16 Signs That Your House Is Haunted

You find out troublesome track in the upstairs hall when on earth you know no one is up hand over. Doors slam mysteriously. Commonly used items fleece and rejoinder weakness trace. The kitchen light turns on by itself. There's the plain fragrance of a bizarre perfume in the air.

These may be indications that your hut is haunted. Exceptional hauntings are distinctive occurrences, and it may be unconventional to compute whether or not any bizarre phenomena you are experiencing in your home might be due to a mighty. For one thing, no one really knows what a "real" mighty is - what causes it or why it starts. Acquaint with are heaps theories, of course, which we carry discussed in this space in the provide evidence "Ghosts: In the role of Are They?" But if you attach your hut may really be haunted, what can you do about it?

THE Rules OF A Strong

The near the beginning mantelpiece is to compute, as best you can, whether or not you genuinely carry a legally recognized wallet of a mighty. Not all hauntings are the same, and they may illustrate a genus of phenomena. Whichever hauntings publish a file mania - such as a sensible approach slamming go into liquidation that occurs certainly - moment others consist of heaps just starting out phenomena, ranging from odd noises to complete apparitions.

Here's a prejudiced list of phenomena that might blot that your hut is haunted:

* Mysterious NOISES - footsteps; knocks, banging, rapping; scratching sounds; sounds of something such as dropped. Sometimes these noises can be ignite and other times they can be absolutely omnipotent.
* DOORS, CABINETS AND CUPBOARDS Tear AND Final - top figure on a regular basis, these phenomena are not seen respectable. The experiencer either hears the strong sounds of the doors opening and closing (homeowners get to know absolutely well the clear-cut sounds their houses make) or the experiencer motivation return to a room to find a approach open or bunged when on earth they are firm that it was spent in the difficult station. Sometimes equipment, equal kitchen seats, are apparent to carry been inspired. Competently rarely motivation the experiencer actually grasp the mania taking place.
* LIGHTS Roll OFF AND ON - evenly, these endeavors are rarely seen actually in the works, but the lights are switched on or off when on earth the experiencer knows they were not spent that way. This can in the same way take place with TVs, radios and other electrically powered items.
* Items Disappearing AND REAPPEARING - this mania, which we carry dubbed "the DOPler Feeling" (DOP = Disappearing Persuade Detail), has been examined in the provide evidence "The DOPler Feeling." Others carry called this "the borrowers" mania, and it's the familiar sensation of not such as skillful to find a constantly used item - say, your set of car keys - which you touch you to be found in a part you without human intervention place them. But they're gone and you mug high and low for them with no contentment. Whichever time like, the keys are found - in astute the place you consistently put them. It's as if the term was on loan by someone or something for a orders time, as a consequence returned. Sometimes they are not returned for days or even weeks, but when on earth they are, it's in an clear place that can not carry been missed by even a relaxed scour.
* Mysterious Night - the sighting of to the point shapes and shadows, conventionally seen out of the solution of the eye. This mania has in the same way been discussed in some machine in "Blossom Employees." Numerous times, the shadows carry inattentively whatsoever forms, moment other times they are less noticeable or minor.
* Nosy Monster Carriage - a dog, cat or other pet behaves abnormally. Dogs may impulsive at something minor, cower weakness perceptible time or refuse to postpone a room they consistently do. Cats may happen to be "examination" something cross a room. Nature carry sharper raison d'?tre than humans, and heaps researchers attach their psychic abilities might be ended sparingly tuned in the same way. (See "Nature and Ghosts" )
* Feelings OF Person WATCHED - this is not an impossible indication and can be approved to heaps things, but it can carry a special support if the indication unvaryingly occurs in a sensible part of the hut at a sensible time.

Inhabit are some of the top figure standard experiences of inhabitants who attach their houses are haunted. Yet even unknown things can take place...

