Jane's Tidings
Mabon 1998
Jane's resting! She won't bore you with the gory details, but if one of
your legs ever swells up, for the Gods' sake get it tested. Her illness has
given her more time to scour the world for your Pagan- and Wiccan-related
news. And you can help! Send news clippings to Jane, P.O. Box 64, Portland,
ME 04112, or e-mail pjane@journalist.com. Thank you!
No fish
A Wiccan, Jean Webb, has sued the city of Republic, Mo., asking it to
change its city symbol. The symbol, a fish that looks stereotypically
Christian, was chosen in 1990; Webb and the American Civil Liberties Union
say the symbol caused her to hide her beliefs and tell her children to lie
about her religion. She says she has received hate mail and lost her job
at a local newspaper after filing the lawsuit. The mayor says the symbol
was meant to emphasize the community's strong devotion to religion, not to
pit one religion against another. (Associated Press, 7/1/98)
Digging for the truth
A New York psychic is apparently working with Massachusetts High Priestess
Laurie Cabot to investigate the disappearance of a Manhattan woman. Paula
Forester and Cabot sent a letter to the police three days after Irene
Silverman disappeared, revealing the results of their psychic
investigations. Forester says Silverman was killed by followers of a
Santeria-like religion. Neither prosecutors nor the Silverman family are
taking the revelations as gospel, so Forester says she's starting her own
digging expedition. (New York Post)
Hey, kids!
I've seen articles about Pagan religion just about everywhere. But on the
Kids' Page of the newspaper? The Brunswick (Maine) Times-Record ran an
article by 11th-grader Brian Ellis, who explained the Wiccan Rede and the
pentagram symbol and encouraged readers not to fear Pagans and Witches.
(Times-Record, 3/24/98)
Time for a water invocation
They didn't go over this in my Priestess training, but maybe it's necessary
to say this: Don't set people on fire. This helpful advice comes to you
courtesy of Pierrot Charles, a Voudoun priest in New Jersey, who faces
criminal charges after he tried to drive evil spirits away from a New York
woman by casting a sheet over her head, dousing it with flammable "Florida
water" and lighting it on fire. His attorneys claim religious
discrimination, but police pinpointed the problem: "I don't understand what
burning her had to do with voodoo." (New York Times, 4/9/98)
This is CNN?
Post one small victory for Pagan activism: Cable News Network was guilty of
spreading misconceptions about Wicca in its promotion for a documentary on
teen-agers and alternative religions. Broadcast News Networks, the
independent company that produced the documentary, says the show is clear
about the difference between Satanism and Witchcraft. But CNN titled it
"Dark Religions" and said in its promotion: "we will follow teens into the
eerie mystical world of dark religions and learn that what begins as
fantasy and rebellion can often become a downward spiral of disturbing, and
sometimes deadly, violence." After an outpouring of protest from Wiccans
and Pagans - including an attempt to arrange a pre-viewing of the show by
Pagan leaders and lawyers - CNN postponed the show, originally scheduled
for July, so that it could produce new and more accurate promotional
material. (Correspondence with Lowell McFarland, Larry Cornett and others)
Good news
An ABC-affiliated TV station in North Carolina worked with local Witches to
produce nearly 30 minutes of accurate coverage of their beliefs. While the
program was called "The Dark Side," the reporter used negative images only
to emphasize that such things weren't true. The program aired in two parts,
included footage of a Full Moon rite, a Witch gathering herbs, harp music
by a Witch and a live interview in which priestess Susannah Ravenswing
fielded live questions from reporters and viewers. "In a live interview,
Susannah fielded questions from WXLV's news team and
answered viewers' phonecalls, which were notably positive. Susannah later
wrote to fellow Pagans, "The program presented Wicca as a generally
unrecognized religion whose practitioners are normal, ordinary everyday
folk." (WXLV-TV, Winston-Salem, N.C., July 14; press release from Susannah
Ravenswing)
Bless this car
Kevin Carlyon, High Priest of the British White Witches, lent his aid to a
Sussex man who claims his 16-year-old Ford Capri is haunted by evil
spirits. Carlyon promised a "full pagan blessing" to rid the purple car,
license plate ARK 666Y, of the bad luck that has caused Keith Tagliaferro
to be struck by lightning, suffer a pet's death and see ghostly faces in
the rear-view mirror. After the blessings, Tagliaferro planned to sell the
car. Any takers? (PA News, 7/21/98)
One Witch's journey
The Washington Post recently published a series of articles in which
readers described their journeys toward spiritual fulfillment. One of them,
Sunne Ann Paquette, wrote of how being a Witch made her feel connected to
all faiths and to the earth. " As I learn and grow with the Goddess, part
of what I do is learn about all the ways that the people of this planet
praise their deities." (Washington Post, 8/2/98)
Third time's the charm
After winning a case over allowing Pagan ceremonies at Cathedral of the
Pines, a New Hampshire outdoor sanctuary, Diane des Rochers tried three
times to hold a ritual there. On May 31, the first scheduled date, there
were tornado warnings. She rescheduled for June 14, and the rains fell long
and hard. Finally, on August 2, a small, hardy band sanctified a Wiccan
stone circle and dedicated it to the memory of those Pagans who had served
in the U.S. military. (Report from Tom Canfield, 8/3/98)
Peaceful protest
About 50 Pagans, Witches and Druids held a demonstration on the city hall
steps in Edmonton, Alberta, singing songs and talking about the need for
religious freedom. The awareness-raising event was monitored by two
policemen, but no one showed up to cause trouble. The news article said,
"One woman said she was disappointed that they looked so ordinary and
nothing unusual was going on." (Edmonton Journal, 8/4/98)
I'd walk a mile for a cauldron
R.J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant, caused a stir in Pagan circles with its
new ad for Camel cigarettes. In the ad, which appeared in Glamour, Rolling
Stone and Mirabella magazines, three women stick pins in a doll with a
picture of a handsome man nearby. Besides the obvious negative-magic
imagery, there's a stack of Wiccan and Pagan books in the ad, some of which
are easily identifiable to anyone who's shopped the "metaphysics" shelf.
