The Pagan Activist

A Global Online Newspaper & Forum for Pagans & Heathens of all paths.

Home of the Vital Rites Project and now being read in 46 countries!

2008 News Archives:

 Welcome to the 2008 News Archive!

Here we store old articles from the Front Page.

Enjoy!

The Pagan Activist 

Jump Articles:

You can jump directly to the monthly articles using the month links or just scroll down.

April:

 

Witchcraft behind wire  / "We're Not Out To Hurt Anybody."  / Freeing Hebe: Should goddess remain safely secreted or be in plain sight?  / Unearthing the origins of Rome's name  / Spiritual library needs new home  / Restrictions for controversial festival  / More Unique Findings Unearthed in Cybele Temple in Bulgaria's Balchik  / Leading pagans quit to form new group  /

Iron Age mystery of the 'Essex druid'  / Practical magic: Mayor, local psychics featured in TV program  / Druid hands over sword in bid to promote peace  / 7th century Anglo-Saxon burial suggests pagan cult  / Local woman aims to change image of pagans  / Old-world witch shares tricks for warding off the evil eye  / Spirits Find New Home  / Lindow Man - the body in the bog - goes home to Manchester Museum  / Magic stones of Orkney  / Witches are focus of 'No Place for Hate' forum  / ‘Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig  / Seahenge at Lynn revisited by druids  / Theater review Oya, the warrior goddess, and hurricanes  / New head of voodoo brings on the charm  / Cult film sequel shoot called off  / Sunset ritual spreads pagan message of unity  / Vikings visit Hareleeshill Primary  / The secret of Stonehenge  

 

March:

 

New group aims to unite pagans  / Lectures casts spell on history of witches  / Australia Erects Version Of Stonehenge  / Far From Devil Worship And 'Harry Potter,' Young Witches Explain What They're Really About  / 'Balance Now, Dark And Light'  / A regular faire of psychic and spiritual insights  / Legislature considers bill denouncing Connecticut witch hunts  / Newfoundland Viking site remarkable  / Marshall Pagans perform ritual Thursday  / St Patrick drove out the pagans - not the snakes  / Newfoundland Viking site remarkable  / Ancient Druids show and tell?  / 'Close To The Divine': Wiccans aren't so different from other faiths  / Wicca: Deeply tied to nature, giving back to the environment  / Touching the Goddess: Astrologer & Psychic Flash Silvermoon  / Practicing Pagans praise and promote religious passion  / American activist and feminist Starhawk refused entry and deported from Israel  / Athens’ Wicca presence growing  / Mysterious pits shed light on forgotten witches of the West  / The Wicker Man and the showgirl  / Pagan Running For Sacramento Mayor  / Meet Eirik Westcoat (Heathen), Candidate for Republican Delegate  / Mexico witches hold convention in Catemaco  / Orkney Viking Heritage Revisited  / Wiccan Witch Hunt on Staten Island  / Witchcraft pardon plea rejected  / The Martenitsa Story 

 

February:

 

Secret to Mayan Blue Paint Found  / Satellites spot lost Guatemala Mayan temples  / Viking Women Wore "Sexy" Outfits  /

Vikings did not dress the way we thought  / Real Magic School to Open Leap Year Day, By the Most Unique Teacher in America  / ‘Magick’ serves as spiritual alternative to traditional magic  / A pagan monolith, rock sculptures, 'Stonehenge' and now a seahorse!  / Exorcisms `more dangerous than Pagan beliefs'  / Ferocious warriors and a fiery path to Valhalla bring city past to dramatic life  / Child let off school for pagan festival  / 'What the goddess has joined ...'  / Druid Grave Unearthed in U.K.?  / Ghost-like white stag spotted  / Viking bloodlines still run through half Wirral’s men  / First Wiccan Chaplain in History To Meet with U.S. Commission on Civil Rights  / 'If you want the truth, ask the trees'  / Trauma helps woman find new trade  / Protest brews over pageant  / CLU event to explore Vikings' cultural legacy  / Play your tarot cards close to your chest  / Viking burial site found  / A work to carry us toward spring 

 

January:

