CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/13/2024 (Scientology, Guru Jagat, Documentary, Witchcraft, Australia, Solar Temple)

Scientology, Guru Jagat, Documentary, Witchcraft, Australia, Solar Temple

ENDEVR Documentary: The Dark Side of the Scientology Cult

"It is one of the world's most secretive and controversial cults… brought to light by one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Tom Cruise. Since its creation in 1953, Scientology has won millions of disciples, up to 40,000 in France alone, according to its leaders.

Scientologists follow the teachings of a former bestselling Science Fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard. They believe in reincarnation and undergo extraordinary practices to gain enlightenment. Scientology is also an institution plagued by headline-grabbing scandals when former members go public about their experiences with the sect. While it is recognized as a religion in some countries, others consider it a dangerous cult.

How does this organization, often convicted of fraud, manage to recruit and retain followers? What are its beliefs? Who was L. Ron Hubbard, its charismatic proto-messiah? How did Scientology become a recognized religion in the United States? And what influence does it have in France? Join experts and former high-ranking scientology members as they unmask one of the most powerful self-proclaimed religious organizations on the planet… the church of scientology."

Not The Good Girl: The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

"In a spiritual world dominated by men, a young girl from Colorado was determined to be her own guru, and that's what she did… Katie from the suburbs became Guru Jagat. Having been anointed by a spiritual Kundalini master, Guru Jagat was ready to change the world. She wrote a book, spoke at Harvard, and was CEO of 7 businesses - including three global yoga studios where Hollywood housewives and celebrities like Kate Hudson and Alicia Keys flocked. But somewhere along the way, the girlboss facade began to fade… This is a story about luxury, fraud, businesses becoming massive empires, a cult-like work environment and much more… This is the story of a guru's fall from grace."

Daily Mail: Horrifying cult 'massacre video' shows final moments of mass-murdering leaders and their disciples

" ... The cult drew people in with slick propaganda videos showing families enjoying simple lives on an idyllic farm in Canada, while other videos featured Jouret, who regularly did speaking tours, pontificating on the benefits of 'dying to be reborn'.

OST convinced many of its more than 600 followers that they could live in a utopian community and when the time was right shed their Earthly bodies to be reincarnated on an unnamed planet orbiting the Dog Star, Sirius.

But in reality, many handed over their life savings to Di Mambro and Jouret, with the sect's conniving leaders living off their followers' wealth as they lived frugal lives.

'While the followers were breaking rocks and growing lettuce, the leaders were really enjoying themselves,' Swiss journalist Arnaud Bedat, who worked extensively on the case, told the BBC documentary.

'They travelled first class, they went to beautiful hotels, famous restaurants. For more than ten years the cult leaders lived in opulence, accumulating villas all over the world, collecting Ferraris and Lamborghinis with the followers' money,' he said.

But the early 1990s, the mask began to slip. Cult members began to leave, and many wanted the money they had invested back.

One of the key members to turn his back on the cult was Tony Dutoit. He had been loyal to Di Mambro for some 15 years and served him as a special effects technician, turning ceremonies into mystical experiences to trick the cult's followers into believing their 'masters'' powers.

Before he left, he revealed the truth to Di Mambro's son Elie, who went on to confide in other cult members and was branded a traitor by his father.

Di Mambro went into a 'paranoid spiral', insiders said, and started monitoring everyone, even wire tapping their phone calls.

'Those who were living their lives with the followers' money knew that they had to be held accountable and that they couldn't do it anymore,' Swiss police chief Pierre Nidegger said."

News AU: Modern-day witchcraft is on the rise in Australia as support for organised religion plummets

A new "religion" is rapidly becoming mainstream, with tens of thousands of Australians suddenly embracing the exploding trend.

"Dressed head-to-toe in black, Owlvine Green's fingers hover over a steaming cauldron as a cat looks on, ominously.

Candles flicker, casting eerie shadows on the wall. Incense smokes, and a spell book — filled with mystical, arcane symbols — is laid open in front of her.

It's a scene that wouldn't look out of place in a Harry Potter film. But this isn't a movie. This is an unassuming home in suburban Melbourne, and Owlvine is a real-life witch.

"We're everywhere — young and old, in the inner city and out in the middle of the bush," the 36-year-old told news.com.au.

"You could be sharing a desk with one of us, or living on the same street."

From the Wizard of Oz to The Craft, the black-caped, cackling witch has been a fixture in popular culture — sand a subject of fascination and fear — for centuries. But if you think that these magical beings belong only within the pages of a storybook or on the big screen, think again.

Today, tens of thousands of Australians identify as witches and globally, we're in the midst of a bona fide witchcraft boom."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/28/2024 (Clergy Sexual Abuse, Conversion Therapy, Book, Transcendental Meditation, Ishmael Chokurongerwa, Apostolic Church, Zimbabwe, Child Abuse, Angola, Legal, Witchcraft, Hillsong)

Clergy Sexual Abuse, Conversion Therapy, Book, Transcendental Meditation, Ishmael Chokurongerwa, Apostolic Church, Zimbabwe, Child Abuse, Angola, Legal, Witchcraft, Hillsong

AP: Former Mormon bishop highlighted in AP investigation arrested on felony child sex abuse charges

"A former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was featured in an Associated Press investigation into how the church protects itself from allegations of sexual abuse was arrested by police in Virginia this week after being indicted on charges he sexually abused his daughter while accompanying her on a school trip when she was a child, according to court filings.

