Clipmarks | Pagan Clips

Barna breaks down the 'faith' vote

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:33:13 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

A survey by The Barna Group provides details of how people of faith voted in last week's presidential election.

According to the survey, 88 percent of Evangelicals voted for Senator John McCain, compared to just 11 percent for Senator Barack Obama. However, in general, the survey found that "born-again" Christians chose their candidate based on different criteria than did Evangelicals. Fifty-seven percent of born-again Christians voted for McCain, while 42 percent voted for Obama.

Also, among voters who had a favorable view of Wicca, Senator Obama beat McCain by a 64 percent to 35 percent margin.

Tags: faith, vote, election, christian, wicca, pagan

Pagans and Homosexuality

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:27:46 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: paganwiccan.about.com

Pagans rarely have an official stance on much of anything (other than "be sure to bring food") simply because there are so many different branches of Paganism. However, one reason you find so many openly gay, bisexual and transgendered people within the Pagan and Wiccan community is because, frankly, we don't really care what people do in the bedroom. In fact, there are a few deities out there who were pretty sexually adventurous in their escapades, so who are we mortals to say, "You can't sleep with this person, and you're only allowed to love THAT person over there"? Generally, as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, we figure it's your business, and no one else's.

You'll also find that Pagans and Wiccans tend to be, as a group, extremely supportive of equality and fairness under the law as set down by the Constitution.

The Origin of Christmas Rituals: What You Won't Learn In Sunday School

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:45:16 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: I don't understand why a lot of Christians don't want to acknowledge the Pagan roots of Christmas. Unless doing so would bring them uncomfortably close to questioning other aspects of Christianity.

See source for interesting information about Santa's Pagan heritage.

Clip Source: www.circlesanctuary.org

Celebrating Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice has been celebrated in cultures the world over for thousands of years. This start of the solar year is a celebration of Light and the rebirth of the Sun. In old Europe, it was known as Yule, from the Norse, Jul, meaning wheel.

Today, many people in Western-based cultures refer to this holiday as "Christmas." Yet a look into its origins of Christmas reveals its Pagan roots. Emperor Aurelian established December 25 as the birthday of the "Invincible Sun" in the third century as part of the Roman Winter Solstice celebrations. Shortly thereafter, in 273, the Christian church selected this day to represent the birthday of Jesus, and by 336, this Roman solar feast day was Christianized. January 6, celebrated as Epiphany in Christendom and linked with the visit of the Magi, was originally an Egyptian date for the Winter Solstice.

Most of the customs, lore, symbols, and rituals associated with "Christmas" actually are linked to Winter Solstice celebrations of ancient Pagan cultures. While Christian mythology is interwoven with contemporary observances of this holiday time, its Pagan nature is still strong and apparent. Pagans today can readily re-Paganize Christmastime and the secular New Year by giving a Pagan spiritual focus to existing holiday customs and by creating new traditions that draw on ancient ways. Here are some ways to do this:

Convey love to family, friends, and associates. At the heart of Saturnalia was the custom of family and friends feasting together and exchanging presents. Continue this custom by visiting, entertaining, giving gifts, and sending greetings by mail and/or phone. Consider those who are and/or have been important in your life and share appreciation.

Party hearty on New Year's Eve not just to welcome in the new calendar year, but also to welcome the new solar year.

Tags: holidays, christmas, winter solstice, pagan, christian, religion, sun, solstice

A Date With The Departed

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:32:42 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are time set aside to broker peace between the living and the dead. Whether you are pagan or religious, Celt or Christian, New Age believer or doubter-at-large, these are the days when you traditionally acknowledge that the gone are not forgotten. The seasonal metaphors of reaping and rotting, harvest and darkness, leaf-fall and killing frost supply us with plentiful memento mori. Whatever is or isn’t there when we die, death both frightens and excites us.

We humans are bound to and identified with the earth, the dirt, the humus out of which our histories and architectures rise — our monuments and memorials, cairns and catacombs, our shelters and cityscapes. This “ground sense,” to borrow William Carlos Williams’s idiom, is at the core of our humanity. And each stone on which we carve our names and dates is an effort to make a human statement about death, memory and belief. Our kind was here. They lived; they died; they made their difference.

October 31: Halloween -

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:05:29 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: It's the eve of All Saints Day / All Hallow's Day.

Clip Source: www.infoplease.com

Halloween,

Fri., Oct. 31. Eve of All Saints' Day, formerly called All Hallows and Hallowmass. Halloween is traditionally associated in some countries with customs such as bonfires, masquerading, and the telling of ghost stories. These are old Celtic practices marking the beginning of winter.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

History of name

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day",^[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,^[3] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1.

