• Back in October I wrote about Christian talk-radio host Janet Mefferd’s “Gay Pagan Hysteria,” criticizing her for comments about “pagans” wanting to “wipe out Christianity.” It seems my criticisms actually caught the eye of Ms. Mefferd herself, as she dedicated some time in November to discuss modern Paganism and the “ideology” of “paganism” with Peter Jones, editor of “On Global Wizardry: Techniques of Pagan Spirituality and a Christian Response”. How can I tell that she was reading The Wild Hunt? Because she directly quotes a guest-post by T. Thorn Coyle in the program, to which Thorn replied that “working with Jason Pitzl-Waters always brings gifts of some sort or another!” Always nice to know that some Christians are expanding their horizons by reading this blog, feel free to drop by anytime Janet!
• Anne Elizabeth Wynn at the Austin American Statesman concludes a year of visiting and experiencing various religious traditions with Unitarian Universalism and modern Paganism. Puzzled by the “confusing research” into the differences between Wicca and Paganism, Wynn enlists the help of local Pagans Jax and GG (aka The Pagan Princesses). On Paganism, GG says that it “is not focused on life after death or on salvation or fear of damnation. Accountability is now, with your friends and family.” You can find out more about Wynn’s spiritual journey, here.
• The Deccan Herald looks at the traditional Mata ni Pachedi, a hand-painted cloth that honors the mother goddess. You can see some examples of Mata ni Pachedi, here and here.
• At Religion Dispatches Louis A.Ruprecht follows up his recent essay on Saturnalia with one on the differences (and conflations) between Cronus (Saturn) and Chronus (Time).  Quote: “The Roman poet Horace famously quipped that “Captive Greece had conquered her conqueror,” as a way to describe the newfound Roman fascination with Greek mythology in the last century before the Common Era. But the conqueror was still a conqueror, so the later Romans felt free to make Greek myths over in Latin dress.”
• The SexIs blog looks at  sacred intimacy, prostitution, and Tantra in the wake of the Phoenix Goddess Temple arrests (link can be somewhat NSFW, depending on where you work). Quote: “Were their ministrations quid pro quo sex for hire, or were these ‘sacred priestesses’ engaged in the re-creation of an ancient practice of ritualized sex for spiritual healing? Is the answer to that question somewhere in between? How does it matter to our overall understanding of the curative role of sex or the need to heal traumas, sexual or otherwise?” An interesting and thoughtful meditation on the various perspectives.
• A prosecutor in Siberia’s call to ban the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s most holy texts, sparked an international outcry recently. Embarrassed by the official’s actions a Russian court rejected the proposed ban, and Russia’s Foreign Ministry went on damage control. Quote: “I repeat this is not about the book per se, but about the unsuccessful translation and the preface written by the author.” This is just the latest incident in the abuse of Russia’s laws against extremism, which local officials have been using to crack down on Russian Pagans and other minority faiths (like the Jehovah’s Witnesses) that the Russian Orthodox Church disapprove of. Expect to see more of this in years to come.
• Does Ron Paul have a controversial Dominionist pastor problem? Not anymore!
• SFist provides cosmic proof that Oakland mayor Jean Quan bungled the handling of Occupy Oakland.
• Prayer warriors explicitly target the separation of Church and State.
• Unsurprisingly, several high-profile young adult authors hated, hated, hated the terrible, no-good, film adaptation of Susan Cooper’s classic book “The Dark Is Rising.” Quote from “Wicked” author Gregory Maguire: “I am told that the movie based on “The Dark Is Rising” is pretty lousy; the novelist, Susan Cooper, begged me not to see it, and out of long-standing friendship I have obeyed her.” The book, however, remains excellent, do seek it out.

That’s it for now! Happy 2012 everyone! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

A message of "Die Heathens" left at the site.