Police and federal authorities had been searching for John Goodrich after a grand jury in Williamsburg on Jan. 17 found probable cause that he committed four felonies, including rape by force, threat or intimidation, forcible sodomy, and two counts of felony aggravated sexual battery by a parent of a child.

Those charges were filed weeks after the AP investigation revealed how a representative of the church, widely known as the Mormon church, employed a risk management playbook that has helped it keep child sexual abuse cases secret after allegations surfaced that Goodrich abused his daughter Chelsea, now in her 30s, at their home in Idaho as well as on a school field trip to the Washington, D.C., area 20 years ago."

University of California Press: Demons in San Francisco Bay: How a Street Preacher Launched Modern-Day "Conversion Therapy"

"In 1967, street minister Kent Philpott began outreach to lesbian, gay, and bisexual hippies in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Over the next decade, he counseled those who purportedly wanted out of what he referred to as "the gay lifestyle," combining charismatic religious beliefs in demons, divine healing, and glossolalia with psychological theories on gender and child development. This article examines Philpott's efforts to provide the nascent "ex-gay movement" with cultural, social, and intellectual foundations. This article specifically documents how sexual liberation, hippie culture, and conservative religion converged in San Francisco and spawned the "ex-gay movement." Philpott, swept up by the Jesus People Movement, incorporated religious and psychological beliefs prominent in the Bay Area and infused charismatic Christian influences and traditional understandings of masculinity and femininity into the 'ex-gay movement.'"

Christopher Publishing House: TM And Cult Mania, by Michael Persinger

"TM and Cult Mania is a non-fiction book that examines assertions made by the Transcendental Meditation movement (TM). The book is authored by Michael Persinger, Normand Carrey and Lynn Suess and published in 1980 by Christopher Publishing House."

"TM and Cult Mania analyzes the efficacy or lack thereof of the TM meditation process, concluding that it is, "no more effective than many other meditation techniques". The authors write that, "Transcendental Meditation has achieved international recognition through commercial exploitation" and "poor scientific procedures". The book notes that physiological changes observed due to partaking in TM methodology are very small.[9] Persinger, Carrey, and Suess conclude in TM and Cult Mania, "science has been used as a sham for propaganda by the TM movement."

A positive capsule review in the Los Angeles Times noted that the authors use logic to point out transparencies in the assertions of Transcendental Meditation. John Horgan, in his book Rational Mysticism, questions Persinger's neutrality and says that in his book he treats religious beliefs and spiritual practices as mental illness."

"TM and Cult Mania takes a look at the assertions made by the Transcendental Meditation movement and analyzes them from a scientific perspective. The book acknowledges that those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique feel relaxed and experience an increase in creativity. According to the book, the physiological effects reported by the scientific studies on Transcendental Meditation are relatively small from a scientific perspective and "no more effective than many other meditation techniques". Transcendental Meditation is seen as most noteworthy due to its ability to manipulate stress and expectancy.

"Transcendental Meditation has achieved international recognition through commercial exploitation" and "poor scientific procedures", write the authors. The book notes, "Frankly, the reported effects of TM upon human behavior are trivial. Considering the alleged potency of the TM procedure, the changes in physiological and behavioral measures are conspicuously minute." TM and Cult Mania comes to the conclusion that, "science has been used as a sham for propaganda by the TM movement."

AP: Zimbabwe police rescue 251 children used as labor and find graves in religious sect compound raid

"Zimbabwe police on Wednesday said they have arrested a man claiming to be a prophet of an apostolic sect at a shrine where believers stay in a compound and authorities found 16 unregistered graves, including those of infants, and more than 250 children used as cheap labor.

In a statement, police spokesman Paul Nyathi said Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, a "self-styled" prophet, led a sect with more than 1,000 members at a farm about 34 kilometers (21 miles) north-west of the capital, Harare, where the children were staying alongside other believers.

The children were being used to perform various physical activities for the benefit of the sect's leadership," he said. Of the 251 children, 246 had no birth certificates.

"Police established that all children of school-going age did not attend formal education and were subjected to abuse as cheap labor, doing manual work in the name of being taught life skills," said Nyathi.

Police said among the graves they found were those of seven infants whose burials were not registered with authorities.

He said police officers raided the shrine on Tuesday. Chokurongerwa, who called himself the Prophet Ishmael, was arrested together with seven of his aides 'for criminal activities which include abuse of minors.'"

CBS: 50 killed in anti-sorcery rituals after being forced to drink "mysterious liquid," Angola officials say

"About 50 people have died in Angola after being forced to drink an herbal potion to prove they were not sorcerers, police and local officials said Thursday. The deaths occurred between January and February near the central town of Camacupa, according to Luzia Filemone, a local councilor.

