Pagan & Shinto News: Japan’s Emperor and Empress to attend Queen’s funeral despite Shinto taboo

Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:

• Japan’s Emperor and Empress to attend Queen’s state funeral despite Shinto taboo
• UK: Conspiracy theory spreading through TikTok claims Queen’s Eisteddfod visit was ‘satanic ritual’
• UK: Pendle’s witch gathering brings Guinness World Record back to East Lancashire

Read more below…

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Pagan News

UK: Witches looking to buy land for eco-friendly witchcraft centre
Liverpool Echo
A witch has told the ECHO it’s time for pagans to “come out of the broom closet” as she launched a fundraising campaign to buy land for her fellow witches to grow their own food and host education sessions for the public…

Canada: Hamilton Pagan Pride Day held at Gage Park
The Hamilton Spectator
In its 19th year, the event featured vendors, workshops and live rituals…

US: Psychic fair casts spell on downtown Bad Axe
Huron Daily Tribune
The curious, the skeptical and true believers alike came for tarot card readings, palm reading and channeled sessions with mediums last weekend…

Ireland reclaims Halloween with launch of haunting Púca Festival
Irish Central
This October Púca Festival will celebrate Ireland as the origin of Halloween in Trim and Athboy, County Meath, featuring great musicians, comedians, storytellers and spooky processions…

UK: Cornwall’s modern-day Molly Weasley on what being a witch really means
Cornwall Live
Witchcraft isn’t just for storyscapes like Harry Potter – it’s a lifestyle, and you might be more open to it than you think…

US: 6 great places to buy a gift for your favourite witch
Houston Press
With Halloween nearly upon us, many people are busy figuring out what costume they’ll be wearing to a party or to greet trick-or-treaters stopping by their homes…

Shinto News

Japan’s Emperor and Empress to attend Queen’s state funeral
Belfast Telegraph
Traditionally, a Japanese emperor stays away from funerals whether at home or abroad because of a cultural belief based in the Shinto religion that considers death impure…

Visit the mythical cave that hid the Sun Goddess in Japanese mythology
SoraNews24
It’s no exaggeration to say that Amano Iwato in Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, is the most famous cave in Japan…

Other News

UK: Conspiracy theory spreading through TikTok claims Queen’s Eisteddfod visit was ‘satanic ritual’
Nation.Cymru
A professional conspiracy debunking service have been forced to step in after a videos spread around TikTok claiming that the late Queen’s initiating ceremony at the Eisteddfod’s Gorsedd of the Bards was a satanic ritual…

UK: Stonehenge and English Heritage sites to close for Queen’s funeral
Wiltshire Live
The popular locations and tourist destinations will be closed as a mark of respect to the Queen on the day of her funeral…

UK: Pendle’s witch gathering brings Guinness World Record back to East Lancashire
Lancashire Telegraph
A mass gathering of witches took place on Saturday in the hope of bringing a Guinness World Record back to East Lancashire…

Israeli experts say they discovered ‘rare’ ancient burial cave
Arab News
Israeli archaeologists on Sunday announced the “once-in-a-lifetime” discovery of a burial cave from the time of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II, filled with dozens of pottery pieces and bronze artifacts…

The mystery of France’s ‘Stonehenge’
BBC
Built 1,000 years before the famed English site, the Alignements de Carnac’s 3,000 perfectly aligned stones continue to baffle historians…

How a periodic table of mythology brings the Classics to life
TES*
The organisational genius of the periodic table has uses beyond the science department, says Classics teacher George Connor…

The pagan pleasures of Spain’s Finisterre
The Spectator*
This isolated spot on the Galician coast is littered with reminders of a pre-Christian world…

‘Witch hunts’ past and present

UK: Academic who said ‘witch hunt’ was a racist phrase faces £170,000 court bill
The Telegraph*
A black British academic who claimed “witch hunt” is a racist term faces paying up to £170,000 to his former employers, The Telegraph can disclose…

Nigeria: Two youths allegedly kill 85-year-old man accused of ‘witchcraft’
Daily Post
Two young men in Adamawa State have been arrested by the police for allegedly killing an old man accused of ‘witchcraft’…

‘Sorcery’ accusations in Papua New Guinea on the rise
The Organization for World Peace
Despite repeated efforts from government bodies and N.G.O.s, sorcery-related crime, referred to officially as Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (S.A.R.V.), continues to run rampant in Papua New Guinea…

UK: National Secular Society backs plans to pardon convicted Scottish ‘witches’
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society has backed plans to formally pardon those convicted of witchcraft in Scotland but said more is needed to tackle misogyny…

South Africa: The Witchcraft Suppression Act
The Wild Hunt
The South African Pagan Rights Alliance raises concerns regarding the Witchcraft Suppression Act which has been under legal review since 2010…

UK: The Maggie Wall review – vivid tale of a woman burned for witchcraft
The Guardian
In a monologue starring the excellent Blythe Jandoo, Martin McCormick finds a fearful, misogynistic, class-ridden society to blame for a girl’s death…