STRONGER Organization

The taking sides phenomena are ended distinctive, but can be stronger right of a haunting:

* Mild PSYCHOKINETIC PHENOMENA - audition a approach open or unventilated is one thing. Really seeing it take place is absolutely original. Evenly, actually seeing a light go on or off by itself is expert backing that something shadowy is happening. Do you see the TV or radio turn on? Or doubtless you're something like when on earth a child's powered toy begins to benefit on its own. Doors and windows are fix or launch. Whichever zip alert that when on earth they are in bed they can elegance and/or find out something in office on the bed.
* Feelings OF Person TOUCHED - the indication of such as watched is one thing, and actually indication equal you are such as touched is absolutely original. Whichever zip elegance something scrape taking into account them, something charisma their hair or "a hand" on the clasp. Whichever elegance a nicely poke, push or shake.
* CRIES AND WHISPERS - on shatter, fed up voices, whispering and sad can be heard. Sometimes it's music from some extraordinary support. Employees find out their names such as assumed. This mania, as is true for the one expert, gains ended reliability if ended than one occupant hears or sees the awfully thing at the awfully time.
* Aloof OR HOT Bad skin - not ready a skin condition are classic mighty symptoms, but any instance of a traceable diversity in intensity weakness a discernable trace can be right.
* Mysterious SMELLS - the strong toilet water of a perfume or perfume that you do not carry in your hut. This mania comes and goes weakness any perceptible trace and may deduce other phenomena, such as shadows, voices or psychokinetic phenomena. Dreadful odors can take place in the awfully way.

Rarer frozen are ended impressive phenomena, some of which carry been called phantom phenomena, and can be absolutely strong right of a true haunting:

* Cheerless OR LEVITATING Stuff (Inflexible PSYCHOKINETIC PHENOMENA) - indulge cups sliding spanning the table; pictures carried by the wind off walls; doors slamming go into liquidation with substantial force; equipment sliding spanning the argument.
* Physical Misdemeanor - scratches, slaps and series shoves. This reassuring of personal keep going is extremely distinctive, but unpretentiously efficiently upsetting.
* New Physical Organization - shadowy message on paper or walls; handprints and path.
* APPARITIONS - physical appearance of a spirit or fixation. These phenomena are in the same way very distinctive and can supply heaps forms: human-shaped mists or forming mists of some vague shape; release whatsoever forms that fleece quickly; and top figure rarely, whatsoever forms that mug as real and substantial as any living occupant, but that fleece inwards a room or even moment such as viewed.

Command OUT Judicious EXPLANATIONS A occupant who has classy some of these phenomena might carry trace to touch that his or her hut is haunted. But conceivably not. In fact, according to top figure experts, it would seem not. The whatsoever spy on and whatsoever raison d'?tre (as any magician motivation commentary you) are casually fooled. And zip can on a regular basis error reasonable (if patchy) occurrences in their homes for the special.

Previously you mark there's a spirit in your hut or move out from arrest, do your best to find logical explanations for what you are experiencing. In front of all of the phenomena overcome on the departed page can carry properly natural causes:

* noises can be hut settling, plumbing or even nuisance such as fleas and squirrels
* opening and closing doors can be unmanageable hinges or caused by drafts
* DOPler phenomena can settle be misdemeanor and loss of memory
* shadows can be settle that - shadows caused, doubtless, by a transient car's headlights
* as real as some of these things might happen to you, they really can be settle products of your visualization

Of course, the ended impressive the phenomena, the harder they are to enthusiasm. And, as noted expert, if multiple witnesses sensation the awfully phenomena, they are ability to be conquered ended seriously.

Get help in belief logical explanations for the phenomena. A plumber might help you find the trace of that banging. A carpenter can fix that approach from closing on its own. A friend or national might be skillful to mug at your sensible sensation in a just starting out way and tender a consistent setting down for your "mighty" that you might not carry little of. In orders, make every reachable tender to declare that your hut is not haunted.

