Clipmarks | Pagan Clips

Christmas Greenery

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:02:40 GMT

clipped by: a-angelus

Christmas Greenery

The use of greenery at Christmas time is a beautiful old custom. Holly and mistletoe are two evergreens that are inseparably connected with Christmas, in fact, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without them!

Holly and mistletoe can be bought in local street markets in the run up to Xmas, or if you are lucky enough to have a large garden or live near woods, you may be able to gather them yourself.

English mistletoe has large white berries and grey-green leaves whereas American mistletoe is olive green and the berries form large clusters. Both types grow by attaching themselves to large trees. Legend has it that mistletoe was used by the mysterious celtic Druids of Wales in their festive rites at the time of the winter solstice, and thus, like many Xmas traditions, is pagan in origin.

Tags: christmas, mistletoe, holly, xmas, druids

'Devil Worshipper’ Retort May Burn Employer

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:39:45 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Despite the obvious misinformation, like "believers gathering in Salem" as if it were Mecca, I think she has a good case.

Clip Source: www.ctlawtribune.com

Like many people, Gina Uberti wanted to take time off from work for a religious holiday.

Unlike most Connecticut workers, her religion is Wicca, the largest of the neo-pagan, earth-based faiths. Wiccans worship multiple deities, use magic in their rituals, adhere to a basic code of morality, and hold four major seasonally based festivals.

Uberti attended one of those festivals last October. A dispute with a supervisor over that vacation has led to an unusual federal lawsuit.

Jarad M. Lucan, who practices employment law at Durant, Nichols, Houston, Hodgson, & Cortese-Costa in Bridgeport, is not involved with the case. But he said it should send a message to employers that, no matter how common or obscure the religion, if a worker sincerely believes it to be their religion, then employers must reasonably accommodate them under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“You have to try to accommodate a sincerely held religious belief,”

Tags: wicca, religion, work, legal

Art of Burma - R Cooler - deel 1

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:23:17 GMT

clipped by: Karim Grusenmeyer

Clip Source: www.seasite.niu.edu

THE ART AND CULTURE OF BURMA

Dr. Richard M. Cooler

Professor Emeritus
Art History of Southeast Asia
Northern Illinois University

Overview: Purpose, Extended Contents, Acknowledgements, and Geographical Overview

Art History of Burma: Synoptic Overview

Chapter 1 - Prehistoric and Animist Periods c. 1100 BC to c. 200 AD: Paleolithic and Neolithic sites, Animism, and Karen Bronze Drums

Chapter 2 - The Pre-Pagan Period: The Urban Age of the Mon and the Pyu c.200 to c.800 AD: Mon and Pyu City states: Thaton, Beikthano, Halin, and Srikshetra

Chapter 3 - the Pagan Period c. 800 AD to 1287 AD

Part 1 - Introduction and City Plan of Pagan
Part 2 - Architecture 1 - General Characteristics and Stupas
Part 3 - Architecture 2 - Temples and Monasteries
Part 4 - Sculpture, Conclusion, and Bibliography

Chapter 4 - The Post Pagan Period

Part 1 - Introduction and the Ava Period
Part 2 - The Konbaung Period: Amarapura
Part 3 - Mandalay Period

Special Section: 80 Scenes of the Life of Buddha

Queens Elects America's First Heathen

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:38:17 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: blogs.villagevoice.com

Holy Tyr! Queens voters made American history tonight, when they chose Dan Halloran as the nation's first openly heathen elected official.

Halloran will serve as the City Council member from the 19th district, representing Bayside, Auburndale and part of Flushing. He and Kevin Kim were involved in a bruising campaign to the finish, which included many religious and racial fights and allegations.

Breaking with typical American tradition on Election Night, Halloran did not end his acceptance speech with "God bless America," or even "Gods bless America." But he did acknowledge the controversy his religion brought to his campaign. While thanking his law partner, he said "The next time you give me advice to take a website down, I'll do it." He joked about it again in relaying news to the assembled tea baggers of Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia. "I would call this a Reagan revolution, except I'm not a protestant Irishman."

