Tales of Halloween - All Hallows Eve 2022

Tales of Halloween | Full Movie | Awesome Horror Anthology | Greg Grunberg | Halloween 2022

Movie Central

3.48M subscribers

 75,207 views  Oct 21, 2022

Tales of Halloween - Ten stories from horror's top directors. Ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and the devil delight in terrorizing unsuspecting residents of a suburban neighborhood on Halloween night.

2015.  Stars: Greg Grunberg, Adrienne Barbeau(voice), Hunter Smit, Barry Bostwick, Cameron Easton

con't....

 

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'All Hallows' Eve'

The pumpkin grinned from ear to ear,
“The moon is bright, the sky is clear;
This is the night we’ve waited for,
When elves come knocking on the door,

“When witches ride their broomsticks high
And ghosts and goblins fill the sky.
Then Jack and Jill, with fairy queen,
Will dance and sing: it’s Halloween.”

-- Constance B. Osborne

 

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"Strange Things In The Woods" ft John DeSouza 10/28/22

October 29th, 2022.

Quite Frankly

21,403 subscribers

Friday night and we are going to skim through some relevant headlines, including a follow up on the immediate fallout from the Twitter sale, Paul Pelosi's hammer fight, and some audience submissions for Obese Disney titles. Then we welcome back Retired FBI paranormal investigator, John DeSouza, who recently contributed to David Paulides' latest installment to the Missing 411: The UFO Connection. Should be plenty of time in the second half to take some calls, and read through some entries on our Strange Things You've Seen in the Woods forum thread (very relevant to tonight's main topic). Halloween fun continues all weekend, including Saturday Night.

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"I was out in the ranges stalking  when an animal bedded down under shrubs caught wind of me and stood up. It looked like a cross between a Brahman bulll and a zebra and we locked eyes. Slowly I  moved my hand towards my quiver, but the very second I touched an arrow, the thing turned tail and bolted down the hill.

"Needless to say, there are no Brahman nor zebra where I hunt. Haven't seen it since, but still have NO IDEA what I was looking at."

-- TheStinkingBishop

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~Vlad Dracul~

Hero for All-Hallows Eve

Order of the Dragon

Vlad the Impaler - Dracula The Man & Myth Documentary

The People Profiles

442K subscribers

319,316 views - August 10, 2022

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"That was BRILLIANT!!! I’ve never seen such a riveting portrait. What a strange time and place he lived in! In some ways he was more interesting than the myth. Truth is stranger than fiction."
-- Jaywill909

"I am sincerely impressed not only by the care for the exact pronounciation of all names (well done!), but also by the amount of research done and the exhaustive presentation of all historical facts. New subscriber here, keep up the great work!"
-- Angelfeather100

"Wow, this is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen on Vlad Tepes. It rivals the one done some years ago covering the book 'In Search of Dracula'."
-- jfnuyen

"Vlad the Impaler is what we now call Super-Hero"
-- Cro-Magnum

"I live in Canada my great auntie was from Romania she used to tell us kids stories about Vlad the Impaler in the early 1980s I still remember it"
-- Ryan Donovan

"Rise up Great Vlad Dracula, Europe needs you, rise up..."
-- D4Disdain

"This man was and is a hero for The West!!!"
-- jimsy7al

"Why no one makes a movie based on the real story as it is fascinating!"
-- C A F É B E A T S

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'Terrifying close-up of an ant's face gives horror movie monsters a run for their money'

Angelica Stabile - Fox News via MSN - October 21, 2022

It turns out that zooming in on an ant’s face is an absolute nightmare.

A close-up photograph of an ant was sent in as a submission to the 48th annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition — and the results are freaky.

The tight shot of the tiny insect, captured by Dr. Eugenijus Kavaliauskas of Taurage, Lithuania, shows the ant’s beady red eyes, angry expression and what appears to be long, sharp teeth.

con't....

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Lake of Fire!!

Close-up photograph of current erupting Hawaii volcano looks like the pit of Hell !

[Source: AP via MSN - 'Hawaii's Big Island gets warning as huge volcano rumbles']

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Justina Szilágyi - Wife of Vlad Dracul

This would have made her Queen of Wallachia

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The Mysterious Origin of Halloween - Randall Carlson

After Skool

2.42M Subscripers

208,233 views - October 24, 2022

Halloween is seen in our modern age as a day lacking in any historical meaning. It has become known for scary movies, candy, costumes and mischief. But there is a deep, universal tradition behind Halloween, also known as the Festival of the Dead, All Souls Day or Feast of the Ancestors. This festival is observed around the world, in the northern and southern hemispheres at the SAME time of year. In this video, we take a dive down the rabbit hole with Randall Carlson to uncover the mysterious origin of Halloween.

con't....

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Libera Me

Mental Set

103,139 views - October 8, 2010

From "Interview with the Vampire" (1994)

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'Libera me, Domine' (English translation)

Gabriel Fauré

'Free me, Lord'

Free me, Lord, from eternal death,
on that terrible day, on that day.
When the skies are to be moved,
when the skies are to be moved, and the earth.
As you'll come to judge the aeon/world by fire.
 
Terrified, terrified I have been caused to become,
and I fear, as the tremor will come
and the rage is going to come.
 
That day, the day of rage,
danger and misery
That day, the great
and bitter, very bitter day.
 
Bestow us eternal rest, Lord,
and constant light may shine for them, may shine for them.
 
Free me, Lord, from eternal death,
on that terrible day, on that day.
When the skies are to be moved,
when the skies are to be moved, and the earth.
As you'll come to judge the aeon/world by fire.
 
Free me, Lord, from eternal death.
Free me, Lord.

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Libera me

"Libera me" ("Deliver me") is a responsory sung in the Office of the Dead in the Catholic Church, and at the absolution of the dead, a service of prayers for the dead said beside the coffin immediately after the Requiem Mass and before burial. The text asks God to have mercy upon the deceased person at the Last Judgment. In addition to the Gregorian chant in the Roman Gradual, many composers have written settings for the text, including Tomás Luis de Victoria, Anton Bruckner (two settings), Giuseppe Verdi, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, Sigismund von Neukomm, Orlande de Lassus, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antonio Salieri, Lorenzo Perosi, Arnold Rosner and Patrick Gowers (first stanza only). The Christian technical thrash band Believer also used the entire text in the operatically sung section of "Dies Iræ (Day of Wrath)" in their 1990 album Sanity Obscure.

