Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- Japan: Shinto ritual at shrine in central Japan predicts state of society, harvest this year
- Spain: 5,000-year-old crystal dagger uncovered in Iberian megalithic tomb
- UK: University of York pulls three wise monkeys from their website over ‘racist stereotype’ fears
Read more below…
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Pagan News
“Halloween House” burning foretells danger for the occult community
The Wild Hunt
Last week we saw the burning of the famous “Halloween House” in Poughkeepsie, New York, the former home of the late Joe “Netherworld” Mendillo…
Report from the 17th Pagan Studies Conference
The Wild Hunt
The 17th annual Conference of Current Pagan Studies ran from Jan. 16 to Jan. 17. Due to pandemic restrictions, the conference was conducted solely online via Zoom, with no in-person component…
Talking Tarot and Black People Magick with BLewisArts
Patheos Pagan: Lilith Dorsey
Lewis’ website tells us ” when creating artwork outside of commissions, my focus is to develop spiritually charged imagery of the African Diaspora in futuristic settings.”…
The Saining of Brigit – A Ritual For Candlemas (Imbolc)
Patheos Pagan: Ian Chambers
Candlemas (Imbolc), February 2, marks the cultural midpoint between the Midwinter solstice and the Vernal Equinox making it, therefore, one of the essential festivals of the cross-quarter days…
Shinto News
Shinto ritual at shrine in central Japan predicts state of society, harvest this year
The Mainichi
Tsutsugayu shinji, a Shinto ritual whose purpose is to predict the state of society and harvests of the coming year, was held at a shrine in this central Japan town from the evening of Jan. 14 to the early morning of the following day…
Japan’s Supreme Court upholds guilty verdict for Chinese trespassers at Yasukuni Shrine
CGTN
Japan’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the guilty verdict for two Chinese nationals charged for trespassing on the grounds of the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in December 2018, Japanese media reported…
For better luck in 2021, toss your beans a day earlier on Feb. 2
The Asahi Shimbun
If you throw beans on Feb. 3 as is a tradition in Japan, this year you might be out of luck, according to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). That’s because the Setsubun tradition, where citizens toss beans nationwide while ritually shouting, “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (“Demons out! Good fortune in!”), should be done on Feb. 2, for the first time in 124 years…
UK: University of York pulls three wise monkeys from their website over ‘racist stereotype’ fears
The Sun
The University of York has pulled an image of the three wise monkeys from its website – over fears the creatures are a “racist stereotype”. The monkey is an important being in the Shinto religion.
Other News
Spain: 5,000-year-old crystal dagger uncovered in Iberian megalithic tomb may have been used to gain ‘magical powers’
Mail Online
A team excavating the megalithic tomb of Montelirio tholos in 2007 through 2010 uncovered a dagger formed from rock crystal that experts say is the ‘most technically sophisticated’ ever to be uncovered in Prehistoric Iberia and would have taken enormous skill to carve…
An Cailleach – the Irish goddess of the winter and following her trail in Ireland
Irish News
The legends of the winter goddess and the locations and ancient Irish folklore, including Saint Brigid, the goddess of summer, linked to her…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
Poland: Archaeologists uncover remains of women accused of witchcraft
The Wild Hunt
A recent archaeological find of a second set of skeletal remains in the market square in the city of Bochnia, Poland, could in fact strengthen the claim by archaeologists that the remains are those of several women executed for practicing witchcraft by burning in 1679…
Malawi: Four arrested for killing 67-year-old woman over witchcraft
Malawi24
Police in Karonga have apprehended four people in connection to the brutal killing of 67-year-old Esnala Mbowe…
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