Beauty queen rejected as pageant judge  / Witch burning' causes women shelter outrage  / Church warns pagan holiday spells trouble  / Anger as homes to be built inside Avebury’s Circle  / Wicca cleric refuses bishop’s offer  / Icelandic mid-winter feast preparations underway  / Grand Marais couple raises horses of the Norse  / MSU Theatre presents 'Dancing at Lughnasa'  / Wicker man to burn at festival  / My Exploration of January  / Witch School International Names First Board of Directors, Faces Major Challenges  / Tales of Pele  / Excommunicated from his church, pastor draws praise and condemnation from pagans and Christians  / Bromham Mill hosts pagan ceremony to ensure bumper harvest of apples  / Witchcraft in the county  / Pagan pride day on Saturday shows city's cultural diversity  / A Minnesota Mystery: The Kensington Runestone  / Pagan grave discovered in Westfjords  / Viking ship lands in Ireland after nearly 1,000 yrs  / Woman faces charges after yelling chants  / Navajo Cub Scout: Religion emblem needed  / Experts uncover Orkney's new Skara Brae and the great wall that separated living from dead  / Author, singer, spiritualist Shekhinah Mountainwater found truth in goddess myths  / Hope for peace, love, understanding  / Soho School Principal: I Don’t Practice Santeria  / Catholic Church wages campaign against witchcraft in Mexican town  / Cowboys for Christ lensing in September  / How to be... a Druid  / Druids pedal for charity  / From shop girl to pin-up witch 

April:

Witchcraft behind wire:

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http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/04/29/5416861-sun.html

 

Inmates turn to Wicca after other faiths fail them: High priest

 

By KATHLEEN HARRIS

 

Canada's federal prisons are becoming bewitched.

 

According to figures obtained by Sun Media under Access to Information, the number of practising Wiccans and Pagans behind bars has tripled in the last five years. In 2002 there were just 25, compared to 77 in 2007, data from the Correctional Service of Canada show.

 

Also known as Witchcraft, Earth Religion and The Craft, Wicca falls under the umbrella faith of Paganism and has followers who worship Mother Nature rather than scripture.

 

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

 

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"We're Not Out To Hurt Anybody.":

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http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/18352084.html

 

By Robin Woodson

 

YAKIMA -- It may not be what you believe, but it's still a religion.

 

Pagans say they're usually misunderstood and rarely given a fair shot.

 

This is no movie, no Hollywood set, no game of dress-up.

 

You're going inside a very real and very reclusive religious ritual, performed by Pagans.

 

They call themselves Wiccans.

 

You know that to mean witch.

 

But they want you to understand what that means.

 

"We don't go around sacrificing virgins, or killing goats, we don't ride on brooms, but if we did it would definitely save on gas," Wiccan, Kevin Cline, said.

 

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

 

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Freeing Hebe: Should goddess remain safely secreted or be in plain sight?:

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http://www.athensmessenger.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=273&ArticleID=9954&TM=37042.18

 

CASEY S. ELLIOTT

 

Whether a historic Athens statue can be moved - and whether it would be safe from vandalism at another location - depends on whom you ask about the matter.

 

Past and present Athens city officials are debating whether moving the statue of Hebe, the Greek goddess of eternal youth, should occur. It's a topic that's expected to be further discussed Monday at Athens City Council.

 

Phil Goldsberry, former Athens service-safety director, asked Council last Monday to consider moving the statue, which is inside the water treatment plant, to a more accessible location, such as the Athens Community Center.

 

However, some city employees - both past and present - question this request, and say it's impossible to move the statue.

 

The statue, dedicated in 1885, was originally ordered from France along with the statue that sits atop the Athens County Courthouse. But the Hebe statue was repeatedly vandalized, then moved to the front lawn of the city's water treatment plant. Again vandalized, the statue's head was found in a garbage truck by former water plant worker Pearl Coen. Coen grabbed the head, and worked with fellow employee Carrol A. Riley to put Hebe back together.

 

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

 

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Unearthing the origins of Rome's name:

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http://www.theromanforum.com/articolo.asp?ID=730

 

During the month of Rome’s traditional founding (21 April 753 BC), Jan Claus Di Blasio attempts to unravel the mystery of the name ‘Roma’

 

Etymology is the study of the origin and meaning of words. Derived from Greek words etumon (true) and logos (word), it literally means to rediscover the ‘true’ sense of a word. Generally it doesn’t go beyond the mere spark of interest lit when stumbling upon a term that does not yield its obscure sense immediately. Yet grasping the meaning of a word can help us interpret the reasons by which man contemplated its existence.

 

A Romulean Origin?

