The Witches Digest

Deeply religious Haitians see the hand of God in the destruction of Biblical proportions visited on their benighted country. The quake, religious leaders said Sunday, is evidence that He wants change.

Exactly what change He wants depends on the faith: Some Christians say it’s a sign that Haitians must deepen their faith, while some Voodoo followers see God’s judgment on corruption among the country’s mostly light-skinned elite.

And then there’s American evangelist Pat Robertson, who said Wednesday that Haiti had been cursed by a pact he said its slave founders made with the devil two centuries ago to overthrow their French rulers and become the world’s first black republic. The White House called his remarks “stupid.”

As desperate believers gathered to pray Sunday across the shattered capital, the Rev. Eric Toussaint told a congregation gathered outside the ruined cathedral that the earthquake “is a sign from God, saying that we must recognize his power.”

Haitians, he said, “need to reinvent themselves, to find a new path to God.”

Some followers of Voodoo, practised alongside Roman Catholicism by the vast majority of Haitians, said the devastation of key symbols of power was punishment for corrupt leaders who have allowed the mostly light-skinned elite to enrich themselves while the black majority suffers.

“If all of a sudden, in 15 seconds, 20 seconds, all the physical representations of corruption are destroyed, it gives you pause for thought,” said Richard Morse, a renowned Haitian-American musician whose mother was a singer and revered Voodoo priestess. “The Justice Ministry: down. The National Palace: down. The United Nations headquarters: down.”

Unharmed by the quake was the famed bronze statue, “Le Maron Inconnu” - “the Unknown Escaped Slave” - noted Morse, who owns the Oloffson Hotel featured in Graham Greene’s novel “The Comedians.”

The destruction of every major Catholic church in the capital, including the 81-year-old cathedral, also was a sign, he said: “When there is all this corruption going on, whose role is it in society to speak out? Isn’t the Church supposed to say something?”

Most Haitians are Christian - largely Catholic with a small but growing number of Protestants. But most also practice Voodoo, which along with Catholicism is an official state religion.

Several people were seen issuing apocalyptic warnings on the streets Sunday, including a man standing in front of the collapsed National Palace shouting: “Redeem yourselves! The end of the world is near!”

But Morse noted that Haitians are already very religious. His countrymen may suffer many ills, but “when it comes to spiritual strength, Haiti is one of the richest nations in the world.”

And in that sense, the earthquake seems to have been counterproductive in terms of salvation.

“How could He do this to us?,” cried Remi Polevard, who said his five children lie beneath in the rubble of a home near St. Gerard University. “There is no God.”

Sunday night, as downtown residents began burning some of the bodies that have been rotting on the streets for five days, a woman walking by in an orange dress pulled out a copy of the Bible.

She flung it into the fire.

Original Article

Magus Lynius Shadee, who calls himself the King of All Witches, hopes to become Cambridge’s next MP.

Mr Shadee initially planned to open an occult centre in the historic city - to the surprise of religious leaders - but now wants to focus his attentions on his candidacy and may open the centre as a campaign hub.

He said he has contacted the city’s returning officer.
”I have withheld the opening of my occult centres and am focusing on the general election,” said Mr Shadee.

”I shall hope to stand as an independent. My manifesto will be very forward, and if accepted, will change many directions for the better - for the human race.”

He added: “This is an opportunity to change people’s lives for the better. I also hope to have candidates in six or seven other high-profile seats.
“I want to tackle the problems in education, health and crime and turn Britain into a truly secular society by banning faith schools and the teaching of religious education.

“I also want MPs’ salaries to be like everyone else’s. If they don’t come to work, they don’t get paid.”
However, rival candidates say his “eccentric” views are unlikely to attract much support.
Daniel Zeichner, the Labour candidate, said: “General elections always throw up a mixture of the serious and more light-hearted, such as the Monster Raving Loony Party.

“I don’t think there will be many people sharing his views.”
David Howarth, the city’s Liberal Democrat MP, is standing down and the party has yet to select its candidate.

Nick Hillman, the Conservative candidate, said: “I have no truck with Mr Shadee’s eccentric views but if he can persuade enough people to nominate him - and it’s a big if - I look forward to campaigning against him.”

Original Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6981349/Witch-to-stand-as-independent-candidate-at-general-election.html

POLICE believe a bizarre outbreak of horse mane weaving may be the work of a secretive cult of pagan worshippers practising a form of white magic.

The strange practice has broken out in fields in Devon and parts of Dorset and Somerset.