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"Halloween music"

Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saens
Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
Skeletons in my Closet - Alice Cooper
Witchy Woman - Eagles
Dark Shadows Theme- Robert Cobert
This is Halloween - Danny Elfman
Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
Halloween - Misfits
Hallow's Eve - Hallows Eve
Hellbound / Second Sight Seance - Christopher Young
Iron Maiden Studio version - Iron Maiden
Vedergällningen - Garmarna
Burzum - Dunkelheit
Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare)
Helloween - Halloween
The Legend of Wooly Swamp - Charlie Daniels Band
Stigmata Martyr - Bauhaus
Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan
Time of The Season - Zombies
Season of The Witch - Donovan
"The Future" and "You Want it Darker" - Leonard Cohen
Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley
Monsters' Holiday - Buck Owens
Night On Bald Mountain - Fantasia (1941)
Haunted House - Jumpin' Gene Simmons (not the one from KISS)
The Cramps - Human Fly
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
I Put a Spell on You - Credence Clearwater Revival
Spooky - Atlanta Rhythm Section
Witchy Woman (Eagles) - Doctor Sleep
Demented Are Go - Shadow Crypt
Last Caress - The Misfits
London Dungeon - Prong
This is Halloween - Leo Moracchioli
House of 1000 Corpses - Rob Zombie
Då Som Nu För Alltid - Kent
They're Coming to Take Me Away -  Butcher Babies
A.F.I. - "Totalimmortal" - A.F.I.
Temptation - Cradle Of Filth
The Death of Love -  Cradle Of Filth
The Blood - Such Fun - The Blood
My Dark Place Alone - Murderdolls
Necrodaemon Terrorsathan 2020 - Belphegor
Conjuring The Dead - Belphegor
We Are the Truth - Mushroomhead
Twilight Zone - Manhattan Transfer
Lil' Red Riding Hood - Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs
Halloween Music - Dark Castle of Mystbane - Fantasy & World Music by the Fiechters
Halloween Music - Haunted Organ | Dark, Vampire - Fantasy & World Music by the Fiechters
Spooky Carnival Music - Antique Carousel of Fright  - Fantasy & World Music by the Fiechters

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          Autumn’s Spell

                The fields of wheat are seas of gold
                Along the open country road.
                The orchard’s wealth clings to the vine,
                Clustered fruit for sweet, red wine.

                The cornstalks’ silken, tasseled heads
                Stand tall above the melon beds;
                The golden pumpkin waits its fate
                To be a jack-o’lantern’s face,

                While in the cornfield at his post,
                Reluctant scarecrow’s playing host
                To crows who taunt his haystack head
                And raid, like beggars, the harvest bed.

                The harvesttime is a holiday
                Of brilliant colors, costumes gay,
                So Autumn, weave your magic spell
                Ere winter’s white shrouds hill and dell.

                -- Edith Elaine Williamson

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"Breaking the Folk Spirit" - How folk cultures are easily subjugated after their gods are destroyed

 Cusco Cathedral

The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin, also known as Cusco Cathedral, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco. The cathedral is located on the Plaza de Armas. Building was completed in 1654, almost a hundred years after construction began.

Kiswarkancha

The Incas built the temple known as Kiswarkancha on the main square in Cusco. It was the Inca palace of Viracocha, ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco around a century before the Spanish colonists arrived. The aboriginal name of this city was Qusqu. Although it was used in Quechua, its origin has been found in the Aymara language. The word itself originated in the phrase qusqu wanka ("Rock of the owl"), attending to the foundational myth of the Ayar siblings.

Near to the Kiswarkancha was the Suntur Wasi, an armoury and heraldry centre for the Inca royalty. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Cuzco, they decided to take down the temple and build their Christian cathedral in that prominent site.

Basilica Cathedral of our Lady of Assumption

The cathedral's construction began in 1559 on the foundations of Kiswarkancha. It is shaped like a Latin cross. The location of Viracocha's palace was chosen for the purpose of removing the Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it with Spanish Catholic Christianity. Because 1559 was only 26 years after the conquistadores entered Cusco in 1533, the vast majority of the population was still of Quechua Inca descent. The Spaniards used the Incas as a labour workforce to build the cathedral.


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The Method

One of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time; how did less than 200 Spanish soldiers defeat an Inca Empire in the millions? There were about 40,000 actual Incas who systemically ruled over many other tribal regions who were like Inca provinces. Ironically, the Incas were actually, in some ways, guilty of what I'm pointing out in this piece. Their god was put above all others, although I don't know if they actually suppressed other traditions. In any case, they were a powerful empire who could easily raise a standing army of a quarter of a million. Their capitol was Cusco, as well as the location of their main temple. It's interesting that the Spanish kept the name "Cusco," but the folk tradition had to go. Jesus was to have said "Conquer in my name," and they did it. No more Viracocha. In this way their actions were similar to the Romans' M.O.; to replace and/or smother out the old ways of a conquered people.

This Roman method was a relatively soft way of pacifying a defeated people. Sometimes it was even a way of pacifying sovereign allies, such as with some Germanic tribes. For example, they would conflate Wotan with their god Mercury; then recruit some of them into their own military ranks. The Spaniards of Peru seemed to use some of the tricks out of the old Roman game plan; only in this case they decided to explicitly bury the old Inca spiritual tradition. Since you can't eliminate "a place," they decided to replace/"smother" out the the temple. While Muslims used brutal methods, Christians often used deception. The developing theory is that the Spaniards benefited from a period of growing discontent within the Incan "provinces." Some of the tribal groups sided with the Spaniards, and that is probably "how the west was won" in South America; somewhat similar to how certain tribes sided with the British or French during the "French and Indian War."