Silver RavenWolf, whose "To Stir a Magic Cauldron" appears in the stack,
told fellow Pagans that neither she nor her publisher were consulted before
the book was placed in the ad. RJR and its ad agency, Mezzina-Brown, say
the ad is meant to be a humorous fantasy about the frustrations of dating.
Pagans have put up protest Web pages,written letters to the company's
chairman (Steven F. Goldstone, RJR Nabisco, 1301 Avenue Of The Americas,
New York, NY 10019) and asked magazines that run the ads to consider
running factual articles on Wicca. Some Pagans are also boycotting the
company's non-tobacco products, which range from Oreos to Milk-Bones. (San
Jose Metro, Aug. 3-9; EarthSpirit newsletter, August 1998)
Witches onscreen
As of this writing there are two new bits of popular culture featuring
Witches and Witchcraft. "Practical Magic," based on the Alice Hoffman book
of the same name and featuring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as members
of a Witchy family, opens Oct. 9. Also from Warner Brothers comes the fall
TV show "Charmed," with Shannen Doherty as the leader of a coven of three
young women who must contend with "warlocks bent on evildoing." (WB Network
press releases)
With who?
A judge has ruled that the state of Ohio can use the motto "With God all
things are possible" if it does not attribute the statement to the
Christian New Testament. The American Civil Liberties Union plans to appeal
the decision. (UPI, 9/1/98)
Friends, Romans ...
A new theme park being built near Rome trades on the city's more lurid
past. Special effects experts are simulating combats in which Christians
get eaten by lions; other historical attractions will include chariot races
and gladiatorial fights. Electricity, motor vehicles and plastic will be
banned, and the food will be similar to that eaten in ancient Rome. Fans of
American food need not worry: According to a recent show on A&E, the Romans
invented the hamburger. (Associated Press, 10/23/97; "Ancient Inventions,"
Arts & Entertainment Network, 9/14/98)
Stop the violence
A conference in South Africa has recommended to the African National
Congress that stopping violence against people suspected of Witchcraft be
made a national priority. Those who've studied the issue report inadequate
response by police, and called for counseling centers and empowerment of
women. (ANC daily briefings via Lowell McFarland, 9/10/98)
Son of the Green Man
A Salon magazine article about redwoods took the form of a personal
reminiscence by Simon Firth, whose father is a "tree warden" in Hampshire,
England. He begins the article, which chronicles their journey to see the
tallest tree in the world, by describing his father in terms of the ancient
Pagan archetype of the Green Man. "He's come to think of man and nature as
inextricably entwined ... I think of him as a living Green Man." (Salon,
8/2/98)
Starhawk in Israel
Appearing in Jerusalem for Israel's 13th annual feminist conference this
spring, Wiccan writer Starhawk (aka Miriam Simos) discoursed at length on
the connections between her Wiccan present and her Jewish upbringing,
declaring "I'm a Jew, a feminist and a Witch." While she admits most Jews
would consider her a "raving heretic," but sees parallels between what she
learned as a Jewish child about the presence of divinity in everything. She
also lamented the lack of wilderness in modern Israel: "This is supposed to
be the Holy Land ... and the land has been forgotten." (Jerusalem Post,
5/26/98)
But was the place clean?
A cleaning woman in Romania was charged with witchcraft by the mayor, who
says he found her during office hours "burning candles on a stone" in the
village hall and "cursing" the town's leaders. The mayor confiscated the
woman's broom and the stone. (Reuters, 5/6/98)
As always, if you see Pagan or Wiccan-related
news items, don't keep them to yourself!
Let Jane know via Jane's Tidings,
pjane@maine.rr.com
or P.O. Box 64, Portland, ME 04112.