“The Kalends of September proved long and full, and now another Kalends comes upon us.  The Ides (13 Sept) celebrates the anniversary of the dedication of the Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva atop the Capitoline Hill of Rome. It is therefore especially sad to learn that the Temple of Jupiter Perennus that is being built for our community in Poltava, Ukraine, was attacked last Monday night by a group of Orthodox Christians. Our chief priest of Jupiter, the Flamen Dialis Marcus Corvus was injured while defending the altar of Jupiter and has been hospitalized. This comes after news that another Christian band attacked a Romuva sanctuary in Lithuania. Even here in Ohio, some years ago, Christians attacked a sanctuary that was erected by a CUUPS group on the grounds of a Unitarian church in Fairlawn, a suburb of Akron.   While sad to hear such events continue today, it is no shock to learn of them. Not when ministers like John Hagey preach that “Tolerance is a sin,” when Pat Robertson, among others, blamed the 9/11 attacks on pagans, or when Rev. Billingsly, the former minister of the Akron Baptist Temple, once preached from the pulpit to his congregation that they ought to burn pagans at the stake.  Such is the face of the “New Christianity” that we are met with each day, and now it has touched my friend Corvus and his family.”

The next day, the Cultus Deorum Romanorum blog posted photos of the desecration, and Kenaz Filan pointed out that this isn’t an isolated incident in the Ukraine.

“Despicable as this crime is, it’s not the first such attack in Poltava.  On April 13, 2002, some 50 young men leaving a soccer game attacked a nearby synagogue:  hurling stones and yelling “Kill the Jews,” they broke some twenty windows and beat up two people, one the son of Kiev’s chief rabbi. In July 2008 a Holocaust memorial was smeared with paint and anti-Semitic graffiti.   And in October 2001 a Roma family’s house was set afire: five people died in the conflagration, including a six-year old girl and three-year old boy.  The Poltava police showed little interest in finding the responsible parties, which is unsurprising since a Poltava police officer allegedly led the assailants.”

Filan also points out that Pagan groups in the Ukraine aren’t completely blameless, and that some nationalistic strains of Paganism in that country have engaged in attacks on Orthodox churches. Still, the deeds of some Pagan groups in the Ukraine do not excuse violence towards any or all Pagans by Orthodox Christian mobs. At his personal blog, P. Sufenas Virius Lupus said he was “horrified”, but not surprised at this incident.

“With the way worldwide Christianity is progressing at present, particularly in some areas that don’t have the same views on religious liberty that the U.S. supposedly enshrines in its highest laws of the land, insecure Christians with something to prove (mostly to themselves, which is truly sad) feel the need to lash out at others. May their vandalism and intolerance be met with redoubled efforts on the part of the Flamen and his associates to honor their gods in the face of adversity, and may all of the gods of healing (perhaps including Ares) assist him in his recovery.”

You can find more commentary from a variety of Pagans and polytheists at Sannion’s blog as well. For those wanting to donate toward the rebuilding of what was destroyed, you can donate here.

In Other News:

• Star Foster notes the passing of Lord Merlin (aka David John White), an elder high priest of the Ravenwood tradition for almost three decades. Lord Merlin was the longtime consort and companion of Lady Sintana, who passed away a year ago. Foster also makes note of the fact that Lord Merlin was gay, and worries that Craft secrecy would mean that his identity as a gay many might be erased from history by future scholars and historians. A memorial festival is being held later this month.
• Andrew Bowen at Project Conversion (now hosted by Beliefnet) is now starting his month living and practicing as a Wiccan. So far he has made an introductory post, a post about making his altar and altar tools, and a bad experience he had with some from-the-book “shamanism” he engaged with in 2003. Star Foster isn’t exactly pleased with how Bowen is handling things so-far, though Bowen protests that he is engaged for the right reasons, and wants to bring more understanding of Wicca to the masses. I’m personally withholding judgment until the month is over, though I do think religion-hopping like this is problematic even under the best and most well-meaning circumstances.
• Now that Amanda Knox has been acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher on appeal, more than a few have been noting the ties to “Satanic panic” that marred the original conviction. However, a bizarre editorial from Brendan O’Neill in The Telegraph says that the Satanic panics were started by feminists, not Christians, using one whole data point (and Oprah) to feed his narrative. In truth, this moral panic incubated, at least in the United States, in Christian churches, not feminist gatherings. The textual evidence for this is so pervasive that I can only think that O’Neill has an ax to grind.
• As I’ve reported previously, there has been much discussion over structural improvements to the area around Stonehenge, especially as the Olympics are coming to London in 2012. A public inquiry into improvements, and the closing of roads nearby, has just finished. While the inquiry seems to be recommending less traffic near Stonehenge, this has met with opposition from controversial Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon (no, not that Arthur Pendragon), who claims seeing the heritage site from the road is a “human right”. Quote: “We will be robust against any such change; other groups may procrastinate or demonstrate but we will leave no stone unturned. We have fought long and hard for what little rights we have in and around Stonehenge and we will not give them up lightly. We will not go quietly into the night.” It remains to be seen what improvement, if any, gets started before the Olympics are under way.

