• The Hellenic Council YSEE of America has sent out a press release criticizing an exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center of New York entitled “Transition to Christianity.” According to YSEE the exhibition’s use of the term “pagan” to describe Hellenic religion is demeaning, and blasts the “ridiculous propaganda” that “attempts to hide the crimes that the Christians committed when they got into a position of power.” Quote: “…the exhibition at the Onassis Center and its message is neither new, nor strange.  It is something that we experience on a daily basis through the continuing efforts of the theocratic institutions of the Christian church to propagate the lies about the so-called transition as a natural social evolution.” I’ve posted the entire press release, here.
• Vampire Community News (VCN) reports that retired law enforcement officer and “occult crimes expert” Don Rimer passed away on Saturday after suffering a massive stroke. Rimer had become famous, or perhaps more accurately, infamous, for his information on the occult, cults, and various other subcultures, given to law enforcement professionals, journalists, and local communities. Mr. Rimer and I had very vocal disagreements about the “expert” advice he gave, as did many others. That said, I don’t believe in speaking ill of the recently deceased, and wish his family peace in the coming days.
• In the wake of the alleged “open marriage” discussion between presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and his second wife  Marianne Gingrich, several news outlets have been opining on, and highlighting voices from, non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships. One of these pieces, from Salon.com, is written by Sierra Black, who’s in a successful multiple-partner polyamorous relationship, and also happens to be a Pagan. Quote: “It takes a lot of emotional energy, and an ongoing commitment to complexity, to make those relationships work. But I wouldn’t do it any other way.” You can follow Sierra Black’s writings at her blog, ChildWild.
• Speaking of Newt, does his South Carolina win mean that his anointing is working?
• Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of The Witches’ Voice (on Facebook), arguably the most influential web site within modern Paganism since the Internet launched. My thanks to Wren Walker, Fritz Jung, Peg Aloi, and Diotima Mantineia for their hard work and perseverance. If it wasn’t for Witchvox and Wren’s Nest I sincerely doubt The Wild Hunt would be around today. Pagans of all stripes should thank them for their massive contributions in building today’s Pagan media.
• A happy anniversary to the blog Boing Boing as well, the directory of wonderful things turns 12 today. If you haven’t already, check out their recent week-long tribute to Robert Anton Wilson.
• Chas Clifton shares some links to new publications of note, including the first issue of Goddess Thealogy: An International Journal for the Study of the Divine Feminine, and a collection of videos and PDFs from the “Demons at the Academy” session at the American Academy of Religion’s recent Annual Meeting.
• Ski resorts have been seeking help from Native American tribal Nations to bring snow, and it seems to be working wonders. Quote: “While Seattle residents are clearly not loving the snow storm, the mountains where members of the Southern and Northern Ute Indian Tribes, Pauite, Shoshone and Washoe tribes visited couldn’t be happier.”
• At her blog, T. Thorn Coyle’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day post explores nonviolence, satyagraha, and “diversity of tactics” within the Occupy movement. Quote: “Occupy has also provided inspiration. As long as Occupy Activists continue to choose smart tactics that bring communities together to demand a more just society, it will continue to be a success and we can continue to work in various ways to build a society based on mutual respect, creativity, love, and justice. As long as some Occupy Activists continue to choose to smash windows, light fires, and hurl bottles in small skirmishes with police on the streets after dark, the movement runs the risk of alienating the rest of the community that brought out 10,000 people to shut down the Port of Oakland in November.”
• Here at Patheos, Gus diZerega talks about monism, and why it’s superior to monotheism, while P. Sufenas Virius Lupus critiques monism, and notes that he does “not think that the undeniable differences in thought, theology, and practice of a great many religions all ultimately find reconciliation in an “Ultimate” or a “Oneness” that is at the heart of the universe and that is the source of all things.”
• In a final note, I’m going to be travelling to some events in the very near future! I’ll be at FaerieCon West in Seattle the weekend of February 10th, PantheaCon the following weekend, and I’ll be DJing and MC-ing at the brand-new Pagan music and dance festival Hexenfest on March 9th in the Bay Area. If you’re going to be at any of these, be sure to say “hi”!