Tags: government, politics, pagan, heathen, religion, belief

Vatican Condemns Hallowe'en

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:39:18 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Last year a newspaper controlled by the Italian bishops, Avvenire, called for a boycott of Hallowe'en, calling it a "dangerous celebration of horror and the macabre" which could encourage "pitiless [Satanic] sects without scruples".

Earlier this week the Catholic Church in Spain also condemned the growing popularity of Halloween, saying it threatened to overshadow the Christian festival of All Saints' Day.

The Bishop of Siguenza-Guadalajara, Jose Sanchez, said there was a risk that Halloween could "replace Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead."

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Vatican has condemned Hallowe'en as anti-Christian, saying it is based on a sinister and dangerous "undercurrent of occultism".

The Holy See has warned that parents should not allow their children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls on Saturday, calling Hallowe'en a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death".

The Roman Catholic Church has become alarmed in recent years by the spread of Hallowe'en traditions from the US to other countries around the world.

As in Britain, it is only in recent years that Italian children have dressed up in costumes, played trick or treat on their neighbours and made lanterns out of hollowed out pumpkins.

The Vatican issued the warning through its official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, in an article headlined "Hallowe'en's Dangerous Messages".

The paper quoted a liturgical expert, Joan Maria Canals, who said: "Hallowe'en has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian."

La velocidad y costo de Internet en diferentes partes del mundo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:06:52 GMT

clipped by: yohelyav

Clip Source: www.arturogoga.com

La velocidad y costo de Internet en diferentes partes del mundo

No es un tema nuevo (ya lo vimos al detalle hace un par de años), pero esta nueva infografía realizada por el Internet World Stats Broadband Penetration, resulta interesante para ver cómo van las cosas con la velocidad de internet en relación al precio.

(click para agrandar)

Lamentablemente, el estudio parece haber ignorado a gran parte del mundo. Estoy seguro de que si hubiesen considerado latinoamérica, estaría pintado todo de rojo.

El país con mayor velocidad promedio? Japón, con 61 mbps de conexión promedio, y pagan $0.27 por 1mbps. Es decir, $16 aproximadamente por tremenda conexión. Seguidos de Korea, con una conexión de 46mbps.

Aquí en Perú? por una conexión de 4 mbps, tengo que pagar alrededor de $80 – $100… Es decir, mi conexión es 15 veces más lenta que la promedio, y por esa conexión, tengo que pagar 6 veces más. Como para deprimirse…

Y sus conexiones? Qué tan rápidas / cuanto pagan por ellas?

How the world got here matters

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:47:15 GMT

clipped by: chetler
clipper's remarks: Creation is the starting point for talking about what Jesus offers.

Clip Source: www.kairosjournal.org

When evangelizing Jews, he emphasized the biblical text (e.g. Acts 13:13-41), but when preaching to pagan polytheists, he emphasized the doctrine of creation (Acts 14:15-17; 17:22-31). For Paul, the fact that God created everything is foundational to the gospel.

The doctrine of creation is integral to the gospel. Modern men and women will never understand their need of Christ as a Savior from God’s wrath if they do not first have some comprehension that they owe their generous Creator everything. Nor will they grasp the wickedness of rejecting Him and running life their own way. Divorced from belief in a sovereign, holy, gracious Creator, the gospel makes no sense at all.

Tags: creationism, gospel

Near stadium, Cowboys have a new rival: Satan

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:37:26 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON — A wee bit o’ Scotland has come to the outskirts of Cowboys Stadium, and with it a foggy auld controversy over whether a Scottish sculpture park is also a pagan shrine that might hex the Dallas Cowboys.

City leaders and the family of late philanthropist Jane Mathes Kelton gathered Thursday to rededicate Caelum Moor, a former $3 million corporate sculpture park now relocated as public art along the bonny banks of Johnson Creek.

