Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- US: Supreme Court decision might hold benefits for Pagans, says lawyer
- Japan: Shinto priests bless life-size Gundam head in completion ceremony
- UK: Petition against A303 Stonehenge tunnel reaches 120K signatures
Read more below…
Pagan News
Lawyer: Supreme Court decision might hold benefits for Pagans
The Wild Hunt
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and held that the Montana law discriminated against religious schools. It ruled that if Montana provided funds or benefits to secular private schools, those same funds had to be made available to private religious schools. Theoretically, this ruling could allow a Pagan school to receive those funds or benefits…
How some Black Americans are finding solace in African spirituality
Vox
Between the pandemic and protests, practitioners of African religions are welcoming the community and liberation their traditions can bring…
UK: Schumacher – a 21st Century Druid College?
Resilience
A Druid college? What a crazy notion! And yet I find myself beguiled by the idea…
Occult following: tarot cards through the ages
The Guardian
From trippy psychedelic towers to African American icons, the centuries-old tradition of tarot cards is explored in a new book from Taschen…
How to Spot an Insta-Scammer
Patheos Pagan: J. Allen Cross
An unfortunate reality when it comes to online Witchery is the high prevalence of scammers…
Shinto News
Shinto priests bless Japan’s life-size Gundam head in completion ceremony
Geek Culture
Shinto priests were brought in to perform rites for Japan’s life-size Gundam before its head was mounted on it…
Japan’s Abe to avoid visit to war-linked shrine on 75th war anniversary
Reuters
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will refrain from visiting the Yasukuni shrine for war dead on the 75th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War Two, Jiji news agency said on Sunday, but will make an offering on the emotive day, as he has done in the past…
Japan’s Yasukuni shrine a symbol of haunting wartime legacy
Reuters
Seventy-five years after Japan’s defeat in World War Two, Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine for war dead is a potent symbol of the controversy that persists over the conflict’s legacy in East Asia…
Japan’s Festival of the Dead risks graves for the living
Asia Times
Abe missing in action as his government’s domestic travel scheme and ritual season clash with a resurgent virus…
The Meiji persecution of Shinto
Mimusubi
Conventional historiography of Shinto in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries says that Shinto was backed by the State, and used to place pressure on other religions…
Other News
UK: Petition against A303 Stonehenge tunnel reaches 120K signatures
Spire FM
The Stonehenge Alliance has been building opposition to the plans for a number of years, and is calling once again for the Government to reconsider…
US: At the Gardner, a goddess of the underworld rises
Boston Globe
This Persephone, all 5 feet and 1,000 ancient Greek marble pounds of her, has graced the earth with her flowing drapery and delicate, sensuously carved feet for some 2,000 years…
Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens
BBC
Egypt has invited billionaire Elon Musk to visit the country and see for himself that its famous pyramids were not built by aliens…
Ancient llama figure discovered in stone box was likely a gift to Inca gods
Science Alert
The bed of Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater lake in South America, is turning out to be a veritable museum of ancient offerings…
The last of the Zoroastrians
The Guardian
A funeral, a family, and a journey into a disappearing religion…
Iranian metal band sentenced to 15 years in prison for “playing Satanic music”
Metal Injection
The band Arsames was arrested and charged with 15 years in jail for “being in satanic metal band and being against the Islamic government.”…
Worldwide ‘witch hunt’ victims
India: Villagers brutally attack three on suspicion of ‘witchcraft’ in Chirang district
The Sentinel
Three persons including two women were brutally assaulted by villagers at Bhurbasti under Runikhata PS of Chirang…
The culture of ‘witchcraft’ accusations – a threat to women’s rights in Ghana
All Africa
On the 24th July, 2020 the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) observed with troubling shock a video circulating on social media as well as media reports of one madam Akua Denteh, a 90-year-old being lynched on suspicion of witchcraft leading to her unfortunate demise…
Times Past: Glasgow brought down fraudulent witch hunter
Glasgow Times
In the final years of the 16th century, and indeed for several decades beforehand and afterwards, Scotland was engulfed by fear and loathing. The reason was the national obsession with witchcraft…
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