The Witches Digest

Materials:

Dried Leaves and Flowers
Clear Contact Paper
Large Sheet of Construction Paper or Poster Board
Clear Glue
Red, Yellow, Green and Brown Crayons or Pencils

Draw leaves and sun wheels onto the card, and colour.

Place the dried leaves and flowers onto the paper and secure into place with a very small amount of glue.
Cut the contact paper to the same size as the paper used, and stick it over the top of design.  These are very long lasting-especially if you coat the back of the placemat as well.

 From the Witches Digest Mabon 2008

Technorati Tags: harvest crafts, Ideas for Children, pagan, wicca

Gathering up the remains of your old candles, you can make new ones – here’s one method of how to do it.

Before you start, you need to make sure you have a clear space, and the following items:

A Pot – Suitable for melting the wax in. Make sure that it’s either a purpose one or an old one, as the wax may stain or stick.

Wicks – These will probably need to be purchased, unless you have a battered or old candle that you can open up for one. Make sure it’s the right thickness for the size of candle you wish to make.

Containers or Moulds – These are for the candles to be made in. You can buy these, or perhaps use items in the home – for example jam jars.

Old Candles or a Bag of Wax – If you want to make a new candle, then you’ll need new wax; otherwise you will need to gather up your old candles.

A Fork or Spoon – Something to stir the hot wax with; so make sure the handle is plenty long enough so not to risk burning your hand.

Once you’re ready, you need to set up the containers or moulds with the wicks; try to keep them to one side so the work area doesn’t get cluttered.

You then need to clean up your old candles before you melt them – making sure to remove any paper, decorations etc from the outside, and cut away any burnt, blackened wick.

Tip – If you cut your candles into pieces then they will melt faster; it may also make it easier to remove the old wick and decorations. If you can’t get it all – it doesn’t matter too much, as once the wax is melted, you can fish out the pieces with a fork.

Once you’ve done this, place your candle pieces in the pan. Do NOT fill the pan too full – no more than half, as when the wax melts some may melt faster and start bubbling – this will make the level rise and could be dangerous.

Tip -  Do NOT be tempted to heat the wax in the microwave – this is extremely dangerous.

Use a low heat to melt the wax gently, and don’t leave it unattended. Use your fork or spoon to fish out any floating bits or unwanted debris that may find its way into the melt.

Once it’s ready, pour the wax into your pre-prepared containers or moulds up to the level you require.

Tip -  It may be useful to use a water-based marker to mark the level you want on the container if you need a specific height.

After you’re done, don’t pour the residue in the sink; put it on rags or paper so that it hardens and can be removed that way.

Now leave the candles to cool and set. Once that’s done, trim the wick to the length you want and remove any guide lines you may have added to the outside of the container.

Tip -  Store the candles in a cool place that’s not exposed to bright sun; on exceptionally hot days the candles may melt a little and the resulting grease will soak into the base of a wooden drawer.

General Tips for Making the Candles.

If you mix a lot of colours together then it will most likely make a murky brown colour. If you want to make rainbow candles, allow each wax layer to set first.

If you use different types of candles, they may burn at different speeds and become uneven – try, where possible, to use the same type of candles for each new one

Experiment with scented blends, but don’t be too upset if they don’t smell pleasant right away – trial and error may be the key.

The wick needs to be straight before the wax goes in; get it in a good position before attempting to pour the mix in. Some wicks have bases and will stand on their own, but others don’t – so you will need to very carefully keep it positioned as you pour the wax in.

Have fun and don’t forget – safety first!

Please note that the methods here are suitable for decorative candles only, spell candles should only be used for one purpose.

 From the Witches Digest Mabon 2008

Technorati Tags: candle magick, craft ideas, pagan, recycled candles, wicca

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!

William Allingham (1824-1889)

Do you ever wonder where the folklore of the little people came from?

Much credit can be handed to Tolkien’s Bilbo and Frodo, in their quest for the ring of all rings. An avalanche of fantasy novelists all jumped on the train and a new genre in literature was born - some better than others - though every cook praises his own broth.

Since the invention of computers and later, the internet, a huge entertainment market has seen the light and is ever more increasing. Fantasy games are extremely popular and addictive – for example, according to BBC online, a company like Blizzard Entertainment sells 300 copies of World of Warcraft a day – where anyone can be a hero, either being an elf, dwarf or orc. No doubt, us darkly inclined have got a fantasy or gothic inspired game at home, or at least you have tried it!