 

ROMA. How many times have we read: Romulus, the eponymous founder of Rome? Yet what way does the eponymy go? Virgil says: “Mavortia condet mœnia. Romanosque suo de nomine dicet” (Æneid, i. 276 – Romulus will receive a people and build Martial walls, and he will name the Romans after his own name).

 

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

 

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Spiritual library needs new home:

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http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=04833fcd-0e69-417c-8cb2-f263d7d7647f

 

Collection has grown to more than 700 books

 

Graeme Morton

 

Wanted: a permanent home for more than 700 books on world spirituality with topics ranging from animism to Zen.

 

Calgarian Jen Silverhorse's southeast home is bursting at the seams with books she and other members of the Diwan Kroashent society have collected in recent years.

 

Silverhorse, a Pagan, says she and others saw a need to compile a reference source for those interested in exploring the amazing diversity of global spiritual belief. Through word of mouth, they began accepting literary donations from individuals, bookstores and some of Calgary's major book sales conducted by charities and non-profit groups.

 

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

 

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Restrictions for controversial festival:

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Full Story

By Samrana Hussain

 

A CONTROVERSIAL Pagan music festival faces additional restrictions after residents challenged a council's decision to grant it a licence.

 

Pendle Council's decision to give the go-ahead to the organisers of the Shamania Lugnasadh festival was challenged over claims the festival would create traffic, noise and nuisance problems.

 

The Gisburn Old Road site, in Blacko, is one of the locations put forward for the three-day festival beginning on July 27.

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But a final decision on where the "mini-Glastonbury Festival" will be held has not yet been made by organisers because a music licence has also been granted for the Noggarth Hill site, in Roughlee.

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

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More Unique Findings Unearthed in Cybele Temple in Bulgaria's Balchik:

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http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=92523

 

A total of four antique statues were unearthed in the temple of the Phrygian Goddess Cybele in Bulgaria's coastal town of Balchik on Wednesday.

 

The team of the archaeologists Igor Lazarenko, Elina Mircheva and Radostina Encheva discovered two Cybele's statues and two other, believed to be statues of Aphrodite and Dionysus.

 

During the excavation works, there have been found also two relieves and a limestone slab with a lion embossment.

 

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

 

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Leading pagans quit to form new group:

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Full Story

 

By Ian McDonald

 

TWO of the founding members of a pagan group have quit to form their own temple.

 

Suky and John Burton say they feel the Dolmen Grove order has changed its course and they now want to follow their own path. 

So they have resigned from the Dolmen Grove and renamed their Dorchester-based group the Temple of the Cauldron.

 

The move comes soon after the departure of former member Ian Temple, who left to launch the Dorset Grove last month. 

Antique shop owner and mother-of-five Suky said: "We just felt we would let them go their own way and we would go ours.

 

"We just want to follow our own path and we're keen to get the Temple of the Cauldron established."

 

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

 

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Iron Age mystery of the 'Essex druid':

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/iron-age-mystery-of-the-essex-druid-812194.html

 

Grave near Colchester could be the first burial site of an ancient mystic ever to be discovered in Britain

 

By Andrew Johnson

 

As sacred priests, their duties included teaching, law enforcement and possibly even burning people to death in giant wicker men. Druids dominated British culture with their mysterious magical rites in the centuries before the Roman invasion.

 

For such an important band of men, however – it could take 20 years to train to be a druid, according to some sources – hardly anything is known about them. That could be about to change now, though, after what is thought to be the first discovery in Britain of a druid grave.

 

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

 

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Practical magic: Mayor, local psychics featured in TV program:

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/salem/news/x914612016

 

By Lisa Guerriero

 

Salem -  What is life like for a person who considers himself or herself a witch? How do Hollywood images of witches stack up to their real-life counterparts?

 

 These are some of the questions addressed by a No Place for Hate panel in Salem last Saturday [see story, Page 1]. Similar questions were posed recently on a Dish Network TV program, “Magnificent Obsessions.”

 

 While the panel explored the beliefs and lifestyle of Wiccans and Pagans, the TV show addressed a different kind of witch. Wiccans and Pagans draw mainly from a resurrected tradition of communion with nature, whereas the Salem witches featured in “Magnificent Obsessions” focus more on psychic work and spells than Pagan traditions. They’re typically the kind of witches you see walking Salem’s streets in all black, sometimes with pointy hats.

