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| | The Burning Time: It hasn't ended | | | Thursday, January 8, 2009 (12:32 PM)
(I'm feeling angry) | | Woman suspected of witchcraft burned alive
By Saeed Ahmed
CNN
(CNN) -- A woman in rural Papua New Guinea was bound and gagged, tied to a log and set ablaze on a pile of tires this week, possibly because villagers suspected her of being a witch, police said Thursday.
Her death adds to a growing list of men and women who have been accused of sorcery and then tortured or killed in the South Pacific island nation, where traditional beliefs hold sway in many regions.
The victims are often scapegoats for someone else's unexplained death, and bands of tribesmen collude to mete out justice to them for their supposed magical powers, police said.
"We have had difficulties in a number of previous incidents convincing people to come forward with information," said Simon Kauba, assistant commissioner of police and commander of the Highlands region, where the killing occurred.
"We are trying to persuade them to help. Somebody lost their mother or daughter or sister Tuesday morning."
Early Tuesday, a group of people dragged the woman, believed to be in her late teens to early 20s, to a dumping ground outside the city of Mount Hagen. They stripped her naked, bound her hands and legs, stuffed a cloth in her mouth, tied her to a log and set her on fire, Kauba said.
"When the people living nearby went to the dump site to investigate what caused the fire, they found a human being burning in the flames," he said. "It was ugly."
The country's Post-Courier newspaper reported Thursday that more than 50 people were killed in two Highlands provinces last year for allegedly practicing sorcery.
In a well-publicized case last year, a pregnant woman gave birth to a baby girl while struggling to free herself from a tree. Villagers had dragged the woman from her house and hung her from the tree, accusing her of sorcery after her neighbor suddenly died.
She and the baby survived, according to media reports.
The killing of witches, or sangumas, is not a new phenomenon in rural areas of the country.
Emory University anthropology professor Bruce Knauft, who lived in a village in the western province of Papua New Guinea in the early 1980s, traced family histories for 42 years and found that one in three adult deaths were homicides -- "the bulk of these being collective killings of suspected sorcerers," he wrote in his book, "From Primitive to Postcolonial in Melanesia and Anthropology."
In recent years, as AIDS has taken a toll in the nation of 6.7 million people, villagers have blamed suspected witches -- and not the virus -- for the deaths.
According to the United Nations, Papua New Guinea accounts for 90 percent of the Pacific region's HIV cases and is one of four Asia-Pacific countries with an epidemic.
"We've had a number of cases where people were killed because they were accused of spreading HIV or AIDS," Kauba said.
While there is plenty of speculation why Tuesday's victim was killed, police said they are focused more on who committed the crime.
"If it is phobias about alleged HIV/AIDS or claims of a sexual affair, we must urge the police and judiciary to throw the book at the offenders," the Post-Courier wrote in an editorial.
"There are remedies far, far better than to torture and immolate a young woman before she can be judged by a lawful system." | | | 33 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
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| | Positive News About Wicca in Ohio | | | Saturday, March 15, 2008 (6:41 PM)
(I'm feeling content) | |
Athens’ Wicca presence growing
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008
Kent Clements / For The Post / kc376907@ohiou.edu
Editor’s note: Because of the stigma surrounding Wicca, sources are identified by their first names only.
Not many people are told they are going to hell on a regular basis, but Sabrae, an Athens resident, has heard it plenty of times over the 20 years she’s practiced Wicca. However, she said she has seen a change in the general reaction to her beliefs.
Although largely misunderstood by many, Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the country, according to the 2001 American Religion Identification Survey. The study found that Wicca’s number of adherents is doubling about every 30 months, from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001.
Although it draws influence from much older traditions, Wicca is a relatively young practice, said Sabrae. Most of the groundwork for the religion was laid in 1940s England by Gerald Gardner, who studied the occult, she said.
The religion is earth- and solar-based, and practicing members celebrate the yearly equinoxes and solstices. Wiccans generally worship a god and goddess, and there is a focus on the contrast between the two, she said
Sabrae serves as the High Priestess in the Coven of Celestial Tides, Athens’ local Wiccan coven founded in 1990.
Though the frequency of meetings varies greatly from coven to coven, Celestial Tides meets once a week and members learn stories and spiritual healing practices. When necessary, the coven members perform spells, which are like prayers that include ritual objects like candles, said Sabrae.
The majority of the spells the coven performs are healing based, for both members of the coven and for people who have requested it, said Sabrae.
“Nothing I would call creepy,’” she said
Nature has played an important role since the religion’s creation, but certain terms associated with Wicca could have negative connotations, said Jessie, an Ohio University junior who has been interested in Wicca since she was about 18.
