Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- Circle Sanctuary granted Ecclesiastical Endorsing Organization status
- Japan to recognise indigenous Ainu people for first time
- Appeal launched for Druid stroke victim to help him access stone circle
Read more below…
Pagan News
Circle Sanctuary granted EEO status
The Wild Hunt
In January of 2018, Circle Sanctuary, a non-profit Nature Spirituality church,gained acceptance as an endorsing organization from the Association of Professional Chaplains. In that same month, the COMISS Network (formerly the Coalition on Ministry in Specialized Settings) accepted Circle Sanctuary, joining Sacred Well Congregation, who were the first Pagan organization to have gained membership in that network…
Appeal launched for Druid stroke victim to help him access stone circle
Gazette & Herald
Terry Dobney, 70, has suffered a stroke leaving him wheelchair bound and unable to get around without help. The former biker and self-styled Keeper of the Stones who lives in West Kennett can no longer get out and about…
Pagan festival site plans in the works for Angus farm field
The Courier
Plans have come forward for a Pagan worship site on part of a farm field in rural Angus…
Paganism In Depth – A New Book
Patheos Pagan: Under The Ancient Oaks
John Beckett’s second book Paganism In Depth – A Polytheist Approach is now available for pre-orders…
Members Of Iceland’s Pagan Faith Nearly Quadruple Over Past Decade
Reykjavik Grapevine
Ásatrú, the pagan faith which honours the Norse pantheon and worldview, is currently on the rise in Iceland. So much so that members of the Ásatrú Society have nearly quadrupled in just the past ten years…
Local pagan group honors the coming of spring
Indiana Daily Student
Every six weeks, Sidney Bolam gathers with like-minded people to worship the ground beneath their feet…
Greeks Celebrate Arrival of Spring with Ancient Tradition of Martis
Greek Reporter
The ancient tradition of Martis (from which the month of March derives its name) dates back to the cults of Demeter and Persephone, which began thousands of years ago in ancient Greece…
Gillingham good witch Psychic Debbie casts a love spell for Valentines Day
KentOnline
In the hope of finding love, good witch Psychic Debbie cast a love spell on a KentOnline reporter Rachel Dixon for Valentine’s Day…
Smiting for charity with sympathetic magic: A Valentine story
The Wild Hunt
Valentine’s Day, whether people love it, hate it, or simple try to ignore it, is one of the biggest commercial holidays in the U.S…
‘Super Snow Moon’ will be the brightest moon of 2019
News Channel 5
February’s supermoon will be the second of three supermoon events set for 2019, with another one set on March 20 just hours after the spring equinox…
Witchcraft becomes a political stance — and a booming business
Religion News Service
As I went through the paces, I wondered: Was I attending a religious ritual? A guided meditation? A spell? A social club? On reflection, I realized I was being given a pitch for social activism…
‘I’m lucky to be a witch today. People accept and understand it more now’
Wales Online
Holly Cassell has been a witch for as long as she can remember…
Pillphobia, Ableism in Witchy Spaces
Patheos Pagan
For years witches and pagans were persecuted under the same ultra-religious western philosophies that demonized queer and mentally ill people. Now that metaphysicians can practice in the open, an uncomfortable dynamic has been exposed — one of witches, lightworkers and occultists policing who is deemed healthy enough to practice magic…
Witch ways: knowing your heart’s desire is modern witchcraft
The Guardian
It has a sad and misunderstood history, but witchcraft still has a role to play…
The origins of handfasting at Scottish weddings
Scotsman
Handfasting has become a pretty ceremonial addition to modern weddings in Scotland but in the past it was the union of choice for those wanting to test the true compatibility of their love…
Shinto News
Thousands of nearly-nude men caper in traditional Japan Naked Festival
Mail Online
Around 9,000 men dressed in only loincloths gathered in Okayama, Japan to take part in the annual naked festival…
Students snap up Shiga good-luck charms
The Japan News
With the main entrance exam season just around the corner, unique good-luck charms are increasingly popular at temples and shrines in Shiga Prefecture…
Rare Hina dolls from Tohoku go on display at Tokyo hotel
The Asahi Shimbun
With Hina Matsuri (Girls’ Day) just around the corner, Hotel Gajoen Tokyo in the capital’s Meguro Ward is offering visitors a rare look at memories from the special day from Aomori, Akita and Yamagata prefectures…
Other News
Japan to recognize indigenous Ainu people for first time
