Once again we turn our attention to the Witches Almanac Spring 2016 issue where each year they feature a celebrity horoscope of “Someone who has impacted the magical universe”. And who do they choose for their “Pagan celebrity of the year”? Pope Francis, the leader of the catholic world. This is now the second article we have about this particular installment of the Witches Almanac. In the other article we discuss how members of the editorial staff compare being a Witch to being transgendered and how liberalism has crept in and taken over Paganism to push liberal leftist politics as though they are Pagan religious beliefs.
But why the Pope of all people? And not just an honorable mention, but to dedicate a whopping four whole pages to him? To what does the Witches Almanac attribute to this man that makes him worthy of the admiration of not just Witches and Wiccans, but the Pagan community as a whole? According to the author Dikki-Jo Mullen “Pope Francis is winning the approval of Pagans…”.
Because he seeks changes in Catholicism on the topics of “Abortion, gay rights, women priest and divorce.”
All of these are liberals political issues, not Pagan religious issues. You know what is a Pagan religious issue? Child molestation and our need to be as intolerant and unforgiving of it as possible, and last time I checked the Pope has done nothing to stop it and said little to condemn it. But by all means, let’s give him an award because he’s starting to consider that killing babies might actually be OK.
And what’s with this “Winning the approval of Muslims” business? You mean those people who’s religious views outright condemn abortion, homosexuality, women priest and divorce to the point that 30% of Muslims in America and Europe support the death penalty for them? Why not give this honor to someone who has never been involved in molesting a child and has in fact personally helped hundreds of sick children by paying for their medical needs out of pocket, someone who has been pro-choice, Someone who supports trannies using whatever bathrooms they want, someone who not just allows, but encourages women to work along side men, someone who’s seen a few divorces in his time… why not give this honor to someone like Donald Trump? That’s because they are not giving this honor to someone who has impacted the magical universe, but instead people who buy into the liberals regressive agenda and will turn on their already long established faith to make it just another homogenized product of liberal leftism.
Yet Trump is a racist for vowing to stop these people.
We used to get the Witches Almanac faithfully throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s when it was a true paperback news print and they were great books full of wonderful stories and legends of Pagans long past. The short two page stories and articles, as well as a cheep cover price of just $8, made them perfect bathroom readers. Now they are stereotypical soft cover new-age novellas costing a hefty $13. This made them lose their luster and personal feeling of a grassroots affirmation of faith and now feel more like an affirmation of capitalism and new age dogma.
While the Orlando terrorist attack was unfolding I was in a local Wiccan shop browsing around. Another customer was talking with the shop owner and like everyone else in every store that day, the discussion eventually turned to the attack. The discussion wasn’t anything none of us haven’t already said or heard but one phrase caught my ear.
“He’ll get what’s coming to him, you can’t run from Karma.”
GIFSec.com
The customer apparently had yet to hear that the terrorist had been killed by police. Later leftist liberals took to social media to blame christians for the attack, and then once it was know that the terrorist was a muslim democrat they blamed Trump supporters… yeah, the same people who want muslims like Mateen to be checked out to make sure they don’t support Daesh or that their fathers are not out and proud supporters of the Taliban… Yeah, those people.
As the days went by America mourned and we kept hearing again and again about how fifty INNOCENT lives were lost not to radical islam, but to guns. (here we go)
But let’s for a minute focus on a different word in that sentence, Innocent. I know the Pagan community wouldn’t dare question the innocence of a single person who was in that club that night. Just look at how much rage and outcry there was when a christian priest said during a sermon that the victims died because that was their punishment for living in sin. Of coarse there was no rage of outcry for the islamic priest who said the same thing, but who care right? And neither of them are dropping dead for what they said, not even a cough or cold. Meanwhile we have 50 people dead and 53 more wounded. I am going to do something that is daring, that the mere notion may offend people but I feel it’s a question that needs to be asked to spark something among my fellow Pagans.
“What did these 103 people do to deserve what they got?”