 

 Two witches cut from that cloth are Christian Day and Leanne Marrama, who are the focus of a half-hour TV program produced by Voom HD Networks, a provider of high-definition television channels.

 

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

 

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Druid hands over sword in bid to promote peace:

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http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Druid-hands-over-sword-in.3980531.jp

 

By Sue Wade

 

A DRUID who had to fight a legal battle to get his sword back after police confiscated it has now handed the weapon in to promote world peace.

Merlin Williams used his blunt sword, Taliesin, to create a circle of safety around members of the druid order at ceremonies.

 

The sword had been consecrated for use in the religious ceremonies, which are often held in Portsmouth.

 

They either take place on the beach or by the bandstand near to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Southsea.

 

Merlin now plans to use a staff or similar object to create the circle of safety at ceremonies.

 

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

 

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7th century Anglo-Saxon burial suggests pagan cult:

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http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/7th-century-anglo-saxon-burial-suggests-pagan-cult_10037198.html

 

Washington, April 12 (ANI): Archaeologists have excavated a seventh century grave from the center of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in England, which has revealed a womans jewelry-draped body, leading scientists to believe that she might have lead a pagan cult.

 

According to a report in Discovery News, the jewelry, which was found in a grave in Yorkshire, included a large shield-shaped pendant, the layout and location of the cemetery as well as excavated weaponry, such as knives and a fine langseax (a single-edged Anglo-Saxon sword).

 

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

 

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Local woman aims to change image of pagans:

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http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/1361/

 

By Tammy Marashlian

 

The word "pagan" has some unsavory associations, ranging from devil worshiper to baby burner.

 

Nancy White wants to change that.

 

"I want to put a new face on the image of paganism," she said.

 

As member of the Santa Clarita Valley Pagan Network and representative on the Santa Clarita Valley Interfaith Council, White said paganism is an "earth-based" form of religion centered around the cycles of the planet.

 

"We follow the seasons of the year," White said, and added that they follow the solar and lunar calendar.

 

Although paganism includes druids and wiccans, White considers herself to be a solitary witch, something different than wicca.

 

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

 

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Old-world witch shares tricks for warding off the evil eye:

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http://www.dailynewstribune.com/state/x1277311307

 

By Kristin D'Agostino

 

SALEM, Mass. At 68, Lori Bruno considers herself a kind of real-life version of the storybook witch strega nona.

 

Upon meeting you for the first time she just might call you little cucinella and invite you over for a cup of tea. She smells of warm clothes that just got out of the dryer, has long dyed black hair tied in a loose knot and wears 13 gold rings on her fingers. From her ears dangle gold ankhs and peace signs. Around her neck hangs an Egyptian scarab beetle. And above her kitchen sink, beside the coffee maker, hangs a large stone pentacle.

 

Bruno comes from a long line of streghe, or Italian witches. Growing up in Brooklyn, her mother, a southern-born Italian, would give psychic readings to her Jewish and Irish neighbors, reading tarot cards or using a glass of water like a crystal ball to tell the future.

 

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

 

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Spirits Find New Home:

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Full Story

 

A family of tree spirits have taken up permanent residence in a Westcountry park.

 

Local craftsman Craig Harris carved the mythical creatures, which now reside around the scenic lake at Tehidy Country Park near Portreath.

 

Some of the family of eight were carved from ancient dead trees that dot the landscape, while others were carved into large logs and dug into the ground around the park.

 

Mr Harris said: "One of the reasons I wanted to carve tree spirits at Tehidy was to encourage children to enjoy something different while walking through the woods.

 

"Like us, each tree is different, which is why our ancestors used them for a variety of purposes, from food sources to using timber for homes and hearths.

 

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

 

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Lindow Man - the body in the bog - goes home to Manchester Museum:

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Full Story

 

An exhibition at Manchester Museum will allow locals to meet the ancestor who's resided in the British Museum since his discovery in Cheshire 20 years ago

 

Richard Morrison

 

Two millennia after his violent death, and two decades after his startling rediscovery, Lindow Man is going home. Northwest England has doubtless produced many fine specimens of homo sapiens over the centuries. But few can have fascinated historians, archaeologists, even criminologists, as much as the poor chap whose skull (with left eyeball still intact) and assorted limbs, eerily well preserved by submergence in a bog, were uncovered in 1984 by two peat-cutters working in Lindow Moss, Cheshire.