Catholic or Protestant authorities have always wielded power from behind the scenes. The Vatican's actions in Croatia during WW2 was nothing short of stunning; the church was literally still killing people via proxy because of their religion in the 20th century! It was no accident that churches were built right on top of ancient Druidic temples, although the Christianizing of the Druids was a much less violent conflation and conversion than that of the Germanic peoples. Charlemagne used the most brutal methods; and during later periods, incoming Christian authorities cut off Viking trade routes if they refused to convert. Even people like St. Patrick weren't really who we may have thought they were. St. Patrick was an English Catholic who used conflation and deception to get the job done.

If we're totally honest, incoming pagan invaders sometimes did the same thing; such as when Olympian gods replaced the more ancient goddess Hecate. In the Val Camonica there is evidence of how, in certain instances, one goddess statue's head was knocked off and another god or goddess' statue was constructed next to it; then at a later point, that statue's head was knocked off, etc. Also, even in the still strongly pagan Val Camonica of the Middle Ages, the meaning of the name of the ancient goddess "Mona" was changed to "a whore" (ouch, that was difficult for me to type!). Everything about the ancient Camun culture was about the moon ("mon") and the moon goddess (Mona), and still this can happen when people forget their true folk past.

Huge multinational corporations from the United States, Western Europe, and elsewhere, used to work with Christian missionaries to first "soften up" the people whom they wanted to subjugate and/or "take their resources." Most often the grinning, well fed, perhaps drunken, and newly Christened people gave it away without a fight. I remember quacky Christian entrepreneur Bill Schnoebelen told a story once about how a newly arrived missionary, in rural Borneo, humiliated the local shaman to prove to the locals that Christ was really the way. In other words, that their own spirituality was a fraud and needed to go... permanently! Who knows if the story was even true, but this big business-missionary "dog and pony show" went on for centuries. The expanding Islamic program was more honest; it was either "convert"... or it was the sword.

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The Cathedral at Monza: Centerpoint of the Langobard period

Monza Cathedral, Monza Brianza, Lombardy, Italy, Europe
 
Pietro Pecco
 
The Duomo of Monza often known in English as Monza Cathedral is the main religious building of Monza, near Milan, in northern Italy. Unlike most duomos it is not in fact a cathedral, as Monza has always been part of the Diocese of Milan, but is in the charge of an archpriest who has the right to certain episcopal vestments including the mitre and the ring.

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Theodelinda - Queen of the Lombards

iron crown

The val padana, for those who don't know, is very flat. Everything looks flat from the window of a plane, even mountains are squashed and foreshortened, but the val padana doesn't leave any room for topographical speculation, it is flat and fields and swept with the swirling lines of tributaries and tractor trails and everything is in mud coloured, from a pale sandiness to a rich brown, at least in this season and from this plane.

Monza begins with Theodelinda, lombard queen on a mission: to find somewhere breezy to spend the long hot sunmmers in the val Padana. And to build, of course, a nice church, standard practice for the 8th century. She dedicated the church to John the Baptist, who of course was beheaded, or as it's usually put in Italian, decollato a word that always make me look twice as it means 'un-necked', but also, in modern parlance, 'take-off' as in a plane. Surely the patron saint of airports, then? Oh I'm not going to explain that here it is much too hot.

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The Iron Crown

Royal Regalia: The Iron Crown of Lombardy

It may not look like much compared to some others, but the Iron Crown of Lombardy is one of the most significant symbols of monarchy in western Christendom. It is called the “Iron Crown” because of a small, narrow strip of iron that circles the interior of the piece. What is significant about this is that, according to tradition, this circle of iron was beaten out from one of the nails used at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That is where the story of the Iron Crown begins. 

As with most of the relics association with Christ and the crucifixion the nail was said to have been found by St Helena and given to her son the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (the first Roman Emperor to be a Christian) who, so the story goes, later sent it to the Queen of the Lombards who were converted to Christianity. At some point the nail was incorporated into a crown though no one is sure exactly when. Some say Emperor Charlemagne was crowned King of the Lombards using the Iron Crown while others maintained it was not made until after his time. Kept in the Cathedral of Monza, near Milan, it was the most sacred and well known symbol of the Kingdom of the Lombards which grew up following the fall of Rome.

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The Maypole and May Day - Part 1

May 1 marks the ancient northern folk festival of "May Day." Part of the festiveness of this European celebration is centered around the Maypole. 

May Day on May 1 is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the celebrations that the day includes.

A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer. In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilized during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.

Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and the neighboring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown, although it has been speculated that it originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianization, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European communities in North America.

Like so many aspects of ancient European folk traditions, May Day was co-opted by Christian denominations and political extremists. Still, it remains a powerful symbol of how ancient peoples related to the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the seasons, their harvests, and each other. May Day--although more Germanic in tradition--was also celebrated by the Romans.

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held April 27 during the Roman Republic era, and with the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. It is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane, most commonly held on April 30. The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer; hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was Midsummer.

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'Odin worship of the Lombards & Benevento': Part II

The legend of the witches of Benevento

It is possible to trace the origins of the legend of the witches back to ancient Samnium and Rome when, in the 4th century BC ancient settlers from the shores of Magna Graecia came settled in the Samnium region, and brought with them their customs like the worship of the orgiastic feast of Cybele. When Ovid sang about the horrendous bloody child sacrifices, the saga – known already in the 13th century – spread rapidly throughout Italy and Europe in 1600. In Benevento, true place of origin of the legend, learned arguments were being held about it.

Other cities, had often gained an unhappy reputation because of the witches, but Benevento being the birth place of these legends rather than gain the evil reputation for its monstrous practices, has inspired poets and artists over the centuries. The legend was born when the belief of the existence of witches was associated with the echoes of mysterious orgies the Lombards preformed. The Lombards had made Benevento the capital of their vast southern Duchy. In the late VII century, faithful to their own national traditions, instead of converting to Catholicism, as was required of them they carried on the cult of Wotan, the father of the gods.

They gathered outside the city walls, around a sacred tree from which they hung the skin of a buck and between a run and the other, they shot at it with arrows and then ate a piece of it. The inhabitants of Benevento, being good Catholics were horrified and scared and to them these rites seemed demonic. Meanwhile descriptions of these rites transformed them into something wonderful.

