Clipmarks | boniface's 'wicca' clips

Pagan Weddings on the Rise

Sun, 04 May 2008 14:00:36 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Pagan weddings attract more than a cult following

A 2001 survey by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that the number of followers of Wicca, one of the many religions that fall beneath the pagan umbrella, increased from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, making it the fastest-growing religion in America in terms of percentage increase.

Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall University, says the number of followers of pagan religions is even higher now, citing a 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey that put the estimate at 1.2 million.

My suspicion is that the first number was way too low due to people not responding," Laubach said. "The 1990 study was conducted at the height of the 'satanic panic,' which kept many neopagans in the closet."

While some subsets don't believe in gods, others, like Wiccans, worship many gods and goddesses. Women, in fact, are revered as the bearers of life in Wicca.

No Fear.

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:56:09 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.news-gazette.com

Don't be scared of Wiccans, Christians are told

ROSSVILLE – Christians and Wiccans gathered in the former Rossville-Alvin High School gymnasium Wednesday night to hear a Lincoln Christian College professor talk about the Wicca religion.

"Our battle is not with people," said Robert Kurka, professor of theology and church in culture at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln. "We are talking about competing belief systems, not competing people."

Debbe Tompkins, also of Rossville and a Wiccan, said overall the presentation was pretty good, although she disagreed with some of Kurka's interpretations.

Tags: don't, be, scared, of, wiccans, christians, are, told

Religious Youth

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:48:47 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.smh.com.au

Teenagers place faith in witchcraft

MORE and more teenagers are signing up as trainee witches.

Witchcraft was once treated lightly in sitcoms such as Sabrina, The Teenage Witch and Bewitched, or demonised in horror films, but it is becoming increasingly mainstream.

In the last census more than 9000 Australians listed their religion as Wicca, the witchcraft branch of paganism.

Tags: teenagers, place, faith, witchcraft

Wiccan Lottery Winner!

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:46:30 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: ap.google.com

Wicca Teacher Claims 1 Mega Ticket

NOTTINGHAM, Md. (AP) — Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett says a New Age book store made it possible for him to become an overnight multimillionaire.

He and his wife, Denise, were on their way to the shop where he occasionally teaches Wicca and Reiki (RAY'kee) healing when they stopped at a liquor store and bought two $5 Mega Millions tickets for Friday night's estimated $330 million jackpot. On Sunday, he said one ticket was a winner.

"If it wasn't for this place I wouldn't have won the lottery," Bartlett said Sunday at Mystickal Voyage, the New Age shop.

Tags: wicca, wiccan, lottery, mega, winner

No Bar-B-Q for You!

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:28:02 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.ktvu.com

Police Arrest 'Witch' On Noise Suspicion

Neighbors Say Late-Night Ritual Woke Them

WAUKESHA, Wis. -- A Waukesha woman who claims she's a witch was arrested on suspicion of disturbing her neighbors, police said.

Neighbors along a typically quiet Waukesha street said they woke up just after midnight Tuesday to quite a commotion, reported WISN-TV in Milwaukee.

"All of a sudden I'm seeing flashing lights, firecrackers and all sorts of stuff," said neighbor Vicki Denova.

Investigators said Brenna Barney is a Wicca and was practicing a religious ritual because of a new moon.

Police said it involved a bon fire in a pit and witch chants.

Tags: witch, wicca, fire, chants, arrest

Witchcraft not wicked

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:51:06 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

"The overall finding was that teenage witches are engaging in witchcraft for positive life affirming reasons. (It) helps them make sense of the issues they are experiencing," Professor Ezzy said.

"They are not fighting demons, as is sometimes displayed in popular media. Really there is nothing to be afraid of. The amount of witches is now roughly the same size as Mormons."

Clip Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Two researchers have interviewed 90 teenage witches in Australia, England and the US to find out whether they have a broom in the cupboard, a cloak upstairs or any spells on the boil.

