There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.
- PNC-Washington DC reports that the short film “The Pagan Path – A Short Documentary” was awarded the ”Proclamation of Belief” prize at the The 2011 InterFath Film Festival (sponsored by the North American Interfaith Network). Congratulations to Iris Firemoon and David Salisbury on this success! You can see all the entries, here.
- If you buy or sell animal parts for the purposes of creating artwork or ritual items it’s important that you know what the law is in your state. Author and artist Lupa has compiled a guide to relevant laws and regulations in the United States. This looks like an excellent resource, though do be aware that Lupa is not a lawyer and that site does not constitute legal advice. When in doubt, contact your state fish and wildlife department.
- The Winnemem Wintu Tribe in Northern California is coordinating a petition drive to close a small section of the McCloud River so they can hold their coming-of-age ceremony in peace. In previous years a “voluntary closure” was ignored by local power-boaters who shouted racist and threatening epithets at the Tribe. You can read more about this issue at a special blog devoted to the topic.
- The Temple of Witchcraft’s (co-founded by Christopher Penczak) Imbolc 2011 edition of their newsletter The Temple Bell features a profile of Brigid’s flamekeepers. Erynn Rowan Laurie is one of several people quoted for the piece.
- Christianity Today looks at the “parareligion” of celebrity culture and profiles the new book “Gods Behaving Badly: Media, Religion, and Celebrity Culture” by Pete Ward. While CT and Ward sees this phenomenon as a sort of collective longing for a connection to something larger than themselves, I wonder if there’s also an element that polytheism suppressed will always find ways to manifest.
- A parole board denied a murderer’s request for “unescorted temporary absences” for the very appropriate reason of denying that the killing of his grandmother was financially motivated. However, I was somewhat troubled to read that he was also denied unsupervised day-passes because James Blum wouldn’t admit that his “interest in weaponry and the occult contributed to your violent actions.” That seems like a rather slippery slope. Lack of clarity and remorse is one thing, but not agreeing that an interest in the occult caused him to be violent?
- People For the American Way have issued a lengthy critique of Christian pseudo-historian David Barton. Sadly, the section on religious minorities doesn’t mention his animus towards modern Pagans.
- Suhag Shukla, co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, writes about the power of Hindu women, referencing a recent incident where a group of women stormed the male-only inner sanctum of the Shri Mahalakshmi Temple of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India and performed puja (offering).
- Christianity Today re-posts their 2009 article debunking claims that Easter is borrows from ancient paganisms. My favorite bit is when defend the “contextualization” of the early church in pagan cultures, noting it does not entail a “doctrinal compromise.”
- Christian blogger Matt Stone gives tips on talking to Pagans. Perhaps you’d like to add your own?
That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.