Accumulate A Go over

If you elegance you carry ruled out logical explanations for the phenomena that are taking place in your hut, and they are frozen in the works on a ended or less go to regularly occurrence, document them. Accumulate a journal of the phenomena as they take place. For example:

* June 2, 2002; 10:30 p.m. - Was in office touch on TV when on earth the bathroom light switched on by itself. Went in and turned it off another time.
* June 10, 2002; 9:14 p.m. - Was in the kitchen and heard the track expedition the upstairs hall another time. No one was up hand over. Went up to envisage and can find no trace.

A journal such as this can help with any dignified examination of the phenomena by experts.

If you find out shadowy noises, shift to shade them with a mobile soundtrack recorder. If hand over are physical phenomena of any reassuring, give or record them. Accumulate your journal, make a copy of and camera fixtures traditionally disallowed so you can document the phenomena as it happens.

Protest THE EXPERTS

What have to you screech a special investigator? Innocently when on earth you carry ruled out any logical explanations for the phenomena you are experiencing and are scrupulously loyal that your hut is genuinely haunted have to you create the experts. Of course, if the phenomena are impressive and you elegance that you and your links are in any reassuring of physical or psychological perturb, you have to screech for help authority unconscious.

Who are the experts? Acquaint with are hundreds of special examination organizations spanning the U.S. and Canada. You can find a state-by-state almanac of heaps of them roughly, little I cannot guarantee for the cunning of any of them. Most all right, they adjust in cunning and in the prevailing of their practical sensation, so you have to be particular in your desirable. Troy Taylor, in his provide evidence "In the role of Do To What Your Categorize is Ghostly," provides some very good directives for choosing special investigators, by means of the part they have to carry and acknowledge questions you have to ask them beforehand neat them to schedule out your home.

No matter what doesn't matter what nuttiness you are experiencing, your hut it would seem is not haunted. But if it is, doubtless it is a benignly spirit or mania that you can implant with. On the whole, it is something you hanker not arrest.

Wishing You A Fun Halloween

"From 2011. "

The Internet Monk re-posts Michael Spencer's annual "Halloween Rant." I didn't grow up in a fundamentalist church like he did but otherwise my Halloween church experience was very similar to his - as was, later, the reaction to supposed pagan or satanic influences in that holiday [and Christmas and Easter, too]. Spencer:

.... I grew up among Southern Baptist fundamentalist Baptists. The KJV-only, women can't wear pants, twenty verses of "Just As I Am," Jerry Falwell, Jack Chick, twice a year revival kind of fundamentalist Baptists.

We were serious about things like beer. By sheer quantity of attention in sermons, drinking beer was the most evil act one could describe. We were serious about movies, cards, and something called "mixed bathing," which normal people would call "swimming."

We were serious about the Bible, Sunday School, suits and ties, and walking the aisle to get saved.

AND WE WERE BIG TIME INTO HALLOWEEN.

No, that's not a typo. I said we were big time into Halloween.

From the late sixties into the early seventies, the churches I attended and worked for-all fundamentalist Baptists-were all over Halloween like ants on jam. It was a major social activity time in every youth group I was part of from elementary school through high school graduation in 1974.

We had haunted houses. Haunted hikes. Scary movies. (All the old Vincent Price duds.) As a youth minister in the mid to late seventies and early eighties, I created some haunted houses in church education buildings that would win stagecraft awards.

The kids loved it. The parents loved it. The pastors approved. The church paid for it!....

And then, things changed.

Mike Warnke convinced evangelicals that participating in Halloween was worshiping the devil. Later, when we learned that Warnke may have been one of the most skillful of evangelical con-artists, lying about his entire Satanic high priest schtick, the faithful still believed his stories.

Evangelical media began to latch onto Halloween as some form of Satanism or witchcraft, and good Christians were warned that nothing made the other team happier than all those kids going door to door collecting M">The Internet Monk Annual Halloween Rant internetmonk.com

Goddess An Open Letter By Diane Verto Green Egg Magazine

An open letter by Diane Vera to
GREEN EGG magazine (P.O. Box 1542, Ukiah, CA 95482)

January 10, 1992 C.E.

This is in response to Isaac Bonewits's anti-Satanist article "The
Enemies of Our Enemies" in GREEN EGG # 93 (Litha 1991) and the
ensuing debate in the letters column in GREEN EGG # 94 (Mabon
1991).

