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News stories and articles featuring pagans and witches of all kinds as well as related topics. Learn about the past, present, and future of witchcraft!

Dawn of the new pagans: ‘Everybody’s welcome – as long as you keep your clothes on!’

By Emma Beddington
The Guardian
"More and more people identify as pagan, or at least pagan-curious. What lies behind its growing appeal?"
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Remembering my ancestor who was burned as a witch

By Karin Helmstaedt
dw.com
"For Walpurgis Night, the April 30 feast associated with witchcraft in German folklore, DW's Karin Helmstaedt looked into the tragic story of her ancestor who was burned as a witch."
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Paganism is on the rise—here’s where to discover its traditions

By Christine Macintyre
National Geographic
"TikTok—specifically #witchtok—is fueling interest in this spiritual movement. Here’s how to immerse yourself in full moon rituals, spellcasting, and more."
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Beltane Fire Festival 2023

By Beltane Fire Society
beltane.org
"Glowing bright fires, the pounding of drums, and a cavalcade of characters emerge onto Calton Hill to bring about the end of the long nights… It must be time for the Beltane Fire Festival!This year, on 30th April, Beltane Fire Festival celebrates the turning of the wheel and the beginning of Summer with our long-standing community. All are welcome!"
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Witches of Islandmagee plaque unveiled 300 years after trial

By Martina Devlin
BBC News
"A plaque has been unveiled in Islandmagee, County Antrim to commemorate the last witch trial on the island of Ireland. The trial took place at Carrickfergus courthouse in 1711 when eight women and a man were found guilty of performing witchcraft against a young woman. Mary Dunbar had accused them of bewitching and tormenting her. Martina Devlin had campaigned for the plaque since 2014 to remember the 'lingering injustice'."
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Witch lit: how modern writers are reinventing the witch

By Lucy Atkinson
theconversation.com
"From the fairy tales read to us as children to the costumes every Halloween, the figure of the witch has been with most of us for our entire lives. Unkempt and warty, the witch of our childhood was generally a repulsive creature flying on a broomstick beside her toad or black cat. Yet recent years have marked a reinvention of this ancient character, giving her a modern twist in a new subgenre of literature that some are calling 'witch lit'."
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Cool as folk: why Britain’s young rebels are embracing ancient rites

By Alice Fisher
The Guardian
"If you’ve never danced with the 'obby oss' or been daubed by a bogie, then a new show at Compton Verney art gallery in Warwickshire is for you. Making Mischief is the first exhibition dedicated to British folk costume and the traditions celebrated by communities all over the UK."
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‘Dead Hot’ – Unscripted Vanessa Hudgens Witchcraft Movie Finds a Home at Tubi

By John Squires
Bloody Disgusting
"Vanessa Hudgens is taking a trip to Salem, Massachusetts with Dead Hot, an unscripted feature film that has been acquired by Tubi. Variety first reported the news this morning. Tubi will conjure up the film for debut on April 14, 2023."
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'I thought I was alone': Duo runs popular Facebook page, festival of West Michigan witches

By Riley Mack
ABC News
"Two West Michigan women created a unique festival to bring together a community — or rather, a coven. 'We have a crystal vendor, we have books, we have brooms,' said Erica Franke, one of the organizers. Katrina Peshka and Franke are the minds behind the Witches of West Michigan Festival that drew a crowd on South Division Sunday."
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Connecticut may exonerate accused witches centuries later

By Susan Haigh
AP News
"Decades before the infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, Alse Young was killed at the gallows in Connecticut, becoming the first person on record to be executed in the American colonies for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers hope Connecticut lawmakers will finally offer posthumous exonerations."
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Children accused of witchcraft find solace in east Congo shelter

By Crispin Kyala
Reuters
"After Ornella lost several family members within three years, relatives and neighbours in her east Congo village of Kabare began suspecting the 14-year-old girl of witchcraft. The hushed rumours and purifying rituals that ensued prompted one of Ornella's brothers to take her to the police, concerned about the consequences that the allegations could have on his sibling."
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North Catholic counselor loses job after students get crystals from self-proclaimed witches