The Shining

But where do these mythical beings, mentioned above, originate from?

If we start with the etymological origin of the word ‘elf‘, we discover a lot. The Old English ‘Aelf’ comes from Teutonic or Saxon roots (Wikipedia, 2008) and defined them as almost “divine creatures”, who “were brighter than the sun and symbolised fertility and the cult of eternal life”. Tolkien was well aware of Norse mythology, with its variations of Scandinavian and Germanic folklore. The wizard Gandalf, is actually the name of an old Norse king, according to the saga Heimskringsla, written in the 12^th century.

But let’s look further into history than mediaeval folklore. According to geologists Christian and Barbara Joy O’Brien (1999), the old word El was used in old Mesopotamia to indicate a god or higher being, and actually meant ’shining’  in the Sumerian language. This word spread along Europe and became ‘Ellyl’ in Wales, ‘Aillil’ in Ireland, ‘Aelf ‘ in Saxon and ‘Elf ‘ in England. The plural of ‘el’ in Hebrew, is ‘Ellohim’, mentioned in the Bible to refer to the gods. El was later on used as a suffix, and in Celtic Cornwall ‘el’ was equal to the Anglo-Saxon ‘engel’ and the Old-French ‘angele‘, which became ‘angel‘ in English (Gardner, 2000). According to the Catholic Church, angels were to be considered as God’s messengers and pictured as beings floating in air and shining.

People from the gods

From elves and angels to faeries, is just a small step. Here we face another mythological creature with supernatural capabilities, such as flying and shimmering, but in other versions the pranksters  and baby thieves. Tinkerbell from “Peter Pan” being the most famous example. The word faerie (faery, fey, fée), is originally Old-French with its roots in Latin: ‘fata‘ or faith, and became ‘fey‘ in Old-English, around 1400 AD. In the Celtic world, faeries and elves are most associated with the royal family, Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of people who arrived or invaded Ireland somewhere around 2000 BC. Their fate or destiny didn’t survive the conversion to Christianity, though much of their history has been preserved by medieval Irish literature. Which brings us to the core of folklore and mythology: history rewritten and altered by those who feared it.

Thuatha Dé Danann, means: ‘People of the Goddess Danu’. It is well known that the Church didn’t much appreciate goddesses, so who was this ‘Danu’? Some versions refer to the ancient Greek agricultural goddess Danaë of Argos, but if we use etymology again, we notice certain geographical and historical parallels. Based on place names such as the rivers Danube, Dnjepr and Don, we can assume these mother rivers were worshipped throughout the Celtic world.

Medieval Christian scholars are known for their bad eyesight, so what if it was spelled Tuadhe d’Anu in its oldest form; meaning: ‘People of Anu’? In Sumerian writings - and later for Assyrians and Babylonians (present Iraq and Iran) - ‘An’ meant heaven and the gods were called ‘Anunnaki‘;  deities belonging to the Sumerian and Akkadian pantheon. Anu was a goddess, or the female equivalent of the god An. It is from this pantheon that the Israelites extracted their one male God, Yahweh, during their captivity in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (c.586-536 BC), as described in the book Genesis.  Whilst the Hebrews primarily worshipped the female deity Ashtoreth – or Ishtar –, they adapted and absorbed the Babylonian religion, and created their one supreme God by conjoining deities into what would become Judaïsm (Gardner, 1996).

So where is the link with faeries and elves and the Tuadhe d’Anu? Mythology is written down for a reason and has its roots in real life events and experiences. Fact is, these Anunnaki – or ’shining ones’ – are the subject of the very first scribes, but who they really were and if they truly possessed magical powers, is an open question. Around 2000 BC, the cult of the Anunnaki seems to come to an end when Mesopotamia is invaded by unknown strangers, from the East, West and North (Wood, 1992).

Impressive looks

North of present Iraq is The Black Sea, in which the river Danube emerges. From Eastern Europe and Eurasia to the Ukraine and the Russian Steppes, adjacent to China, a horse-riding nomadic people, the Scythians, dominated this enormous area from around 1000 BC until the 2^nd century AD. Would these have been those strangers?