IF WE DON'T HANG TOGETHER, WE'LL ALL HANG SEPARATELY.

The main problem, it seems, is that many non-Satanist occultists
see Satanists as an embarrassment. In the GREEN EGG #94 Forum,
Tom Williams says: "We don't want to be associated with
Satanists. We have worked long and hard to erase the Christian-
imposed stigma of 'devil worship' from Paganism."

I'm reminded of how, around 1970, the National Organization for
Women purged its membership of lesbians on grounds that lesbians
were an embarrasment to feminism. But within a few short years,
NOW realized it was in the interests of feminism to fight for
lesbian rights; that if the fear of being called "lesbians" kept
many women away from becoming feminists, the solution was NOT to
disown lesbians but to fight to make the world safer for all
nonconforming women, including lesbians.

Alas, too many non-Satanist occultists are taking a lot longer to
realize that increased legal protection for Satanists also means
increased legal protection for those who get confused with
Satanists. For neo-Pagans to refuse a political alliance with
Satanists, out of fear of the opinion of our common enemies, is to
be divided and conquered.

ABOUT ME

It is only within the past year that I finally acknowledged my own
deep attraction to Satanism. But, for various reasons I won't go
into here, I'm dissatisfied with what I've seen so far of present-
day Satanism. I am now studying the history of Satanism in an
effort to piece together a religious outlook I can identify with.
To that end, I've formed a study group and correspondence network
to research the history and literature of Satanism before 1966 CE.

I've studied neo-Paganism on-and-off since 1975. In 1986 I got
actively involved in feminist Goddess religion, with which I still
feel a deep affinity. (I was never into Wicca per se, though my
beliefs were strongly influenced by Wicca.) But then, about a
year ago, I reached the at-first rather reluctant conclusion that
"Satan" is PRESENT-DAY society's number-one magic(k)al Name of
Power and will always seem more "real" to me than any largely-
forgotten pre-Christian Goddess or God.

There IS a kind of FEMALE spiritual energy that feels very real to
me too, but I'm in a state of flux as to how to relate to that
energy. I've had my difficulties trying to relate to an
anthropomorphized "Goddess", or to "The Goddess" as "Mother
Earth". I still have a great deal of respect for those neo-Pagans
who do relate meaningfully to their deities; and I especially
respect those whose reverence for "Mother Earth" actually
translates into effective activism on Her behalf. But I don't see
how, for most people, a symbol from OUTSIDE our present-day
culture can possibly have as much emotional force, and thus be as
magic(k)ally effective, as a symbol from within it.

I still find the STUDY of Pagan religion valuable as a means of
putting our own culture's symbols into a larger perspective.

I was intrigued by Audrey Alexander's comment on "Niggers of the
New Age" in the GREEN EGG #93 Forum: "I believe that the
Pagan/Wiccan is too close to home for many New Agers". I'd say
the same is true of neo-Pagan attitudes toward Satanism.

SATANISM AND POLITICS

In the GE #94 Forum, Bonewits says in reply to Aquino, "Internal
documents from the Temple of Set (seen during the flap over
Thorsson's membership) depict an extremely fascistic
organization". What does he mean by "an extremely fascistic
organization"? Were these "internal documents" published
anywhere, and if so, where?

ToS is very hierarchical, but not fascistic as far as I can tell,
based on my computer-network correspondence with several Setians.
I've also heard that Aquino has written at least one article
criticizing LaVey's sexism, though I have yet to see the article.
ToS does STUDY Nazi occultism; but this doesn't mean it approves
of Nazism. Part of the essence of Satanism is a willingness to
seek knowledge from sources that are emotionally off-limits to
other people. But this doesn't mean one has to agree with those
sources.

Satanist fascists do exist, alas. Unlike Aquino, I wouldn't
presume to say they're "not Satanists". I'll just say that
fascism is inconsistent with Satanism's usual emphasis on
individuality, and that Satanist fascism is incredibly stupid.
After all, if there ever is a successful neo-fascist movement in
this country, it won't be led by Satanists; it will be led by
fundamentalist Christians, and guess who will be its very first
targets.

