The Pagan Activist

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By Marko Nenonen

http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=6663&lang=6

About 100 researchers into witchcraft from all over the world will congregate in Vardø next year to discuss the witch trials in the Finnmark, North-West Russia and Central Europe. Midnight Sun Witchcraft Conference 2007 is being co-funded by the Nordic Cultural Fund.

The witch hunt in Vardø in the 17th century was exceptionally ruthless and brutal, and themes like human rights, terror and religious tolerance were just as topical in a geo-political context then as they are now.

Researchers from all over the world will meet in Vardø at midsummer to discuss witch trials, witch burning and witch hunts in a historic perspective as part of a project by the universities of Tromsø, Oslo, Helsinki and Tampere. The conference, which is also supported by the business community and the local authority in Vardø, has received a DKK 50,000 grant from the Nordic Cultural Fund.

The fact that the conference has attracted researchers from Finland, Norway, Russia and elsewhere in Europe, as well as the USA and Australia, the fact it is being held under Nordic auspices and the fact that it forms part of organised co-operation with researchers from the Adjacent Areas all combine to highlight questions of ethnicity, culture and religious identity.

For the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By Alison Chiesa

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/77485.html

A national petition was launched yesterday in support of a pardon for Britain's last convicted witch.

The Prestoungrange Arts Festival in Prestonpans is organising the petition on behalf of Helen Duncan, a Scot who was imprisoned for witchcraft in 1944.

Three years ago, the East Lothian village pardoned 81 local men and women killed during the witchcraft trials of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The pardons were granted by the Barons Courts of Prestoungrange and Dolphinstoun, just before the abolition of ancient feudal laws.

Mrs Duncan, however, was convicted out with Prestonpans and under the modern judiciary, so it was not in the Barons' power to include her in the posthumous pardons.

This must come instead from the Queen on advice from the Home Secretary.

A plea several years ago to Jack Straw, who then held the post, to grant the pardon fell on deaf ears, but supporters have not given up the fight.

Dr Gordon Prestoungrange, the Baron of Prestoungrange, said yesterday: "The prosecution and conviction of Helen Duncan as a witch was clearly as much an injustice as those of the 16th and 17th centuries.

"It's hardly credible that a 20th-century court would be prepared to convict someone of witchcraft – within living memory of many in this present government.

"As well as the deprivations suffered by Helen Duncan herself in prison, the on-going effect of the stigma on her family remains considerable."

If you are interested in the rest of this article please go to the link above

More info: http://www.prestoungrange.org/helenduncan/

Petition: http://www.prestoungrange.org/helenduncan/html/petition.aspx

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http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sunday/National/20061224080819/Article/index_html

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are spending up to RM40 million a year on imported occult books.

Malaysian Book Exporters and Importers Association president Kevin Sugumaran said this only made up three to four per cent of the country’s book import bill of RM1 billion.

He noted that the import bill for religious books only amounted to five per cent or RM50 million.

"Occult books have always been popular but sales doubled when the Harry Potter series became popular (in the late 1990s)," said Sugumaran.

He said books in the Harry Potter series alone accounted for RM5 million of the import bill. The rest consisted of books on topics such as witchcraft, voodoo and others.

Titles include Spells and Spellcraft, Potions, The Wicca of Love and Witch’s Almanac 2007.

The Harry Potter titles include Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Sugumaran said 70 per cent of the occult books were in English and mostly imported from the US and Britain. The remaining 30 per cent were entirely in Chinese.

There seems to be a growing sense of curiosity about Western-style witchcraft.

MPH Bookstores’ merchandising manager, Yvonne Chau, said their major bookstores in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor were selling about 90 books on witchcraft a month.

If you would like to read the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4422483.html

By SCOTT BAUER

Associated Press

BARNEVELD, WIS. — With an estimated 400,000 members nationwide, and a high-profile fight with the federal government over veterans' grave markers, Wiccans are moving into a more prominent place in the religious landscape.

Selena Fox is leading the way.

A Wiccan priestess and founder of Circle Sanctuary, a 200-acre nature center in the Wisconsin woods about 30 miles west of Madison, Fox battles for acceptance of the so-called neo-pagan religion.

Though they are often equated with witches, many Wiccans reject the label because of the baggage it brings.