You see karma is an eastern philosophy, not a Pagan one. There is no history of it in Druidry, Asatru or Celtic lore. So why do so many Neo-Pagans cling to it? Because of 60’s Hippie movement that was hungry for any theological belief that wasn’t the christianity they had been raised in, and the fact it’s a moral code that conforms completely to whatever morals the believer has. It became so popular that Gerald Gardiner included karma into his version of Wicca because he knew it would attract hippies like moths to a flame and it’s been carried throughout Wicca since, practically burying the actual concept behind the three fold law, which was that what you do effects you in mind, body and spirit… not come back to you three times. Yet it amazes me at how many Pagans will dogmatically go on about karma but the second that belief is in contradiction to the leftist liberal law “Thou shalt not blame gays” their belief gets turned off like a light switch, only to be turned back on once it’s convenient.
We know what Omar Mateen did to serve what he got, there’s no question there. But what about the people he hurt. If you get back what you do (especially three times fold) then what did these people do that half of them deserved death?… even if you loosely believe in Karma then you have no choice in this, they must have done something. If these people were completely innocent and have done nothing themselves to warrant such a fate, and that these clubs are gatherings or the purest tolerance, love, joy and happiness, then shouldn’t that night club have been shielded by good karma like a glass dome? Meanwhile why do places of frothing hate like the Westboro Baptist Church only experience the tragedy of their leading dying a quick painless death in his sleep after living a long 85 years?
Isn’t it time that Pagans let go of their belief in karma?
In case you are wondering what this author thinks about divine justice/punishment. I have come to my own belief. The Gods are neutral and we are all equally divine, they don’t pick favorites. Like all life in the universe they have given us free will. But like all freedoms they come with a price, that price is that free will can be used to harm us. But the Gods did not leave use naked in the cold, they also gave us the freedom to defend ourselves.
In the latest issue of The Witches Almanac, the Spring 2016 issue, there is a letter in their Mailbox section… actually it’s the first letter they respond too. A reader by the name of Lorraine Margueritte Gasrel Black (any relation to Sirius Black?) writes the question “How does one know if she/he is really a Witch?”
The responder at The Witches Almanac waste no time in using this opportunity to assert their political beliefs by responding:
“Knowing one is a Witch is like knowing one’s gender; It’s within your soul. Someone who was not raised a Witch will often experience a type of inner knowing or awakening.”
Let’s put aside the fact that this person just glazes right by the blatant No-true-Scotsman inherent in the question that is what really should have been addressed, This person instead makes the effort to equate being a Witch to being transgendered. That even though one was not raised as a Witch, like a man who was not raised as a woman, will experience some inner knowing or awakening, like a man waking up one day and saying to himself “I feel like a woman, I must be a woman”. This is comparing apples to turkey. You know within your soul that you are a Witch where as you know within your underwear what your gender is.
The responder then goes on to say:
“You may find yourself intuitively acting in concert with nature…”
This is a point that’s made in another article we published pointing out the gross disconnect “Nature worshiping” Neo-Pagans have with nature. Nature determines one’s own gender and proudly pronounces it by assigning genitals to all of us… yet when a Neo-Pagan doesn’t like what nature did, to hell with nature. It’s very disingenuous to make a comparison with something as anti-nature as the myth of gender fluidity, and then try to solidify the point with an appeal to that very Nature.
This is a classic example of leftist liberals slipping their political beliefs into Paganism.
Last Friday thousands of Atheist liberals nationwide watched in awe as a small bird landed on the podium of Bernie Sanders.
Immediately social media erupted in talk of the moment but the most profound aspect was that liberals who pride themselves on being atheist, who will openly claim that they don’t believe in superstitions or the supernatural, claimed this was a sign from the divine that Sanders was to be the next president.
Why is this a big deal? Because for as long as I can remember liberals of all types have always attacked the notion of “Divine signs”, especially when it comes to politicians. Not a week goes by that Atheist liberals like Bill Maher share an article about some christian preacher giving a sermon that his favorite politician is endorsed by his god… which is then thoroughly ripped to shreds by the self-righteous liberal masses because “Only idiots believe in imaginary friends”. But none of these same liberals had any problem hypocritically doing it themselves with Pagan bird signs.
