of his daughter (the "object" of the suit) or if another parent with custody brings the suit on behalf of their child.

The Supreme Court refuses to decide the merits of the Newdow
case...

The U.S. Supreme Court decided today...to not decide.

The court ruled in the case of Elk Grove Unified School District
v. Newdow. The case was referred to the Supreme Court from the
Ninth District Court of Appeals, and was brought by Michael... [Morons Dot Org]

Posted by mikki at 11:06 PM | Permalink

So I've been looking. It may sound really fluffy and lame and cheezy, but I really do like the BOS in charmed. Not the silly spells inside it, but the size, the beautiful aged leather, the ancient triquetra symbol, all make for something really cool looking. And, as everyone knows, I'm only a witch to be cool. (That's a joke in case you didn't notice :-)).

Anyway, there are several vendors who are selling really cool aged leather blank BOS type books with various symbols, however they all have one problem. The pages are not removable or interchangeable. For anyone who is not artistic, doesn't have perfect organization skills, finds that perfect ritual to add to an already full section, likes to have many separators for organization, etc., one MUST have the ability to change pages around.

So why not buy a plain ole 3 ring binder or something like that, you might ask. Well No! They don't look nice. They don't have the feel of something sacred. Not to mention, if you're going to do a wedding, and you show up with a geeky binder thing, it doesn't quite look "the part" as it were.

In my perfect world, I'd have a big beautiful leather blank journal with pages I can move around, and a smaller one for wedding and funeral rituals that I can take around with me. So if anyone finds me one, please email kestra at enchanted works dot com. Thanks :-)

Posted by mikki at 11:56 AM | Permalink

This was written in response to an article in The Juggler that I found very interesting, but when I tried to post my comment, it said it was too long :-)

Does this ever resonate! I can't tell you how many times I've become embroiled in discussions with newbie and veteran alike where this "all paths are valid" idea has come up and been used as a bludgeon to attempt to force acceptance even of faiths that actively cause harm (real palpable harm, not fluffy bunny "don't hurt them" harm). And while they claim up and down, backwards and forwards, that "all paths are valid" condemn me for what they see as intolerance. And, of course, the irony is lost upon them.

First of all, desconstruct the sentence "All paths are valid." A path is a way from point A to point B. What if my "point B" is to be reincarnated, and your "point B" is to go to heaven and be with Jesus. Are we going to the same point? If not, how can two divergent paths take me to the same place? Some paths lead you to a dead end. Some lead you to the "Bog of Eternal Stench." Are both valid?

How dare we bring these things up? How dare we try to make people think. How dare we be Discordians who say "reality is relative?" But wait... is our path still as valid as yours? If not, isn't the point made?

Posted by mikki at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

United States: George W. Bush's election campaign might lead to some churches losing their tax exempt status because of the way it is trying to recruit support among churchgoers. E-mail sent by the campaign invites members of congregations to to serve as a coordinator in your place of worship, a task which involves distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation.

The Internal Revenue Service prohibits political campaign activity, for or against any candidate, from taking place at all organizations that receive tax exempt status under a section of the federal tax code -- including most churches and religious groups. Violators could lose their tax breaks and face excise taxes.

Those who keep an eye on church/state issues are not impressed.

The director of a nonpartisan watchdog group called the campaign's church appeal a breathtakingly sad example of mixing religion and politics.

I have never in my life seen such a direct campaign to politicize American churches -- from any political party or from any candidate for public office, said Rev. Barry W. Lynn of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. By enrolling churches in an election scheme like this, I think the Bush-Cheney campaign is actually endangering those churches' tax exemptions without even the courtesy of telling them that they run a risk.

Posted by mikki at 04:49 PM | Permalink

United States: Canada has found a novel way to rid itself of the more loony fundie elements in its midst, they ship them to the US where they fit right in.

Two Pentecostals got a tad carried away in New York this week by announcing that the 11 Spetember attacks were a damn fine reason to pray. Perhaps, if you're so inclined, but making a loud declaration on a plane about to take off is probably not the best way to go about it.

Two preachers grounded a flight leaving Buffalo, New York, after they frightened passengers by declaring the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were a good reason to pray, officials said on Thursday.

Posted by mikki at 09:06 AM | Permalink