Fox, whose graying hair flows midway down her purple dress and matching cape, exudes more hippie-esque charm than any kind of Hollywood-conjured witchery. She embraces the task of fighting discrimination against Wiccans.

"Spirituality should be something that lifts the spirit," she said.

Fox, a 57-year-old psychotherapist, wants to make clear that Wiccans do not worship the devil or engage in Satanism. She doesn't cast spells, ride a broomstick or wear a pointy black hat.

The golden rule for Wiccans is "And it harm none, do what you will."

A nature-based religion, the Wiccan faith is founded on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.

A "yule tree," which looks identical to a Christmas tree, sits in a corner of the 100-year-old red dairy barn Fox has converted into an office, meeting room and spiritual center.

If you would like to read the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1978164,00.html

Jeevan Vasagar

The Guardian

Pagans and druids assembled in the early morning mist for a celebration of the winter solstice at Stonehenge yesterday. Many were dressed in flowing robes in white or earth colours while one man came dressed as a wizard. A pagan wedding ceremony was conducted amid the stones.

Experts are divided as to whether the prehistoric stone monument was put up to mark the winter solstice or or the summer solstice, which usually draws a bigger crowd.

Emma Restall Orr, of the Druid Network, said fog had diminished turnout this year. The solstice marks the beginning of a three-day period of celebration for pagans. She said: "It's about the birth of the new growing cycle - the new sun is born in the depths of the darkness.

"What we're also doing is acknowledging the ancestors who built the place and understood it to be sacred. Like going to your grandfather's grave and feeling that connection.

"It's putting yourself in the position of people 4,000 years ago who weren't going home to houses with electricity."

There was some embarrassment this year after about 60 pagans arrived 24 hours early for the solstice celebration, mistakenly believing it always falls on December 21.

The moment of the solstice was at 22 minutes past midnight yesterday and English Heritage asked celebrants to attend at 7.45am. One observer estimated the crowd at 700-800 people.

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http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/12/22/100loc_b1solstice001.cfm

By Krista J. Kapralos

Herald Writer

EVERETT - Five hundred candles lined the Snohomish River Thursday afternoon as the sun set at 4:18 p.m.

Dec. 21 always marks the shortest day of the year, when daylight emerges late and hides early.

But this season has been darker than usual, said Karen Guzak, who planned the glowing riverfront walk.

Storms began to hammer the region in November, bringing floods, snow and wind. Hundreds of thousands of people around the region lost power, some more than once.

"It's been such dark days," she said. "We thought it would be a lovely way to gather the community and provide light for the winter."

The winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon that gets stargazers outside to take advantage of long hours of night-like darkness, said Mark Folkerts, president of the Everett Astronomical Society.

"If there are clear skies, I want to go out and set up a telescope," he said. "You have a long night here so you can see the sky. You don't have to stay up late."

The solstice is a simple equation of physics, but to some, the event holds spiritual significance.

A small group gathered Thursday evening at Moonflower Magicks, a magic shop in Everett.

They sat in a circle and held candles to remember the mythic phoenix, which rises from the ashes of its former self.

Moonflower Magick's Colby Avenue store was destroyed by fire in late October.

To read the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2006/12/22/news/news01.txt

- By Brantley Hargrove, News-Record Writer

The groggy and bleary-eyed pilgrims piled out of six trucks and SUVs at the end of their trek before daylight Thursday morning.

John Daly, John and Mavis Greer, Bill Fitch, Nello and Rollo Williams and 10 others had arrived at a high sandstone promontory on the Wasatch Formation in northern Campbell County. There, nomadic American Indians carved life-size figures into the face of the cliff more than 300 years ago.

Nello Williams and Daly had a theory that a shard of light filtering through a stack of boulders in front of the cliff face during sunrise on the winter solstice may be there by design. They saw it once before, years ago, on a cloudless morning during the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

The group filed toward the site Thursday with a sense of urgency. The site (which is kept private to protect it) lays on state land abutting the Twenty Mile Land Co. and is accessible only through the ranch. The low scoria hills to the east lay black on the horizon as the first palings of the sun began to seep into the eastern sky.

Daly scrabbled up the hillside along with the group as they picked their way around a ruinous slope of sandstone boulders fallen from the ponderosa pine-crowned cliff above and over smooth slabs of slate.

Then, at the base of the cliff was a set of what looked in the dim pre-dawn light like unremarkable etchings.

