Jennifer's Alternative Religions Blog July 2006 Archive

Lammas, Edward Kelly
Today is the first day of the ancient harvest festival of Lammas ('loaf-mass'). The Lammas Mass was drawn from an older Pagan celebration, known to the Celts as Lughnassadh ... Read More

Monday July 31, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Religious Police, Malta's Pagans, Satellite Dish as Religious Necessity?
The Iranian government last week moved to ban the Da Vinci Code more than three years after its initial release. Not surprisingly, the book is becoming a bestseller ... Read More

Monday July 31, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Asatru or Klingon?
The novelty of a Pagan about to be executed for a religiously inspired crime is just too much for reporters to resist. Michael Lenz will most likely be executed ... Read More

Thursday July 27, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Iran Bans Da Vinci Code, Entheogens, What Would Jesus Buy?
Our very weird week continues! Iran has finally gotten around to doing what I always assumed they would be the first in line to do: they've banned the Da ... Read More

Wednesday July 26, 2006 | permalink | comments (2)

Florida's Bible-Law, Ren-Faire Wenches and Other Denizens of the Dark, "Roll Your Own Religion," Episco-Wicca?
It's been a very strange, surreal week, so much so I've wondered if I mussed news of sunspots or some unusual conjunction of planets... Florida has yet another entry ... Read More

Tuesday July 25, 2006 | permalink | comments (3)

Ironic Punishment, Ancient Pagan Traditions,
Now this is a strange story- a death row prisoner scheduled to be executed for the murder of a fellow inmate is seeking clemency from the Supreme Court. What makes ... Read More

Friday July 21, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Da Vinci Miscellany, VA Plays "Hide the Symbols," Kabbalah Green?
The authors whose copyright infringement suit against Dan Brown failed are not giving up on their copyright challenge, and have been given permission to appeal their loss. Meanwhile, the Vatican is ... Read More

Wednesday July 19, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

New Symbols, Texts
There are new entries in the Symbol Glossary today, plus new texts in the Library, including Elisabeth Goldsmith's classic work, Ancient Pagan Symbols, with all of the original illustrations. Additionally, ... Read More

Tuesday July 18, 2006 | permalink | comments (2)

Superman, Allah Egg, Jesus & the Porn Stars, Cuddly Witches
New to the Superman debate: Did Jesus fly? A sixty year old African woman was shot and her house torched by neighbors who suspected the woman and her husband of practicing ... Read More

Monday July 17, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

The Return of the Cunning Folk? Plus: Shrooms, Gideons, Christian-only Sex Toys
For hundreds of years, community practitioners and folk magicians with natural gifts for healing, divination, and treasure hunting known colloquially as "cunning folk" operated largely unmolested by secular and religious ... Read More

Thursday July 13, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Superman Debate Continues, Prayer Warrior, Scientologst Vs. Filmmaker
The debate over superman's real 'secret identity' continues...I just wish the movie was half as interesting as the theological sparring it's provoking. A priceless gem of local religion reporting: in-depth ... Read More

Wednesday July 12, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Moral Satanists, Dominionists' Idol, Witch School, Vodou Priestess
Did you know that North Carolina was the "Satanic capital" of the US? The Pastor goes on the rant that Satanists are: "community leaders, doctors, lawyers, housewives and possibly ... Read More

Monday July 10, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Anti-Pagan Bigotry in Greece, Native Americans Stymied by Fire Bans, Sensationalism Trumps Responsible Repoorting, La Milagrosa
A few days ago we talked about Greece's Pagan revival, and the struggle to be allowed to worship as they please under the sahdow of the Church-led state. Now ... Read More

Friday July 7, 2006 | permalink | comments (2)

OES in Georgia Forbidden to be Co-Masons, China Harvesting Organs from Falun Dafa, "Dear Governor Huckabee"
Burning Taper reports that Eastern Star members in Georgia are being threatened with expulsion for participation in Co-masonry, thus far the only branch of the Masonic family that admits women. Evidence ... Read More

Thursday July 6, 2006 | permalink | comments (1)

Greek Pagans Struggle for Recognition, New Witchcraft Laws for Mumbai & Zimbabwe, Google Vs. the Occult
Greece may have as many as sixty thousand practicing Pagans, many of these of the reconstructionist variety, who seek to revive the ancient Greek Pagan religion. But Greece and ... Read More

Wednesday July 5, 2006 | permalink | comments (3)

Blaming Santeria (Again), "Not Like Everyone Else"
First rule of lazy policework: when you find something you can't explain, blame it on a religion you don't understand. Despite protests from experts that grave-robbing is not an aspect of ... Read More

Sunday July 2, 2006 | permalink | comments (0)

Undercover Scientology
Yet another "undercover Scientology" (alternate) article. If I ever see a media feature on Scientology that begins, "I entered the Scientology Center and identified myself as a reporter interested ... Read More

Saturday July 1, 2006 | permalink | comments (1)