Whinge of bat

Sandra Davis – High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron – had reserved Our Lady’s Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport for her Pagan group’s Annual Witches’ Ball.
But when she rang to make payment arrangements she was told the event could not be held there and – despite already having printed tickets – another venue must be found.

So of course the hag (yes; look at the picture; she makes Susan Boyle look like Helen of Troy) is charging religious discrimination. Which of course it is, and such discrimination as any religious group has a right to make. Have you ever discussed Catholicism with a Wiccan? I doubt seriously whether a practicing Catholic would be welcomed at the Witches’ Ball.

What’s interesting about this story is what it doesn’t say. We don’t have any real information about the initial contact. One of two things must have happened at that stage: either the church secretary or whoever was making arrangements did not inquire into the nature of the group being rented to, or that group misrepresented themselves. If the first, then the church is clearly in violation of contract, especially if there was a written document (and what kind of batshit-crazy person starts investing in a public event before they have the venue nailed down?), and should just suck it up and take the pagans’ money . I suspect that the latter is actually what happened though. Legally, contract law is a much stronger recourse. One shuts up and hires a lawyer….unless you can’t because you lied about who you were, thus nullifying the contract. At that point, you have no recourse but to resort to the court of public opinion. Well, they could use their Mighty Magical Powers to persuade the church to change their minds, as tradition states the English witches did when Hitler threatened to attack England. But it’s a lot easier to get your picture in the paper with your kewl magical paraphernalia.

Sage-smudge for Obama

Right this minute, there is a ceremony near the White House to ceremonial sage-smudge it (since the government doesn’t look kindly on combustion in the building), and other Neo-pagans have been asked to join at their own altars, to cleanse the negative energy of the last 8 years.

Yeah, fine, OK, whatever. 4 years from now, I’ll get a bee-smoker and fill it up with sage. That should do it.

Sully goes witchhunter-hunting

Oh cripe, Jim Henley is linking that AIDS-dementia guy at the Atlantic about the Sarah Palin church videos, which are, BTW, extremely old news.

Sarah was getting prayed over for protection from witchcraft. Well, hey kids, guess what? Most neopagan Witches “pray” for protection from witchcraft. Who doesn’t have wards up? I had ‘em, everyone I knew had ‘em. Protection from bad vibes is part of the cops-n-robbers element of that particular game. Most take shielding and the possibility of malevolent magic at least somewhat seriously (an exception was the late J P MacClimans, whose typical response to those proclaiming that they would hex him was to send them a lock of his hair, as if to say, “Give me your best shot, buddy!”)

It’s bad enough to say “Palin is bad for accusing witches of doing what other witches accuse them of doing.” But if you’re going to say, as the Formerly Sane Atlantic Blogger does, that Palin is bad for believing in witchcraft (which isn’t quite proved by the video anyway), what does that say to the 90% or so of Neopagans who are voting Obama? That might help with the atheist/rationalist vote, but she isn’t getting that anyway.

Tempest in a libation bowl

I’ve heard that the paganosphere has gotten exercised over a remark by Kathy Lee Gifford about why people wear wedding rings on their left hand. “Pagans … the nasty, bad pagans believed it was bad luck to carry metal on your right side.” Well, I suppose it WAS bad luck if you were right handed and wore your sword on your right side, but in fact that was not the correct answer to the question; it comes from some other pagans, the Egyptians. It’s an odd comment, perhaps humorously over-the-top…I mean, what’s the nastybad moral issue about what hand you wear your rings on? I suspect that she felt sorry for the first male to be asked a question in this little quiz, and was subtly attempting to steer him away from that answer. But oh noez, it was a deliberate slam at modern American Neo-Pagans, and they have to sign petitions to the Today show, and create a big fuss, so that people will take them seriously. Or not.

Who in the world takes Kathy Lee seriously anyway? She’s probably the most expendable person on the planet.

And tell me, which pagans came up with the right-hand thing? If your typical modern witchy-poo encountered any European paleopagans, they probably would find them nastybad. They weren’t terribly Green (what’s the carbon footprint of a wicker man or a good Baltic bonfire anyway?) They sacrificed humans and kept slaves, and raided other tribes for wives. These are not modern Pagans. And if modern Pagans believe anything about metal and the hands, observation suggests that it is that it’s bad luck to leave any finger, right or left hand, unadorned with a ring.

Then there’s the gross hypocrisy involved. It’s doubleplusungood to call Pagans nasty and bad. But listen to the typical witchy-poo talk about Christians, and “nasty” and “bad” sound like the words of an apologist. I grew up with Polack jokes, most told by Polish-Americans, and nobody hated Poles, or even thought that they were particularly stupid. But for a lot of Pagans out there, the highest use for a Christian is as lion chow. It’s politically correct to hate the people who wiped out The Peaceful Matriarchal Earth Religion (TM), and quite incorrect to reproach TPMER’s followers in any way, even when they deserve it.

No, I don’t hate Pagans. I hate, and have always hated, the whining and vicimology from people who think that “persecution” is not being able to wear a weapons-grade pentacle around your neck at a retail job. These folks need to learn how “tolerance” works in the rest of the world. I hear there are no public open circles in Riyadh; maybe somebody needs to go over and start one.

All Pagans are not humorless, however; go here for “The Pagan Hierarchy” and find out where your practices stand in the pecking order.

The New York Yankees believe in witchcraft

Some BoSox fan who was working on the Yankees’ new stadium buried a David Ortiz jersey under the concrete, and his co-workers ratted him out. After 5 hours of jackhammering, they found it. If this had never been announced, it could have stayed there forever. Now, the Yankees are looking at criminal charges against Gino Castignoli. Ha! For what crime? I don’t think they could make civil charges stick, considering that, under the law, witchcraft doesn’t exist.

A note for would-be Yankees hexers: remember…know, will, dare, and above all, KEEP SILENT.