What:

Since it started in 2004, the Wild Hunt has become a vital news source for modern Pagans, and a crucial resource for those outside the Pagan movement who want to explore the issues that are important to us.

The Wild Hunt doesn’t simply alert you to the interesting (or infuriating) stories of the day, but adds analysis, context, and unique features. The Wild Hunt has interviewed movers-and-shakers within modern Paganism like Margot Adler, Starhawk, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, as well as relevant religion writers and journalists like Jeff Sharlet and J.C. Hallman, while providing special “Pagan’s-eye” coverage of events like the Democratic National Convention and the American Academy of Religion’s yearly meeting. Upcoming coverage will include the Parliament of the World’s Religions and an interview with Owen Davies, author of Grimoires.

The future is bright for The Wild Hunt, and for Pagan journalism as a whole! We’d like to invite you along, as we initiate the first annual Wild Hunt Winter Pledge Drive. Our goals are three:

• To keep The Wild Hunt full-access (no subscription fees or “pay-walls”).
• To keep The Wild Hunt non-commercial (no ads or spam).
• To keep The Wild Hunt daily.

In a single month, this past October alone, The Wild Hunt counted over 44,000 unique visitors, giving this daily news source a very respectable “circulation” in the world of niche journalism. Around 5,000 readers receive The Wild Hunt directly every day, via their Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, LiveJournal, or email.

How:

If you are one of these avid followers of Pagan and religious-minority news, please consider contributing to the site during this year’s Winter Pledge Drive, in one of these categories:

• Basic – $5
• Reader – $20
• Supporter – $50
• Benefactor – $150

• Affiliate – Consider becoming a Wild Hunt underwriter, with a listing and link on The Wild Hunt’s new “Affiliates” page. Contact me for further details.

Click this button to contribute now:

If you are unfamiliar with PayPal or have other questions, please contact me.

When:

This year’s Pledge Drive will continue from November 16th through the 22nd. Feel free to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and your other favorite social sites! Thanks for being a part of The Wild Hunt.

Some big-screen news for those with Pagan views! We start off with an update on “The Wicker Tree”, the currently-shooting spiritual companion/sequel to the 1973 cult-classic “The Wicker Man”. On Halloween in New York, a special screening of “The Wicker Man” was held (along with a cool concert featuring Silver Summit), and director Robin Hardy was on hand to talk about the cult-classic and screen ten minutes of footage from the new film. Lucky for us all, Dread Central was there and files a report.

“Next, he introduced a 10-minute (rough cut, the sound was incomplete) clip of The Wicker Tree (2010), which follows The Wicker Man in “style” and slightly in story. The clip was not a 10-minute chunk but rather snippets of various scenes in the film. Beth (Brittania Nicol) is a born-again Christian music star with a haughty Britney Spears past and a cowboy boyfriend, Steve (Henry Garrett). Both are missionaries sent by their reverend to bring the “Lord’s love” to Scotland. During their trip, Beth’s beau takes a dip in some sacred springs with a voluptuous libertine only to find himself in another scene cornered by the strange townsfolk singing and out for blood.”

Sounds like fun! Lets hope it holds a candle to the original movie, and doesn’t fall in the horribleness of the ill-advised 2006 remake. They also seem to all-but-confirm that Sir Christopher Lee will be making a cameo as Lord Summerisle, linking the two films together into the same shared universe. Needless to say I await more news of the film, including its release date.

Turning from fictional Pagans looking for a sacrifice to a famous pagan trying to escape Christian mobs, we look at the status of the film “Agora”, which centers on the life (and death) of Neoplatonist pagan philosopher Hypatia. The film, while winning critical accolades, has experienced trouble in finding an American distributor, and was encountering protests in places like Spain due to its “anti-Christian” tone. Well, it seems that the film has been a smash-hit in Europe, and it’s looking like Sony may put in a bid for American distribution.

“Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group is considering a bid for U.S. distribution rights to Alejandro Amenabar’s ancient historical epic “Agora,” starring Rachel Weisz. “Agora’s” boffo performance at the Spanish B.O. in recent weeks has sparked renewed interest in the film, which is being shopped domestically by John Sloss’ Cinetic Media and overseas by Focus Features Intl. … Bowing in Spain on Oct. 9, “Agora” scored the highest opening of the year, and to date has cumed $25 million dollars. It’s topped the box office there over the past four weekends, and even bested the debut of Michael Jackson topliner “This Is It,” from Sony, during the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 frame. Pre-AFM, other territories Focus Intl. had sold include France, Germany, Scandinavia and Greece. Rights have been sold for Taiwan and Thailand as well.”