Police confirmed that 50 people had died.  

Speaking to Angola National Radio broadcaster, Filemone accused traditional healers of administering the deadly concoction.

"More than 50 victims were forced to drink this mysterious liquid which, according to traditional healers, proves whether or not a person practices witchcraft," she said.

Belief in witchcraft is still common in some rural Angolan communities despite strong opposition from the church in the predominantly Catholic former Portuguese colony."

The Post: Mine is the Kingdom: How the Hillsong megachurch empire fell apart

"Investigative journalist David Hardaker's new book, Mine is the Kingdom, tells the explosive story of how Brian Houston's family went from humble Kiwi origins to run one of the world's largest megachurches. This extract reveals how their empire started falling apart."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

50 killed in anti-sorcery rituals after being forced to drink "mysterious liquid," Angola officials say

CBS/AFP

March 14, 2024 

About 50 people have died in Angola after being forced to drink an herbal potion to prove they were not sorcerers, police and local officials said Thursday. The deaths occurred between January and February near the central town of Camacupa, according to Luzia Filemone, a local councilor.

Police confirmed that 50 people had died.  

Speaking to Angola National Radio broadcaster, Filemone accused traditional healers of administering the deadly concoction.

"More than 50 victims were forced to drink this mysterious liquid which, according to traditional healers, proves whether or not a person practices witchcraft," she said.

Belief in witchcraft is still common in some rural Angolan communities despite strong opposition from the church in the predominantly Catholic former Portuguese colony.

"It's a widespread practice to make people drink the supposed poison because of the belief in witchcraft," provincial police spokesperson Antonio Hossi told the radio network, warning that cases were on the rise.

Angola does not have laws against witchcraft, leaving communities to deal with the issue as they see fit.

Allegations of sorcery are often settled by traditional healers, or "marabouts," by having the accused ingest a toxic herbal drink called "Mbulungo." Death is believed by many to prove guilt.

Last year, Bishop Firmino David of Sumbe Diocese in Angola told ACI Africa that socio-economic challenges in the country are forcing some to "resort to the practice of witchcraft because they believe that with witchcraft, they can get what they want and thus free themselves from poverty and get everything they need to survive."

Firmino encouraged his fellow Angolans "to help rescue people who try to make a living from practices that are harmful to society, including witchcraft and drugs."

During a 2009 trip to Angola, Pope Benedict urged Catholics to shun witchcraft and sorcery.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/50-dead-anti-sorcery-rituals-mysterious-liquid-angola-officials/

THE RISING POPULARITY OF THE OCCULT IN WESTERN SOCIETY

BRONTË BEHLING
The Cord
APRIL 14, 2022

The word ‘occult’ has gained an infamous reputation in western society. Often tied to satanism and ‘mystic’ practices outside of western world comprehension, using the word occult will frequently garner confused looks and skepticism.

After all, the largest religion in Canada is Christianity – as declared by the 2011 National Household Survey completed by Statistics Canada. In the survey, 22.1 million (67.3 per cent) of the population said that they were Christian.

However, what does ‘occult’ really mean? How is it interpreted in comparison to “traditional” religions such as Christianity?

Speaking with Rebecca Plett, a professor in the Anthropology Department at Wilfrid Laurier University, the same theme was apparent – ‘occult’ being seen as problematic by society despite its actual definition.

“All occult means is ‘hidden’…so you know, there’s a number of practices that people do that could remain hidden” Plett stresses.

Instead of the word ‘occult’ Plett describes how anthropologists would prefer the term ‘New Religious Movement’ – a term that Britannica describes as “all-new faiths that have arisen worldwide over the past several centuries”.

As with the understanding of ‘occult’, New Religious Movements are seen as alternative religious practices that are outside of the “norm”. While not all of these movements are inherently harmful, many have the potential to be, as suggested by Plett.

“[New Religious Movements] pretty often start off as something rather idealistic and then they can turn into something a little bit more harmful, potentially.”

In addition, using the term New Religious Movement can be seen as “just a way to kind of put the focus on why people might be interested in joining these groups rather than the harm that they cause.” This is an important distinction considering the idealistic viewpoints pushed by many of these religions.

In a world reeling and rapidly shifting due to a global pandemic, it is unsurprising that New Religious Movements with their idealistic views and beliefs are appealing to many. Much of this growth can be seen among younger generations, especially on TikTok. The hashtag WitchTok on the platform has over 25.0 billion views, creators on the app using it to instruct their viewers on how to use crystals, pendulums and tarot.

As with many New Religious Movements, the application and use of these methods are not always harmful – many people seek comfort in them, obtaining answers to spiritual questions that assist in grounding them in reality. In many ways, this is comparable to the act of prayer – asking a spiritual being for guidance or help. Of course, ‘witches’ and those who practice formal religions like Christianity are treated differently by the media.