Excavations have learned that these people wore tight trousers made of leather and high boots, long sleeved shirts of wool and most of all, pointed caps. Many figures in folklore are pictured with pointed caps;  leprechauns, gnomes, pixies and elves. This Scythian homeland of the Thuadhe d’Anu, reached the borders of Hungary and Romania, where they mixed with the Sarmatians (the story of King Arthur has many versions; in the 2004 Antoine Fuqua movie, Arthur is said to be of Sarmatian origin).

Animal bone studies  have shown that Scythian riding horses were being traded in Europe (Taylor, 1994), so these people – or part of them – must have emigrated from other parts of the ancient world. Even more astonishing, is that, well preserved mummified bodies were found in 1994, south of the Himalayas. The mummies had a light coloured skin, brown hair and light coloured eyes and were of extreme height; almost 2 metres tall -  the female bodies, also reached a height of 1.80 metres. Again, pointed caps were found and the woven clothing indicates plaid pattern (Gardner, 2000).

Which brings us to the Celts (Keltoi or ’stranger’ in Greek), a race of people that originated during the shift of iron to bronze age, on the borders of eastern Europe, the Balkans and Caucasus. Greek and Roman writers characterised the Celts as “tall, with a pale skin and blond or red hair”. They wore tunics and capes with tartan motifs and patrons (Haywood, 2004). Haywood also asserts that their appearance was frightening as they were able to drive away their enemies.

All creatures great and small

Hence, when these Tuadhe d’Anu established themselves in Ireland – in mythology around 1897 BC, though more likely around 700 BC (Gardner, 2000) - they brought along a superior tradition and culture  and became known as the ‘Sidhé‘: a powerful, supernatural race. Albeit, their looks and appearance must have made an enormous impression on the locals. In Gaelic, they were referred to as the ‘Dhaoine sidhé‘ or,  ‘people of peace‘.

After the loss in battle against the Milesians (an indigenous people of Ireland, descendants of the Scythian King, Mil), the Tuadhe d’Anu agreed to retreat and dwell on the sidhé; the hills and mounds of Ireland. Every king of each tribe was given one mound and it is believed these are the ancestors of the Irish king Eire Ahmon, whose name became the title of Ireland. A ‘banshee’ – or ‘Behn Sidhé‘ – was a woman of the tribe, announcing an oncoming death by wailing and keening.

People with the same Scythian background were the ‘Pict Sidhé’, or the warlords of the Fir Bolg. The Fir Bolg were a Celtic tribe related to the Belgae (the shining ones), where Bel or Belo (the Celtic god), means “bright”. Often, Fir Bolg is translated as  “the men with bags” (Fir = men; Bolg = bag), since they carried little bags or humps on their back, possibly with gold from mining. Much later, their warlord history would be minimised and they would be known as pixies or leprechauns.

These lords of the wood, were priest kings or druids. The word ‘druid’ was a Proto-Celtic word for ‘witch’ (feminine) or ‘wicca’ (masculine), which meant: to bow for, or surrender to. These druids bowed before the Sidhé until, after defeat, they left Ireland and chose to rule Caledonia instead, where they became the Fir Alban (men of Scotland).

When the lights fade

Alas, ancient Irish history has only been written in early medieval days, when Christianity was powerful enough to ban The Shining Ones into mythology.

The Tuadhe d’Anu were banished into the underworld (spirits of the dead and changelings), dwelling in underground chambers of their burial mounds, in a realm of shadows. Fairies were evil, casting spells and substituting babies, and amulets were made to avert them. Banshees were identified with vampirism. In Scotland, it was a common belief to place a bowl of water outside the house, so the vampire would drink this, instead of blood.

The Pict Sidhé became the little people or leprechauns, (from the Irish word ‘luchorpan’, meaning “little body”), and were destined to be cobblers or tanners. As leather was a favoured material with Scythian warriors (Gardner, 2000). In less friendly versions, they were equal to goblins, gnomes, ogres or sylphs, all related to the Devil’s work (Wikipedia, 2008).

Whatever mythical power or knowledge the original Scythian elves, faeries and dwarves possessed, their legacy has been kept alive throughout myths, folklore and legends. Thanks to modern day fantasy literature, roll-playing games, the internet and the movie industry, they are more popular than ever. The culture of myths and legends, the elves, faeries and the little people, comes from a Middle Earth, not far away in the Otherworld, but from our own inheritance.

