Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- US actress Vanessa Hudgens wishes to break ‘demonic’ stigma around witchcraft
- Nigeria: ‘Witchcraft’ accusations reason for high rate of street children
- 11 injured as danjiri cart overturns in Osaka, Japan
And more… see all stories below.
Pagan News
US actress Vanessa Hudgens wishes to break ‘demonic’ stigma around witchcraft
WION
Hollywood actress Vanessa Hudgens, who made a name for herself in showbiz by playing Gabriella Montez in Disney Channel’s runaway hit High School Musical, says she has “manifested” every successful thing in her life…
Canada: Modern-day witches explore their roots in upcoming documentary ‘Coven’
ET Canada
Directed by Rama Rau, ET Canada has an exclusive first look at the documentary which follows three millennial witches as they explore what it means to be a witch in the modern world…
Wicca Academy launches new online coven meetings
Digital Journal
Wicca Academy has launched weekly online coven meetings for Lite and Premium members, that take place every Wednesday…
US: Pagan Picnic returns to Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, in June
Riverfront Times
St. Louis’ Pagan Picnic is a summer tradition that is beloved by all who attend and side-eyed by all who haven’t yet attended…
UK: North Walsham’s Rite of Spring festival line-up announced
North Norfolk News
More details of an all-new festival inspired by pagan traditions have been released…
Canada: Toronto is getting a witchcraft-themed party
blogTO
An occult-themed party series is making a wicked return to the Bampot House of Tea this weekend…
UK: Visitors slam ‘unnerving’ UK witchcraft village and vow never to return
Daily Star
Boscastle only has a population of around 700 people, but still manages to pack in a Museum of Witchcraft, several pubs and a very ‘eerie’ feeling among visitors…
UK: Woman in Penzance on her journey from growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness to becoming a wisewoman
Cornwall Live
A woman in Cornwall has opened up about her spiritual journey from being born into Jehovah’s Witnesses to exploring her fascination of witchcraft and becoming a village wisewoman…
The Scottish forest where trees are draped in rags in an ancient pagan tradition
Daily Record
Those who are looking to head somewhere a bit different this April, the clootie well near Munlochy on the Black Isle peninsula is both fascinating and mysterious…
Patron deities in modern Paganism
Patheos Pagan (John Beckett)
Patron deities are a real and valid thing in contemporary Paganism. But they aren’t for everyone, and they aren’t the most important thing in the world, even for polytheists…
Shinto News
11 injured as danjiri cart overturns in Osaka, Japan
NHK World
Eleven people were injured when a wooden festival cart was overturned in the streets of Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan…
Car destroys heritage stone signpost on Japan’s sacred Mt. Koya pilgrimage route
The Mainichi
A passenger car crashed into a stone signpost along a pilgrimage route on the sacred Mount Koya in this western Japan town on April 12, breaking the national historic monument…
Kyoto’s stunning Aoi Festival parade to be held after 4-year gap
The Asahi Shimbun
The city’s centuries-old Aoi Festival will feature hundreds of people in period attire as the “Roto no Gi” parade is revived in full this May for the first time in four years, organizers said…
Sparks fly as half-naked men carry fiery portable shrines in central Japan festival
The Mainichi
Cascades of fire sparks showered over men stripped to the waist carrying portable shrines in a festival here on April 8 to pray for a good harvest, health and family safety…
Rinko Kawauchi receives the Sony World Photography Award 2023
Art Dependence
Kawauchi is influenced by Shinto, which holds that everything has a spirit or energy, called ‘kami’…
Ise Shrine: Rebuilding the sacred heart of Japan
Metropolis
Amid the towering cypresses, the crystal clear Isuzu River and the serene wooden and thatch-roofed halls, Ise Shrine sits at repose…
Hyogo: Shrine protects source of famed Arima onsen
The Japan News
A faint smell like sulfur wafts in the air as one passes through the torii of Arima Tenjin Shrine, the grounds of which are home to a source for the nearby Arima Onsen hot spring resort in Kobe…
Sweet tea and dragons: uncovering Japan’s fascinating Buddha birthday traditions
Religion Unplugged
Once Buddhism spread to Japan during the sixth century A.D., the observation of the blossoms became mixed with Buddhist traditions and Shinto folklore, including the story of the Buddha being born in a garden…
