My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

Chas Clifton (via Caroline Tully) links to a video excerpt featuring part-time Anglican Vicar Peter Owen Jones participating (skyclad) in an Australian “Urban Witchcraft” ritual. This journey into “darkness” is part of the ongoing BBC documentary series “Around the World in 80 Faiths”, where Owen Jones ventures into the rituals and rites of religions across the globe.

For more on this program, check out my original entry on the subject (which includes a comment from a member of the coven Peter Owen Jones visited). As for the rest of the series, I suppose I’ll have to wait for the DVD.

Are Vodun leaders and converts in Benin “impenetrable” to HIV education? That’s the allegation of local health officials in a UN news report, but local priests deny they are “closed off and autocratic”, and insist that the problem is a lack of commitment, funding, and consistency from non-profits.

Efforts to convince voodoo followers to abandon dangerous and deadly practices are sporadic, underfunded and inadequate said voodoo priest and a leader in traditional practices, Dah Alligbonon Akpochihala. He told IRIN he has been trying to change how things are done in the religious rituals he leads, but that overall, people do not realise the danger their traditions pose.

Similar problem were faced during the “Bird Flu” scare of 2006. The simple answer to this problem is to win trust and pose solutions that don’t overtly threaten long-standing traditions. Vodun can modernize and change, but it takes a path of mutual respect and dialog to get there.

The Post Chronicle cribs from a CBN report on the rise of “Satanism” in Italy from April of last year.

The seat of Roman Catholicism is now regarded as the chief office for the devil. “‘Rome has been called the most satanized city in Italy’” per George Thomas of CBN News. Instead of worshiping Christ as Savior God, people are talking to the devil, acting out his wishes and teaching others how to communicate with the dark powers. Magicians in particular have become quite popular, that is, not the traditional stage performers but those equipped to connect with demons.

The article goes on to chatter some nonsense about 800 Satanic groups and that there are over half a million Satanists operating in the country. Stuff that several people have already debunked (try 240 Satanists instead of 600,000). Sometimes I wonder if Christians like this would actually be happier if all this stuff were true, if Satanists and Pagans were taking everything over… tomorrow!

Need to spice up a story in the UK? See if Marina Pepper is involved somehow. A second-generation Witch, and former Playboy/Page 3 model who got involved in local politics, Pepper-related headlines almost write themselves.

Playmate, witch and now eco warrior trying to shut down Heathrow … One of the organisers of a mass protest trying to shut down a Heathrow terminal is a former soft-porn model turned witch … The Evening Standard can reveal today that a leading member of protest group Climate Rush is a former Playboy playmate of the month.

The story is more about Marina Pepper showing up than it is about her involvement with Climate Rush, or why people are protesting the Heathrow expansion. But I suppose all publicity is good publicity (especially when you’re talking a protest).

In a final note, the New York Times looks at Italy’s own version of Santa Claus, the witch La Befana.

The story of La Befana has been told in Italy since around the time Leonardo da Vinci painted the “Mona Lisa.” Origins of the legend, some say, are far older and rooted in a pagan goddess. But last Tuesday, a modern incarnation of the story played out in the cafeteria of a Roman Catholic school in Forest Hills, Queens, with a hint of the day’s lunch of ziti with meatballs and red sauce lingering in the air. La Befana is a character in Italian folklore, sometimes referred to as the Italian Christmas witch. A soot-covered old woman, she is said to fly on a broom to the homes of sleeping children, entering through the chimney and bearing gifts.

Why bother with those “Santa Shaman” claims when we have a living breathing Winter tradition involving a witch? I expect some serious La Befana meme-spreading come next Winter.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

The Iowa Independent reports that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against three Wiccan inmates who claimed that a three-hour time limit for their Samhain observances violated their rights to religious assembly.

Lawrence Gladson, Darrell Smith and Scott Howrey were incarcerated at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison when they claimed their right to religious assembly had been violated. The three inmates, all practitioners of the Wiccan religion, filed for injunctive relief and monetary damages, citing their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 had been violated when prison officials limited their Samhain observance to three hours … While the appeals court agreed that prisoners retain constitutional rights, it acknowledged that those rights are subject to limitations “in light of the needs of the penal system.” As such, it found no reason to believe that the three-hour window allotted for the Samhain observance posed a significant burden on those inmates who practiced Wicca.

The court’s opinion makes for interesting reading. The prisoners thought their agreement on observances allowed them an 8-hour “feast day” for Samhain, which was denied them on more than one occasion. The prison disagreed that this was the arrangement, and the prison chaplain actually contacted two Wiccan priestesses for advice on the matter.

In 2003, Chaplain Kopatich consulted with two Wiccan priestesses, one located in California and the other located in Des Moines, and inquired about the practice at other IDOC institutions. She testified that she attended a Samhain celebration at a community center in Des Moines and witnessed the entire event around October 2004. According to Chaplain Kopatich, the celebration lasted about three hours, perhaps a little longer. At the celebration, a priestess cleansed the area, cast a circle, and performed a ritual to honor ancestors. The participants danced, drummed, sang, and referenced the four directions. The ritual lasted just under two hours and refreshments were served afterwards.