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

• Elysia Gallo at Llewellyn showcases the latest addition to the Pagan convention circuit, Paganicon, held on March 25th-27th in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The guest of honor this inaugural year is John Michael Greer, Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America.
• Over at The Revealer Jack Downy suffers through all 12 parts of the Christian anti-environmentalist opus “Resisting the Green Dragon,” where he learns that “Paganism, atheism, deep ecology, pantheism, panentheism (thought of as a sort of gateway drug for backsliding soon-to-be-environmentalist Christians), and animism are all interchangeable spiritual orientations.” For more on the “Green Dragon” see my posts here, and here.
• The Maetreum of Cybele responds to the recent New York Times profile of their multi-year battle with the Town of Catskill over religious property tax exemptions, noting that the town’s legal councel had indeed questioned the legitimacy of their religion despite protests to the contrary. For tips on how to help, see here.
• Jim Towey, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives (now the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships) during the George W. Bush era has been named president of the traditionalist-minded Ave Maria University, a culturally and theologically conservative private school founded by Tom Monaghan (of Domino’s Pizza fame). Towey was made (in)famous to modern Pagans for his 2003 comment that “fringe” religions like Paganism aren’t predisposed toward charity, and that he’d never encountered a Pagan group that cared for the poor.
• The Associated Press covers the Unitarian Universalist Association’s “National Standing on the Side of Love Day.” An event inspired by the 2008 shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, an attack that was motivated by the hatred of liberal and Democratic policies. Events will be held this Sunday and Monday. FAQ for those interested in learning more or participating.
• M. Macha Nightmare remembers and honors former coven sister Bone Blossom (Ardath Elizabeth Saunders Stanford), a member of the Holy Terrors coven (along with Sophia Sparks and Cerridwen Fallingstar) and founder of Ouroborous Isis Gnosis coven, who crossed the veil two days ago.
• TheoFantastique Podcast, Vol. 2, no. 1 features a special emphasis on exorcism film “The Rite,” with contributions from Douglas Cowan (“Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen”), Paul Meehan (“Horror Noir: Where Cinema’s Dark Sisters Meet”), and Scott Poole (“Satan in America: The Devil We Know”). For more on “The Rite” and the priest who inspired it, see my post, here.
• British actor, mixed-martial-artist, and reality show contestant Alex Reid went to Stonehenge recently to “find peace and draw energy from the earth,” after a public breakup with wife Katie Price. Reid reportedly donned a “druid-style hood” for this process.
• Belgorod province in Russia is urging bans on Halloween and Valentine’s day as “measures to provide for spiritual security,” an effort blessed by the local Russian Orthodox Bishop. The Russian Orthodox Church has been getting increasingly political and heavy-handed in its efforts to control the religious destiny of Russia.
• Will drumming sessions help heal the vandalised Holy Thorn in Glastonbury?
• More testimony in the alleged Thelemic pedophile cult case.
• Can a Witch help the Cleveland Cavaliers win?
• Kali gets a credit card.

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.