References :

Joy O’Brien, Christian and Barbara, The Genius of the Few, Dianthus, Cirencester, 1999.

Gardner, Laurence, Realm of the Ringlords : The Ancient Legacy of the Ring and the Grail, Tirion Uitgevers BV, AH Baarn, 2000.

Gardner, Laurence, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, HarperCollinsPublishers, London,1996.

Wood, Michael, Legacy: A search for the Origins of Civilization, BBC Network Books, London, 1992.

Taylor, Timothy, Thracians, Scythians and Dacians 800 BC – AD 300, The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Haywood, John, The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, Essex, 2004.

Witches Digest would like to thank Bart from Realm of Shadows for this article.

Realm of Shadows
13 Rodgers Close
Westhoughton
Bolton
BL5 2EY

 From the Witches Digest Mabon 2008

Technorati Tags: faeries, legends, myths, pagan, Tuadhe d'Anu, wicca

Churches have been decked with holly and ivy for Christmas, but few people pause to consider the heathen origins of those plants that feature so prominently at this time of year.

Ivy is associated with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, fertility and licentiousness, whose crown and garlands were composed of intertwined ivy and vines. It was considered important by the followers of Bacchus because it was said to be an antidote to the ill-effects of drunkenness (we now think of it as toxic). Both ivy and holly berries cause severe gastroenteritis if eaten. Holly was another decorative plant with a role in the Roman feast of Saturnalia.

Mistletoe has a more sinister past. Some people still think it unlucky to bring holly indoors except at Christmas, but church officials enforce an absolute taboo on mistletoe. It may be accepted as an excuse to kiss strangers but won’t be allowed through the church doors.

Pagans in Britain used mistletoe in human sacrificial rites, and in Scandinavia the god Hoder is said to have slain the blind, modest and gentle son of Odin with an arrow made of mistletoe. Some people believe the unlikely story that the Cross on which Christ was crucified was made of mistletoe wood.

Gold, myrrh, mistletoe and - in the past - ivy have all had medicinal uses. Gold was still used until recently to treat rheumatoid arthritis, although in this respect it cannot compete with modern anti-inflammatories, immune suppressants or anti-TNF drugs.

There are better - and less toxic - ways to treat boils, tonsillitis and other bacterial infections than by using myrrh, and more effective anti-cancer agents than those found in poisonous mistletoe berries. Ivy leaves can be an irritant and holly berries, while an irresistible luxury for thrushes, can play havoc with human guts if ingested.

Yet the plant compounds that can be so toxic or even fatal also contain chemicals central to the latest treatments for some types of cancer and heart disease.

The natural world is forever being explored as a source of new pharmacological products, and recently the EU has been formulating a licensing system for herbal products. Their packaging will include an explanation of the indications, side-effects and possible influences that they might have on any other drugs a person may be taking at the same time. At a recent meeting in London, scientists discussed with an audience of doctors the role and efficacy of some herbal remedies and the precautions being taken to ensure quality and safety of supplies.

I was impressed by the thorough checks made by producers of reputable herbal remedies, and decided to test one. In Germany a drug made from extracts of the root of Pelargonium sidoides (the pelargonium, pictured), marketed as Kaloba in the UK, Umcka Loabo in Germany and Umcka in the US, is recommended to relieve cold symptoms.

Dr Mike Dixon, medical director of the Prince of Wales’s organisation that works for integrated medicine, says that he takes Kaloba and vitamin C whenever he has been in contact with someone who has a cold or the first symptoms of one. He claims that he hasn’t had a proper cold for ten years.

Inspired by Dr Dixon, I have tried Kaloba on three occasions during the Christmas season. During each I spent hours with people who had monstrous colds or flu, and so far I have remained uninfected. Kaloba is taken in drop form: 20 drops are shaken into half a tumbler of water three times a day. Germans spend more than €30 million on it annually: it is one of the top three over-the-counter medications sold there.

It is worth a try. Unfortunately I won’t be at The Times to read your comments on Kaloba as this will be my last column. I would like to thank you all for your encouragement and for the thousands of letters, many of which deserved a rather longer reply than I could give them.