One under-noticed tidbit was just how fast liberals go from Atheist to Satanist, demonstrated perfectly by this woman giving a double horns to the bird as it flew away. (Sorry, couldn’t help it)
But let’s not forget the last time a “Dove of peace” landed on the podium of a socialist.
SALEM — Nearly 325 years after 19 people accused of witchcraft were hanged in this city, a group of scholars has finally confirmed the place where they met their fate: Proctor’s Ledge.
The Gallows Hill Project, a group of seven scholars, says they were able to definitively identify the location after five years of research, using court records, maps, ground-penetrating radar and aerial photographs.
Now the city intends to mark the location with a memorial, according to Mayor Kim Driscoll.
The discovery didn’t come as a shock, said Emerson “Tad” Baker, a history professor at Salem State University.
Proctor’s Ledge, a wooded, city-owned area that abuts Proctor and Pope streets, and described as a “rocky ledge … at the base of the hill,” has been considered the most likely spot since the early 1900s, when historian Sidney Perley conducted research and settled on that location.
“There was never really a ‘eureka’ moment,” Baker said. “I think most of us — we’re talking about a number of scholars who were working on this — we knew Perley’s research was really good.”
What Perley’s research lacked was modern technology, Baker said.
Around 1,000 documents survive from the time of the trials, Baker said, making it “one of the best recorded events in early American history.” But missing are eyewitness accounts of the hangings, he added.
Gallows Hill, but where?
Traditionally, the hangings have been described simply as occurring at Gallows Hill, but that covers many acres of land. To determine exactly where the executions took place, a group of scholars was assembled in 2010 to examine the evidence.
They included Baker; Elizabeth Peterson, director of Salem’s Corwin House, aka The Witch House; Tom Phillips, who directed and produced “Salem Witch Trials: Examine the Evidence”; Marilynne Roach, a witch trials author and historian; Peter Sablock, a Salem State geology professor; Benjamin Ray, a religion professor at the University of Virginia; and Shelby Hypes, chairwoman of the Salem Award Foundation.
They were able to combine their research and knowledge of the 1692 events, explore the possibilities, and also rule out that anything occurred on top of Gallows Hill.
“We’re pretty certain there’s nothing up there,” Baker said.
To memorialize the people who died there, the city is seeking Community Preservation Act funds to install a plaque there, as well as to clean the site up and prepare it for tourist traffic.
“Salem, long known for a dark time in our past when people turned on each, is now a community where people turn toward each other,” Driscoll said in a prepared statement. “Having this site identified marks an important opportunity for Salem, as a city, to come together and recognize the injustice and tragedy perpetrated against 19 innocent people.”
This is a sharp contrast from what was planned back in 1892 — a large memorial lookout tower, according to Baker.
What the Gallows Hill watchtower would have looked like had it been constructed.
At least 25 people died in the Salem Witch Trials. In addition to the 19 hanged, five died in prison awaiting trial. Another, Giles Corey, was crushed to death when rocks were placed on his chest in an effort to make him cooperate with the court.
While Baker said he and his team were excited to give the location legitimacy, he said they are simply “confirming the great work” that Perley did a century ago.
“I think we are all honored to be a part of this effort and are extremely happy that the mayor and the city are eager to see that the site is properly maintained and marked,” he said.
HOW THEY DID IT
The Gallows Hill Project prepared a series of questions and answers explaining how they confirmed Proctor’s Ledge as the execution site for accused witches.
How did they pin down the site?
Marilynne Roach discovered a few key lines of eyewitness testimony in a Salem witch trials court record from Aug. 19, 1692. … The record quotes the defendant Rebecca Eames, who had been on her way to the court in the custody of her guards and traveled along the Boston Road, which ran just below the execution site.
