Category Archives: Pagan and Proud

Christine O’Donnell’s “Satanic Altar” and Why it Matters

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Vote Christine!

This afternoon I watched the former head of the South Carolina Democratic Party claim that Christine O’Donnell was a fringe character because she “was a Witch,” which he screamed as if it was synonymous with pedophile. The left, returning to their Satanic Panic roots, has been trying hard to smear O’Donnell as insane because of her supposed association with Satanism or Wicca or Witchcraft or some combination of the three.

O’Donnell herself responded to the flap by not only doubling down on her highly dubious story, but implying that one of her critics on the right, Karl Rove, was himself a Satanist. Both sides of the political spectrum seems to take for granted that O’Donnell’s story of picnicking on a “Satanic altar” as part of her “dabbling” in Witchcraft to be true.

It isn’t. For the record, this is a real Satanic altar:

A Real Satanic Altar

Yes, my friends, that’s a naked woman. A naked woman has historically been the “altar” of any Satanic group even before Anton LaVey formed his Church of Satan. References to this in literature, the works of Huysmans come to mind, had solidified this in occult circles for many years and Inquisitorial accounts of Satanism and The Black Mass are explicit about the need for a nude woman for these rites. While nowadays there are many non-LaVeyian Satanists, in the time frame O’Donnell’s supposed picnic happened one would have been hard pressed to find any Satanist other than LaVeyian, and if there’s not a naked woman involved it ain’t the Church of Satan!

Further, you’d also be hard pressed to find Satanists and Wiccans who associated with each other at that time. The Church of Satan is explicit in its denouncement of Wicca, even working in their disdain for Wiccans in their official rituals. With good reason it turns out, since Wiccans sided with Christians during the Satanic Panic to claim Satanists were indeed part of a world wide network of conspirators who committed horrible crimes. This forerunner to the 9/11 Truth movement, the so called Satanic Ritual Abuse movement, is still popular on the Internet, especially among the left and paleo-con falangists. O’Donnell claims that she was affiliated with Witches but had no idea Witchcraft, Wicca and Satanism were three different things?

Which all is just a quick way to point out that Christine O’Donnell’s whole story about dabbling in Witchcraft and Satanism and picnicking on altars and the rest  is a tall tale woven by a person who has no idea what she’s talking about.

But everyone is taking her seriously, and that’s the problem.

O’Donnell’s narrative is stolen from books like Michelle Remembers and is the same stance the right attacked Martha Coakley for having when she kept an innocent man in jail for years. People forget that the Satanic Panic destroyed lives, not of Satanists but of anyone accused by someone of being one. Most were innocent, as are the people O’Donnell’s smearing now, who were no doubt a couple of goths she hung around. If they existed at all.

Right now there is a growing number of right leaning Pagans, one was elected to office recently in Queens and is serving with distinction. O’Donnell is doing what leftist Wiccans have claimed the right does for years, falsely accusing Pagans in general of being Satanists and implying that Satanists are involved in criminality. The latter has been debunked by the F.B.I. and the former is not an example of center right thought, love of the Constitution and Freedom or strong moral fiber. Pagans on the right deserve to be as welcome in the Tea Party as everyone else, and O’Donnell, perhaps unwittingly, is undermining their ability to unite with fellow conservatives.

I was at the first (and second) Tea Party in Greenville, South Carolina. I am a supporter of many conservative groups, a proud Republican and a Pagan. O’Donnell and her supporters seem to take the same dim view Leftists do off my existence, which bothers me and should bother all people on the right.

At this point people have little choice but to support O’Donnell or accept a Marxist who has even been attacked by far left activists as too authoritarian. But the Tea Party could have, and should have, done better. In the next election they must because O’Donnell is not a lover of freedom or America, but a kook who disseminates Alex Jonesian fabrications designed to smear a significant number of Americans.

Is that what the Tea Party stands for?

Fatwa Issued Which Obligates Muslims to Kill Witches

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Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid is a well known Muslim scholar who lectures on all things theology concerning Islam. Much of his advice is issued through a site called Islam Q&A where Muslims write in questions and he issues Fatwas concerning the various things Muslims concern themselves with.

Like Witchcraft.

Witchcraft, due to the large Neo-Pagan populations in America and Europe, is something that many Muslims are concerned with. As such Islam Q&A has an entire section devoted just to we Witches and Warlocks. In that section one Muslim writes this question:

Is it permissible for him to kill practitioners of witchcraft without the permission of the authorities?

Witchcraft is widespread in our land and they annoy and harm the people. Is it permissible to kill them so that the people will be spared their evil?
Please note that our government allows them to work and takes taxes from them.

