I have been studying Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong, and The Great Transformation: The Beginnings of Our Religious Traditions. And I have signed and promote The Charter for Compassion. Compassion not commonly thought of as a Pagan virtue, but this old world desperately need it.

30 Days of Advocacy deals specifically with witch-hunts in Africa, but horrific reports of crimes against accused witches come in from India and Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Last year I tried to end the campaign with an up-beat post: the family of an African teenager living in Great Britain had been convicted of his brutal murder, and police across the country were being trained to recognize and respond to “abuse resulting from ritualistic or faith-based beliefs.”

Friday, April 27, 2012, The Independent newspaper reported: “Police officers in London will receive extra instructions on helping children accused of witchcraft and sorcery with plans to expand the training nationwide if it proves effective.”

In the same post I reported that Rev. Don Lewis, First Priest and Chancellor of the Correllian Tradition–a branch of Wicca with members in the U.S., Europe, and South Africa, intended to bring the issue of witch-hunts to the World Parliament of Religions in Brussels in 2014. The Parliament for 2014, however, has been cancelled due to ongoing economic woes in Europe. And now the organization itself is in financial peril. Pagan leader Phyllis Curott, recently elected to serve as the Vice-Chair for the Parliament, posted an appeal for assistance on Facebook:

The Parliament incurred a large and burdensome debt as the consequence of an unexpected drop in the attendance of the 2004 Barcelona Parliament due to a terrorist attack in Madrid weeks earlier. As a result, there was insufficient income to cover the expenses of the event. While we have been paying it off slowly, a Spanish arbitrator ruled against the Parliament and despite our efforts to challenge the award, a US Court has now ruled that the Spanish arbitration award is binding and the balance of the debt is due immediately. In anticipation that we might lose, we started raising funds last Fall, and have raised about half the amount needed. We expected to have several more months to raise the rest, but the remaining balance is now due immediately. We need to raise $150,000 and have until April 12th to do so.

Miraculously–magically?–$32,000 has been donated in 2 days, and a number of Pagan leaders and ordinary folk have contributed. That’s my good news for today

Bad news? Witch-hunts are not restricted to faraway places. In Tampa Bay, Florida, Kyrja Withers, the author of a popular series of Pagan-themed children’s books, has been the subject of escalating harassment. On Thursday she reported on her Facebook page:

Someone shot at me tonight – and though they missed, The Glitter Dome is a bit more …. holey … tonight. We’ve had intermittent problems with someone honking their horn outside our house at very late hours and screaming obsenities. Once, they threw a firecracker in our front house. Last night, they screamed “F’ing WITCH” – quite clearly. No mistake. Today, we received several telephone calls where the caller said something unintelligible and then hung up, as well as an inappropriate post on one of my Rupert videos. This is obviously personal. And now, they have crossed the line and have caused property damage. And yes – the first window they hit is where I sit. It is time to deal with this. And so we shall. We ask for your assistance in calling for swift justice.

So the Advocacy must go on! I will be reporting on the campaign in Africa and following up on fundraising for the Parliament of the the World’s Religions and spitefulness on our home shores. On, Spring!

Still, the robins are back and my mourning dove is calling from the telephone wire. Many of the container plants which spent the winter under cover on the enclosed porch are marvelously green and ready to go outside. Spring officially arrives on Wednesday at 6:01 am. Whether you call it the Vernal Equinox, Lady Day, or Eostara, this is the time for Spring Cleaning. It’s time to open the windows and let the new air into your life and the old stale air out.

I have started Spring Cleaning. I am proceeding at a glacial pace, but I am ridding myself of debris, spiritual and physical.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard [is] the first Hindu to be elected to Congress, and the first person to swear their oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, also of Hawaii, became the first Buddhist elected to the U.S. Senate (she had already served in the House), and the first Asian-American female senator.