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.

Today, I’m personally immersed into several scheduled events, I’m coordinating a special meet-and-greet for the Pagan Newswire Collective, participating in a panel on Pagans in the media led by journalist and podcaster Devin Hunter, and after a special screening of “American Mystic”, I will be conducting a Q&A  with director Alex Mar, Morpheus Ravenna, and members of Stone City Pagan Sanctuary. I’m working with the PantheaCon media staff to get as much recorded for posterity as I can, and plan to share as much audio and video here as I’m able.

Before I end this update from the convention, I wanted to share a few links of note that I’m not able to give my full attention to, but hope to explore in greater depth once I return to civilization. First, John W. Morehead, takes on questionable “occult expert” Don Rimer in a lengthy post that examines Rimer’s materials and his problematic attitudes towards the “occult”.

“After my exchanges with Mr. Rimer I thought I would solicit feedback from academic colleagues of mine who specialize in these areas, as well as representatives from the religious communities and identity subcultures who are knowledgeable about the issues, and Rimer’s views on the matter. Without exception, everyone confirmed my suspicions. In fact, while Rimer has had some contact with those in the Pagan community, I could not track down anyone willing to agree that he accurately describes Paganism, and his claims about learning from vampires may be limited to magazine articles and random conversations at vampire clubs as well as newspaper articles on alleged “vampire killings,” hardly the stuff of good ethnographic research and scholarly study.”

You can read all of my past posts regarding Rimer, here. Rest assured that I’ll be coming back to this particular issue.

Next, the Phoenix New Times takes and in-depth look at the controversial Phoenix Goddess Temple, where controversy over whether it’s a legitimate religious order, or simply a front for sexual services rages amongst the local community.

“Practitioners at this self-styled church near 24th Street and Thomas Road say that what they do is sacred work to balance energy and heal people, and Clayton really seems to believe it — at least enough to let New Times watch two of his all-too-revealing sessions.”

I’ve covered this temple before, and I really wish I had the time to sit down and truly explore the issues raised here, so consider this link a place-holder for a longer post later, as I think some important, and potentially problematic, issues and being played out.

Finally, check out this trailer for a new documentary “Kypris - The Aphrodite of Cyprus Revealed,” about 12 women in Cyprus trying to “revive the ancient art of the frame drum, sacred to the worship of Aphrodite.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY3urLXuZvk

To find out more, and help support this documentary, check out their web site. As I hear more on this, I’ll be sure to share it.

That’s all I have time for, so have a great day, and I’ll update as I can!

Doctor Gonzales Speaks Regarding Native Blessing: Following the wave of criticism from conservative pundits regarding a traditional Native blessing given at a memorial service for those killed and injured in the horrific shooting in Tuscon, Arizona last week, Dr. Carlos Gonzales, the Pascua Yaqui Indian who gave the blessing, talks to CNS News to give some context.

“I was asked by the university to give a traditional Native American blessing,” Gonzales told CNSNews.com late Thursday. “This is the type of blessing that we give at memorial services to open up a ceremony. A medicine man will do a variation of it to open up a pow-wow. It’s basically a recognition of the powers of the seven directions and how they influence human beings-and how each direction has a certain characteristic; that when you pray to that direction, you ask for the inspiration that comes from that direction.”

Gonzales noted that the blessing should not be confused with religion, that is was “more of a way of appreciating spirituality,” and the Pascua Yaqui Indians have been predominately Catholic for generations now.

“I’m Yaqui and Yaquis have been Roman Catholics since 1650. We were one of the first tribes in Mexico to actually peacefully absorb Catholicism; however we have always practiced Catholicism in our own unique manner, incorporating traditional beliefs, and so I grew up as a Roman Catholic with a Yaqui variation. In reality, I’m Catholic, but the spirituality I’ve come across with traditional healers is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen, and it’s a way of approaching people and it’s an additional way of healing that has actually helped me to be a better family doc.”

