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- any peeps here use triggit just curious |
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- Hi is there anyone here from the North East? I moved to Newcastle a while ago - but everyone I know here is really boring. (They are all 'settled down' and have jobs/families etc). I'm a bit older (39) and still totally irresponsible and I still like to party hard when I can. Is there anyone over... |
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- We get mail. An email this afternoon was better than most: February 4: |
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- by Adrian Harris What is Eco-Paganism? Who are the Eco-Pagans? Ethnographic research has established that there is a distinct Eco-Pagan practice and sensibility (Clysdale, 2002; Harris, 1996 and 2001; Letcher 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005; |
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- by Amelia Tucker Using a mnemonic as a way to meditate has been used in spiritualism for eons. as far as we can tell, it began with knotted strings and over time evolved into the Chinese Abacus and then into prayer or meditation beads. By no means were the Catholics the inventor of this soothing ritual. No one knows for sure when man first started using devices to help recite ritual or numbers or to remember a sequence of items,but prayer beads have a place in every Wiccan's life. First, let's look at why you might use prayer beads. |
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- by Graeme Wood The Scottish parliament is considering a pardon for Helen Duncan, the last woman jailed under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Some initiatives -- such as this pardon -- have merit, even though their proponents are groups that exist in part to support those who have "experienced poltergeist activity." Helen Duncan spent nine months in the clink because she predicted the sinking of a British ship (an act of clairvoyance made admittedly less impressive by the fact that it was 1944, and British ships had U-boats snapping at their keels). We should thank Full Moon Investigations for ratcheting back the high regard in which we hold modern legal systems, including our own, and forcing us to see that absurd legal categories have persisted into living memory, and indeed possibly persisted up to today. The Central African Republic, although no one's juridical ideal, has a penal code whose cases are fully half about witchcraft. |
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- by Aisling Ireland Out of control vehicles are common dream symbols. Typically, these symbols represent some area of out lives that we feel is out of control. The more personal the vehicle that is crashing or out of control, the more closely related it is to our selves. For example, cars are vehicles which we drive ourselves, vehicles we can learn to operate ourselves and which we often drive solely by ourselves. Cars, therefore are great symbols for our bodies since our bodies 'drive' our spiritual selves around. |
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- By ANDY DOLAN Campaigners are calling for a medium who spent nine-months in prison during WWII after informing a sailor that his battleship had sank, to be pardoned. The Admiralty had covered up the sinking of HMS Barham, which was torpedoed by the Germans in November 1941 with the loss of more than 800 lives, to maintain wartime morale. But the veil of secrecy was soon torn apart when Helen Duncan told a couple during a seance that their son, a serving sailor on the ship, had appeared from the spirit world to tell them his ship had sunk. In one of the most bizarre acts of the Second World War, she was accused of leaking military secrets during the seance and went on to become the last witch jailed for performing black magic in the UK. Now campaigners are calling for the mother-of-six, who spent nine months in Holloway Prison, North London, to be pardoned to remove the stigma attached to her case from her surviving relatives. |
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- by Libby Gomersall Baba Marta, or Granny March, represents the advent of spring. After a harsh winter she is welcomed with open arms on March 1. The celebration is steeped in years of history and tradition with some interesting legends surrounding its origins and the wearing of those red and white bands called Martenitsi. Baba Marta is a Pagan tradition borne out of the days when heathen peasants believed in higher forces at work affecting the weather, fertility and successful crop growth. Pagans worldwide celebrated the coming of the spring each year, thousands of years before Christ? |
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- by Kiva Rose Hardin ?The neophyte turns? either voluntarily, ritually, or spontaneously through sickness? towards the mysterium. This change of direction can be accomplished only through ? |
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- Magic. The enunciation of this term can stir contrasting reactions in the minds of men: suspicion, fear, doubt, mockery... It is a controversial term, mostly because its definition leads to subjective interpretation and its connotation has varied across the centuries. An interesting definition of magic was offered by French historian Jean Bottèro: |
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- By BOB ANDERSON The Livingston Parish Council recently remained silent on an issue of religious freedom when council members failed to repeal an ordinance they enacted last year prohibiting soothsaying. At the time they approved the ordinance, some council members might have been able to claim they didn?t realize they were treading on the spiritual practices of others. After some Wiccans protested and even filed suit in federal court over the ordinance, the council can no longer make such a claim. Even if no council members agree with the nature-based religion, it is a religion that has been recognized by the courts. |
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- A COUPLE jailed for nine months for contempt of court for refusing to withdraw claims an occult group was killing children were freed yesterday after spending seven weeks in jail. Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine were jailed for failing to remove allegations that the secretive International Society Ordo Templi Orientis was a pedophile ring. Other claims included members of the group tortured and killed children, drank the children's blood and ate their organs and used naked children as waiters at functions. OTO told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal the couple had breached the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act. The couple ignored a July VCAT order to remove the comments. |
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- Before the advent of the written word, storytellers had to use creative methods to ensure that their stories were not forgotten. That is why they introduced alliteration, rhythm, hymns and repetitions. The verses would be sang or repeated in the kind of droning voices that monks use to remember long texts. This is how the Edda, the Iliad, Beowulf and Ramayana survived until the stories could be written down. This is also the story of Finland's national epic, the Kalevala. |
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- By Keith Mcleod VIKING women wore bras and staged fireside fashion shows to show off colourful new designs. Archaeologist Annika Larsson says a find at Sweden's oldest Viking settlement, Birka, proves the first bras were designed to give lift and shape. But they were banned by killjoy Christians who regarded them as pagan. Annika added: "It was also felt that they made the female body too much an object of observation. |
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- by Jason Pitzl-Waters A mess is brewing in Louisiana. On Tuesday, Farmerville High School was sent into lock-down after rumors of a "big war" between two groups of students reached school officials. Making the matter even more complicated is the fact that one of the rival groups (allegedly) claim to be a Wiccan coven. Who threatened who? Good question! |
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- By Nicholas Day Judging by the prominence of honey these days, you'd think there's a run on sugar. Local, flavored honeys are now in restaurant kitchens. Foodies are mail-ordering artisanal raw varieties. At my local farmers market in Connecticut, the area beekeeper shows up with a table's worth of options and a glassed-in buzzing hive. This resurgence is in spite of the recent colony collapse disorder, which decimated many beehives. |
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- By MIKE CONLEY They are usually two L-shaped rods made from brass or some other lightweight metal. Or it could be a small crystal suspended at the end of a chain. For thousands of years, these simple tools have helped people find underground water or detect the presence of a ghost. The art of dowsing or divination has been around for centuries and even those who practice it don't really know how it works. The American Society of Dowsers once stated "the reasons the procedures work are entirely unknown. |
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- Dame Alice Kyteler (pronounced Kettler), unknown to many who practice Witchcraft today has in important place in the annals of Witchcraft history. Born in Kilkenny Ireland, Lady Alice or Dame Alice as she was also known was one of the first to be formally tried by the Catholic Church for Sorcery in 1324. Her crime? The Bishop of Ossory, Richard Ledrede, claimed that she and eleven of her family and friends (see list of names below) had transgressions of numerous supernatural types ranging from being heretics to having nocturnal meetings with the Devil himself among the other Unhallowed Artes they practiced. She, Dame Alice, was also known to have a Magistellus or Demon/Familiar (called Robinus Filius Artis, Robin Artisson or Robin, Son of Art) that came to her in the form of an animal, sometimes in the form of a cat and sometimes in the form of a large black, shaggy dog, and at times even in the form of a black man who was attended by two swarthy servants that carried iron rods. |
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- A petition is being handed in to the Scottish Parliament calling for a pardon for all those convicted under witchcraft legislation. It is thought some 4,000 people, mainly women, were prosecuted and often put to death for witchcraft. The last Witchcraft Act conviction was in 1944 when Scottish medium Helen Duncan was imprisoned for allegedly disclosing World War II secrets. She told a seance a warship had sunk before the news had been released. The witchcraft petition came from a group of self-styled "mediums" called Full Moon Investigators. |
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- by Christopher Hist It's the Roman Empire's enduring gift to the world ? an extra day every four years. A source of mystery, intrigue and controversy and the most colourful date in the calendar. The ancient Egyptians recognised that the world does not revolve round the Sun every 365 days, but almost a quarter of the day more. The fact that this little bit extra is a smidgeon less than six hours ? |
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- by Ian The notion of magick in the Crowley-esque sense of the term tends to haunt modern polytheism. Magick seems to run counter to the devotional elements we tend to see as properly religious. Praising the divine seems to be one thing, plying the divine for favors quite another. In general, both are seen as acceptable, but their relationship is a little obscure. Crowley? |
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- by Rick Taylor I ran across a Wiccan in Olympia recently. I wasn't surprised because Olympia prides itself on being a bastion for liberal causes and lifestyles. But I might have been wrong about him, and maybe Olympia, too. We spoke briefly of his beliefs before our paths diverted. He said Wiccans prefer their food from nature, as part of the natural cycle, which includes hunting your own meat. |
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- by Judy Harrow If divination is priestly work, a form of spiritual counseling for Wiccans, then it has to be both good counseling and good Craft. Because we read in our role as priest/esses, our working assumptions should be consistent with the values of our religion. Because we read for the purpose of spiritual counseling, we should use good general counseling techniques with our querents. The secular counseling profession has a professional philosophy of its own. That could create complications but it doesn't. |
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