Unleash the Hounds! (Link Roundup)

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

• Christina Oakley-Harrington, founder of Treadwell’s Books in London, and Literary Editor of the journal Abraxas, made the headlines in the UK this week when she gave testimony in the murder trial of Hannah Bonser, who is accused of stabbing and killing 13-year-old Casey Kearney. The accused apparently sought refuge at Oakley-Harington’s book store months before the incident took place, and she told the court that Bonser “thought she was being demonically attacked by an international, invisible conspiracy.” Bonser admits to stabbing Kearney, but denies murdering her. It seems clear that Bonser is deeply troubled, and has no real link with any Pagan or occult groups in the UK. Her arrival into Oakley-Harrington’s life a coincidence, one in which she acted admirably to get her medical attention.
• Predictable radio talk-show hater Janet Mefferd, who I’ve mentioned here before, spirals into yet another tirade against “neo-pagan” homosexuality (spurred by Anderson Cooper coming out), and how only Christian morals are saving us from institutionalized pedophilia. Claiming that Jerry Sandusky, convicted of abusing and molesting boys for years at Penn State, “wouldn’t have been in trouble” in ancient Rome because “man-boy love was so common and so accepted.” Of course, the phenomenon that Mefferd claims to know all about is far more complex than she would like to admit, and has nothing to do with modern Paganism, or modern gay male culture, but then, Mefferd isn’t interested in being honest, fair, or balanced, just in reinforcing her narrow understanding of the world.
• The Summer 2012 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly focuses on the theme of “Magic Shows,” and features articles, extracts, and essays on stage magic, fantasy depictions of magic, and the practice of ritual magic. Highlights include an essay on W.B. Yeats by Jamie James, a meditation on shamanism, psychic surgery, and alternative treatments by Daniel Mason, a look into sympathetic magic and superstition by Colin Dickey, and a flow chart that lays out your options in case you’ve been accused of withcraft.

• Maybe I was the only one who didn’t know this, but it seems that actress, writer, and director Amber Benson, perhaps most famous for playing Tara Maclay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is a practicing occultist. She revealed this in the most recent episode of the delightfully entertaining web series TableTop, where on introducing herself  added that she’s “an occultist on the side.” So I guess playing a Wiccan on Buffy steered her towards magick? I’m sure those truly initiated into Buffy lore can tell me for sure.
• A CBS affiliate in Denver reports on a Satanic couple who are claiming the theft of a “Vote for Satan” sign from their property was a hate crime. It’s a typical dog-bites-man sort of story, though I was annoyed they described the couple as people “who claim to be Satanists.” Look, if they say they are Satanists, then they are! There’s no Satanic court that needs to pass judgment on their Satanic-ness before you report them as such. I’d love to start seeing articles that call Christians “self-described” or that they “claim” to be Christian.
• The short answer is “no.”
• Chas Clifton points to a short documentary video on the revived Pagan religion of the Mari people of the former Soviet Union.
• Santeria is not an excuse to neglect your elderly mother until she dies.
• The Island Packet profiles artist Mary Kelly, whose new show focuses on painting of goddesses from around the world. Quote: “The language of symbol, form the time before words, lies deep in the subconscious, just as DNA lies in our genes. We need only to use it.”
• The quite short history of the term “Judeo-Christian.”
• Thorn’s Declaration of Interdependence.
• The animated .GIFs of Matthew DiVito are stunning. Surely some enterprising Internet-focused ritualist are utilizing them as we speak?

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.