By Andy Sheehan
CBS News
"The women who own Elemental Magick in Sewickley identify themselves as witches. Nonetheless, they were invited to speak at a local Catholic high school, resulting in a firestorm pitting Catholic versus pagan beliefs."
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The Hex Girls: How a fictional Scooby-Doo rock band became cult, queer, girl-power icons

The Independent
"In 1999, a fictional pop-rock band in a straight-to-VHS Scooby-Doo movie made every queer, goth and/or weirdo child feel seen...The Hex Girls were only ever intended to be mysterious, guitar-shredding red herrings in a single movie...But there was something about their rebellious, outspoken and vaguely homoerotic energy tenhat struck a chord."
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Spellbound: why ‘witch lit’ is the hottest new genre on our bookshelves

By Vanessa Thorpe
The Guardian
"Someone, or something, shadowy has put a strong spell on popular literature aimed at women, once cheekily labelled 'chick lit'. This perky genre, packaged in bright covers, jauntily titled and so long a mainstay of the publishing industry, has been slowly transforming into something darker and rich with sorcery, with 2023 set to be a new high point in a growing 'witch lit' trend."
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Recipes to make this Yule Festival your best ever

Recipes for a Pagan Soul
With Yule approaching, here are some fun traditional recipes to try. Choose from entrees, soups, and desserts perfectly suited for the season. This website also has recipes for the all of the other holidays on the Wheel of the Year. Bookmark it for easy access!
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Tuscumbia “Festival of Yule” opposed by Christians

By Star
The Wild Hunt
"Yesterday, TWH reported on the opposition being voiced online by some of the residents of the northwestern city of Alabama to the Yule-theme festival, depicting it as being “Satanic,” and encouraging people to voice their concerns at the local council meeting. TWH spoke yesterday with Kendall Gilchrist, organizer of Festival of Yule, and owner of Hesperia Mystic Shoppe, about the event and how she found out about the mounting opposition to the event."
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Best Cities for Witches

by Sav Maive
Lawn Love
"We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on access to covens, tarot readers, and astrology classes. We also looked for cities brimming with natural healers, herbalists, and metaphysical supply stores, among 18 total metrics.  Use our rankings to find the best place to gather with your coven and celebrate the spookiest time of the year. "
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Why paganism and witchcraft are making a comeback

By Antonio Pagliarulo
NBC News Think
"Two weeks ago in the run-up to Halloween, I visited Salem, Massachusetts, for the first time since the pandemic began. In renewing my annual Halloween pilgrimage, I was bowled over by what I found in the Witch City: bigger crowds, longer lines and a wider and welcome array of merchandise geared toward many different religious traditions and ethnic identities."
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10 of the Best Witch Manga to Read This Witchy Season (or Anytime!)

By Patricia Thang
Book Riot
"The air is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and pumpkins are starting to pop up all around town. Which means it’s my favorite — and the most magical — time of year! With fall in full swing and Halloween just around the corner, ‘tis the season for witchy reads! And what better witchy reads than some of the best witch manga you can get your hands on right this very moment?"
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How Witches Cast Their Spell on Art History

By Sarah Rose Sharp
HyperAllergic
"At the intersection of spooky season and global feminism, we have witches. The term “witch” is a handy one, historically applied by the patriarchy to justify the punishment of basically any woman who thwarts the dictates of conventional society and gender relations, but has also been characterized in myth and art for centuries. With Halloween just weeks away, join us in a spooky survey of fine art witches."
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Witchcraft store opens in historic Orenco Mercantile building

By Samantha Swindler
Oregon Live
"The historic Orenco[Oregon] grocery building in one of Hillsboro’s oldest neighborhoods has reopened as a retail store selling Wiccan items, witchcraft supplies and oddities. The husband-and-wife team of August Hesse and Courtney Pheils-Hesse – both practicing Wiccans ­– purchased the combination store and residence in March, renovated the space over the summer, and opened their shop, Through the Veil, on Oct. 1."
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Vanessa Hudgens Announces Documentary About Her Journey with Witchcraft