Japan Today
The Japanese government introduced a bill Friday to recognize the country’s ethnic Ainu minority as an “indigenous” people for the first time, after decades of discrimination against the group…
Stunningly preserved fresco of Narcissus discovered in Pompeii
The Guardian
Archaeologists working in a richly decorated house in ancient Pompeii have discovered a stunningly preserved fresco depicting the mythological hunter Narcissus enraptured by his own reflection in a pool of water…
Hundreds of historic anti-witch marks discovered in Nottinghamshire cave
The Independent
Experts say the scrawls – until recently thought to be graffiti – are actually the work of locals who once believed the ominous deep openings were a gateway to the underworld…
Prehistoric Sailors May Be Responsible for Stonehenge, Other Megaliths
Live Science
Hunter-gatherers in northwestern France might have first created these megaliths around 7,000 years ago and spread them throughout Europe…
Honoring Serpent Mound
The Times Gazette
While to some, the Serpent Mound near Peebles is seen as simply a unique earthwork, to others, it is a place of rebirth and mystical energy, a place that should be honored and revered…
New York museum to return prized coffin as it was stolen
Irish Times
Museum officials said that they bought the object from an art dealer in Paris in 2017 and were fooled by a phony provenance that made it seem as if the coffin had been legitimately exported decades ago…
Enjoy a spell as witch expert at folk museum
The Scarborough News
Ryedale Folk Museum is looking for a new volunteer to take on the role of its resident witch…
The Truth About the Connection Between Valentine’s Day and the Ancient Roman Festival of Lupercalia
Time
Long before Valentine’s Day was celebrated, a festival that had nothing to do with love took place around the same time of the year. It was called Lupercalia, and it occurred on February 15 each year in ancient Rome…
Here’s what animal sacrifices in Rome have to do with Valentine’s Day
East Bay Times
We celebrate Valentine’s Day with flowers and chocolate but it began as a pagan ritual for purification and fertility with the sacrifice of animals…
Cherubic Cupid Is Everywhere on Valentine’s Day. Here’s Why That Famous Embodiment of Desire Is a Child
Time
Despite his infant form, that baby, widely known these days as Cupid, began his mythological life as a man who had more power than any god…
Pharaonic celebrations of Valentine’s Day
Egypt Today
The ancient Egyptians were the first to present flowers to their wives on the 282 annual celebrations known to the ancient Egyptians, according to a recent historical study by Director of the Gharabli Center for Research and Development of Egyptian Women, Shirin Gharabli…
Haiti’s explosive Rite of Spring: from pagan Russia to vodou ritual
The Guardian
When Jeanguy Saintus first saw Stravinsky’s Rite, he was reminded of his religion’s initiation ceremonies. Now, he has created his own spirited version of the ballet…
Kyōgen actor Nomura Man and two noh actors honored with French Order of Arts and Letters
The Japan Times
Nomura, 89, received the rank of officer, the second of the award’s three degrees, while noh actors Umewaka Minoru, 70, and Asami Masakuni, 77, were made knights, the third degree…
The Complex Role Faith Played for Incarcerated Japanese-Americans During World War II
Smithsonian
Smithsonian curator of religion Peter Manseau weighs in on a history that must be told…
Japan’s temples turn to social media, video streaming and apps to lure visitors
Japan Times
Temples across the country, including in the Chugoku region, are increasingly turning to mobile apps, videos and social media to entice visitors…
Netflix’s Siempre Bruja centers a powerful black witch, for once
Vox
The new fictional series shows that black witches can be human, powerful, and the stars of their own stories…
Seeing Sakura: exploring Japan in bloom
TG Daily
The short-lived bloom of the cherry blossom embodies this principle – a stunning yet temporary presence that, at the height of its beauty, quickly vanishes…
The imam and the execution
The Wild Hunt
This past week we learned that the US Supreme Court denied the request of a man executed in Alabama to have his spiritual clergy available to him during his execution…
Kenya: Kwale woman, 70, hacked to death over sorcery claims
Daily Nation
A 70-year-old woman has been lynched in Magongoni village, Kwale County, on suspicion that she was practising witchcraft…
Nigeria: Two kids who were rescued 5 years ago after being branded witches show off transformation
Legit
The kids were rescued from the bush where someone had tried to burn them alive…
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