Non Fluffy Wicca

Israel: This morning I (as in the Pagan Prattle person, not the Peculiar Kestra) woke up to an amusing story at the tail end of the news, the place where they dump the saccharine and strange. It seems there's been a punch-up in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Roman Catholic and Orthodox clerics have exchanged blows inside Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity's holiest sites.

The punch-up began after Greek and Russian Orthodox believers took offence at a door left open by members of the Franciscan order during a service.

At least five people were injured in the fracas — including Israeli police officers called in to quell it.

The church is shared jealously by six rival Christian sects.

This moronity has been going on for centuries. It was so bad back in the 12th century that Saladin handed the guardianship of the key to the only entrance to the church over to two Muslim families in 1178 in an attempt to stop the six Christian sects squabbling with each other. It seems some things never change.

Jerusalem clerics in punch-up row - BBC, 27th September 2004.

Posted by mikki at 01:22 PM | Permalink

England: Norwich hospital bosses have cancelled a regular fund-raising event because it might be of a pagan nature. The Sacred Celebration of Remembrance, Release and Renewal has raised cash for a variety of local charities over the past few years, and this year the Norfolk Suicide Bereavement Support Group was due to benefit. Although the event is organised by the owner of a New Age shop, it is not of a specifically religious nature:

The earth-centred, end-of-year service and celebration on November 7 marks the end of autumn and gives people a chance to indulge in meditation, reflection and relaxation for three hours.

Organiser Naomi, from Inanna's Festival -- a new-age shop selling books, gifts and jewellery in Pottergate -- said she felt she had been discriminated against and that the event was not linked to religion. Naomi, who would not reveal her surname, added: This event is non-spiritual, non-denominational and is just a chance for people to reflect in peaceful surroundings.

In all the years I have been doing this, I have never run into anything like this and it is illegal and discriminatory for them to do this.

The hospital claims some of its patients would be offended - presumably the same ones who would be offended at the hospital providing, for example, Halal food to Muslim patients.
Festival cancelled on religious grounds - Norwich Evening News, 27th September 2004.

Posted by mikki at 01:20 PM | Permalink

I finally got around to taking some pretty good pictures of the kitties. It's tough to chase the kitties around. and get them to hold still enough for pictures. .

The little cuties are rescue cats from a house in Frederick, MD where the poor woman had over 100 cats because breeders talked her into taking more and more. The health department moved in when the poor woman was finally overwhelmed. She thought she was doing a good thing, but the cats weren't in great shape.

The little grey one is a female named Oreo. The other is a crazy male named Qhat (formerly known as Petey :-)). Oreo is 8, Qhat is 6, and both of them are doing ok. They are both crazy Ocicats. Oreo has some gastric issues still, and Qhat has asthma, but they're going to be happy little critters in the crazy home of Kestra, the Peculiar Priestess.

Posted by mikki at 12:05 PM | Permalink

United States: A Wiccan man facing trial for murder has been denied bail after a prosecutor claimed that his religion is to blame, apparently confusing Wicca with some of the more loony Christian cults:

Prosecutors at Legette's bond hearing said Legette is a Wiccan and that Wiccans don't believe the government can dispense justice.

Back in the real world, the charges stem from what looks like a tediously traditional argument over a woman, athough one wonders whether the rest of the prosecutors' case will be fantasy as well.
Richland prosecutors claim Wiccan beliefs led to murder - WIStv, 25th September 2004.

Posted by mikki at 07:50 PM | Permalink

Modern pilgrims prowl the streets of the city, using Dan Brown's novel as a map to the 'truth.' [Christian Science Monitor: All Stories]

Posted by mikki at 10:31 AM | Permalink

Expelling Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) shows how ill-equipped the US is at spotting real terrorists. [Christian Science Monitor: All Stories]

Posted by mikki at 10:30 AM | Permalink

Typical fear of things that are not understood by the mainstream.

United States: Midwest Airlines cancelled a flight headed to San Francisco because a passenger found Arabic-style handwriting in an inflight magazine.

The plane, carrying 118 passengers and five crew members, had already pulled away from the gate at Mitchell International Airport Sunday evening. It returned to the gate, the passengers got off, security authorities were notified, all luggage was checked and the aircraft was inspected. Nothing was found.

The writing turned out to be a prayer in Farsi.

Midwest Airlines Cancels Flight - The Guardian, 21st September 2004.

Posted by mikki at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Cue Twilight Zone Theme

England: Hertford is where it's at as far as the conspiracy is concerned. According to a 'documentary' to be shown on Sky this week, the town is home to both the Knights Templar and the Illuminati!