Sadly, even with this disclaimer firmly in place, many in the comments of the article expressed distaste for the Yaqui’s syncretism, with some calling the blessing “demonic.” Proving that any dialog and understanding between Western Christian and indigenous forms of religious expression has a long way to go. As for the wave of criticism towards Gonzales from various pundits, only one has recanted and apologized.  Perhaps satirist John Stewart, as always, has the final word on all this.

The Savage Fury of Savage: While some were paying close attention to the recent memorial service, others are still trying to pin Tuscon assassin Jared Lee Loughner into an easy-to-understand political left-right narrative. Conservatives and Tea Party groups have been arguing that they were incorrectly blamed by the Left for inspiring Loughner’s violence, but right-wing pundits have their own narratives of blame out in full force. This isn’t anything new in our world of divisive partisan politics, but I mention it now because one popular conservative talk-radio host, Michael Savage, who boasts an audience of 8 to 10 million listeners, making it the 3rd most listened to radio talk show in the country, has seemingly bought into the “occult” angle first brought up by the NY Daily News.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnUvvrrKYI

“The man was an occultist, of course that didn’t make it into your local paper. Your going to start talking about banning handguns why not just ban the occult in America? Why don’t we get congressmen talking about banning Wicca in the Army? Banning the occult in America. I mean, did you see what came out today about the shooter? I’m sure you haven’t because your friends at CNN, NBC, and Fox News haven’t shown it to you. The man was a stone-hearted devil worshipper. Take a look at the thing [Gives web site information.] look at the altar in the shooter’s backyard [...] he’s not a troubled young man, he’s a devil-worshipping left-wing pot-head.”

You can listen to the whole excerpt if you want, but lower the volume, and be prepared for a weird pot-Hashshashin-assassin narrative, and the usual “Obama is a Marxist” stuff. I usually ignore talk radio, but when someone with an 8-10 million person strong megaphone starts talking about banning Wicca or the occult in the United States, even rhetorically, it can have a dramatic effect on the lives of modern Pagans. Because, and Savage may not know this, but people really did try to ban Wiccans from the Army. It isn’t mere inflated rhetoric, this stuff really happened to us. The players, largely unrepentant. Savage, of course, is free to fling his various conspiracy theories and partisan bromides wherever he pleases, but dragging Wicca and “the occult” into the narrative to shove Loughner into a “left” narrative is playing with fire.

The Troubling Persistence of “Occult Crime” Experts: As if on cue, what with terms like “occult” and “New Age” being thrown around in the Tuscon shooting case, our old friend, “international expert on occult crime” Dom Rimer rises to the surface once more.

Trademarking the Gods: Video game company Nintendo just received permission from the Japanese Patent Office to trademark the name “Amaterasu” in relation to video games.

And you thought it was bad when Nintendo filed to trademark the phrase “It’s on like Donkey Kong.” The Japanese Patent Office recently revealed that Nintendo trademarked the kanji “Amaterasu” as well as the katakana form in relation to video games. ”Amaterasu” certainly seems to refer to the Shinto goddess, but the full name for the deity is Amaterasu Omikami. This name was not trademarked, as it’s unlikely that the Japanese Patent Office would allow Nintendo to copyright an actual god or goddess.

While this may seem like no big deal to some, it could set a troubling precedent. If corporations and private businesses start grabbing trademarks to the names of deities within different contexts, what will that mean for the religions that worship and revere those figures? This is especially true as video games, art, and social interactions start to blur within contexts like Second Life. If someone can trademark a god’s name in one context, there’s little to stop them from doing it in others.

The Birth of Freedom: City Journal features an essay by Andre Glucksmann concerning the birth of the idea of freedom, and the differences between the “epic freedom” of Hegel or Marx and the “tragic freedom” of Athens and Socrates. Glucksmann notes that polytheism creates a more “radical” idea of freedom than most monotheistic conceptions.