One interesting development in the representation of witches can be found in Scotland, where the Witches of Scotland are seeking “justice for people accused and convicted under the Witchcraft Act” between 1563 and 1736. With 1,104 supporters, the organization has been acknowledged by Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister. With recognition being granted for a movement like this, it is clear to see the impact that witches have had – also indicating what they have fulfilled for a certain sect of the population.

“What are people seeking for in that moment?” Plett questions, discussing the growth of New Religious Movements and why they form.

The continued growth and prevalence of ‘WitchTok’ and recognition of witches indicates the form of comfort and spirituality many are looking for during this tumultuous period – many unsure as to what their future holds due to the uncertain nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to WitchTok, the pandemic has also and continues to inspire new movements to form – such as conspirituality, as mentioned by Plett. Of course, the term conspirituality refers to the “overlap of conspiracy theories with spirituality”, as defined by Wikipedia. An interesting podcast on the subject under the same name has been created by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski and Julian Mark Walker – a “journalist, cult researcher and philosophical skeptic” who discuss the “stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds.” The podcast has over 29.1k followers on Instagram – demonstrating just how many people are interested in listening to presentations on the subject. The podcast can be listened to on conspirituality.net.

It must be noted that the creators of this podcast aren’t anthropologists directly studying the occult. The value of anthropological study, as described by Plett, is being able to take that “holistic view in looking at how practices have developed historically.” Further, Plett stresses the importance in including the human experience angle of studying the occult – focusing on what is going on sociologically, politically and economically in the current moment.

Looking at these aspects is crucial to understanding any aspect of the occult and how it relates to human experiences. It is important to ask “who are you rather than saying the a priori I know who you are” elaborates Plett.

While anthropologists must uphold this line of questioning rather than assumption, the general public should also adopt this line of thinking. Many are quick to judge ‘occult’ practices and organizations without taking the time to research them properly and learn more about how they have benefited individuals and society.

Key to note is the distinction of anthropology as an area of study. As the “study of humanity”, anthropology is key in understanding aspects surrounding the occult and its relation to human beings. As a distinct species with many different aspects, anthropology as the study of humanity has different subcategories such as physical anthropology, cultural anthropology and psychological anthropology. These distinctions and a proper understanding of the role anthropologists play is important, as they help to classify our understanding of our own species and why we adopt the practices we do.

Of course, being in the Western world, many are quick to judge without asking questions. Alternative or ‘occult’ practices are discredited. It is both easy and natural to be a skeptic – however, care should be taken when analyzing aspects of culture that may seem “alternative” or “illegitimate” in the eyes of the status quo. New lessons can be learned and those that research effectively to obtain new viewpoints will have a wider and greater understanding of the world.


BRONTË BEHLING

Brontë is a third year Bachelor of Arts student majoring in Cultural Studies and Film Studies. In her spare time not researching various aspects of Pop Culture she enjoys baking bread, going on long walks and talking in-depth about Star Wars to anyone who will listen. In her time at Laurier, she has written for Her Campus Laurier and Generation Magazine before becoming involved with the Cord. After graduating, she hopes to work as an entertainment journalist or film critic.



https://thecord.ca/the-rising-popularity-of-the-occult-in-western-society/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 11/3/2021 (Brazil, Indigenous, Lev Tahor, Guatemala, Satanic Organization, Religious Freedom, Witchcraft)

Brazil, Indigenous, Lev Tahor, Guatemala, Satanic Organization, Religious Freedom, Witchcraft

Mongabay: Brazil court upholds ban on missionaries trying to contact isolated Indigenous

Brazil's highest court has upheld a ban on missionaries entering reserves that are home to isolated and recently contacted Indigenous people during the pandemic.

The decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Indigenous organizations against a law passed in July 2020 that allowed missionaries to remain inside these reserves despite the pandemic, in violation of Brazil's official policy in place since 1987.

According to Indigenous organizations, it's crucial to reaffirm the non-contact policy under the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro that has pushed to "integrate" Indigenous people into society, and has been cozy with the evangelical movement.

Besides the risk of disease spread, the presence of missionaries in these reserves undermines traditional cultures and social cohesion, and compels these nomadic communities to settle down, making the land more vulnerable to invasions by illegal ranchers and loggers, activists say.

Jerusalem Post: Extradition of senior Lev Tahor leaders to US from Guatemala approved

"A court in Guatemala has approved the extradition to the US of two senior leaders of the Lev Tahor ultra-Orthodox cult – brothers Yaakov Weingarten and Shmuel "Shmiel" Weingarten – where they face child exploitation offenses.

The Third Criminal Sentencing Court in Guatemala authorized the extradition of the two men on Thursday and Friday, after they were charged in April this year by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York for the kidnap of a 14-year old girl and for smuggling her across the US-Mexico border to reunite her with her adult husband.

According to media in Guatemala where the Lev Tahor cult is currently located, the court has verified that there are currently no legal proceedings against the Weingarten brothers and that the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry is therefore authorized to begin extradition proceedings.

It was reported the brothers intend to appeal the decision, with an attorney for the two describing the legal process against them as "persecution."

There have, however, been numerous charges and allegations against members of the cult for kidnapping, forced underage marriage, and various forms of child abuse.

