Pagan & Shinto News: Asatru Grows in Iceland as State Church Declines

Pagan & Shinto News: Asatru Grows in Iceland as State Church Declines October 21, 2018

Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:

  • Icelanders abandon National State Church, as Ásatrú continues to grow
  • Shinto shrine adopts cashless system to accommodate Chinese tourists
  • Massive rare Viking ship revealed by radar

Pagan News

Icelandic Pagans, Lenka Kovářová [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Icelanders abandon National State Church, as old pagan Ásatrú continues to grow
Iceland Magazine
Ásatrúarfélagið is by far the largest non-Christian congregation in Iceland, its congregation growing 8% during the first nine months of 2018…

A Catholic exorcist will battle witches trying to put a hex on Brett Kavanaugh
Quartz
A California exorcist will attempt to stop Brooklyn witches from putting a mass hex on Brett Kavanaugh…

Real-Life Witch Hunt Reveals Arizona Congresswoman Practiced ‘Feminist Witchcraft’
Observer
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), the Democratic Senate nominee in Arizona, once summoned a group of “feminist witches” called Pagan Cluster to protest the Iraq invasion and celebrate International Women’s Day…

Witches of Instagram: how social media’s Wiccans formed a ‘community not a coven’
iNews
‘In the past, knowledge of spells, herbs and curses would have been passed down by word of mouth – now we have Etsy’…

Witch trials are a feminist issue and their victims must never be forgotten
The National
“In the modern world, the witchcraft movement is about sisterhood and attuning to nature, and it’s important that anything we say about the witches of the past also respects that movement in the present”…

Atlanta Pagan Pride Day Celebrated in Decatur
Decaturish
The Atlanta event is an affiliate of the national Pagan Pride Project…

Celebrate Samhaim Festival returns to Nashua
Nashua Telegraph
The Celebrate Samhain Festival, a Celtic celebration marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, will be returning to Nashua for the 13th year in a row on Sunday…

Queer Sex Magic: How to Do LGBTQ Witchcraft in Bed
Broadly
According to professional witches, you can perform queer sex magic either with a partner or by yourself…

Shinto News

Sacred tree at Nikko Futarasan shrine. By そらみみ [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Shrine adopts cashless system to accommodate Chinese tourists
The Asahi Shimbun
Historic Nikko Futarasanjinja is moving with the times by becoming the nation’s first Shinto shrine to cater to Chinese tourists accustomed to not using cash by accepting worshipers’ offerings electronically…

Abe sends ritual offering to Yasukuni for shrine’s autumn festival
Japan Times
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering Wednesday to Yasukuni Shrine, viewed as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism by neighboring countries, on the first day of its four-day autumn festival…

Around 70 Japanese lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine
Japan Today
Around 70 Japanese lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo during its annual autumn festival on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering, shunning a visit himself…

Shugendo training
Green Shinto
Like many traditions, Shugendo (mountain asceticism) was said to be in decline in recent times, but it seems that it too is turning to foreigners and spiritual tourism as a source of reinvigoration…

“Tsukimi”: The Japanese Tradition of Autumn Moon Viewing
Nippon.com
Tsukimi means nothing more than “looking at the moon.” But the Japanese custom of holding special moon-viewing parties, in autumn in particular, dates back over a thousand years…

Religion in Japan: You can pray in both temple, shrine
IPP Media
When it comes to religion, Japan is a uniquely moderate country with the majority of its citizens belonging to either Shinto or Buddhism or both; and the two dominant faiths co-exist harmoniously…

Turning art of navel-gazing into a fully-fledged festival
Connacht Tribune
The central Japanese city of Shibukawa is home to an annual festival in honour of the humble belly button – a celebration of that part of the body which starts out as a lifeline and ends up as a portal to gather fluff off your new jumper…

Other News

Massive Rare Viking Ship Revealed by Radar
History
Five longhouses were also detected underground in the area, suggesting the site may be a Viking cemetery…

Tattoos discovered on Egypt’s 3,000-year-old female mummy
CGTN
A French archeological mission discovered several tattoos on a 3,000-year-old mummy in Upper Egypt’s monument-rich city of Luxor, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement on Wednesday…

New display at Aberdeen library explores fascinating history of ‘witches’
Evening Express
As the nights draw in and spooky costumes appear on store shelves a library is raising awareness of the “witches” of Aberdeen…

The evolution of the medieval witch – and why she’s usually a woman
The Conversation
Flying through the skies on a broomstick, the popular image of a witch is as a predominantly female figure – so much so that the costume has become the go-to Halloween outfit for women and girls alike. But where did this gendered stereotype come from?…

5 Notable Women Hanged in the Salem Witch Trials
History
An elderly widow, a beggar and a church-going woman who made a stand against the trials were among those executed…

Japan has a beautiful tradition for grieving lost pregnancies, and it helped me come to terms with my own miscarriage
Insider
It wasn’t until weeks later, when I finally got around to uploading the Japan trip photos onto my laptop, that I remembered Jizo…

“Charmed” reboot is set to debut Oct. 14
The Wild Hunt
The Power of Three is meeting the power of the reboot as Charmed returns to small screens on the CW network at 9 p.m. eastern time on Sunday Oct. 14…

Samhain: Limerick all set to host Halloween festival with family friendly events
Limerick Leader
Lumen Street Theatre has teamed up with Limerick Council and a number of other bodies to develop the Samhain festival, a free, three-day celebration of all things Halloween…

Guatemala: Swedish band banned from entering country for being “Satanic”
Freemuse
Guatemalan congress deputies approved a decree that banned the Swedish dark metal band Marduk from entering the country because of the “satanic” nature of their lyrics…

Woman accused of witchcraft is assaulted
Krugersdorp News
A woman was assaulted after a couple chased after her and accused her of witchcraft…

Man kills grandmother over witchcraft claims
News24
A Malawian man, 30, has reportedly been arrested for killing his 105 year-old grandmother over witchcraft allegations…

Marietta author chronicles history of witches in TV and film
AJC
Ever since Marietta author Heather Greene was a child, she was charmed by “The Wizard of Oz,” fascinated by the yin and yang of Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West…

10 differences between Halloween in the US and the UK
Business Insider
When it comes to Halloween, Americans and Brits each have their own way of doing things…

10 Enchanting Movies and TV Shows About Witches
Vanity Fair
Now is the time to curl up at home on a Friday night with some movies and witches’ brew…

 


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