Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- US: Pagan conferences return with more attendees, more magick after pandemic hiatus
- New tomb discovered in Egypt with 3,000-year-old shrine to mystery god-like figure
- Distrust in religion rises in Japan
And more… see all stories below.
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Pagan News
US: Pagan conferences return with more attendees, more magick after pandemic hiatus
The Washington Post*
A spirit of reunion permeated a pagan conference held annually in early April and hosted by the Sacred Space Foundation…
Orthodox Easter mixes spiritual and pagan in equal measure
AP
Millions of Orthodox Christians across Eastern and Southern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, have celebrated Easter, capping weeklong religious celebrations…
Shinto News
Distrust in religion rises in Japan
Nippon.com
Recent scandals in Japan have eroded trust in religion in general. While this is not so true for Buddhism, there is relatively little interest in the faith…
Japan PM sends offerings to controversial Tokyo shrine
ABC News
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has donated religious offerings to a Tokyo shrine that China and the Koreas consider a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism…
Japan’s ‘crying baby sumo’ festival returns after pandemic
Gulf News
The festival is held at shrines & temples nationwide, to the delight of parents, onlookers…
Food and folklore: A journey deep into Japan’s countryside
The Straits Times
Immersed in nature, I begin to appreciate why the Japanese practise a religion that worships nature…
A Japanese island where the wild things are
The Japan Times*
The infinitely expanding pantheon of mythological creatures is well in evidence on Shodoshima, a small island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, where residents host an art contest and invite entrants to let their imaginations run wild as they create new yōkai for the modern era…
Other News
New tomb discovered in Egypt with 3,000-year-old shrine to mystery god-like figure
The Mirror
A 3,000-year-old tomb has been discovered with four small shrines showing scenes of a God-like figure named Yoyo…
Lizard remains found inside 2,500-year-old coffins from ancient Egypt
Smithsonian Magazine
Scientists have used an innovative imaging technique to peer inside six 2,500-year-old animal coffins from Egypt—without opening or damaging them…
Figurine of Greek love god and more historical treasures uncovered in Italy
The Jerusalem Post
Archaeologists uncovered a statue of the Greek god of love Eros, bull head figurines and more historical treaues in a newly discovered temple…
Bust of Silenus found during archaeological dig in the UK
Greek Reporter
An archaeological dig in Cockermouth, England, the United Kingdom, discovered a bust of the ancient Greek mythological figure, Silenus, who was closely associated with the God of fertility, wine and pleasure – Dionysus…
UK: Reality TV star told to take down antivax “shamanic wisdom” sanctuary
The Times*
A former Dragons’ Den star has been told to pull down a sanctuary for antivaxers built on a site of protected ancient woodland in the Peak District…
Riddle of ancient Egypt’s ‘impossible’ sculpture is finally solved-in Scotland
MENAFN
The statue, viewable at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the flagship museum of National Museums Scotland, has remained a mystery to generations of Egyptologists because it should be impossible; by the strict conventions ruling every aspect of Egyptian life, a commoner could not, at any time, touch a reigning king, let alone be in such intimate contact…
The Greek goddess Gaia and her connection to Earth Day
Greek Reporter
Earth Day on April 22nd is celebrated once again as over one billion people in countries around the world help make the world a little greener, helping it recover from the ravages of industrialization and pollution…
UK: Stonehenge’s forgotten cousin ‘of national importance’ hidden on housing estate
Wiltshire Live
The megalith described as an “icon of prehistoric ritual” sits next to a block of flats in a cul-de-sac…
7 ancient Greek methods for predicting the future
Sky History
Celebrated Ancient Greek thinkers Socrates and Pythagoras practised divination and Plato believed in it…
Why the Kabbalah shows up so often in anime
CBR
Kabbalah mysticism is frequently referenced in popular anime through symbolism, though its relevance to these shows’ plots tends to be negligible…
The humble tomatoes that were once blamed for black magic
Slurrp
Did you know that in the past, this humble fruit was feared and even blamed for witchcraft, black magic, and even werewolves?…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
India: Six arrested for beating woman to death over ‘witchcraft’ suspicion in Kandhamal
Pragativadi
The Khajuripada police in Kandhamal district have arrested six people and for allegedly beating a woman to death on suspicion of practising ‘witchcraft’…
India: Villagers assault four people on suspicion of ‘practising witchcraft’ in Assam’s Sonitpur, 8 arrested
The Print
In a shocking incident, a group of villagers of a remote village in Assam’s Sonitpur district along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border physically tortured four fellow villagers and branded them as practising witchcraft, police said on Tuesday…
Uganda: Indian national arrested after stabbing fuel station boss over ‘witchcraft’
Monitor
Police in Wandegeya, Kampala have detained a 40-year-old Indian national on attempted murder charges after he allegedly attacked a fuel station manager with a knife due to ‘witchcraft’ suspicions…
Nigeria: Activists, lawyers, others to get justice for man accused, set ablaze over witchcraft in Benue
Vanguard
The Director of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW), Dr Leo Igwe, has met the Benue State chapter of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to get justice for Pa Justin Kyadoo who was accused of witchcraft and subsequently set ablaze…
Nigeria: Teenage boy labelled as ‘witch’ in Rivers State needs proper medical checkup – advocacy group, AfAW
Sahara Reporters
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) has said that a teenage boy identified as Marvellous who reportedly confessed to be a ‘witch’ in Mbiama Community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State needs proper medical check-up…
We can learn from Scotland’s witch hunts to shape justice today, says criminology expert
University of Stirling
We can learn valuable lessons from campaigns that highlight the injustices of Scotland’s witch hunts, says a criminology expert from the University of Stirling…
Spiritual warfare rhetoric and anti-Pagan sentiment is reaching contagion
The Wild Hunt
Growing segments of Christian denominations and other conservative faiths are targeting “the occult,” claiming it is a dangerous societal trend that must be exposed…
The Malleus Maleficarum, and what it meant for ‘witches’
Book Riot
In 1486, a man named Heinrich Kramer, under the name Henricus Institor, decided to publish a treatise about witches, where to find them, and what to do about them: the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches)…
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