Have you ever read one of those articles about a sacrifice done in a graveyard and wondered who, exactly, does that sort of thing? Well, after a sacrificed rooster was found in a graveyard at Cocoa, Florida, hacked Facebook pictures traced the ceremony back to Christos Kioni, a “living legend” and “two headed” root doctor/spiritual coach. Florida Today interviewed Kioni to find out about his beliefs, and why he conducted the graveyard ceremony.

Kioni was hired by a woman in her 30s pleading for help. He said someone put roots — or a spell — on her, leaving her welted with skin lesions, swollen legs, jaundice and heart problems. “[the spirit of Jonathan Davis, the grave where the ceremony was performed] is very strong. He’s calling people to his grave. He was a warrior,” Kioni said. “His mother should be proud.” Just before sundown, a time when hoodoo practitioners believe the world transitions between life and death, Kioni presided over the sacrifice. The rooster was washed in scented water, perfumed with oils and prayed over as candles flickered. “We presented it to almighty (God)…but I did not deface a grave. This is my religion,” he said.

What isn’t mentioned in the article, but is mentioned in Kioni’s own Youtube channel, is that he’s a initiate into Palo Mayombe. The various threads of Palo are often misunderstood, and often sensationalized as the “dark side of Santeria” due to its willingness to engage with necromancy. Considering the reactions Palo can receive, its not too surprising the root doctor didn’t mention that part of his spiritual resume. One of the most interesting things about this profile/story on Kioni is his own account of how he entered into the world of root work and hoodoo.

“Curiosity and love of God led him to the seminary, he said. He later joined Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination that promoted speaking in tongues, prophesies and spiritual warfare. He became a pastor, but later left organized religion and got into what many Christians consider the forbidden worlds of witchcraft and divination. He has since built what Anderson called a worldwide audience in the hoodoo community.”

I have commented before on how close the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal forms of spiritual warfare are to traditional magic as Pagans and other practitioners understand it, and here we have confirmation of something I’ve often wondered: do Christian spiritual warfare techniques ever lead someone into magic? The answer, at least in this case, seems to be yes. I would recommend reading the entire profile, as its not often that traditional news outlets are able/willing to track down and interview root workers, and other practitioners, when they cause controversy with their rites.

Just a few quick news notes to start off your Friday.

The Day the Lights Stayed on at Atlantis: London’s oldest occult bookseller, The Atlantis Bookshop, was apparently the only business unaffected when an explosion caused a blackout on their street. Could it be magic?

The Atlantis Bookshop

Geraldine Beskin, whose family has run the shop for the past 50 years, said: “The lights flickered, and in the streets I could see everyone else’s go out. But we were left intact. It must have been magic!” Staff at the street’s boutiques and cafés turned to Atlantis, a Mecca for mysticists worldwide, for candles to keep their shop-fronts lit.

Atlantis Bookshop is (in)famous for being a place that occultist Aleister Crowley would visit regularly, though the paper points out he died in 1947, precluding any role for Britain’s “wickedest man” in the blackout.

Pendle Witches House Discovered? England’s “Pendle witches,” victims of the most famous witch trials in that country’s history, have long fascinated tourists and historians alike; now some are claiming that an excavated 17th century cottage may have been the legendary Malkin Tower, where the witches were rumored to congregate.

Photograph: Lorne Campbell/United Utilities/PA Wire

“Some historians have speculated as to whether the cottage could have been the fabled meeting point of the Pendle witches. ”This could well be the famous Malkin Tower — which has been a source of speculation and rumour for centuries,” Pendle witches expert Simon Entwistle told Reuters. He said the find, right in the heart of witch country was incredibly rare, and was made just a few months before the 400th anniversary of the infamous Pendle trials.”

Why the speculation on this particular cottage? Because a mummified cat was found in its walls. Author and Pendle Witch expert Mary Sharratt, author of the novel “Daughters of the Witching Hill,” noted to me that a “mummified cat was a common country charm to ward off evil so it doesn’t necessarily follow that cunning folk lived in the cottage, but it’s still an interesting discovery.” As for the Pendle Witches, they remain strange celebrities in England, with a statue of Pendle witch Alice Nutter to be unveiled in 2012.