“For the most part, when people hear the words ‘witch’ or ‘witchcraft’ they think of people … sacrificing animals and playing weird, spooky music and wearing long black robes or whatever,” she said. “It just doesn’t give people a very safe feeling.”
While Jessie feels she can talk about her religious interests most of the time, she has chosen to hide them from her employer because she fears her ideology will not be accepted.
Many of the misconceptions about Wicca have been caused by Hollywood’s misrepresentation of the practice, said Sabrae.
“I find that the biggest challenge is overcoming Hollywood stereotypes ... some folks saw The Craft or Charmed or Buffy or whatever and they’re drawn to it because of what Hollywood shows them ... but those aren’t reality based,” she said.
Instead, Wicca requires heartfelt dedication and is a fairly difficult commitment, she said.
The Coven of Celestial Tides is an initiatory group that is very selective and demands a serious time commitment from its members, according to its Web site, www.celestialtides.com.
“It’s really just a deeply spiritual practice ... and it’s very personal. It’s not about being able to snap your fingers and have your eyes change colors,” she said.
Another popular misconception is that Wiccans worship or believe in Satan, Sabrae said.
“Some folks choose not to, or just don’t understand that we are not about the whole Satan thing,” said Sabrae, adding that an evil entity does not exist in the Wiccan religion and adherents are personally responsible to behave morally.
Sabrae said she thinks this belief could be one of the reasons that Paganism in general has been on the rise in Athens County for some time now, she said, adding that anyone could be Pagan or Wiccan.
“You don’t know what witches or Pagans you might know, because, at least in Athens county, Pagans are of all walks of life and of all levels of professionalism. You never know if your professor, the person sitting next to you in class, the person serving you in the dining hall or checking you out at the store is a pagan.”
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| | Lessons to be Learned from the Wild | | | Saturday, March 15, 2008 (6:38 PM)
(I'm feeling content) | | Dolphin rescues stranded whales
* Story Highlights
* Witnesses say a bottlenose dolphin helped two stranded whales to safety
* The two pygmy sperm whales were stranded on a sandbar at Mahia Beach, NZ
* Rescuers watched as the dolphin guided the mother and calf to open sea
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A dolphin swam up to two distressed whales that appeared headed for death in a beach stranding in New Zealand and guided them to safety, witnesses said Wednesday.
The actions of the bottlenose dolphin -- named Moko by residents who said it spends much of its time swimming playfully with humans at the beach -- amazed would-be rescuers and an expert who said they were evidence of the species' friendly nature.
The two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, were found stranded on Mahia Beach, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of the capital of Wellington, on Monday morning, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.
Rescuers worked for more than one hour to get the whales back into the water, only to see them strand themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea. It looked likely the whales would have to be euthanized to prevent them suffering a prolonged death, Smith said.
"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."
Along came Moko, who approached the whales and led them 200 meters (yards) along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea. Watch how dolphin became a hero »
"Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience. The best day of my life."
Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."
These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.
"We've seen bottlenose dolphins getting lifted up on the noses of humpback whales and getting flicked out of the water just for fun," van Helden said.
"But it's the first time I've heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that's wonderful," said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.
Smith speculated that Moko responded after hearing the whales' distress calls.
"It was looking like it was going to be a bad outcome for the whales ... then Moko just came along and fixed it," he said. "They had arched their backs and were calling to one another, but as soon as the dolphin turned up they submerged into the water and followed her."
After the rescue, Moko returned to the beach and joined in games with local residents, he said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | | | | 155 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Everything Old is New Again | | | Saturday, March 15, 2008 (6:32 PM)
(I'm feeling content) | | Ancient Greek gods' new believers
By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens
___________________________________________________________
Followers of the 12 Greek Gods, who, according to mythology, ruled the Ancient World from Mount Olympus, have cast a thunderbolt at their Orthodox opponents.
After successfully staging a landmark ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, their leader pledged to fight for the right to conduct baptisms, marriages, and funerals according to the rites of the ancient religion.
"We are a legitimate religion. But the authorities don't let us do this, but we shall claim this right through the European Union," said Doretta Peppa, the high priestess, who led the prayers next to the 15 remaining columns of the temple.
The move is bound to aggravate the highly conservative Greek Orthodox church, which strongly disapproves of what it regards as paganism.
First service
"They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past," said Father Efstathios Kollas, the President of Greek Clergymen.
Hundreds of followers of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hermes stood in a circle, a mile from the Acropolis, in what was the first official religious service allowed in the grounds of an Ancient Greek temple.
Previous rites have been performed covertly, but the culture ministry was obliged to grant permission for the event after a court last year legitimised the religion, which was eclipsed 1600 years ago by Christianity.
