The Official newWitch Blog

In Graham Greene’s The Third Man (and in the Orson Welles film it inspired), Harry Lime says:

In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. But they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo daVinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The Cuckoo clock.

Now, in an effort to prove Graham Greene wrong, Switzerland’s DJ Bobo gives us the power ballad  “Vampires Are Alive”.  If Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Michael Jackson’s Thriller were shoved into the teleportation device from The Fly, the end result might look something like this.

To be fair to our Swiss fans, I should note that Greene was exaggerating.  Switzerland is also the birthplace of Dada and the home of H.R. Giger.  This may explain why DJ Bobo has created a track which is both pointless and horrifying.

Simon Emmerson, the musician and visionary behind Afro-Celt Soundsystem, describes some of the spiritual influences on their “Fela Kuti jams with the Chieftans at a Rave” sound.

SE: Yeah, I’m from Hackney. As a kid I went to folk camp and the organization that ran the camp was called the Order of the Woodcut Chivalry and they were based and started in the 1930’s in the New Forest. And that’s when the whole WICCA revival happened.

PLH: Where’s the New Forest?

SE: It’s in Dorset. And basically if any WICCAN tells you that they are part of a tradition that’s 2000 years old, really it started with Geraldine Gardner and half a dozen other people at a place called Sandy Balls in the New Forest… So I would go to these camps and sit around campfires and learn about tree law.

While rumors persist about Gardner’s interest in bondage and spanking, this is the first we’ve heard of ol’ Gerald’s gender identity crisis.  Still, it must be true… after all, we heard it on the Internet!

Despite Emmerson’s dodgy grasp of Pagan history, the interview is actually well worth reading - and his band is, of course, fantastic.

During Passover, observant Jews refrain from eating leavened bread or any food prepared from the five species of grain - wheat, barley, oats, spelt and rye - which can be used to make bread. Ashkenazic tradition also forbids rice, millet, corn and legumes (edible seeds) during this eight-day holiday.

This has led to some controversy among Rabbinical authorities, as they struggle with the question “are hemp seeds edible?” Israel’s Aleh Yarok (”Green Leaf”) party, is taking no chances. Said party spokeswoman Michelle Levine:

“We are warning our people not to eat anything with hemp products … on Pessah,” said party spokeswoman Michelle Levine. “We are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp just to be on the safe side. We are going with the rabbis on this. People should remove all cannabis and hemp from their homes.”

While your editor is not Jewish, sie is always happy to work toward interfaith relations. Hence, any observant Jews needing to get the hemp out of their house are free to “pass over” their extra cannabis this way: we will see that it is properly disposed of.

Inspired by  Pagan Troop Support,  the Dragon Ritual Drummers have recorded and released a song called “Pagan Soldier.”  Why not check it out: it’s a free download and available on their website.  And after you’re done getting jiggy with Canada’s most rocking drum troupe, why not send Pagan Troop Support some ritual supplies?

During the Vietnam War, protesters frequently spat on returning vets and called them “baby-killers.”  Let’s not make that mistake again.  However you feel about this particular conflict, don’t turn your anger on the men and women who are living and dying on the front lines.   Save it instead for the people who got them (and us) into this mess.

For Manhattan writers Colin Beavan and Michelle Conlin, 2007 is the year of a “lifestyle experiment” which involves (among other things) producing no trash, using no paper, and eating only food grown within 250 miles of their home. 

Although New York Times  writer Penelope Green had difficulty with idea that someone could spend an entire year without balsamic vinegar and espresso, her article provides some interesting ideas for those who are looking to leave less trace.  Even if you’re not ready to trade in your compactor for a compost heap or exchange your Charmin for a corncob,  “The Year Without Toilet Paper” may encourage you to take some steps toward a more Gaia-friendly lifestyle. 

Yesterday, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church USA released a strongly worded resolution that unequivocally rejected the call from the larger Anglican Communion to backtrack on ordination of lesbian and gay clergy and disavow the election and ordination of openly gay Bishop, The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

The resolution reaffirmed that,

We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God’s children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ’s Church.

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, newWitch applauds the
Episcopal Church USA for their courage. While we wouldn’t think of speaking for their boss,  He is quoted as saying:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (John 15:12, KJV)

In standing up for the oppressed and opening their hearts to the scorned, it appears to us that the Episcopal Church USA is following that directive.

Writer, philosopher, and Pagan Elder Ivo Dominguez Jr. is profiled in today’s Wilmington News-Journal. If you’ve been wondering where to find a copy of newWitch in Delaware, get thee hence to Bell, Book and Candle. (And while you’re there be sure to get autographed copies of Ivo’s excellent Of Spirits: the Book of Rowan and Castings: the Creation of Sacred Space).

Today at 8:07pm ET (5:07pm PT), the sun will cross directly over the equator. This marks the beginning of the Vernal Equinox - or, for those of you Down Under, the Autumnal Equinox. As explained in this Infoplease article:

These brief but monumental moments owe their significance to the 23.4 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis. Because of the tilt, we receive the Sun’s rays most directly in the summer. In the winter, when we are tilted away from the Sun, the rays pass through the atmosphere at a greater slant, bringing lower temperatures. If the Earth rotated on an axis perpendicular to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, there would be no variation in day lengths or temperatures throughout the year, and we would not have seasons.

Happy Equinox to you and yours - and may our Persian friends have a blessed Norouz.

Regular newWitch contributors Lupa and Taylor Ellwood will be presenting at Esozone on August 10-12. According to its homepage, Esozone promises to be

“an event decidedly oriented towards moving our specific meme culture (however one personally interprets that) out of impersonal communication (whether it be the Internet or mail art) into the Meatspace of Malkuth.”

So if you’ve only encountered Lupa and Taylor in the specific meme culture of our magazine, why not get your ticket now and see them in the Meatspace of Malkuth (otherwise known as Portland, Oregon?)

The most recent  “On Faith” (an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post) features Starhawk discussing discrimination against Pagans.  Starhawk is in good company: among the other contributors to this forum are Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Elie Wiesel.