They found that teenage witches, including both girls and boys, use witchcraft positively to help deal with issues that young people face every day while growing up.

Professor Ezzy said witchcraft was a form of paganism, which worships nature and celebrated the harvest festivals.

He said that there was a huge increase in witchcraft in the late 1990s when Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed hit television screens. Professor Ezzy said the shows tapped into a need expressed by teenagers to find something more spiritual in life.

He said that he and his co-author Helen Berger found that witchcraft was not seductive but instead empowering and offered personal development for teenagers.

Tags: witchcraft, wicca, paganism, religion, faith

Because Tithing is Beneath Pagans!

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:21:50 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: It will not happen anytime soon because:

1. Government should stay out of the religion business and so shouldn't contribute.
2. Christians, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, etc. already give to THEIR OWN organizations.
3. And finally, Paganism abhors the concept of "tithing," in other words, Pagans are cheap!

I'm a Wiccan Pagan and have tried to start a couple of Pagan organizations and these people just don't want to give! At least, not enough to make a difference. So that's why no Pagan seminary.

Clip Source: www.progressiveu.org

It is time for a pagan seminary

I do not see the reason why this concept should fall by the wayside and why private groups or government groups cannot offer aid to such students. I am not alone, nor am I truly one of a few. I have heard voices speaking up all across the country and even in other countries, wishing to have a program or programs such as these. The silence is here to be broken, and the ringing of one voice shall be joined by others. I say to any and all who read this, who support and think why not, to stand behind this cause. If a Catholic, a Hasidic Jew, a Sunni, A Buddhist or a Sikh can have such open and funded for them, why not have such a program for us pagans. We are not few, we are not small and with this we can truly show you our voice. Not in some tyrannical oppressive speach or inviolent actions against others...but in a peaceful way, a proper way and a way that speaks to all our brethren and sisters.

Tags: tithing, seminary, pagan, wicca, wiccan, heathen, school

While We're at it, Let's Put Down Minority Religions!

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:31:37 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: Amazing. In just one run-on sentence this journalist puts down a whole religious group. I wonder if he wouldn't mind Christianity being classified as, "A bunch feeble-minded, accept anything on faith alone, middle age, polyester clad, big haired, no life sheep."

Hey buddy, stick to your topic which is Harry Potter and stop putting down religious groups.

Clip Source: www.dothaneagle.com

Concerning the religious controversy, I wouldn’t be too worried about it if I were the head of a major religion. There’s plenty of much more malign forces corrupting our kids other than the temptation for socially inept, obese teenagers to dye their hair a funny color and sit around a circle chanting a bunch of mumbo jumbo about some goddess.

Tags: harry potter, wicca, paganism

What does this say about the volunteers?

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 04:47:27 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: In every case, the volunteers saw the books given as an indication of the likes of the donors, except in the case of the Wicca books. Here they must have become "disillusioned" or just doing "research." People! Is it possible they liked and/or practiced Wicca? Have you ever considered THIS as a possibility!

Clip Source: www.newtownbee.com

Volunteers Read Between The Lines Of The Donated Books

What people donate to a book sale and what people buy at a book sale can speak volumes about them, say volunteers from the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Annual Book Sale.

There are some obvious interpretations, of course. A donation of a large number of cookbooks might suggest that the donor loved to cook. A collection of role-playing books suggests a love for games and pretense. A horse-lover might give boxes of books about horse breeds, horse care, and novels that feature the horse. There are subtleties within the donations, though, that give the sorters pause.

"We got in a couple of boxes with tons of books on witchcraft and the Wicca movement," said Ms Marshall. "We wondered if the person had become disillusioned with the whole Wicca thing, or had they just been doing research? The books were tossed in with a bunch of Dr Seuss books, and I thought, 'I'd like to meet that person!'" she said.

Tags: wicca, witchcraft, books, volunteers

Wiccan veterans to participate...