Tim belongs to a high-ranking family in the Knights Templar, a powerful society of warrior monks which dates back to the Crusades -- and who still meet at a secret location in the town.

But he denied a link with former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson, a well-known Templar, who was in President Harry S Truman's inner circle during the 1950s.

Cryptically, he told the Mercury: I cannot talk about my family connections. The older members of secret societies want to keep them secret, whereas some of the new blood is a bit more open.

I do know two members of the Illuminati who live here, but I must protect their identities.

There are powerful and dangerous forces at work here and I cannot risk getting on the wrong side of them.

Town may be a base for secret society - Hertfordshire Mercury - not dated, believed to be 17th September 2004.

Posted by mikki at 08:59 AM | Permalink

United States: School is a hotbed of danger to fundamantalists. What could be worse than their dear children acquiring the skills with which they can discover that religion is a load of old bollocks? Some fundies create the most elaboratly fantastic lies to avoid sending their children to school - take Jake Jenkins of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who claims that witches are out to get him and his eight children.

He told a Times Leader photographer witches are trying to kill me. Asked why, he said, I really don't know.

His protection against dark forces extends beyond his front door.

A tree stump in the center of his small front yard is adorned with wooden stakes: nine point skyward, and seven jut from its side along its circumference.

It's a map of the neighborhood, Jenkins said. Each spike points to where a witch lives.

There's a whole bunch that live up there, he said, pointing north up Waller Street.

The horizontal stakes, painted red, point out the witches, he said. The purpose of the vertical ones? To gently dissuade witches from using his stump for ceremonies.

What they used to do is come by and sit on it, he said.

An orange plastic fence on either side of his home is yet another anti-witch precaution. They would always try to sneak over.

Jenkins won't name names, but says he's got the dirt on the neighborhood.

Posted by mikki at 10:49 AM | Permalink

Thanks to Verde for this lovely gem. Ever wished you could push the "off" button on preaching evangelists when you're a captive audience? One person did in a manner I suggest we all adopt as soon as possible.

From this very funny live journal

This morning I had the most bizarre subway ride. I board the Number 3 train at Grand Army Plaza after 9 a.m. Find a seat, then settle into reading Henry James for class. I hear a woman’s voice gradually rising in volume. She is preaching the “Lord’s” word to the train car’s sleepy riders. Of course, I had forgotten the headphones for my subway evil sounds blocking device. The train stops and starts. The words denigrating “gay devils” reach my ears. I stand up.

More

Posted by mikki at 10:59 PM | Permalink

There's a reason we haven't heard from our friends on Grand Cayman, and there has been no real news from the Island. The government is not allowing reporters onto the island and is sending away those who try to show up. We got an email from some of our friends telling us how awful it really is there. The few hotels that aren't destroyed or badly damaged are housing refugees. Two of their 3 rental condos are destroyed and the third is flooded. Their only electricity is still from generators. Grocery stores were closed until yesterday, when they decided to only let in 50 people at a time, and were allowed to buy 1 gallon of water, one loaf of bread, and 50.00 worth of groceries.

Banks aren't supposed to open until Monday, and nobody knows when tourists will be able to come back.

The little island of Grand Cayman is a total mess. It seems trite to say "count your blessings" but what we've experienced up here in the past few days from wind and rain is pretty much nothing when compared to the hell these and others are going through in the wake of the storm. Time to make a donation to the Red Cross.

Posted by mikki at 07:19 PM | Permalink

My first rant of today concerns those who have apparently been claiming they "turned" Hurricane Ivan in order to make sure it avoided their pet area. Even if you considered that POSSIBLY this type of thing would work (i.e. overriding the Will of the Goddess and changing her plans...yeah right) does this mean that they were then responsible for the deaths that occurred as the result of the "changed" direction of the storm? Of course not. Quite difficult when the consequences stare you in the face, eh?

Second rant - bad wholesalers. I'm finding, as a new retailer, that "you get what you pay for" is a good rule of thumb, but not always accurate. Very annoying to have to go through maybe 6 pendulums to find one that hangs properly that I can even bother to start to bead. i don't know if the wholesalers sending me this cruft are thinking that maybe it's ok because THEY don't have to deal with the customer or what, but I'm not going to send that stuff to people who send me money.

So those are today's rants. More perhaps later :-)

Posted by mikki at 07:03 PM | Permalink

Air Jamaica sent a plane early and got our friends back to the US, albeit late, and to the wrong destination. They were dumped off at Newark at about 1am on Wednesday morning where they proceeded to get themselves a rental car and drive home.

Still no word from our friends on Grand Cayman or Little Cayman. Hopefully they will be ok as well.