The custom of these ceremonies ended because of the conversion imposed by Duke Romualdo II and its people. The Duke fearing that he could not defeat the Byzantine Emperor Constants, promised to Bishop Saint Barbato the elimination of these pagan practices in exchange for salvation. When the salvation miraculously came, and even after the demonic walnut tree was chopped down, the mysterious rumors continued to circulate. At that point the legend had already formed, and in it the warriors had been replaced by evil women dancing frantically around the tree, the cries of war had been replaced by the sounds of the raging orgy, and it was said that even the devil in the form of a buck took part, the morsel of buck skin was also replaced, in its stead there was a plentiful banquet.

The conquering Lombards heightened the splendor and prestige of Benevento by supporting literature and the arts. The city became a Papal enclave in the Kingdom of Naples, and host to various other civilizations, from the fervent and promising early middle ages to the light of the Renaissance, the legend continued to grow and to be enriched by facts, until finally in the Baroque age the legend reached its final version, which is the one we know today.

Around the magical Walnut tree at night two thousand or more witches congregate, each is guided by a demonic guardian – Martinello or Martinetto – who is at the same time lover and servant, and that, before the ride on their broomsticks, rubs his woman with a magic ointment, and there, by the light of the torches. They then worship the Devil who appears disguised as a buck and rewards the best witches and punishes the bad ones. The orgy begins and if a novice shows up who has given up her faith, the King of darkness will make her swear by the blood squeezed out of her left breast to be like all witches, to be at least once a month adulterous and murderous and sow unabated malice and hate, he then assigns her a Martinello and promises long life, prosperity and all sorts of good things. 

The summoning of Jesus and the Virgin Mary or the ringing of the bells of Matins and the cockcrow that announces the rising dawn dissolves this terrible scene. The fascination of the legend is expressed only in Benevento by an unknown and inexperienced seventeenth century painter. The painter in his simplicity has been able to inspire poets, writers and musicians from very different walks of life. Amongst the inspired we find the problematic author of “the flower,” the fourteenth-century Ser Durante and the merry Redi with “The Hunchback of Peretola”, S. Bernardino from Siena that in his passionate sermons asks with zeal for the extermination of all witches and Agnolo Fiorenzuola. Since a long time that Benevento legend has been part of the real literature, and music. Franz Xavier pupil of Mozart and Salieri with his composition “the walnut tree of Benevento” has inspired one of the most unique works by Paganini, entitled “the witches”.

But in Benevento, other than the interesting pictorial document and the erudite disputes that rarely left the city confines, something remarkable was needed, something that would be world famous that would match the greatest works of genius. That something - anybody can see that it is not an exaggeration- was to be the sublime liquor that Giuseppe Alberti created more than a century ago. Given the bewitching quality of this liqueur Alberti had no choice but to call it “Strega”

Strege/native pagan values/symbols incorporated into early Catholicism

I left his post at the Traditional Stregheria forum at Yahoo Groups a couple of days ago.


Strege/native pagan values/symbols incorporated into early Catholicism

There are a lot of examples from mostly Odinic or other northern European traditions, and a lot of other places, which are well documented, but I wanted to focus on ancient central Italy and outward.

1) "Mary as a Goddess" - Clearly, many Catholics wish her to be a goddess. So
many are very devoted to this idea. She is referred to as the "Queen of Heaven," I think, pretty obviously, based mainly upon the Goddess Diana. They were so spiritually imbalanced that it's not so difficult to see how this developed over time.

2) "Law and Justice" - I believe that the idea of--within a family--the Father
symbolizing "Law" and the Mother symbolizing "Justice," is a pagan-value which was adopted into the social fabric of the early Christian Church. That concept was, however, cut short beyond the family (Man=Law/Woman=Justice). I once even heard a Protestant gloat about how wonderful that "Christian value" is.

3) "Solar Cross" - This is another obvious one, with the early church adopting
pagan solar wheels as crosses to aid in religious conversions.

4) "Trinity symbols" - There are numerous examples of this, too many to regress off hand...usually variations of the triquetra and triskelion... and also aiding in religious conversions.

5) Misc symbols - The common six-pointed cross is possibly based on the
rosette/sun of the Alps symbol and a lot of other regional hexagram styles (aka "hex signs"). The eight-pointed cross is pretty clearly based on the wheel of the year. The Vatican sun symbol is a no-brainer, and there's even one with a standard Christian cross with an upward-pointing crescent moon under it.

6) Science - There were five-pointed symbols in ancient Europe, just not as
stylish as the Sumerian hexagram (aka Pentagram). The five points ARE science itself! So we have today the Hegelian Dialect of closed-minded religion (anti-nature/knowledge) and closed-minded science (anti-spirit) driving us into the future. Certainly the church feared knowledge as evil for so long and still maintain a "block" to spiritual knowledge, and modern science denies the metaphysical "fifth point" of the Vehme.

Some of these concepts were a deliberate attempt to convert the pagans, while others were crossed over in a cultural manner by officials and concerns lower down in the organization it appears.

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Saint Patrick, the Irish Druids, and the Conversion of Pagan Ireland to Christianity: Part 1

Saint Patrick, the Irish Druids, and the Conversion of Pagan Ireland to Christianity: Part 1

By Bridgette Da Silva - StrangeHorizons.com - July 27, 2009

The patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, is often credited with kicking all the snakes out of Ireland. Countless works of art have depicted the bearded saint crushing serpents under his feet, and pointing to the distance with his staff as if to banish them from his sight. But how is one to reconcile this story with the fact that there has never been any evidence of these reptiles living in Ireland in all its history? Some scholars contend that the snakes were originally symbols for Irish druids. Serpents are thought to have been important in the Celtic spirituality of the pagan Irish, and the druids were the keepers of that faith, acting as priests and priestesses.[1] So if indeed the druids are the snakes in these stories, and Patrick is supposed to have driven them forth from their homeland, can we suppose that there is any truth to the idea that Patrick had a hand in banishing the druids from Ireland? Just who were these druids whom Patrick is said to have expelled?

In addition to driving forth the serpents from the land, Saint Patrick is also said to have been the first man to introduce Christianity to the Irish. If this is true, what exactly was the nature of this conversion?