Foxy lady, foxy “yōkai”: how Japan’s “kitsune” bewitched the world
Nippon.com
Yōkai foxes are a ubiquitous presence in Japanese folklore. Nine-tailed foxes appear in a great deal of modern entertainment, such as anime like One Piece and Naruto, and there’s even a Pokémon called Ninetales. How did foxes come to bewitch global audiences?…
Newly discovered ghostly marine worms look straight out of Japanese folklore
Science Alert
Polycirrus onibi, discovered in Notojima and Sugashima, is named after yokai not unlike the will-o-wisps of Western folklore…
Other News
Sanctuary for god Mithras discovered in Germany
Arkeonews
A place of worship for the Roman god of light, Mithras, was discovered during archaeological excavations in Trier, in southwestern Germany…
Czechia: Prague circle has more questions than answers
Expats.cz
A Stone Age site discovered in the 1980s has just been explored by Czech archaeologists, who still don’t know what it was used for…
New research provides direct link between Mediterranean shamans and earliest European use of plant drugs
The Wild Hunt
New research published last week suggests that Bronze-age Europeans on Spain’s Balearic Island of Minorca were using hallucinogenic substances…
Manuscript of ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy deciphered
Greek Reporter
Researchers have managed to decipher the manuscript of the ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy 200 years after its discovery…
Archaeologists in Italy unearth ancient dolphin statuette
Glasgow Times
Excavations in southern Italy have unearthed terracotta bull heads and a figurine of the Greek god Eros riding a dolphin…
3,200-year-old tomb uncovered at one of ancient Egypt’s most important burial sites
ABC7
A 3,200-year-old tomb belonging to Panehsy, the guard of the temple of Egyptian deity Amun, has been uncovered in Saqqara necropolis, south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, the tourism ministry said on Wednesday…
US: Luxury condo plans opposed on Miami Ancestral site as old as Stonehenge
The Wild Hunt
The Miami Circle is the only known prehistoric feature of its kind in the eastern United States…
This ancient Dutch goddess was nearly lost to time—and rising seas
National Geographic
Pop culture has fueled a resurgence of interest in Nehalennia. In the Netherlands, that’s not just good for tourism—it’s helping the fight against climate change…
Cubans seek solutions and solace in Santería amid crises
AP
A fusion of African religions and Catholicism, Santería was one of the few religious practices to quietly endure through decades of prohibitions and stigma by the communist government…
UK: The iron age sites seeking world heritage status
BBC
Three iron age settlements in Shetland are in the running to win Unesco World Heritage status…
Shrines of our ancestors still with us
The Cable
Today, we are witnessing the growth and rebirth of the African traditional religion…
13 Mysterious Scottish standing stones and circles that inspired Outlander’s Craigh na Dun
The Scotsman
Stonehenge in England may be the most famous example of standing stones in the UK but many such sites and stone circles exist in Scotland…
UK: How to find the witches’ trees in Grovely Woods, near Salisbury
Salisbury Journal
Three mangled trees rich with witchcraft folklore are hidden away in ancient woodland and here’s how you can find them…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
Nigeria: ‘Witchcraft’ accusations reason for high rate of street children
Nigerian Tribune
As the International Day for Street Children is marked, ‘witchcraft’ branding and accusations have been said to be the reason more children are left on the streets by their parents and families…
Zimbabwe: Man axed to death by relatives in ‘witchcraft’ row
Bulawayo24
A Gokwe man died after being axed by his two cousins who accused him of ‘practising witchcraft’ and causing misfortunes within their family…
India: Labelled as witches, women in Rajasthan continue to face torture and ostracism
Scroll.in
A 2015 law against witch-branding has curtailed the tradition, but not erased it…
New book focuses on last woman executed in Scotland for ‘witchcraft’
The National*
Philip Paris’ new work, The Last Witch Of Scotland, is a mix of fact and fiction and takes Janet Horne, who is believed to be the last woman executed in the British Isles for ‘witchcraf’t, as its subject…
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