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The names of the tech workers in this story have been changed.Ten thousand miles from Silicon Valley, in a room near the Black Sea, Yegor Karpenchekov dreams of money. At night, while the rest of Odessa sleeps and cocaine smugglers drift in and out of the port under cover of darkness, Yegor logs onto FaceTime and talks to a 70-year-old woman in San Francisco. Her name is Sally Faubion, and five months ago she recruited Yegor from the freelancer marketplace UpWork to code her apps. She believes "divine intervention" brought them together; for Yegor, it was likely $20 per hour...

Among the howls of opponents who insist that religious freedom ordinances limit LGBT civil rights, conservative lawmakers in Indiana and other states have found unlikely allies: Wiccans, who claim that any laws that give greater religious freedom are manna from the earth mother. “I think these bills are horrible,” said Dusty Dionne, High Priest and High Summoner of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Washington State. “But if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.” Reverend Dionne, reached at his church in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains,...

Those who dislike or are relatively unfamiliar with the occult will likely be surprised to learn that a witchcraft school—like an adult version of Hogwarts—is in full operation in the center of New York City. The Wiccan Family Temple Academy of Pagan Studies, while certainly different from the fictional school that Harry Potter and his friends attended, does provide some intriguing elements that will serve as a surprise to those with little familiarity with Pagan beliefs and witchcraft. The academy, according to information on its web site, offers affordable training, which includes coverage in the “Path of Wicca,” Starlight Vision...

This work was originally published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 27, No. 3, Fall 1994, pp. 117-194. The paper received considerable notice, and in 1995 the Mormon History Association recognized Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection with its annual award for the best article in Mormon studies. [snip] The one thing about which we might all agree concerning Joseph Smith is that he was not the usual sort of person. He did not approach life itself--or his religious commitment--in a usual way. Yet the character of our historical investigation of Joseph Smith and his times has...

The U.N. Meddling with Religion, Part 9 Cooperation Circles and the United Religions Initiative (URI)Another example of the influence of the United Nations in blending all religions together into a New Agey “Global Consciousness aka: the coming Planetary Transformation aka: World Awakening aka: Shift to the New Aquarian Age” to get rid of the “exclusive” Christian Gospel.Today's example in Interfaithism/Religious Syncretism is called a Cooperation Circle and is used by the United Religions Initiative (URI).Their website: http://www.uri.org/Here's what they say about themselves:URI (United Religions Initiative) is an internationally recognized interfaith network active in 78 countries with its global office...

It seems witches like the ELCA's practice of praying to a goddess. Check out this Wiccan's blog and the following comments. Note: you will be taken to a Wiccan website (read blog here). Our denomination as moved so far away from true Christianity that neopagans who practice witchcraft find us appealing. Is this a denomination that God wants you to stay in and support?

Front Royal, Va., Jun 18, 2010 / 06:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an exclusive interview with CNA, author and pro-life leader Fr. Thomas Euteneuer discussed his recent book on the often misunderstood topic of exorcism, asserting that due to an increased exposure of young people to the occult, priests within the next decade are going to be “inundated” with exorcism requests. Speaking on his new book, “Exorcism and the Church Militant,” which was released on June 14, Fr. Euteneuer, who also serves as director of Human Life International (HLI), elaborated on the need for exorcism to be clarified in modern...

Cops: Wiccan listed victim as 'sacrifice' in phone 2010-04-09 03:30:00 A self-described Wiccan had a man's phone number programmed in her cell phone under the word "sacrifice" before she stabbed him to death, then claimed he had tried to rape her, authorities said Thursday. Angela Sanford, 30, is accused of killing 52-year-old Joel Leyba last month with a dagger after inviting him to join her in a Wiccan celebration of spring near a popular hiking trail east of Albuquerque. She told police she stabbed Leyba three times in the stomach after he tied her up and tried to assault her....

As Wiccans seek to educate Albuquerque on their beliefs—due to a recent murder—they should also learn from this event. When they besmirch “Christians” and “Christianity” for persecution of witches, may they remember the very same points that they are now emphasizing to us. The Bible commands us to love our neighbors (aka anybody/everybody) and even to love our enemies. Since those actions were contrary to biblical Christianity, they should no more be correlated with it than this murder is to be correlated to Wicca. Another recent Wiccan murder was reported at this link.

Pagan Pride at Syracuse U Bethany Stotts, February 15, 2010 This month Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel installed its first pagan chaplain, Mary Hudson, “in line with its goal of being more inclusive of all religions on campus,” reports The Daily Orange on Feb. 14. “Syracuse University may be only the second university in the nation to have a pagan chaplain, Hudson said. The only other one she was aware of is at the University of Southern Maine,” writes Rebecca Kheel for The Daily Orange. She continues, This is the first new chaplain since the appointments of the Buddhist and the...