Praise be to Allaah

Clearly the reference to tax collection means this person is talking about a Western country where we Pagans are tax paying citizens. The good Sheikh’s answer? Yes.

But don’t worry, he says that without a a “ruler” to order the punishments individuals aren’t allowed to carry it out themselves. So here in America we Witches can’t be killed … yet. But if Muslims established a Sharia community here with a recognized authority, it’ll be burning time.

Hey, it’s not like any well respected Imams have ever said America can be Sharia compliant is it?

One Million Dead Fish in Boliva as New Ice Age Begins

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Our world will die Not by Fire but by Ice. From BolivaBella.com:

Over 1 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles, dolphins and other river wildlife are floating dead in numerous Bolivian rivers in the three eastern/southern departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Tarija. The extreme cold front that hit Bolivia in mid-July caused water temperatures to dip below the minimum temperatures river life can tolerate. As a consequence, rivers, lakes, lagoons and fisheries are brimming with decomposing fish and other creatures.

Unprecedented: Nothing like this has ever been seen in this magnitude in Bolivia. Inhabitants of riverside communities report the smell is nauseating and can be detected as far as a kilometer away from river banks. River communities, whose livelihoods depend on fishing, fear they’ll run out of food and will have nothing to sell. Authorities are concerned there will be a shortage of fish in markets and are more concerned by possible threats to public health, especially in communities that also use river water for bathing and drinking, but also fear contaminated or decaying fish may end up in market stalls. They’ve begun a campaign to ensure market vendors and the public know how to tell the difference between fresh and unhealthy fish.

In university fish ponds and commercial fisheries the losses are also catastrophic.

Here’s a video embedded, it’s in Spanish but hang in there until about :39, the pictures speak for themselves:

In the Gylfaginning and the Voluspa we learn of the northern European vision of the end of the world. Ragnarok is preceded by the “mighty winter” which lasts three years and in which the world is not spared the ravishes of cold by the summer. As people here talk about record breaking heat in the Western Hemisphere the cold is still killing people and more importantly destroying vital food supplies world wide, truly giving the world no respite.

That same time period will be a time of wars, depravity and the breaking of long standing taboos. It is plain to see that the long winter has come.

h/t Drudge

Wiccans a Little Too Desperate to Distance Themselves from “Wiccan” Murder Suspect Angela Sanford

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And the Associated Press is doing their damnedest to help out. Wicca gets caught between a rock and a hard place in incidents like these. On the one hand, Wiccan theology claims a link between modern Wicca and some mythical religion that stretches back into prehistory, which leaves them being in the position of defending the practices of “ancient pagans” who as a matter of historical fact were known to sacrifice people. On the other hand Wiccans, who are predominantly urban liberals with little tolerance for The Old Ways (as their constant maligning of Voodoo and Santeria illustrates quite nicely) often feel the need to be accepted by mainstream (leftist) society which means they often embrace attitudes concerning magic, faith, and the universe that are at odds with any religious world view.

It doesn’t help that Wiccans were targeted during the Satanic Panic. Of course, they didn’t help their own cause by embracing Gavin and Yvonne Frost, two Wiccans who promoted ritual child sexual abuse in their early writings. However, the targeting of Wiccans in the 80s and 90s, and the subsequent reemergence of conspiracy theories often involving Satanism on some level (like 9/11 “Truth”) amongst the left, means mainstream Wiccans are harder pressed to ensure that their ideological fellow travelers understand that they have nothing to do with anything that could be construed as “Satanism” or supportive of ritual crime.

Which leads us to the story at at hand. 3o-year-old Angela Sanford of New Mexico stabbed 52-year-old Joel Leyba to death in the desert last month, during the Spring Sabbat. She claims he tried to rape her, but cops say the evidence doesn’t fit her story, especially after looking at her phone where they found Leyba’s contact information.

She nicknamed him “Sacrifice” on that contact list:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A self-described Wiccan had a man’s phone number programmed in her cell phone under the word “sacrifice” before she stabbed him to death, then claimed he had tried to rape her, authorities said Thursday.

Angela Sanford, 30, is accused of killing 52-year-old Joel Leyba last month with a dagger after inviting him to join her in a Wiccan celebration of spring near a popular hiking trail east of Albuquerque.

She told police she stabbed Leyba three times in the stomach after he tied her up and tried to assault her.

But police say Leyba was stabbed 11 to 13 times, and a detective reviewing Sanford’s cell phone found the nickname “sacrifice” instead of Leyba’s name.

“It makes us absolutely confident there was something more here than her claims of self-defense,” said Patrick Davis, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County district attorney’s office.

Sanford was indicted Wednesday by a Bernalillo County grand jury. Her bond has been set at $500,000.