By Amanda Taylor
People
"The High School Musical alum, 33, revealed Friday that she has teamed up with Bunim-Murray Productions to make a documentary about her journey with witchcraft...The 90-minute film is described on its official Instagram as an 'intimate journey into the supernatural realm' that serves as a 'coming-of-age story that explores identity, feminine power and sisterhood.'"
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New Mexico’s history of witchcraft and sorcery

By Scott Brown
New Mexico News
"Every culture has its version of witches or a belief in witches. In New Mexico, European ideas about witches blend with traditions from Mexican, Spanish, and Native cultures. So, where do New Mexico’s beliefs about witches start?"
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Pamela Colman Smith Designed the Iconic Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. Why Has No One Heard Her Name?

By Katie White
ArtNet
"Such is the enigma of Pamela Colman Smith (1878–1951), an early 20th-century artist, writer, and mystic. Smith created dreamy, Symbolist-inspired watercolors that won her acclaim in her youth, including three successful exhibitions at Alfred Stieglitz’s famed New York gallery, 291, where she was the first non-photographic artist to have a show."
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Christian groups step up harassment of pagan festivals

By Heather Greene
Religion News Service
"As widespread immunity and milder COVID-19 strains have spread across the U.S., pagans and witches, like their neighbors, have begun to gather more freely this summer at annual community events after two years of relative isolation. So have some unwelcome guests."
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Finally, a game that will just let me be a creepy witch in the woods

By Lauren Morton
PC Gamer
"The early snippets of Reka that the studio has shared include crafting potions in your home, covering your cottage with witchy clutter like books and herbs and cats, and assisting locals with magical rituals."
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Essential Texts for Activist Witches

By Thumper Forge
Patheos
"Basically, if you’re queer, trans, and/or have a uterus, the Far Right is coming for you. As a gay individual, I am nauseated AF at the moment. But I also practice Witchcraft, which is historically an instrument of the marginalized and oppressed. If you’re a Witch, you have access to that instrument as well. And now is the time to start wielding it."
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Wiccan and pagan community to hold ‘Harvest Gathering’ in Connecticut

By Sharon L’Heureux
Hartford Courant
"The CWPN.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the needs and education of our Connecticut and surrounding area Wiccan and pagan community... We do this by having events for each of the eight Sabbats, which are opened to our community and like-minded people, and during those events, we perform open circles to honor deity."
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Ratepayer calls for removal of Cernunnos statue - Wicca witchcraft deity - from Hillsborough Forest Park

By Philip Bradfield
News Letter
"Local ratepayer David Megarry says there is widespread concern about the “monstrous and grotesque” figure on social media among residents in the town."
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The Founder of Queen Meb Is at the Forefront of the Wiccan Revival

By Jay Horton
Willamette Week
"Erika Fortner may claim she’d never once considered a career in retail, but the founder of Queen Meb—the Northeast Broadway boutique that’s part Dosha, part Diagon Alley, offering tarot readings, brooms, and witching herbs, alongside body scrubs and lip balm—seems eerily well-suited for her current role."
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After 329 years, a woman accused of being a witch in Salem has been exonerated

By The Associated Press
NPR
"It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem 'witch' who wasn't has been officially pardoned. Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials."
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Little Witch in the Woods is a slightly spooky Stardew Valley

By Hope Bellingham
GamesRadar
"New cozy sim Little Witch in the Woods will let you live out your best spooky life and is now available to play on PC and Xbox Game Pass. Similar to a pixel-art version of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, Little Witch in the Woods sees players take on the role of apprentice witch Ellie as she completes her training..."
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Photos of One of the Last Remaining Pagan Rituals in Europe

