Pagan & Shinto News: Pagan Market Threatened With Backlash

Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:

US: Pagan Market threatened with backlash
UK: Crooks impersonate witches and take cash from clients for tarot readings online
US: Effort underway to exonerate Connecticut’s accused witches

Pagan News

US: Pagan Market threatened with backlash
The Wild Hunt
What started out as an announcement for Polk County Pagan Market has turned into an ongoing topic of debate between both Pagans and Christians in the small east Texas town of Livingston and throughout the state…

UK: Crooks impersonate witches and take cash from clients for tarot readings online
Mirror
Accounts impersonating Alexa message her followers claiming their “ancestors are trying to get in touch with them” offering readings for £70 – but they go silent and block their account as soon as money is received…

US: Police say “crazy” Montana man sent Cheney witchcraft book in suspicious package
Cowboy State Daily
A package sent last month to a staff member of U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney which was initially feared to be a bomb actually contained one book on witchcraft and another on absolute power, according to a police report released Tuesday…

US: The founder of Queen Meb is at the forefront of the Wiccan revival
Willamette Week
Erika Fortner’s Northeast Broadway boutique is part Dosha, part Diagon Alley…

US: What you need to know about Phoenix Pagan Pride Day 2019
Phoenix New Times
Phoenix Pagan Pride Day, an all-day event happening from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 2, at Steele Indian School Park, is an outgrowth of the work that the Pagan Pride Project does around the country…

UK: ‘My sixth sense helps me see dead people and colourful auras – some say I’m a witch’
OK!
Cat Hamilton has synaesthesia and describes it as a “sixth sense” that helps her predict accidents, talk to the dead and create art for celebrities…

Why are we all so into witches right now?
Lit Hub
Witches in novels, and in real life, are having a moment…

55 Witch books that belong on your bookshelf
Cosmopolitan
Whether you’re looking to be entertained by a spooky story, you want to educate yourself on some cultural history, or you’re interested in exploring a spiritual path, perhaps you’re looking for a witch book…

Shinto News

Malaysia: A month after controversy, Bon Odori shines without a hitch
FMT
Some 35,000 visitors thronged the Japanese Bon Odori festival here this evening, a month after it came under scrutiny, following a minister’s advice for Muslims to avoid it…

Yamahoko float parade returns in Kyoto’s Gion Festival
Nippon.com
A procession of decorative “yamahoko” floats was held in Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri Festival on Sunday, for the first time in three years after a suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic…

Paying respects to Abe at the Yasukuni Shrine
Asia Times
No right-wing or militant groups spotted at the Tokyo shrine to Japan’s war dead on a pleasant Sunday afternoon…

Shinzo Abe’s killing brings to light Japan’s unseen world of shadowy cults, healers and religious lobbyists
iNews*
In Japan, politics and religion go hand in hand, though many do not discuss their beliefs with those who do not share them…

Japan-Cambodia Tanabata Festival celebrates cultural, diplomatic ties
Khmer Times
The Japan-Cambodia Tanabata Festival is an occasion for Cambodian youths to experience not only Japanese culture but also to seek work and study in Japan opportunities, and the event on Friday and Saturday at the Cambodian-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC) was the first time the event has been held since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic…

Japan’s Kobe shrine welcomes quirky and irreverent spirits
Stars and Stripes
A statue of Sugawara no Michizane as a child holding a surfboard stands in the precincts of a shrine overlooking Suma Beach, a spot crowded with beachgoers during the summer…

Wind chimes welcome visitors to Kyoto’s Heian Jingu Shrine
NHK World
In Kyoto, the soothing sounds of about 1,000 wind chimes at Heian Jingu Shrine are giving visitors relief from the summer heat…

Other News

Ancient sanctuary with altars of Roman gods discovered in the Netherlands
Nature World News
An ancient sanctuary used by Roman soldiers almost 2,000 years ago has been discovered by Dutch researchers in the Netherlands…

Egypt: Ruins of ancient temple for Zeus unearthed in Sinai
Arab News
Egyptian archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a temple for the ancient Greek god Zeus in the Sinai Peninsula, antiquities authorities said Monday…

Clay figurine discovered in Germany may represent a prehistoric water goddess
Heritage Daily
Archaeologists have discovered a unique clay figurine that may represent a prehistoric water goddess in Bavaria, Germany…

UK: Protests against Stonehenge A303 works taken to British Museum
Salisbury Journal
Activists against plans to build a tunnel near Stonehenge are campaigning outside the British Museum in London…

UK: Thor’s hammer part of Viking finds returning to Thetford
BBC
A Thor’s hammer and a pottery lamp are among Viking Great Army finds returning to the town where they were discovered…

Statue of ancient Egyptian deity Amun fetches £32K at Christie’s
Egypt Today
Christie’s Auctions in London sold a statue of the ancient Egyptian deity Amun, plated with gold and bronze…

Romans, Druids and Camelot: the UK’s best ancient sites, as chosen by readers
The Guardian
Atmospheric forts, solstice circles and exquisite Roman mosaics feature in readers’ pick of the UK’s finest ancient monuments…

‘Witch hunts’ past and present

US: Effort underway to exonerate Connecticut’s accused witches
The Middletown Press
Decades before the now infamous witch trials took place in Salem, Mass., women were being tried, convicted and executed for witchcraft in Connecticut…

7 women accused of being ‘witches’ allegedly kidnapped and tortured in Peru
VICE
At least seven women were detained and allegedly tortured by a rural militia in Peru who accused them of practicing “witchcraft.”…

India: 70-year-old woman dragged out of house, beaten to death over ‘witchcraft’
National Herald
A 70-year-old woman was beaten to death in Jharkhand’s Garhwa district by villagers who claimed that she practiced ‘witchcraft’, police said on Tuesday…

India: Woman brutally thrashed in Bihar over suspicions of ‘witchcraft’
Mirror Now
In the Badki Hathiya village of Munger district in Bihar, a woman was brutally beaten up by villagers on the suspicions of being a ‘witch’, giving her critical injuries, reported local media…

Gambia: ‘Witch-hunting exercise was politically motivated’
All Africa
The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) in its Investigative Report and Recommendations to the Government of the Gambia, disclosed that some testimonies before the Commission showed that Yahya Jammeh’s witch-hunting exercise was politically motivated…