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http://www.thisisswindon.co.uk/display.var.1088217.0.solstice_is_celebrated.php

Terry Dobney

TWENTY sun worshippers braved the cold to mark the winter solstice at Avebury.

Druid keeper of the stones Terry Dobney led a ceremony marking the important day on the pagan calendar.

While fog hid the sun, the group formed a circle within the stones.

Further south, confusion reigned at Stonehenge as English Heritage told a crowd assembled there that the solstice was not officially on until today.

About 60 people turned up to the circle in south Wiltshire only to be told it was the wrong day.

After negotiating with site managers English Heritage, the crowd performed traditional solstice activities before leaving peacefully.

The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.

An English Heritage spokeswoman said most people assumed that because the summer solstice was on the 21st day of June that its winter counterpart occurred on the same date in December.

Stonehenge is currently competing against other iconic buildings and structures for the New Seven Wonders of the World.

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http://www.mexiadailynews.com/variety/local_story_354180239.html?keyword=topstory

By Paul Derrick - Stargazer

Perhaps you remember the sci-fi movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Well Dec. 21 will be “the day the Sun stands still,” also known as the winter solstice and the Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day of the year. (Things are reversed below the equator where it will be summer solstice and the year’s longest day.)

Solstice literally means “sun-standing,” thus twice each year at winter and summer solstice, the Sun stands still. But how can that be?

It’s commonly known that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, owing to Earth’s west-to-east rotation on its axis. Yet it rises exactly east and sets exactly west only at the spring and fall equinoxes.

After September’s fall equinox, the Sun rises slightly further south of east each day until the winter solstice when it reaches its maximum rising distance south of due east. At this southern-most point, it stops moving southward and rises at virtually the same point on the horizon for several days. In that this rising point stands still, it is called a solar standstill, or solstice.

At the winter solstice the Sun, with its path tilted south (in our hemisphere), is in the sky the shortest length of time, making it the shortest day of the year.

To read the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By DIANE MONTZ

http://www.ironwooddailyglobe.com/1216pine.htm

Globe Staff Writer

IRONWOOD -- Travels in Ireland introduced two Wisconsin artists to the Greenman and Newgrange.

Both play a role in traditions and rituals surrounding the winter solstice, according to weaver Mary Burns of Mercer and artist Joan Slack of McNaughton.

They will show slides and some of their artwork inspired by the Irish traditions, talk about the Greenman and Newgrange and teach Morris dances at the Pine Tree Gallery on Sunday. It is the third and final of the Sunday Afternoons in December hosted by the Ironwood gallery.

Although the artists led a fiber arts tour of Ireland a few years ago, "we've never collaborated on this particular project, so it'll be fun," Burns said.

The winter solstice marks the end of days growing shorter and the "rebirth" of the sun.

The Newgrange site Burns visited may be 5,000 years old -- it is not known who built it or it exactly when it was built, she said.

It is known to be an astrological site, built to align with the rising sun at the winter solstice.

Built of stone, "it's a mound. It's a megalithic tomb," she said.

Burns was able to enter the structure. She will talk about the rock art carving that is part of the Newgrange.

Greenman:

Slack encountered the Greenman while researching traditional Irish holiday rituals, dances and songs.

"I came across this green spirit of the woods, the Greenman," she said.

For the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By Corey Ross

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1074565.0.proposed_ land_train_to_stones_too_intrusive.php

A PROPOSAL to run a land train as part of plans for a new £67.5m Stonehenge visitors centre has come under fire during the second week of the Salisbury public inquiry.

The aim is to use the train to transport tourists from the visitors centre to within walking distance of the ancient stones.

But the chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance, George McDonic, said the trains would conflict with both national and international policies that seek to protect the landscape around the World Heritage site.

Advertisement     continued...

He said his group was opposed to the transit system, but not the visitors centre itself.

Mr McDonic, who was the first of five Alliance witnesses to give evidence to the visitors centre inquiry, said: "The proposed land trains would operate in one of the most important heritage sites. They would be intrusive and their presence will not conserve this precious landscape."

The Stonehenge Alliance is made up from a number of archaeological, environmental, and transport, as well as Pagan organisations that oppose the proposal for the visitors centre and the road scheme.