By Asher Svidensky
PetaPixel
"In December of 2019, I decided to travel to Bulgaria. I went there to expand my ongoing photography project about the personal journeys of young individuals who will ultimately become the ‘torch carriers’ of ancient cultures and traditions. What caught my attention in Bulgaria was an ancient tradition known as Kukeri. An ancient ritual that many consider being one of the only remaining practiced pagan rituals in Europe today."
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Interest in spirituality, witchcraft on the rise amid COVID-19, TikTok boom

By Kiara Alfonseca
Good Morning America
"I think people go to tarot readings or seek something outside of religion when we're really in that vulnerable state," Vargas said. "When somebody came to me and said, 'you should have a Tarot reading,' I would probably never have done that, had everything been fine and dandy in my life. But because everything was falling apart, I was desperate."
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A Discovery of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick

By Lyonel Perabo
The Wild Hunt
"Well known in the US as one of the first, if not the first, individuals to bring Wicca to America, Raymond Buckland, who passed away five years ago, was a figure I was only passingly aware of. Until I set foot in Cleveland, he was but one of the many elder figures I had read about in books about Witchcraft and Paganism, so doing a little family excursion to learn about the man, his world, and his collection of occult memorabilia seemed like the right thing to do."
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Suzy Peltier’s book “Ancient Wisdom for Modern Needs” shows Taoist Wicca

By Page Publishing
PRWeb
"Suzy Peltier, massage therapist, hypnotherapist, Reiki master-teacher, and third-degree Wiccan high priestess dedicated to the principle of holism, brings her thirty years of clinical experience to her new book “Ancient Wisdom for Modern Needs. It’s a life-changing combination of wit and wisdom guiding readers to find balance within themselves, the Universe, and the planet."
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Songs of Glimmerwick, an RPG About Attending a Musical Magic School

By Rebekah Valentine
IGN
"Songs of Glimmerwick is a story-driven RPG where magic is cast through music. Players will attend magic classes, learn to play different songs to cast spells, grow a magical garden, make potions, and take on quests to get to know the various denizens of Glimmerwick. There are moth races, forest expeditions, and festivals to attend, mixing plenty of optional mini-games and side quests alongside a main storyline."
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Witchcraft supply shop in Ypsilanti sells everything from sage to chicken feet

By Jordyn Pair
MLive
"A recently opened metaphysical shop in Ypsilanti(Michigan) is aimed at creating a safe space for practitioners of Wicca, hoodoo, voodoo and similar religions. 'We try to provide a wide variety of items for the spiritual community that’s located in the Ann Arbor and Ypsi area, specifically catering to more the African traditional religion parts of that,' said owner Tanet Jordan-Casey."
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Healing myself the Pagan way: how witchcraft cast a spell on me

By Jennifer Lane
The Guardian
"Witchcraft has always played a large role in my life. While many kids were learning badminton or taking trombone lessons, I was reading up on spellcraft and ways to plant my herb garden. I grew up in the late 1990s when my cultural life became saturated with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch... But the draw wasn’t just the empowerment that spells and telekinetic forces threw my way; I was intensely charmed by witchcraft’s connection with the world outside and the earth around me."
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Global Witch Lore Shines in THE WITCHVERSE Animated Series

By Amy Ratcliffe
The Nerdist
"Most of us know some myth about witches. Maybe it’s about warts. Or maybe it’s about dark magic and the rule of three. A new animated series from Baobab Studios and Disney Branded Television will focus on what witch mythology around the globe is like. The Witchverse is an animated anthology series based on Baobab Studios’ award-winning virtual reality experience and short film Baba Yaga. Uh yes, please."
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How Some ‘Jewitches’ Embrace Both Judaism and Witchcraft

By Heather Greene and Emily McFarlan Miller
AP News
"...creator, Alicia Jo Rabins, identifies as a Jewish artist and educator who incorporates elements of witchcraft into her practice of Judaism, an increasingly common, if still controversial, combination. In both the modern witchcraft and Jewish communities, people are bringing together magic — often called witchcraft — and religious ritual. The ways in which these two seemingly distinct practices merge is often highly personal, depending on heritage, education and spiritual calling."
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I'm Proud to Be a Real-Life Witch