With the Athenians, however—and this is an important difference—the gods are as imperfect as human beings, and the divine words are consequently doubtful and impure. In this sense, the Greek experience seems more radical than that of the monotheisms, since it presupposes no adherence to a unique word that would dominate the thought and freedom of men and women. For the Greeks, there was no way around the permanent crisis that constitutes the existence of a free human being.

Glucksmann also credits ancient Greek thinkers with providing the framework for the separation of church and state, and our modern ideas of “human rights.” The whole text is worth a look.

Telltale Signs of Santeria? What happens when you mix “occult experts” with animal parts? You get assertions that the dead animals are a “telltale sign” of Santeria.

“Don Rimer, who spent 30 years as a law enforcement officer and now provides training in the fields of ritual crimes and the occult, said the decapitated animals are telltale evidence of people who practice a faith known as Santeria. Followers brought the faith with them to the New World when they were taken from Africa during the slave trade, first establishing themselves in the Caribbean region, he said. Santeria is a blend of ancient African religion and Catholicism, Rimer said. A Utah state agency alerted Rimer to the Park City cases, he said. Rimer, who lives in Virginia Beach, Va., said the circumstances of the Park City discoveries resemble those of Santeria practices elsewhere. Rimer said people who adhere to the faith sacrifice animals and then place the carcasses close to transportation corridors like pathways, railroad tracks and streams in honor of the means slaves used to move about.”

Yes, you read that right. The expert was Don Rimer, who also happens to be an expert on Paganism, Satanic crime, and vampires. One wonders where he gets the time to become so knowledgeable when he’s so busy traveling the country giving talks. No doubt Rimer thinks his influence was positive because he asserted that animal sacrifice was legal and the alleged practitioners of Santeria meant no harm, but instead he verified the for many the idea that leaving dead bodies lying around is a normal practice for Santeria (instead of acknowledging that there could be other explanations).

“Isaac and Phaedra Bonewits are sad to announce that Real Magic School is now closed. It was a wonderful experiment but it turned out to be too much for our time commitments (and our finances) to handle. We have arranged with the Grey School of Wizardry to take transfer student s from RMS. We apologize to everyone, but especially our lifetime members, that the life time of Real Magic School was so short.”

The school, which opened for business in February 2008, had an aspirational trajectory of academic excellence and eventual accreditation. A somewhat different M.O. from the arranged transfer school, the Grey School of Wizardry, with its Harry Potter-isms and courses that equip someone to become a “Journeyman Wizard” (as opposed to the associates degrees RMS was planning to award). No doubt the current fiscal climate made this new venture difficult to sustain, it would be interesting to know how other schools (loosely) built on the Witch School model are doing.

CBS affiliate WBOC in Delmarva, Delaware reports on this Sunday’s Delmarva Pagan Pride Day, interviewing author, Wiccan elder, and event co-organizer Ivo Dominguez Jr. in the process. Too bad they also felt the need to get some “balance” by also digging up a disapproving Christian pastor.

“Still, some like Salisbury Pastor Luther Hill disagree, and say nothing positive can come out of the event.” “Pagans in the Bible usually deal with witchcraft and sorcery and those types of things,” Rev. Hill said. “But even in the Bible when that type of thing has gone on, the power of God has always been victorious over it.”

I wouldn’t mind this somewhat mindless faux-viewpoint-balance if the standard was also applied to puff coverage of local Christian events as well. Needless to say, I’m still awaiting a call regarding my opinions on upcoming Christmas celebrations.

In a final note, it’s time once again to check in with our old friend Don “internationally recognized authority on Ritual Crime and the Occult” Rimer. This time he’s making an appearance at the Oklahoma Gang Investigators Association seminar to talk about Satanic and vampire-related crime.

“Guest speaker Don Rimer spent over three decades as police officer in Virginia, where he discovered crimes involving cult activity.  Satanists committed some of these crimes, but some culprits acted as vampires … Rimer says movies like “Blade” and “Twilight” made vampirism cool, and people commit themselves to being vampires.  Rimer shows the official vampire bible, and there are sanguine who legally practice the ritualist consumption of human blood by drinking each other’s.”

