Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- Live feed of sunrise at Stonehenge launched on Summer Solstice
- Wiccan prisoner may sue for being ‘barred from communal worship’
- Monument sacred to druids graffitied with Extinction Rebellion logo
Read more below…
Summer Solstice Coverage
Sunrise at Stonehenge visible around the world
The Guardian
Summer solstice marks launch of live feed from camera close to the stones…
Stonehenge summer solstice: Thousands gather to cheer sunrise
BBC
About 10,000 people gathered at the Neolithic monument to greet the start of the longest day of the year…
Five arrested at Stonehenge Summer Solstice
Isle of Wight Radio
Five people were arrested on Thursday night (20) as more than 10,000 gathered to mark the Summer Solstice at the iconic monument in Wiltshire…
American couple hold summer solstice wedding on the Hill of Tara
The Irish Times
American couple Jeff Olsen and Anna Lisa Van Bloem first came to Europe three years ago to celebrate the summer solstice…
Irish witch Patricia Weston explains meaning behind summer solstice in Newgrange
RSVP Live
The summer solstice marks the mid-summer point and it also acknowledges the longest day of the year where the sun stays out for an extra hour. But is there a meaning behind why we celebrate it?…
Summer Solstice draws crowd for longest day celebration at ancient Anglesey burial mound
North Wales Chronicle
Bryn Celli Ddu – the mound in the dark grove – is considered spiritually significant as during the longest day of the year – Friday, June 21 – a shaft of sunlight is aligned with the burial mound passage and illuminates the chamber inside…
Stonehenge dawn patrol: Modern-day druids and others celebrate summer solstice
Los Angeles Times
Visitors and modern-day druids gathered to see the sunrise marking the start of the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere…
Druids have their moment in the sun
The Times
It had been 35 years since David Rodger-Sharp last saw the solstice sun rise over Salisbury Plain and he wasn’t all that aware of it the previous time, having drawn his first breath early on midsummer morn, as the place of birth on his passport records, in the centre of Stonehenge…
When is Litha 2019 and which summer solstice traditions do pagans observe on the longest day of the year?
The Sun
These are the summer solstice blessings and rituals pagans follow on the summer solstice…
Summer solstice 2019: how the longest day is celebrated around the world, from shamans in Mongolia to Stonehenge druids
iNews
Also known as midsummer, the summer solstice has held significance for many cultures since prehistory, and many festivals and rituals endure…
Pagan News
Prisoner was barred from group worship on some Wiccan holidays. Court says he can sue.
Detroit Free Press
A Michigan prisoner may resume his lawsuit against prison officials who barred him from communal practice of his Wiccan religion during certain holidays, a federal appeals court ruled Monday…
Ancient long barrow graffitied with Extinction Rebellion logo
This Is Wiltshire
The Swindon branch of Extinction Rebellion condemned the vandal who painted the group’s logo on a historic monument. The local druid community are “very upset”…
Mystery as pagan altar and symbol unearthed in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park
Edinburgh News
Two mysterious pagan objects have been removed from a secluded part of Holyrood Park after they were uncovered by chance…
Georgia jailer latest to lose job over alleged connections to white supremacist Pagan group
WSB Radio
A West Georgia man is out as a jailer for the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office after antifascist activists in Atlanta exposed him and another man as leaders of a Norse pagan group with numerous white supremacist ties…
The Law Should Protect Wiccans From Religious Discrimination—But Will It?
Rewire
Pauline Hoffmann alleges that the Catholic university at which she was a professor denied her a promotion and pressured her to resign because she’s a Wiccan…
Former PA who ditched the rat race to become a ‘fairy whisperer’ reveals how she uses folklore to help other stressed workers
Mail Online
A former PA has revealed how she ditched the rat race to become a self-styled ‘faery whisperer’ – using mythical folklore to help other stressed out high-flyers…
‘Becoming a witch changed my life’, says Plymouth mum
PlymouthLive
Lady Guinivere just launched a book and wants to empower women…
The power and influence of Ireland’s fairy trees remain
Irish Central
There’s a reason for those iconic lone hawthorn or ash trees standing in the middle of Irish fields. The fear of the fairies is real…
Shinto News
Emperor’s succession rite to follow precedent despite constitutional controversy
Japan Times
The government approved Thursday the outline of a ritual to be held this fall to proclaim the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito before international guests, following the style adopted by his father in 1990, despite a controversy surrounding the nature of the rite…
Hiroshima’s Itsukushima Shrine undergoing repairs
NHK World
A major renovation project has begun at Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan…
Webb Ellis Trophy blessed at Shinto shrine in Kyoto before tour of Japan
Euronews
The Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup trophy was blessed by Shinto priests during a ceremony in Japan’s former capital of Kyoto on Monday before the trophy embarks on a tour of the country ahead of the tournament, starting in September…
Other News
Roman Britain: Wooden arm discovered in Northamptonshire well
BBC
A rare 2,000-year-old wooden arm has been recovered from the bottom of a Roman well…
Archeologists return to 5,000 year-old ritual landscape on Anglesey
ITV
Archaeologists have returned to uncover a prehistoric ritual landscape that includes a Bronze Age cairn which may be larger than its famous neighbour Bryn Celli Ddu — a 5,000-year-old passage tomb aligned with the summer solstice sunrise on Anglesey…
JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles Presents World Debut of “BAKERU: Transforming Spirits” Exhibition
JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles is pleased to present the world debut of “BAKERU: Transforming Spirits,” a complimentary exhibition inviting visitors to step into the supernatural world of Japanese folk traditions from the northern region of Tohoku, Japan, through the use of large-scale interactive projections with motion capture technology…
Ireland: Reports of damage to historic hillfort
The Wild Hunt
From the Irish county of Cavan have come reports of serious but unspecified damage to a 3000 year old hill fort…
An Ancient Greek Philosopher Was Exiled for Claiming the Moon Was a Rock, Not a God
Smithsonian magazine
2,500 years ago, Anaxagoras correctly determined that the rocky moon reflects light from the sun, allowing him to explain lunar phases and eclipses…
MIDSOMMAR and the Tradition of Folk Horror
Nerdist
Beginning in earnest in the 1970s, the Folk Horror tradition offers some of the most unsettling films ever made, perfect for Aster’s sensibilities…
Rediscovered classics: the best books based on myths
The Guardian
Authors have always used stories from the past as a way to view the present, from the Iliad to Faust…
IS killed respected village elder, 93, after accusing him of being ‘a witch’
The Mirror
IS terrorists killed a 93-year-old village elder after accusing him of being a ‘witch’…
‘Suspected witch’ hacked to death in front of grandchildren
South Coast Herald
Ntombizodwa Toto-Madikizela (78) was axed to death in front of her grandchildren last month and on Tuesday this week her family, including 13 children, fled the village after their homestead was torched…
Bengal man declares mother a witch, thrashes her to usurp property
India Today
A man allegedly declared his mother a witch and thrashed and starved her over the ancestral property in North Gobindapur area, Bishnupur in West Bengal…
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