The letter was headlined, "No Witchcraft Park in Arlington."

In a Thursday phone interview, Tummillo called Caelum Moor "a mockery of Christianity" and said those near the park — including the Cowboys — are "in a dance with the devil."

Tummillo was a youth pastor with the now-disbanded Redeeming Love Covenant Church when the Rev. Danny Smith and his wife, Dena, took their witchcraft warnings nationwide on CNN and even to the syndicated TV entertainment show Strange Universe.

Hey, Brainheads, Hallowe'en is Not A Pagan Holiday

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:54:53 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: blogs.citizen-times.com

When my nephew Michael was little, his favorite insult was to call someone a "brainhead."

I say this every year at about this time--in fact, I say this so often that I should probably have it printed and hand it out to strangers every day of the world--Hallowe'en is not a Pagan holiday.

Not.

Hallowe'en is a perfectly lovely American holiday that came over with the immigrating Irish who escaped An Gorta Mor (what we were taught as the "Irish Potato Famine") in the 1840s. They brought some folk traditions connected with the evening before All Saints Day or All Hallows.

Many modern Pagans celebrate Samhain at the end of October.

It is rather a big deal...but it is not Hallowe'en. It's an important harvest celebration and a time to remember those who have died, whether in the last year or long ago. The Ancestors.

So, all these cranky churches and schools who refuse to celebrate the perfectly American (okay, Irish-American) holiday called Hallowe'en are brainheads.

Tags: halloween, pagan, holiday, irish

The Wind in the Willows

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:23:19 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: The major theme of the story is the struggle between the noisy, common way of life and the quiet and genteel. The Wild Wooders, including the stoats and the weasels, epitomize the former, while the River-Bankers, including Badger, Mole, Rat, and Toad, represent the latter. Toad is a lovable rebel who does not fit well into either camp. Structurally, the fantasy is a small epic in prose paralleling to some degree the events in Homer's Odyssey.

Clip Source: www.geocities.com

Kenneth Grahame was born Mar. 8, 1859 and died July 6, 1932. He was a Scottish author best known for this classic which he completed in 1908. He wrote the book for his only son, Alastair, while Kenneth was serving as a secretary of the Bank of England. He wrote only three other books: Pagan Papers (1893), personal essays that reflect his private frustrations, and the short-story collections The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898). Noted for its graceful charm, this book reveals the conflict between Grahame's aristocratic background and the new social concerns.

The complete text of The Wind in the Willows can be found on the Web at the literary archives of the University of Maryland.

One Baptist Church To Celebrate Halloween By Burning Uninspired Bibles

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:16:30 GMT

clipped by: nuttyriv3r

Clip Source: www.kwtx.com

CANTON, N.C. (October 13, 2009)—The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C. will celebrate Halloween by burning Bibles that aren’t the King James Version, as well as music and books and anything else Pastor Marc Grizzard says is a satanic influence.

Among the authors whose books Grizzard plans to burn are well known ministers Rick Warren and Billy Graham because he says they have occasionally used Bibles other than the King James Version, which is the sole biblical source he considers infallible.

According to the church’s Web site, members will also burn “Satan's music such as country, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel, contemporary Christian, jazz, soul (and) oldies.

“We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham, Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye,

Tags: apostasy, bible translations, fundamentalism, halloween, occult, pagan, pop christianity, remnant

Demon Descends on College

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:26:21 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Demons allegedly took possession of a student at a N. Georgia college. Later in the day a troupe of gnomes trampled the gladiolas outside the student union building while just this morning a renegade unicorn was rumored to be harassing a pagan sacrifice on the quad. The Ghost Busters have been contacted.

Clip Source: www.ajc.com

Exorcism stirs debate among Berry College students, faculty

It was the tidiest exorcism on record -- completed in minutes and absent the pungent mess typically associated with demonic possession.

While most everyone at Berry College, located just north of Rome, doubts junior Nathan Mallory's claim that he cast the devil out of a former student, the alleged exorcism has reignited a festering debate about religion's role at the liberal arts institution.