Mr McDonic said the development should not begin until the planning authority had been given full details of the land train shelters to be built at the drop-off areas.

He also said he did not have an alternative transport solution, instead suggesting the matter should go back to public consultation.

For the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By: Rick Kuykendall, First Congregational Church

http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2006/12/15/news/religion/02kykendall.txt

Stonehenge is a Neolithic Bronze Age megalithic monument located in England.

Archeologists believe that its standing stones were erected sometime between 2,500 B.C. and 2,000 B.C. Stonehenge marks both the Winter and Summer Solstices, and some even think that it marks the equinoxes as well.

Many believe that in ancient times when pre-Christian people celebrated the winter solstice, that they in a sense, were attempting to encourage the great mother to give birth once more to the sun, for the winter solstice marked the longest period of darkness in the yearly cycle, and they longed for the return of the sun with its light and warmth.

Later, however, in the years which followed the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity, it seemed only natural for Christians to reinterpret the meaning of the rebirth of the sun by the great mother in terms of the birth of the son of God by the virgin mother.

And so the birth of Jesus was celebrated on Dec. 25 which was the date of the winter solstice according to the old Roman calendar. This was done despite the fact that there was no evidence in scripture that Jesus was born on this date.

While celebrating the birth of the son of God on the same day that the non-Christians celebrated the rebirth of the Sun served the church in its program of evangelism - making for an easy transition from being a pagan to a Christian - it also aided in disconnecting Western culture from the earth.

To read the rest of this article please go to the link above. See the paragraph where he asks people to celebrate the Winter Solstice!

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GREG BLUESTEIN

Associated Press

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/gossip/16239321.htm

ATLANTA - The Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to uphold a local school board's decision to leave Harry Potter books on library shelves despite a mother's objections.

The board members voted without discussion to back the Gwinnett County school board's decision to deny Laura Mallory's request to remove the best-selling books.

Mallory, who has three children in elementary school, has worked for more than a year to ban the books from Gwinnett schools, claiming the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft.

"It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Mallory, who is considering a legal challenge of the board's ruling. "The kind of stuff in these books - murder and greed and violence. Why do they have to read them in school?"

Gwinnett school officials have argued that the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination. Banning all books with references to witchcraft would mean classics like "MacBeth" and "Cinderella" would have to go, they said.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books have been challenged 115 times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st Century, according to the American Library Association.

The challenges most often claim that the series encourages children to question adult authority and promotes witchcraft, said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the deputy director for the association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.

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By Diane Maclean 

http://heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=2432322005

The Grinch hated Christmas!

The whole Christmas season!

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

- "How the Grinch stole Christmas" by Dr Seuss

SCOTTISH Christmas traditions are – to say the least – a little on the patchy side. There are some great pagan ideas, first-rate medieval treats, but then there is a huge yawning chasm, a Christmas-free zone until the middle of the 20th century until it all came back into fashion.

The reason for this dearth of Christmas cheer is that Scotland in the mid-16th century had its very own Grinch. Yes, just like the character in Dr Seuss's book who stole Christmas, John Knox and the newly reformed Church of Scotland cancelled the festive season. They forbade anyone to celebrate this erstwhile season of goodwill, hounded those who broke the embargo and cast a gloomy December shadow that stretched down through the centuries.

But we canny Scots, unwilling to forego a good party, simply moved the traditions a week along. From this came the Scottish emphasis on Hogmanay. Christmas was not recognised as a public holiday in Scotland until 1958 and up until then people continued to work, saving their fun until New Year's Eve. So simply put, if you want a traditional Scottish Christmas then get up as usual, go into work as normal, return home to a bowl of soup and an early night!

But that wouldn't be much fun. So we've trawled the distant past to find out what Scots would have been doing long, long ago, to give you some tips on how to celebrate a guid Scottish Christmas.

Pagans believed that so long as …….

To read the rest of this article please go to the link above

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By Sandy Cullen  

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=110594&ntpid=3

Their playthings are chestnuts, shells and silk scarves - hand-colored with natural plant dyes in soft hues of blue, yellow and pink - all to spark the imaginations of youngsters at OakSong School.

Each morning, children in the combined preschool and kindergarten program prepare their own wholesome snacks, which cook during playtime in their former one-room schoolhouse on Siggelkow Road in McFarland.

