Two interesting stories in the realm of popular culture and modern Paganism today. First off is a film currently being shot in India which could well become the Wiccan version of The Exorcist.

“‘Sacred Evil’, being shot at various locations in the city with an international cast, is a rather serious film that seeks to delve into the inexplicable and the esoteric with a generous blend of science and the supernatural. The film is based on a case study from the book ‘Sacred Evil: Encounters With the Unknown’, a much-talked about work from Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, the self-proclaimed wiccan for whom the world of spirits and the supernatural is not in conflict with the domain of psychotherapy.” – Khalsa News

It makes me wonder which story from the book will be used, this summary from the Tribune India brings up all sorts of unique ideas for a occult-themed movie.

“The book is divided into nine chapters, or encounters, as she calls them. It presents real-life incidents where her powers as a mediating agent with the ‘unknown’ are sought by people ‘troubled by forces and events they cannot comprehend’. The descriptions themselves could well be from the script of a horror movie. They range from a young woman possessed by the evil power of a voodoo doll, a coconut out to kill, a haunted house with the power to communicate, zombies carrying out such mundane activities as plying rickshaws, to Goddess Kali who mesmerises her devotees to a frenzy that can last over a hundred years. There is even a chapter dealing with necromancy, or the power to bring the dead to life.”

I hope it gets American distribution, how could anyone resist seeing this?

The other item comes from American pop-star Tori Amos who is releasing a new CD (and accompanying book called Tori Amos: Piece by Piece) called “The Beekeeper”. A couple sources have brought up Tori’s penchant for Paganism, heretical themes and her Native American heritage.

“But Piece by Piece is neither linear nor literal enough to be accounted a memoir. Amos, who seems to live with one foot in the misty realm of myth, fills page after page celebrating her psychic links to goddesses Egyptian (Sekhmet), Roman (Venus), and pagan (Corn Mother). ‘Because I use archetypes a lot in my work,’ Amos says, ‘and Ann [co-writer and veteran music journalist Ann Powers] has researched this, it became a meeting point, sort of like a centerpiece. She could go off into her corridors and I would go into mine. But we could come back to the centerpiece to talk symbolically and archetypally.’” – Philadelphia Inquirer

“Born in North Carolina and raised in Maryland, Amos is the daughter of a Methodist minister raised in the strict Christian sense that entails. Along with a voracious literary appetite, from her mother she inherited a Cherokee bloodline that connects her to spirituality deeper than any church can provide.” – Billboard

“Can the daughter of a Methodist minister reconcile the rifts in American society by examining male-female relationships through a study of the Gnostic gospels? No, but they can be fertile inspiration for an album, and “The Beekeeper” is as dense and rich as they come.” – Seattle P-I

But then Amos has questioned traditional religion since the beginning, but it was her third CD “Boys For Pele” that really seemed to cement her affection for Paganism.

“Well, Pele is the volcano goddess and I thought of like, um, sacrificing some of the boys in my life to her but then I decided that that wasn’t really a very good idea. And, the album is sort of about the way I’ve stolen fire from the men in my life. And I got tired of doing that ’cause I have my own. But I couldn’t see that for a very long time. And now I can respect them without needing to suck their blood.” – Tori Amos; BBC Interview

As to the question of if it is any good, I’ll have to wait until I have heard it to tell you.