Yaakov Weingarten was arrested in March this year during a police raid on the Lev Tahor compound, while Yoel and Shmuel Weingarten were arrested in a separate raid in April, all due to the charges against them in the Southern District of New York.

The extradition case against Yoel Weingarten has yet to be brought to court since the US authorities have reportedly not yet sent the relevant documents to their Guatemalan counterparts.

The cult has recently tried to move to Iran on several occasions to avoid its legal problems tied up in its child abuse and other criminal activities, but have been unsuccessful so far.

Relatives in Israel of children in the group have lobbied Israeli authorities to help prevent the group reaching Iran, where it would be harder to extract children from the cult."

WPVI: SATANISTS CONVINCE DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ALTER DRESS CODE

"A local Satanic organization has convinced a school district in Delaware County that its dress code was discriminatory against Satanists.

Joseph Rose, the founder of a local organization called Satanic Delco, says fellow Satanists with children attending schools within the Rose Tree Media School District made him aware of the verbiage in the dress code banning any clothing or gear that are "satanic in nature."

"The idea that a public school would allow religious expression in school, but choose to single out and prohibit the expression of one specific religion obviously seemed like a problem for us," Rose said."

USA Today: 'We're in the middle of a witch moment': Hip witchcraft is on the rise in the US

"On Halloween night, Charlene Dzielak will light candles and incense in front of an altar and invite her departed loved ones to join her in a "dumb supper," a feast eaten in silence out of reverence for the dead who can't speak.  

After a yearlong hiatus because of COVID-19, Dzielak is reuniting with her coven — or congregation of witches — in Old Bridge, New Jersey, to celebrate Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter. Pronounced "sow-in," Samhain, which is believed to have been the precursor to Halloween, literally means "summer's end" in Gaelic."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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Facebook

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Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Are Cults Good Or Evil?1996

RTE

Do religious cults ruin people’s lives or change them for the better?

Dissatisfaction with the main Christian churches can provide cults - or new religious movements, with opportunities to attract new recruits.

Some people believe cults are evil and sinister groups who brainwash people and ruin lives. Others who have joined cults say their lives have changed for the better.


People shopping in Dublin’s Ilac Centre give their opinions on whether there is any harm to religious cults. Some people interviewed believe cults are very dangerous, associating them with satanic rituals, witchcraft and black magic.


One woman admits she does not know much about cults but fears,

They brainwash everybody and take their money.


Another woman thinks cults are prey on intelligent, successful people who need to fill a void in their lives,


I think people should be very wary.


A man who says he is a Catholic has a relaxed attitude to what people chose to believe, I think everybody is entitled to whatever religion they would like to adopt.


However an elderly woman is entirely dismissive of cults,


Catholics don’t go in for them things you know.


‘Gerry Ryan Tonight’ (GRT) is an Irish chat show hosted by Gerry Ryan that aired live for three series on Network 2 between 1995 and 1997. The studio-based light entertainment show featured guest interviews and live music. It was produced by Charlie McCarthy.


This episode of ‘Gerry Ryan Tonight’ was broadcast on 23 October 1996. The presenter is Gerry Ryan. The reporter is Hilary Fennell.


https://www.rte.ie/archives/category/religion/2021/0924/1248822-religious-cults/

The rise and rise of Wicca

The astonishing growth of witchcraft in the U is a little-understood phenomenon

Massimo Introvigne
Mercatornet

December 5, 2018


By one count, there are now more self-identifying witches in the United States than practicing members of the Presbyterian Church of the USA or the Episcopalian Church.

When Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg fell and broke three ribs recently, witches on Twitter were concerned. “@LanaDelRey needs to get her coven together to cast spells protecting RBG ... Hey, @jk_rowling, we're gonna need a protection spell for #RBG stat ... Stop everything. Start praying and doing every known form of witchcraft to protect RBG.”

Other witches have publicly cast “hexes” on Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh. It’s unlikely that anyone would have done that a decade ago. What is going on?

For answers, MercatorNet contacted Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist who is a world expert in new religious movements. He is the head of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), in Turin.

* * * * * * *

MercatorNet. Witchcraft seem to be on the rise. Recent articles mention figures: 12,000 wiccans in England and Wales; 80 covens and pagan groups in New York Metropolitan area; 734,000 Americans identifying as pagan or Wicca; an Instagram personality, The Hoodwitch, with 329,000 followers – and so on. Is this happening in Europe too? Is it a significant trend?

A. Wicca today has most of its followers in the US and those who believe it is an American phenomenon may be forgiven.

However, Wicca was actually born in England, not in the US, thanks to the creative genius of Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) and other pioneers. Nowhere in the world are numbers comparable to the US but Wicca is a globalized phenomenon. There are Wiccans in Europe, and even in Israel—and in Iraq.

In our last CESNUR conference in Taiwan, Japanese scholar Eriko Kawanishi presented a fascinating paper on Wicca in Japan. The key point is that what exists today in Japan has little to do with the traditional witches found in Japanese mythology. Wiccans there mostly follow the post-Gardnerian, Western tradition. It is a fascinating example of globalization.