"I feel very emotional," said Ms Peppa, a writer. "We have been persecuted for 16-and-a-half centuries but now we are here. This is our human right. And we shall carry on worshipping at our temples. They have now been put to proper use.
"This is as important to us, as prayers are for Muslims, Christians or Hindus," said Apollonius, a former taverna owner from Melbourne, Australia.
He abandoned the Church for the 12 Gods, because 'they make me feel whole, they make me feel part of the universe."
Ancient ceremony
Ms Peppa said she turned to the ancient religion because she could not countenance the concept of just one God outside the world.
Her co-religionists believe that the Olympian gods exist in the world and control various elements of nature.
For example, Poseidon is the God of the Sea; Hera, the Goddess of Marriage; and Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Romance.
The ceremony was an attempt to emulate those carried out in Athens in the 4th Century BC, when the Greeks were preparing for the games at Olympia.
Believers dressed as ancient warriors left their spears, swords and shields at the entrance before entering the Temple.
This was supposed to represent the truce between warring states that took place during the games.
And it was a symbolic message sent to the rest of the world calling for peace in 2008 when the Olympic Games takes place in Beijing.
If we really want to say that we are democratic and we have freedom, then we have to be allowed to practise our religion."
12 Gods follower "Artemis" |
The international publicity surrounding the Temple of Zeus ceremony may galvanise the all-powerful Orthodox Church to step up its opposition.
But one of the participants has appealed for tolerance.
Wearing a crown of daisies and a flowing white gown, a red haired woman who identified herself only as Artemis said: "This is the land which has given birth to freedom and democracy. If we really want to say that we are democratic and we have freedom, then we have to be allowed to practise our religion."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6285397.stm
Published: 2007/01/21 22:19:26 GMT
© BBC MMVIII | | | | 143 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 1 Comment | |
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| | Charge of the Wabbit | | | Wednesday, March 5, 2008 (12:05 PM)
(I'm feeling exhausted) | | Current mood: Exhausted? Yes...because I realized today that I'm out of shape when I had to ride my bicycle to and from work because my car wasn't working. It's only 2 1/2 miles...but that's uphill to work. Coming home was nicer :-)
Anyway, this was sent to me by a friend and high priestess in Texas. Enjoy!
Invocation of the Goddess Fluffy Bunny (An Ostara Ritual)
Charge of the Great Bunny
Now listen to the words of the Great Mommy, who was of old also
called among rabbits Mopsy, Flopsy, Cottontail and a whole bunch of
other names. At mine warrens, the kids at Looney Tunes made neat
sacrifice!
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and better it
be when the moon is full, then shall ye bunch up and hide, and adore
the spirit of me whom am Queen of all Bunnies. There shall ye bunch,
ye who are interested in higher education, but haven't yet figured it
out; to these will I teach even things I don't know. And ye shall be
free from Elmer Fudd, and as a sign ye be really horny, [ye shall be
naked in your rites (optional)], and ye shall hop and twitch, eat
carrots and fool around, all for me. For mine is big fun, and mine
also is even bigger fun, for my law is playtime.
Keep pure your lettuce patch, ever weed it, let slugs and aphids not
turn you aside; for mine is the secret door that opens onto Never-
Never Land, and the Cauldron of Somebody-or- other, which is even
better than chocolate milk. I am the Gracious Bunny, who gives the
gift of joy unto the tummy of rabbits. Upon earth, I know all sorts
of stuff, and beyond death, you get to play. Nor do I demand
sacrifice; for look! I am the Mommy of all living, so I've already
got plenty.
Hear ye the words of the Star Bunny, she whose tushy is a cottonball,
and whose ears are very long, and whose body is quite cuddly. I am
the beauty of the green carrot tops, and the white parsnips among the
weeds, and the splashing in the water, and the desire of the
nymphomaniac. Call unto thy soul, "Hey, soul! Get up and come here or
you don't get any dessert!"
I'm in charge, and before my whiskers, beloved of Big Bunnies and
little hares, let thine innermost cute self have lots of good times.
Let my worship be within the tummy that grumbles; for look! All acts
of love and pleasure are my rituals. Therefore party! party! party!
But don't drink and drive. And thou who thinkest to theek me, know
thy theeking ith in vain unleth thou knoweth the mythtery: I don't
know either. But I'm in charge anyway and don't you forget it. | | | | 141 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Being a Winner | | | Tuesday, February 26, 2008 (5:21 AM)
(I'm feeling artistic) | | From Do the Gods Weep As Well? (© 1997, 2000 by J. David Watson)
To win at something, one need only stop a moment and listen to the sound of the wind whispering through the trees, to become fully aware of the world upon which we dwell. For if one cannot live as a part of the world, how can one feel the life that dwells within all living things? And if one cannot feel this life, how can one follow the feelings of the heart? And if one cannot follow the heart, how can one be truly free? And if one cannot be free, how can one truly experience one’s own life? And if one cannot live, then the game is lost forever. | | | | 121 Views | 2 Thumbs Up | 1 Comment | |
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| | "Religion" and "Religious" = Christianity? | | | Sunday, February 24, 2008 (2:06 PM)
(I'm feeling annoyed) | | We've all heard the slogans or read the blurbs. "He got religion", "Religious leaders say that...", "So-and-so's very religious" and so on.
