Non Fluffy Wicca

So, someone tell me where the same "backlash" is occurring towards Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving celebrations in schools? If the Supreme Court has said that Christmas is a "secular holiday" then Halloween is a LOT more secular, with children across the country having nothing to do with Paganism running around in costumes collecting candy. Sheesh!

Banned at the schoolhouse door: pint-size ghosts and goblins | csmonitor.com:

Posted by mikki at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woohoo! WitchVox posted my article! Hooray hooray :-)

Why Am I A Witch?: "Occasionally, I am asked the question, 'Why are you a Witch?' The question itself always causes me a bit of disconnect since it seems misplaced. I would never ask 'Why are you a Jew?' or 'Why are you a Christian?' mostly because the answer I would get, in general, is meaningless. I would likely be told, 'I was born that way' which, in my experience, has been followed with cursory reasoning as to why the person's religion is the 'right' or 'true' religion. This reasoning is provided despite my no ..."

(Via Witchvox - RSS Feed - New Articles and Reviews.)

Posted by mikki at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gee. Could this POSSIBLY be because county and municipal governments are playing "yes men" to development schemes that put house after house on postage stamp lots while destroying what's left of any deer habitat? And gee, with everyone running around screaming "oh my GAWD, there are COYOTES here" and trying to get rid of them too, what natural predators do we have left?

So, government leaders - Listen up! You can't continue to let developers stuff houses and cars and people into wooded areas and then expect that the original inhabitants will just simply disappear. Leave some room for our environment.

Deer Could Pose Record Road Hazard: "It's as seasonal as the falling leaves and about as welcome as soaring gas prices, but the arrival of deer-mating season has many motorists girding for what officials predict could be a record year for deer crashes in the Washington suburbs."

(Via Washington Post: Metro.)

Posted by mikki at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scholars Produce New Picture of Witches: "By Peter Steinfels It is the season of witches - cute little costumed ones crying 'trick or treat' and full-grown adult ones laying claim to Halloween and recounting tales of medieval and early modern persecution. In a search for historical roots and moral legitimacy, some feminists and many adherents of neopagan or goddess-centered religious movements like Wicca have elaborated a founding mythology in which witches and witch hunts have a central role. Witches, they claim, were folk healers, spiritual guides and the underground survivors of a pre-Christian matriarchal cult. By the hundreds of thousands, even the millions, they were the victims of a ruthless campaign that church authorities waged throughout the Middle Ages and early modern centuries to stamp out this rival, pagan religion. Robin Briggs, an Oxford historian, is only one of many contemporary scholars rejecting this account. What unites most 'common assumptions' about witches, witchcraft and witch hunts, Mr. Briggs writes in Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft (Viking Penguin, 1996), is 'one very marked feature,' namely 'that they are hopelessly wrong.'"

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 07:19 PM | Permalink

Well guess what, people. Importation of wild birds for pets is a VERY BAD THING. There are plenty of bird breeders around the world who will sell beautiful domestic bred birds who think they're humans and make MUCH better pets than some poor terrified bird chopped out of a tree. Add to the environmental disruption in removing wild birds from their habitat (what we haven't destroyed by purchasing goods made from what's left of rain forest woods from around the world) the quarantine program, and you have a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, it may already HAVE happened.

Quarantine facilities are often packed full of birds from many different areas of the world, passing germs to each other that most have never developed an immunity to. The birds get sick. They pass the diseases on. Only the strongest survive quarantine, and they may be carrying who knows what asymptomatically. All of those poor birds that were sharing airspace with this British parrot are being euthanized. What about those who may have been discharged prior to this parrot becoming ill? What about the other countries that don't have the facilities that Britain does to quarantine and determine disease?

My first parrot was a wild caught, sold to me as a hand fed baby. Back then I didn't know what a quarantine leg band was. My bird was so sick that he spent 10 days in the animal hospital under heavy antibiotics. This was AFTER quarantine in a USDA facility for 45 days. Luckily, Boo survived and became a great pet, but the point is that allowing wild caught birds to be imported to a country and sold as pets is a very bad idea, and one that may bite many countries in the ass in the form of bird flu.

Britain urges EU-wide ban of wild bird imports, examines what strain of bird flu killed parrot: "Britain on Saturday urged the European Union to ban imports of wild birds into the 25-nation bloc as British scientists tried to determine whether a parrot that died of bird flu had the strain that has killed more than 60 people around the world."