SEANCES, SPIRITS AND THE OCCULT A Catholic View. Fr. Peter J: Elliott ISBN 85826/172/3 A.C.T.S. No. 1718 (1979) THIS PAMPHLET DEALS WITH PRACTICAL MATTERS AND CLEARLY PRESENTS THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. IT COULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PAMPHLET No. 1717 WHICH EXAMINES "REINCARNATION". - THE EDITOR. * * * SEANCES, SPIRITS AND THE OCCULT A Catholic View Walk through any bookshop, open the popular magazines, follow the programmes of television and radio and it soon becomes obvious that we are living in the midst of a revival of interest in "the occult". The word means "something...

Wicca’s Invitation Pagan practices are meeting with an increasingly receptive audience in the Episcopal Church. Is it the consequence of an unmet need? The following article originally appeared in Forward in Christ Magazine, and is reproduced with permission. The monthly meditation had a playful air about it. “A crone is an old woman. A crone is a witch. A crone is a wise woman. Which one will you be, my friend? Which one I?” Wrapped around a rite for “croning”, the meditation embraced a history of mystical women and offered prayers to “Mothering God” and “Eternal Wisdom.” But the article...

Fifteen-year-old Katarina Keen won't sing along to "Silent Night" or "Listen to the Stars," two Christian songs planned for her choir's upcoming Christmas concert at Borger High School. But she will sing "Jingle Bells" and "A Carol in Winter." Katarina and her family are Wiccan. The Borger High choirs have given a concert every December, with traditional religious Christmas songs, but this is the first time in director Johnny Miller's 23-year career that any Borger student had issues with the religious themes in the music, he said. A concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday will feature a ninth- and 10th-grade choir...

Real Witches Practice Samhain: Wicca on the Rise in U.S. More Americans Are Wiccan, and Will Celebrate Samhain, Not Halloween, Saturday By RUSSELL GOLDMAN Oct. 30, 2009— Patti Wigington is a soccer mom. She is the vice president of her local PTA. And she's a witch. This Saturday while her neighborhood outside Columbus, Ohio, is crawling with costumed witches in search of candy, Wigington and a group of other local witches will not be celebrating Halloween, but the new year festival Samhain, which also occurs Oct. 31. In her backyard, Wigington and six other local women who make up...

Last Halloween, Gina Uberti took vacation days to celebrate the Wiccan new year in Salem, Massachusetts, the town infamously known for the witch trials of 1692 that ended with the hanging of 14 women. Less than a month after Uberti took part in the festivities of Samhain, one of the holiest days in the Wiccan calendar, she was fired from her job as a district sales manager for Bath & Body Works.

Paganism and Witchcraft in Youth Culture Written by Crusade    Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Mrs. Linda Harvey Mrs. Linda Harvey is the founder of Mission: America, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help in dealing with cultural issues such as feminism, homosexuality, education and New Age influences. She is the author of Not My Child—Contemporary Paganism and New Spirituality and her articles have appeared in USA Today and Whistleblower. Mrs. Harvey is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and has testified on legislation before the Ohio General Assembly on numerous occasions. Crusade: How would you define witchcraft?...

During the 17th century in England, someone urinated in a jar, added nail clippings, hair and pins, and buried it upside-down in Greenwich, where it was recently unearthed and identified by scientists as being the world's most complete known "witch bottle." This spell device, often meant to attract and trap negative energy, was particularly common from the 16th to the 17th centuries, so the discovery provides a unique insight into witchcraft beliefs of that period, according to a report published in the latest British Archaeology.

Like many other soldiers who took part in the Gaza operation, Omer, 20, occasionally took a few moments to pray, but he did not pray to the Lord of Israel. Omer considers himself pagan, and has sworn allegiance to three ancient gods. During combat, he says they appeared before him, giving him strength during the most arduous moments. Omer is still in the army, and therefore refused to be interviewed for this story. Yet he did say he belongs to a religion whose goal is to revive worship of ancient gods. In an online Hebrew-language paganism forum, Omer's accounts of...

The Dark Backward: Demons in the Real World by Tom Hoopes    2/14/09     "The lunatic is on the grass."   It was an hour before midnight. Ten-year-old James was in his bedroom, alone, when he was suddenly gripped by terror. A Pink Floyd song rang out through the empty room. The radio turned on by itself.   "The lunatic is on the grass. The lunatic is in the hall."   James lay paralyzed, locked in that helpless state that is itself as terrifying as whatever causes it. He wanted to move or cry out but couldn't. So...

<p>They seemed such a normal couple - until they built a pagan stone circle in the garden...</p> <p>You'd think milkmen would be used to pre-dawn doorstep encounters with all manner of 'unconventional' folk, wouldn't you? Well, not in leafy Dorchester.</p>