But, if either of these fine ladies has gotten under the hide of the Religious Right like Kyrsten Sinema, I haven’t seen the flak yet. Rep. Sinema was raised Morman but does not discuss her current religious status. On Friday spokesman Justin Unga told Religious News Services

that Sinema does not consider herself a nonbeliever, adding that she prefers a “secular approach.”

“Kyrsten believes the terms non-theist, atheist or nonbeliever are not befitting of her life’s work or personal character,” Unga said in email. “She does not identify as any of the above.”

However, in spite of her silence on the subject” Sinema is now not only the “first atheist” in Congress, but–horror or horrors!–she reportedly participate in “Pagan rituals” during a war protest. I don’t dare laugh; I’m still struggling with this cold, and I’m afraid I might literally die laughing! But if this attack ad doesn’t crack you up, you need to take your sense of humor in for a checkup. (Note all the illusory cannabis plants waving in the background. Priceless!)

I’ve never had the experience of drowning in water, but grand mal apnea is very wet–tears streaming, nose running, lungs bucking, bladder–well never mind, it’s wet. Luckily the bottle of Bacardi was within reach. A couple of snorts of rum cut off the spasms before I reached the puking stage–that’s my least favorite part of an attack. Blessedly they are few and far between. (It sounds awful–the Bacardi at my bedside–but the generic NyQuil was making me really sick. Decongestants, acetaminophen, and 10 % alcohol. I don’t usually use acetaminophen–I did not need any more decongestants!–and the damned stuff was made in Korea. Korea? Really? So, I was substituting antihistamines, and rum–no artificial dyes or inert ingredients…

But never mind, after several days of dehydration, involuntary fasting, and broken sleep, my soul had left my body. I was not a functional human being. The apnea attack was a hard reboot. Goddess, did I get an adrenalin flush! I haven’t felt this good in a week. I am fully back in my body.

Many people in the Pagan and New Age communities aspire to be shaman. I can’t say that I have had a mystical experience, but I know from reading that I have come close to the traditional shamanic initiation: wasting illness, fever, out-of-body experience, and blitzkrieg rebirth. I have not returned with any stunning insight or received wisdom but I feel cleansed and re-energized. Just what I need for the new year.

And in a case of silly synchronicity I have “Thus Sprach Zarathustra” currently playing on Performance Today. Happy New Year to me!

Who knew we had a National Yule Log? For the last fifty years a gigantic bonfire has lit up the southern end of President’s Park during the Christmas season, but The Washington Post reports that the Yule Log is no more. This year the Park Service changed the layout of the stage and seating in the park. To the dismay of long time Washington residents and tourists the huge masonry pit was filled in. The Park Service has been getting an earful of disappointment and has promised to “do an “after-action” review following the holidays.”
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Rob VanAlkemade’s ‘What Would Jesus Buy?’ is a rousing, irreverent and simultaneously sobering documentary about the year round destructive shopaholic obsession that spins into an out of control buying and spending orgy by the time Christmas rolls around. The movie follows performance activist Reverend Billy and his ragtag cross country caravan, The Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, to bring the voice of reason a few holiday seasons ago, to compulsive consumers everywhere.

Seriously, you will laugh, you will cry. You may snort a beverage out of your nose.
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The displays of Christmas Past. Christmas lighting display by Victor Johnson of Paxton, IL, synchronized to the song Carol of the Bells. The display uses 85,000 lights and 192 Light-O-Rama channels. Visit LightingUpPaxton.com for additional information and videos.

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Have to confess I hated Seinfeld, but Festivus seems to fill a need in the holiday season.

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May your days be Merry and Bright–no matter what you choose to celebrate.

According to Wikipedia, the Mari El Republic is “located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River.” (See below for map.) I have no idea if the Mari People are “Europe’s Last Pagans,” but the video was uploaded by MariUver, a scholarly blog dedicated to documenting the culture of “Maris, Mari El, Finno-Ugric and other Indigenous Peoples of Russia.”

The location of the Mari El Republic on the Eastern Plain of Russia

Hail, hail, to the Chief! Here are the lyrics.