This time the paper also includes his disclaimer that Wiccans and Pagans are no more likely to be criminals than any other citizen, but that kindness is somewhat offset by the fact that attendees to Rimer’s lectures, like Lawton Police Gang Investigator, Tiff Poff, apparently believe that ” appearance is in beginning stages, and they don’t realize it leads to violence, and murder, and suicide and things like that”. So don’t get caught dressing goth in Lawton, they may think your on the fast-track to killing people.

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

Move over Long Man of Wilmington and Cerne Abbas Giant, a mining company is carving a 400-yard goddess figure into the Northumberland landscape.

“Dubbed the “Goddess of the North”, Northumberlandia will be made from two million tonnes of earth dug out from an open cast mine in Cramlington, and tower 112ft into the northern sky. The Goddess, designed by artist Charles Jencks, will recline over the Shotton open-cast mine and form the centre piece of a new public park at the site.”

One wonders if this new addition to Britain’s landscape will, in a few hundred years, be considered an “ancient” pre-Christian survival by the locals. It will also be interesting to see if the site will become a pilgrimage place for modern Pagans and Goddess-worshippers.

The Oxford University Press blog points us to a “Meet the Author” interview with Owen Davies.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0bc4BZBt9U

Davies is the author of  “Grimoires: A History of Magic Books”, a truly interesting work that you can expect to see a full review of at this blog sometime soon.

The Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) has given awards to three Llewellyn Worldwide titles: “Faith and Magick in the Armed Forces”, by Stefani E. Barner (Best New Wiccan/Pagan Title), “Magic, Power, Language, Symbol”, by Patrick Dunn (Best New Magic Title) and “The Enchanted Oracle”, by Jessica Galbreth and Barbara Moore (Best New Divination Title).

“COVR is an organization formed by a unique group of businesses that deal in “Visionary Resources,” and who work with and support each other as independent retailers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and publishers of visionary books, music, and merchandise. For the twelfth consecutive year, COVR’s Visionary Awards were presented at the International New Age Trade Show (INATS) banquet, this year held on June 27th, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The Visionary Awards are judged by retailers and seasoned professionals, who evaluate each title based upon content, presentation, and their own knowledge of the industry.”

Congratulations to Llewellyn and the assorted authors/artists involved. The publisher won two awards at last year’s gathering. As for the The International New Age Trade Show, you may remember that I reported on their contraction due to the economy last year.

Our pal Don Rimer is hitting the newswires again, promoting his upcoming appearance on a forensics radio program.

“Talk Forensics, a new talk radio show hosted by Larry E. Daniel of Guardian Digital Forensics, is proud to announce that DON RIMER Ritual Crime & The Occult Expert will be the guest this Sunday, July 5th at 4pm eastern. Don Rimer is a retired, 33-year veteran of the Virginia Beach, Virginia Police Department. He currently serves as the Public Information officer and Chaplain for the Virginia Gang Investigators Association. He is an internationally recognized authority on Ritual Crime and the Occult. He serves as an investigator and consultant to agencies throughout the United States and Canada.”

Ah yes, an “internationally recognized authority” (recognized by whom, exactly) who mixes just enough CYA (cover your assets) disclaimers into his old-school “occult crime” scare tactics to continue booking those speaking gigs at churches and civic groups. No doubt he’ll be around soon to remind us that he has a Wiccan friend advisor who gives him books to read.

In a final note, it looks like the Vatican is going to be tightening the theological reigns on American Nuns. Prompted by Cardinal Franc Rodé, who publicly wondered if some Nuns were operating “outside” the bounds of Church doctrine, orders will be evaluated on how well they are living in “fidelity” to their order’s (and the Church’s) guidelines.

“Cardinal Levada sent a letter to the Leadership Conference saying an investigation was warranted because it appeared that the organization had done little since it was warned eight years ago that it had failed to “promote” the church’s teachings on three issues: the male-only priesthood, homosexuality and the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the means to salvation.”

