Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- Ireland: New February bank holiday sees Dublin host six-day Brigit festival celebrating women
- Mysterious 12-sided Roman object found in Belgium may have been used for magical rituals
- Mirror and sword found in 4th-century tomb in Japan
Read more below…
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Imbolc Coverage
Ireland: New February bank holiday sees Dublin host six-day Brigit festival celebrating women
Independent.ie
The new February bank holiday is being used as an opportunity to “celebrate contemporary women in Dublin”, with the six-day Brigit festival…
Brigit: Trinity conference in Ireland to discuss if she was a real person, a goddess or saint
The Irish Times
The ‘Brigit of Ireland: An icon for today’ event will be hosted by the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College, in collaboration with Woman Spirit Ireland…
Ireland: St Brigid is getting a drag show in her honour at this Ballydehob pub
Yay Cork
Drag haus Mockie Ah is bringing an Imbolc bash to the sleepy seaside village of Ballydehob on the eve of the festival…
St. Brigid and her powerful cultural heritage
RTE
To come to a full understanding and appreciation of her feast however, we must examine the Pre-Christian roots, not just of the celebration, but of the figure of Brigid herself…
UK: Wold’s witches ready to welcome springtime
Lincolnshire World
As witches around the world get ready to celebrate the awakening of spring, the High Priestesses have taken the opportunity to dispel myths that still surround one of the most ancient teachings…
Other Pagan News
UK: Media personality Gemma Collins calls on witches to help ‘cure her’ as she believes she’s cursed
Mirror
The former TOWIE star, 41, took to her podcast to discuss spirituality when she made the claim…
UK: Inside the unique world of Horncastle witchcraft
The Lincolnite
How Horncastle’s witches are dispelling myths and promoting positivity…
UK: Practising witches welcome at Hanley ghost hunters’ spooky new shop
Stoke On Trent Live
The Little Magic Corner Shop, in Stafford Street, Hanley, sells anything witches, druids, or mediums could need – and plenty for fans of spooky giftware, such as candles, spell bottles, mugs, keyrings and home decor…
UK: The curious Leighton Buzzard shop frequented by druids and witches that’s like no other
Bedfordshire Live
The shop sells a huge range of products, ranging from ancient artefacts to taxidermy animals, magic potions to voodoo dolls…
US: I was a tarot reader at Laurie Cabot’s authentic Salem witch shop
YourTango
People often ask me what it was like to work as a tarot card reader in Salem, MA…
Wednesday, WitchTok and ‘shiny thing syndrome’ – how witchcraft has become a multi-billion-dollar business
The Courier*
And while it’s long been said that money can’t buy happiness, one major commercial trend in recent years suggests something pretty close to it can be bought: magic…
Why rise of witch lit is leaving readers spellbound
Belfast Telegraph*
The subject matter isn’t new but it’s been given a bookish regeneration writes Aine Toner…
Shinto News
Mirror and sword found in 4th-century tomb in Japan
The Japan Times*
Mirror and shields are considered to be tools to protect the dead from evil spirits…
Fukuoka: Splashy festival to pray for protection against fires
The Japan News
A traditional festival featuring participants dousing themselves with water from usu mortars was held in early January in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture…
Japanese Setsubun celebrates ‘change of seasons’
Stripes Japan
For those of you venturing out in town on Feb. 3, be sure to watch out for flying beans and fleeing ogres…
We visit the only shrine in Japan where you can pray to the gods for good weather
SoraNews24
Pray the rain away at special weather shrine in Tokyo…
Other News
Mysterious 12-sided Roman object found in Belgium may have been used for magical rituals
Live Science
A fragment of a mysterious artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron has been found in Belgium…
Egypt’s oldest mummy found ‘covered in layers of gold’
Sky News
The 4,300-year-old mummy was one of dozens of antiquities discovered in the dig near Cairo. A team uncovered the ancient find at the bottom of a 50ft shaft at Egypt’s first pyramid…
Italy: Ancient statue of Hercules emerges from Rome sewer repairs
The Guardian
Work depicting mythological hero and apparently dating back to Roman imperial period found near Appian Way…
UK: Hunt for ‘Satanists’ after bizarre ritual discovered in New Forest
The Telegraph*
New Forest locals are no strangers to the sight of occult happenings, but even they were baffled by five suspected pig hearts left on a Bronze Age mound….
Italy welcomes home looted ancient artworks from the U.S.
Reuters*
Italy on Monday celebrated the return of 60 looted archaeological artefacts worth more than $20 million, many of which had been on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art before their illicit origin was discovered…
UK universities place “trigger warnings” on Greek tragedies and literature
Greek Reporter
Universities in the United Kingdom have reportedly placed “trigger warnings” on ancient Greek tragedies, as well as Shakespeare, Beowulf, and others…
Exploring the historic and cultural significant of the native trees of Ireland
Irish Central
Native trees have played a significant role in Irish history and culture and are cherished and respected by the people of Ireland to this day…
How the myth of whiteness in classical sculpture was created
Hindustan Times
The myth that the statues of ancient Greece and Rome were white was created over time and upheld in part to serve racist ideological purposes…
How an ancient Greek myth still shapes our minds
BBC
Stories about babies delivered by storks, or grown in cabbage patches, have enchanted generations. But do they still have a place in modern parenting?…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
UK: Yorkshire bibliophile’s rare library of witchcraft and war drive surprise price at auction
The Yorkshire Post*
A rare treasure trove of books covering a history of Britain from witchcraft to war has sold spectacularly at auction to surpass all expectations…
Nigeria: Youths set 89-year-old man ablaze in Benue over ‘witchcraft’
Pulse
The angry mob was said to have attacked the octogenarian for allegedly inflicting sickness on a community youth with ‘witchcraft’…
India: Tribal woman branded ‘witch’, beaten up in Gujarat
Deccan Herald
A tribal woman was allegedly beaten up after being forced to unclothe by her family members who branded her as a ‘witch’…