Director Alejandro Amenabar is apparently also willing to cut 20 minutes from the film in order to make it run a tidy two hours, further tempting the bean-counters at Sony (and Fox, who are also expressing interest). Could we be lucky enough to see a winter release here in America? Or possibly early Spring? We’ll keep our eyes open.

Finally, the long-awaited (well, by some of us) remake of “Clash of the Titans” has released a trailer!

I know it, like the original, completely mangles Greek myth, but I have to admit that I had a little geek-tingle from the younger Jason who watched the original like a million times on cable when I was a kid. I also kind of hope they keep the symphonic metal soundtrack they utilize in the trailer, I mean, it’s not historical anyway, so let’s go all out! “Clash of the Titans” is due out in March.

While the heyday of SRA (Satanic Ritual Abuse aka “Satanic Panic”) in North America and the UK is now past us, we continue to be haunted by it. A core of true-believers await vindication, many law enforcement officials and politicians involved remain unrepentant, occult “experts” still give talks to police and community leaders, and there are still people in jail, despite evidence that they are innocent. As for those who were sent to prison and then later released (some years later), many are just happy to be free again, content to sink into seclusion lest they draw attention. However, one man caught up in a famous Canadian SRA case decided that being free and having charges dropped wasn’t enough, and he sued the government prosecutor, the police, and the therapist who coached the children for malicious intent.  Now, nearly twenty years after the whole ordeal began, the last trial has finished, with the Canadian Supreme Court deciding that the Crown prosecutor in the case did not act maliciously, overturning a previous ruling against him.

“The Saskatchewan man at the centre of a malicious prosecution case says he respects the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada dismissing his lawsuit but still believes the Crown lawyer acted inappropriately. Richard Klassen led a lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution after he and others were accused of incredible acts of sexual abuse against children in the early 1990s. The children told police that they had been sexually abused and forced into satanic rituals including the mutilation and killing of animals, dismemberment of babies and drinking of human blood. None of the stories were true and the children later admitted they had lied.”

The overturning of the previous judgment against Crown prosecutor Matthew Miazga is seen by some as a protective act by the Supreme Court, freeing many prosecutors of the worry that they could be liable if their “professional judgment” ends up convicting an innocent man or woman.

“Every precaution possible should be taken to prevent the prosecution of innocent people, but prosecutors must be allowed to exercise professional judgment without fear of personal liability when they are doing their jobs…”

Despite the government and courts circling their wagons to protect prosecutors with obviously poor “professional judgment”, this has ultimately been a victory for Richard Klassen and the other plaintiffs who sought to clear their names. They not only received high-profile vindication of their innocence on multiple occasions, but they did win their initial malice trial, and the Canadian government has paid out over two million dollars in settlement to Klassen and the others.

“Klassen said he was satisfied to have another set of judges re-affirm his innocence. “I didn’t lose anything here,” he said. “I’ve already won. They paid me, they gave me back my dignity.” In 2004, the Saskatchewan government negotiated a settlement with Klassen and the other plaintiffs to acknowledge the accused had suffered from the false accusations … He added that the long struggle to clear his name was worthwhile. “It was worth it for me,” he said. “I couldn’t live with this. I would have killed myself a long time ago.”"

In contrast, many of the American victims of Satanic panic are lucky to simply have their freedom, and some still don’t have that. Despite the court clearing the prosecutor of malice, the story reaffirms just how badly justice and law enforcement faltered during the moral panic that imprisoned so many. It is a reminder to those that would see this time come again, or create some new scape-goat, that not all of their potential victims will be content to hide away broken while allowing such madness to thrive. This court case involved cops, lawyers, and therapists, but we are all responsible in seeing that this sort of hysteria never rises again.

For those interested in finding out more about the Klassen SRA case Religious Tolerance has a nice time-line and overview.

A have a few items that just can’t wait till Saturday! Starting with a rather awful editorial from The Chicago Tribune’s “The Seeker” blog that seemingly equates tolerance towards Pagan soldiers within the military with a look-the-other-way atmosphere that led to the horrendous Fort Hood murders.

“Fast forward to 1999, when an Austin, Texas newspaper published photos of a Wiccan ceremony at Fort Hood. Theologically conservative Christian clergy joined with indignant Congressmen to protest the Army’s acceptance of Wiccan practice. As reported in Hannah Rosin’s contemporaneous account for The Washington Post, these clergy threatened to disrupt the protests, going so far as to call on Christians not to enlist or reenlist in any branch of the military until Wicca was banned from military posts. But the Army brushed off the threatened protests. Again, according to the Washington Post article, Fort Hood spokesman Lt. Col. Ben Santos said at the time that as long as a religious minority does not interfere with discipline, the military will help it find an off-base leader and a place to practice its beliefs … in light of the fact that the Army and various government agencies appear to have disregarded warning signs about the shooter’s contact with religious radicals who have since praised his murders, a tragic irony bubbles to the surface: might the emphasis on religious inclusion and interfaith acceptance have allowed the sinister to walk, undaunted, disguised as the spiritual?”