• Suhag Shukla from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) discusses the problem of “aggressive and predatory proselytization” by various Christian organizations, calling it “a form of violence.”
• Paul Devlin draws his Dumezil, and discusses the mythic resonances of the Coen brothers adaptation of “True Grit” for Slate.com
• Also at Slate.com, Simon Schama discusses the need to preserve Egypt’s cultural heritage during the revolution.
• More commentary on the (previously mentioned) Catholic anti-Pagan tract “Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers”: AoLNews, Death+Taxes, Daily Mail (whoops, sorry, don’t link to them anymore) and my favorite from Dead, Mad, or a Poet.
• English professor and “ordained interfaith minister” with a Buddhist background is apparently an expert on Vodou and Santeria, enough of an expert to claim a bag of animal parts buried in a cemetery is a “sign of aggression” and a “bastardized form of Voodoo, Santeria and Black Magic,” an assertion that isn’t convincing the cemetery director. President of the National African Religion Congress in Philadelphia says it might be Palo, but not Santeria or Vodou.
• The Russian Orthodox Church is allowing clergy to enter politics in “certain cases.” What kind of cases? “In cases where the Church encounters hostility from other faiths and factions.” This was not elaborated on.
• Catholic exorcist booster, and anti-Pagan paranoiac, Father Thomas Euteneuer is embroiled in a scandal over having sexual relations (or as he put it, a “moral failing”) with a female client he was allegedly performing an exorcism on. His official statement can be found, here. Devotees are circling the wagons. Commentary from The Daily Beast.
• A Hatian Vodou priest in New Zealand defends his faith.
• Last week a militant animal rights activist in Florida decided that Santeria was going to be his next target, using a series of (sans-context) photos of abused or dead animals to bolster his case, claiming that Santeros torture dogs and that practitioners revel in drawing out the torture of animals. This week Oba Ernesto Pichardo (who won the famous SCOTUS case) issued a statement denying Santeria tortures animals, and that actions like this could spur a “hate crime” against his congregation. As this story continues to develop, I’ll most likely devote a separate post to it.
• Is Astrology keeping us down?
• Amazing photo essay of Vodou in Haiti.
• Excerpt from the excellent history of acid and psychedelic folk “Seasons They Change.” It’s on my nightstand as we speak.

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.

“… he reserved his strongest words for Europe, where the Church says it is under assault by some national governments and European institutions over issues such as gay marriage, abortion and the use of Christian religious symbols in public places. [...] The Pope put what the Vatican has termed “aggressive secularism”, such as gay marriage and restrictions on religious symbols such as crucifixes, nativity scenes and other traditions, on the same level as religious fanaticism. [...] “It should be clear that religious fundamentalism and secularism are alike in that both represent extreme forms of a rejection of legitimate pluralism and the principle of secularity.”

That Benedict would put gay marriage on the same plane as terrorism says a lot about how much a post-Christian Europe, specifically a post-Catholic Europe, scares him. Confusing a slip from utter social dominance with persecution and prejudice. Meanwhile, in Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church, in alliance with the government, is using laws against “extremism” to target religious minorities.

When armed Russian security officers forced their way into Alexander Kalistratov’s home, he hardly imagined they were after his books. The local leader of a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Siberia now faces up to two years in prison if found guilty this week of inciting religious hatred for distributing literature about his beliefs. [...] In the case against Kalistratov, activists say local authorities are really aiming at cracking down on groups that are frowned upon by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Nor are Jehovah’s Witnesses the only group to feel the sting of this deepening collusion between church and state, Pagan groups in Russia, including the Mari Traditional Faith, are increasingly finding themselves accused of extremism for even mild criticisms of Christianity.

In response to an appeal by the local state prosecutor, Yoshkar-Ola Municipal Court found Vitaly Tanakov guilty of religious and ethnic hatred in 2006, sentencing him to 120 hours’ forced labour. In 2009, Mari El Supreme Court ruled that his leaflet – “A Priest Speaks” – contained religious and other extremism. It is now banned throughout Russia.

Peoples influenced by the Bible and Koran “have lost harmony between the individual and the people,” argues Tanakov, in what is actually one of only a few references to other faiths in his leaflet. “Morality has gone to seed, there is no pity, charity, mutual aid; everyone and everything are infected by falsehood.” By contrast, he boasts, the Mari traditional faith will be “in demand by the whole world for many millennia.”

