Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

• Back in October I wrote about Christian talk-radio host Janet Mefferd’s “Gay Pagan Hysteria,” criticizing her for comments about “pagans” wanting to “wipe out Christianity.” It seems my criticisms actually caught the eye of Ms. Mefferd herself, as she dedicated some time in November to discuss modern Paganism and the “ideology” of “paganism” with Peter Jones, editor of “On Global Wizardry: Techniques of Pagan Spirituality and a Christian Response”. How can I tell that she was reading The Wild Hunt? Because she directly quotes a guest-post by T. Thorn Coyle in the program, to which Thorn replied that “working with Jason Pitzl-Waters always brings gifts of some sort or another!” Always nice to know that some Christians are expanding their horizons by reading this blog, feel free to drop by anytime Janet!
• Anne Elizabeth Wynn at the Austin American Statesman concludes a year of visiting and experiencing various religious traditions with Unitarian Universalism and modern Paganism. Puzzled by the “confusing research” into the differences between Wicca and Paganism, Wynn enlists the help of local Pagans Jax and GG (aka The Pagan Princesses). On Paganism, GG says that it “is not focused on life after death or on salvation or fear of damnation. Accountability is now, with your friends and family.” You can find out more about Wynn’s spiritual journey, here.
• The Deccan Herald looks at the traditional Mata ni Pachedi, a hand-painted cloth that honors the mother goddess. You can see some examples of Mata ni Pachedi, here and here.
• At Religion Dispatches Louis A.Ruprecht follows up his recent essay on Saturnalia with one on the differences (and conflations) between Cronus (Saturn) and Chronus (Time).  Quote: “The Roman poet Horace famously quipped that “Captive Greece had conquered her conqueror,” as a way to describe the newfound Roman fascination with Greek mythology in the last century before the Common Era. But the conqueror was still a conqueror, so the later Romans felt free to make Greek myths over in Latin dress.”
• The SexIs blog looks at  sacred intimacy, prostitution, and Tantra in the wake of the Phoenix Goddess Temple arrests (link can be somewhat NSFW, depending on where you work). Quote: “Were their ministrations quid pro quo sex for hire, or were these ‘sacred priestesses’ engaged in the re-creation of an ancient practice of ritualized sex for spiritual healing? Is the answer to that question somewhere in between? How does it matter to our overall understanding of the curative role of sex or the need to heal traumas, sexual or otherwise?” An interesting and thoughtful meditation on the various perspectives.
• A prosecutor in Siberia’s call to ban the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s most holy texts, sparked an international outcry recently. Embarrassed by the official’s actions a Russian court rejected the proposed ban, and Russia’s Foreign Ministry went on damage control. Quote: “I repeat this is not about the book per se, but about the unsuccessful translation and the preface written by the author.” This is just the latest incident in the abuse of Russia’s laws against extremism, which local officials have been using to crack down on Russian Pagans and other minority faiths (like the Jehovah’s Witnesses) that the Russian Orthodox Church disapprove of. Expect to see more of this in years to come.
• Does Ron Paul have a controversial Dominionist pastor problem? Not anymore!
• SFist provides cosmic proof that Oakland mayor Jean Quan bungled the handling of Occupy Oakland.
• Prayer warriors explicitly target the separation of Church and State.
• Unsurprisingly, several high-profile young adult authors hated, hated, hated the terrible, no-good, film adaptation of Susan Cooper’s classic book “The Dark Is Rising.” Quote from “Wicked” author Gregory Maguire: “I am told that the movie based on “The Dark Is Rising” is pretty lousy; the novelist, Susan Cooper, begged me not to see it, and out of long-standing friendship I have obeyed her.” The book, however, remains excellent, do seek it out.

That’s it for now! Happy 2012 everyone! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.