Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- New dinosaur discovered in Japan named after Shinto god
- UK: Spiritual community Findhorn Foundation experiences ‘arson-related’ blaze
- UK: ‘Queer as Folklore’ exhibits Pagan art by LGBT+ artists
Read more below…
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Pagan News
UK: Spiritual community Findhorn experiences ‘arson-related’ blaze
The Wild Hunt
The Scottish community of Findhorn, well-known to British and overseas Pagans and New Age practitioners among others, suffered a devastating fire earlier this month, which it is being investigated to determine whether the fire was arson…
UK: Camp extravaganza and Mayday pagan frolics at Queer as Folklore exhibition in London
The Art Newspaper
Queer as Folklore gathers an eclectic range of work by LGBTQIA artists that explores and celebrates the subversive highways and byways of British pagan history…
UK: Ellesmere celebrates May Day in style
Shropshire Live
Ellesmere’s popular Cremorne Gardens was invaded over the Bank Holiday weekend by over fifty sprites and a towering goddess to celebrate the arrival of spring…
Bealtaine celebrated in Ireland with ancient ceremony
Irish Central
The Bealtaine Fire Festival is a yearly tradition that celebrates the arrival of summer and is a symbol of the re-birth of the land after the long winter months…
Pagan ‘metaphysical’ shops navigate threats from Christian critics
Religion News Service
Selling herbs, crystals and spiritual guides, metaphysical shops are often perceived, especially by conservative Christians, as exotic, devoted to the so-called dark arts and, often, a threat. It’s frequently those Christians who threaten them…
Shinto News
New dinosaur discovered in Japan named after Shinto god
Yahoo!
The newly discovered dinosaur has been named Yamatosaurus izanagii, after the myth that the island was the birthplace of Japan…
Rebuilding Shinto shrines in Kumamoto
Mimusubi
A lot of rebuilding has happened, and some of the major damage to infrastructure has been repaired. This is also true of jinja, on the whole…
Other News
Kenya: Stone Age burial site exposes earliest signs of human grief
The Times*
The oldest human burial site to be discovered in Africa has shed light on the origins of our sense of grief, archaeologists said yesterday…
Jennifer Saint’s new novel Ariadne brings to life ancient Greek mythology
The Canberra Times
Ariadne, Jennifer Saint’s debut novel, takes ancient myth and breathes new life into it…
Egypt celebrates one of world’s oldest folk festivals
Daily News Egypt
he celebration, which takes place one day after Easter Sunday each year, dates back to Ancient Egyptian times, to at least 2700 BCE during the era of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom…
Vandals scratch racist phrase over 2,000-year-old Native American petroglyphs in Utah
IFL Science
Vandals have etched a racist phrase, “white power”, as well as other graffiti, over millennia-old Native American petroglyphs in Utah…
Beyond Stonehenge: The lesser-known stone circles of Britain
Country Life
More likely to be ovals, arcs or ellipses, the origins and purposes of our myriad mysterious and sacred stone circles are still up for debate…
Thor, a woman? Why modern gender theory is only as ‘new’ as Norse mythology
The Telegraph*
As the publishing world goes wild for contemporary ‘reimaginings’ of Greco-Roman myths, they would do well to look a little further north…
The Ancient Greek myth that taught me about motherhood and letting go
San Francisco Chronicle
When I was young, my mother used to tell me the ancient Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone at bedtime. Now that I am a mother myself, the story has come to haunt me…
The origins of witches: Mystical malefactors have been with us across the millennia
National Post
‘Beliefs in witchcraft are a reflection of a facet of human nature that we otherwise don’t want to acknowledge,’ says anthropologist Manvir Singh…
What’s behind the animals carved in Norway’s stave churches
ZME Science
Norway’s stave churches are a sight to behold. Built on staves (large wooden posts) and with a distinctive roof, they’re now almost unique in the world. But these churches are more than a tourist attraction: they tell a tale of a time when the country switched from Norse beliefs to Christianity…
The place of gorse in Irish mythology and folklore
Irish Examiner
Known in modern times for major blazes, furze has a long history in Ireland…
Religious freedom and sacred land
The Wall Street Journal*
A copper-mining plan threatens an Apache site—and the liberty of all Americans…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
Ghana: Witches but not wizards – The plight of the women
Modern Ghana
In a patriarchal society, a woman without the protection of a father, husband, or sometimes a brother, is extremely vulnerable to being tagged a ‘witch’…
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