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.
- Beliefnet News runs a story on an upcoming Washington DC Pagan event, “a protest to the New Apostolic Reformation’s 51-day prayer campaign targeting Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids, Heathens, and other Goddess-worshipers nationwide.” The press release from event organizer Caroline Kenner probably got picked up thanks to a pull-quote provided by the Reverend Barry Lynn of Americans United. You can read more about the nation-wide Hail Columbia campaign, here. More on this specific event, here, and here. I plan to have a guest post from one of the Hail Columbia coordinators very soon, so stay tuned!
- Theater professor and local witch-trial reenactor Kristina Stevick makes peace with Salem being the “Witch City”. Quote: “We recruit audiences from Salem’s modern streets and, in the process, get an interesting view of our City of Peace. We’ve seen shouting matches and fistfights between business owners and their mascots. We’ve been “hexed” by competitors, and we (along with other businesses) have been the recipients of a literal door “prize” of dead animals.”
- The Associated Press reports on the spread of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) in the United States. Quote: “In the last decade or so, this traditional Latin American holiday with indigenous roots has spread throughout the U.S. along with migration from Mexico and other countries where it is observed. Not only are U.S.-born Latinos adopting the Day of the Dead, but various underground and artistic non-Latino groups have begun to mark the Nov. 1-2 holidays through colorful celebrations, parades, exhibits and even bike rides and mixed martial arts fights.” Some examples of how the United States has adopted the Day of the Dead: here, here, and here.
- The Atlanta Journal Constitution has run an obituary of Wiccan elder David White (aka Lord Merlin). Star Foster, a member of White’s tradition, previously noted his passing. White was an elder high priest of the Ravenwood tradition for almost three decades. Lord Merlin was the longtime consort and companion of Lady Sintana, who passed away a year ago.
- The BBC has a report on the growing popularity of Maria Lionza’s cult in Venezuela. Here’s an audio slideshow from last year of the goddess’ worshipers. The toppling of a Maria Lionza statues in 2004 was one of the first things I every blogged about here at The Wild Hunt.
- More ‘War on Halloween’ nonsense from Linda Harvey. Harvey is founder of Mission:America, and author of “Not My Child: Contemporary Paganism & the New Spirituality”. So she’s not really down with dialog and interfaith communication. More on the this trend from Jason Mankey.
- The growing veneration of Guanyin in South Alabama. The growing veneration of Maria Lionza in Venezuela. The exploding veneration of Mary in Wisconsin. Do you sense a theme here? I sure do.
- Native journalist Tim Giago ponders: Why did Native American people convert to a foreign religion? Quote: “I am still left with the question that has bothered me all of my life: Why did so many indigenous people convert to the religions that came from a foreign land with a Bible in which not one indigenous tribe in the Western Hemisphere is ever mentioned?”
- T. Thorn Coyle’s recently announced subscription video teaching series entitled Fiat LVX now has an introductory video you can watch. Check it out!
- The Infamous Brad shares the secret origin of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
- Did you listen to the first episode of the re-launched, live, episode of the Modern Witch Podcast? If not, you should! Featuring an interview with the ever-erudite Jonathan Korman.
- Heathen Steven Abell discusses Mormonism, politics, Christianity, and the veracity of religious teachings.
That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.