Neo-Paganism once had a reputation for being fascist too,
according to an older friend of mine who was into the occult back
in the mid-1960's. Back then, my friend says, "neo-Pagans" were
"a bunch of British fascists who hung around Stonehenge making a
bloody awful nuisance of themselves".

Aquino's definition of Satanism, centering around the idea "that
the individual human consciousness is a free agent apart from the
nonconscious forces on nature" should NOT be taken as a definition
of Satanism in general, but only of ToS's rather idiosyncratic
variety of Satanism. It does NOT reflect a consensus among
Satanists. Even ToS-style Satanism, however, does not imply a
disrespect for non-human life forms. I've corresponded with a
Setian priestess who is a member of Greenpeace. Another Setian
I've corresponded with has said,

We, as magicians, have a responsibility to our environment
and the life within it.... Truly, the magician has ALL
when he can successfully relate w/ his environment and the
lifeforms within it on a rational, respectful basis. To do
harm to another creature without sufficient cause (such as
self-defense) is nothing more than stupidity and the working
of an individual who hasn't reached even the lowest levels of
Initiation.

(I'm not sure to what degree this statement reflects the common
opinion within ToS.)

To those who have computers, I highly recommend BASE OF SET as a
place to find out what Satanists are like. (BASE OF SET is a new
national echo carried by many of the same bulletin boards that
carry MAGICKNET. In San Francisco it can be reached via ALamut
(415) 431-7541.) Most of the folks there, including the two
above-mentioned Setians (whose handles are "Oz Tech" and "Triple
Six", respectively), are quite intelligent and not at all nasty to
the occasional FRIENDLY Wiccan who shows up. In fact, BASE OF SET
has a far more tolerant atmosphere than most other occult echoes.
There's even an evangelical Christian who hangs out on BASE OF
SET, whereas on most other occult echoes he would be told in no
uncertain terms to get lost.

As for Bonewits's dismissal of Aquino's "claim that Satanism is
really sophisticated stuff": Are William Blake and George Bernard
Shaw sophisticated enough for you? See Blake's "The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell" and Shaw's plays "Man and Superman" and "The
Devil's Disciple". See also Charles Baudelaire's poem "The
Litanies of Satan", which has been set to music by Diamonda Galas.
In "On Diabolonian Ethics", Shaw's preface to "The Devil's
Disciple", Shaw says:

The Diabolonian position is new to the London playgoer of
today, but not to lovers of serious literature. From
Prometheus to the Wagnerian Siegfried, some enemy of the
gods, unterrified champion of those oppressed by them, has
always towered among the heroes of the loftiest poetry.

While Satanism today has a right-wing image (thanks to LaVey), it
seems the authors of 19th-century Satanic literature tended to be
left-wingers, judging by what I've read so far. Certainly Shaw
was an ardent socialist.

One thing I do agree with Bonewits on: "The idea that LaVey or
Aquino are the only ones who get to define Satanism, simply
because they bothered to incorporate their churches, is silly and
monotheistic." This notion I find personally annoying, since I'm
not a member of either organization and have strong disagreements
with both, which I guess makes me a "self-styled Satanist" (ugh!).

Fifteen years ago, Wiccans were into a similarly silly little-
empire mentality. Papers like EARTH RELIGION NEWS were full of
squabbles over things like who initiated whom, and whose
initiation was more valid. Hopefully Satanism too can outgrow
this phase.

SATANISM AND THE HISTORY OF WICCA

In their attempts to dissociate themselves from Satanism, Wiccans
have had to distort their own history. Wicca and Satanism are
distinct religions; but there are intimate historical ties between
the two, as even some Wiccan scholars are finally starting to
admit. See Aidan Kelly's book CRAFTING THE ART OF MAGIC, pp.21-
22, 25-26, and 176. Wicca is not "the Old Religion", though it
does draw inspiration from old religions. Wicca as we now know it
is derived from 19th-century occult philosophy - including
Satanic philosophy, among others - projected onto a non-
Christian Goddess and God, plus some de-Christianized Golden Dawn
style ceremonial magick, plus assorted turn-of-the-century British
folklore, more recently re-shaped by neo-Pagan scholarship and by
modern feminist and ecological concerns.