Meet the (University of Massachusetts) Wiccan: University of Massachusetts paper The Daily Collegian does a paint-by-numbers “meet the Wiccans” piece on Laura Wildman-Hanlon, office manager for the school’s psychology department and author of “What’s Your Wicca IQ?” While a positive article, I’m not kidding when I say this is textbook “meet the Wiccans” material.

Laura Wildman-Hanlon

“Laura Wildman-Hanlon, a practicing Wiccan, is not your Hollywood witch. She doesn’t wear a pointed hat or have green skin, and she certainly doesn’t turn men into frogs. This she says, is not at all what real Wicca and witchcraft are about.”

Still, good on The Daily Collegian for spotlighting a local Witch who is stable, successful, and happy. Here’s hoping a few minds are opened in the process.

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

In my news roundup on December 5th, I noted an Atlanta Independent Media Center story on difficulties faced by the Turner family of Bowden, Georgia, whose son, Christopher (11), was facing religiously-motivated harassment by his school.

“Christopher’s teacher, Mrs. Ross, pulled him out of class and proceeded to drill him about Paganism, ending the conversation with “Paganism is not a religion.” Remember, this is an 11 year old student, with no parent present while being harassed about his religion by someone who is suppose to be an educator.”

Since that report word has quickly spread through social media networks, with many contacting school officials to complain. Now, an official joint statement has been sent out by the North Georgia Solitaries, Dogwood Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess, Lady Liberty League, and its parent organization, Circle Sanctuary.

Turner Family Support

Statement from NGS, CoG, DLC, LLL, Circle Sanctuary:

After concerns spread about some problems with accommodating Pagan students needs at Bowdon Elementary School (BES), there was an overwhelming show of community support for the Turner family of Carroll County in western Georgia, USA. Many local Pagans and associated organizations reached out to assist the Turners by providing emotional support and offering practical advice. The Turners have been deeply touched by this out-pouring of spirit and wish to express their sincerest gratitude.

In addition, a Task Force of local and national Pagan organizations have come together to help resolve issues between the Turners and BES. The Task Force also hopes to provide the school with Pagan accommodation information and materials with the hopes of avoiding misunderstandings and other problems in the future. Represented in this group are the North Georgia Solitaries (NGS), both the localand national chapters of the Covenant of the Goddess, Circle Sanctuary and Lady Liberty League.

Currently, Carroll County Schools, led by the assistant superintendent, has expressed an active interest in resolving the current tensions and is planning to meet with Ms. Turner. The family and the Task Force are requesting that those with concerns about their situation do not directly contact the school or its employees. It is important that everyone involved have the maximum space needed to focus on resolving this conflict in a positive way. However, all concerned individuals are welcome to show theirsupport for the Turners through the Turner Family Support Facebook fan page or through the simple use of prayers and energy toward a peaceful resolution and healing.

Please direct all media questions to pio@dogwoodlc.org.

Hopefully, if all goes well, this matter can be resolved outside of the courtroom, and new connections and relationships can be formed that will benefit other Pagan families in the area. Again, these organizations and the Turner family are requesting individuals stop contacting school officials as these talks and negotiations happen. All expressions of support should be posted at the official Facebook page. I wish the Turners and the coalition of local and national Pagan organizations luck in resolving this matter in a way that benefits all involved.

Back in October I reported on the formation/reformation of the American Council of Witches (aka the Council of American Witches), a body initially founded in 1973 by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, owner and chairman of Llewellyn Worldwide, shortly after his initiation into the American Celtic tradition of Witchcraft by Lady Sheba. This new council, according to a press release, would update the Thirteen Principles of Belief (aka Principles of Wiccan Belief) for military and prison chaplains, and “engage in an interfaith dialogue to identify and address the legal and social needs of members of our religions”. However, almost from the beginning questions and concerns were raised about the goals, structure, and purpose of this renewed US American Council of Witches. The main Pagan media outlet investigating and reporting on the issues raised was The Modern Witch Podcast, hosted by Devin Hunter and Rowan Pendragon, who questioned the new council’s founder, Kaye Berry, about concerns raised by the wider Pagan community.

“As the council does not have a website with the appropriate information, the community has been directed to e-mail the organization, or to visit the Facebook page for the council. As community members began to ask questions on the page via posts or comments, these questions were deleted and members banned without their questions being addressed. Screening comments for profanities and ill-will is one thing, but why ban and delete the posts of pagan community members, press, and leaders who are asking for clarification?”