Muirchu maccu Machtheni was an Irish bishop who wrote Patrick's hagiography, The Life of Saint Patrick, during the seventh century, two hundred years after Patrick's death. This set of stories colors people's understanding of the saint even today. Muirchu wrote that Patrick was the driving force behind the annihilation of the Irish druids. Two of his stories illustrate this claim particularly well. The first deals with Patrick and his former master (Patrick had been sold into slavery from Britain to Ireland at sixteen). The other concerns a confrontation between Patrick and the pagan king Loiguire, along with Loiguire's court druids, at the Hill of Tara in northern Ireland. The Patrick in these stories demonstrates behavior not thought typical of a Christian bishop. Instead of possessing the traits of patience and forgiveness, Patrick is shown as vindictive, and he succeeds in a quest to punish his enemies with the help of the Christian God.

Both of these stories take place after Patrick had been ordained as a bishop. He and a few of his followers supposedly went back to Ireland with the goal of converting the pagan Irish to Christianity. The first place Patrick went on this journey, according to Muirchu, was to his former master Miliucc in order to buy his freedom, for technically Patrick had run away and never paid his former master to become a freedman. However, when Miliucc heard that Patrick was on his way to visit, he thought that Patrick meant to convert him to Christianity by force: "When Miliucc heard that his slave was about to come and see him, in order to make him accept, forcibly as it were, a way of life against his will at the end of his days . . . the devil put it into his mind to seek death of his own free will in fire" (Bieler 81). So Miliucc burnt himself along with all of his possessions. This was a common act of pagans "when faced with inevitable defeat" (Hopkin 41). How did Patrick react to this suicide? He cursed him. Muirchu quotes Patrick as saying,

[T]his man and king, who chose to burn himself in fire rather than believe at the end of his life and serve eternal God . . . none of his sons shall sit on his throne as king of his kingdom in generations to come; what is more, his line shall be subordinate forever. (Bieler 81)

So it seems that indeed it was Patrick's intention to convert Miliucc to Christianity, and the bishop was angry simply because Miliucc had died a pagan instead of a Christian. If one suspects that this reaction is a bit odd for a man of Christ, what is even stranger is Patrick's confrontation with the pagan King Loiguire and his spiritual leaders, the druids.

Muirchu claims that the High King Loiguire celebrated a pagan holiday on the day that Christians celebrate Easter. However, scholars think that Muirchu changed the date of the pagan Beltane festival from May 1 to coincide with Easter in order for the story to make sense (Ellis 76). Loiguire and his druids lived on the Hill of Tara. The druids and the nobility gathered at Loiguire's palace in order to "celebrate with many incantations and magic rites and other superstitious acts of idolatry" (Bieler 85). On that day, pagan custom stated that no fire should be lit in Ireland before the sacred fire was kindled at the palace at Tara (Hopkin 42). Patrick, however, had no love for this custom, and deliberately lit a fire on the Hill of Slane before the fire was lit on Tara. King Loiguire could see this act of disrespect from his palace and gathered his counselors to discuss the matter. According to Muirchu, the druids prophesied that if the fire of Slane were not put out that night, then,

it will never be extinguished at all; it will rise above all the fires of our customs, and he who has kindled it on this night and the kingdom that has been brought upon us by him who has kindled it . . . will overpower us all and you, and will seduce all the people of your kingdom, and all the kingdoms will yield to it, and it will spread over the whole country and will reign in all eternity. (Bieler 87)

  [Left: On the Hill of Tara stands a Lia Fáil or Stone of Destiny, a pagan symbol of royal power. In myth, the stone had otherworldly origins, and it would shout when touched by a rightful king.]

Essentially, the druids told their pagan king that if they did not stop the actions of Patrick that night, then Patrick would supplant the pagan religion and replace it with the newer Christianity. Of course, King Loiguire was not happy with this idea, so he set off with a number of his druids to stop this act of treachery. The story goes on to describe how the druids confronted Patrick for his misdeeds. Faced with these disgruntled pagans, Patrick converted one instantly, threw another druid up in the air with the power of God and crushed his skull against a rock, and summoned an earthquake to kill the majority of the rest. After this, Loiguire made an escape by pretending to be a pious Christian, but that did not stop Patrick and his followers from bursting into Loiguire's palace the next day when the pagans were feasting for their celebration. Patrick did this "in order to vindicate and to preach the holy faith at Tara before all the nations" (Bieler 93). This is when Patrick and the druids engaged in a magical contest to see whose skills and religion were superior. Once again, the pagans suffered fatalities and lost the contest. "For at the prayer and word of Patrick the wrath of God descended upon the impious people, and many of them died" (Bieler 97). Patrick continued on to tell King Loiguire, "If you do not believe now you shall die at once, for the wrath of God has come down upon your head" (Bieler 97). Indeed, this "convert or die" proclamation convinced the pagan king that "[i]t is better for me to believe than to die" (Bieler 97).

Who were these pagans and druids who suffered much at the hands of Muirchu's Saint Patrick? Were the Irish pagans truly evil? Did people honestly believe that the druids possessed great magical powers, such as the ability to call down snow and darkness at will?

To begin, one must be aware that no one really knows much about the Irish druids. Peter Ellis says in his book The Druids that "one person's Druid is another person's fantasy" (11). Ellis continues on to note that the druids were forbidden by religious law to write down any of their learning, lest it fall into the wrong hands. Most of what we know about them comes from sources innately hostile to the druids, namely the Romans who conquered them in Britain in the first century AD (Ellis 13-15, 32).

Rather than being purveyors of spells and magic, the Irish druids were a learned class that fulfilled many functions in ancient society, from carrying out priestly duties (namely at pagan holidays and festivals) to acting as "philosophers, judges, teachers, historians, poets, musicians, physicians, astronomers, prophets, and political advisors or counselors" (Ellis 14).

The word "druid" is related to dru-wid, which means "oak knowledge." Not only did the oak figure in to the spiritual life of the druids, but Ellis proposes that the oak symbolized survival itself, as it supplied many essential substances, including wood for kindling and shelter, and acorn flour for bread. Ellis thinks that thousands of years ago, those who knew about the properties of oaks were said to have "oak knowledge," and thus they were considered part of the learned class, as they were the ones who possessed the knowledge that would help the Celts survive (39-40).

