CHRISTINA ENGELA. Last week it became known that the Traditional Leaders Forum had submitted a suggestion to a government body which monitors and evaluates suggestions for modifications to be made to the SA Constitution, that gay rights be removed from the Constitution. Suggestions and requests of this nature which involve the removal of the civil rights of gay people from the Constitution are not a new thing. In fact, these efforts have been a regular feature of right-wing and religious extremist politicking since at least the very early 1980's in South Africa, and have been made by numerous groups in various forms since the birth of our democracy, and since the drafting of the Constitution. The ANC governing party needs the support of the traditional leaders forum which represents tribal chiefs and clan leaders. The traditional leaders themselves are homophobic and patriarchal, like our President and his supporters. Read the rest of this entry »

HELEN RIDING. Pinus sylvestris is a large evergreen tree to 25m, with the upper trunk and branches orange-brown, developing a picturesque, irregular outline with maturity. Twisted grey-green needles are borne in pairs. Cones 5cm in length. Ulex europaeus is a bushy evergreen shrub with very spiny much-branched stems and solitary coconut-scented bright yellow flowers 2cm in length, mainly in winter and spring, followed by slender black seed-pods. Calluna vulgaris is the native heather or ling of heaths and moorlands, and it has fathered many lovely varieties for massing in gardens as ground cover. Populus tremula is a small deciduous tree with a broad crown, sometimes suckering freely. Rounded leaves, bronze when young, tremble in a light breeze and turn yellow in autumn. Male trees have woolly grey catkins. Read the rest of this entry »

BRONWYN KATZKE. Ten years ago when I first dipped my big toe in the Paganism pool, it was by exploring divination and magick. I didn’t start off my path by learning about the spiritual side of magick and witchcraft, it was only later that I learned that there are related religions out there that actually approve of, and incorporate, magickal practices, which lead me to where I am today. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve left those beginnings of my path by the wayside as I explore my spirituality; like many other Pagans I like to incorporate magickal practice into everyday life. From a Pagan perspective knitting as a form of magick can incorporate many other magickal systems and take it beyond just knitting with intent and prayers. Read the rest of this entry »

DAMON LEFF. In April, Beliefnet Senior Editor Rob Kerby cobbled together a monstrous Islamophobic indictment of witchcraft in the Third World called 'What can the Third World teach us about witchcraft'. The article has been roundly criticised as a "car-crash", "thematic mess", and "lazy slander" by Jason Pitzl-Waters [The Wild Hunt, Patheos.com] and Patti Wigington [About.com] called it plainly what it is, a "crap article". With the exception of Pitzl-Waters, who made brief reference in his response 'Beliefnet News Conflates Paganism and Harry Potter with Witchcraft Killings' to Pagans and "witch-persecutions" in South Africa, none of the considered responses from Pagan bloggers thought it appropriate to defer to Third World Witches themselves for informed comment. As THE African expert on the subject, allow me to answer the question posed by Kerby. Read the rest of this entry »

CHRISTOPHER BLACKWELL. As a lifelong Science Fiction fan I grew up reading Heinlein. I remember well reading “Stranger in a Strange Land.” But few people have had it start a life path as interesting as Oberon Zell-Ravenheart’s. He has been a long-time influence on the Neo-Pagan community. One of my readers suggested interviewing him. I asked and Oberon quickly gave his permission. Read the rest of this entry »

HELEN RIDING. "Another tool useful in magic is the besom, or Witches' broom. Traditionally, it is made of an ash handle, a bunch of birch twigs, and bound around with willow. This besom, the broomstick of the flying crone, is primarily used for symbolically sweeping the magic Circle clean. It is also a symbol of domesticity. In some traditions a couple would step or hop over a broomstick as part of a marriage ceremony. The besom is a symbol of sexuality, and for the woman, stepping over the broomstick represented a transition from the Maid to the Mother." March, Wheel of the Year: Living the Magical Life, Pauline Campanelli Read the rest of this entry »

EREBOS. Do contemporary Witches exist? Does modern Witchcraft exist? Are some forms of contemporary Witchcraft a religion (a mystical nature-based religion or otherwise)? The answer to these three questions is “yes”. But none of these questions lead to an answer which may shed some light to the origin of modern Witchcraft(s). The correct question should be whether contemporary practices establish that a “pre-Christian religion based on witchcraft” existed, and if it did whether its traditions as currently propagated within much of Paganism actually were the foundation for the modern practices and religion of contemporary Witches (and many other Pagans). I believe that the foundations of contemporary Witchcraft - as understood within the Pagan community, and as it is utilised to explain it to outsiders - could be seriously flawed, and that the origin of practices in contemporary Witchcraft(s) may in fact lie somewhere else. Read the rest of this entry »

MICHAEL BERMAN. In ‘The Cafeteria’, a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, one of the characters asks the question “How can we hope when everything ends in death?” The answer given is that “Hope in itself is a proof there is no death.” The point being made is that as so few people can ever really accept they are dying, in a sense death does not exist for them. And in another short tale by this master storyteller, ‘The Power of Darkness’, Singer offers a possible explanation as to why people die – “The living die so the dead may live”. The dead live on in our memories. Read the rest of this entry »

LARISA HUNTER. 'Killing Violets: Gods’ Dogs' by Tanith Lee and 'Liber Ursi - Caballistic Planetary Rituals' From Temple of the Eternal Light by Karen DePolito and Jerome Birnbaum. Read the rest of this entry »