Students spend an hour outside every day, even in frigid weather, on the school's 1 acres of land. With red cheeks and runny noses, they trudge back inside, trade their boots for slippers, then wash their hands in enamelware bowls filled with warm water scented with calming lavender.

The rhythms of nature and the seasons are integral to the curriculum of OakSong, a Waldorf school that follows the educational philosophy of Rudolph Steiner.

Developed in Germany in 1919, soon after the end of World War I, Waldorf education originated as a way to develop people who could bring peace to the world, aiming to develop each child's sense of truth, beauty, and goodness.

But two years after moving into the building that OakSong's leaders thought would give the alternative school a permanent place in a natural setting where it could expand, financial struggles could force them to give up the property and search for a new home.

For the rest of the article please go to the link above.

For more information about OakSong School, go to www.oaksong.org

For more information on Waldorf education please go to http://www.awsna.org/index.html

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http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles

By Anna Abbott

On Nov. 30, community college students not only sampled flavored meringues and coffees, but world religions as well.

Anne Bruns, vice president of the honor society Phi Theta Kappa, hosted the public forum, “Taste of World Religions.” The faiths represented were Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Wicca, Contemporary Paganism and Religious Science.

Henry Michalski, who represented Napa’s synagogue, Congregation Beth Sholom, taught history at Napa Valley College for three decades. “What Jews believe isn’t easy to define,” he said. “We have no dogma, no formal set of beliefs. It is a monotheistic faith. It is a religion of actions, more important than beliefs … There are no mandated beliefs. Judaism dwells in the here and now.”

Leilani Birely, from Lafayette-based Daughters of the Goddess, presented a Hawaiian chant. She commented, “Everyone has experienced the Goddess. … I call on the deities of various cultures.” Birely said that in her faith, “the female is honored, sacred. The ability to give birth and monthly cycles are sacred, not dirty.”

Macha NightMare, from San Rafael, said that she belongs to the Covenant of the Goddess, “the largest organization of witches in the world.” She observed that pagans “share practices, not beliefs. Some believe deities exist, others see them only as metaphors. We don’t proselytize. We have nature-based, earth-based spirituality. … We see the divine in everything. … We try to live a pleasurable life in a sustainable world.”

To rest the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By Rob Boston

http://blog.au.org/2006/12/falwells_flub_j.html

A group of Pagans in Albemarle County, Va., was recently given permission to advertise their multi-cultural holiday program to public school children – and they have the Rev. Jerry Falwell to thank for it.

The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.” Many public schools use special folders placed in student backpacks to distribute notices about schools events and sometimes extra-curricular activities to parents.

School officials originally denied the request from the twins’ father, Ray Rakoski, citing a school policy barring “distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.”

A Charlottesville weekly newspaper, The Hook, reports that Rakoski “sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county,” and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.

Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.

Please go to the link above to read the rest of the article.

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John Roach - National Geographic News

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061207-winter-solstice.html

From December 19 to 23—if the weather cooperates—20 lucky people a day will crowd into an ancient Irish monument's main chamber. There, they'll bathe in 17 minutes of light put off by the rising sun on the shortest days of the year.

This year about 28,000 people applied to take part in the ritual at the Newgrange monument, located in the Irish countryside in County Meath, reports the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center (Ireland map).

The Stone Age monument dates to around 3200 B.C., making it 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and a thousand years older than England's Stonehenge.

Archaeologists believe the grass-covered mound in Ireland is a "passage tomb." A tunnel runs to a cave like chamber, where the remains of the dead were placed. (Related video: "Ireland's Mysterious Newgrange Tomb".)

According to Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, the monument also incorporates knowledge that could only have been gained through precise astronomical observations.

"The people who built it knew about the winter solstice—knew when it occurred, knew where the sun would rise—and built a monument that took advantage of that event and incorporated it symbolically into the monument," he said.

The 62-foot-long (19-meter-long) passage faces the winter solstice sunrise.

To read the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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By David Edwards 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=hellish-nell-&method=full&objectid=18215850&siteid=94762-name_page.html

In 1944, medium Helen Duncan became the last woman in Britain to be convicted of witchcraft when one of her seances exposed a government attempt to cover up the deaths of 861 sailors. Now, campaigners aim to clear her name.

It started much the same as her other seances. With a chilling moan and strange white substance leaking from her mouth, Helen Duncan began communicating with the dead...

