Pagan & Shinto News: Teacher Wins Shinto Shrine’s New Year Good Luck Race

Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:

Teacher wins Shinto shrine’s new year good luck race
Two ancient sites vandalised in Britain
Pagan website Witchvox shuts down

Pagan News

Pioneer Witchvox shuts down and ends an era
The Wild Hunt
The beloved Witches’ Voice website, witchvox.com, closed its doors for on December 31, 2019, as announced previously in November…

Pagan prisoners fuming over cell ban on candles and incense
Daily Record
Inmates at HMP Hull, a 1,000-capacity category B jail, have been ‘denied’ requests to buy candles and incense, often placed around altars set up in cells to worship pagan gods…

Pagan cafe opens up in Retford hoping to give back to community
Lincolnshire Live
There has been a welcome sight for residents in Retford after the opening of a new pagan-themed tearoom…

How Do You Handle Getting Swept Out Of The Broom Closet?
Patheos Pagan: Scarlet Magdalene
Those who are in the LGBTQIA community talk about “coming out of the closet”. For those who are pagans–and especially those who are Wiccan or witches–we talk about “coming out of the broom closet”…

I spent a week becoming a witch and the results were worrying
The Independent
Inspired by Luna Bailey’s new book ‘The Modern Witch’s Guide to Happiness’, our columnist Ceri Radford set herself a New Year, New Me challenge…

Shinto News

Teacher wins Japan shrine’s new year good luck race
The Mainichi
The annual New Year’s dash to win a “year of good luck” at this west Japan city’s Nishinomiya Shrine, dedicated to the god of prosperous business Ebisu, has been won by a high school teacher from neighboring Osaka Prefecture…

Japan shrine worshippers cover large tuna in cash for new year prosperity
The Mainichi
A large pacific bluefin tuna, measuring about 2 meters in length and weighing some 200 kilograms, was offered to the god of prosperous trading, Ebisu, at the Nishinomiya Shrine in this western Japan city on Jan. 8…

Worshippers parade 5 hours in snow to pray for good health, harvest in northeast Japan
The Mainichi
Thirty-five people, including 14 elementary schoolchildren, clad in white attire paraded along a snowy path in this northeastern Japan city on Jan. 8 to visit a local shrine, while praying for good fortune such as sound health and rich harvests…

North Japan geisha, apprentices offer prayers during 1st shrine visit of New Year
The Mainichi
Geisha and “maiko” apprentice geisha, based in this northern Japan city’s Kawabata entertainment district, prayed for good health and happiness during their first shrine visit of the New Year on Jan. 6…

Lecture explores relationship between religion, politics in Japan
The Michigan Daily
Approximately 50 people came to Weiser Hall Thursday afternoon for a presentation from Levi McLaughlin, Toyota Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies…

Losing my tradition: Japan’s temples and shrines go cashless
Nikkei Asian Review
Long a bastion of centuries old traditions, Japan’s Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are increasing going cashless, allowing visitors to replace small coin offerings with a quick swipe of their smartphones…

Busting one of the biggest myths about the five-yen coin and shrine offerings in Japan
SoraNews24
You may have heard giving a certain amount of money will win you favor with the gods, but a very high authority says otherwise…

Other News

Anger as ‘alien’ graffiti appears at ancient site in Cornwall
Cornwall Live
The appearance of graffiti thought to depict aliens at an ancient site in west Cornwall has prompted anger from the local community…

‘Appalling damage’ to Newport ancient burial mound
BBC News
Police are investigating “appalling damage” at a Bronze Age burial mound which dates back 3,000-4,000 years…

Vandals Destroy 3000 Year-Old Ancient Rock Carvings in Northern Greece
Greek City News
Archaeologists and historians are bemoan the destruction of several 3,000-year-old rock carvings on the Pangaion Hills near Kavala in northern Greece and calling for measures to protect the remaining samples of this ancient art…

NASA’s alien planet hunter shows Egyptian pyramids may align with ancient north star, researcher says
Fox News
Researchers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered that an ancient star undergoes eclipses, which may have guided the ancient Egyptians when they were building the pyramids…

Maguindanao tribal group prays to goddess of fire to end Australia bushfires
GMA News
A women-led tribal group in Maguindanao has offered ritual prayers calling on an indigenous goddess of fire to help ease the raging bushfires that have devastated parts of Australia for months…

Christian Group Warns Of New Disney Cartoon’s Witchcraft
Patheos Pagan: Mat Auryn
The Christian Broadcasting Network is warning about a new Disney cartoon called The Owl House, with a super dramatic headline stating “Warning to Parents: New Disney Cartoon Teaches Kids How to Be Witches, Using a Demon to Do So.”…

World’s Oldest Illustrated Book Discovered in Egyptian Sarcophagus
The Vintage News
Archaeologists believe they have discovered the world’s oldest illustrated book, and it’s an ancient Egyptian guide to the afterlife…

Cherry blossoms 2020 forecast: blooms expected earlier than usual in Tokyo and Japan
Time Out
Cherry blossoms are expected to open earlier than usual: on March 19 in Tokyo, and to reach full bloom on March 27…

Iraqi poet hopes to raise awareness about women’s rights through Iraq’s goddess
The New Arab
Her mission now is to encourage her sisters, both in and out of Iraq, to keep the spirit of Inanna – an ancient Iraqi goddess – alive and to remember where they came from…

Deciphered 16th century manuscript reveals link to Fife laird ice skating tragedy and St Andrews witch burning
The Courier
A Fife author’s fascination with 16th century witch trials has uncovered an intriguing connection between an ancestor who was burned at the stake in St Andrews and the drowning of a local laird in a loch skating tragedy…

‘Britain’s most haunted house’ finally sells after twelve years on the market
Mail Online
The Cage, a former medieval prison in deepest Essex, once held inmates accused of witchcraft…

The dark side of Venus — goddess of war as well as love
The Spectator
Bettany Hughes shows how Venus’s first embodiment — as Astarte, riding in the bows of a Phoenician boat — encapsulated death and destruction as well as life and sex…

How astrology paved the way for predictive analytics
The Observer
Astrology has influenced science for millennia, argues a new book – and it endures in algorithmic data modelling…

72 witch-hunting cases in Rajasthan in 2 years, 25 from Bhilwara
Hindustan Times
More than 70 cases have been reported in Rajasthan in the past two years in which women have been assaulted and molested after being branded as witches, police figures show…

Group Advocates Against Persecution Of Witches In Africa
Sahara Reporters
According to the organisation, the main objective of the initiative is to create a witch hunting free Africa by sensitising Africans on the issue and spearheading the advocacy for alleged witches on the continent over the next 10 years…

UEA: Man locks grandmother inside car, tries to burn her alive for ‘witchcraft’
Khaleej Times
A man burned his grandmother alive inside a car with an intention of killing her because the victim had allegedly used black magic on him in trying to turn him into a woman, an Abu Dhabi court has heard…