 

For the past few years his freeze-dried remains have resided at the British Museum. But from next week they go on show for a year at the Manchester Museum, not far from where he must have lived. They will be part of an exhibition that recounts one of the most fascinating murder stories in British history. If, indeed, murder is what it was.

 

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

 

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Magic stones of Orkney:

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/united-kingdom/magic-stones-of-orkney/2008/04/10/1207420567114.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

 

Pagan rituals, ancient tombs and prehistoric villages draw Dugald Jellie to remote Scottish islands.

 

"The Orkney isles are such harsh country," she said, "there is such beauty there - the heather and the wild birds crying, and the great craigs and the magic stones."

 

"Magic stones?" asked Abigail.

 

Ruth Park's words ring in my ears as the ferry yaws and rolls in deep water and lingering dusk. Petrels dance on the stern draught like string puppets. Dolphins surf a ribbon wake that gleams the colour of whisky.

 

I leave the highlands behind, sailing from the northern tip of Scotland to an end of the world the Norse called Orkneyjar - seal islands - where wind and water and magic are said to chime together in mysterious anthem.

 

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

 

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Witches are focus of 'No Place for Hate' forum:

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http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_101202848.html

 

By Chris Cassidy

Staff writer

 

SALEM — The city hopes to clear up popular misconceptions about Wiccan and pagan religions during a panel discussion tomorrow night at Old Town Hall.

 

The event comes after a tumultuous year in the psychic and witch community, which included the arrest of a high priestess and her housemate for allegedly leaving the beheaded and mutilated remains of a raccoon at the doorstep of two downtown psychic shops.

 

Featured speakers include Margot Adler of National Public Radio, a Wiccan priestess for more than 35 years who has regularly contributed to NPR programs such as "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition" and "Weekend Edition." She also hosts "Justice Talking."

 

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

 

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‘Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig:

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7337292.stm

 

By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC News

 

Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.

 

The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.

 

The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

 

The dig is the first to take place at Stonehenge for more than 40 years.

 

The team now needs to extract organic material from these holes to date when the stones first arrived.

 

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

 

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Seahenge at Lynn revisited by druids:

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http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/Seahenge-at-Lynn-revisited-by.3954854.jp

 

PROTESTERS who fought against historic timber circle Seahenge being moved from Holme beach to a new home at Lynn Museum have been among the first visitors.

 

The man-made circle was uncovered in 1998 and has since been hailed as one of Britain's most exciting archaeological discoveries.

 

Its new home has been created at the Market Street museum as part of a £1.2 million redevelopment.

 

The gallery will show half of the 55 preserved timbers from the circle and the giant upturned oak stump they surrounded, against an illuminated backdrop of Holme beach today.

 

Archaeologists faced angry protests from druid groups, who felt a spiritual connection to the site, when the timbers were first moved in 1999.

 

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

 

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Theater review Oya, the warrior goddess, and hurricanes:

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Full Story

 

Holly Johnson

Special to The Oregonian

 

We hear sound of sea birds, crashing waves and distant drumming and see a shiplike platform, with ladders reaching skyward and white sails shimmering against a brilliant painted sky. And this sets the scene for "Oya: Call the Storm," a vibrant collaboration at the Miracle Theatre Group between the cast members and director Rebecca Martinez, featuring brief narrative, constant movement and Afro-Cuban traditional dance from the Yoruba culture of West Africa.

 

The story line, offered in English and Spanish, may be scant and oblique, but we understand the body language onstage. The narrative follows three humans as they struggle with envy, lust, greed and despair. They are aided by the warrior goddess Oya, commander of storms and guardian of cemeteries, who leads them to clear thinking; fends off Iku, the spirit of Death (who is also her best friend); and presents the three some real hurricanes to contend with along the way.

 

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

 

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New head of voodoo brings on the charm:

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/04/america/profile.php

 

By Marc Lacey

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: The goat tethered to a tree outside of Max Beauvoir's home is doomed.

 

Beauvoir, tall and majestic with closely cropped white hair, is a voodoo priest who was just named the religion's supreme master, a newly created position that is aimed at reviving voodoo.

 

His grand residence on the outskirts of the Haitian capital serves as a voodoo temple for practitioners and a late-night hangout for those paying customers eager to take in an exotic evening of spiritual awakening.

 

Called the Peristyle de Mariani, it is where Beauvoir and his followers dance around a giant totem to the beat of drums. It is where they light bonfires to summon the spirits. And it is where they drain the blood of animals like that scrawny white goat to, among other things, heal the sick.