By Angie Brown
BBC Scotland News
"Tonks Brown lives on her own in a remote croft in the Scottish Highlands and says she is proud to be a real-life witch. For her, Halloween is not about costumes, pumpkins and trick or treating. 'I think society has a pop culture idea of witches,' says 36-year-old Tonks. 'It is about so much more, it's a big part of my life, it's my religion and faith,' she says...She turned to Paganism when she was 12 and living on the Isle of Mull. 'I was bullied at high school for being different,' she says."
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The Craft Inspired a Generation of Teenage Witches

By Peg Aloi
TIME
"Perhaps no other contemporary film had as great an impact on the modern witchcraft movement as The Craft. Though it premiered to middling reviews, the 1996 movie...captivated both experienced witches and total acolytes with its authentic portrayal of adolescent girls who dabbled in witchcraft to improve their lives and gain power. Enthralled by its dark glamour, countless young girls were compelled to learn more about witchcraft and paganism... "
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Help Name The Best Witch in Pop Culture History

By Michael Walsh
Nerdist
"Something wicked this way comes. Wicked fun, that is. This year we’re celebrating Nerdoween with our first-ever 'Nerdist Witch Week.' During the final days of October, we’re paying tribute to those broom flying, spell-casting, potion brewing denizens of the scariest season. And we’re asking you to be a big part of the festivities. You’re going to help us name the best witch in pop culture history. We’re putting 64 of the scariest, most popular, and most infamous witches up against one another March Madness-style on our Twitter."
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A Spooky, Witchy Reading List to Kick off Scary Season

By Fire Lyte
LitHub
"No matter whether the witch is something more than human or as mortal as the rest of us, for many people, these stories spark an interest in magic that never quite goes away. I’ve gathered together 9 stories of witches, a coven of stories if you will, that encompass the history of the witch through time and how these stories are thriving in the modern era."
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A New Exhibition Gets at the Truth Behind the Salem Witch Trials

By Katie White
ArtNet
"It is among the darker chapters in American colonial history: In the spring of 1692, three girls in Salem, Massachusetts, came forward claiming to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft against them. The accusations unleashed waves of panic in the Puritanical colonial society, and in a few short months, more than 200 people would stand accused."
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What We Know About Women in the Viking Age Is Steeped in Cultural Bias

By Nancy Marie Brown
LitHub
"History books are not 'true.' They do not, and cannot, capture the totality of what happened in any one place or time. Historians choose what to tell and what to leave out. That choice is an interpretation...no matter how many facts a historian recounts in her book, it remains a story—an interpretation. And as such, it reflects her cultural biases. Until very recently, one of those cultural biases was to ignore women."
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The Pandemic Turned Me Into a Witch

By Daniel Zomparelli
The Cut
"We got married and moved into our first home together in L.A., and soon after found ourselves browsing the local mainstay witch store, House of Intuition...Turns out, we’d both been into witchcraft at a young age, even owning versions of the Book of Shadows...Growing up Catholic, I attended Catechism, a weekly religious school where I was constantly in trouble for giggling.... There, I was taught that witchcraft was sinful. Now, in a store dedicated to witches, I felt like I was getting to enjoy, wait for it, a forbidden fruit."
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How King Knight's Director and Cast Made a Comedy for People Who Love Witches

By Matthew Jackson
SyFy
"Armed with a love of witches, a coven of personal friends who happened to be witches, and years' worth of research into modern witchcraft, Bates began working on what would become King Knight, his latest feature... Funny, trippy, and made with a sense of eccentric conviction, the film is Bates' effort to tell a story about witches you might meet in real life, free of not just darkness, but also of judgment..."
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Kerry Katona's Teenage Daughter Lilly Says She Practises Witchcraft

By Jessica Sansome
Manchester Evening News
"Lilly says she started experimenting with spells around the start of the first lockdown last March. She decided to invest more time into it after discovering a pagan symbol on a tree which she took as a sign and now meets fellow witches regularly...'It's so sad because it's so misunderstood. There's such negative connotations around what witchcraft is...but it's actually a wonderfully kind, good religion,' she says."
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Banished 'Witches' Sing Of Their Pain — And Their Dreams

