blacksilk:

witchcraft…circe casting a spell…

(via stayven-carnivale)

paganfail:

Help us establish a safe, well stocked Inter-Faith Pagan Library in South Africa where all Pagan paths can be studied in a nurturing environment.

First I want to say congratulations to the campaign on reaching their goal.  Providing books to communities in need is an awesome, worthy cause.  So a tip of our hats to you guys.  :D

But of course, my co-contributor wouldn’t have suggested I look at this if there wasn’t something worthy of pointing out for this blog.  There is one teeny, tiny line that stuck out to us: “ In many areas of Africa being named a witch is life threatening.” 

“What is wrong with this?”, you might ask.  It is true after all.   Accusations of witchcraft, demonic possession, and black magic are a major issue in Africa that contributes to the deaths of countless children.  The problem lies not in the veracity of this sentence, but rather in the risk of conflation between Africa’s particular issues and modern paganism.

I don’t bring this up as a purely hypothetical problem.  I bring it up from firsthand experience… such as local pagans using the death of a Papa New Guinean woman as justification for their bigotry toward Christians.  So let’s just set a few things straight.

When people in Africa and other developing nations accuse their neighbors of witchcraft, it has nothing to do with Wicca or other modern pagan religions.  No one is dying for wearing a pentacle and saying “blessed be.”

People are dying because they’re gay, they’re albino, they have a mental health issue, they’re poor, they’re wealthy, or they just plain look funny and pissed off their neighbor.  People are dying because of Christian pastors inciting fear… and people are dying because of tribal witchdoctors inciting fear.  (Note how it’s OK to practice magick as long as you occupy the proper societal role.  These issues are more complex than a mere anti-witch stance.)

These aren’t purely problems that came about with the introduction of Christianity into the culture… these are age old superstitions and practices, jealousies, and socioeconomic issues that were there long before, and perhaps exacerbated by recent cultural shifts.

“It was previously believed that these beliefs and socio‐cultural practices would disappear over time, but the current situation indicates the contrary. Far from fading away, these social and cultural representations have been maintained and transformed in order to adapt to contemporary contexts.”  [read more]

We do not have a monopoly on the word “witch”, nor do we have one on the concepts of “magick” and “evil”.  And while these “witch” killings do share a commonality with European and American witch hunts, such as issues of economic crisis and societal instability mired deep in ancient superstition, we do these cultures an injustice by whitewashing these struggles into something interchangeable with the struggles of Western paganism. 

(via arseniccupcakes)

(via esotericallyarcane)

c0untessbathory:

Francisco de Goya

(via rosemortem)

superawesomeshop:

Naomi Nowak, on Tumblr

Naomi has a wonderfully curated Tumblr, perfect for Halloween.

(via rockiss)

paganfail:

Why We Despise Silver Ravenwolf by Catherine Noble Beyer of Wicca for the Rest of Us

“And, of course, no More Persecuted than Thou Syndrome would be complete without mention of the Burning Times:

Burning Times: You will hear this often. It is in reference to a historical time from about 1000 CE through the 17th century when it is said that over nine million people were tortured and burned by church and public officials on the assumption that they were the Christian version of Witches…Historians indicated that the majority of people tortured and murdered were women and children. (Page 19)

While she doesn’t flat out say it was “we” who were persecuted, why would she include this in her book if it had nothing to do with us? And try 40,000 to 100,000, not over nine million. As far as the women and children bit goes, that is historical fact (although the reasons were more complicated than that they were women and children), but what the hell does this have to do with the topic at hand? Oh, wait, I forgot, another chance to dis Christianity.”

[Read More]

(via aliqvidnovi)

necroluste:

“The Witch’s Daughter” by Frederick Stuart Church.

(via grimly-fiendish)

(via rockiss)