But suddenly, the eerie calm was pierced by a police whistle and officers piled into the house, in Portsmouth, Hants, to arrest Britain's top medium.

The following morning Helen, known as Hellish Nell, was charged under section four of the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

It was 1944, and, astonishingly, officials had ordered her arrest because they were afraid she would reveal top-secret plans for the D-Day landings.

They had been monitoring her since she had revealed the sinking of a British battleship earlier in the war - even though the government had suppressed the news to maintain morale at home.

It took a jury just 30 minutes to find her guilty and she became the last person to be convicted of witchcraft in Britain.

As she was led away to start her nine-month sentence in London's Holloway Prison, the housewife cried out in her broad Scottish accent: "I never heard so many lies in all my life!"

To read the rest of this story please go to the link above.

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By: The Research Council of Norway

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_46605.shtml

A startling archaeological discovery this summer changes our understanding of human history. While, up until now, scholars have largely held that man's first rituals were carried out over 40,000 years ago in Europe, it now appears that they were wrong about both the time and place.

Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo, can now show that modern humans, Homo sapiens, have performed advanced rituals in Africa for 70,000 years. She has, in other words, discovered mankind's oldest known ritual.

The archaeologist made the surprising discovery while she was studying the origin of the Sanpeople. A group of the San live in the sparsely inhabited area of north-western Botswana known as Ngamiland.

Coulson made the discovery while searching for artifacts from the Middle Stone Age in the only hills present for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. This group of small peaks within the Kalahari Desert is known as the Tsodilo Hills and is famous for having the largest concentration of rock paintings in the world.

The Tsodilo Hills are still a sacred place for the San, who call them the "Mountains of the Gods" and the "Rock that Whispers".

The python is one of the San's most important animals. According to their creation myth, mankind descended from the python and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are said to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its ceaseless search for water.

For the rest of this article please go to the link above.

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http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Pagan+Yule+Festival+in+Milford+Saturday&articleId=860ff87b-e4bb-4b0f-ba55-0b996e673618

By NANCY FOSTER

Union Leader Correspondent

MILFORD – Long before the birth of Jesus Christ left its mark upon the world's cultures, pagans viewed dark days leading to the winter solstice as a time of the sun's rebirth.

On Saturday, members of the Spiral Scouts - a pagan-based youth organization based loosely on the Boy Scouts - will celebrate the winter solstice, or the yule, as it was known in Celtic circles, at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Elm Street.

Beginning at 9 am, the Second Annual Yule Festival will include crafts for children, music played on a Celtic harp, a drumming circle, a bake sale and lots of stories and songs.

Organizer Jess Baribault, state coordinator of the Spiral Scouts, said the event is open to everyone and will give people who have grown up fearing pagans a chance to experience their culture.

"With the spread of Christianity, paganism took on a negative connotation that has lasted up until now," Baribault said, "but I hope people are finally done burning witches."

Baribault said pagan literally means "country dweller," someone who lives close to the land and honors the cycle of life.

Paganism is a spiritual belief system centered on a god and goddess who together create balance in life and nature. Just as Christianity has different subgroups like Catholic or Baptist, paganism has different subsets including wicca and druidism.

For more on this story please go to the link above.

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By Elizabeth Huff, The Battle Creek Enquirer

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061202/LIFESTYLE08/612020306

Homes were once warmed by a fire in the hearth, and it was tradition to save the first log of the season to be burned in a Yule celebration.

Over time, fewer and fewer homes were built with a fireplace and the tradition faded.

Yet in small pockets of the community, the tradition remains.

At Sacred River Moon Metaphysical Spiritual Center in Battle Creek, Yuletide celebrations continue.

Christi Fleming, also known as Crowfox, is a high priestess at Sacred River Moon. She explained that during the Dec. 22 winter solstice — which is the shortest and darkest day of the year — family and friends gather for Yule Sabbat.

According to wikipedia.org, Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the Germanic pagans. In Wicca, a form of the holiday is observed as one of the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, where Yule is celebrated on the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere on Dec. 21.

"Yule acknowledges that the days are now getting longer and brighter," Fleming said. "It is a festival of lights."

Every year they take a Yule log, which is traditionally saved from the first cut of the season's winter fuel, and place wishes on it. The log is then burned or left outside to return to nature.