There were three primary classes of druids: the bards (singers and historians who passed down knowledge through song), the prophets, and the druids who studied philosophy and nature (Ellis 51). Druids could marry and have children if they wished, and many druids were actually women, called ban-drui or druidesses. Saint Brigit of Kildare is said to have been brought up and educated as a ban-drui before converting to Christianity.

Though the Irish druids refrained from leaving written records of their practices, what is clear is that druids in early Celtic society were not considered mere magicians. Instead, they comprised an entire intellectual class and performed necessary functions in Irish society.

Throughout history, there have been cases of one religion imposing itself on another by force. Was the conversion of Christianity in Ireland another such instance, as Muirchu would have us believe? Magic and prophecies aside, Muirchu's stories imply that Patrick came to the island with a troupe of men to convert the "heathens" to Christianity. Ostensibly, in the course of this mission, there were some bloody encounters between Patrick and those of the older pagan faith, especially the upholders of that faith, the druids. How well do these stories, written two centuries after Patrick's death, represent reality?

To answer this, it is important to note that scholars make a distinction between the mythical and the historical Saint Patrick. Muirchu and others after him are responsible for inventing the character of the mythical Patrick. Muirchu's Patrick is a shaman who is familiar with the workings of magic and miracles, and is not above cursing and killing his enemies in the name of Christ. He scorns the druids and their pagan faith because he believes that it is a false faith. Thus, he can justify his actions toward those who refuse the word of God. The stories of the mythical saint can certainly tell us much about the context of the times in which they were invented, the seventh century AD, but what can they tell us about the truth behind the conversion of the Irish to Christianity? Is there any historical basis for these "convert or die" tales?

To best be able to consider the character of the historical Saint Patrick, it is wise to consider his entire pilgrimage and dealings with the Irish. There is a manuscript by Patrick called the Confession, written in the fifth century AD, in which he relates some of the events that meant much to him in life. He describes his first interaction with the Irish, which could indeed be considered a bad one: at age sixteen, Patrick was captured in an area of Britain called Bannaventa Taburniae by Irish raiders, and was subsequently sold into slavery across the sea. (No one has been able to locate this settlement, but scholars assume it is on the west coast.) In Britain, he had been part of the landowning upper class. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest. (The clergy had less strict notions of celibacy in that period.) Yet Patrick admittedly was not a faithful Christian. He said, "I did not believe in the living god, no, not from my infancy, but I remained in . . . unbelief" (Thompson 7).

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Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 3

Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 3

I wanted to make a few closing points to this series, as well as tie in a few loose ends. First of all, I'm not an "ex-Christian," nor am I "anti-Christian." I just think that ExChristian.net did a good job, intrinsically, on this particular piece. This text was from one of their podcasts, but I thought it was important to make a text reference of it. I recall, unfortunately, of having lost important articles and text in the past. For the companion podcast, click here and select "Christianity's relationship with witchcraft" from the menu box.

I will also point out that every religion, spiritual tradition, and folk tradition of our ancestors is a part of this blog. Also, this blog has taken a look at religious and spiritual concerns of other peoples who have lived and have deep roots in North America... Christian/Catholic, or not. It is estimated, and I will post the references here in time, that the Camunian Valley was I recall about one-third "pagan" prior to the Val Camonica witch trials. If we are not sympathetic to the issue of this persecution, then who is!? Those Camunian Catholics and "Heathens" of the Middle Ages lived together in harmony.

The only thing I would disagree with in this article was the term "witchcraft." Although loosely a "magical tradition," I believe that most of the Camunian Heathenry were merely observing the "wheel of the year" and other ancient pre-Christian rites. Few literally practiced "magic," I believe, beyond simple folk traditions. "Heathenry" means "people of the hearth," or an earth-based spiritual tradition. In the Middle Ages, and going right back into the ancient world, the Camunian and Tellinian Heathens would gather on the very mountainous Tonale Pass to observe the seasonal sabbats. It was "Heathenism" (polytheistic earth-based religion), and prior to a millennium ago, it was "the religion of our people." 

It probably didn't have "one name," but it later became known locally as "Stregaria." An old Camunian word, "Engermadura," may have had the same or a similar meaning. It likely meant "spell" or "charm." Another old Camun word, "Bodena," seems to be a reference to the ancient "stag god".... probably Cernunnos. It is translated to something like "the denomination of the old stag," and it seems to have been a type of reference to an actual name of the faith. Despite the chief male god--along with various other goddesses, and sometimes gods--the tradition seems to have clearly been more maternal, symbolized by the moon.


What is covered on this blog?

1) Items having to do with the Camunian, Brescian, Bergamask, Lombard, or Italian-Swiss cultures--past or present--which would include prior cultures of Lombardy. Also, openly reaching out to these concerns worldwide.

2) Items having to do with religion and spiritual traditions, which mainly include Christian denominations and Heathen traditions of past or present Lombardians, Europeans, or peoples with roots in North America. Also reaching out, in some form, to these concerns worldwide.

3) Items having to do with the environment, the natural world, the earth, and the universe; all of which our ancestors cared a lot about. Also reaching out, in some form, to some of these concerns worldwide.

4) Reaching out, in some form, to other more smaller "sub-ethnic" European-American concerns or regional/provincial associations relating to the Italian peninsula worldwide. For example, Basque, Bavarian, Welsh, Piedmontese, or Bergamask.

The more controversial items are purposely avoided. However, this doesn't mean that they should be avoided by individuals.


What are our goals?

1) Helping to facilitate the establishment of a "Lombardian-American" society of some type. For association, cultural enrichment, and study. This would be best headquartered somewhere in the Great Lakes region. Iron Mountain would seem appropriate. There needs to be a property, building, and at least two full-time staff to start.

2) To develop the idea of people of Camunian roots on this continent as something equivalent to a Scottish clann. Our heritage is unique. We should see ourselves as more of a family than a culture or demographic. We're currently invisible.