Tags: diversity, halloween, calendar, calendarwallah

Number of pagan prisoners has doubled over four years

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:58:25 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: No naked inmates! Inconceivable!

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Paganism is on the rise in jails in England and Wales with the number of practising prisoners more than doubling in the past four years.

Paganism was recognised by the Prison Service as a religion more than eight years ago but since 2003 the numbers have risen steadily from 133 to 328 in 2007, according to figures published yesterday.

In Albany jail on the Isle of Wight, the number of pagan prisoners increased from 12 to 34 in eight months, making paganism the fifth most-practised religion in the Category B jail.

As today is Hallowe’en, pagan prisoners can opt not to work or attend education – inmates are allowed to select two dates from a list of annual festivals when they are excused from work – as the day is one of the religion’s key festivals.

Pagan prisoners are also allowed to have tarot cards but staff have barred them from using them to tell the fortunes of other prisoners. Nor is skyclad – naked pagan worship - allowed under the Prison Service rules.

Tags: pagan, prison, england

Event to feature witch stirs cauldron of trouble

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:14:43 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.firstamendmentcenter.org

A group's idea to invite a witch to explain his craft at Sprague's library on Halloween has prompted toil and trouble in this small eastern Connecticut town.

Library trustees are questioning an invitation from the Friends of Sprague Public Library to Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman for a Halloween appearance. Freeman, who hosts a public access television show, “The Witching Hour,” says he planned to appear at the Sprague Public Library to explain witchcraft and perform a ritual honoring the dead. The admission price would benefit the Friends of Sprague Public Library.

Osten said the prospective appearance raised further doubts because Freeman failed to follow the reservation process.

However, Freeman said he had had the room reserved for four months, and that board members were discriminating against his pagan religious beliefs, according to The Day. He said the library had allowed events such as Christmas parties and christenings.

Tags: witch, witchcraft, halloween, library, public, ritual, pagan

San Antonio Pagans

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:46:28 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: The web site I maintain for our local community.

Clip Source: www.sanantoniopagans.us

You've arrived at the central web portal for the pagan society of San Antonio TX.

Whether you're new to our fair city, or a resident who's just beginning to uncover the network here, this site is intended as one-stop shopping for pagan folks to find local communities that satisfy their spiritual and social needs. Plus, we're darn fun to hang out with, I tell you what!

Here are some upcoming public events (link will take you to more information). Please check the Meetups, Pagan Night Out etc for even more!

Tags: san antonio, pagan, wicca, texas, community, society

Goddess statue under wraps at Biden rally

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:34:27 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.rockymountainnews.com

Despite the massive American flag that hid most of her, it was difficult to miss the really big-boned gal in the little black dress standing next to the stage at Joe Biden's rally.

Especially with that bow and arrow she was holding.

Normally, Diana the Huntress — the statue of her, that is — poses au naturel in front of the Union Depot building in downtown Pueblo. But on Wednesday, that changed. At least for a few hours.

"I don't think they wanted bare breasts showing," said Mike Randall, the person in charge of putting a makeshift shift on Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon.

"They said cover her up, so I put her in a toga," said Randall, who used a large swath of black cloth to cover Diana's unmentionables and a bunch of black string to keep his creation from blowing away.

The enormous flag was added after the toga alone was deemed inadequate to keep Diana out of the picture.

Tags: goddess, pagan, biden, art

Those Hallowe'en Horrors are REAL!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:19:55 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: This is a fascinating article. If you want to know why vampires are sexy, read it!

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Vampires, ghosts and witches are all utterly real – at least to those who witness these horrifying apparitions

they are not fantasies - the latest research shows that the terrifying creatures that populate the annual celebrations are utterly real to those who see them.

They are the bizarre products of flawed and faulty neurological processes, holding up a distorted mirror that allows us to glimpse the stranger recesses of the human mind.

In pagan times, the last evening of October was "old-year's night",

souls of the dead revisited their former homes, while ghosts, witches, hobgoblins and demons roamed far and wide. Today, science can shed new light on the darkest horrors of Hallowe'en.

brain is starved of sufficient information

compensates with abnormally increased activity and conjures up hallucinations from the random firing of nerve cells.

our primate ancestors used to show their fangs to demonstrate their status and say: "I am an alpha male and I want sex!"

Tags: vampires, hallucinations, ghouls, sex, neuroscience, hallowe'en

Which Witch?