 

On a recent night, Haiti's voodooists convened for a special ceremony. With music blaring and devotees dancing with all their might, two children threw white rose petals on a red carpet. Then along came Beauvoir.

 

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

 

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Cult film sequel shoot called off:

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7328218.stm

 

Cameras were due to start rolling in Dumfries and Galloway this month on the follow-up to the 1970s film starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee.

 

However, a statement from the local council confirmed that producers had cancelled the shoot due to last minute difficulties with finance.

 

Councillor Gill Dykes described the news as "bitterly disappointing".

 

The original 1973 film, written by Anthony Shaffer, was shot at a number of locations throughout Galloway.

 

We will maintain contact with this interesting project and I can only hope we'll be top of their location list if the financial problems get resolved

Cllr Gill Dykes

 

It was planned that the sequel - based on director Robin Hardy's book Cowboys for Christ - would also be filmed in the region.

 

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

 

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Sunset ritual spreads pagan message of unity:

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Full Story

 

By Miriam Phillips

 

A SUNSET ritual by pagan groups was held at Maumbury Rings in Dorchester to unite them in worship.

 

Some 30 pagans, mostly from the Dorset Dolman Grove order, took part in an open ritual where they prayed to the spirits of Maumbury for peace and knowledge.

 

John Jameson, a member of Dorset Dolman Grove, said the event was happy with people singing and making music.

 

He said: "It was nice because lots of people came from different orders in the area and also some members of the public who just wanted to come along and watch.

 

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

 

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Vikings visit Hareleeshill Primary:

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http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/2008/04/02/vikings-visit-hareleeshill-primary-51525-20707721/

 

By Judith Tonner

 

The Vikings came to Hareleeshill Primary to give pupils an unforgettable lesson in Norse culture.

 

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

 

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The secret of Stonehenge:

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It is half a century since the inside of the mysterious circle was last excavated. Now a fresh dig has begun, aimed at solving a mystery which continues to baffle archaeologists

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-secret-of-stonehenge-803113.html

 

By David Keys

 

The last time any excavation was allowed inside its ancient sarsen stone pillars was in 1964 but now the first archaeological excavations at Stonehenge in almost half a century are attempting to solve, once and for all, the mystery of how and why the stone circle was built.

 

The enigma of Stonehenge, famed for its orientation in relation to the rising and setting sun, has puzzled and divided experts for decades. Some say the ancient stones were built as a temple used to worship ancient earth deities. Others say it was a prehistoric astronomical observatory; others claim it was a sacred burial site for people of high birth. Arthurian legend even has it that the stones were put there by the magician Merlin.

 

But yesterday, researchers started the dig inside the stone circle, a project English Heritage is calling the most significant in the site's history, and which they hope will finally lift the lid on the truth behind one of Britain's most famous landmarks.

 

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

 

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March:

New group aims to unite pagans:

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http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.2155241.0.new_group_aims_to_unite_pagans.php

 

By Sarah Goldthorpe

 

A NEW group has been set up to unite pagans in Dorset.

 

Ian Temple, owner of Sgt Bun Bakery in Weymouth, has launched The Dorset Grove to bring together anyone with alternative religious beliefs.

 

Mr Temple said the group was intended to create a community of different Dorset pagans. And it is already looking set for success with some 40 members already.

 

Mr Temple said: "I have been a Druid of Dorset for many years and have many good friends across Dorset and we decided to get together and form this new order.

 

"We want a group specific to this county.”

 

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

 

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Lectures casts spell on history of witches:

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Full Story

 

Brittney Slovak

 

"Sabrina the Teenage Witch" fans would have been disappointed this Wednesday as a lecture dismissed media interpretations of witchcraft, paganism and the religion of Wicca. Professor Helen Berger, a sociology professor at West Chester University, spoke to a group of students in the Rowan Hall auditorium regarding teenage witches and how the religion relates to feminism.

 

Paganism and Wicca, an Earth-based religion that began in the 1930s, have about a half million followers in the United States. The two practices allow for a person to celebrate the changes in nature and the changes in a person's life, was described in detail to the crowd.

 

"Death is seen as a part of life," said Berger, adding in reference to Nature, "She changes everything she touches and everything she touches changes."

 

Wicca itself is influenced by Eastern religions such as Hinduism, as seen in the worshipping of female goddesses and the emphasis on ritual.