"There is a concern that something like this could go on here," said junior Kyler Post, managing editor of the Campus Carrier, Berry's student newspaper. "People are afraid we're going to be looked at as some sort of radical, right-wing school."

the alleged exorcism occurred, on Sept. 24, in Mallory's Pilgrim Hall dorm room.

"While we were worshipping, she began to repeat ‘no, no, no' just like the other demon-possessed cases I've seen in the past," Mallory wrote in an e-mail to WinShape students. "That's when [the demon] showed itself."

Guess who's now banned from Capitol Christmas tree!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:35:35 GMT

clipped by: nuttyriv3r
clipper's remarks: Freedom of religion now means no religion, I guess.
Jeremiah 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Jeremiah 10:3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

Jeremiah 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Clip Source: www.wnd.com

October 01, 2009

By Bob Unruh

The U.S. Forest Service has banned the name of Jesus from decorations being assembled by children in Arizona for a blue spruce from the state that will become the Capitol Christmas Tree this year, and a legal firm is challenging the censorship.

"The First Amendment does not allow government officials to exclude schoolchildren's ornaments for the capitol's Christmas tree merely because they communicate a religious viewpoint," he said yesterday.

The legal organization said one criterion states: "Ornaments cannot reflect a religious or political theme. Instead, share your interpretation of our theme 'Arizona's gift, from the Grand Canyon State."

But a mother whose child wanted to submit ornaments with holiday themes such as "Happy Birthday, Jesus," "Merry Christmas" and a manger scene raised her concern with ADF.

The Forest Service ornament program specifies ornaments need to be 9-12 inches tall

Also, "Ornament designs may not reflect religious or political themes."

Tags: christmas, idolatry, pagan, xmas

Queens NY GOP Won't Dump Pagan Candidate

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:07:26 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

In a stunning show of tolerance that defies theocon C-Streetism, the GOP in Queens, New York will not replace pagan high priest Dan Halloran as their candidate for District 19 city council in the Nov. 3 election. Considering George Bush administration officials objected to giving author J.K. Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because the Harry Potter books "encouraged witchcraft," that's a very open-minded stance.

Halloran -- an attorney and partner in the firm Palmieri, Castiglione & Halloran who served as legal counsel and incorporating attorney for the New York City Pagan Pride Project, and the chairman of the state Republican Liberty Caucus, has been endorsed by the Queens County Republican Party.

Pagans are everywhere, I've been saying it for years.

But an official Republican Party candidate! Move over Christian right, here come the Pagans. I certainly disagree with his politics, but it's great that he's running.

Tags: republican, gop, pagan

Giants

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:28:49 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx
clipper's remarks: Worthy to read:
° Giants in Scripture
° Book of Enoch – new translation
° Book of Enoch
° Epic of Gilgamesh
° Ancient & Lost Civilizations
° Gilgamesh Tomb Found!
° Gog
° Floods Stories from Around the World
° The Book of Giants
° Ancient Egyptian Treasures in Grand Canyon
° The Karankawa
° Lost City of the Grand Canyon

Clip Source: www.stevequayle.com

Stretch your mind back to childhood. What giants do you remember? Jack and the Beanstalk? Hercules? Paul Bunyan? Goliath? What were you told and what did you read? With the exception of Goliath and an occasional ornery cyclops, legends emphasized their innate goodness, eye-popping feats accomplished with unparalleled strength, victories over the bad guys and all performed by "gentle giants". What if it were all a lie? What if the truth were something much MUCH more sinister?

I have invested over 30 years researching the vast history of giants. It has, for the most part, been kept from the public. Proof of giants' existence - their skeletal remains - has been quickly secreted away in obscure museums, when not destroyed. Additionally, time has cloaked and sugar-coated these creatures' true perverse nature, the majority too vile, too demonic for bedtime stories. However, history is replete with their tales of unimaginable cruelty, sexual perversity, cannibalism and pagan rituals. This is