So it seem that the prison, despite some minor problems discussed in the opinion, really did attempt to satisfy the religious needs of the inmates concerning the matter. This is all obviously rather new for prison officials and inmates in Iowa, the state’s prison system didn’t even acknowledge Wicca or any other Pagan faith until a lawsuit forced them to do so in 2002. No doubt the inmates are testing the boundaries of their newly-won freedoms. It would be interesting to know how long other faiths get for their high holidays, also three hours? More? Less? It should also be taken into account that Iowa’s corrections officials have had some serious problems with accomodating the needs of minority faiths in the past, so who knows what sorts of tensions underly this whole situation.

The Australian has an excellent article by Graham Lloyd about Vodun in West Africa. I was particularly taken with his description of how the faith intertwines with all aspects of day-to-day life in Benin.

In Benin, the birthplace of voodoo, from where it spread to Haiti and Cuba with the slave trade, elaborate drumming and dance rituals are still widely practised. They are tolerated by the post-Marxist Benin Government as well as by church leaders on the basis of a shared belief in a primary god. At the village level, the local Catholic priest will often visit his voodoo equivalent after mass to seek the help of voodoo gods to ensure a healthy congregation. Pregnant women would not think of going into labour without first seeing the oracle, the local Fa priest, who will foretell the outcome of the pregnancy by casting a string of cowry shells.

Lloyd also meets Legba at the crossroads, and receives healing aid for a friend from the Loa, which seems to go rather well. I recommend giving the entire article a read.

I’ve written before of how spouses will use claims of “witchcraft” – or allegiance to a Pagan/esoteric religion -  to sway a judge their way in a custody battle. Often these gambits succeed because they take place in conservative (religiously and politically) areas, and because the accused can’t afford an expensive legal team or protracted litigation in order to fight judicial misconduct (though sometimes it succeeds even when the case is appealed). Now, I believe for the first time ever, claims of “witchcraft” and supernatural malfeasance have been used in a high-profile celebrity custody case.

“Lost” star [Naveen Andrews ] and Elena Eustache, the mother of three-year-old Naveen Joshua, were in L.A. County Superior Court, where a judge changed the custody order after Elena allegedly took the boy out of L.A. County without permission … Elena has alleged Naveen’s girlfriend, Barbara Hershey, practices witchcraft and that Naveen and Hershey have poisoned the boy. In response, Wasser asked the judge to order Elena to undergo psychiatric testing.

So I guess you see what happens when that tactic is applied to someone who is famous, rich, and capable of hiring the best lawyers on the planet (it probably didn’t hurt that this took place in L.A.). The accuser is forced to undergo psychiatric testing, while the accused (and the accused’s famous girlfriend) gets full custody. As to whether actress Barbara Hershey actually “practices witchcraft”, who’s to say? Most likely she is involved in the usual cocktail of vague New Age-y spirituality and positive-thinking stuff that so many Hollywood types find attractive, but I doubt she’s drawing down the moon or chanting the Witches’ rune. While most custody battles are usually horrible affairs for all involved, I can hope that one positive thing to come from this particular case is the beginning of the end for the “witchcraft tactic” in courtrooms.

Since I first posted about Pagan podcasters Deò and Mandy, and their transition to atheism, a remarkably vibrant and thoughtful discussion has emerged in the comments section (Nearing 100 comments!). I urge you to take a moment and check it out if you haven’t already. However, my blog is hardly the only one exploring this topic and the issues it raises, here are just some of the posts from some fellow Pagan bloggers, authors, and pundits.

From MetaPagan: Spirituality, Identity and Community (by Yvonne Aburrow).

But is a religious label really about beliefs, or about participating in community, and sharing values and practices? Is it about doing something for the wider community? Or about a quest to understand the world and know how to live in it well? When does identifying with a label become membership in the group? Where and how does membership end? If you were accused of practising your religion in a court of law, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Perhaps religion is really a convincing narrative that helps to confer meaning on the world and our place in it. Even if it isn’t literally true, it’s symbolically true and internally consistent.

From The North West Passage: The Passing of Deo’s Shadow (by Brendan Myers)

I have to admit this affected me greatly, and not just because I was a guest on the show four times. Deo is a friend and a fellow philosopher. Before I moved to Hamilton, I was living only 20 kilometers away from him. He is also a remarkably generous, friendly, fun and kind person. I was dearly glad of someone in the community who has the same background and knowledge in philosophy as I do, with whom I can talk about such things. His departure from the community, therefore, hit me hard. His reasons for leaving it were sound and rational. It made me wonder if I have given much of my adult life to a community that doesn’t care about philosophers, and if I, too, have become merely a spokesperson for a tradition that is ultimately a dead end.

From Letter From Hardscrabble Creek: Pagans are not a Community nor a Tribe — Not Yet (by Chas Clifton)

What we have is a network, not a community nor a tribe. Maybe in a few generations that will change, who knows? (For you anthro and sociology majors, it is the Gemeinschaft / Gesellschaft issue, no?) Everytime I hear someone going on about “the Pagan community,” I say to myself, “Not yet.” Not when you can walk in and walk out so easily.