A few hours later, she appeared the Salem court for her preliminary examination. The magistrate asked Eames whether she had witnessed the execution that took place earlier that morning as she was passing by. She explained that she was at “the house below the hill” and that she saw some “folks” at the execution. Roach determined that the “house below the hill” was most likely the McCarter House, or one of its neighbors on Boston Street. The McCarter house was still standing in 1890 at 19 Boston St.
What other evidence is there?
Professor Benjamin Ray conducted research that pinpointed the McCarter house’s location and worked with geographic information system specialist Chris Gist of the University of Virginia’s Scholars Lab to determine whether, in fact, it was possible for a person standing at the site of the house on Boston Street to see the top of Proctor’s Ledge. Gist produced a view-shed analysis, which determined that the top of Proctor’s Ledge was clearly visible.
Why did they rule out the top of Gallows Hill?
There are several reasons why the location at the top of Gallows Hill does not work. First, it would not have been visible from the McCarter house and its neighbors on Boston Street. It also would not have been visible from the Symonds house on North Street, where another person is known to have witnessed some of the executions. Furthermore, we know that the eight victims hanged on Sept. 22 were driven by cart to the execution site. It would have been next to impossible to get a cart full of eight victims up a steep and rocky slope that lacked a road.
Finally, executions were meant to be public events, so everyone could witness the terrible consequences that awaited those who committed witchcraft and other serious crimes. The top of Gallows Hill would be much more difficult to access than Proctor’s Ledge.
Did the project find anything on Gallows Hill?
Professor Peter Sablock carried out geo-archaeological remote sensing on the site with a team of his geology students. Ground-penetrating radar and electronic soil resistivity do not disturb the soil, but can tell us about the ground underneath. His tests indicate there is very little soil on Proctor’s Ledge. There are only a few small cracks in the ledge, and here the soil is less than 3 feet deep — certainly not deep enough to bury people.
This finding is in keeping with oral traditions that the families of the victims came under cover of darkness to recover loved ones and rebury them in family cemeteries. There is no indication that there are any human remains on the Proctor Ledge site.
What about the gallows?
The numerous surviving documents from the witch trials contain no mention of a gallows. Indeed, the only time Gallows Hill was used for executions was in 1692. Therefore, the team believes that the executions were carried out from a large tree, a common tradition at the time. The remote sensing research supports this conclusion, as no trace of structures were discovered, though admittedly a temporary wooden gallows would leave little evidence behind for archaeologists to discover.
A growing component in the feminist take over of Paganism is to promote the feminizing of boys. Many articles on sites like Patheos, the Covenant Of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and even The Wild Hunt call to “Teach boys feminism to eliminate toxic masculinity”. This tactic of inventing the term “Toxic masculinity” was first used by monotheistic religions. In order to push your alien morals and ideals on a population, you must first demonize the native traits that would give any opposition to your agenda. Pagan cultures revere sexuality as a sacred part of life, so christianity invented “Original sin” where by all are guilty of an evil by birth and only the christian church can save it. The people are literally shamed into seeking salvation they never needed to begin with. Toxic masculinity is the exact same thing. Feminism teaches that all boys are born evil because they have toxic masculinity and that only feminism can purge them of this evil and replace it with “Feminized masculinity”.
But just as many are shamed into the new religion, a growing number of boys and men are starting to see the truth behind the facade pushed on them. Many due to the growing Mens Rights Movement and MGTOW, but there are also many who chose to look behind the curtain because of feminism’s own chauvinistic superiority stance. One such young man was Gled Poole, a self described “Lapsed Male Feminist”.
Poole, a columnist from the UK who wrote this piece for the Telegraph entitled “Boys should have the right to say no to feminism.” Poole is a self-described “lapsed male feminist.” In the column, he describes how he came to reject mainstream liberal feminism. He recalls hearing a speech by a feminist in which she declared that she was proud of her femaleness and femininity and refused to apologize for being a woman. Her sentiment was greeted with applause and praise – even by Poole himself.