Now here’s where the A.P. tries a little too hard to help the Wiccans clean up this mess:

Wicca is an earth-based religion, derived from pre-Christian religions and magical practices, that promotes a peaceful and balanced lifestyle. The Wiccan spring celebration normally is held at the end of April.

Members of Wiccan groups in Albuquerque have said they do not know Sanford.

Yeah, that’s actually one of the better descriptions of Wicca I’ve seen. It splits the difference between their claims of ancient wisdom and the reality of Gerald Gardner creating the first Wiccan covens in the 20th century, but Wiccans, Pagans, and others will see a problem with this statement. The Wiccan “spring celebration” is the Vernal Equinox (or Ostara) and happens around March 21st. Beltane happens May 1st in most traditions. An odd mistake, no? But a convenient one designed to make it look like Angela Sanford had no idea what she’s talking about it seems.

This article from the reliably leftist True Crime Report was filed on Wednesday, March 24th and claims the murder happened that previous Monday. That would place the murder on … the Vernal Equinox. Some reports are also claiming that the man was stabbed 13 times, but I’ve also seen the police quoted as saying “between 11-13″ so that might be just seasoning on an already juicy story. But the Wiccan claim that Ostara and Beltane are one only undermines the Wiccan cause, and shows how far modern Wicca has fallen from the time when it was a vibrant tradition of people interested in searching for truth by reclaiming their pagan past. Now it’s a P.R. firm for teenagers who want to wear pentagrams; a group of people who spend more time explaining away Witchcraft than actually practicing it.

As for the wider Wiccan community not knowing her, this is meaningless. Most Wiccans are active online and only the gods know what sort of people she was associating with there. Her MySpace has been deleted, and of course there are now people claiming that her page was covered in Biblical quotes, but my sources say that her religion was listed as Wiccan and that the majority of the page was covered in vampire and Wiccan images and thoughts. If anything, she sounds like she came across older Witchcraft material like Paul Huson’s (excellent) Mastering Witchcraft, which doesn’t shy away from Judeo-Christian magical practices and their influence on Witchcraft.

Now before you even start Wiccans, I am not saying Wicca performs human sacrifices; it does not. But Wicca has a very loose theology including the belief all gods and goddesses are in actuality the one god and goddess. Combined with very lax standards (necessarily so, to be fair) for who gets to be called a Wiccan and a thriving online community that includes quite a bit of role playing it is to Wicca’s credit that more crimes aren’t committed in its name.

Instead, Wiccans tend to be victims of crime. Not from the modern day inquisition that populates the Wiccan mythical landscape, but by unscrupulous grifters who see the Wiccan community as priming people for financial and sometimes sexual exploitation. It’s no coincidence that PaganSpace and other online gathering spots for Wiccans attract “Gorians” and other men interested in sado-masochism, or child molesters. Wicca has done a piss poor job policing itself, mainly because to do so removes the hippyish charm of being part of an “earth centered” religion, and many young Wiccans pay the price for that lack of resolve.

But as I said in the comments of this The Wild Hunt report, Wicca does bear some responsibility. It is the dearth of occult knowledge, replaced with fantasy convention, mixed in with the faithless view of Wicca as a club rather than religion which convinces people like Sanford to adopt the mantle of Wiccan when they are in fact something else entirely:

The fast and loose “anybody who claims to be a Wiccan is one” mentality strikes again. Mass marketing nonsense as religion attracts people for whom Wicca can mean almost anything and no one challenges them on it. From what I’ve read of her she was an online ‘Wiccan” who seemed to blend PaganSpace style posturing with an image of Wicca that comes directly from supernatural romance.

Maybe Wiccans should spend less time telling people what they aren’t and more time thinking about who they are. Maybe embracing Wicca as a sub-culture rather than a faith means you attract people who don’t share your values. Maybe a general nod to New Age pabulum disguised as moral guidance isn’t sufficient to keep the Wiccan who converted while high after watching Charmed and getting her information from a teenager calling himself Silvermist Thunder DragonWolfe from acting out the fantasy she thinks Wicca is in the real world.

Ironically, I was just talking to another ex-Wiccan, born again Witch about this new trend we’ve seen of Wiccans claiming that Witchcraft and magic “are metaphors” or whatever. I told her know self-proclaimed Wiccan had the guts to practice good, old fashioned Witchcraft. I almost though I was going to be eating my words until I read up on the story and saw that she was just a paranoid weirdo (funny how they pop up in Wiccan circles) who probably thought she was killing a demon or something.