It is hard to tell what, exactly, author Tom Levinson is suggesting. That the military should be less accommodating to religious minorities? That only certain faiths should be allowed or tolerated? That their fair treatment towards Pagan soldiers inevitably led to these shootings by a disturbed Major Nidal Malik Hasan? Frankly, using the story of the Fort Hood Pagans in conveying his “tragic irony” is insulting to the Pagan men and women who serve, and have served, in the military. Already several Pagans and Pagan vets have spoken out against Levinson’s badly-thought-out piece with more, no doubt, to come.

The James Arthur Ray sweat-lodge death saga continues to have repercussions. While the police investigation is still ongoing, the Lakota Nation has filed a lawsuit against Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center for fraud and the “desecration of our Sacred Oinikiga by causing the death of Liz Neuman, Kirby Brown and James Shore”.

“In the aftermath of the tragedy at Angel Valley Retreat Center, where an incompetently conducted “sweat lodge” held by Californian self-help guru James Arthur Ray killed three participants, political steps are being taken by several native people across the United States. While local Indians from Arizona are forming a Council for Indigenous Traditional Healing to reclaim native ceremonies, the Lakota tribe of North and South Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the United States, the state of Arizona, James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.”

This issue seems to have truly galvanized some tribal nations and activists, leading to actions that could have long-standing repercussions in the often tense relations between Native peoples and New Age communities. Meanwhile the daughter of one of the victims wants Ray behind bars and is filing a wrongful death lawsuit. So it looks like only a matter of time before Ray is brought before a judge. Hopefully before his next “spiritual warrior” retreat, scheduled for September 18-23rd.

In a final note, blogger Rob Taylor has alerted me to a group of anti-pedophile activists who have allegedly uncovered the identity of a Wiccan man who brags of his sexual involvement with children and until recently was advertising for a coven on Witchvox.

“He is Wiccan and participates in and goes to Wiccan festivals in which he likes to view children running around naked.”

It seems Witchvox (or the person in question) may have removed the listings since word went out at the beginning of November, as they are now gone. Sadly, there isn’t a picture, or further outside confirmation, so we have no way of telling who exactly this man is at public gatherings (as he could no doubt use a variety of aliases if he wanted). I was planning use this information within the context of a longer investigation of predators within the Pagan community, but I felt it was important to pass this information along now if it could potentially help parents and children be safer at gatherings. As always, be careful, do your own research, and leave law enforcement to law enforcement officials.

That’s all I have for now, have a good night, see you tomorrow.

Remember how I said a couple days ago that the entire process that led to South Carolina’s “I Believe” license plates being ruled unconstitutional was haunted by Pagans? It turns out that I’m not the only one who thinks so. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who is currently running to become the state’s next governor, released a video two days after the license plate ruling to decry the imagined assaults on “freedom of religion” in his state stemming from the Great Falls Darla Wynne case.

“In Great Falls, we had a Wiccan witch, a Wiccan high priestess, who brought a lawsuit…the ACLU brought a lawsuit for her because they were opening the meeting at Great Falls – the Town Council – with a prayer, which typically included Jesus, a prayer to Jesus. And they said that was unconstitutional,” McMaster says in the video. “So, we got involved in the case. And we told them that we would fight for them,” says McMaster. “As I have said, under the Constitution, you are allowed to pray the way you want to pray. If you want to pray to Jesus, which of course many people do, then that’s the way that you ought to be allowed to pray.”

McMaster then offers to defend anyone in the state who is “on the receiving end on an ACLU lawsuit”. That this invoking of uppity Wiccans to win votes is tied to the recent “I Believe” ruling is pretty apparent. McMaster was reportedly “utterly disappointed” at the ruling, and was well-known to be an ardent supporter of the license plates, attending pro-plate rallies that featured a greatest-hits reel from Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”. But for all his bleating on the subject, there is little, legally, he can do at the moment. His current role as Attorney General prevents him from appealing the case, so no doubt his message that he’ll “support” and “defend” anyone in a lawsuit most likely means that he’s looking for someone to get litigious regarding the plates, or public sectarian prayer, so he can get in their corner (and win votes).