Dr Thomas Stuttaford - The Times Newspaper

Technorati Tags: herbal remedies, herbal remedy, holly, ivy, mistletoe, pagan, wicca

Talismans are important magical tools, dedicated to a specific goal.

They are considered to be one of the best ways to contact
universal forces and harness them so that they conform to the will of the magician.

If you choose to make your own talisman there are several things that you need to consider:

Materials
Design
Energy & Belief
Charging

Materials

Talismans can be made from a variety of different materials, some suggestions include:

Silver, Gold, Copper, Clay,
Porcelain, Vellum, Glass, Bone, Leather and Paper.

You will need to give
consideration to the practical uses of the talisman before you choose your material.
A paper talisman for increased prosperity may be suitable if you are keeping it in your wallet, but not if you intend to wear it as jewellery, where it would likely become damaged.

Any material used should to make a talisman should not have previously been used for any other purpose.

Design

The design of the talisman should mean something top you personally.  You may wish to use:

Magic Squares
Sigils
Astrological Symbols
A Poem
Words written in a Magical
Alphabet
Your Own Design

Be creative, combine symbols where necessary.  For example a talisman designed to protect the home could have a house and pentacle etched into it.

There are many excellent books and websites on the subject of symbols, we have included a few below for your convenience.

Energy and Belief

While making and empowering a talisman you must remain clearly focused on your goals and your ability to bring them to fruition.  There is no point in making one if you do not believe that it will work for you.

Personal energy is vital, and reinforces the power held in your subconscious mind. 

Charging

Once you have crafted your talisman you need to programme and consecrate it.

The area in which you will do this should be clean and tidy, you may want to light candles and incense, play relaxing music and place a vase of flowers in the room.

Purify yourself beforehand by taking a bath and dressing in clean clothes (natural fibres are best).

Sit comfortably and meditate on the goal of the talisman.  Take it in your projective hand (the one you write with) and tell it what its purpose is.  You can make this statement as simple or elaborate as you like. 

Feel the talisman becoming warm in your hand, when you feel it is time either store the talisman until it is needed, or put it to use straight away.

It is best to store a talisman in a pouch or box as you would do crystals or Tarot cards.

Thank the universe for its
energies.

© Dawn Gribble 2008
From the Witches Digest Lammas 2008

Technorati Tags: craft ideas, making a talisman, pagan, wicca, witchcraft

Milan will sweep aside its Roman and Papal heritage this weekend to celebrate Samhain, popularly regarded as the Celtic New Year, at a festival which highlights Italy’s awakened interest in its pagan past.

The city’s Sforzesco Castle will host crafts like weaving, coining money and making chain mail to a backdrop of music from Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Spain. More than 100,000 visitors are expected to come to see Celtic warriors clash in battle.

The focus is strictly cultural heritage, not religion, said Emanuela Magni, co-organizer of the event.

“It teaches how even with the passage of time, there are some concepts of the universe that have endured here,” Magni said, noting that the Celtic holy tradition of Samhain was a precursor to holidays like All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

But as Italy uncovers its pre-Christian roots, it is also awakening pagan practice.

“Indeed something is afoot here quietly but determinedly, and it appears to be a movement,” wrote American religious studies researcher Francesca Howell, in a paper published last month by the international journal of pagan studies, Pomegranate.

Italy has deep roots in witchcraft, or “stregoneria,” Howell said in an interview. But its current pagan movement echoes earlier trends in the British Isles and America. Italy’s pagans have coalesced around movements like feminism and environmentalism.

“It truly is a different cup of tea, or different cauldron of herbs, if you will,” she said.

Melwyn, a 23-year-old Milanese secretary who gave only her Celtic name, fits the movement’s demographics.

A Celtic re-enactor, she read about Wicca as a teenager and discovered practitioners at the Samhain festival four years ago.

“A lot of people are close to Wicca without knowing it, especially re-enactors” she said. “They believe in it but don’t acknowledge it.”

Organizers say numbers are elusive, but using sources like mailing lists, event registration and journal subscriptions, they place their ranks at between 2,000 and 10,000.

The founder of Milan’s Circle of the Crossroads, Davide Marre, remembers when his group numbered “four cats,” an expression for virtually nobody.

Six years later, he has 200 members, with conferences, study groups, a magazine, a book, even a monthly bar fest called the Witches’ Café.