(Via Pravda.RU: World.)

Posted by mikki at 06:11 PM | Permalink

Students vote to oust Bible: "

Scotland: Students at Edinburgh University have voted to remove Bibles from halls of residence because the practice is discriminatory.

The bible ban has been described as disappointing by churchmen. But student leaders insist it is an important step towards making sure people of all religions feel welcome on campus. There are more than 2000 bibles at the university's Pollock Halls campus, on the edge of Holyrood Park - one in each room. They are expected to be removed after a vote by the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA).

University officials have yet to approve the ban. However, similar calls from students in the past - including one to have prayers removed from graduation ceremonies two years ago - have been agreed without protest.

EUSA president Ruth Cameron explained:

The student association firmly believes in the importance of ensuring that all students from all faiths feel at home in their university accommodation. We simply don't want to be seen promoting one religion over another.

Students at Stirling University supported a similar move last April.

Bible to be banned from student halls—The Scotsman, 22nd October 2005.

Additional tags: religion, bible, Gideons, Christianity.

(Via The Pagan Prattle Online.)

Posted by mikki at 02:15 PM | Permalink

It's about time that someone who finally stood up and said that this ridiculous idea that the United States of America is a theocracy is soundly wrong. Poor Darla Wynne has been through "hell" at the hands of the people of Great Falls, South Carolina, with death threats, killing her pets (including beheading her parrot), stalking her, etc. all because she had the NERVE to stand up and say that mentioning Jesus to the exclusion of all other Deities was wrong. Well bully for her! She deserves the legal fees. She deserves more than that, but these people are too self righteous to realize it.

WIStv.com Columbia, SC: Great Falls to pay Wiccan's legal fees: "(Great Falls) Oct. 20, 2005 - Great Falls has to pay a practicing Wiccan because she was offended by references to Jesus Christ in the town meetings.

Darla Wynne is a Wiccan priestess. She's been practicing witchcraft in Great Falls for years, 'It's an earth-based religion that looks at the duality of nature.'

She stirred up controversy in 2003 when she sued the town, objecting to prayers with the words 'Jesus Christ' at town meetings.

A judge ruled in her favor, saying references to Christ affiliate the government with the Christian faith, violating the establishment clause. Great Falls can no longer refer to any Diety at meetings.

Wynne says, 'This way here there is nothing to create a division. It's not something that becomes my God is better than your God.'

'So people get to stand on neutral ground and our government doesn't promote one religion over another.'

For Wynne, though, one obstacle remains. Now, Great Falls has to pay the witch's lawyer fees of about $50,000. But that's stirring up another round of controversy.

Great Falls lawyer Michael Hemlepp explains the difficulty, 'Other towns would be able to just write a check. For us, it's more of a challenge, seven percent of our annual budget.'

Hemlepp says they're not sure where they'll come up with the money. They're looking at options, but say it's tight, 'Although the money is there, there's also other obligations, police, fire.'

Darla Wynne doesn't believe it, 'I think this is another stall tactic. I think this is another martyrdom aspect for them. They've been whiners and I think they're still being whiners.'

Hemlepp counters, 'Well, I don't think there's anything we can do to satisfy Darla Wynne.'

He estimates they'll pay up in about a month. Wynne is waiting.

Reported by Jennifer Miskewicz"

Posted by mikki at 06:26 PM | Permalink

Acre after acre of land all around the metropolitan DC area is being plundered by developers to build house after house on postage stamp lots, totally destroying the very reasons why people want to live here. A beautiful field across the street from us was sold by the church that owned it to make way for HUGE homes selling for two million dollars apiece, on MAYBE 1/4 acre of land. Of course, this meant that all the deer who used that field were displaced and wound up in people's yards, where some would take offense and either call for hunting in residential areas, complain bitterly when their hostas were eaten, or put up eyesore deer fences.

When I moved here 14 years ago, the road to my house was mostly beautiful woods. Now it's hideous McMansions whose presence has caused mini landslides into the main road, displacement of animals, and total disregard for nature of the "greater good."

Will people wake up? Will it be too late? Will my 14 year old daughter have to see trees in museums? Yeah, it's pretty depressing.