By Aaron Cohen
NPR
"On a brief track called "I Stand Accused," a woman in a remote part of Ghana intones and repeats the title phrase with the intensity of a global town crier...This singer is one of an estimated 1,000 women in northern Ghana who have fled their homes because of witchcraft accusations — and the fear that they will be physically attacked as a result."
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How Metal Embraced Pagan-Folk Mystics Heilung

By Dave Everley
Metal Hammer
"Heilung have materialised in metal’s collective consciousness like a spirit, despite possessing few of the traditional characteristics of a metal band. Their live performances aren’t so much gigs as communal rituals, complete with warriors, bonfires and rune-casting. The two albums they have made to date, 2015’s Ofnir and 2019’s Futha, pulse with mind-altering tribal rhythms and wordless exhortations to long-gone gods – “amplified history”, they call it."
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Shooting the Summer Solstice

By Gill Prince
Gill Prince Photography
"The Summer Solstice is especially relevant in Milton Keynes, as the 'new city' was designed specifically so that the sun will shine straight down Midsummer Boulevard, through the centre of town, on Midsummer's morning. You can draw a straight line from the Light Pyramid in Campbell Park...over the bridge and all the way down Midsummer Boulevard...Quite impressive really. "
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Australian Witches and Druids Optimistic About Post-Pandemic Future

By Nick Baker
ABC News Australia
"Over the past year, the pandemic has meant most pagan rituals and events around the country have either been cancelled or conducted online...But there's optimism among some in the community that pagan groups could emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever."
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The Best Fiction Books About Faeries and their Magickal Worlds

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar
WashingtonPost.com
"Sometimes — like, maybe, right now — you want to escape to another, better world. But is Fairyland it? Emerging from the mist of British folk tales and beliefs, the Fae did not always resemble the cute winged creatures in Disney’s “Peter Pan”... "

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The US Witch Population has Seen an Astronomical Rise

By Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz & Dan Kopf
QZ.com
"Spirituality is now firmly placed in mainstream culture...Though the data is sparse, what we do know is that the practice of witchcraft has seen major growth in recent decades. As the witch aesthetic has risen, so has the number of people who identify as witches..."
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Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America
Frances F. Denny

By Aline Smithson
LenScratch.com
"Major Arcana is an exploration of contemporary witchery told through striking photographs and short, thought-provoking essays in the subjects’ own words...Frances F. Denny is an artist and photographer whose work investigates female identities... From occultists and Neo-pagans, to herbalists and Wiccan High Priestesses..."
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1,800-Year-Old Altar to Pagan God Pan Hidden in a Byzantine Church

By Laura Geggel
LiveScience.com
"The volcanic basalt altar dates to the second or third century, but it was repurposed as a support brick in the fifth-century church... Whoever built the church apparently didn't want worshippers seeing a dedication to the god Pan, so the altar was turned around, possibly to debase and humiliate any pagans who still practiced "old" polytheistic beliefs..."
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Some of the Best Images from the Spectacular Winter Solstice at Newgrange

By Shane O'Brien
IrishCentral.com
"Viewers were treated to a spectacular site on Sunday as the passage tomb filled with light at dawn...The Newgrange passage tomb is Ireland's best-known Neolithic structures and draws tourists from all over the world...Dating back to around 3200 BC, Newgrange is about 500 years older than the pyramids in Egypt and at least 1,000 years older than Stonehenge in England..."
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Eerie Witches’ Marks Found Among Ruins of Medieval English Church

By Isis Davis-Marks
SmithsonianMag.com
"Archaeologists conducting excavations at the abandoned church of St. Mary’s in Stoke Mandeville, England, discovered strange stone carvings and medieval graffiti suspected to be “witches’ marks,” or protective symbols designed to ward off evil spirits...a design perhaps meant to entrap malicious spirits, dooming them to forever wander around an endless line or maze..."
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