3) To restore honor, in some form, to the spiritual tradition of which we are all heirs to. Even if you're 100% Catholic, what makes us so different to modern Greek communities who--while practicing Greek Christian Orthodoxy--share a great reverence to their polytheistic ancestry. Why should we be so different?

Goal number one is really THE goal. It's the minimum of what we expect to accomplish. A person in California of Italian-Swiss ancestry, should feel entirely connected though that heritage to a person in Wisconsin of Bergamask ancestry. Their forefathers spoke the same Lombard language for many centuries! There should not be this disconnect.

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Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 2

Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 2

Witchcraft was now classified a heretical cult. Not only that, but it was considered heretical to not believe in the power of the Devil. The punishments against witchcraft were carefully laid out, as well as the methods for detecting and trying witches. The hitherto sporadic cases of witchcraft were now to be viewed as a cohesive group that had been marshaled together by Satan to attack and destroy Christianity.

In view of this calamitous assault on Christ, the pope commissioned Henrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, educated Dominicans who occupied high positions at the University of Cologne, to systematically bring witches to trial and punishment. They carried out their assignment with a vengeance. ref

Pope Innocent’s immediate successors followed his lead and anyone who opposed the repressive measures could be considered in league with the witches. In the case of Venice, the entire state was threatened by Leo X if it did not obey the Inquisition in apprehending witches. Venice bowed to the Pope's threat, and within a year Venice had sentenced 70 witches to the flames.

The Witches Hammer, the Malleus maleficarum, is the most important and nefarious legacy the world has on witchcraft. Published in 1486, it was written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. Their book is divided into three parts: the first proves the existence of witchcraft; the second sets forth the forms in which it manifested itself; the third describes the rules for its detection and prosecution. It states that the world in the last quarter of the 15th century was more given over to the devil than in any preceding age. It appeals to the Scriptures, the teachings of the Church and especially to Augustine and Thomas Aquinas for support. Witches and sorcerers are described as meeting at weekly sabbats and do the devil homage by kissing his ass. Satan appears among them as a tom-cat, goat, dog, bull or black man while demons of both sexes swarm at the meetings. During these sabbats, baptism and the Eucharist are ridiculed and the cross trampled upon. After an abundant feast the lights are extinguished and at the devil’s command of "Mix, mix," the participants celebrate with a lewd orgy. The devil, however, is a strict disciplinarian and applies the whip to errant members. Further, the book states that witches are supposedly transported through the air, they kill unbaptized children, and later they eat them. There is a very frequent mention of sexual intercourse. To quote: "…it is common to all of them to practice carnal copulation with devils.” Interestingly, there are two full chapters devoted to this topic alone.

For evidence of the reality of their charges, the authors cite their own extensive experience and declare that, in 48 cases of witches brought before them and burnt, all the victims confessed to having practiced abominable whoredoms for between 10 to 30 years.

Among the precautions which the book prescribed against being bewitched, are the Lord’s Prayer, the cross, holy water and salt, and the Church formulas of exorcism. It also adds that inner grace is a preservative.

The directions for the prosecution of witches, given in the third part of the treatise, are set forth in great detail. Public rumor was a sufficient cause for an indictment. The accused were to be subjected to the indignity of having the hair shaved off from their bodies, especially the more secret parts, lest perchance some imp or charm might be hidden there. Careful rules were given to the inquisitors for preserving themselves against being bewitched. If someone too zealously defended the witch, then that was taken as evidence that he was himself under the same influence. One of the devices for exposing guilt was a sheet of paper the length of Christ’s body inscribed with the seven words of the cross. This was to be bound on the witch’s body at the time of the mass, and then the ordeal of torture was applied. This measure almost invariably brought forth a confession of guilt. The ordeal of the red-hot iron was also recommended, but it was to be used with caution, as it was the trick of demons to cover the hands of witches with a salve made from a vegetable essence which kept them from being burnt. Such a case supposedly happened in Constance, the woman being able to carry the glowing iron six paces and thus going free.

The Witches Hammer was printed in many editions. It was issued 13 times before 1520 and 16 more times from 1574–1669.

That concludes part one of a three part series on Christianity’s fascination with witchcraft. You’ve been listening to the Ex-Christian Monologues, a podcast from ExChristian.Net.


Ref: Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge | History of the Christian Church | The Malleus Maleficarum

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Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 1

Christianity's relationship with witchcraft: Part 1

Hello, you’re listening to the Ex-Christian Monologues, a podcast from ExChristian.Net. I’m Dave, and today’s date is April 24, 2006.

Today I want to talk a little bit about Christianity’s historic relationship with witchcraft. This is part one of a three-part podcast. Part One draws heavily on the History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff and the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Schaff’s classic work is in the public domain and freely available on the Internet.

Most primitive cultures attributed witches with the power to supernaturally injure crops, animals, health, and possessions. Many ancient cultures created laws to punish the offense. As in other cultures, the ancient Hebrews condemned witchcraft, as expressed in the Mosaic Law ( Deut 18:10 & Exodus 22:18). Following in Judaism's footsteps, the early Christian Church believed in and condemned witchcraft Acts 19:19, Acts 8:9. (Click here for Moree examples).

Belief in witchcraft never disappeared, but it wasn’t always severely persecuted. The Synod of Reisbach in 799, for example, formally mandated penance as a punishment for women convicted of witchcraft, but prohibited any capital punishment. For a time the official rhetoric of the Church even tried to tone down belief in magic or witchcraft, labeling it as either false superstition or delusion.

For centuries Christianity had taught that God was in HIS heaven, far removed from human society. The Church encouraged people to be content with their miserable, medieval lot in life. Poverty and sickness were considered gifts of God that helped people remain holy by focusing their minds away from this world and on to the next. Physical pleasures should be shunned — this life was to be endured, but not necessarily enjoyed. Common people weren't easily convinced to meekly adopt this philosophy — many hung on tenaciously to a belief in magic. They thought magic could empower them to deal with the some harsh realities of their lives. Belief in magic, instead of subsiding, actually grew.

Some so-called heretical groups, and some well meaning churchmen, doubted that witchcraft was anything more than illusions of the Devil. Most were convinced that witchcraft was a real power, fueled by the denizens of hell.