Cherry Hill Farm to Close This Fall - WTOP Radio: "Cherry Hill Farm to Close This Fall

Updated: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 - 8:33 AM

Mark Segraves, WTOP Radio

CLINTON, Md. - Cherry Hill Farm, a local landmark in Prince George's County, will be closing this fall.

Cherry Hill Farm is where you may have taken the kids for a hayride or homemade pumpkin ice cream or to pick apples or strawberries or see the 600 scarecrows in the fields.

The 130-acre farm, just off Indian Head Highway, where thousands of children have come over the years for birthday parties and magic shows is being sold to developers. The land will become new homes.

The sale will end generations of farming by the Gallahan family. The family has worked the land since before the Civil War."

Posted by mikki at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Vote for Witch party?: "Australia - The Howard Government may believe there are votes in Christian values, but it could well turn out to be the witches who cast the decisive political spell. A seminar on spirituality held in Melbourne recently has heard that witchcraft and nature religions — along with charismatic Christianity — have become the refuge of those for whom traditional religions have become jejune. Witchcraft is a religion for the weak and oppressed, especially women, according to one prominent Melbourne witch. Adherents list witchcraft's advantages as including its non-patriarchal structure, an absence of priests and the ability to commune directly with the gods."

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 03:01 PM | Permalink

This has GOT to be one of the STUPIDEST thing I have read in a long time. I don't know who is more totally ridiculous. The parents who wrote in, or the idiot who made the decision. How much do you want to bet that they will allow "Christmas Parties" and songs at this very same school?

Letter Stops Va. School from Performing Song - WTOP Radio: "WOODBRIDGE, Va. - The marching band at Hylton High School in Woodbridge is going to have learn a different song.

The Washington Post says the band had added 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia,' by the Charlie Daniels Band to its play list for an upcoming guest appearance at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

One letter, however, from a parent whose children are home-schooled, was sent to a local newspaper complaining that the song about the devil shouldn't be played at school events because of separation of church and state.

The letter worked because the band's director has decided not to use it.

The decision is especially unpopular with Charlie Daniels himself, who tells the Post that he, 'doesn't write pro-devil songs,' and that it's, 'a shame,' the band director would yield to one piece of mail."

(Via WTOP.)

Posted by mikki at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pagan druid claims anger archbishop: "Archbishop of Canterbury elect Dr Rowan Williams has hit back at newspaper reports he is dabbling in paganism. He is being inducted as a 'druid' to the Gorsedd of the Bards during a historic ceremony at the National Eisteddfod in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, on Monday. He will join the mythical circle of Wales' key cultural contributors in a ritual The Times suggested was linked to ancient paganism. But the Archbishop of Wales, who will shortly succeed Dr George Carey at Canterbury, has branded the claims 'deeply offensive'. During his welcoming to the group, he will don a long white cloak while druids recite a prayer, trumpets sound and a 6ft 6ins sword is unsheathed."

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 12:00 PM | Permalink

UK Pagans celebrate as numbers soar: "As the UK becomes awash with ghosts, ghouls, tricks and treats on Halloween night, thousands of pagans will be celebrating a far more ancient festival. The pre-Christian festival of Samhain, which falls on 31 October, is the biggest event on the pagan calendar. Paganism, which embraces a variety of groups including druids, witches and followers of the Viking god Odin, is one of the fastest growing religions in the UK. At Samhain - pronounced 'sow-en' - pagans remember their dead and look to the future. A study in 1997 suggested there were 100,000 practising pagans in the UK, an increase of 95,000 since 1990."

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 03:05 PM | Permalink

Couple killed after being branded witches: "A tribal couple has been hacked to death in West Bengal by villagers who suspected them to be 'witches' responsible for a wave of malarial fever in the area. Reports reaching here on Friday said 55-year-old Soli Oraon and his wife Mungri were branded witches by inhabitants of Darjeeling's Mill Bagan tea estate and killed Wednesday night. They were held responsible for malaria and other diseases affecting slum dwellers in the locality. On Wednesday night, some villagers dragged the elderly couple to a nearby jungle and killed them."

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 03:03 PM | Permalink

Newsday.com: Exorcism Course Continues at Vatican: "

By Associated Press

October 14, 2005, 11:20 AM EDT

ROME -- A Vatican-recognized university is offering a course in exorcism and demonic possession for a second year, concerned about the devil's lure -- particularly among young Italians.