Sat, 26 May 2007 18:54:43 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.winonadailynews.com

Widows of Wiccan veterans to participate in dedication ceremony

MADISON, Wis. — The first-ever Memorial Day dedication of grave markers with the Wiccan pentacle on them was planned at a pagan cemetery after more than a decade of fighting the federal government for approval of the symbol.

Wiccans sued the government last year, arguing that it was unduly stalling a decision on whether to add the pentacle to the list of acceptable symbols for graves. Under the settlement announced in April, the VA agreed to add the pentacle to the list of 38 others, which includes symbols for Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam.

Winning the fight over the grave markers is vindication for all Wiccans, said DePolito, who plans on saying a Hebrew mourner’s prayer for her husband and placing a crystal that he owned at the grave site.

Tags: wicca, wiccan, pentacle, veteran, marker

What a Whiner!!!

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 07:19:07 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: A man lays down his life for his country and this man wants to deny him his choice of religion and keep him from using his own religious symbol on his own grave! I can't believe this. Then he whines about not being able to put artificial flowers on a grave. I guess honoring veterans is fine so long as he is able to put cheap flowers instead of the real thing.

Clip Source: www.chattanoogan.com

National Cemetery And Symbols

I am proud to have served my country for 20 years as a United States Marine. It greatly disturbs me to know that when I am laid to rest in the National Cemetery, my family will have the option of having a pentacle (five pointed star emblem of Wicca - Witchcraft) placed on my headstone but they will not have the option of placing silk flowers on my grave for six months out of every year because the National Cemetery is viewed as a “shrine" and the artificial flowers are said to detract from that image.

What is the next step? Will witches be allowed to conduct their rituals on the grounds of our national cemeteries? Why is it that we have to become politically correct in every facet of our life and now every facet of our death? The local newspaper stated that Wicca is a "nature based religion" (occult) and the points on the star represent earth, air, water, fire. Where is God? As in "God, corps, country, family" (Marine Corps philosophy).

Tags: marine, whiner, grave, veteran, wicca, symbol, pentacle

Pentacle Allowed

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:49:13 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.startribune.com

Wiccans will be allowed to place pentacles on graves, VA says

"This settlement has forced the Bush Administration into acknowledging that there are no second class religions in America, including among our nation's veterans,'' said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of the Wiccans. "It is a proud day for religious freedom in the United States.''

The VA sought the settlement in the interest of the families involved and to save taxpayers the expense of further litigation, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. Under the settlement, the VA agreed to pay $225,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.

Tags: pentacle, pentagram, wicca, wiccans, wicccan

FINALLY!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:27:53 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: Finally, the VA has approved the pentagram for grave stones.

Clip Source: www.cem.va.gov

Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers

WICCA (Pentacle)

Tags: pentagram, pentacle, grave, marker, symbol, approved

Lighten Up People

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:59:56 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.mcall.com

A boy's costume does not impose dogma by force

There is nothing so evil, so clearly un-American, as the imposition of a particular religious dogma by force.

Traitors always seek to undermine that principle.

It said a 10-year-old boy at a public school in Montgomery County was not allowed to wear a costume of his choice for the school's Halloween festivities — because the costume violated a policy banning the promotion of religion.

At the same Halloween shindig, however, the Willow Hill Elementary School in Glenside allowed other children to dress up in costumes representing other religions. There were witches (the Wicca religion) and devils (Demonolatry), according to a lawsuit filed, on behalf of the boy in the Jesus costume, by the Alliance Defense Fund.

A 10-year-old boy is not likely to pressure others to accept his religious dogma just because he wears a Jesus costume on Halloween. There is a difference between a boy and a Northampton County judge banging his gavel at people.

Tags: religion, government, school, halloween

Religious Discrimination in US govt.

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:11:47 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

For Gods and Country

The Army Chaplain Who Wanted to Switch to Wicca? Transfer Denied.

On July 6, he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, setting off an extraordinary chain of events. By year's end, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record.

Tags: usa, government, govt, wicca, chaplain, military