From Cernunnos’ Path: On the Threshold Between One Life Path and Another (by Mahud)

I have no idea where my path will lead (who knows, perhaps back to Christianity. I’m open minded enough to consider that a valid possibility), but I’m going to take it slow and not rush into this ritual or that magical practice or suddenly start worshipping a pantheon of Deities, just to fit in with the wide world of Paganism. Whether I stay or go, I’ll always have a piece of the Pagan community with me. But the way things are going now, I’ll be sticking around for some time yet.

From Chrysalis: Where Can We Grow From Here? (by Pax)

Well, it seems to me that the Pagan community could really stand to do a lot of work and soul searching on issues of Pride and Community.  I say this as a Pagan and Gay man who has often seen parallels and contrasts between his two subcultural communities. Why do we seem to have so much trouble coming together across lines of faith or Tradition to build community on the local, regional, and national levels?

And that seems to only be the beginning, I’m sure there are even more posts I’m missing out on. If you have commented on the transition to atheism by Deò and Mandy, or the issues it (and subsequent blog commentary) raises in your own blog/journal feel free to share a link in the comments (you can also consider this a “fresh” thread to discuss the topic if you feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of comments on the original post).

Inaugural fever is heating up in Washington DC, and millions of people are expected to be on hand for Barack Obama’s inauguration. Since all those people won’t fit into (or weren’t invited to) the 10 official balls the Obamas will be attending, several lobbies, special interest groups, and private citizens are throwing their own bashes (with varying degrees of fabulousness).  Unsurprisingly, Pagans, who overwhelmingly supported Obama in the election, are getting in on the action. The day before the inauguration, a group of Pagans and magical/spiritual progressives will be gathering at the Jefferson Memorial to do some cleansing spell-work (and since these are Pagans, have a drum-jam).

The Washington, D.C. community of magical and spiritual progressives will join together on Monday afternoon, January 19th, at the Jefferson Memorial Plaza to sweep the town clean and welcome President-elect Obama and his administration to the White House. The Ritual of Unity and Blessing is organized by a triumvirate of native Washingtonians, one of whom is the great-granddaughter of slaves, one the great-granddaughter of slave owners, and one the daughter of a populist New Deal Congressman.  The ceremony will begin promptly at 2pm with a Witches’ Broom Dance, intended to cleanse Washington of the malfeasance, deceit and partisanship of the last eight years.

The main organizers of the event are Pagan activist Caroline Kenner (who organized the Veterens’ Pentacle win rally), Wiccan Priestess Katrina Messenger, founder of Connect DC, and Caroline W. Casey, founder of Coyote Network News. The main ritual will culminate in the charging of an obelisk-shaped crystal (like the Washington Monument) that will be dropped into (“sacrificed to”) the Tidal Basin so that its energies can “broadcast” over the festivities on the 20th. For more details check, here, after January 9th.

Speaking of the Washington Monument, obelisks, and broadcasting energies, some of you might be interested to learn that there will be an official Masonic Inagural Ball (the first ever, or at least the first one ever publicly announced) taking place on January 20th.

While other inauguration balls are costing $125-$500 or more per ticket, we’ve arranged for an evening with some amazing food, a great DJ, and brotherhood, all for $65 per ticket, we’ve also included an incentive to help pay the baby sitter, couples may go for just $120 a piece. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Masonic Foundation of the District of Columbia.

I know there has been something of a mini-renaissance of younger people (and sometimes esotericly-inclined practitioners) joining up with the Freemasons in recent years, so this might be a good way to attend a ball and do some networking (cash bar though, pity). I’m surprised this hasn’t happened before considering the rich history of Masonic US Presidents.

If you have any information of any other Pagan, esoteric, occult, or magical events taking place over the inaugural weekend, feel free to plug them in the comments.

Many of my regular readers also happen to subscribe to this site via a LiveJournal syndication feed. Today the Valleywag blog brought the news that Sup, the Russian Internet startup that owns LiveJournal, has just laid off 2/3rds of the popular journaling site’s staff (though some argue it’s more like 1/2 than 2/3rds).

The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut 12 of 28 U.S. employees — and offered them no severance, we’re told … The company’s Moscow-based management has told employees it blames the “global economic downturn” — the kind of pat excuse every boss is giving for layoffs, even when mismanagement or a bad business plan is really to blame.

This has unsurprisingly caused many to wonder if the site will be around for much longer (others are urging people to refrain from panicking). Whatever the ultimate outcome, if this latest disturbance in the Force Internet has got you thinking about packing up and leaving for higher ground, The Wild Hunt has several subscription options so you can still keep track of us no matter where you go. There is a syndication feed at InsaneJournal, a haven for many LJ dissidents and free expression (and fanfic) proponents, a Twitter feed for fans of the popular micro-blogging site, and you can even have this blog’s posts delivered to you via e-mail. Of course you can always just visit us directly at patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/ or subscribe to the RSS feed (I’m a fan of Google Reader for keeping track of sites, personally) if you prefer the direct approach. Whatever the fate of LJ, I’ll hope you stick with us as we bring you the latest in Pagan news and views.