Pagan & Shinto News: Terminally Ill Mum In Appeal For Pagan Wedding

Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:

Terminally ill mum in appeal for gothic Pagan wedding
Rice harvested for Emperor’s Daijosai Shinto rite
Interactive map reveals the stories of witches in Scotland

Pagan News

Terminally ill mum in appeal for gothic Pagan wedding
Mirror
The plan is for Emma and her fiance Graham Simonelli to tie the knot on Halloween, which is a very important day her religion, paganism. The Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust, who are helping organise the wedding, are asking for people who can help to get in touch…

Pagan event seeks to bring kindred spirits ‘out of the broom closet’
Charleston Gazette-Mail
An event organized to give pagans living in the Kanawha Valley a chance to make their presence known to those following a similar nature-based spiritual path will take place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Ordnance Park, in St. Albans…

Autumn equinox 2019: how the first day of the fall season is marked, and the pagan rituals behind it
iNews
We’ve officially entered autumn, but what is the September equinox anyway?…

Stonehenge draws crowds for autumn equinox party
BBC
Visitors gathered at Stonehenge to watch the sun rise, marking the moment when night and day are theoretically the same length across the world…

Pagan Festival held for first time in Waterloo
KCRG
The first Pagan Festival was held in Black Hawk County this weekend to bring awareness to those who worship more than one god…

York Pagan Pride Day Festival celebrates many beliefs
York Dispatch
For its eighth year, the York Pagan Pride Day Festival was back in Lower Windsor Township, an event aimed at stimulating curiosity and curbing misconceptions about a peaceful community that is working against hate, organizers said…

Community celebrates alternative beliefs during Northern Maine Pagan Pride Day
Bangor Daily News
Northern Maine residents gathered and celebrated Paganism along with numerous alternative belief systems on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Collins Pond Park in Caribou…

Spirit art, tarot and witchcraft at Ely’s first pagan fayre
Ely Standard
Hundreds of people came to see traders showcase their alternative crafts at Centre E, Barton Road, on September 22…

Do Witches Curse Halloween Candy? No!
Patheos Pagan: Gwyn
September ushers in a time when some Christians begin promoting fear-based disinformation about both Halloween and Witches. For instance, that Witches curse candy meant for trick-or-treating children…

Witch: Origins, Definitions and Using The Word Today
Patheos Pagan: Gwyn
Earlier this week, I had a short encounter with a Wiccan who prefers not to use “witch” when describing his path or practice…

In medieval England magic was a service industry used by rich and poor alike
The Conversation
Magic did not become a secular crime until the Act against Witchcraft and Conjurations in 1542. Before then it was only counted as a moral misdemeanour and was policed by the church…

Shinto News

Rice Harvested for Emperor’s “Daijosai” Rite
Nippon.com
A ceremony to harvest rice for use at the “Daijosai” thanksgiving ceremony, to be performed by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito in November, was held Friday at rice paddies in the town of Takanezawa, Tochigi Prefecture, and Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture…

Imperial agency discloses ceremonial hall site for Daijosai
The Japan News
Construction of the Daijokyu (see below) temporary hall for the Daijosai — a rite of offering new rice, which is to be held on Nov. 14-15, after the enthronement ceremony for the Emperor — is proceeding rapidly at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace…

Aichi illustrator shines light on local moon-viewing tradition called ‘Japan’s Halloween’
The Japan Times
In some parts of Aichi Prefecture, including eastern Nagoya and the city of Nisshin, children walk around the neighborhood that night, calling on houses for treats — a local custom known as o-tsukimi dorobō (moon-viewing thieves)…

Village Vanguard’s new ouija satchel lets you talk to a Shinto spirit while you shop
SoraNews24
Mr. Kokkuri, or Kokkuri-san, is a game played in Japan in a similar way to an ouija board; by writing up a board on a piece of paper including the Japanese syllabary, the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and a red torii gate, you can converse with the titular Mr. Kokkuri…

Other News

Interactive map reveals the stories of witches in Scotland
The Courier
Edinburgh University has created a map of where all of the accused witches in Scotland lived, with details of their misdemeanours and retribution…

Tree coffin of Celtic woman found
The Wild Hunt
On March 3, 2017, workers in Zurich, Switzerland uncovered an Iron Age burial…

Stolen gold coffin displayed at the Met returned to Egypt
CNN
An ancient gold coffin displayed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is going home to Egypt — where it was stolen nearly a decade ago…

Brazilian indigenous leaders denounce Bolsonaro before UN speech
The Guardian
Indigenous leaders in Brazil have denounced Jair Bolsonaro’s “colonialist and ethnocidal” policies as the far-right populist headed to New York to defend his treatment of the Amazon and its inhabitants…

Elderly Chechens accused of Witchcraft humiliated on television
The Wild Hunt
Three individuals have been arrested for witchcraft in the autonomous region of Chechnya, a subject region of the Russian Federation…

India: Adivasi man burnt alive after being accused of witchcraft in Andhra’s Vizag
Hindustan Times
A 55-year old Adivasi man was brutally assaulted and burnt alive by fellow tribals on the suspicion that he was practising black magic in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district, the police said…

India: Man kills aunt for ‘witchcraft’ in K’jhar
Daily Pioneer
A youth allegedly killed his maternal aunt on suspicion of practising witchcraft at Kantala village under Gayalmunda panchayat in the district on Thursday evening…

South Africa: North coast mother hacked to death for ‘witchcraft’
Zululand Observer
A 22-year-old mother was hacked to death with her four-month-old baby still strapped to her back…