But then it is also true that I was in Vietnam before Halloween and shops sold appropriate costumes for children wanting to go trick or treat -- in a Socialist country of Buddhist tradition...

Q. What was witchcraft historically? How is modern Wicca different? Is it correct to call it a religion?

A. There is a very large debate about what mediaeval and early modern witchcraft in the West (something different from phenomena also called witchcraft in Africa or Asia) exactly was.

The idea dominant in the early 20th Century that there were no witches except in the imagination of Inquisitors has become a minority theory after the studies of the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg and a number of British historians who wrote in the 1990s. They demonstrated that the witches suppressed by the authorities really did practice folk rituals with ecstatic experiences unacceptable to dominant Christianity.

However, these historians have not rehabilitated the theories of American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland (1824-1903) and British Egyptologist Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963), who believed that the witches secretly continued the pre-Christian pagan religion as it had existed before Christianity. Leland’s and Murray’s theories belong to a rejected consensus. The folklore of European witches in fact included several elements from popular Christianity.

Contemporary Wicca would not have existed without Leland and Murray. Gardner and other early Wiccans believed that, by recreating witchcraft, they were restoring the pre-Christian European “old religion.” This was not the case for two reasons.

First, as mentioned earlier, pace Leland and Murray, witchcraft was not a continuation of the pre-Christian European religions.

Second, all Wiccan pioneers, including Gardner, told the story that they had been initiated by a mentor or grandmother or grandfather who continued an hereditary tradition of witchcraft since time immemorial.

However, it has been persuasively demonstrated that everything in their rituals comes from more recent Western esotericism—Theosophy, the Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, and the ideas of British magus Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)—, or from what Leland described in his books as rituals he found in Italy, which were probably of a comparatively recent origin too, unless they had been simply invented by the American folklorist.

In sociological terms, Gardner and others created and invented tradition. Invented traditions are not to be dismissed lightly, as they may have powerful social effects, but historically speaking they are imaginary traditions.

I believe what they created is a religion, although the boundaries of the concept of religion are notoriously controversial and porous.

Q. The burning and hanging of witches at different times in history are frequently cited by Wiccan and feminist sources as examples of patriarchal misogyny against women. Could you give these episodes a bit of context?

A. Feminists are right in arguing that marginal women practicing folk rituals were suspicious and unpopular in different cultures, which often led them to be killed.

Missing in their reconstructions, however, are two points. First, “witch” is a word that identifies both male and female practitioners of witchcraft. In some areas, male witches were at least as numerous as their female counterparts.

Second, they make some confusion about the Inquisition. There were different courts called Inquisition. With some exceptions (notably in Germany, where the notorious anti-witchcraft manual Malleus Maleficarum was published in 1487 by two Dominican friars), the Inquisition was, or quickly became, more sceptical about witches than secular courts.

A classic treatment of this matter is The Witches’ Advocate by Danish historian Gustav Henningsen. The “witches’ advocate” in the title was the notorious Spanish Inquisition. While the Spanish Inquisitors believed that Jews and Muslims were very real threats, and exhibited a notable anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, they did not believe in witches. When Spanish secular courts started prosecuting witches, the Inquisition came and prosecuted the judges rather than the witches, accusing the secular magistrates of believing in superstition.

Q. Feminism has played a large part in reviving witchcraft. To quote one writer, the witch is “one of the few models of independent female power.” Is there a risk of coming under Satanic influence?

A. I see a risk first of all of forgetting male witches. Gerald Gardner was a man. His main collaborator and, in a way, successor was a woman, Doreen Valiente (1922–1999), although Gardner and Valiente quarrelled and parted company in 1957. Historians regard the story that Gardner had been initiated by a woman, one “Old Dorothy,” as largely a figment of Gardner’s imagination (the Dorothy he hinted at, Dorothy Clutterbuck, 1880–1951, was a pious rich Anglican lady and had nothing to do with witchcraft). It is on the other hand true that the feminist wing is very important in American Wicca.

Wicca and Satanism are different. Wiccans believe that Satanist practice an inverted version of the “new religion,” Christianity, since in order to be a Satanist you should believe in the biblical stories about Satan. Wiccans claim to believe in the “old religion,” i.e. in pre-Christian European religions, be they Greek, Roman, or Celtic-Nordic, where Satan was nowhere to be seen.

Q. Much of female witchcraft today seems to consist of rituals for self-realisation and belonging, with a few rhetorical “spells” and “hexes” thrown in, so is there any real harm in it?

A. In part, this is a consequence of the work of scholars systematically debunking the Leland-Murray-Gardner theory that witchcraft, and as a consequence, Wicca as a revival of witchcraft, were really the old pre-Christian European religions.

While some Wiccans insist that academic scholars are wrong, others accept their findings but their reaction is, “So what? It doesn’t matter whether a tradition is real or invented, if it works for me and if I feel better that is enough.”

Having interviewed quite a few Wiccans, I do not doubt they feel better. This is true for most beliefs. They normally “work” for the believers, otherwise they would simply change their beliefs.