Posted by mikki at 07:13 PM | Permalink

The great news is that everyone is ok. The not so great news is that Hurricane Ivan has stranded our friends in Bonaire, on the trip we WOULD have been on had circumstances been slightly different. Air Jamaica has cancelled its full flight schedule for Saturday September 11, 2004 as a result of Hurricane Ivan.  This includes all service into and out of Jamaica, all inter-island service, as well as all flights to the 11 remaining Caribbean destinations served by the carrier.

A wise decision on their part, but unfortunately, it makes it impossible for our friends to get home. Fortunately they are stranded in a great place. Shades of a 9/11 3 years ago when we were all stranded in Bonaire for different reasons.

Posted by mikki at 10:22 AM | Permalink

Most of the destruction in Bonaire was apparently from storm surge, as water was forced between Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. This meant that our favorite resorts on that side of the island, were hit the hardest. Luckily, according to the newspaper reports, there were no injuries to humans, and the pristine reefs that Bonaire is known for are largely intact. All of these things are very good, however we are still not sure when our friends will make it out. All flights to Bonaire to pick them up go through either Jamaica, Puerto Rico or Miami. All of those places may be seriously impacted by Ivan.

Oh when Nature does housecleaning, everyone gets kind of swept out the door.

Posted by mikki at 10:58 PM | Permalink

Bonaire is being hammered by Hurricane Ivan. Fellow divers know Bonaire as a pristine diving location, likely the best in the Caribbean. We have done a lot of diving on their reefs, and enjoy Bonaire as our favorite vacation spot. In fact, we would have been there during this hurricane, as our dive shop is on a trip there right now. Circumstances prevented our joining them. We have some good friends currently on the island who were unable to leave since Air Jamaica only flies on Wed. and Sat.

So we have possible human costs, animal costs, and marine costs we are looking at. Reef damage is likely. Hopefully everyone living there, and on surrounding islands, will be ok. Please send your good thoughts.

Posted by mikki at 11:25 AM | Permalink

What I'd like to know is why catholicism wasn't implicated in the suicide below? When Moslems commit suicide, why isn't Islam implicated? When Buddhists commit suicide, why isn't their religion implicated? Could it possibly be because those groups are larger than ours? Yeah, I think so. Much easier to bash groups when you don't realize that their members interact more in your daily life than you might understand.

United States: Local detectives in Knox, Indiana, know why two teenage girls were killed by a train - it's because they had an interest in Wicca.

Sims said that materials found in one of the girls' backpacks have led police to believe that the deaths were suicide.

Knox Community Schools Assistant Superintendent Steve Sailor said Monday evening, The girls did take their own lives, and it appears that some of the decision-making involved wicca and, to some degree, witchcraft.

But clearly they weren't very Wiccan, otherwise why would the local Catholic priest be willing to perfom a funeral mass for one of them?

Deaths of 2 teens believed suicides - Post-Tribune, 31st August 2004.
[The Pagan Prattle Online]

Posted by mikki at 01:27 PM | Permalink

Sometimes we just don't realize quite how interdependent we are, as part of the "cosmic universe." For example, it's quite easy to look at the storm track of Hurricane Francis and say "well, it's not going to hit near my house, so I don't have to worry about it." Except this morning I got an email from one of the suppliers to my wiccan supplies website at enchanted works who is directly in the path. He's in danger. He's someone we know. What about all the ones we don't know? How about the other suppliers down there, and their families, and the customers on down the chain who aren't going to get some of the things they might need? So besides the obvious horror, death and destruction, there are other ramifications that occur that ripple across our lives in ways that can't be foreseen, regardless of how far from the eye of the storm you happen to be.

It's amazing how many things we do every single day that we don't foresee the consequences of. Every time someone buys a McMansion in our neighborhood where the developer has clear cut five acres of land and received a variance to overcrowd them into tiny little lots, they help the developer to do the same thing to another acres. When you vote for the county council member who approved the variance, you make it easier for it to happen again.

Other little things have a good effect. I was in a really nasty mood this morning, and a random car of random construction worker 20 something types wolf whistled at me as I came out of the post office. I should have been offended, but I hadn't been wolf whistled at since I was about 18. It made me smile instead :-). So I let a few people turn in front of me that might have brightened their day in turn.

So how this got from the horror of hurricanes, through McMansions, to the joys of wolf whistles is beyond my brain power today, but suffice it to say that everything we do has an effect that we may not comprehend at the time. And, as above, so below. The ripples go everywhere.

I've lit a candle for the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Florida, and everyone else in the path of the storm. May you all enjoy the protection of the Goddess.

Posted by mikki at 09:59 AM | Permalink