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.
- I don’t know if you’ve heard, but apparently Osama bin Laden was killed. PNC-Minnesota has reactions from the local Pagan community. Zaratha “will not apologize for rejoicing in Osama bin Laden’s death, “ Lori Dake thanks the troops, Star Foster is conflicted, and Erynn Rowan Laurie wonders if that means the troops get to come home now.
- The town of Bel Air in Maryland has overturned its total ban on fortune telling. They have also removed the word “occult” from existing laws on fortune telling, no doubt to protect themselves from religiously-motivated lawsuits. Bans on fortune telling in Maryland have been dropping at a regular pace since the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that fortunetelling and other psychic services are protected speech and cannot be outlawed by local ordinances.
- Yesterday was Pagan Coming Out Day, check out some reflections on the event from P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, Sia at Full Circle, Kayleigh, Star Foster, Serenity Athenina, Diana, and GG from the Pagan Princesses. Coverage of local events no doubt coming soon from our PNC bureaus.
- A woman in Texas is filing a religious discrimination lawsuit after being fired for allegedly threatening to curse her coworkers. Victoria Vaughan says the alleged spiritual threat is a “mischaracterization of events,” and that her supervisor at Texas Health and Human Services Commission overreacted to Vaughan explaining her “deeply held religious beliefs.” I can’t find a copy of the complaint that isn’t behind a paywall, if any of my readers who practice law or have access to such things can help out it would be most appreciated.
- The American Spectator dings the “Evangelical Left” via a book review of Peter Leithhart’s “Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom”. Being something of an apologist for Constantine, Leithhart notes how the Emperor “ameliorated some of Rome’s pagan savagery.” Blame for later anti-pagan excesses are squarely on his descendants, while Constantine is praised for trying to build a harmonious society.
- Both Jeff Lilly and Cat Chapin-Bishop endorse the term “Pagan” in response to Scott Reimers’ piece at Patheos suggesting that our movement find a new collective label. For more on this topic, you may also want to check out T. Thorn Coyle‘s two-part essay discussing some questions and one possible answer to the issue of calling ourselves Pagan.
- Investigation Discovery will be airing a special on the West Memphis 3 case this Thursday. New attention has been focused on this case since the WM3 (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley Jr.) won the right to new evidentiary hearings scheduled to begin on December 5th. In addition to new DNA evidence the defense wants to look at jury misconduct in the case.
- I09 examines the television commercial for Time-Life’s Mysteries of the Unknown book series and is convinced it is secretly some sort of subtextual New Age porno. Is this true? Read the book!
- Over at Killing the Buddha Beatrice Marovich (with illustrations by Krista Dragomer) meditates on how we use the skins of animals and how she created a secular “animal altar” to pay respects to some mink skins that were given to her.
- Lupa has a thought-provoking two-piece essay on being a (white) American Shaman. Part 1, Part 2. Do check it out, and add your thoughts and comments.
- Congrats to No Unsacred Place for being named The Druid Network’s featured site for May!
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.