Now it seems like the US American Council of Witches has truly collapsed under scrutiny. The Facebook presence for the council has disappeared, as noted by a watchdog group formed by those with questions and concerns, and two of the most high-profile names associated with the council, Oberon Zell and Kenny Klein, have issued a joint statement cutting ties with the group, and recommending that all work on it be abandoned.

“Considering the controversies and ill-will that this project has engendered within the Pagan community, it is our joint opinion that the US American Council of Witches can no longer be regarded as a viable enterprise, and we strongly recommend that the entire project be abandoned at this time and the USACW be dissolved.”

You can read the entire statement here, or here. Rowan Pendragon, who was one of the more visable Pagan media members asking questions, and who signed on with the public statement put out by Zell and Klein, had this to add.

“Also, understand this, because this is something that I have been slammed for in all of this.  I am not at all against the vision of an interfaith Pagan organization to help foster positive and productive interactions between Pagans and the greater community.  In fact I have always embraced such endeavors and have been involved in a few myself.  The problem with USACW was how it was handled, how it attempted to get off the ground, and how its leader chose to interact with the very community she was claiming to help.

There is no ego or power trip here on my part, as has been suggested.  I don’t want to head anything like this myself (been there, done that, and I know how hard it is).  And again, I have no personal vendetta against anyone involved in the Council or the Council itself.  I am all for furthering our community with positive and sincere organizations and actions.  This, unfortunately, was not that.  I do think it’s unfortunate to see the whole thing become lost, but that’s just how this has panned out for now.  The project and its vision are certainly worth saving and considering under the right type of leadership.  One day that may happen, but that day is certainly not today and that lead is certainly not Kaye Berry.”

As a somewhat distant observer to the rise and fall of the US American Council of Witches, I think it provides an object lesson in how much our community of interconnected faith traditions has changed since the 1970s. Simply put, there’s a far greater expectation of transparency, ongoing communication, and engagement than in the past. The days of semi-obscured leadership councils is over, if indeed they were ever sustainable to begin with. I think it is telling that one “council” that has weathered the years is the Covenant of The Goddess, which operates by consensus process, has clearly defined goals, and is transparent about its workings (indeed, reporters have been welcomed to observe their last two Grand Councils). The resistance to openness by this new council may have doomed it from the start. What was once an initiative to restart a part of Pagan community history has instead become a cautionary tale of how not to start a pan-Pagan (or pan-Wiccan) organization.

For those faith traditions that incorporate magic and spellwork into their practices, Wicca, Santeria, Vodou, and any number of modern Pagan faiths, the urge to invoke supernatural help to solve a problem is sometimes overwhelming. This is especially true when an individual feels limited in what they can do in their day-to-day lives to remove an obstacle or improve their situation. That said, if you’re careless, casting spells on your boss could get you fired.

“Officer Elizabeth Torres, a 24-year department veteran, was terminated by City Manager Lyndon Bonner for conduct unbecoming of a police officer, according to a city news release. [...] Torres and office manager Yvonne Rodriguez had been accused of targeting Bonner with birdseed, which they believed to be part of a Santeria practice. The two had allegedly planned to scatter the seeds in and around Bonner’s city hall office in August. The alleged plan was concocted after Bonner had planned to cut the police budget, but was discovered after Torres and Rodriguez asked a janitor to help sprinkle the seeds, and the janitor turned them in.”

Both parties involved in the spell plot claim nothing malicious was intended, but it wasn’t enough to save their jobs. So, I guess there’s something of an object lesson here. At the very least, it reinforces the need to not incriminate yourself through accomplices or risky physical manifestations of your work. If it can’t be accomplished at home, or at a private temple, it might not be worth it.

However, underneath this cautionary tale is the larger issue of how businesses, law enforcement, and government should approach spells and spellwork. What’s protected expression, and what’s harassment, or improper conduct? As religions and traditions that engage in magic increasingly enter the mainstream, a larger ethos as to what’s acceptable and what crosses the line will increasingly be needed. What if there wasn’t birdseed, what if they were merely caught after hours chanting, praying, or reading from a book? What if, as Tim Elfrink at the Miami New Times posits, they were Christians caught praying? Would that still be improper conduct? I think we’ll continue to see cases like this in the news, and working their way through the court systems. Until then, I would keep the curses at home.