Q. It’s no coincidence that witchcraft has boomed at the same time as social media -- especially Instagram, it seems, where the visuals are exciting and commercial products (crystals, Tarot cards, herbal concoctions…) along with more mainstream practices like yoga and mindfulness classes can be marketed. Millennials are the biggest market, some writers say. Perhaps most are dabblers who will quickly pass on to some other fad, but should we be concerned about young people being enticed in this direction?

A. As you know, I have written a very comprehensive survey of Satanism. There are very few cases of Wiccans who moved to Satanism. As mentioned earlier, Wiccans are taught that Satanism is a misguided inverted Christianity, and they look at Satanism as an inferior tradition.

On the other hand, it is true that Wicca has become commercialized. This is something many Wiccans themselves do not like. The risk that young (and not so young) people may be milked of their money is very real. I am much more sceptical when I see Christian activists confusing Wicca and Satanism. Although they are not wrong if they detect in Wicca an anti-Christian substratum.

Q. Fantasy fiction has also boosted the profile of the (largely pagan) supernatural world among young people: the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Harry Potter books and movies, Twilight series, Game of Thrones, Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, even Lord of The Rings… Is there a problem with this genre? Can one separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to wholesome or malign influences?

A. I would put The Lord of the Rings in a separate category, as Tolkien was undoubtedly a Christian and the book has a deep Christian message. Magic, good and bad, has been a raw material for building tales in the Western literary tradition for centuries. If we want to ban The Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter novels because they call for a suspension of disbelief about magic, we should ban also Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. And in fact some fundamentalist Protestants and Catholics propose precisely to do so.

It is a different story with Buffy, where Willow, a lesbian witch, is a positive character, and even more with the TV series “Charmed”. These characters and series are based on a positive image of contemporary Wicca.

Q. What’s the message for Christians in the rise of witches and witchcraft?

A. I believe there are two different phenomena. Classic, organized Wicca is part of Western Esotericism, a current in Western history and thought. Christian should learn to take this seriously because of its cultural relevance, although from the 19th century on it developed mostly outside of, and often against, Christianity.

Self-styled young witches who spend money in buying paraphernalia without a real knowledge of the Wiccan tradition are more an example of how fashions are created, imposed, and followed. The risk is more superficiality and a lukewarm approach to the sacred than demonic influence.

Massimo Introvigne is one of the leading international scholars of new religious movements. He is the managing director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) in Turin, and the author of 71 books on religious minorities (at last count). His most recent books are The Plymouth Brethren and Satanism: A Social History. He is also the editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter, an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China.

https://www.mercatornet.com/above/view/the-rise-and-rise-of-wicca/22002

CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/2/2019

Rastafarins, Scientology, MK-ULTRA, Witchcraft, Fiji, Jehovah's Witnessess, Russia, Religious Freedom 

All Africa: Ethiopia: Why Ethiopia's Rastafari Community Keeps Dwindling

"Rastafarians from around the world have been settling in Ethiopia for the last 50 years, after being given land by Emperor Haile Selassie. Today, life in "the promised land" is far from the paradise they had imagined.

A purple tint covers the evening sky over Shashamane, home to Ethiopia's remaining Rastafarians. Inside the house of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), a few Rastafarians are watching a documentary about how science is threatening people of color. "Yeah, that's right", they mutter now and then. In the front row, Ras Paul, wearing a red, yellow and green beanie, is in charge of the projector.

Initially, "the EWF [was] a black organization, not a Rastafarian one", said Ras Paul, the only employee of the place. The federation was launched in the US in the 1930s to support Ethiopia during the Italian invasion and to promote black unity. After World War II, Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie granted 200 hectares of land to descendants of slaves who wished to find a home on the continent. The EWF was to administer and attribute the land in Shashamane. "We can only gain political power if we become self-sufficient and rule ourselves, and the only way we [people of color] can do that, is to return home to Africa", Ras Paul explained.

Whereas the Rastafarians were not the only ones being targeted by Selassie's land donation, they ended up being the vast majority to undertake the journey from Jamaica and other countries to Ethiopia. Haile Selassie was widely viewed by Rastafarians as the Messiah who would one day bring them back to Africa. This belief added a strong religious component to the repatriation movement. It was encouraged by Selassie himself, who visited Jamaica in 1966 and urged the Rastafarians to move to Shashamane.

"The land grant was originally corporate land, but the Rastafarians spiritualized it", Ras Paul said in a British accent. He arrived in Ethiopia from the UK 20 years ago. "Religiously speaking, we were enslaved by the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. We learnt that for most world religions, you can find their foundations inside of Africa."

Rastafarian belief is founded on an interpretation of the Old Testament. "The Bible was the only thing we were given to read as slaves, we see Ethiopia in the Bible and we identify with that. We can also identify with the story of Israelis going into Egypt and being slaves for 400 years", said Ras Paul. But for the Rastafarians, the Holy Land is in Ethiopia. In Ras Paul's office, the thin face of Haile Selassie gazes down from every wall. Rastas see him as the true reincarnation of the Christ, in accordance with a biblical prophecy."