Later, Poole got thinking – what if a man said something similar about masculinity? From the column –
However, as a straight, white male from working-class roots living a fairly middle-class lifestyle (a demographic one of my mates describes as “half-classed”), I’m left wondering if there is a stage anywhere in the world where a young man could be applauded for saying:
“I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my maleness and for my masculinity and I want to respected in all of my maleness because I deserve to be!”
It may sound comical but in a truly egalitarian world we would welcome such declarations of male and female empowerment with parity. And yet my personal experience of the feminist worldview that dominates gender politics, is that rather than encourage the empowerment of men, it expects us to apologise for our maleness, our masculinity and our manhood.
So the day I gave up apologising for being my own man – both to socially-conservative traditionalists and to progressive, liberal feminists – was the day I became an unapologetic, card-carrying non-feminist.
From there, Poole explains that boys and men are “evangelized” into feminism by being made to feel ashamed of their masculinity. Feminists teach that masculinity is a difficult ideal to achieve and that forces men and boys into a “hard, small cage” and somehow, embracing feminism is how they break free of that cage. Yet, feminists turn around and demand that people accept their perfect version of feminism – one that has very little room for disagreement or individual adaptation. Basically, if feminists think you’re doing feminism wrong, then you are wrong –
The real problem for feminism is it can’t control what men and boys think, feel and say when we speak out about gender issues.
In her brilliant TED talk, [feminist Chimamanda Ngozi] Adichie acknowledges that gender can be an uncomfortable conversation and like many missionaries before her, she seeks to place a limit on the topics that savage, non-feminist boys should be allowed to discuss.
“Some people will say, ‘well, poor men also have a hard time’ and this is true, but this is not what this conversation is about,” she says.
Oh really? Who decided that only feminist matriarchs get to choose what conversations men and boys can and can’t have about gender?
He’s got a point there.
Poole also takes on the feminist argument of the “fragile male ego” – how men supposedly feel slighted if they aren’t considered “man enough” in certain things. But then he also points out that there is also a “fragile female ego” and that it’s taken the form of the demand for “trigger warnings” (which made me laugh, because he’s so darn right about that!) –
It’s also my experience that feminism – with it’s trigger warnings and its fundamentalist belief that “we should all be feminists” – is the embodiment of a fragile female ego that is incapable of accepting that anyone else (especially men and boys) should be entitled to the privileged position of being considered vulnerable, sensitive and worthy of protection.
Bingo!
Poole also has a ten-minute TED Talk at the sourcelink, which was a treat to watch if you have the time to do so. It’s nice when a former feminist – male or female – sees the kind of problems you run into when you’re trying to hold up one gender over the other. Equality isn’t about shoving men down while lifting women up. It should be about lifting both men and women up. And Glen Poole gets it!
In 1659 the Puritans banned Christmas in Massachusetts. But why?
“The Puritan Governor interrupting the Christmas Sports,” by Howard Pyle c. 1883
A short, easily-overlooked paragraph from an early law book of the Massachusetts Bay Colony reads as follows:
“For preventing disorders arising in several places within this jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God and offence of others, it is therefore ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon such accountants as aforesaid, every person so offending shall pay of every such offence five shillings, as a fine to the county.”
Yes, you read that right. In 1659 the Puritan government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony actually banned Christmas. So how did one of the largest Christian holidays come to be persecuted in the earliest days of New England?
Photo/Art by Public Domain: A 1659 public notice alerting congregants to the new holiday ordinance.
Christmas in 17th century England actually wasn’t so different from the holiday we celebrate today. It was one of the largest religious observances, full of traditions, feast days, revelry and cultural significance. But the puritans, a pious religious minority (who, after all, fled the persecution of the Anglican majority), felt that such celebrations were unnecessary and, more importantly, distracted from religious discipline. They also felt that due to the holiday’s loose pagan origins, celebrating it would constitute idolatry. A common sentiment among the leaders of the time was that such feast days detracted from their core beliefs: “They for whom all days are holy can have no holiday.”