For the rest of this story please go to the link above.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16015181/from/ET

RENO, Nev. - The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan saw a Wiccan symbol placed on a memorial plaque for her husband Saturday, after fighting the federal government for more than a year over the emblem.

Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, and Wiccan leaders said it was the first government-issued memorial plaque with a Wiccan pentacle — a five-pointed star enclosed in a circle. More than 50 friends and family dedicated the plaque at Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno.

They praised Gov. Kenny Guinn for his role in getting the Nevada Office of Veterans Services to issue the plaque in September. The agency cited its jurisdiction over maintenance of the state cemetery.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes more than 30 symbols, including more than a dozen variations of the Christian cross and the atomic whirl used by atheists, but not the pentacle.

Rewriting rules

VA officials have said they are rewriting rules for approving emblems, but the process requires a public comment period.

Last month, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the VA on behalf of Stewart and others for its refusal to include the Wiccan emblem.

For the rest of this story please go to the above link.

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http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3888120a8153,00.html

A police-led initiative of spraying water on state highways to release the trapped spirits of those killed in motor crashes has been declared a success.

Yesterday a special police convoy carrying Maori elders sprayed 10,000 litres of Waikato River water on SH1 and SH2 in a bid to free the spirits of crash victims.

Dick Waihi, iwi liaison officer for the Counties-Manukau police district, today said the operation had been successful.

"About 35 people turned up to support us," Mr Waihi said. "It was very successful.

"It was a first for the country and we have had some really good feedback."

Maori elders consider the combination of blessed river water and prayers to be a trigger for the release of the spirits of those trapped by violent deaths on the roads.

Water was pumped from the Waikato River into a tanker at Tuakau by the New Zealand Fire Service.

The ceremonial spraying was interrupted at Mercer and Maramarua, where a karakia was performed.

Mr Waihi said the 2½-hour exercise was cost-free, with people donating labour and resources.

Despite the prayers, Mr Waihi said the exercise was non-religious and not just for Maori fatalities.

"Some people don't have an understanding why we are doing it. They should find out more about Maori protocols before making comment."

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman had no problems with the initiative.

 "Anything that helps is worthwhile, isn't it?"

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By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer

http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8LMU7AO0.html

VIENNA, Austria (AP)

St. Nick, nein! A ban on St. Nicholas at Vienna's kindergartens is taking some of the ho-ho-ho out of the holidays for tens of thousands of tots this year. And it's creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim population by showing Europe's Santa the kindergarten door.

Municipal officials insist their decision is prompted more by psychology than political correctness. Instead of joy, the sight of a strange bearded figure at the door evokes fear in most kids, they argue. And they point out that the policy on St. Nicholas is more than a decade old -- though they concede it is being enforced more rigorously than in the past.

While Santa rules in the far north, the jolly elf has little tradition in Austria and surrounding countries. As in past years, some booths at Vienna's main Christmas market are again plastered with stickers depicting Santa with a diagonal red bar across his fluffy white beard -- the work of a group in Austria, Switzerland and Germany that sees Santa as a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas and a threat to local traditions.

Please go to the above link for the rest of thsi story. Watch out for ‘a bearded, mitered figure in bishop's garb’ and ‘"Krampus" -- a hairy behorned figure’ in this story!

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By Paul O'Mahony

http://www.thelocal.se/5654/

A manuscript containing previously unpublished information about witch trials in northern Sweden has been discovered in a museum archive in northern Sweden.

“A true tale about the nature of witchcraft” was penned by a minister called Jöns Hornaeus.

“Most of the text is already available at the National Library of Sweden,” archivist Göran Gullbro told the Local.

“But until this summer nobody knew where the original manuscript was. And now it seems that there are some pages not seen before,” said Gullbro.

Author Jöns Hornaeus’ grandfather was one of Sweden’s most notorious witch-hunters. And in 1675 “the evil chaplain”, Laurentius Hornaeus, received word that there was witchcraft afoot in Västernorrland County.

As a result of his investigations a total of 71 suspected witches, 65 of them women, were beheaded and burned in what turned out to Sweden’s largest ever mass execution of witches on a single day.

A total of approximately 300 witches were killed in Sweden over the course of the 17th century. The witch trials were particularly fearsome in the Ångermanland region.  