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

• The Atlanta Independent Media Center reports on a 11-year-old child harassed at his school due to his family being Pagan. Christopher Turner of Bowden, Georgia has been singled out, lectured on religion by teachers, and given suspensions for seemingly trivial reasons since knowledge of his faith has come out. Quote: “Christopher’s teacher, Mrs. Ross, pulled him out of class and proceeded to drill him about Paganism, ending the conversation with “Paganism is not a religion.” Remember, this is an 11 year old student, with no parent present while being harassed about his religion by someone who is suppose to be an educator.” At this point the parents are planning to home school Christopher for now, and are looking into legal action.
• Performance artist and sex educator Annie Sprinkle, in an interview with PopMatters, weighs in on the recent arrests of the Phoenix Goddess Temple members in Arizona. Quote: “For the people arrested, this was with out a doubt their religious practice, and not prostitution. So they are avoiding contact with sex worker rights organizations. So, whores don’t want to support them. There are tantra people that don’t want to support the PGT (Phoenix Goddess Temple) workers because they feel that they weren’t really practicing tantra and are bringing bad publicity to their wholesome image. It’s really shocking to me how so many in the tantra community were so whorephobic.” It should be noted that Annie Sprinkle uses the term “whore,” not as a pejorative, but in a context of reappropriation.
• Witches in South Africa are blasting South African Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe for defending the Sunday Tribune’s use of the term “witch” in describing a murderer. Quote: “Real Witches, which he condescendingly calls “self-styled”, are regarded by Thloloe as attempting to use the office of the Ombudsman to proselytize their religion, not defend their collective right to dignity. According to the Press Ombudsman, any notion that actual Witches should wish to appeal against the defamatory stereotyping of witches in the South African media is ridiculous and can never merit anything but contemptuous scorn.” We will no doubt be hearing more about this from SAPRA.
• Phaedra Bonewits has announced that she is beginning to auction off some of the possessions of her late husband, Druid leader Isaac Bonewits. Quote: “That does mean going through a lot of Isaac’s stuff, too. I kept so much of his, both because I wasn’t ready to part with it for myself, and because I thought other people might like to have something that once belonged to him. I have boxes and boxes of magical memorabilia, as well as boxes and boxes of books and music. And boxes and boxes yet unsorted. My winter will be busy.” The first batch, featuring mostly vintage Pagan music cassettes, is up on eBay now. It should also be noted that Isaacs papers are safe and sound, donated to the University of California, Santa Barbara for future scholars to access.
• Religion Clause reports that members of the indigenous religion Sunda Wiwitan in Indonesia are fighting to have their religion listed on official identification. Quote the Jakarta Globe: “We have to choose between the six religions. We’re confused that we can’t put ‘Sunda Wiwitan’ on our IDs,” Dainah said. “We went to the Home Affairs Ministry in Jakarta to ask about this but they recommended we go to the Constitutional Court.”
• Would you like to bid on a designer Gaia?
• New Age guru James Arthur Ray, now in prison for the negligent homicide of three sweat lodge participants, has settled the civil lawsuits with the victim’s families for more than 3 million dollars. Quote: “Both prosecutors and defense attorneys tiptoed around specifics of the civil settlements during Ray’s criminal trial because those involved were bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss it. At one point, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk suggested that by settling the civil case, Ray was admitting fault for the deaths. Ray’s attorneys quickly denied that; the settlement includes no admission of guilt.” More lawsuits against Ray are pending.
• For those who missed, religion journalism criticism site Get Religion weighed in on the recent Village Voice Dan Halloran piece. Quote: “I don’t share the Village Voice’s politics in toto but this otherwise well-researched piece leaves a bad taste in the mouth solely because of the unnecessary mocking tone.” You can read my own take on this, here.
• Bloody Disgusting reports that the official trailer for Robin Hardy’s “The Wicker Tree” is now out. “The Wicker Tree” is a forthcoming companion film to the classic 1973 Pagan-themed horror film “The Wicker Man.”

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

What I love about having conversations with vibrant, intelligent, people is that you often find yourself verbalizing your beliefs in a distilled and succinct manner that may never have occurred in solitude. In this case, I was having lunch with a retired Lutheran minister, a member of my wife’s family, and our conversation turned to social justice and the Occupy movement. Specifically, we were talking about “Occupy faith” initiatives that have been springing up to support the movement, and  what the role of faith communities should be regarding outcry over economic injustice. I posited that this moment in history provided a rare opportunity for the dwindling mainline Protestant congregations, and for progressive Catholics, to provide the infrastructure, support, and moral guidance they did during the height of the civil rights era, before a confluence of political and social shifts resulted in a profound shift in our collective priorities and goals. After all, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final campaign before being assassinated was the Poor People’s Campaign (and enshrining economic justice in our constitution has been around at least since Roosevelt).

