Pagan & Shinto News: Chechnya Arrests Three For Practising Witchcraft

Pagan & Shinto News: Chechnya Arrests Three For Practising Witchcraft November 7, 2021

Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:

  • Russia: Chechnya arrests three for practising witchcraft in Halloween crackdown
  • UK: Church apology on cards for witchcraft executions
  • New York is No. 1 US city for witches

Read more below…

*=Registration may be required.

AlbanyColley, Pixabay

Pagan News

US: New Witch-owned publishing company focuses on underrepresented voices
The Wild Hunt
Both Devora and Burnett are writers and Witches and share a love of the esoteric, the mythological, and also of history. And they are very invested in the Salem community…

New York is No. 1 US city for witches
New York Post
The Big Apple has been named the best city for witches, according to a new study…

Historic Parliament of World’s Religions
The Wild Hunt
This year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions was a historic first for the Pagan community…

New book explores witchcraft’s rebellious history — and modern transformation
CNN
“Witchcraft” offers a deep dive into the many facets of a centuries-old tradition in the Western world, weaving more than 400 classic and contemporary artworks with essays and interviews by what editor Jessica Hundley describes as “a diverse coven of writers, scholars and modern-day practitioners, each embracing the practice in their own individual ways.”…

Being a witch on TikTok seems just as controversial as it was in the 16th century
The Next Web
Videos labeled #WitchTok have so far clocked up an impressive 18.7 billion views…

Why the secret symbols of magic and witchcraft fascinate us
BBC
From emoji spells to WitchTok, the mysterious, 600-year-old emblems of tarot and spell books are still resonating in the 21st Century…

How studying witchcraft changed my relationship with the outdoors
Outside
What a witches’ year taught me about our relationship to wild places…

Meet Delaware’s own witchy woman and spiritual healer
Delaware Today
Mandie Stevenson, a Delaware-based Wiccan, uses her magic to make the world a more harmonious place through spiritual healing…

Nigerians show growing interest in halloween 
Legit
Nigerians have surprisingly shown a growing interest in the holiday of Halloween with terms like, ‘When is Halloween?’, ‘Halloween meaning’ and ‘History of Halloween’ topping Google Search queries in the week leading up to October 31, 2021…

Shinto News

Connected by bamboo, Kyoto shrine honors Thomas Edison
The Asahi Shimbun
To commemorate the achievements of the great American inventor, a flower-offering ceremony was held at the Edison monument on Oct. 15, three days before the 90th anniversary of his death…

‘Kumade’ ornaments sold once a year at Tokyo festival rake in good luck
The Mainichi
Kumade lucky charms can be found in outdoor markets that are a part of the “Tori-no-ichi” festivals held at various shrines across Japan…

A priest’s calling
Mimusubi
Working as a Shinto priest is not easy, and does involve doing the same things repeatedly…

Fewer than 80,000 climb Mount Fuji in 2021 summer season
Nippon.com
The trails on Mount Fuji that had been closed during the pandemic opened up again for the 2021 climbing season, but there were fewer than 80,000 climbers—just a third the number of an average year…

The convenience of casting curses and charms in Japan
GaijinPot
From its ancient origins to its modern face, Japan has a world of hexes, malevolent magic and spells waiting to be discovered…

Other News

Archaeologists uncover statues of Aphrodite and Dionysus in Turkey
Heritage Daily
Archaeologists from Kütahya Dumlupınar University have discovered statues representing Aphrodite and Dionysus in the ancient city of Aizanoi…

Ancient ‘hangover prevention’ ring found in Israel
Live Science
An ancient amethyst ring has been unearthed during excavations at the archaeological site of an ancient Byzantine wine factory in Yavne, Israel…

Designs on Stonehenge’s chalk plaques depict real objects and not abstract patterns
Mail Online
Engraved chalk plaques from the Late Neolithic found in the Stonehenge area depict real objects — not only abstract patterns, as previously thought — a study has found…

Narcissus: The Greek myth re-envisioned
Greek City Times
Christopher Williams’s new evening-length ballet called Narcissus incorporates themes of the eponymous Greek myth upon which it is based in order to re-envision the original ballet through an imaginative and contemporary lens…

Haitian revellers honour the dead in Vodou festival
The Associated Press
Hundreds of revelers clad in white and clutching candles crowded into the main cemetery at Haiti’s capital on Monday to pay their respects to the dead during an annual Vodou festival…

The Great God Pan is all things to all men
The Spectator*
Pan’s name is thought to derive from ‘paean’, the ancient Greek verb meaning ‘to pasture’…

US: far more support than oppose separation of church and state
Pew Research Center
But there are pockets of support for increased church-state integration, more Christianity in public life…

US: Satanists convince Pennsylvania school district to change anti-satanic dress code
USA Today
Satanists earned a victory after convincing a Pennsylvania school district to remove a student dress code ban on clothes that are “satanic in nature.”…

‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present

Russia: Chechnya arrests three for practising witchcraft in Halloween crackdown
The Independent
The suspects were reportedly “caught red-handed”, local state television reported – with maps, tarot cards, and a magical stone one of them had brought into the Islamic republic from the Buddhist region of Kalmykia…

UK: Church apology on cards for witchcraft executions
The Times*
The Church of Scotland is preparing to apologise for its role more than 400 years ago in the “mistreatment and execution” of thousands of people accused of witchcraft…

Cambodia: Man arrested, 2 more sought, in ‘witchcraft’ murder
Khmer Times
A man was arrested and two more suspects are being sought for the alleged murder of a ‘sorcerer’ who the suspects accused of invoking ‘witchcraft’ on them…

Malawi: Man forced out of village over ‘witchcraft’ allegations
Malawi 24
Villagers from Benga Mwale Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mzukuzuku in Mzimba district have banished George Tembo from the village on allegation that he bewitched his 44-year-old son who died after getting sick in South Africa…

Nigeria: Two farmers arrested for accusing neighbour of killing her daughter through ‘witchcraft’
Pulse
Two farmers, Aruwa Kwala, 50, and Shenyi Salihu, 50, were on Tuesday docked in a Magistrates’ Court in Gwagwalada, FCT for allegedly accusing their neighbour of being a ‘witch’ and killing a three-year-old girl…

‘Witchcraft verification’ is primitive and illegal, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says
The Standard
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has said witchcraft verification, which involves a ‘spitting ritual’, practised in Gusiiland is primitive and illegal…

Ghana: Whiles we await the passage of anti-Witch Hunting Bill, let’s use existing laws to prosecute witch hunters — NGO
Modern Ghana
The Executive Director of Rise Ghana has said while awaiting the law to be passed the country should use existing laws to prosecute witch hunters in the Northern parts of the country…

Kenya: Stop killing your relatives over ‘witchcraft’ claims, youth warned
The Standard
Police are yet to arrest the youth behind the murder of three relatives at Rabai in Kilifi County…

The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill review — an unforgettable history of sorcery
The Times*
This superb story of superstition haunts the reader long after the last page…


Browse Our Archives