The Official newWitch Blog

Use of Wiccan symbol on veterans’ headstones is now approved

After ten years of trying to get the pentacle approved, the Department of Veterans Affairs reached a settlement with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, who represented the families of several deceased Wiccan soldiers. Under the terms of this agreement, has agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to a list of approved religious symbols that it will engrave on veterans’ headstones.

(Kudos to M. Macha Nightmare for forwarding this to our attention)

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Hi everyone!

I just wanted to make you all aware of a project that Celia and I are working on.

As most of you know, I am the documentary filmmaker who is producing he film “A Hero Denied” which is the story of Sgt. Patrick Stewart the Wiccan soldier who was killed in Afghanistan‹and the struggle to get the pentacle approved by the VA as a religious symbol.

Celia is the singer / songwriter who wrote the “Symbol” song about Sgt. Patrick Stewart and the Penatacle Quest.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for the film, you can see it here along with Celia’s “Symbol” song.

We have started a project called 1,000 Symbols which is a program to promote the celebration of spiritual diversity in this country, and are working hard to get as many people to participate as possible.

Our primary goal this year is to have the month of June designated as  “National Spiritual Diversity Month.” The US is one of the few industrialized nations that does not have an officially recognized national day/week/month for religious tolerance or spiritual diversity. Well, we are trying to change that.

Here’s the deal. About 30 artists, writers, and musicians from all over the country have donated a piece of their work that in some way promotes spiritual diversity.

All of these works can be downloaded for free from our website during the month of June.

All that you have to do is go to our website and sign our petition to declare the month of June “Spiritual Diversity Month” with your name and email address. The list of supporters will be included with an application for a national declaration and sent to the White House.

Once you add your name to the list of supporters, you will receive an email thanking you for your support.

On June 1st, you will receive another email with a link to the download page so you can download all of the free gifts of art, music, and written word that our nation’s artists have so graciously donated to this cause.

You don’t have to wait until June to sign up, you can do it today by going to our website.

We would also appreciate it if you would forward this information to your friends or anyone else who would like to support spiritual diversity.

In love and light,

Todd Berntson
Witchy Films Productions

Police in Orlando, Florida arrested 21-year old Eric Montanez, a member of the charity group Food Not Bombs, for violating a law which prohibits feeding large groups of homeless people in the city center.  According to the arrest affidavit, Montanez served “30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle.” A vial of the stew was also collected as evidence.

The cities of Las Vegas, Dallas, Fort Myers, Fla., Gainesville, Fla., Wilmington, N.C., Atlanta, and Santa Monica, Calif., have passed similar laws restricting or outright prohibiting the feeding of the homeless.  Other cities, including Miami, are considering similar anti-feeding measures.  Says Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, NLCHP, a non-profit in Washington, D.C.

We’ve seen cities going beyond punishing homeless people to punishing those trying to help them, even though it’s clear that not enough resources are being dedicated to helping the homeless or the hungry

A 2006 report on 67 cities by her group and the National Coalition for the Homeless, a nonpartisan, non-profit network, found an 18 percent increase since 2002 in laws prohibiting aggressive panhandling; a 12 percent jump in laws outlawing “passive” begging; a 14 percent rise in laws defining sitting or lying in public places as criminal acts.

Perhaps those Orlando residents who consider themselves Christian should, on this Good Friday, remember what Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew 25:41-45

41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

44 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’

45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’

We will be following this story and will provide information on how you can donate to Mr. Montanez’s defense fund and work to help the homeless and hungry in your community. 

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.

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.

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.

According to Judi McLeod of the Canada Free Press, the European Union’s anti-Christian New Age agenda has been a Goddess-send for the Witches of Romania.

“Witches say that with entry to the EU and rights for homosexuals guaranteed in legislation, more and more gay men are also turning to them for help.

But homosexuals and heterosexuals alike can have the witches’ magic–for a certain price.

Witch Margareta from Pitesti said: “I have come up with a lot of new spells to help men to get together or for men to gain more feminine features.

“They are starting to use make up and wear jewellery and I am helping with spells to make them more attractive, make their thighs smaller and stop their moustaches growing.”

Sadly, the article does not provide Margareta’s contact info. I note that Ms. McLeod bears more than a passing resemblance to John Lithgow in The World According to Garp so it could well be that she wants to keep Witch Margareta all to herself. That’s all right, sweetie - every girl needs her beauty secrets.