Given Italy’s past, Marre said he is not surprised by the revival. “Italy is the land of the gods,” he said.

Technorati Tags: pagan, paganism, samhain, wicca

I truly believe that I chose somewhere in the Ether to be born into an Episcopalian family.  So, I grew up practicing Christian ways like the rest of my dogmatic family.  Maybe I signed up for that tour of duty to understand contrast and what I really didn’t want out of life in this dimension.  For
whatever reason, I was submitted to servitude in the church every Sunday with the rest of my family as I heard snooze-inducing sermons from the
pulpit reigning down in sheets of hypocrisy. 
Needless to say, without grousing about too much more on the subject, the male-dominated bent wasn’t to my taste.  I got nauseated hearing about the Father/Son relationship all the time…where was the Mother/Daughter pray tell?  My Mother and Father weren’t concerned as much at the time with the religious aspects, however, as they were about whom they were impressing in their societal circle in the Reception Hall after the church service had ended.  It was only later they had personal
spiritual revelations and assumed they all had to be Christian because theirs had been.  But that’s another story. 

When I moved out on my own years later, I realized I was free to practice whatever my heart truly desired.  For me, it was HedgeCraft.  I love being solitary most of the time and I love living at the edge of a spinney; this wonderful lifestyle has suited my needs quite well.  However, I am aware that my Path can very well change, and I’m open to new adventures, too! 
Hedgewitchery is thought by many to be a
Neo-Pagan path of sorts at this point, so I jokingly referred to myself as an “EpiscoPagan” at one time.  Practicing HedgeCraft I feel is very spiritual because I can feel the interconnectedness of all things through astral projection, etc. 
Since everything is energy, it’s interesting to be able to tap into other forms vibrating at different frequencies.  Later on, I realized that I was able to manipulate some types of energy.  In the Giver arena, I’m certified in Reiki (Usui).  In the Taker arena, I could be called a Solitary Psychic
Vampyre.  They are both energy workers on both sides of the spectrum, so to speak.   

When the debate began about whether it was best to be spiritual or religious, I’ll admit I was
decidedly on the Spiritual Bandwagon, forsaking my former Religious Roots.  I liked calling myself Nonsectarian.  Yet, I was kind of deluding myself because I realized that I was still calling on my own modified HedgeCraft ritual when I really wanted something to manifest in this physical dimension. 

Eventually, it occurred to me that that kind of “Either Religion Or Spirituality” kind of thinking was really fallacious.  It was illogical and seemed to be a kind of One-Way-Mentality upon further examination.  Why couldn’t I have both in my life?  The answer is:  I could and I have!!  Just like I’m free to follow any Paths I feel like
following.  What serves me today may or may not serve me tomorrow, so I hope I’m always flexible enough to honor that and not remain stuck
because of fear, etc.  Like Ralph Waldo Emerson said well over a century ago, “People do not grow old.  When they cease to grow, they become old.”

G L Giles is an ‘Indie Author’ success story.

She also writes a Book Review column for the Psychic Times called the G L Giles Files.

Her books can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Booksamillion.com

From Witches Digest Litha 2008 

Technorati Tags: pagan, religious, spiritual, spirituality, wicca

In the past two and a half thousand years, the temples of the Acropolis have suffered fire, bombing and earthquake. Now, scientists are trying to save them from a new modern enemy: pollution.

Standing on a hilltop at the centre of Athens, a city of 4 million people, the Acropolis’ elaborately sculptured stones have fallen prey to a film of black crust from car exhaust fumes, industrial pollution, acid rain and fires.

A team of Greek engineers and restorers are using an innovative laser technology system to clean the surface of the ancient monuments, uncovering colours and ornamentation hidden for decades.

“It is very serious,” said Maria Ioannidou, director of the Acropolis Restoration Service, of the pollution. “It destroys sculptural, structural and painting details. One of our aims is to regain these cultural details using new technology.”

For years the team tested 40 different methods, including mechanical and chemical processes, to find the safest solutions to restore the white of the marbles without losing detail.

The winner was the brainchild of Crete’s Foundation for Research and Technology, which created a system that uses two laser beams of infrared and ultraviolet rays simultaneously.