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:19:12 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Ironically, the picture they've chosen to use is not one of pagan women, but a group of English church women. They're all Christian.

Clip Source: www.inthisweek.com

The Black Hat Society is a group of Utah Wiccans determined not to take themselves too seriously. These year-round witches take a whimsical approach to their religion, wearing tall, pointy black hats to celebrate who they are.

The group’s yahoo page states: “Worn on the head, Witch hats are symbolic of wisdom and intelligence. The pointed form of the witch’s hat represents the cone of power. The cone of power is associated with the circle, the symbol of the sun, unity, eternity, rebirth and the triangle.”

On Oct. 18, the group will host its third annual Witches High Tea. According to their press release, “over 50 men and women will be wearing their finest robes, gowns, capes, jewels, staffs, wands, pentacles and, of course, tall, pointy hats. Warts, toads and pointed noses are optional.”

Tags: utah, witch, wicca, pagan

Halloween

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:46:38 GMT

clipped by: brightlight4
clipper's remarks: This holiday was a pagan holiday.

Clip Source: www.socyberty.com

Like many modern holidays only some truths of the past traditions are apparent today. What was Halloween to the people of the past? Is it an evil, pagan holiday? Is it just a time for kids to get free candy, an excuse for adults to wear silly costumes, and to scare others? What was this holiday supposed to mean?

Two things are for certain, it was a Pagan holiday, celebrated by the Celtic people, and it was not evil. The time was called "Samhain" (say sow-win) and was a two, or three day festival. It was to mark the end of summer, the beginning of winter. A time when people of an ordinarily ordered society, were allowed to be silly and do odd things. A time of harmless pranks, much like our "April fools day". People dressed up, generally in reversed roles, men as women, and visa-versa. People, not just children, went about collecting food hand outs from the farmers for a feast. Turnips were hollowed out to u

Mithras = Christianity

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:06:05 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.iranian.ws

This religion, cloaked in mystery and secrecy, has captivated the imaginations of scholars for generations. Many facts discovered sheds vital light on the cultural dynamics that led to the rise of Christianity.

Mithras was a Persian deity. He was also the most widely venerated god in the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia as well as the early Church Fathers found this religion of Mithras very disturbing, as there are so many similarities between the two religions, as follows:

As you can now see, Christianity derived many of its essential elements from the ancient religion of Mithraism. Mithraism became intertwined with the cult of Jesus to form what is known today as "Christianity."

Of the following (semi) deities legends went around that they were born of a virgin:

So basically, all the pagan religions were alike, including Christianity. It just happens that one of them got the ascendancy, and became the most powerful, and did its best to wipe out all the others.

Tags: christianity, religion, old religion, persia, jesus, mithras, pagan

Bell-ringing tradition causes ding-dong

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:52:23 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: new.edp24.co.uk

Plans to revive a medieval bell-ringing tradition at Halloween have caused a ding-dong about paganism in a Suffolk town.

Organisers of the town's Pumpkin Night asked permission for the bells of St Mary's church in Bungay to ring out as part of their Halloween celebration on October 31.

But Churches Together in Bungay, a group which represents the Church of England, Roman Catholic and United Reformed Churches in the town, has voiced its opposition to the plans on religious grounds.

He added: “I hear it was a tradition to ring the bells to dispel evil spirits. So much of Christianity comes from early pagan ceremonies. The Church of England says it wants to try to dispel the American-style attitude to Halloween, and by ringing the bells on what is also a saints' festival we thought that really supported the idea.”

The idea came about when organisers discovered from archives that the bells had been rung each year in Bungay at Halloween until the Reformation in the1500s.

Tags: halloween, religion, pagan, tradition, church, christianity

British Paganism Alive and Well

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:49:02 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.realtruth.org

Clad in floor-length white robes, members of The Druid Order of London marched up Primrose Hill in London’s west side to participate in the pagan celebration of the Autumn Equinox on September 22. It is the only time during the year in which there are equal amounts of daylight and dark.

Laughing and smiling, members of the Order and even a mother toting a child, ascended the hill, forming a circle at the top while conducting pagan rituals and singing. The celebration drew dozens of people who were fascinated by England’s pagan past. The ceremony was followed by a picnic in a nearby park.

Originally founded in Oxford in 1245, the group dates its first official ceremony to 1717, when the Order was established at one of the highest points in the city, Primrose Hill.

According to the website for the British Council of British Druid Orders, the group considers itself “part of the process of the rekindling, in the 21st century, of an ancient national nature religion.”

Tags: britain, pagan, druid, ritual