" ... Internal squabbles, economic struggles and the difficulty of integrating with the local Ethiopian community have led many Rastafarians to leave town, either to find work in the capital Addis Ababa, or to move to another country. Only about 200 still live in Shashamane. In the late 90s, they numbered approximately 2,000.

Recently, the Ethiopian government started the allocation of national residence cards to Rastafarians who have been living in the country for over 10 years. This was an important step, not only because it gave them the right to legally live in Ethiopia, but also because it stopped the payments "illegal residents" had to make in order to be able to travel outside Ethiopia. According to Ras Paul, "Now it's their chance to travel, see their families, they can come back when they want to.... I'd say about a third of the population is out of the country now".

The allocation of the residence permit, which gives Rastafarians the status of "Foreign National of Ethiopian Origin", was celebrated as a major step towards the community's recognition and integration. They now have the right to work and can legally send their children to school. But ist is not enouigh for some. "I consider myself to be an Ethiopian returned home, and I have no desire to leave this country to live anywhere else," Ras Kawintesseb, who born in Trinidad and Tobago, said."

The Underground Bunker: Scientology reels in politicians and gets photo ops out of Hurricane Dorian

"Scientology Volunteer Ministers traveled to the Bahamas this week to provide relief in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. " ... We know of one boat and one airplane that have been making the trip. The 82-foot luxury yacht Gecko which usually rents for $9,000 per day has made several trips, bringing water and supplies to the island."

POLITICO: The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA's Base for Mind Control Experiments.

"In 1954, a prison doctor in Kentucky isolated

seven black inmates and fed them "double, triple and quadruple" doses of LSD for 77 days straight. No one knows what became of the victims. They may have died without knowing they were part of the CIA's highly secretive program to develop ways to control minds—a program based out of a little-known Army base with a dark past, Fort Detrick.

Suburban sprawl has engulfed Fort Detrick, an Army base 50 miles from Washington in the Maryland town of Frederick. Seventy-six years ago, however, when the Army selected Detrick as the place to develop its super-secret plans to wage germ warfare, the area around the base looked much different. In fact, it was chosen for its isolation. That's because Detrick, still thriving today as the Army's principal base for biological research and now encompassing nearly 600 buildings on 13,000 acres, was for years the nerve center of the CIA's hidden chemical and mind control empire.

Detrick is today one of the world's cutting-edge laboratories for research into toxins and antitoxins, the place where defenses are developed against every plague, from crop fungus to Ebola. Its leading role in the field is widely recognized. For decades, though, much of what went on at the base was a closely held secret. Directors of the CIA mind control program MK-ULTRA, which used Detrick as a key base, destroyed most of their records in 1973. Some of its secrets have been revealed in declassified documents, through interviews and as a result of congressional investigations. Together, those sources reveal Detrick's central role in MK-ULTRA and in the manufacture of poisons intended to kill foreign leaders."

The Guardian: New Zealand man charged over 'witchcraft' deaths that shocked Fiji

"Police have charged a New Zealand man with five counts of murder following the mysterious "witchcraft" deaths of a Fijian family last month.

Husband and wife Nirmal Kumar, 63, and Usha Devi, 54, their daughter Nileshni Kajal, 34, and Kajal's daughters Sana, 11, and Samara, eight, were all found dead in the Nausori Highlands in August.

According to reports and police testimony, a one-year-old baby was found alive among the bodies.

The case has shocked Fijians. With no visible injuries present on the bodies of the five family members, police suspected poisoning as their cause of death.

The father of the two dead children told the Fiji Sun that his father-in-law, also among the deceased, was interested in witchcraft.

"I never saw anyone or any family so much into witchcraft than my in-laws," he said.

"I used to see my in-laws and other witchdoctors making a doll from dough and poking needles in it. I always took my daughters away into the bedroom. My wife and daughters were obviously also dragged into it."

On Monday, three weeks after the bodies were found and after toxicology reports were ordered, police laid charges.

The suspect, who has permanent residency status in New Zealand, and his wife had been questioned by police last month, with court order issued to prevent the pair leaving Fiji."

RFE/RL: Two Russians Given U.S. Entry Bans For Allegedly Torturing Jehovah's Witnesses

"Two high-ranking regional officers in Russia's Investigative Committee have been banned from entering the United States for alleged "gross violations of human rights."

A September 10 State Department statement said Vladimir Yermolayev, head of the Investigative Committee in the city of Surgut; Stepan Tkach, a senior investigator; and their immediate family members "are ineligible for entry into the United States."

They are suspected of leading a group of Surgut Investigative Committee officers in subjecting at least seven Jehovah's Witnesses "to suffocation, electric shocks, and severe beatings during interrogation."

In 2017, Russia outlawed the religious group and labeled it "extremist," a designation the State Department said was "wrongful."

The statement said 60 Jehovah's Witnesses were currently awaiting trial on criminal charges and that more than 200 individuals were currently imprisoned in Russia 'for exercising their freedom of religion or belief.'"  

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