This was good coverage though, Jason. Although I’d point out that the Matamoras murders by Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo were technically done as a form of Witchcraft (a blend of Palo Mayombe which is considered Witchcraft and Gothic Satanism for lack of a better term) and there have been cases of Sante Muerte cultists sacrificing people but there is not of course a neo-Pagan element in either.

But couldn’t a person who has only read mass market books about eclectic Wicca have cobbled together a practice where human sacrifices were used? If Anglela Sanford used Meso-American gods as stand ins for the Wiccan God and Goddess (she is in their old stomping ground) it’s possible, no?

As I allude to above, Sanford likely cobbled together a practice of worship influenced by Reconquista groups active in the area as well as less than credible online sources. Two gang members in Mexico were caught burning the heads of victims in front of an altar to Sante Muerte, who many practitioners consider the reemerged goddess MICTECACIHUATL otherwise known as The Lady of the Land of the Dead. It is interesting to consider that in this aspect she is seen as a goddess of rebirth and regeneration, which is what pagans celebrate during the equinox.

I don’t know if Angela Sanford is guilty or if, as she claims, she simply was in a bad situation. Unlike many modern Wiccans I would be open to the metaphysical possibilities – her gods conspired to receive this sacrifice – were it not for the evidence on her phone. Given the location of this crime and the admittedly scant details I will call this one as the work of an amoral dabbler who placed power and its achievement over any moral code she had. It’s too bad Wicca doesn’t attempt to provide one anymore. Instead they have attempted to actually rearrange their sacred calendar to appease the very Christians they claim to oppose. This is a desperate attempt to maintain their image at any cost, including their integrity.

As a postscript to this I should say I have been somewhat surprised in the last few months to be contacted by quite a few Wiccans who were on the right, more “orthodox,” or otherwise find themselves on the outside looking in at modern Wicca. Like me they shared the view of Wicca losing its footing, either being too political or too much of a non-magical tradition. I am saddened by their plight, but cases like this (and mainstream Wicca’s reaction to it) proves that they are needed more than ever to help restore Wicca before it’s too late.

h/t Dreamin’ Demon. The Wild Hunt has extensive coverage of this case.

Deepak Chopra is Either Insane or Evil

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If Wicca has become the bush leagues of the occult, as I often maintain, then the slow pitch soft ball league has got to be the sad and silly New Age industry embodied by scumbag grifter Deepak Chopra. This little niche occupied by Chopra, and several other authors who should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, services the aging trophy wives and bored baby boomers who make up significant portions of sub-urban hipsterdom. What they sell is easy to attain “enlightenment” which one receives by reading some overpriced books, attending some expensive workshops and learning to regurgitate platitudes no one really understands. And when you don’t these 50+ year-old Yentas shake their head sadly and tell you to read the next book on Oprah’s book club list.

This version of the New Age is worse than role-playing because the people involved don’t know that this is a fraud. I have little sympathy for people too stupid to realize enlightenment can’t be purchased from some cretin who pimps his books on MSNBC but I do think selling spirituality the way Chopra does is disgusting. He charges people money to tell them what they want to hear (like the hooker he is) which in turn keeps these idiots from growing spiritually. He makes a living helping stunted people devolve into the douches you see lecturing people about genetically modified foods at organic groceries and who will tell you cancer is brought on by the cancer victim’s “bad karma.” And yes, I have witnessed both these things.

And to prove he is indeed a slug I bring you, via Gateway Pundit, his take of the recent earthquake which killed several people. From his Twitter account:

“Had a powerful meditation just now — caused an earthquake in Southern California”

I’m sorry? People just died in an earthquake and you’re trying to take credit for it Deepak? That’s just evil.

According to AOL News Chopra explained himself thusly:

And then, to clarify: “Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake,” he tweeted. “Sorry about that.”

Really? People died in a disaster, people lost their homes and businesses and you take credit for the disaster and throw out a “sorry” even as people are burying their loved ones?

Look, we all know Deepak Chopra not only can’t cause an earthquake, but he probably doesn’t even really meditate on a regular basis. Like the con artist he is he sought to impress his followers with his supposedly supernatural abilities, but all he ended up doing was exposing how self-involved he is.

Using a disaster to pimp your get enlightened quick business is wrong, doing so when people die in it is evil. If Deepak Chopra really believed he caused this earthquake accidentally, that the earth responds to him alone and his very stray thoughts moves mountains, he’s insane. It’s one or the other.

But Chopra fans will say he really did cause the earth to move with his meditation. Then he murdered several people if you’re correct. If that’s the case he is evil, especially since his reaction is not to give a crap about the people who died.

No matter how you slice this one there is only one conclusion to draw, Deepak Chopra is either insane, evil or both. Stop buying his books and grow up.