One can only wonder what Benedict thinks of his Orthodox counterparts in Russia, does he envy them their power? Does he wish he could “suggest” raids on “secularists” and religious minorities that displease him? Does he long for a time when heads of state hung on his words and depended on the Church for social control? It seems obvious to those who are religious minorities that his attack on secularism is really an attack on the freedoms of non-Christians to live without the shadow of the Catholic Church hanging over every aspect of their lives. Why else would he care about crosses in the public square, or if gay couple were allowed to marry? “Christianophobia” is about control, the kind of control the Russian Orthodox Church seems to be enjoying once again in post-Soviet Russia.

In response to an appeal by the local state prosecutor, Yoshkar-Ola Municipal Court found Vitaly Tanakov guilty of religious and ethnic hatred in 2006, sentencing him to 120 hours’ forced labour. In 2009, Mari El Supreme Court ruled that his leaflet – “A Priest Speaks” – contained religious and other extremism. It is now banned throughout Russia.

Peoples influenced by the Bible and Koran “have lost harmony between the individual and the people,” argues Tanakov, in what is actually one of only a few references to other faiths in his leaflet. “Morality has gone to seed, there is no pity, charity, mutual aid; everyone and everything are infected by falsehood.” By contrast, he boasts, the Mari traditional faith will be “in demand by the whole world for many millennia.”

There are growing claims that Russia’s controversial anti-extremism law is being used to persecute and suppress religious minorities in the formerly communist nation (with even more restrictive anti-religious passages being proposed). Some fear that a Russian government and Russian Orthodox alliance is partially to blame for growing tensions and hostilities towards resurgent forms of Paganism in Russia. A Mari text mildly critical of Christianity and Islam being labeled as “extremist”, along with several other incidents, paints a grim picture. Some have even considered seeking asylum in the West.

Vitaly Tanakov, the controversial author of “A Priest Speaks” labeled “extremist” for writing lines like: “you have felled a tree, you have destroyed a living being”, is now looking outside of Russia for help to fight these persecutions, and wants to reach out to other Pagan and indigenous faith traditions.

A first step, proposes Tanakov, would be an international symposium of peoples true to the Old Religion. He would certainly invite the Native Americans, and is somewhat impressed by the Druids’ ceremonies at Stonehenge, “although they don’t yet know what they’re doing, it’s just improvisation.” Mari El’s most notorious kart squints knowingly: “With our unbroken traditions, we have something to tell them.”

One wonders if there’s a Mari representative at the ongoing World Congress of Ethnic Religions in Italy? Can indigenous traditions and revived Paganisms truly gather in a global symposium outside the purview and sponsorship of large events like the Parliament of the World’s Religions? Can cultural and theological differences be overcome in order to work on a shared political agenda? These remain open questions, but I’ve seen a new and fragile openness from all sides towards dialog on areas of mutual interest, hopefully it can bear fruit for all sides.

For more on the Mari people and their traditional religion, check out the MariUver blog (particularly this post).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4FEeNhalMM

“There are about 80 or 90 cults which are well known and active in at least several provinces of Russia. But if we are talking about local cults that act within one town, or one province or one area of a town, then those can be counted in the thousands,” says cult expert Aleksandr Dvorkin.

But while the law seems aimed at news-making apocalyptic “doomsday” cults and groups that use aggressive missionary techniques, many fear that the changes, if enacted, will eventually be used to crack down on any faith that doesn’t meet with the approval of a post-Communist government that’s entering into an ever tighter symbiosis with the  Russian Orthodox Church.

“The Moscow Patriarchate, the policy-making body of the Russian Orthodox Church, now acts as President Putin’s agent in extending his control over all sectors of society. And since Dmitri Medvedev, Putin’s anointed successor, is also a practising member of the Orthodox Church, no change in that relationship seems imminent.”

As tensions mount between Russian Pagan groups and the Russian Orthodox Church, would these laws, if passed, be used to crack down on all Pagans, using the pretext of a violent and criminal minority to restrict them? It raises the serious question: who’s a cult in Russia? Who, exactly, would get to make that distinction?