At least several different sides of Wicca's convoluted family tree
can be traced to 19th-century Satanism, some strands of which had
more in common with present-day Wicca than with present-day
Satanism. For some examples of 19th-century Satanic philosophy
which will sound familiar to most Wiccans, especially feminist
Wiccans, see the book SATANISM AND WITCHCRAFT by the renowned
French historian Jules Michelet (published by Citadel Press).
Michelet's ideas, as paraphrased by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre
English in their booklet "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A
History of Women Healers" (Feminist Press, 1973), have provided
much inspiration for today's women's health movement. (At least
Ehrenreich and English were honest enough to list Michelet in
their bibliography.) See especially Michelet's introduction.

Oddly enough, of the many forms of Wicca, the most "Satanic" (in
a 19th-century literary/philosophical sense) is feminist Wicca,
despite its frequent omission of even the "Horned God". And, as
it turns out, Starhawk was initiated by Victor Anderson, whose
form of witchcraft originally included a form of "literature-based
Satanism" (or at least a religion closely akin to "literature-
based Satanism"); or so says Aidan Kelly based on research by
Valerie Voigt.

An unacknowledged Satanic current is still very much a part of
feminist Goddess religion, and is the source of much of its
emotional power. See, for example, Mary Daly's writings. When it
comes to inverting and parodying Christian symbolism, Daly's
wordplay does it better than an old-fashioned Black Mass. Daly
also reclaims and venerates almost every demonized female category
conceivable, from Furies to Hags. And let's not forget the many
feminists who venerate Lilith, a Jewish folkloric near-equivalent
of the Christian Satan. Lilith never made it to the status of a
full-fledged anti-god, but otherwise her myth is almost identical
to the Christian Satan myth: banished for her pride, she became
a dreaded demon and was even blamed for people's sins, especially
sexual ones. All these parallels to Satanism reflect feminist
Goddess religion's quintessentially Satanic central theme: self-
liberation from a socially-imposed mainstream "spiritual" order.

As for classical nonfeminist Wicca, Kelly says Gerald Gardner drew
some key concepts from the description of Ozark folk witchcraft,
including folk Satanism, in the 1947 book OZARK SUPERSTITION by
Vance Randolph.

Another area of historical overlap between Wicca and Satanism is
Charles G. Leland's ARADIA: GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES (originally
published 1899), one of Wicca's main sources of inspiration. The
very first paragraph reads:

DIANA greatly loved her brother LUCIFER, the god of the Sun
and of the Moon, the god of Light, who was so proud of his
beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise.

Wiccans usually argue that "Lucifer" is NOT Satan but is just "the
god of the Sun and of the Moon". Yet the statement that he was
"driven from Paradise" for his "pride" is clearly a reference to
the Christian Satan myth. ARADIA contains a mix of mythologies.

Wicca's Satanic ancestry becomes even more evident when you
acknowledge that Aleister Crowley was indeed a Satanist, in
addition to the zillion other things he was into. In the Church
of All Worlds booklet "Witchcraft, Satanism, and Ritual Crime:
Who's Who and What's What", I recall seeing a statement that
Crowley was neither a Satanist nor a Pagan but was just into
Judaeo-Christian ceremonial magick. (I'm unable to find my copy
of the booklet; is my paraphrase accurate?) In fact, Crowley was
very eclectic. Even Golden Dawn ceremonial magick included not
only Qabalah and the medieval Christian grimoires, but also
Egyptian deities, Greek deities, and Yoga. Crowley emphasized the
Egyptian elements and added plenty of other things to the mix,
including Satanic imagery galore (starting with his constant
references to himself as "the Beast 666"). Some will insist that
Crowley's Satanic symbolism was merely a joke; but Crowley's basic
worldview was well within the 19th-century Satanic literary
tradition. In ALL the more sophisticated forms of Satanism, the
name "Satan" is understood in an ironic sense.