Standing in solemn prayer, around 120 priests, lay people and theology students began the course that is intended to clear up misconceptions and understand what makes people turn to the occult.

The opening class of the "Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation" on Thursday at the Pontifical Academy Regina Apostolorum featured lectures about liturgical and spiritual aspects of Satanism and problems related to exorcism.

"The aim of this course is to express a clear vision of the phenomenon," said Italian Bishop Andrea Gemma, a leading exorcist who delivered the opening lecture.

"Exorcism ... is an important prayer of the church to help those who believe to be, or who really are suffering from a diabolic infestation," he told his audience.

Lectures, which will be broadcast via video to other pontifical institutes, focus on subjects that range from theological and historical aspects of Satanism to legal and medical issues.

The course is being offered for the second year, after an introductory session was held on February.

Pope Benedict XVI welcomed a large group of Italian exorcists who visited the Vatican on Sept. 14 and encouraged them to carry on in their work "in the service of the church."

Exorcism, the Roman Catholic rite in which demons are expelled from "possessed" persons, is usually administered by priests with the permission of a bishop.

"Devil's action is much more common than people may think," Gemma said, adding that he performs at least four exorcisms a week. He also said that youngsters were particularly at risk.

A former papal aide, the late Cardinal Jacques Martin, wrote in his memoirs that Pope John Paul II performed the exorcism rite in 1982, on an Italian woman who was screaming and writhing.

When the first course opened in February, Italy was gripped by a gruesome case in which members of a Satanic sect being investigated in the deaths of three people. Two people were later convicted in the murders, which occurred in woods near Milan.

In recent years, police have discovered sites in the Castelli hill towns outside Rome where they say Satanic cult followers hold black Masses.

The Rev. Gabriele Nanni, an exorcist and lecturer of the course, told The Associated Press that there are four widely accepted signs of possession, such as "speaking in unknown languages, showing a disproportionate physical strength beyond one's natural capacity, the repulsion to sacred things such as crucifix and prayers and knowledge of events that have happened far away, in terms of times and places." Some of the signs were depicted in the 1973 movie, "The Exorcist."

Students received a paper detailing a 10-point guide to recognize and prevent interest in the occult. It included a suggestion to parents to monitor whether their children were wearing strange pendants or T-shirts, if they listen to loud music on their home stereos, or watch too many horror movies.

(Via Newsday.)

Posted by mikki at 12:00 PM | Permalink

A pocket-sized book published by the Catholic Truth Society in the UK addresses Catholic attitudes to extra-terrestrial life.

Independent Catholic News reports that with increasing numbers of people believing not only in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets, but even claiming encounters with aliens, it is not surprising that the Catholic Church is beginning to explore what effect the discovery of sentient ETs might have on Christian theology.

In: Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic belief and the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, author Guy Consolmagno SJ, asks:

• Would humans recognise intelligent life if we saw it?
• Could we communicate with it? Should we even try?
• Is Original Sin something that affects all intelligent beings?
• Is Jesus Christ's redemption valid for intelligent beings throughout the universe?
• or would other worlds have their own version of Jesus?
• Would the Church send missionaries to ET planets?

Guy Consolmagno SJ, a Jesuit religious brother and astronomer, divides his year between the Vatican's observatory in Arizona and its older observatory at the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, in the hills outside of Rome.

Brother Guy has advanced degrees in planetary science from MIT and the University of Arizona. He spends his time observing comets and asteroids, and does experiments with the Vatican's vast collection of meteorites one of the largest in the world. He is one of a dozen Jesuit astronomers doing this work. The order been engaged in astronomy since before Galileo.

SOURCE Vatican astronomer asks: could you baptise an extra-terrestrial? (Independent Catholic News 11/10/05)

LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Catholic Truth Society

Posted by mikki at 09:49 PM | Permalink

Madonna Incurs the Wrath of the Rabbis -- Beliefnet.com: "Madonna Incurs the Wrath of the Rabbis A song on her new album is about a 16th-century scholar of Kabbalah, but some don't think it's kosher.

The Independent

London, Oct. 11 - Madonna, the middle-aged queen of pop and Kabbalah enthusiast, has run into problems with rabbis in Israel over a song on her forthcoming album about the 16th-century scholar who founded the modern version of the Jewish cult.

