Ellinais spokeswoman, Doretta Peppa told reporters that her Pagan group will hold a prayer protest on Sunday at the Parthenon. The prayer being done will be in worship to the Goddess Athena and to also protest the Christian destruction of the Acropolis grounds 1,500 years ago.

The group also, intends to ask Athena for help with the protection of Athen’s and the temple that use to belong to her that is known worldwide as the Parthenon. In the 5th century A.D the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church.

Ellinais has held several public ritual prayers at ancient Pagan landmarks, despite Italy’s Cultural Ministry banning the Pagan expressions.

“I don’t know how many of us will be there.” Peppa said, “People are afraid. The fact is that we are subject to religious persecution.”

Read more here.

Technorati Tags: athena, athens, doretta peppe, greek pagan, pagan news, parthenon

Recently, in dealing with a client’s services I realized that not many people understand what the term occult means. The full details of the interaction will not be gotten into here but I will say that it has been brought to my attention the ways in which the word ‘occult’ can be sometimes used and misunderstood.

The word itself ‘occult’ comes from the Latin occultare and means to hide something or refers to something that is hidden. The term is used in the medical community when referring to something hidden within the body as well as being used to describe hidden knowledge when dealing in the esoteric.

My point is thus: If you take knowledge that was once hidden or even knowledge that has not been hidden for hundreds of years and put that out into the world, such an action may make it taboo or ‘New Age’ but it does not make it ‘occult’. For said information to actually be ‘occult’ it would still be hidden and not just looked at as taboo.

Also, I want to take a moment to publicly apologize to Gary Goldschineider. Gary is the creator of Personlogy and author of such books as The Secret Language of Birthdays: Personology Profiles for Each Day of the Year. I wrote a review of his above book that was further edited to included three disclaimers that used wording to allude that his work was not based on reality, is occult and not an actual science. At the moment, that is all I can comment on.

Technorati Tags: apology, Gary Goldschineider, laura jean karr, occult, personal post, Secret Language of Birthdays

A retired vicar named Rev Kevin Logan published a book in 1987 entitled Paganism and The Occult. In light of Harry Potter’s popularity, the reverend has decided to update and re-release his book.

Now, I have purposely not commented on the whole Harry Potter and Paganism topic over the years because I felt that the “hoohaa” was completely unfounded. In my personal opinion, which goes the same for the controversy over Brown’s Da Vinci Code, these books are works of creative fiction. Rowling tells a good story that appeals to many people and she does it in away that captures people’s imaginations. Yet, at the end of the day they are still works of fiction neither Rowling nor Brown has ever tried to sell their work as historical truth. I digress, though as covering Rowling’s work is not what this post is about.

This post is about the Rev Kevin Logan and his statements to the UK’s The Citizen. Rev Logan who expresses his concerns about the rise of Paganism as: “Harry Potter is a PR exercise for paganism. One hundred children a month are contacting pagan organizations wanting to know how to become a witch or wizard. I did a Google search for paganism and thousands of groups were inviting me to join a coven or become involved with pagan ways – it is an issue we need to be aware of.”

One of the main tenets underneath the umbrella of Paganism is that we do not prostelytize. Pagans do not go around trying to convert people and coven’s do not actively seek people to join up. We don’t have social conversion or prayer gatherings and we certainly do not require as a part of the faith to go door to door to spread our own beliefs to people who are not looking for it. I would really like to know where Rev Logan came by is statistics.

Who are these “thousands of groups” who he states that tried to get him to join a coven? Where is the statistical information showing that one hundred children a month are contacting Pagan organizations? Does Rev Logan even know of any Pagan organizations?

Blatant assumed statements like Rev Logan’s confuse me in this day and age. What seems to be going on here (and I could be wrong) is that Rev Logan is retired and is at an apt stage to re-release a book for profit. If the concern was really with saving people from Paganism, why not re-release the book for free? He also seems to be a bit late in rehashing the whole war on Harry Potter and Paganism stance, as the books have been out for quite awhile. Why wait so long to warn people about the dangers?

Technorati Tags: harry potter, Kevin Logan, Pagan, paganism, pagans, Rev Kevin Logan, rowling

The Northern Nevada Pagan Pride Day will be held on October 4th this year at Deer Park in Sparks, Nevada.

Theme for this year: Celebrate the Child Within.

The celebration will be done with a carnival type atmosphere that focuses on the younger generation of Pagans. Some events include: Tic Tac Toe, Coin Toss, Bean Bag Toss and for the adults another rousing year of the Haggas Toss and Hammer Throw.

Some event presentations include a puppet show by The Child Assault Prevention Team and a self-defense course by Zai Martial Arts Studio.

Non-perishable food donations, clothing and such will be accepted for the local Pagan Pantry.

For more information, or to get invovled in this years NNPPD please contact Susanna at 813-6653. Also, have a visit to their website www.paganpridenevada.org

Technorati Tags: laura jean karr, nevada pagan pride update, nnppd, northern nevada pagan pride day, Pagan, pagan events, pagan nevada, simple abnormality