Esoteric Source

Well, I have a little announcement....



The magazine is nearly finished - it's been a labor of love, frustrating at times, but, we have entered the home straight.

I'm doing the live links, and the final clean-up at the moment, but it will be out very early next week.

I'm very pleased with it, as are the few people I've shown....

Jon

Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.

 

The biggest hint that Charleston is a very different breed of Southern Belle -- and that I'm on no ordinary city tour -- comes as our air-conditioned mini-bus reaches the mainly African-American east side, a warren of economically deprived streets framing what was once an important stop on the Underground Railroad.

 

Yesterday was the first day of spring, or the vernal equinox — one of the two days each year when the hours of darkness and daylight are equal. Everyone knows that just because the calendar says it’s spring doesn’t mean winter won’t make a curtain call or two, but the stage is set for Earth’s eagerly anticipated rebirth.

 

Saturday was the vernal equinox, the first moment of spring, and a time when the periods of light and dark in the day are equal. Last year, Donna Henes greeted the spring equinox in a snowstorm at around four in the morning. But this Saturday was different.

 

 

Echo feature writer Sian Pilkington sits down with Airdrie’s Debbie Gibbs to get the ins and outs of Shamanism.

 The conifers at the bottom of our English garden always held a special place in my heart.

The short distance from the kitchen to that secret hide-out appeared to the 4-year-old Sian, as a million miles apart and a few steps down into that garden, something changed.

 

This morning, the New Jersey Board of Education voted to approve their list of religious holidays permitting pupil absence from school for the 2010-2011 school year. Included for the first time on this list are the eight Pagan/Wiccan holidays, or sabbats.  This marks the first time any state has approved Pagan holidays to a state calendar, and will set a precedence for other districts and states across the country.

 

A woman was killed after being branded a 'witch' by her relative in Bokaro's Chandrapura area, the second such incident in Jharkhand this month

 

After making it through the harsh winter, people in Western North Carolina are looking forward to the warm sun of spring. Some are preparing to celebrate the season's change with an ecumenical ritual.

 

Long-time esoteric and occult bookseller Watkins Books in London's West End, which closed late last month, got a reprieve. Just two weeks before it was to be liquidated American entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld stepped forward and purchased the 113-year old institution, which stocks crystals, jewelry, and statues as well as books.

 

IN a bizarre incident that has left the community of Gwanda district shell-shocked, a 41-year-old man suspected of stealing 11 head of cattle has been admitted to Gwanda Provincial Hospital, suffering from a mysterious disease.

 

The mother of the 11-year-old Kelantanese girl who was “married” to a 41-year-old man has claimed that he could have used black magic to fulfil his wish of marrying children.

In a shocking incident, a 15-year-old girl allegedly strangled a 4-year-old child for attaining ''tantrik siddha'' (occult powers) in UP’s Bulandshahar district.

Hadrian's Wall has been lit from end to end by a team of 500 volunteers holding flaming torches.

The "line of light" follows an 84-mile (135km) national walking trail, which shadows the route of the Roman wall spanning northern England.

Volunteers, each holding a gas-powered beacon, stood at 820ft (250m) intervals.

The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed on Wednesday.

Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron.

An annual cheese rolling race that attracts thousands of spectators has been cancelled due to health and safety fears.

A TEENAGER plans to marry a schoolgirl in a pagan ceremony next month with the bride’s mother officiating.

A self-proclaimed "visionary healer" who claims to be able to treat illness from a distance is facing prosecution by Trading Standards for suggestions that he can cure cancer.

A former Ugandan witch doctor has been charged with lying about carrying out child sacrifices in a BBC report.

London's oldest esoteric bookshop and Cecil Court 'institution' Watkins Books has gone into administration with 11 members of staff losing their jobs.