And these sayings are all typically associated with Christianity.
So, here is my question: where are the other religions in the world?
I know that Christianity would like to believe that it is the only religion, and indeed claims to be the only "true" religion, but the fact of the matter is, there are many religions in our world today:
Asatru
Hinduism
Buddhism
Shinto
Islam
Judaism
Baha'i Faith
Confucianism
The Creativity Movement (formerly the World Church of the Creator)
Jainism
Sikhism
Taoism
Vodun
Druidism
Caodaism
Damanhur Community
Druze
Eckankar
Elian Gonzalez religious movement
Gnosticism
Hare Krishna
Ifa (of Yoruban origin)
Lukumi
Macumba
Mormonism (normally associated with Christianity except by most evangelical Christian movements)
Mowahhidoon
Native American Spirituality
Rom, Roma, Romani, or Rroma (Gypsies)
Santeria
Satanism
Scientology
Setism (Setian, or of the God, Set, often confused with Satanism)
Stregheria (Italian Witchcraft)
Unitarian Universalist (typically associated with Christianity, but not being solely associated with such)
Wicca
Witchcraft (non-Wiccan)
Yazidi (branch of Yazdânism)
Zoroastrianism
... just to name a few. And no, I have not named any currently identified cults, but rather duly recognized religions.
So, why is it that when someone refers to religion, or someone or something being religious, they are referring solely to Christianity?
Personally, I am a little annoyed with this reference. It's like referring to "business people" but only associating it with white, heterosexual males above age 40.
FACT: Christianity is not the only religion in the world
FACT: Many people are deeply religious, but are not Christian
FACT: Someone or something can be religious, or someone can "get religion", but not be associated in any way, shape, or form with any of the Abrahamic philosophies.
Okay, I'm done now. Just a little rant from Jeff Watson. | | | | 158 Views | 4 Thumbs Up | 2 Comments | |
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| | Locks and Keys | | | Friday, February 22, 2008 (11:06 AM)
(I'm feeling busy) | | Having locked myself
out of my apartment,
I pondered
the illusion of solidity.
If scientists are right,
if atoms are just
mostly empty space,
why can't I
walk through walls
or rearrange my emptiness
into a thinness
that could slip
under the door? Or why,
at least, can't I
through telepathy,
teleport the keys
into my hand?
How can these
mostly empty walls impede
the grasp of my thoughts?
Could I, individually,
break the agreement on solidity
and move
the quantum idea of me
anywhere at thought speed?
Would creation come undone
if this could be achieved
by me, or by anyone,
or by us all?
Or could this be creation's
next step: a permeability
of boundaries between things,
between dimensions?
Can such be our destiny,
but also a magick the gods withhold
until we become a race
that no longer needs
locks and keys?
(from Near the Ragged Edge of Earth
by Kellia Ramares, 2006)
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| | Witch | | | Friday, February 22, 2008 (11:04 AM)
(I'm feeling accomplished) | | shapes energy at will
to fill her needs,
but cannot change a heart
hell-bent to burn her.
(from Near the Ragged Edge of Earth
by Kellia Ramares, 2006) | | | | 123 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | And Goddess said, "No." | | | Thursday, February 21, 2008 (12:27 PM)
(I'm feeling okay) | | I asked Goddess to take away my pride, and She said, “No.”
She said it was not for Her to take away, but for me to give it up.
I asked Goddess to make my handicapped child whole, and She said, “No.”
She said his spirit was whole, his body was only temporary.
I asked Goddess to grant me patience, and She said, “No.”
She said that patience is a byproduct of tribulation, and it isn’t granted, it’s earned.
I asked Goddess to give me happiness, and She said, “No.”
She said She gives me blessings, happiness is up to me.
I asked Goddess to spare me pain, and She said, “No.”
She said that, “Suffering draws you apart from the worldly cares and brings you closer to Me.”
I asked Goddess to make my spirit grow, and She said, “No.”
She said that I must grow on my own, but She will prune me to make me fruitful.
I asked Goddess if She loved me, and She said, “Yes.”
I asked Goddess to help me love others as much as She loves me.
And Goddess said, “Ah, finally, you have the idea.”
-- By Luna Aileen
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