The song in question is called 'Isaac' and is believed to be about Isaac or Yitzhak Luria, a scholar born in Jerusalem in 1534. The track is on Madonna's forthcoming album Confessions on a Dance Floor, which is due to be officially released on November 15.

But an Israeli newspaper has reported that some rabbis have reacted strongly to the news that Madonna has written a song about Luria and have accused her of trying to cash in on the association with him. One has gone so far as to suggest Madonna will suffer divine retribution for her actions. It is not clear whether any of these rabbis have heard the offending track.

Rabbi Rafael Cohen, head of a seminary named after Luria in the northern town of Safed, told the Maariv newspaper: 'There is a prohibition in Jewish law against using the holy name of our master, the Sage Isaac, for profit.'

He added: 'One can feel only pity at the punishment that she will receive from heaven. The Sage Isaac is holy and pure, and immodest people cannot sing about him.'

Another rabbi, Israel Deri, who serves as deputy chair of the Religious Sites Authority, which oversees Luria's burial site, called for Madonna to be thrown out of the community. 'Such a woman brings great sin on Kabbalah. I hope that we will have the strength to prevent her from bringing sin upon the holiness of [Luria],' he said.

The track was written by Madonna and co-producer Stuart Price. It contains a reading by Yitzhak Sinwani, of the London Kabbalah Centre near Bond Street, which Madonna has attended with her husband, Guy Ritchie, the British film-maker. The centre yesterday failed to return a telephone call seeking comment.

Neither Madonna nor her spokeswoman have commented on the dispute. On her website, Madonna says: 'Confessions on a Dance Floor is all about having a good time straight through and non-stop ... I want people to jump out of their seats.'

Madonna, trying to recover from her 2003 album American Life, which was her worst selling, was born a Catholic but in recent years has been attracted to Kabbalah. She has reportedly adopted the Hebrew name Esther, wears a red string around her wrist to ward off the 'evil eye' and has introduced other celebrities to the cult. In 2004, she made a widely-publicized visit to Israel and visited many sites important to Kabbalah, but did not travel north to Luria's grave.

The interest of such celebrities has sparked criticism among many of the rabbis who specialize in studying and teaching Kabbalah. Jewish tradition holds that Kabbalah is so powerful that students may not approach it until after the age of 40. Among its elements are mystical meanings which are drawn from holy books by recombination of letters and other signs."

(Via Belief Net.)

Posted by mikki at 09:37 PM | Permalink

CNN.com - Bone of Hobbit-like species uncovered - Oct 11, 2005: "(AP) -- Scientists say they have found more bones in an Indonesian cave that offer additional evidence of a second human species -- short and hobbit-like -- that roamed the Earth the same time as modern man. But the vocal scientific minority that has challenged that conclusion since the discovery of Homo floresiensis was announced last year remains unconvinced. The discovery of a jaw bone, to be reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, represents the ninth individual belonging to a group believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia."

(Via CNN.)

Posted by mikki at 08:23 PM | Permalink

In Evolution Debate, Creationists Are Breaking New Ground: "PETERSBURG, Ky. -- The guide, a soft-spoken fellow with a scholarly aspect, walks through the halls of this handsome, half-finished museum and points to the sculpture of a young velociraptor.
"

(Via Washington Post: Intelligence.)

Posted by mikki at 05:26 PM | Permalink

Wiccan Priestess Loses High Court Appeal: "The Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Tuesday from a Wiccan priestess angry that local leaders would not let her open their sessions with a prayer. Instead, clergy from more traditional religions"

(Via Witchvox - RSS Feed - News from the Nest.)

Posted by mikki at 05:17 PM | Permalink

Brothers fined for keeping 'pet ghost': "A village council in eastern India has fined two brothers for keeping a pet ghost. Iswar and Haripada Murmu, of Akshaypur in West Bengal, were accused of owning a ghost after one of their wives died. An exorcist summoned by villagers claimed the brothers' pet ghost was 'responsible for a recent outbreak of disease in the locality'. Village elders said they were bringing evil to the village and fined them the equivalent of £360, reports the Deccan Chronicle. The paper reports that the brothers had to mortgage their agricultural land to raise the money."

(Via WiccanWeb.ca.)

Posted by mikki at 02:34 PM | Permalink