These rays have been used separately to clean ancient marble, but it was found that one left a yellow tint while the other left a grey one. The new system blasts off layers of black film leaving the marble details intact, without discoloration.

But it is a risky process.

“If you remove something you cannot put it back in place, so we must be quite sure that we remove unwanted pollutants and leave … all the information on the original surface,” said Evi Papaconstantinou, the chemical engineer in charge of the team.

The system was first used on the sculptures of the west frieze of the Parthenon temple in 2004. Now the team has begun a second operation on the porch of the Caryatids, where besides pollution they must erase soot from fires and the mistakes of past restorers who tried to mend the roof with cement.

Scientists first scan the marbles with ultrasound and an infrared imaging and spectroscopy system to reveal what lies beneath the black crust. To their astonishment, they found colours, ornamentation and script that had been hidden for years.

Even wearing goggles, restorers can work only for two hours a day because of the flashing rays from the laser. They lie on a reclining doctor’s chair to carry out the time consuming process on the roof inch by inch.

Restoring the Caryatid porch is expected to take one year, but the cleaning will continue as long as pollution persists.

“The conservation team will remain on the rock because the marble is alive. It will remain exposed to the atmosphere,” said Papaconstantinou.

For years, archaeologists and scientists have debated how to protect the monuments from pollution, some even suggesting the temples be covered with domes. The creation of an Athens subway helped reduce pollution, but vehicles still cram the streets and the Greek capital remains blanketed in a thick smog.

Acid rain has eroded some fine details from the porous marble of the Acropolis sculptures, including the Caryatids, and have had to be moved to museums and replaced with replicas.

“We can’t stop the pollution, but we can lessen the effects,” said Ioannidou.

Technorati Tags: acropolis, pagan, wicca

A gnome has been caught on camera by a group of friends in South America, reports The Sun.

Experts have deemed the footage, showing a short creature sidestepping down a street in Santiago del Estero, Argentina as “credible”.

One witness said: “We were messing about - singing and dancing - when we heard a loud rustling noise from behind us. This tiny thing started running down Avenue San Martin at us. It had a pointy head and dark clothes.

“It was a person of incredibly low stature. We filmed it then got scared and ran off. This little thing was barking like a dog - but running sideways on two legs. It headed off towards the football stadium.”

Photographic expert Aldegonda Alvarz said: “This video footage seems credible. We could be looking at another ‘petido orejudo’ - small being.”

Hundreds of other sightings have been reported over the past 20 years, with local authorities confirming that they have known about the “creepy gnome” for several years.

Technorati Tags: gnome, mythology, pagan, wicca

Nepal’s new Maoist-led government has appointed a 6-year-old girl as a “living goddess” in a town near Kathmandu, for the first time snapping the link between the ancient ritual and the ousted monarchy.

For centuries, the head priest of the Nepali monarchy appointed the “Kumaris” in several towns in the Kathmandu valley. But with the abolition of the monarchy in May, that position has also disappeared.

Instead, officials at the state-run Trust Corporation overseeing cultural affairs appointed Shreeya Bajracharya as the new Kumari of the temple-town of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, Deepak Bahadur Pandey, a senior official of the agency said.

“The government authorised us to appoint the Kumari and we have done that for the first time,” Pandey said.

The Himalayan nation abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and became a republic in May, following elections in April that saw the country’s Maoist former rebels emerge as the biggest political party in the 601-seat constituent assembly.

The Maoists now head the new government.

Shreeya was enthroned on Sunday amid prayers by Buddhist priests and will be worshipped by devout Hindus and Buddhists until reaching puberty, the girl’s caretaker Nhuchhe Ratna Shakya said, adding: “She is pretty and nice.”

Shreeya replaces her controversial predecessor, Sajani Shakya, who retired earlier this year, after nine years in the divine role.

Sajani made international headlines in 2007 after she visited the United States to promote a film by a British company about the Kumari system.

Some religious authorities criticised the trip, saying it was against tradition. She retired at the request of her family.

Under the Kumari tradition, girls selected from Buddhist Newar families through a rigorous cultural process become the “living goddesses.”

The Kumaris are a major tourist attraction and are considered by many as incarnations of the goddess Kali and are revered until they menstruate, after which they return to the family and a new one is chosen.

Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government last month to safeguard the Kumaris human rights after complains that the practice went against the child living a normal life.

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