Nearly 20 animals have been singled out for the bizarre treatment over the past three months in Hemyock, Culmstock and Clayhidon, the Culm Valley and Exeter.

Officers initially believed the horses were being marked for theft by organised criminals – until they realised none of them disappeared.

Now they think white witches who practise “knot magick” are using the horses to help them cast spells.

Pagan gods are thought to have a close connection with horses which adds strength to spells that incorporate the animals.

PC Jeff Howley, neighbourhood beat manager for Cullompton, said: “At the moment we do not know of any motive for the plaiting to start with we thought they were being marked for theft but that is clearly not the case.

“One motive from research by Dorset police who are also investigating a number of cases is that it may be a pagan ritual.

“It is hard for us to judge at the moment but any speculation will have to be considered.”

Although the braiding does no harm to the affected horses, owners are becoming increasingly bemused and concerned.

Jenny Parsons, secretary to the Taunton Vale Harriers Hunt, who has set up a horse watch scheme, believes a small group of people are targeting the same animals after communicating through social networking websites.

She said: “It is possible it’s a pagan ritual and I have had reports of a change in horse behaviour so if these are children’s ponies it is an absolutely awful thing to do.”

Mrs Parsons urged horse owners to send pictures of the plaits to local police and to remain vigilant.

She added: “Until we know anything different this is worth taking very seriously. They seem to be targeting some individuals more than others, but why?”

It was originally thought the plaits might be being used to mark horses by rustlers so they could be collected at night by gangs armed with fence-cutting equipment and a horsebox.

Original Article

Imbolc Food Ideas - Pancakes are perfect at this time of year for several good reasons: they have 3 key ingredients - an auspicious number in magick; the colours for the festival are white and yellow, pancakes are light in colour and texture; they can be served with many fillings and accompaniments and are ideal for parties and meals alike. Tips for Perfect Pancakes: Measure your ingredients carefully, allow the batter to cool for 30 minutes before use, make sure your pan is sizzling hot, use butter to fry your pancakes, dont flip them until bubbles form on the surface. Eat immediately!

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. – A FedEx driver who left a fundamentalist religious tome on a car windshield has learned not to mess with one Budd Lake witch.

Trish Reynolds, an author and longstanding witch or follower of the Wiccan religion and Druid priestess, said the incident shows the negative stereotypes and continuing misunderstanding of Wiccan and Druid beliefs which are pagan, earth based religions.

Reynolds was in the kitchen of her Eagle Rock Village apartment on the morning of Monday, Dec. 14, when the incident unfolded.

She was looking out on her parking lot and saw a FedEx truck stopped. The driver, who later identified himself as Brian Kaufman, made one delivery and was returning to his truck when he saw bumper stickers on Reynolds’ car, which included a pentagram and the words, “Goddess Bless America.”

The pentagram is a symbol of faith for Wiccans with the five points representing the spirit, earth, air, fire, and water. To fundamentalist Christians, the pentagram is a sign of the un-believer.

Apparently upset, Kaufman went back to his truck and returned to place a small pamphlet under the windshield wiper of Reynolds’ car.

Kaufman had driven away by the time Reynolds went out to her car to find the pamphlet was a cartoon titled “Boo,” that focused on the evils of witches and their danger to Christians.

Among other things, the cartoon depicts an evil Halloween pumpkin, accuses Wiccans of committing human sacrifices and links Wiccans with Satan.

The brochure was published by Chick Publications of California, a group identified as a “hate group” by the Southern Law Poverty Center in Montgomery, Ala.

Reynolds later complained to FedEx and Kaufman subsequently returned to speak with Reynolds about her complaint. Reynolds said Kaufman was not apologetic but simply repeated his objections to what he considers Wiccan beliefts.

A FedEx spokesman said the driver’s behavior was inappropriate.

“We absolutely don’t condone this behavior and we are taking steps with the driver,” said David Westrick, a spokesman for the FedEx office in Bethlehem, Pa.

Kaufman could not be reached for comment.

Reynolds, who has been a practicing Wiccan for more than 40 years, said she is concerned because a pentagram she had hanging from her front door also was recently missing.

Chick Publications is not new to Reynolds, who does not hide her views or her religion. She said she would occasionally find tracts left on her car when she worked in the 1990s at Verizon in Madison.

Incorrect Information

Reynolds said the religious tome is not only offensive but inaccurate.

As far as human sacrifices, Reynolds said she Wiccans want no part of it.