Please go to the link above to read the rest of the article.

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Free Hugs Campaign. (See the wonderful video below)

Inspiring Story! (music by Sick Puppies)

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man who’s sole mission was to reach out ... and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

For more on this campaign, the reason why it started and the story behind the old lady who was the first hugger!: http://www.freehugscampaign.org/

The response to this video has been nothing short of overwhelming and touching. Hugs to every single one of you who messaged. There has been thousands of emails from all over the world by people seeking to participate in the Free Hugs campaign and asking for permission. You do not need permission. This is the peoples movement, this is *your* movement. With nothing but your bare hands you can make THE difference.

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By Pamela Taylor

Yahoo News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061110/ts_afp/afplifestyleswitzerland_061110153443

LOETSCHENTAL, Switzerland (AFP) - Demon masks intricately carved to frighten off evil spirits, village bonfires and figures dressed as horned animals are a common sight throughout the winter in Switzerland.

Despite their position in one of the most modern and advanced countries at the heart of Europe, Swiss rural communities have clung on to remnants of their pagan origins more tightly than in many neighboring countries.

A visit to any of the hundreds of ancient carnival festivities that take place from Appenzell in the north, to Loetschental in the southern Alps and throughout central Switzerland makes this clear.

Larger-than-life figures wearing fantastically carved demonic masks and animal skins trudge through the snowy streets, making a terrible din ringing cow bells and banging on doors to ward off evil spirits.

"Some of our festivals go back to before Roman times, others to the Middle Ages," said Christophe Gros, of Geneva's Museum of Ethnology.

"Many were transformed during the 19th century when there was an effort by the (Roman Catholic) Church to stamp out pagan superstitions."

The dates of Swiss winter festivals are as varied as the celebrations themselves, reflecting the fluctuations of the old Julien calendar and the isolation of the villages, also perhaps a reason why the rituals have survived so long in Switzerland.

The first winter festival is the Feast of St Martin, or Rabeliechtli, held in early November in some Swiss German cantons.

Please go to the link above to read the rest of the article.

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By Jennifer Vineyard

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1546335/11212006/story.jhtml

….Alicia Keys has yet to cast a spell on Hollywood. That might change with the singer's first lead role, as a witch in a remake of "Bell, Book and Candle."

Keys can't wait to take on the part of Gillian, played by Kim Novak in the 1958 original, mostly because she relates to the more realistic side of this witch's life. Though the character is a witch, she mixes with modern society — she went to college and runs a shop in New York's Greenwich Village. But she also has a secret life that involves hanging with other witches and warlocks, mostly at jazz clubs. That "underground society" interested Keys the most, since it's "the kind of thing you never really think about." The story, a predecessor to "Bewitched," explores what happens when witches and mortals get mixed up with one another, or even accidentally fall in love.

"[Gillian is] a young woman who feels a little out of place, like I think we all do or have at one time or another," Keys said, adding with a laugh, "or all the time. So where do you find what you're looking for? Where is the magic in your life? And where is the magic in love? And is it magic? Is love magic? It's a universal topic, and that's what I love about it."

Please go to the link above to read the rest of the article.

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By JENNA TOWLER

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006540169,00.html

A WELSH town will celebrate an old-school Christmas when Santa ditches his Coca-Cola inspired red suit in favour of traditional pagan green.

Llangollen will recapture ancient Welsh Celtic traditions at its upcoming Christmas Festival instead of going along with the Coca-Cola inspired image of Santa Clause decked all in red.

Father Christmas - known in Wales as Sion Corn - will parade through the town in his true colour of green as he heads towards his grotto in the town library on December 2.

Ian Parry, Llangollen's town clerk, said the town is trying to get back to its roots.

"We are trying to highlight some traditional things that should happen in a Welsh Christmas. Getting Santa back into green is just one of them."

Other traditions being resurrected include a day of feasting on cheese on toast, predicting the future using treacle toffee or Taffy shapes and an appearance by the lucky pagan Grey Mare or Mari Llwyd.

The town will also be hosting a live Nativity, however, no divine births are scheduled.

Festival organiser Sarah Meade said: "Everything about the Festive period is a hotch potch of ancient pagan traditions and more modern marketing practices all spun together under the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ.

"It's only when you start looking a little deeper into what makes the Christmas we know and love so well that this starts to become apparent."

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