This meant that Christmas wasn’t the only holiday on the chopping block. Easter and Whitsunday, other important historical celebrations, were also forbidden. Bans like these would continue through the 18th and 19th centuries (the US House of Representatives even convened on Christmas in 1802). As Puritanism started to fall out of favor, however, Christmas was almost universally accepted throughout the US by 1840, and was eventually declared a National Holiday in 1870.
On Saturday December 5th a memorial service was held for Larry Daniel Kaufman, a 42 year old practicing Wiccan who was killed by jihadist Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik while at his job at the Inland Regional Center for people with disabilities in San Bernardino .
He was in the facility when the attack began. Concerned for his co-workers he yelled “Get out! Go! Get out now! Hurry!”Shoving people out of the line of fire before taking a round and his life ended.
According to Kaufman’s surviving partner Ryan Reyes, he saved 4 people’s lives that day.
The controversial Bremerton high school football coach, Joe Kennedy, who wanted to make sure Jesus was to thank for every touchdown by making a public spectacle out of his prayers got shut down… but not for the reason many would think.
He was praying while on school time, And while Kennedy never told his players that they had to pray with him, he forbid them from praying to any others Gods, which was double direct violation of church-state separation laws that forbid turning the playing field into an open forum for all forms of religion to be expressed freely. A few of the students attending the school wanted to join in on the festivities, express their school spirit and also pray for the success of their beloved football team. So they invited members of the local Satanic Temple to come and deliver a post-game invocation with them in representation of their faith(an act that was actually fully legal since students were not on school pay). But supporters of Kennedy crying “Freedom of religion” only wanted to allow christian prayers to be recited in front of the crowd and sent a landslide of angry letters demanding that the school ban the Satanic students from praying. So just as any parent who has children fighting over who gets to play with the toy, the school took the toy away by shutting down all forms of prayers by faculty on school time.
One major aspect of all Paganism is the celebration of the genders. One of the main endgames of progressives is to destroy gender altogether by feminism’s demonization of Men and victimization of Women. First it starts by progressives declaring that boys need to be “feminized” in articles published on blogs like Covenant Of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Patheos and even The Wild Hunt. Now the feminist media is telling us that it’s time to get rid of the concept of manhood completely and are declaring the need to totally run the male gender into the ground.
How many more declarations of cultural warfare by progressives need to be illustrated before enough men and women in the Pagan community wake up? Progressives are working to HATE masculinity with a passion, they hate the men in your family and they want them to submit. Quote:
“Men are pretty terrible people. They commit significantly more violent crimes, robberies and assaults each year than women do, according to the Department of Justice. They are more likely to show anger in the workplace and be rewarded for it while women are affected negatively for the same behaviors. They even take up too much space on public transportation when “manspreading”. I could keep going. Men probably dominate all these “terrible” statistics because, now and throughout history, they’ve dominated the world. But that doesn’t give them a pass. They are still to blame even if they don’t know better, and it’s high time their dominant position – their entitled ignorance – was questioned and dismantled.”
Now replace “Men” with “Blacks” and you’ll see the outrageous prejudice and hatred this author expresses.
But the terrible thing is that masses of feminist Neo-Pagan social justice warlords are buying into this crap. Misandrist feminism has taken over Paganism so much that most “Pagans” today forgot what all Pagan religions are about. Do these people not remember why Pagans celebrate the seasons, the cycles of life, death and rebirth? You can not remove the fact that all Pagan religions celebrate and honor reproduction, the joining of Women and Men. There is no Pagan religion that celebrates Men shunning their “toxic masculinity” by lopping their penises off and identifying as Women.
Every polytheistic religion in human history had both Gods and Goddess and in almost all cases both Gods and Goddesses were equally important and powerful. Both had their share of power, even in pantheons with male leaders. The worship of both male and female deities was because ancient Pagans practiced true “gender equality”, All Pagans knew it was an undisputed fact that both genders are needed to create life and honored the complimentary roles the genders, instead of the progressive’s Divide and Conquer belief.