Lately I’ve been covering Pagan reactions to the Occupy movement, watching as our faith communities negotiate what our place is in this growing phenomenon. I’ve talked to Pagans directly involved in Occupy, people like T. Thorn Coyle and Glenn Turner, and I’ve listened to Starhawk speak in amazement about how the organizing ethos she’s long preached suddenly sprung forward organically to effect massive changes in a matter of months. For myself, I’ve hesitated speaking directly on Occupy, partially because I generally try to avoid being partisan at The Wild Hunt, and partially because I didn’t think I had anything to add to the existing discourse. However, I now think that I do have something to say, and if my words carry any weight with our faith communities, as some attest, then I can stay mute no longer. I think that the Occupy movement has come at a vitally important time, and if there was a time for every available voice to speak up for social justice, surely it is now. In short, we need to Occupy everything, we need to embrace a new ethos of structurally engaging with issues of economic injustice, and stop simply hoping that the problems will go away if we cut taxes, or eliminate government agencies, or raise taxes, or shop more, or vainly hope that wealth will “trickle down” and we can simply wait these hard times out. I believe in a Second Bill of Rights, in making explicit that there can be no “pursuit of happiness” in a society that does not enshrine basic fundamentals of care and humanity.

Grinding poverty isn’t an abstract in my life. My wife is an independent solo physician who’s dedicated her life to providing quality care to those who can’t normally afford it. While a percentage of her patient panel are lucky enough to have decent health insurance, many more live on the margins, are uninsured, and often haven’t had decent medical care in years. Every time I see someone demonize the flimsy reforms of “Obamacare,” a watered-down half-measure that doesn’t do nearly enough, I think of the millions who are slowly dying because they simply can’t afford good health care. Just look at the vast number of 99% narratives that talk about health care, the lack of it, or the debt incurred obtaining it. The health care industry is the wild, wild West that some libertarians dream of, where “patients rights” are purely secondary to the profit margins, and “death panels” have long existed thanks to the insurance industry. I’m not surprised that people are voicing their anger and frustration, I’m only surprised that its taken this long, and that it has managed to stay as peaceful as it has.

Several polytheistic cultures have some version of the “hospitality test.” Where a wandering god or goddess is disguised as a beggar, or a weary traveler, and seeks aid at someone’s home. The moral of these tales is to welcome all who come to your door, to practice the virtues of hospitality and charity, for the beggar you reject might be really be a god. If the divine resides within us all, if every man and woman is a star, if what’s above is truly what’s below, then we should live in a culture where no one fears losing their home, or their medical care, or should wonder where their next meal will come from. Some have said that such an ethos should be an individual mandate, and not enshrined in our government, but isn’t our government an extension of our collective will? If we are to have governments, then they must mirror what we say our ideals are, and not cater to simply “keeping the lights on.” That the Occupy movement is now occupying homes says much about how broken the collective expression of our values truly is.

There have been those who’ve spent a lot of time pointing out that the Occupy movement has feet of clay, or has lost the moral high ground due to one incident or another, but I think such arguments miss the point. This isn’t about the good behavior of every Occupier, its about what needs to happen now. We need a shift in our priorities, we need the dramatic excesses of our current capitalistic system to be reigned in, and we need justice. I think modern Pagans have much to offer the Occupy movement, and that this movement has much to teach us in return. We are, after all, part of the 99% too. I know that there will be Pagans who disagree, who’ve written off the Occupy movement in one fashion or another, but  I can no longer sit on the sidelines and pretend to have no opinion. For me, the Occupy movement is the movement I was waiting for during the anti-globalization protests of the 1990s, a true continuation of the work sparked by social justice pioneers like Dorothy Day, Gandhi, King, and  Jane Addams. Now is the time for Pagans of a like mind to envision what our social justice looks like, to craft a theological and historical framework for a future where we have a voice, because that future is happening now.

I guess what I’m saying is that we need to Occupy Paganism, and in turn, Occupy everything.