Berger, who began her research on witches in 1986, wrote and edited four books on the topic of witches including working recently with Dr. Douglas Ezzy for her most recent publication "Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self."

 

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Australia Erects Version Of Stonehenge:

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http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010455688

 

Margaret River, Australia (AHN) - An Australian entrepreneur announced that he will be constructing a replica of the historic Stonehenge, to be erected on his piece of land in Margaret River.

 

The structure, according to entrepreneur Ross Smith, will be accessible to people who would want to come near it.

 

Smith said that it would also feature a children's playground.

 

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

 

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Far From Devil Worship And 'Harry Potter,' Young Witches Explain What They're Really About:

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http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1584096/20080325/id_0.jhtml

 

These young witches' beliefs include respect for nature, equality of the sexes and karma.

 

By Alex Mar

 

MISSOULA, Montana — On any given day in this city, on the main drag of sporting-goods shops and sleepy cafés, you may be surprised to pass a tall young man in a black trenchcoat and black lace gloves, his eyes painted purple. Raven Digitalis (born Colin Smith), 24, with his towering figure, pale face and goth style, could easily be mistaken for Billy Corgan's younger cousin. (In fact, he proudly owns some 130 Smashing Pumpkins CDs that he says helped him get through his high school days.)

 

Raven has been a Pagan priest for four years, practicing witchcraft and hosting rituals for local Pagans at his house, which is just 10 minutes from the downtown strip. "The Craft is one of the most empowering religions or spiritual lifestyles that exists," he explained.

 

But what is witchcraft?

 

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'Balance Now, Dark And Light':

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OSTARA: Pagans celebrate spring equinox with ceremony at SLU library

 

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20080324/NEWS05/199546270

 

By ALEX JACOBS

 

CANTON — A small group of pagans and their friends gathered Sunday to join hands and form a spiritual circle. There, light and darkness were summoned to mark the spring equinox.

 

Attendees celebrated Ostara, a nature-based festival centered on the spring equinox, when the sun is positioned over the equator and day and night are of roughly equal length.

 

They also recognized balance — of the elements, and in their own lives.

 

"Spiritually, it's between me and the universe," said Derek S. Habermas, a math professor and practicing pagan from SUNY Potsdam. "But it's great to share that kind of thing with the community."

 

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A regular faire of psychic and spiritual insights:

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http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=6814497721bf4860a72711ea35b7eb80

 

By Alice Te Puni

 

A DRUID, a gypsy and a shaman warrior are more readily identified in fantasy fiction stories -- but at the weekend they were found holding court with regular folk in Gisborne.

 

Alan Venamore, organiser of the Wychways Faire -- an expo for local, national and internationally-acclaimed psychics and spiritual healers -- said there was no better time than now to offer enlightenment and understanding through knowledge.

 

A Briton, Mr Venamore said he had a "merry band" of psychics and healers who enjoyed touring the North Island's many towns and cities.

 

Although New Zealand had a much smaller population than Britain, he had found more people here per capita who were interested in psychic phenomenon.

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Legislature considers bill denouncing Connecticut witch hunts:

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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct-xgr--witchhunts0320mar20,0,5266025.story

 

HARTFORD, Conn. - Centuries after the fact, state lawmakers are hoping to bring justice to those judged during Connecticut's colonial witch trials.

 

The Judiciary Committee is hearing testimony on a resolution that denounces the trials as shocking and the result of community-wide hysteria and fear.

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Newfoundland Viking site remarkable:

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L'Anse aux Meadows likely marks the first European contact with New World -- 500 years before Columbus

 

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=e2c9443a-784d-43c7-95e8-f08729813371

 

Jeff Lukovich,

 

More than 1,200 years ago, Vikings from Norway set out on a series of daring voyages that would eventually result in their being the first Europeans to explore the east coast of North America. In stages they established settlements in the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and finally Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

Though we passed through an area around the capital of Nuuk, that would have been near the former Viking "Western Settlement," ruins or reconstructions were either not easily accessible or part of the itinerary.

 

The most famous Viking ruins can be seen at the former "Eastern Settlement" on the southwest tip of Greenland, near the present-day towns of Narsaq and Qassiarsuk. Here is found Brattahlid, the farm Eric the Red established in 986, as well as reconstructions of the bishop's residence at Gardar and Hvalsey Church.

 

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Marshall Pagans perform ritual Thursday: