« December 2006 | Main | February 2007 »
TITLE: Stonehenge workers' village found
LINK:http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/30/stonehenge.village.ap/index.html
Toldya they were from Orkney:
EXCERPT:Julian Thomas of Manchester University noted that both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls have avenues connecting them to the Avon River, indicating a pattern of movement between the sites.
Comment: fixed.
TITLE:Witch way to Monroe Clinic?
LINK:http://www.themonroetimes.com/m0125the.htm
EXCERPT:It seems Monroe Clinic treated a witch in early December. No, she didn't fly in on her broom and, no, she didn't have spiders and bats in her hair.
Kat's comment: Does this have a point other than a chance to pick on their pseudonyms?Look for this inane article to cause strife in the Pagan community, with wailing and gnashing of idiot reporters.
Several months ago, I created the mailing list UEWorkings to allow for discussion of magic(k) in a safe space.
For example, the footers of every message reads:
"By becoming a member, you agreed to keep content here confidential. All things on this list MUST be treated as theoretical, that means you do, say or practice what appears here AT YOUR OWN RISK. It also means that those who speak here are not required to agree with, believe, or DO, anything that they mention here. Nothing on this list can be trusted to be truthful. It could all be lies. Muahahaha.
It could also ALL be truth, and this footer could be here to provide all sorts of safety."
Ignoring the fact that I just technically broke the confidentiality code, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of UEWorkings appearing as a "top secret cabal" (it isn't) and I have decided I shall allow new members who email me for an invitation.
Just tell me a bit of what you expect to get from the experience. I reserve the right to limit size indiscriminately. UEWorkings is not an official part of CUEW.
EDIT: Please make sure to tell me what sort of background you bring, I teach classes on Magic(k) and I am not interested in replicating that experience on this list. To join this list, I'm assuming you have some background TO BEGIN WITH.
The descripton at googlegroups is as follows:" UEWorkings is an invitation only group for UEW students with a background in CM, Enochiana, Chaos Magic(k), RM, Operational Witchcraft or FMT to discuss things safely."
Obviously, I cannot extend invitations to those outside that category.
If you don't have my email address, use one of the ones at http://www.macmorgan.org
TITLE:Gwinnett's Harry Potter case — myth vs. truth
LINK:http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2007/01/26/0128gwxmallory.html
Comment: 'We're not trying to get Harry Potter banned, because you can buy books on Wicca at a bookstore,' is the essence of this goofy mom's mania...here, in her own words.
The following is my opinion. Not to be confused with the opinion of CUEW or any of the members of CUEW's leadership.
What do you call militant religious extremists out to destroy secular governments and who successfully assassinate those they disagree with?
CNN usually uses the word terrorist, but James Kopp got a special priviledge. He's no terrorist, but an "anti-abortion extremist."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/22/doc.killer.ap/index.html
He's a TERRORIST. He is an anti-secular terrorist.
JUST like Bin Laden.
Actually, no. Bin Laden is too much of a coward to be a terrorist, he's just a petty dictator- a king without a country.
Kopp, on the other hand, is like the thugs that Bin Laden uses to kill people- a patsy of his bosses, doing things contrary to his religion and contrary to the laws of his country because some idiot with charisma told him it would make his god happy.
Prison for the rest of his natural and unnatural life is EXACTLY what the creep needs, because eventually, his brain is going to recover from the training of his overlords and he'll die a lonely old man with no one to love him. The death penalty, on the other hand, would make him feel like he'd proven something.
All he's proven is that terrorists aren't all from outside the US.
TITLE:Toppling a Taboo: Businesses Go 'Faith-Friendly'
LINK: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1644
EXCERPT:Do your Hindu, Sikh and Jain coworkers need a three-day weekend
in November to celebrate Diwali? Have you ever asked Muslim
employees to help design products destined for a Southeast Asian
market? Did you know one colleague urging another to accept
Christ as a personal savior is a legally protected act?
Comment: It's been a slow week for news. I did not fall down a hole.
Opinion of Kat MacMorgan, not necessarily shared by the CUEW leadership who graciously maintain the blog.
I recently encountered a friend who claimed that another author said that the reason there are Wiccans who do not use the word Witch is that those of us who do not use the word Witch are scared of it and wrapped up in the "Christian meaning of the word Witch."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am a woman, married to a woman. I call her my WIFE and I call myself her WIFE. If I was afraid of using a word to describe myself and my family, it stands to reason WIFE would be the word. No one is trying to pass legislation in my country to make being a Witch illegal. Being a woman, married to a woman however, is something that people hate so much they want to make it impossible to exist by any means necessary.
Few people would dare call me a coward (other than myself) and fewer still would have the audacity to call me a liar, so I will tell you that when I refuse to use the word Witch, I am not doing it to dishonour someone or hide something, but to honor something and someone....somethings and someones, to be exact.
1. Gardner's religion of Witchcraft and the people he labeled as "Witches" and "those of the Wica" are NOT THE SAME people as the Wiccans who follow Wicca. The differences are as profound as the differences between Judaism and Christianity, or Traditional Hinduism and Buddhism, or Christianity and Islam, or Catholicism and Protestantism. Gardner's Witchcraft is an ancestor of Modern Wicca, but it is not the same thing. Indeed, the more astute of us will point out that Modern Gardnerianism and what Gardner practiced are also different religions. Where Wicca broke from Witchcraft on the phylogenic tree is up for debate. That it is an offshoot and not the same faith is debated by few. Why should the new faith share a name with the old? {Obviously, this is not the so-called "Christian" meaning of Witch, but the Gardnerian one, honeys.}
2. Wiccan was used as a PERJORATIVE by many of the Witches above. It indicated that one was not smart enough to know "those of the Wica" were properly pronounced "those of the Weesha" and that the religion was called Witchcraft and those of the Wica were its followers. Many of us called Wiccans perjoratively took up the title in part because we figured that any word that distanced us from the type of people who used the term Wiccan as a slur was probably a good thing. We went "fine, we are Wiccans, and our religion is Wicca....See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!"
3. In part because of flaws in their own religion, Wicca, not Witchcraft, caught on with the public. All of a sudden the Witches wanted their word back. All of a sudden the whiney pusses that wanted to kick the kids out of the pool and have adult swim realized the kids were having fun and they weren't, so to speak. They started to call THEMSELVES Wiccans, and their religion Wicca, even though these were the SAME PEOPLE who said "Wicca" was pronounced wrong and only idiots would use it. I guess we know what that makes them, huh?
4. This is why when these people use the word Neo-Wiccan to describe us we laugh at them. You can't leave the broken plasma screen television on the curb with a sign saying "take me" and then demand to have it back when someone fixes it with a fifty-cent piece of duct tape. Finders keepers. How about you use the term Antewiccans? It's nice and close to AntiWiccan, which is probably the most appropriate.
If you honor the early Gardnerians as the spiritual ancestors of modern Wicca , you should not use their terms. Wicca as the name of a religion and Wiccan as the name of the followers of that religion are not their terms. They are ours, and we have the right to use them without so much as a mumble from those Anti-Wiccan Antewiccans.
At the same time that the people who used to be Witches-not-Wiccans and now style themselves Witches-the-real-Wiccans were throwing the term Wiccan out with the bathwater and Wiccans were catching the baby and adopting it, another group of people were using the term Witch and Witchcraft in a way that ALSO pissed off the Witches-not-Wiccans-now-we're-the-real-Wiccans, they used it to mean a practitioner of various healing arts and magic and described themselves as RECLAIMING the word Witch.
The problem is, and this is where the so-called Christian defintion comes in, there is no evidence it was ever used as anything BUT a perjorative until those Gardnerian Witches came around. Since the Gardnerianesque Antewiccans were not yet claiming any word other than Witch to describe themselves, they couldn't be who the term was being reclaimed from, so the choice became the following:
A. Those reclaiming the term Witch used to have the word Witch and lost control of it. OR
B. They were "reclaimining" the word Witch like the Europeans "reclaimed" Africa and the Americas for the Abrahamic god....that is to say, they were discovering....errr.....STEALING IT.
Since the reclaimers haven't demonstrated A, most of us land on B, and that's pretty crappy. They are stealing it from the Antewiccans who stole it from earlier speakers of English who used it to mean people who practiced all sorts of bad magic.
Okay, screw the reclaimers and the Antewiccans. Lets look at those who both the Gardnerianesque Antewiccans and the reclaimers call Witches, the wise-women of the English speaking world before the modern age.
Lets look at their spell books.... (I have access to such things, so I assume they do, too)
What have we here? A spell to ward off Witches? How to prevent Witches from getting on your land?
Why would witches have such things?
Okay, so they have spells to ward off witches. Maybe they mean other witches...lets see what they call themselves.... hmmmmmm.
Well, here's a transcript from a heresy trial.... How does she describe herself?
As a...gasp.... god fearing Christian, and not a Witch.
Okay, maybe she was under duress. Lets see what else in in the spellbook to try to glean her religion.... hmm, here is a spell to cure blindness.... it says that one holds the poltice to the eye as our lord Jesus did.... Wait a minute?!?! Does this spellbook not only indicate this Witch was a Christian but those she was addressing were, too???
How can this be?
Oh, that's right, the people accused of Witchcraft by Christians were CHRISTIANS THEMSELVES!
Hmm. Lets have an imaginary journey. Let me just finish with this quicksilver and a little Xilca, and voila, the ghost of three women held in high esteem by AnteWiccans and the reclaimers are here to join me.
"Hello ladies," I say to them.
After the screaming stops and I give them some tea, we begin the interview.
"Helen, Rebecca and Isobel, I thought that as Witches you could explain to my readers-"
H:I am not a Witch! Why do people keep saying that?!?!?
R: Witch?! AHHH! Where's the Witch? Are these women Witches?!?! Jesus save me!"
I: I only said that to stop the torture! Jesus and I were having lunch! I'm no Witch!"
Hmmm. That doesn't work. Let's dismiss these spirits and get rid of the summoning circle.
Hmmmm. They didn't call themselves Witches.. They considered Witches their enemies and they took offense when I called them witches. Well gosh, it's a good thing I don't have a belief in respecting my ancestors.
OH CRAP! I DO have a belief in respecting my ancestors. Crap. That means I can't say that stuff I do based on stuff they did is Witchcraft unless I-gulp-embrace the so-called Christian meaning of the term Witchcraft.
Guess I'm still a Wiccan.
I'd reconsider the term, I suppose, if one of those antewiccans or antewiccanesque neowitches could actually address one of the problems above, but the best reason they have for calling nonantewiccan Wiccans witches seems to be saying "because we say they are" or accusing the Wiccans of being cowards or complicit with those who prosecute them.
What reason might they have for never refuting the real reason we use the term Wiccan?
Are they scared?
Are they afraid that our logic might crumple them up like little wads of paper?
Did our Great Auntie's spell keep them away from us?
TITLE:Modern pagans honor Zeus with ceremony in Athens
LINK:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4486659.html
EXCERPT:ATHENS, Greece — A clutch of modern pagans honored Zeus at a 1,800-year-old temple in the heart of Athens today — the first known ceremony of its kind held there since the ancient Greek religion was outlawed by the Roman empire in the late 4th century.
TITLE:Friend of beloved psychic pays fair tribute
LINK:http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070121/NEWS01/701210302/1002/NEWS
EXCERPT:(January 21, 2007) — In the two years that Libby Varno knew Elaine Russell, the two women shared a lot: jobs as teachers' aides, a love of spiritualism and poetry, and activism.
Russell, who gave free astrology and tarot readings every Sunday for 17 years at Aaron's Alley, a Monroe Avenue store, had been something of a mentor to Varno.
"She was a really cool person," Varno said. Russell helped Varno deal with the politics of a school job and gave her advice about believing in herself. It wasn't until after Russell died that Varno, who lives in the lower Monroe Avenue neighborhood, became aware that her friend was also a poet, frequenting some of the same open-mike poetry nights that Varno loved.
I am teaching a magic(k) class in the later summer, and I was interviewing a local thirty something as a potential student. I realized fairly quickly that she wasn't what I wanted or needed in the class, but that is not what this quick entry is about....this is about the fact that I destroyed her paradigm, because she never had met a single Wiccan for whom actions, not lineage, determined a person's Wiccanness.
I won't make claims about the reality of her lineage claims, mostly because I generally have to pull in favors to do so and since it is of no benefit to me, I've no reason to waste good longstanding favors!
To put it in the bluntest of terms, she was a "grace not works" Wiccan. In this case, she was Wiccan by the grace of her lineage (or the one she claimed) not by virtue of any of her actions.
What we had was a complete breakdown. She asked me about my own lineage, which I answered with data pertinent to the course I am teaching, namely my training in Ceremonial Magick (remember, the class is not Wiccan, but on Magic(k), and, indeed, I'm not touching on Wicca at all in the course) and she began to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, only with Gerald Gardner being her Kevin Bacon.
In CM, there is no such thing as the lineage. Either you were taught by masters who knew what they were doing or not. EVEN if you were taught by the Master of Masters, you are considered as good as your works demonstrate. She illustrated her three degrees from Gardner (which, knowing some of those she claimed connection to, seem spurious at best) and I was supposed to be in awe of her despite her ideas which were pretty far from Wicca (and based on Grimassi, 100%) and very far from CM.
The thought of religion being who you know not who you are makes me sick. As many of us know, there was a student of Gerald Gardner's most would call a warlock. Under the rules of this lady's paradigm, someone who learned of Wicca from this guy would be more valid than, oh, one of Raymond Buckland's students student's, by virtue of a closer relation to Gardner. The fact that the imagined person would know didly about Witchcraft wouldn't matter.
Chief amongst the reasons I suspect this woman's lineage claims was the idea that proximity not ideas make the Wiccan. She did not get this from a Gardnerian group. If she was Gardnerian trained she promptly forgot her own training when she arrived at this conclusion...
But I really didn't come here to rant about people, but to make it clear-if you want to impress me, show me what you know, not who you know (or who you claim to know.)
New entry added 1/21-Standing stones of Stenness
New Entries added 1/20-Pan's Labyrinth, interfaith chapel and otherthings you won't see on other Pagan news sources until after I hit publish. (snarky, half sarcastic grin)
TITLE:Romancing the Stone
LINK:http://living.scotsman.com/travel.cfm?id=82652007
EXCERPT:Orkney's Standing Stones of Stenness are widely believed to be part of a 5,000-year-old fertility site and associated rituals included handfasting ceremonies centred on a huge monolith with a hole in the middle. The prehistoric Stone of Odin is no longer there but in recent years "romancing the stone" on the site has become very popular with couples of all religious persuasions. Some bring a minister, some a Wiccan priest, some just do their own thing.
TITLE:'Pan's Labyrinth' a maze of images and a masterpiece of wonder
LINK:http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/16494661.htm
EXCERPT:Yet another world beckons. In the ruins of an ancient labyrinth ornamented with pagan images, Ofelia meets the satyr Pan (Doug Jones), a horned, hooved creature who tells her she is the princess of the un-derworld and must perform three tasks to return to her real father and the splendor of his kingdom.
Kat's Comments: All you UEWs past the second circle should be able to describe this movie in fancy words.
TITLE: A place to gather in harmony
LINK:http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=555636&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=LOCAL&newsdate=1/20/2007
EXCERPT:Chapel House Collegiate Interfaith Center is convinced that different religions can work together in harmony and for the common good. Chapel House -- where Jewish, Catholic and Protestant students, and increasingly those of other faiths, worship under the same roof -- is unique in its contribution to the region's interfaith dialogue
TITLE:'Godless'? Hardly
LINK:http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=e710294d-29cd-49ea-b92a-2a4044a6ed50&k=15189
EXCERPT:It is fashionable to consider that we are in a post- Christian era; that as a civilization we have outgrown religion. It has been a truism for decades that religion is in decline, and that the Roman Catholic Church is racked with dissension, starved of clergy and is becoming a mere consolation for the geriatric and the ignorant. Our Islamist enemies routinely revile the West as a godless pigsty of degeneracy and materialist corruption. Because our opinion-leading elites have, unlike most of the greatest cultural icons of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, renounced religion in most forms, this Islamist complaint is largely conceded by most of our cultural leaders, and considered by them a badge of honour.
TITLE:A gathering of faiths
LINK:http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/life/story.html?id=d392bad6-b9ce-4647-9b72-17a9f5f14455
EXCERPT:Religious leaders from across the province unite to discuss one of the biggest spiritual questions of our day: Is religion dead?
TITLE:EU: Hindus Protest German Plans For Ban On Nazi Symbols
LINK:http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/01/70B82F68-0537-443A-8555-09830D904407.html
EXCERPT:A German proposal to ban Holocaust denial throughout Europe has run into criticism from Europe's Hindus, who complain the plans would include a ban on the use of the swastika, an ancient symbol that was adopted by the Nazis.
Older Entries:
TITLE:Harry Potter Vs. Laura Mallory Part 2
LINK:http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/01/harry_potter_vs_laura_mallory.html
EXCERPT:Now, without going so far as calling her an idiot (oh wait) it certainly shows a high level of ignorance to believe that a book you haven't read is capable of converting people to a religion you know little about. Beyond the flawed logic though, Ms. Mallory's dogmatic persistence may actually end up driving more children to read Harry Potter. In a time when faith is mired by extremism and reading is at an all time low, perhaps she feels the only way to teach the concepts of poetic justice and the dangers of close-minded fanaticism, is through a polemic gesture. If not, she is demonstrating a line of thinking that makes The Salem Witch Trials seem almost rational.
Kat's comment: I usually avoid considering blog posts as "news" but this was interesting. I actually think the writer's spite makes it seem like the woman in question is less of a scary thing than she is. Radical anti-secularism is scary. It bombs buildings and nightclubs, assassinates doctors and gay politicians.
TITLE:Muslim student’s opposition to construction of a chapel is uncalled for
LINK:http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article5732
EXCERPT:Construction of mosques, temples and churches in educational institution may rather come as classical example of inter-faith harmony. Forman Christian College in the eastern city of Lahore offers wonderful example of interfaith harmony since it has it on its campus some three mosques and a chapel.
Comment: This contains some of the wording of the religious tolerance laws of Pakistan.
TITLE:Evangelical LGBT congregation snaps up extra elbowroom
LINK:http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=22937
EXCERPT:"Most of the so-called clobber passages used to beat up on our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are actually talking about pagan temple worship," he said. "In the ancient pagan fertility worship, part of that process was sexual relationships with temple prostitutes both male and female."
Comment: It's like a hilights magazine for anthropologists, only, instead of spotting the pail in the apple tree, it's the errors in the above statement and others.
TITLE:My Prima Donna Swamp Princess: 36. RASA
LINK:http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17175/
EXCERPT:Wouldn’t you know it, but we tracked down the pagan group Romuva just as its members were preparing to celebrate Rasa, or summer solstice. The Latvians call it Ligo, but regardless of the name, it is generally a time to sing ditties, burn pine boles, imprecate the enemy and generally behave like a pagan sybarite.
Honestly, I was looking forward to it. After all these miles, stuck in the same car with the 600-year-old princess, I was ready for oblivion.
TITLE:Book Article Denies the Existence of a Historical Jesus Figure (Book review)
LINK:http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/12694/
EXCERPT: The book, published by Authorhouse, contains a series of articles by popular authors such as Tom Harpur, Dr. Robert Lomas, Peter Marshall, Michael Cremo, Robert G. Bauval, Ahmed Osman, Archie Eschborn and Philip Ball. The book also includes additional work by private writers and researchers from around the world. The articles explore a wide range of topics such as Archaeoastronomy, religion, ancient symbols, philosophy, ancient mathematics and is a creation of U.K.-based Astraea Magazine and Web Radio - a free Internet talk show hosted by former BBC announcer Guy Leigh. The show is rapidly growing in popularity and has attracted some of the most prestigious scholars, scientists, historians and filmmakers in the world.
TITLE:Pagans count selves among the faithful
LINK:http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=217445
EXCERPT:A profusion of steeples, spires and crosses reach for the sky in McMinnville, but these symbols of our nation's dominant Christian faith do not reflect the full range of spirituality among the county's population.
That range includes Earth-centered faiths that first began to reach the public eye in the 1960s under labels like New Age, Pagan and Neo-Pagan.
TITLE:Creationists, Evolutionists Join Forces
LINK:http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516662
EXCERPT:Leaders from the creationist Christian community and evolutionary biologists called on President Bush Wednesday to recognize the imminent threat that current fossil fuel use and climate change pose to the environment.
Issuing a “call to action,” the coalition, which includes Harvard scientists and evangelical leaders, held a press conference in Washington D.C. this week. The unlikely pairing came about after a meeting of the two groups in November.
TITLE: 'A Magickal Life: Jeff Mcbride' to Air on Canada's Vision TV
LINK:http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/1/emw497839.htm
EXCERPT: Las Vegas, NV (PRWeb) January 18, 2007 -- Las Vegas magician Jeff McBride, last seen on the Strip headlining in "The World's Greatest Magic Show," is featured as the subject of "A Magickal Life: Jeff McBride," one of the first episodes of the new documentary series Enigma on Canada's Vision TV. The show will first air on the evening of January 24 at 9pm, or 10pm PST. Repeats air on Saturdays, starting Jan. 13 at 10 p.m. ET, and on Mondays, starting Jan. 15, 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET.
The documentary begins with a teen-aged Jeff McBride performing his magic at the Orange County Fair in upstate New York. By his twenties, McBride was opening for rock bands like Cheap Trick, touring with Diana Ross and headlining at The Hilton in Las Vegas. But at the height of his success, this young illusionist was overcome by the urge to explore new territory. So began his search for the source of real magic: a journey to the mythological roots of this art form that would lead deep into the worlds of neo-paganism, drum circles and fire rituals. He would return a changed man. In this documentary, McBride tells of what he learned on his quest, and reveals how even the simplest magician's trick can hold layer upon layer of meaning. "Magic is about transformation," he says. "It reminds us that everything changes - including ourselves."
TITLE:Having faith in a more tolerant future
LINK:http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/features/2007/01/19/5ee3f480-53c5-4982-b37a-b0e1c8e05edf.lpf
EXCERPT:Sunday is World Religion Day - but why does faith continue to play such a central role in our lives?
TITLE:Zeus Worshippers Demand Access to Temple
LINK:http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/01/20/ap/strange/d8mogi4o0.txt
EXCERPT:ATHENS, Greece - After all these centuries, Zeus may have a few thunderbolts left. A tiny group of worshippers plans a rare ceremony Sunday to honor the ancient Greek gods, at Athens' 1,800-year-old Temple of Olympian Zeus. Greece's Culture Ministry has declared the central Athens site off-limits, but worshippers say they will defy the decision.
TITLE:Wiccan ex-barista sues Starbucks over religion
LINK:http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1169261741297940.xml&coll=7
EXCERPT: A former Starbucks barista in Hillsboro has sued the coffee giant, saying it discriminated against her based on her Wiccan religion.
In a complaint filed Jan. 8 in U.S. District Court in Portland, Alicia Hedum said a manager at Starbucks' Hillsboro Landing cafe asked her to remove her Wiccan cross several times, even though other employees, including the manager, wore Christian crosses.
Kat's Comment: Omigods they said Wiccan Cross and there were other errors. It is part of a vast right Wing conspiracy.
This is the personal opinion of Kaatryn MacMorgan, and should not be viewed as the views of the owners of the blog, CUEW leadership or other people who are not Kat.
I went to a historically minority and originally baptist college (Temple University) which is pretty concerned about its image as historically minority and socially active (it no longer appears on USNews' list of top colleges, but appears on every list where social activism is important....it is less concerned about widening the acceptance gates and screwing the student teacher ration, but I digress) The biggest archive there is The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, and one of the reasons it is housed there is because it was viewed to be an asset to the college. It is, in short, a sign of the schools historic and continuing status as pro-minority and pro-social justice.
The reason I use the term historic and continuing is because that is the same status Southern Methodist University has regarding Christianity, Peace and Religious Observance in a secular world.
SMU has been given the greenlight to be the site for the George W. Bush presidential library, despite views to the contrary by Methodist ministers (like Temple, SMU is no longer a religious school, but is now a secular school which holds its historic religious name.)
The Methodists say, in my view rightfully, that the president, while a Methodist, does not represent the views of the Methodist church accurately (he is an example, in short, of poor Methodism, or at least a poor understanding of United Methodism, the branch he claims to be a part of [that's the church with the velvet rope and ejector seat commercials) and that placing his library at a school with Methodist in the title lends creedence to the view that he has the backing of his religion in his views (he does not.)
I, for one, agree with them.
I have been burned by really terrible people who also happened to be UEWwies (although poor examples of the faith and not members of leadership) and if we had a college named something, something UEW, I would not want the "Insert name here" library at that college.
SMU is faced with a decision at this point. Accept the library and think tank, despite protests by the UMC's members, http://www.protectsmu.org/ or respect the historic and continuing views of the college and take a pass.
In this case, the right thing is to simply say "We do not think a traditionally religious college is an appropriate place for the housing of a man made famous for leading a secular nation" and stick to housing the archives of people who embody the University's traditional values and goals.
That being said, UMC's strength is in its diversity, and it will live through SMU's getting the Bush Library if need be.
These are reprinted in the news briefs Jan 18-25 entry.
TITLE:Harry Potter Vs. Laura Mallory Part 2
LINK:http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/01/harry_potter_vs_laura_mallory.html
EXCERPT:Now, without going so far as calling her an idiot (oh wait) it certainly shows a high level of ignorance to believe that a book you haven't read is capable of converting people to a religion you know little about. Beyond the flawed logic though, Ms. Mallory's dogmatic persistence may actually end up driving more children to read Harry Potter. In a time when faith is mired by extremism and reading is at an all time low, perhaps she feels the only way to teach the concepts of poetic justice and the dangers of close-minded fanaticism, is through a polemic gesture. If not, she is demonstrating a line of thinking that makes The Salem Witch Trials seem almost rational.
Kat's comment: I usually avoid considering blog posts as "news" but this was interesting. I actually think the writer's spite makes it seem like the woman in question is less of a scary thing than she is. Radical anti-secularism is scary. It bombs buildings and nightclubs, assassinates doctors and gay politicians.
TITLE:Muslim student’s opposition to construction of a chapel is uncalled for
LINK:http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article5732
EXCERPT:Construction of mosques, temples and churches in educational institution may rather come as classical example of inter-faith harmony. Forman Christian College in the eastern city of Lahore offers wonderful example of interfaith harmony since it has it on its campus some three mosques and a chapel.
Comment: This contains some of the wording of the religious tolerance laws of Pakistan.
TITLE:Evangelical LGBT congregation snaps up extra elbowroom
LINK:http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=22937
EXCERPT:"Most of the so-called clobber passages used to beat up on our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are actually talking about pagan temple worship," he said. "In the ancient pagan fertility worship, part of that process was sexual relationships with temple prostitutes both male and female."
Comment: It's like a hilights magazine for anthropologists, only, instead of spotting the pail in the apple tree, it's the errors in the above statement and others.
TITLE:My Prima Donna Swamp Princess: 36. RASA
LINK:http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17175/
EXCERPT:Wouldn’t you know it, but we tracked down the pagan group Romuva just as its members were preparing to celebrate Rasa, or summer solstice. The Latvians call it Ligo, but regardless of the name, it is generally a time to sing ditties, burn pine boles, imprecate the enemy and generally behave like a pagan sybarite.
Honestly, I was looking forward to it. After all these miles, stuck in the same car with the 600-year-old princess, I was ready for oblivion.
TITLE:Book Article Denies the Existence of a Historical Jesus Figure (Book review)
LINK:http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/12694/
EXCERPT: The book, published by Authorhouse, contains a series of articles by popular authors such as Tom Harpur, Dr. Robert Lomas, Peter Marshall, Michael Cremo, Robert G. Bauval, Ahmed Osman, Archie Eschborn and Philip Ball. The book also includes additional work by private writers and researchers from around the world. The articles explore a wide range of topics such as Archaeoastronomy, religion, ancient symbols, philosophy, ancient mathematics and is a creation of U.K.-based Astraea Magazine and Web Radio - a free Internet talk show hosted by former BBC announcer Guy Leigh. The show is rapidly growing in popularity and has attracted some of the most prestigious scholars, scientists, historians and filmmakers in the world.
TITLE:Pagans count selves among the faithful
LINK:http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=217445
EXCERPT:A profusion of steeples, spires and crosses reach for the sky in McMinnville, but these symbols of our nation's dominant Christian faith do not reflect the full range of spirituality among the county's population.
That range includes Earth-centered faiths that first began to reach the public eye in the 1960s under labels like New Age, Pagan and Neo-Pagan.
TITLE:Creationists, Evolutionists Join Forces
LINK:http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516662
EXCERPT:Leaders from the creationist Christian community and evolutionary biologists called on President Bush Wednesday to recognize the imminent threat that current fossil fuel use and climate change pose to the environment.
Issuing a “call to action,” the coalition, which includes Harvard scientists and evangelical leaders, held a press conference in Washington D.C. this week. The unlikely pairing came about after a meeting of the two groups in November.
TITLE: 'A Magickal Life: Jeff Mcbride' to Air on Canada's Vision TV
LINK:http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/1/emw497839.htm
EXCERPT: Las Vegas, NV (PRWeb) January 18, 2007 -- Las Vegas magician Jeff McBride, last seen on the Strip headlining in "The World's Greatest Magic Show," is featured as the subject of "A Magickal Life: Jeff McBride," one of the first episodes of the new documentary series Enigma on Canada's Vision TV. The show will first air on the evening of January 24 at 9pm, or 10pm PST. Repeats air on Saturdays, starting Jan. 13 at 10 p.m. ET, and on Mondays, starting Jan. 15, 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET.
The documentary begins with a teen-aged Jeff McBride performing his magic at the Orange County Fair in upstate New York. By his twenties, McBride was opening for rock bands like Cheap Trick, touring with Diana Ross and headlining at The Hilton in Las Vegas. But at the height of his success, this young illusionist was overcome by the urge to explore new territory. So began his search for the source of real magic: a journey to the mythological roots of this art form that would lead deep into the worlds of neo-paganism, drum circles and fire rituals. He would return a changed man. In this documentary, McBride tells of what he learned on his quest, and reveals how even the simplest magician's trick can hold layer upon layer of meaning. "Magic is about transformation," he says. "It reminds us that everything changes - including ourselves."
TITLE:Having faith in a more tolerant future
LINK:http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/features/2007/01/19/5ee3f480-53c5-4982-b37a-b0e1c8e05edf.lpf
EXCERPT:Sunday is World Religion Day - but why does faith continue to play such a central role in our lives?
Don't expect much more than additions to the news digest from me for the next few days. Today is my birthday, and I am hoping I am getting taken out to dinner. I've also been every kind of ill and overworked lately, so expect a brief break.
This was invoked by Starhawk's latest antiwar essay....
The difference between propaganda and honest opinion spoken in a heartfelt manner is as simple as the difference between being alone, and standing alone, and being alone, and claiming God (or "The Goddess") is on your side.
Every side claims god is on their side. The god changes, but the view stays the same.
Isn't it about time we just said "I believe this, and this is why" and figured that if the gods were on our side, they'd support us in getting our message out, as opposed to what they do when we claim to speak for THEIR message?
The gods are really big. They can speak for themselves. The rest of us should speak for ourselves.
Southwest actually tried very hard and this time succeeded in getting us home. We arrived at the airport quite early, and asked to be put on the standby list for the plane going out at 5:05. This was 4:50 when we did this. 5:00 they called us and said we were on the flight, which was wonderful and saved a lot of angst and grief.
Southwest was having systemwide problems because Houston had bad weather, making it tough for planes to get in and out of there, and most of the northeast was having ice storms. Most of their Manchester flights originate from Houston, except for a few from Tampa. Tampa's weather was good, so I had phoned many hours prior to ask whether we could be put on the 5:05 and was told to forget it, as it was full.
Apparently, all of the Manchester people going to BWI were so totally messed up in the ice that hoards of them cancelled their flights. Almost ALL flights to BWI were very delayed, and the gate people were scrambling to get us out as best they could. They packed about 25 standbys on our flight, which was fabulous since we all got home. My 6:40 flight actually left Manchester at 8:30, arriving at BWI at 9:40, which would have meant that Wes didn't get to bed until perhaps 11pm which would have made him very cranky indeed.
So, kudos to Southwest for a job well done. Kudos to Wes for being chauffeur. Kudos to Grunny for finally letting us visit. And all was well in the house of insanity.
As I sit here in my sister's house in Manchester, NH, I notice that it is grey, icy, and generally ugly. Our flight to BWI "may be cancelled, delayed, or diverted" due to the crappy weather, and Southwest's inability to get aircraft between wherever is currently covered with ice (large portions of the US) and MHT, which is becoming covered with ice. The child wishes to get home to go to school. We will have to see what the weather gods have in store for us, as the day progresses and we figure out whether or not Southwest will be capable of fulfilling our wishes.
We came up here to visit the family, some of which has been accomplished. We saw our parents, my sister and brother in law, and are gazing across the street at my grandmother's house. That's as far as we've been able to get to visiting her, since she didn't answer the phone yesterday, and she "hates visitors unannounced." She's quite the uh.... opinionated woman. 87 and acts 107. We will try again later in the morning so as not to awaken her.
So, here's the blog entry. Hope you are all well in this lovely winter weather.
TITLE:VEGETABLE LOVE
LINK:http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/070122crbo_books_shapin
SYNOPSIS:Review of a book about the history of vegetarianism includes the religious and not-so religious convictions of vegetarians though time.
TITLE:DISGUISED PAGAN TEMPLE?
LINK:http://www.etherzone.com/2007/mako011507.shtml
SYNOPSIS:Manitoba legislature building is top secret occult shrine. Oh Teh NoEs!
TITLE:Paganism in Christianity
LINK:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20070114T190000-0500_117881_OBS_PAGANISM_IN_CHRISTIANITY.asp
SYNOPSIS: Reverend discusses "Pagan and Anti-Christian" elements of Western Holidays.
TITLE:Where Is the Love in Wikipedia?
LINK:http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=386220&no=340058&rel_no=1
SYNOPSIS: Wikipedia riddled with bias, misinformation and hatred. Well, yes, duh.
TITLE:Books seized from public library
LINK:http://www.pntonline.com/engine.pl?station=portales&template=fnmStoryFull.html&id=9700
SYNOPSIS: Whacked-out mom kills kid and books on Wicca and Scientology are removed from local library. (Eye Roll)
TITLE:For hexed or vexed, a store casts its spell
LINK:http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/16454150.htm
SYNOPSIS: I love Harry's. It is EVERYTHING a new age store is not.
TITLE:Cringe-Free Christianity course offered.
LINK:http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=457&ArticleID=1973093
SYNOPSIS: Course doesn't expect students to know the Bible or pray.
TITLE:Setting the record straight
LINK:http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1168816509033&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
SYNOPSIS: Prof's lecture talks about how the Bible is Anti-Jewish.
TITLE:Another Korea
LINK:http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200701/kt2007011515042454140.htm
SYNOPSIS:Story on Buddhism in North Korea
TITLE:BEWARE OF MODERN RELIGION: IT’S NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE
LINK:http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=1589&cat=4
SYNOPSIS:Zimbabwe stuggles with religious movemenets and boradcasting.
TITLE:Atheists: the bigots' friends
LINK:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1990370,00.html
SYNOPSIS:"Most Christians back gay rights - and to claim otherwise only boosts the fundamentalists "
TITLE:Beware of Angels from the Dark Side
LINK:http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=westm&date=070113
Synopsis: Now, The Christians don't want their silly angels, either.
TITLE: Abraham's God
LINK: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16447858.htm
SYNOPSIS: Letter to the editor in which author makes distinction between Abrahamic deity and "Pagan gods" who needed bribery, in his opinion.
TITLE: The Church-State Alliance threatening the future of humanity
LINK: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/39742
SYNOPSIS: Opinion piece railing against the mainstream media and the evil church state union that threatens the world.
TITLE: Turning sacred pages
LINK: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=552174
SYNOPSIS: Opening of Milwakee art show of religious book images, including images inspired by Wicca.
TITLE: Online prayer may help breast cancer patients cope
LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/01/09/online.prayer.reut/index.html
SYNOPSIS: Study examines online prayer and results.
TITLE: Film makes Fuehrer a figure of fun
LINK:http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/10/hitler.film.reut/index.html
SYNOPSIS: Latest film part of ongoing debate about comic portrayals of Hitler in Europe. Springtime for Hitler, anyone?
TITLE: Campaign to pardon the last witch, jailed as a threat to Britain at war
LINK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1989403,00.html
EXCERPTS:
Mary Martin was 11 years old when her father taught her to box. She would come home from school scratched and bruised, her ears ringing with abuse from the playground. Mary Martin had the unhappy distinction of being the granddaughter of Britain's last convicted witch.
Mrs Martin knew her grandmother, Helen Duncan, as a comforting woman she could trust, the granny with a special gift: talking to spirits. But this was April 1944, at the height of the war with Germany. Mrs Duncan had just been branded by an Old Bailey jury as a witch and spy guilty of revealing wartime secrets.....
....Gerald Brousseau Gardner founded the modern Wicca movement in the 1940s, 11 years before the repeal of Britain's witchcraft laws. Followers revere nature, worship a goddess and practice ritual magic. In the 2001 census, 7,000 people listed Wicca as their religion.
This entry is the personal opinion of Kaatryn MacMorgan, it is not to be considered the view of CUEW, CUEW leadership, other CUEW members, small fuzzy animals living at Chez MacMorgan, The American Science Academy, the Modern Language Association, the APA, the CIA, the SCA or, indeed, anyone but Kaatryn MacMorgan. Details regarding just who Kat is can be found at http://www.macmorgan.org. Posts on this blog exist to encourage religious debate and discussion amongst the members of CUEW and others, and to keep the views and actions of elders and leadership as transparent as possible. This particular post made be viewed as volitile to some people, but is posted in sincere respect. It is somewhat truncated, and as such, may seem to jump around.
I have had enough of linguistic games, so I am going to set a few things straight: Muslims, Jews and Christians are the same people and those outside your faiths know it. You are Abrahamicists.
Abrahamicists: Abrahamic religions are those religions revolving around the god of Abraham. "Abrahamic" means of, like and around Abraham, specifically "of Abraham's deity." Abrahamist means a follower of Abraham. Abrahamicist means a follower of the religions of Abraham, specifically, of Abraham's god.
The viciousness of Abrahamic religions, when it exists*, is primarily a factor of monotheism and the individual culture the monotheism is in**. Islamic states where people get beheaded and Sharia is in place are identical, save for some minor language differences, to earlier Christian states. Judaism has pretty much always been a minority religion, and that** keeps there from being a long history of similar Judaic oppression. I suspect that even if you add up all the people killed as a result of Islamic flavored Abrahamic monotheism, they still would not equal the thousands killed in purges, hangings and burnings for not being Christian, so when Christians talk about how Islam is a violent religion, they are the deepest black kettles speaking to pots that came as part of the same kitchenware set.
Christians, you have a right to look at your Abrahamic bretheren and say "we, SOooooo grew out of that!" They are your baby brothers, walking in your footsteps. If you disagree with their actions, it is your job to change their actions, they are your family, not ours. You can use your religion to change it. Secular armies aren't your religion's possessions. (While you're at it, they have something to teach you. You have become very sloppy in your age- you only read your scriptures in translation, you act like "God" is the name of your god. Sloppy, Sloppy. Listen to your elders, too, they will tell you that your sacred works, in translation, lose very much, indeed, and that to know them, you must know the orignal languages.)
It's not that you Abrahamicists can help it, really. Your religion requires that you believe that the only god that exists is your own. The belief that everyone who does not believe as you do must be WRONG, as expressed in Abrahamic monotheism, excuses the killings and excesses of monotheist governments. (It's not RIGHT, but it is inevitable in Abrahamicism.)
Let's examine it:
Abrahamic Monotheism teaches that the only god that exists is the Abrahamic god and all other gods are either mistakes of the people following them or the adversary of the Abrahamic god. Therefore, everyone who refuses to follow the Abrahamic god is either a fool (and therefore worthy of being reeducated, killed, or at least not listened to) or an enemy (and worthy of death.)
Your hatred of others, therefore, is based on the core theology of your faith** and if you just admit it you will be fine...You need to stop seeing what you hate most about your faith in others of what is, for all intents and purposes, the same faith as yours, and advocating killing them on that basis**.
Now, let me make this clear. In my opinion, the only people with the right to the Abrahamic god are the Jews. If you see the god of Abrahamic as a genetic, tribal, specific deity, the monotheism becomes a distinct part of the personhood of the monotheistic tribe- all stories of creation, all stories of salvation, all bargains and the rest are right out if you aren't of the original people. The idea of "one god for our people" is different from "one god for all people" so to say monotheism, alone, is to blame is simplifying. It is UNIVERSAL monotheism that is to blame**- the belief that there is ONE GOD for all people, and that one has the power to enforce that view, as opposed to one god for a distinct subset of people.
Now I, personally, do not believe the Abrahamic deity exists. At least not as he is understood by most Abrahamicists, but I don't think his followers are following an evil god or fools. I assume that something has lead them to belief in him and if he wanted me to so believe, he (not any people acting on his behalf) would make it clear. My gods did so, so if he wanted to, he could.... but I digress.
I am not going to be able to convince the Christian majority in a Christian majority country to refer to both their terrorists (Kopp, McVeigh, Ruldolph) and folks like the 9-11 terrorists as "Abrahamic Radical Terrorists" despite the fact that people can't agree if the folks were "true" practitioners of their religions or not, even though they conceed they were believers in the same deity.
So, lets call them what they are:
ANTI-SECULARISTS.
Anyone who opposes the existance of governments that are not religious in nature is an antisecularist. People like Pat Robertson, whose hatred for America shows in spectacularly new ways regularly, are Anti-secularists. They believe that governments not based on their religion should be dismantled (often by whatever means necessary) Antisecularism, in a secular country, is the opposite of PATRIOTISM.
Kopp, McVeigh, Ruldolph, the 9-11 Hijackers, the guys that blew up the Cole, and a number of assorted small time terrorists are ANTI-SECULAR TERRORISTS. They want the United States to cease to exist unless their religious views are made the law.
Secularists believe governments should exist to provide the people with the minimum of what they need to safely exist. In otherwords- governments should assist in the provision of infrastructure and secular education (which is infrastructure of a different sort,) protect the country from external and internal terrorism, see that all people who do not give up rights voluntarily have those rights protected (for example, when you steal, you willingly give up your right to not be imprisoned,) provide for equal treatment under the law (in otherwords, if a man and woman want to marry, or anyone capable of giving consent and anyone (plural or singular) else similarly capable want to marry, they may, and, before the pseudoliberals agree with me, a guy who commits a torture murder on a random gay guy gets the same sentence as a guy who commits a torture murder on his wife or boss,) protect those who are incapable of consenting to things (the severly disabled, children) and provide a SECULAR process for the resolution of disputes. Perhaps you have heard this before when it went like this:
"...to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
Antisecularists will fight against domestic tranquiity unless and until the above is changed to include the enforcement of the following of their god of choice and their religious beliefs of choice, by threat, bribe, intimidations, personal advancement.
Those people are the scary, scary people, the real enemies of the state and the real antipatriots, and we should call them what they are.
Do I think ALL Abrahamicists are Anti-Seculaists? NO WAY!
Do I think all terrorists are Abrahamicists? No way! In all of history, there have been plenty of non-Abrahamic terrorists.
Do I think that all Anti-secularists are terrorists? No, but I think all Anti-Secularists preach a special gospel that makes terrorism okay in their view. That's why when terrorism happens to secular governments they say it's because the government was at fault. If they said it was the beliefs of the terrorist, they'd be indicting their own views, too.
Do I think all Anti-Secularists are anti-American? You betcha! The good thing about old USA, however, is that anti-Americanism is allowed, terrorism is not!
What I do think is that calling Anti-secularism what it is everytime we hear it stops the stupid comfort zone we allow some of them to live in- If we say that there is no difference between an Anti-American Islamic Terrorist and an Anti-American Christian Terrorist (and there is not. Terrorist scum is terrorist scum. PERIOD.) we make it even clearer that one's individual justification for hating secular governments is not the issue, the hatred, and the actions it causes, is.
*which is not always
**amongst other things
TITLE:Religion of Peace?
LINK: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTljZmRjMGU5NGI0NDkzM2FmMzczZjljYzc4YzYzMzY=
Excerpt: ...This conventional wisdom brims over the mainstream media’s daily servings. It is, moreover, the not-to-be-questioned premise of U.S. policy on a host of paramount issues: everything from how the war on terror is conceptualized and prosecuted, to the wisdom of negotiations with Iran, a sovereign state for Palestinians, agitation for freedom and popular self-determination throughout the Middle East, and the assumption that our own growing Muslim population will seamlessly assimilate.
But is it true?
Kat's Comment: Read it while it still exists. This is top on my articles most likely to be censored list right now. It's not particularly enlightening, but it's interesting.
TITLE:Suit: Burning Man festival belongs to all
LINK:http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/11/burning.man.ap/index.html
Excerpt:A co-founder of Burning Man, the annual six-day festival of self-expression that culminates in the torching of a 40-foot effigy on the salt flats of northern Nevada,is suing his ex-partners.
John Law, who helped transform a series of small bonfire parties on a San Francisco beach into a phenomenon that drew more than 39,000 last year, sued Burning Man board members Larry Harvey and Michael Mikel in federal court on Tuesday.
Law's suit seeks to strip them of ownership of the event's name and logo and to place rights to the trademark in the public domain.
Kat's Comment:
The guy's name is John Law. We should always obey John Law, or he will arrest us, or so I have been told.
TITLE:Property available: spiritual section
LINK: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_columnists/article/0,2845,MCA_25341_5271028,00.html
EXCERPT:...At least one pastor, Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, suggests that where we choose to live is a spiritual decision.
"More Christians should live long-term in cities," wrote Keller in Christianity Today magazine. That doesn't mean that Christians can't live in non-urban areas, even though Keller interestingly pointed out that "pagan" was the ancient word for suburbanites.
But, he says, "when cities are Christian, even if the majority of the population is pagan, society is headed on a Christian trajectory....
I am discussing this publically, since I don't wish to have this appear to be a rush to judgement, nor have a rumor started that if you sleep with a CUEW Priestess for 13 years, you are automatically entered into the third circle.
I am inclined (despite her protestations) to promote Phoenix to the third circle, based not upon a one year project, but upon about 5 years, on and off, of smaller projects, ranging from the complete digitization of endangered books, to keeping me sane, to being one of the best spiritual healers I know.
It is difficult to assess her abilities because she is not a writer, her dedication to the Wiccan community is primarily in the design and manufacture and support of public works...that, and acting as a buffer between me and other people....which is, in and of itself, a heck of a job.
So I'm seeking opinions from leaders and others....what, if anyting, should we ask in addition to my word, to promote Phoe?
TITLE: Centering Prayer and Enneagram are Pagan
LINK: http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=7349
SYNOPSIS: Part of an ongoing opinion war between Catholics as to what is considered demonic this week.
TITLE:Trying to predict '07 religious news offers lesson in futility
LINK:http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS06/701060326/1023/NEWS
SYNOPSIS: Opinion piece predicts Wicca will get more attention in 2007.
TITLE:Pondering squirrels and symbols of the divine
LINK:http://thechronicleherald.ca/Religion/551170.html
SYNOPSIS: Discussion of the spiritual in the mundane includes claim the Hexacle/Hexagram (Magen David) is used in Wicca.
TITLE:Hindu devotee to talk about book on forms of the Goddess
LINK:http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/A_LIFE/701060303
SYNOPSIS: Author to speak at Borders includes ordination in Wicca amongst his credentials. No mention of Trad or affiliation.
TITLE:A lump of coal for Kwanzaa
LINK:http://www.smallgovtimes.com/story/07jan02.coal.kwanzaa/
SYNOPSIS: Editorial includes history of the Holiday.
TITLE:Christmas' roots can't be denied
LINK:http://www.star-gazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/OPINION02/701070334/1004
Synopsis: Letters to the Editor Battle about Meaning of Xmas.
News Policies: CUEW does not endorse any political party or policies, and will only list stories that directly dicuss Wicca, the Wiccan experience, Paganism and the Pagan experience and Abrahamic and secular holidays and inter religious conflicts that shed light upon the workings of Wicca or religion in general.
I have started doing this in response to UEWWies who have wished for news items without certain distractions. When the news stories are not particularly illuminating in general, they will go in a weekly digest.
TITLE:Christians Protest Halloween Then Push for Christmas
MEDIA:indybay.org
AUTHOR:Kirsten Anderberg
LINK:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/12/17/18338220.php
EXCERPT:
The double standard of entitlement that most North American Christians exhibit irks me. They yell and scream protesting Halloween celebrations in public schools, while simultaneously brainwashing kids to pledge allegiance to their country, which is supposed watched over by “God,” and they pledge this allegiance to the country and God, basically, every morning in most public schools in the U.S. Christians want full access to Christmas (and Easter) festivities in public schools, claiming Halloween should be banned in books and activities in schools if Christmas festivities are banned. Christians have latched onto Halloween as the scapegoat for their Christianity being allowed into schools, but there are logistical flaws with the arguments Christians are making for Christianity and prayer in public schools. It is more than obvious that the Christian agenda is not about tolerance at all, but rather about hell and brimstone, about smiting and slaying the enemies of Christianity, etc...Christianity is in many ways a zero sum game. There can only be one winner and only one god.
TITLE:Barna lists 12 most significant religious findings from 2006 surveys
MEDIA:Christian Examiner
AUTHOR:Spc. Lee Elder
LINK: http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Jan07/Art_Jan07_02.html
Excerpt:
...Even though George Barna has been conducting national public opinion surveys for a quarter-century, surprises emerge each year from those studies. The California-based researcher traditionally ends each year by identifying some of the unexpected and most significant findings of the passing year. Barna, the founder of the Barna group, has released his list of the 12 most noteworthy results of 2006 and described a few themes that ran through this year’s surveys.
• Although large majorities of the public claim to be “deeply spiritual” and say that their religious faith is “very important” in their life, only 15 percent of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life. As alarming as that finding was, its significance was magnified by research showing that on average pastors believe that 70 percent of the adults in their congregation consider their relationship with God to be their highest priority in life.
• Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity. Among the most common of those endeavors are using a Ouija board, reading books about witchcraft or Wicca, playing games involving sorcery or witchcraft, having a “professional” do a palm reading or having their fortune told. Conversely, during the past year fewer than three out of every 10 churched teenagers had received any teaching from their church about elements of the supernatural.
NOTE: Thanks Llysse!
Title: MIAD exhibit explores "Sacred Texts" in the digital age
Media:ONMilwaukee.com
Author: Julie Lawrence
Link: http://onmilwaukee.com/ent/articles/sacredtexts.html?10544
Excerpt:
Where does the creative act come from? Is it connected to something larger than ourselves, something that transcends our daily lives?
The questions have been posed, and in curating "Sacred Texts/Contemporary Forms: Spiritual Traditions in the Digital Age," Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Liberal Arts professor Leslie Fedorchuk attempts to answer them by examining something that has stirred humankind since the beginning: the search for, and negotiation with, the sacred using texts that are extraordinarily diverse.
The following is the work of Kaatryn MacMorgan, writing as chief elder of CUEW and may be reposted and pasted as one sees fit, although a link to this entry would be most appropriate. The Council of Elders is an advisory body to CUEW leadership.
The following constitutes an example letter that might be written to members of the press by Pagans upon seeing a reoccurring error pop up in an author’s work. It is designed so that you can cut it and paste it into a document and change it as may be needed to make it appropriate for your author. If you use it verbatim, please include a link.
For maximum effect, it should be both emailed and snail mailed, as many reporters ignore their email. Use standard business letter format. If you do not know what that looks like, look here: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/BusLetter_Indented.html
The stuff in [BRACKETS] corresponds to stuff that is appropriate if you are going to forward the letter in its full text
[Cover page in business format that contains your address, legal name or a legal use name (published pen name, for example) and is signed by you personally above a printed name, containing your phone number with area code and any legitimate titles you have that are appropriate to the situation. It should include a statement that you are forwarding the following letter, which should be on a different page.]
An open letter to those who write about Paganism and Wicca:
Thank you so much for your article on Paganism and/or Wicca. It is my firm belief that every article is of benefit to our community, as rumors and fear do not stand up well to the bright light of the press, regardless of the quality or intensity of that light.
Our community is very diverse, and you may've faced some unfortunate and unforeseen consequences of your article being published or republished on a Pagan news service, or forwarded to a pagan e-group. If you are lucky, your article was not picked up by some of our more rabid members, generally newcomers or members of fringe sects. It seems every group of religious practitioners is plagued with the same problem, a group of ill behaved persons on the fringes making life difficult for the rest of us.
Those fringers often respond to articles as all religious extremists do, in the worst possible light, and it is possible that even if your article was the fairest ever written, there was something in it that drove the fringe crazy. This open letter serves as a guide to both to what preventable things insult the fringe, along with genuine errors often found in articles that may get not only the fringe going, but the rest of us. Feel free to save this and access it next time your job takes you into our corner of the universe….
Capitals are used for all religions and religious groups.
Wicca, Paganism, Druidry (or Druidism) and other Pagan faiths all take a capital.
Play nice with the capitalization of God.
If you are going to use the god of Abraham and Pagan gods in the same sentence or article, they get the same level of capitalization. God should only be used at the beginning of a sentence or to indicate that the god’s name is God. If this is going to make your editor crazy, use deity instead. Most Pagans are theists, many are polytheists.
Use appropriate information sources
Some radical antisecularists say Pagans worship Satan. They also say crazy stuff about Judaism and Islam. If you would not trust them for those religions, don't trust them for ours.
The messy use of the words Witch and Warlock.
The titles Witch and Warlock take a capital when referring to a religious practitioner, but not otherwise, and both of these words should only be used when the person describes him or herself with those words, and in that case it is best to ask them whether it is spelled with a capital or lowercase W. Both have definition issues within the community, so if you use the words, which may not be avoidable, be prepared to get some email. Don’t ever refer to someone as a Warlock if they say they are a Witch, or vice versa. In addition, when translating from other languages, use the word Witch (or Wiccan, if appropriate) but not Warlock, which is a term used only by a small minority.
Don’t guess the right title for the group or individual.
Ask your interview subjects what they call themselves. For example, most practitioners of Modern Germanic Paganism prefer the terms Heathen and Heathenry over the Latin-based Pagan and Paganism. It is best to refer to a mixed group of Pagans as Modern Pagans, at least at first, although there is scholarly debate in our own community as to whether Modern Pagans, Neopagans, Neo-Pagans, Pagans or some other word is most appropriate. If dealing with a group of Pagans, Heathens and other people who are not Christian, Jewish or Muslim, it is best to refer to them as members of Non-Abrahamic religions. Even if you approach this carefully, you may still get email saying you’re wrong, but at least you will have tried.
Wicca is the largest, but not the only, Modern Pagan religion.
Wicca, whose practitioners are called Wiccans in general (some may use the term Witch, but not all, and a smaller minority don’t use the term Wiccan) is the largest Pagan religion. Wicca is the name of the religion, not Wiccanism.
Modern Druidry, which may be called Druidism, is the second largest group under the Pagan umbrella. For the most part, the practitioners of Druidism call themselves Druids.
Reconstructionists (including Modern Germanic, Celtic and Classical Pagans) make up the next largest subgroup of Pagans, although some prefer the term Heathens. They are a diverse group and you should ask the practitioners what the most appropriate term for themselves and their religions is for your article.
Paganism and Modern Paganism are umbrella terms referring to a large community of non-Abrahamic practitioners. While there are those who consider themselves “just plain Pagan” they are not indicative of the majority.
Pagans are not “self-described.”
In general, any term you would not use for a member of an Abrahamic Faith you should not use for a Pagan. You can say that “Joe Blow describes himself as “just plain Pagan,” but for the most part, if someone says they are Pagan, Wiccan, or something else, you have to take their word for it. You’d never call someone a self-described Christian in a neutral article, would you?
Paganism may or may not be Earth-based.
The term Earth-based is used by a distinct subset of Pagans and Wiccans and may not be appropriate for all Pagans.
Don’t seek out the wacky guy or take it all as fact.
If you are at a large gathering of Pagans, and most of the people are wearing street clothes and acting normal, most of those people actually are the Pagans, not reporters or bystanders. Talk to them as well as the wacky guy. In addition, do a little fact checking or properly disclaim what the person says, especially if it seems really strange. If Joe the wacky guy says Paganism is about being a vegan nudist, ask some of the other Pagans there if they agree, and search the net. “Joe says that Paganism is about being a Vegan Nudist, a view that is not held by the bulk of Paganism” is preferable to telling Pagans they believe as Joe does.
In Wicca, and some other forms of Paganism, denominations or sects are called Traditions or trads, and may be practiced in groups, or not.
In Wicca, Alexandrian, Gardnerian and Eclectic Wiccans all have different views. They are like Episcopalians, Catholics and Unitarian Universalists. It often helps to state a person’s tradition (denomination) when writing about them. Solitary practitioners (people who don’t practice in a group) are also often atraditional (lacking a tradition) and may refer to themselves as eclectic Wiccans. Properly, Eclectic Wiccans are members in a specific Eclectic sect, but it is generally best to refer to them by tradition name. I, for example, am a Universal Eclectic Wiccan, or a UEWiccan, or a UEWwie.
There is a title legitimacy problem in Wicca and other forms of Paganism.
There are groups that hand out Wiccan degrees (levels of participation in a tradition and/or group) to anyone with an internet connection and money. Just as you would not generally use a non-denominational fringe Christian church source on what Christians believe, you should seek out multiple and established Wiccan groups and scholars to get “what they believe” statements. Just as (for example,) Catholic church goers do not know as much as Jesuit Priests, people who are “Wiccan Priests” from anything but skills-based classes don’t know as much as scholars of Wicca. Just as you would say “Catholic Priest” you should state the tradition or sect of a Pagan leader.
There is a knowledge gap in Paganism as huge as in any other religious group.
There are fundamentalist Pagans who don’t really understand their religion’s theology, just as there are fundamentalist Abrahamicists.
We are members of legitimate religions with the same rights and responsibilities as others.
Use a simple litmus test in your writing. If it would not be fair for a given thing to happen to members of your own faith, it’s not fair for the rest of us on the same grounds.
You may not think the religions are equal, but they are equal under the law.
Kaatryn MacMorgan
Elder, CUEW (cuew.org)
See contined disclaimers about my opinions and the opinions of leadership-not that most of the leadership doesn't agree with me most of the time..
The P in pagan wasn't capitalized, the ecumencial conference didn't include Wicca, the interfaith prayer didn't include my goddess of choice, all religions day didn't include a druid, the guy called himself a warlock....
What do these call have in common?
These are all parts of stories that happened in 2006 and made the general pagan community TERRIBLY upset, but if you actual read the stories when they came out, the Pagan community benefited from them.
For years now, the gadflies of the Pagan community have used language to show where our members are lacking in their theology. If, for example, a pagan person says that "all acts performed with love are holy," we (as responsible Pagans) might ask about the speaker's views on situations where one person is acting with love and the rest are not, or things like the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by Hinckley, [Although I generally prefer to avoid wikipedia, you can find info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_assassination_attempt ] where Hinckley did it because he loved Jodi Foster (if you ever want to make a fundie angry, say "For Hinckley so loved Jodi Foster that he tried to kill Ronald Reagan," as an example of what is wrong with killing your kid to show you love the world, but I digress.)
It seems, however, that those less schooled in matters rhetorical think that using language to point out the flaws in self-proclaimed EXPERTS and often self-proclaimed LEADERS is the same thing as pointing out language in newcomers, in the non-expert press (there is a difference between an article written by a local reporter based on one thing and an in-depth investigative report, and that difference is not hidden in the article-any fool or his betters can see it!) and in the clergy of other religions.
Ask yourself, who does this harm, really?
Ask yourself, is the thing I'm sweating about not really that big?
Ask yourself, is the view of our community as extremely litigenous, having the ACLU on speed dial and their family lawyer on their IM list helpful.
[oh, crap. I have had the ACLU on speed dial, and a lawyer I consider family on the IM list! I suppose pointing out that a college friend was WORKING for the ACLU at the time and that said lawyer is one of the people I care the most for is pointless, huh?]
Ask yourself, what am I really getting excited about? Am I like those small minded radical antisecularists who weep and gnash their teeth at every park and playground without a proper monument to their god or riot because their saviour of the day is portrayed in a way they don't like?
Wicca doesn't need rabid antisecularists. Just because the big kids on the playground have them in their gang doesn't mean we need them!
At the behest of offline students, and long, soulful glances from the rest of you, I'm writing a primer on Ceremonial Magick for Wiccans....
It is a book born of pain, really. Expect it in about a year.
One of the duties of an elder is to point out when the leadership is slacking. I think they are slacking on their blog entries.
This entry is the personal opinion of Kaatryn MacMorgan, and may or may not be shared by the individuals in the CUEW leadership triad, other members of CUEW, members of the Coven at MacMorgan Covenstead (called MacMorgan Covenstead for short,) other MacMorgans, other animals, vegetables or minerals. Readers are encouraged to please, please, please, not take anything as infallible, as I have no desire to be anyone's guru. In addition, readers are encouraged to look things up for themselves.
Wicca, especially traditional Wicca, contains an inherantly flawed system of magic(k) which is a result of the great Wiccan elders having training in Ceremonial Magick and having a CM worldview and expecting that their students would be so trained, even as Ceremonial Magical training became less and less common.
I won't lie, this blog entry was prompted by a wonderful student forwarding me the essay of an alleged Wiccan who was "highly trained in ceremonial magick"
which contained a number of profound errors which could be traced to Marion Green's Natural Magic (indeed, Natural Magic is not the problem, but students who think it, and Ceremonial Magick, are equivalent, and they are not.)
This is not a criticism of Green, as that is best done by those who are more familiar with her work, this criticism is of Wiccans, of any kind, who purport to be experts in Ceremonial Magick and "pump up" their Wicca by borrowing the works of John Dee, Jacob Boehme, Thomas Vaughn (whom I personally have a deep love and respect for,) Paracelsus and other Christian mystics while claiming Wicca is separate from Christianity, or while outright criticizing Christianity as a valueless entity.
This criticism is directed at those Wiccans who complain that Wiccans do not understand how the world works, and try to show their deep knowledge of the way the world works by borrowing heavy handedly from Christian Theology (however obscure) and declaring the rest of us are stupid for not knowing the way the world works!
I am not an Abrahamic mystic, and I don't believe that the god of Abraham sits above me taking judgement. As such, I also don't believe said god has placed towers at the four celestial points from which angels sit and keep watch for him, and which contain the Four horsemen, ready to be released when the world has become wicked enough, nor do they contain the "kings" of the elementals, named after the helpers of the Angels in Abrahamic mythology.
I am also a scientist, and I have looked through a microscope at the earth, and not found gnomes that the god of Abraham put there to see that everything was distributed perfectly.... Looked at water and air, too.
I have found that, just because it is shaped like a kidney, doesn't mean a kidney bean affects the kidney, and a god that would send that kind of signals would be pretty lame.
There is no place in my life for the god of Abraham, my gods keep me full enough, and I don't need to plunge the depths of Abrahamic mythology to make the metaphysical world make sense to me....
If you, too, are not an Abrahamic Mystic, you, too, don't need to fill your life with the works of the Abrahamicists to make it make sense.
The classically trained Wiccans (our traditionalists) omitted most of the Ceremonial Magick because they were trying to reconstruct what they thought was an ancient non-Christian religion, save for those who were trying to construct a new religion based on non-Christian views of the world, and it does a disservice to those elders to assume they omitted the CM because they did not understand it, and you, armed with some book, do understand it.
Most of them were trained in it far better than you and omitted it. Figure out why!