U.S. Bishops have already decreed that the practice of Reiki (energy healing), which was apparently gaining quite a bit of popularity among some nuns, to be outside the bounds of Church doctrine. Will we soon see a crack-down on nuns who have shown hospitality to Goddess-groups in the past? The coming years may be some tough one for the more doctrinally liberal elements in the Catholic Church.

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

Don Rimer

“I believe that Rimer is sincere … I think that he is making some effort to properly define Wicca to selected audiences. I think that he is doing this because he knows that people like me are watching and he is concerned about liability. I don’t believe for a minute that he knows the difference between Neo-Pagan religions and Satanism. Rimer has said that he is willing to listen and learn and I will endeavor to educate him.”

After my post Rimer appeared to defend his reputation in the comments section.

“I teach parents the warning signs. If that is fear, yes I teach fear … I teach law enforcement about the rituals. If that is fear, yes I teach fear … I will continue to teach, consult, and investigate Ritual Crime as long as those crimes are committed. I provide that service to local, state, and federal agencies across the United States and Canada.”

Since then he has popped up now and then to take issue with how I report on a story.

“You have written about me before, accusing me of hating Wiccans. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Well here we go again. WAVY in Virginia reports on the “vampires” in our midst, and guess who pops up as an “expert” in all things evil and vampiric? You guessed it!

“With the advent of Twilight and TrueBlood, we’re seeing people, not just children, not just teenagers, but people are starting to take on that kind of a lifestyle,” says [Don] Rimer. “Very reminiscent of what people did when Ann Rice wrote Interview with a Vampire . Now people are playing games.  New games are coming out. There’s new merchandising that is associated with this and as long as they play their games and conduct their behavior lawfully, no one has a problem with that, but we’re having crimes associated with it.”

The text really doesn’t do justice to the sensationalistic television segment, complete with strange camera angles, spooky lighting, fog, and sound effects. Rimer goes on to depict a couple high-profile crimes as connected to the vampire craze, and inserts only the barest whisp of a disclaimer regarding the millions of people who enjoy vampire-themed media or participate in the vampire subculture/lifestyle and don’t commit horrendous crimes.

“Like in any society, we have good and evil. There are people involved in that that have no intention of committing crimes and then those who do.”

After that CYA (cover your assets) moment, he quickly veers back into how dangerous the vampire life is.

“There are people in that culture (who) believe they have the right to take human blood by whatever means necessary.  Then others are just playing a game. It’s just a game. It’s a movie, it’s a book and we just want to look that way. We’re just going to go to a club, but there’s all kinds and children getting involved in that don’t know the difference.”

Oh, and like all occult “experts”, Rimer gives the vague checklist of “warning signs”. Wearing black, writing backwards, strange new friends, “dark” make-up, and the number “7″ (which he claims is the vampiric number). The kind of list that gives parents the excuse they need to ship their children off to boarding schools, and not face that the problem could be with them, not their kids. I’m not saying that the occasional occultist loon-bat doesn’t occasionally pop a gasket and do something horrible, but these “trends” of occultic crimes are all correlation without causation (and very often have very mundane motivations behind them). In fact, many “occult” crimes could have just as easily been “crazy Christian” crimes if the troubled souls in question had picked up a Bible instead of “Twilight”. Yet you don’t see retired police officers traveling the country informing people of the hazardous effects of improper Bible-reading, giving lists of Christian “warning signs” (prays a lot, starts quoting the Bible randomly, sees demons), and intoning darkly about the dangers of unsupervised Bible study.

By linking troubled teens and isolated crimes with any vague occult angle they cand find, ritual crime experts create a comforting fantasy world of a pervasive directed evil that can be fought. It is a narrative that says “if only we can prevent our children from reading/watching media concerning vampires/werewolves/the occult then we will be safe”. But like all fantasies it isn’t true. Horrible things still happen. They happen even when you remove all troubling literature and occult-laced media from the public eye. It is a fact that the remaining “ritual crime experts” fear to engage with, because they’d be out of a job if all of this was believed to be truly random and had more to do with isolated cases of mental illness than with what movies these people watch. No doubt Don Rimer will be along in the comments shortly to tell me how wrong I am…