The tome also refers to the holy Wiccan day of Samhain, (pronounced SOW-in, SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne) and says it is Satan’s birthday. In fact, the day has nothing to do with Satan. Wiccans celebrate Samhain on Oct. 21 to commemorate the end of summer and the third and final Harvest and to remember ancestors.

“I thought April 15 (tax day) was the devil’s birthday,” Reynolds said.

Another misrepresentation shows the “ankh,” a symbol of life dating to the ancient Egyptians but alien to the Wiccan ancestors of Ireland and England.

Mark Potok, director of intelligence for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said groups are categorized as “hate groups” based on their ideology.

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 and is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups, said the center’s website.

“We listed Chick Publications primarily because of their rabid anti-Catholicism,” Potok said. “They are highly intolerant of all faiths.”

A secretary with Chick Publications in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said more than 125 million pamphlets or tracts in 125 languages have been distributed since 1960 on a range of Christian issues.

“Ninety-eight percent of the tracts are to share salvation and the message that people need Jesus,” said the secretary, Karen Rockney.

Rockney said Chick Publications is not hostile to non-Christians and Catholics.

“We see them as lost,” Rockney said. “Without the lord, we are all lost.”

She said she was not surprised that the group is listed as a hate group because, “anytime you go to tell the gospel of Jesus, you’ll have people hate you for that.”

Abortion, homosexuality, non-Protestant religions, the occult, rock music, politics, popular culture, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and the theory of evolution are among the targets of Chick’s tracts, according to an Internet report.

The report said the tracts generally depict many of the world’s problems as being deliberately caused by the Catholic Church.

Chick Publications was formed in 1970 by 85-year-old Jack Thomas Chick, a Christian convert who began evangelizing in the 1960s.

Reynolds has written about other issues facing Wiccans, including a successful 2006 lawsuit that ordered the federal government to include Wicca as the religion on plaques of deceased veterans.

She also is involved with a current, on-going effort to require New Jersey school districts to recognize certain Wiccan religious holidays as excused absences.

Valentine’s Day has a long history of tradition and superstition. This day can be traced back to the fertility rites of the pagans during the Lupercialia festival. Sacrifices were made to the god, Luperus the wolf. A ceremony was preformed on a hill by two pagan priests, called Luperci. One priest ran to the bottom of the hill with strips of animal hide called febura, (February), touching the women he met to make them fertile. He would then trace a circle around the base of the hill, to keep away evil spirits and wolves.

Later the Romans would use the date to choose a mate by picking the names of women from a lottery. The couple would live together for the next year or longer if they so desired.

The February festival was outlawed by the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. when Pope Gelasus declared the celebration immoral. The Church began a campaign to substitutethe pagan festival with a day dedicated to St. Valentine, a priest during the rein of Claudius II, who befriended young lover’s and married them against Roman’s wishes. (At the time it was believed single men made better soldiers so young men were forbidden to marry).

It was once believed this was the day birds chose to mate. Love charms and potions are supposed to work especially well if used on this day. Herbs were often used in the rituals and were thought to help one see into the future. Yarrow was one of the herbs used in charms and for predicting one’s future love.

Before retiring for the night, a young woman would place a piece of yarrow under her pillow and repeat,” Thou pretty herb of Venus tree, thy name is yarrow; Now who my bosom friend must be, Pray tell me tomorrow.” The woman would dream of her future love. If she added an orange blossom leaf, she would dream of her future husband.

Viola tri-color or Johnny Jump Up as it is commonly known today was also used in love charms. It was believed if placed on the eye lids of a sleeping person, that person would fall in love with the first person they saw upon awakening.

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Deitra Jones of Florida was distraught. Her Himalayan cat, named Fluff, disappeared in 2008 and hadn’t been seen since. Even as the second year passed, she never gave up hope that one day her and her cat would be reunited.

Finally, Jones reached out to a local psychic for help. The psychic told her that Fluff was alive, but confused. The psychic sensed the cat wanted to come home, but no longer knew how to get home. The psychic reached out and planted a suggestion in the cat to misbehave for her new owner, as often as possible.

“I could see and feel Fluff very clearly,” said the psychic, who wishes to remain anonymous. “The emotional bond between the two was strong enough that all I had to do was give it a nudge in the right direction.”

Just a few days later, a supervisor at Hillsborough County Animal Services said a woman turned in Fluff, claiming she was unable to care for the animal anymore and that “something might be wrong” with the cat.

Once Fluff was examined, a chip implanted in the cat provided the name and address of Jones. The long overdue reunion took place the same day.