Jennifer's Alternative Religions Blog August 2007 Archive

Dion Fortune: The Deeper Issues of Occultism
What Is Occultism? This question we may very well ask if we intend to devote time and trouble to its pursuit. Are we to content ourselves with tales of haunted houses, ... Read More

Friday August 31, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Friday Links: Don't Be Absurd
Note to Worldnet- again- storybook witches are not "religion," and do not need to be balanced by bible readings. Travelers on Vatican airlines discovered the hard way they're still ... Read More

Friday August 31, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Update on Wiccan Snub
To his credit, President Bush apparently regrets his "accidental" snub of war widow Roberta Stewart. While I refuse to believe that such a well-known figure was inadvertently left out, ... Read More

Thursday August 30, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

Eye Roll, Please
A Kenyan Christian group is petitioning the country's high court to get the conviction of an innocent man overturned- on grounds it was illegal. The problem is, the convicted ... Read More

Thursday August 30, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Bush Snubs Wiccan War Widow
This is hardly surprising, but it does seem remarkably cruel even for Bush- after visiting an American legion event in Reno, President Bush met with the families of Nevada soldiers ... Read More

Wednesday August 29, 2007 | permalink | comments (15)

Odd Things in Churches
An interesting story about some very unusual items unearthed in a pair of old churches in New Jersey. Would you believe animal sacrifices, liquor bottles, cauldrons, bullets?

Wednesday August 29, 2007 | permalink | comments (3)

But That Might Lead to..Satan Talk!
Witch SchoolPhoto by Scott Olson/Getty Images The Houston Chronicle is apparently deeply concerned that a new law designed to protect religious expression in school might have consequences: "Students could cite their religious ... Read More

Monday August 27, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)

This Would Be Funny if it Wasn't Frightening
Four senior Malawians have been convicted of sorcery, and sentenced to two years in prison. Apparently, it was an open and shut case, as the four suspects confessed to ... Read More

Monday August 27, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Ilmatar, Kalevala
Today is the feast day of the Finnish Ilmatar, Goddess of air and creatrix, mother of the Hero Väinämöinen. The story of Ilmatar is related in ... Read More

Sunday August 26, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

Will the Fire go out?
Zoroastrianism is the world's oldest 'revealed' religion. A profound influence on Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, it was the first to teach a monotheistic faith of one God of light, Ahura ... Read More

Friday August 24, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Friday Links: Religious Rights Edition
A new blog focuses on the plight of Iraq's other threatened minority faith, the Mandaeans.It can't be easy being Pagan in Utah. Bad Press For WitchesSome seriously stupid behavior + ... Read More

Friday August 24, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Won't Someone Please Pay Attention to My Outrage?
Tennessee mother has inexplicably made the news in her hometown by yanking her young son out of school over objections to a book on the grade school curriculum she frinds ... Read More

Thursday August 23, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)

Pentagram Earrings Dominate the World
Strange conspiracy theory laden articles are a staple at right wing "news" organization WorldNetDaily, but this newest one goes so far over the top it makes me wonder if someone ... Read More

Thursday August 23, 2007 | permalink | comments (7)

The Way and its Power- the story of the Tao te Ching
When the wise man Laotze was halted on his travels by a customs official who demanded he declare his items of value, Laotze replied that he had only one thing ... Read More

Tuesday August 21, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Yezidis Face Extinction
A Yezidi outside the Lalish TempleMario Tama / Getty Images Last wednesday, a wave of suicide bombings in Kurdish areas in Northwestern Iraq killed between 200 and 500 people, the largest ... Read More

Monday August 20, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Friday Links: Weird, Bad, Sublime
I think Canada's National Post is being generous when they say the Scientologists' "Industry of Death" museum "walks a fine line." In fact, it appears to need a big ... Read More

Friday August 17, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Odin's Nine Nights
Today is the anniversary of the ancient festival honoring the Norse God Odin's self-sacrifice on the World-Ash (human sacrifices to the god were made in this fashion). According to ... Read More

Friday August 17, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

You might Be a Redneck Wiccan If...
...your idea of a ritual involves drunken chants shouted while leaping around a garbage fire in your underwear.

Thursday August 16, 2007 | permalink | comments (3)

Life is But a Dream- or, a Computer Game?
"Archon Sam"Jennifer Emick, 2004 John Tierney in the NYT discusses a new twist on the "Matrix" scenario:"In fact, if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost ... Read More

Wednesday August 15, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Can Christians and occultists get along?
An occultist appeals to his Christian fellow-travelers:"Occultism is not related to devil worship, human sacrifice, or an other bizarre thing the urban legends, insane street preachers and tele-evangelists might try ... Read More

Tuesday August 14, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

Death Gets a Makeover
The Grim Reaper, James EnsorPublic Domain Image The small Catholic-based religious group of followers of Santa Muerte appear to want to distance themselves from accusations that they are a "death cult." ... Read More

Monday August 13, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Roman Festival of Lights
In the Roman clendar, today marks the festival of Lychnapsia, the "Lights of Isis," commemorating the search of the goddessIsis for the body of her murdered husbandOsiris. The festival is ... Read More

Sunday August 12, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Friday Links: Imaginary Creatures & Authoritarian Impulses
The headline says it all: Werewolf Faces Drug and Sex ChargesWhere therre's a werewolf, the vampires can't be far behind. Satan Scares Gerald Robinson, the elderly priest who was railroaded for the ... Read More

Friday August 10, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

Druids in the Public Eye
A Druid poses at StonehengeDaniel Berehulak/Getty Images It's probably all coincidental, but I've noticed an upswing in s(mostly) positive stories about professing Druids, a group that collectibvely seems to be singled ... Read More

Thursday August 9, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Hans Holbein: The Dance of Death


Wednesday August 8, 2007 | permalink | comments (3)

Chicken Blood Gets Principal Fired
Here's a story of religious entanglement in schools you probably don't see every day and probably won't see again. You may recall that a school principal came under fire ... Read More

Wednesday August 8, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

Exorcisms Gone Wrong
The practice of exorcism used to be fairly rare in the West, usually carried out somewhat furtively in Catholic communities and usually without a whole lot of fuss and bother. ... Read More

Monday August 6, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)

Feast of Thoth
Today marks the date of the ancient Egyptian Fest of thoth, the God of writing, magick, and learning. His image is that of an Ibis-headed man, and he is often ... Read More

Monday August 6, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)

The Emerald Tablet
The text of the Emerald tablet is brief- only thirteen lines- but it is the cornerstone of the Hermetic movement. The origin of this mysterious text is shrouded in antiquity, ... Read More

Friday August 3, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)

Friday Links: "Pop Occulture" Edition
Theofantastique blog interviews Jason Winslade on the commercialization of Witchcraft and magic. Speaking of which, this has to be the first mainstream news mention of the phrase "barbarous words." What's a "pin-up ... Read More

Friday August 3, 2007 | permalink | comments (1)

A Very Belated Pardon For Anna Göldi
It's becoming something of a tradition these days to pardon or otherwise clear the names those falsely accused of withcraft; ironically, it is often modern-day witches who lead the movements. ... Read More

Thursday August 2, 2007 | permalink | comments (0)

Lammas/Lughnasadh, Edward Kelley
Lammas ('loaf-mass') was an annual Catholic holiday, drawn from an older Pagan celebration, known to the Celts as Lughnassadh (literally, "Assembly of Lugh," and pronounced 'Loo-nah-sah'), the feast of the ... Read More

Wednesday August 1, 2007 | permalink | comments (2)