What’s troubling is that we don’t know what this will do to Darla Wynne, or other Pagans living in South Carolina. If “Wiccan witches” are being lumped in with the ACLU (one of the great Satans of conservative Christianity), how long will it be before people start blaming us for the perceived slights against their “religious freedom”? Is McMaster invoking something he can’t ultimately control, something that may end up harming the lives of innocent Pagans, just to win an election? I’d hate to think that such a man may soon be governing the entire state, a state that includes many modern Pagans (and several other religious minorities) who are just as concerned about their own religious freedom and safety as any Christian.

Once grown up and operating in the “adult” world, we often forget how much loss of control and personal freedom children and teens are forced to endure while traveling through the public school system (and often more-so in the private schools). If anything, many of us look back at those times as some sort of necessary “hazing”, bitter-sweetly remembered through the prism of some John Hughes movie. However, the truth is that children and younger people is these school systems are often denied the same legal considerations and due process of adults, all in the name of order and control, and it only takes a “bad apple” here or someone “gaming the system” there to make the lives of children who don’t toe some (often imaginary) cultural/political line often unbearable. That seems to be the case at Purvis High School in Mississippi, where accusations of threatened “demon possession” got a Pagan student suspended.

“When 17-year-old Shaun Derusha informed his mother that he would be unable to return to Purvis High School until she met with his principal, Denise DeSadier thought he was joking.  She had received neither letter nor phone call indicating any sort of misbehavior from her son. Such would have been the “proper” procedure for any institution purveying the attainment of education, but DeSadier agreed to have a conference with the involved administrators at her son’s school in hopes of reinstating her son’s place. Her son explained to her that he had no idea what was going on, that he’d been called out of one of his classes by the administrators and a security guard to have his backpack rummaged through and personal questions about particular parts of his lifestyle fired at him.  He failed to realize how serious the situation was until he found himself suspended under the suspicion that he’d threatened the life of some of the students by way of demon possession.  “It was believed that he planned on summoning demons to attack select students at the high school,” his mother told me. DeSadier left the conference feeling her son had been severely wronged due to the fact that he and their family are practicing witches.”

Denise DeSadier was not allowed to read the accusations made against her son that got him suspended, and their veracity was seemingly never questioned by the principle (who assured a reporter from the local college paper that the matter was investigated fully) . Further, Shaun was forced to undergo an evaluation of his mental stability before being allowed to return to class, and this incident was placed in his permanent record, marking him as some sort of potential safety risk. Short of pursuing a lawsuit against the school, or dropping out altogether, there is no recourse for these accusations that have marred Shaun’s record.  Wishing only to finish high-school and move on to college, Shaun has jumped through the necessary hoops, and wants to move on with his life.

“Shaun just wants to graduate and move on in life. He won’t move because he feels that then they [discriminators, instigators, and those who are very close-minded] win. And he won’t give them that satisfaction.”

Looking from the outside it seems obvious that hostilities against the openly Pagan family in a small predominantly Christian town ended up trickling down from the adults to their children, who staged their own personal witch-trial in miniature, complete with unquestioned spectral evidence (threatened demon-attack) the accused was not allowed to rebut. Let’s just hope that the mob has been satisfied that the Witches were sufficiently chastened, after all, it wouldn’t be hard at all for students to abuse the school’s completely anonymous online reporting tool in order to cause more troubled for the young man. Normally I would call on my readers to flood principal Ace Bryant with letters of protest, but respecting the wishes of the family who just want to get on with their lives, I’ll say instead that anyone living in Mississippi who isn’t a Christian should stay far, far, away from Purvis High, lest they fall afoul of a system that privileges the majority.

Today is Veterans Day in America, a day when military veterans are honored for their service to our country. In addition to acknowledging the sacrifices and service given by our own co-religionists in years past, and the battles to see them properly honored, it is also an excellent time to look to the Pagan soldiers currently serving at home and overseas. On this Veterans Day Circle Sanctuary is kicking off its annual Operation Circle Care project to send Pagan-themed care packages to Pagan soldiers serving in war zones. This year, due to the horrible tragedy at Fort Hood, they are including the over 150 Pagan and Wiccan soldiers and their families living and serving there as well.

“Operation Circle Care is currently gearing up to collect and send gift packages for Yule for Pagan troops for the third year in a row. This year, we will be including in our program gifts for over 150 Pagan and Wiccan soldiers and their families at Fort Hood, Texas in addition to deployed soldiers serving in warzones.”

You can find a list of needed items, contact information, and how to submit the name of a Pagan soldier serving oversees at the Operation Circle Care web site. They welcome “gently used” Pagan books, so this is a great way to do a good deed and clean out your bookshelves for those new acquisitions. So as you honor those who served this year, take the time to also think ahead to those currently serving, and how we can let them know that our communities care about them.