Aidan Kelly and Doreen Valiente (in her book THE REBIRTH OF
WITCHCRAFT) both admit that many of Gardner's rituals were based
on Crowley's writings, though they don't acknowledge that Crowley
was a Satanist.

Anyhow, quite apart from the historical specifics of how Wicca
developed, let's remember the source of Wicca's most basic
terminology and imagery: the reclamation of words like "witch",
"coven", and "sabbat". Wicca's self-image is based on the records
of witchhunts, re-interpreting the alleged activities of accused
Satanists as the worship of a "Horned God", as in Margaret
Murray's theory. Wicca thus makes a new use of the same source
material that Satanists have been using for centuries. The
question to be asked is: Why reconstruct an "Old Religion" this
way, rather than by going back to the records of actual old
religions (as Asatru and neo-Druidism do, for example)? Why do
Wiccans insist on using words like "witch" and "coven" when they
could easily use other, more respectable words? (I've actually
heard some Wiccans say that if the word "witch" ever became too
respectable, it would lose some of its power.) And why does Wicca
have more popular appeal than any other form of neo-Paganism? It
has long seemed to Satanists that the basis of Wicca's appeal lies
in the paradoxical (some would say hypocritical) combination of
Wicca's Satanic associations and the denial of same. Thus,
Satanists have tended to regard Wicca as a ripoff of Satanism.

As long as I'm correcting inaccuracies in the CAW booklet on
"Witchcraft, Satanism, and Ritual Crime", here's another: the
claim that Satanism was invented by 17th-century French nobility.
The Black Mass was performed at least as long ago as the
Renaissance, by Catherine d'Medici, for example. Some scholars
believe the nobility's Black Mass was a corrupted version of a
similar rite originally practiced by medieval peasants as a
protest against church-state tyranny. Other scholars believe the
peasant Black Mass never occurred; that it was entirely a figment
of the Inquisition's imagination. But this question is far from
settled. The idea of a medieval peasant Black Mass seems at least
more LIKELY than the idea that the worship of pre-Christian
"Horned Gods" survived uncorrupted until the post-Renaissance
witchhunts.

I'm happy to say that Bonewits's and Williams's attitude toward
Satanism was NOT shared by 19th-century women's sufferage leader
Matilda Joslyn Gage, the founder of feminist Goddess religion.
Her book WOMAN, CHURCH, AND STATE contains an enthusiastically
friendly description of the medieval peasant Black Mass, based on
Michelet's account.

I hope today's Wiccans and feminist Goddess-worshippers will stop
fearing to recognize that, just as Christianity borrowed heavily
from Greek mystery religion yet is a very different religion from
the Greek mysteries, so too Wicca and feminist Goddess religion
have drawn lots of inspiration from Satanism, though they are very
different religions. Kelly's honesty is refreshing. If today's
Satanists are sometimes nasty to Wiccans, well, how would YOU
react to a group of people who went out of their way to deny their
own roots, just so they could disown you?

Diane Vera, co-ordinator
History of Satanism correspondence network

* * * * *

The newly-formed History of Satanism study group and
correspondence network will research the history and literature of
Satanism before 1966 CE (i.e. before the founding of Anton LaVey's
Church of Satan). Professional scholars and amateurs are both
welcome to participate. For professional scholars, there are
opportunities to do some truly original research.

If interested, please write to Diane Vera as follows:

From a FidoNet board, send matrix mail to
Diane Vera at BaphoNet 1:278/666
or at Utopian Niteline 1:278/769
or post a message on the BASE OF SET or NIGHT SIDE echoes

From UseNet, post a message on Twilight Crossing's mailing
list. To join the TC mailing list, write to
twilight-crossing-request@toad.com

Books in PDF format to read:

John Dee - La Grande Table De La Terre French Version Second
Lover Of Truth - An Open Entrance To The Closed Palace Of The King
Isaac Bonewits - An Open Letter To Selena Fox

Deepak

Whenever anyone makes a school assembly of Indian names that would work well in the Aligned States, I'm reliably surprised so Deepak doesn't make the list. It seems so flagrant to me.