Witches were reportedly transporting people through the air and holding meetings, or sabbats, where they indulged in lust-filled orgies with demons. Mention is given to these activities in the The Bishop’s Canon, which appeared first in the 10th century and was later incorporated by Franciscus Gratianus, a lawyer from Bologna, in his collection of canon law in 1150. Women confessed to flying through the air, but Gratianus considered the women delusional. English author, diplomat and bishop of Chartres John of Salisbury, felt the stories illusions propagated by the Devil. But, his contemporaries, such as Englishman Walter Map, reported that the wild orgies were real, with the Devil appearing on the scene in the form of a tom-cat.

According to Philip Schaff, the daughter of a count was carried through the air every night, one night even escaping the arms a Franciscan monk who tried to hold her back. In 1275, a woman of Toulouse, under torture, confessed she had indulged in sexual intercourse with a demon for many years and had given birth to a part wolf, part serpent, monster. She added that she sustained the creature by feeding murdered children to it.

Pope after pope called upon the Inquisition to root out and punish witches alongside the heretics they were already persecuting. Pope Gregory IX issued a bull in 1231 invoking the use of civil punishment against witchcraft. Dominican theologians spread the belief that incubi and succubi were mating with people—a belief that was rooted in Augustine’s “City of God,” xv23., as well as in the Genesis account of angels mating with humans.

In 1233, Pope Gregory IX asserted that the Devil was making appearances in the forms of a toad, a pallid ghost and a black cat. His papal bull, the “Vox Rama,” shockingly and graphically detailed what was taking place during witch's satanic, sexual orgies, and with the stroke of his pen launched an official, large-scale persecution of witches.

In 1274, Thomas Aquinas supported the claims that humans were cohabitation with demons, and even declared that old women could inject an evil essence into young people with just a glance. I suppose that's where the evil eye myth was born.

Jean Gerson, the leading theologian of his age, said it was heresy and impious to doubt the practice of witchcraft, and Pope Eugenius IV spoke in detail about those who made pacts with demons and sacrificed to them.

Among all the papal and other documents on witchcraft, perhaps the place of pre-eminence is held by the papal bull, Summis desiderantes issued by Innocent VIII in 1484. The pontiff wrote, “…by their incantations, charms, and conjurings… they cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth… and hinder men from begetting and women from conceiving, and prevent all consummation of marriage; that, moreover, they deny with sacrilegious lips the faith… at the risk of their own souls, to the insult of the divine majesty and to the pernicious example and scandal of multitudes.”

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Catholic Church Issues Guide on How to Convert Witches

Since when is it the job of a religion to convert members of another religion... as a matter of organizational policy!? Every religion has the right to recruit members from society at large, but the Vatican is now opening up old wounds by literally targeting a religious demographic that they used to simply murder off.

The Vatican doesn't seem the least bit concerned with tens of millions of Muslims migrating into Europe with no end in sight; not to mention the fact that Catholicism, and Christianity at large, has become a comparatively weak social construct in the UK in particular. Apparently, they're too preoccupied with a very small number of practitioners of native paganism, or what they refer to as "witchcraft." Apparently "priestcraft" is okay. If this action was targeting one the larger religions, then people would call it "hate," but if it's a smaller relgion, then it's okay under the current paradigm.

The Vatican is a sovereign state which oversees the worldwide Catholic Church; as well as a massive, MASSIVE, global banking conglomerate. Why are they concerned with a few people chanting in a forest clearing, who aren't even bothering anyone? Now when we add in the factor of the Vatican's historic systematic murder of any religion which wasn't Catholic (Waldensians, Cathars, Pagans, etc.), this action by the Vatican is nothing short of crazy. If there were pagans somewhere, antagonizing Christians, then that would merit a similar response; but lets face it, what we have here is an ant versus an elephant.

The Camonica Club of North America, descendants of the Val Camonica witch trials brought upon by the Vatican in the sixteenth century, condemns the Vatican's pamphlet entitled 'Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers', and calls for them to simply leave these peaceful people alone. Whatever fault could be found among an absolutely minuscule number of pagans is a drop in the bucket compared to the very serious problems of a much larger number of trusted Catholic officials worldwide in recent years; not to mention the Vatican's terribly destructive proxy actions in Croatia not so many years ago.

Catholic Church Issues Guide on How to Convert Witches

Theunis Bates - AolNews - February 4, 2011

LONDON -- Five hundred years ago, the Catholic Church had a simple way of dealing with witches: It burned them alive. The Vatican still views these broom botherers as a danger, but is now calling on Catholics to eliminate the neo-pagan problem in a more moderate manner.

According to a new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society -- the U.K. publishers for the Holy See -- the faithful can convert Wiccans by following a few simple steps. The pamphlet, titled "Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers," suggests that Catholics spark up conversations with these unbelievers about shared concerns such as the environment, The Telegraph reports.

And if you bump into a witch in a bar or coffee shop, the book adds, it's important to recognize that "Wiccans are on a genuine spiritual quest," providing "the starting point for dialog that may lead to their conversion."

The booklet's author, former Wiccan Elizabeth Dodd, states that nearly 70 percent of people indulging in witchcraft are young women seeking some kind of spirituality, according to the Daily Mail. The source of that statistic isn't clear, but some 7,000 Brits identified themselves as Wiccans in the 2001 census.

So why does the Vatican once again feel that it needs to confront pagan practitioners? The Daily Mail says that the church is afraid the dark arts are becoming ever more tempting thanks to the success of Harry Potter. Dodd says that any youngster who dabbles in magic risks long-term problems.

"Whether spellwork is effective or not," writes Dodd, according to The Telegraph, "has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another."

More important, Dodd adds that the simple act of experimenting with spellcraft is an insult to the Almighty. "The use of magic, the practice of witchcraft, offends God because it is rooted in our sinful and fallen nature," she writes. "It attempts to usurp God."

While many religious and nonreligious folk might regard Dodd's message as extreme, her point has clearly been heeded by some Catholics. As of this morning, the pamphlet was listed as sold-out on Amazon.co.uk.

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