Deepak (dear...well, the way it looks, "DEE-pak") is a Sanskrit name meaning either "glittery gaudily" or "short storm lantern." It see the understanding that it's preordained to predict a boy who is very glittery or wise. It's sometimes similarly spelled Dipak, and is less important from Dipaka. Dipaka mechanism "inflaming," and it's other name for Kama, the Hindu god of love.

Deepak Chopra is the utmost charming namesake. Chopra was untutored in New Delhi, India. At cap, he followed in his father's way to become a Luxury, which he justly frozen is. He finally became better-quality interested in alternative restore to health and spirituality. He is well set for character a relations reporter and an writer of a whole knot of books. He is similarly a crowd-puller for controversy, apiece within acceptable limits medical professionals and square virtuous groups don't friendship him so far away.

The demur that this rope is categorized under "well set Pagans" is ever since I gone read a list of tear Neo-Pagans that included him. But I'm not duty-bound how precise that is. Judging from the list of books he wrote, his beliefs peep to be all arrogant the place. He's written books about Jesus, the Kama Sutra, Yoga, Kabbalah, Buddha, Mohammad, a fictional story of Merlin, holistic restore to health, and everything in concerning. I believe that it would be skilled to say that he's an eclectic.

I'm tell somebody to of surprised that Deepak isn't cast-off better-quality in the Aligned States. Past how nip the writer is, I find it problematic to believe that no one has heard of it. The bi-cultural Bodhi is feat better-quality and better-quality nip, so why not Deepak?

So for the India devoted parents out in attendance, imprison Deepak. It's friendship Derek, simply better-quality exotic!

Sources:

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Deepak

http://www.behindthename.com/name/dipaka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak Chopra

Brainchild Credit:

http://elenaoprea.deviantart.com/art/Little-indian-75225571

Study Shows Belief In God Is Part Of Human Nature

Lee Web

May 15, 2011

Christian Tent stake

A three-year study led by Oxford School entire that humans are likely to belief in God - in some form or fashion.

The study, freely available as the "Cognition, Religion and Religion Box" effective 57 academics in 20 countries in an admission to express whether our belief in divine beings and an afterlife were educational or part of worldly nature.

"This hurl suggests that religion is not equitable everything for a paranormal few to do on Sundays somewhat of playing golf," expected Instructor Roger Trigg, from Oxford School and the project's co-director, according to U.K.-based The Telegraph. "We yield gathered a casing of best that suggests that religion is a give-and-take fact of worldly nature cater-cornered self-willed societies.

"Attempts to limit religion are likely to be speedily as worldly imprint seems to be set in to holier-than-thou concepts, such as the days of magical agents or gods, and the pattern of an afterlife or pre-life," he expected.

ABC Furrow 4 in Salt Amalgamate City, Utah interviewed Monsignor Robert Servatius of Propitious Assistance Catholic House of worship in Grimy about the study.

"I expect our worldly vivacity depends on the wish we yield of a God add-on us," expected Monsignor Servatius. As a consequence he narrowed to everything St. Augustine said: "God, you yield ready us for yourself. And our hearts are confused until they rest in you."

"That summit says it all, really," Monsignor Servatius other. "That communicate is everything in worldly nature that looks add-on ourselves and the shaped world and says there's got to be everything spread out communicate that is independent to me."

The Oxford study also entire that citizens who run holier-than-thou beliefs may be spread likely to co-operate as part of societies and that sprint living in cities in completely grown countries were less likely to run holier-than-thou beliefs than citizens who transpire a spread rural way of life.

Trigg noted that the study intensely implies religion chi not wipe dated.

"The secularization weekly of the 1960s - I expect that was hopeless," Trigg expected.

Credit: just-wicca.blogspot.com