A campaign to seek a posthumous pardon for the British witches punished for witchcraft between the 16th and 18th Centuries was issued to the Justice Minister, Jack Straw, on Halloween.

The campaign follows a decision in August by the Swiss Parliament to issue an official pardon to Anna Goeldi, the last European to be executed as a witch in Europe in 1782. It was instigated by Angels, a fancy dress retailer, with the help of author and historian, John Callow, who prepared eight test cases in support of the campaign.

The Witchcraft Act of 1735 put a stop to the torture and execution of people accused of supernatural crimes in Britian but, to date, nobody has called for an official pardon.

Callow states “Today we are well aware that these individuals were neither capable of harmful magic nor in league with the devil. After the passage of some 400 years, it seems time to recognize the witch trials as fabrications of the most dangerous — and tragic — kind.”

Most modern-day “witches” follow the Wiccan path, which they claim as Britain’s native spiritual tradition. Wicca is an Earth-based spiritual system and its followers recognize the divine essence in everything around them.

Wiccans work in balance with the seasons and the phases of the moon, strive for spiritual knowledge and their “spells” are mostly cast with the intent to heal and achieve harmony. Much of the credit for the recognition and validity of Pagan religions is due to the efforts of The Pagan Federation, an organization that undertakes serious work to promote and defend the Pagan traditions, of which Wicca is one.

Whilst the spirit of Angels’ campaign is admirable, should the fancy dress retailer be successful in achieving official pardons for the eight test cases they have put forward in what was clearly a Halloween publicity stunt, perhaps The Pagan Federation will take up the cause for the remaining “witches” executed across Europe, said to number about 40,000 in total.

Rhian Gibbings

This review appeared in Syntagma several weeks ago

If you are anything like me, you will occasionally — as if by serendipity — come across a book you intended to write yourself.

As Albert Einstein put it, “If I keep asking the question long enough, the answer will be given me”.

The book I “chanced” upon is The Secret History of the World by Jonathan Black, a nom de plume of Mark Booth, Chief Executive of Century publishers, a British imprint of Random House. The author has used his many connections within publishing to amass an impressive array of data on his topic.

The simplest way to explain his subject is to state that science has become a militant materialist philosophy that believes matter precedes mind. Some scientists have even called consciousness “a disease of matter,” as if it were an interloper in a senseless universe.

This view is the complete opposite of what a majority of the greatest minds throughout history have believed — or better, known.

The perennial philosophy, as it has been called — that mind gives rise to matter — is still believed by the larger part of the human race. The last Pope, John Paul II, was taught in his youth by a Rosicrucian master. Following a car accident which nearly killed him, he had a spiritual experience which mirrored exactly what the teacher had taught him. Such was its overwhelming power, the young mystical Pole signed up for a seminary that led all the way to his becoming Pope in Rome.

The Rosicrucians (followers of the Rosy Cross) teach the age-old knowledge of idealism — that all is mind — in a Christian context. It is said that there are 20 miles of books in the Vatican library dedicated to this and similar points of view.

Quantum mechanics comes very close to idealism without quite letting go of the materialist base of science. There is no doubt that Einstein was a thorough-going adherent too. Everything he wrote screams “perennial philosophy”.

The problem is, the early Church came down very hard on anyone who challenged its materialist worldview, and, as Jonathan Black writes, today’s scientism demonizes anyone who as much as suggests an alternative to rocky lumps floating about in a void. Richard Dawkin is a prime example of the modern scientific inquisition. On the face of it, an alliance between early Catholicism and modern science is bizarre, but it’s a fact.

Most early believers in the supremacy of mind formed secret societies based on the Mystery Schools of antiquity, where spilling the beans meant death. According to Black, many of these societies still exist, though often branded with the tag “occult”, a word that simply means “hidden”, as in occluded.

Despite the iron fist in an iron glove approach of the present-day intellectual establishment, the vision of man’s ancient understanding of the universe lives on and thrives. As well as Einstein, the British astronomer James Jeans stated that, “the universe is nothing but a gigantic thought”. Isaac Newton spent most of his life studying aspects of it, so did C. G. Jung, the great Swiss joint-founder of psychology as we know it.

Buddhism and Hinduism are based on it, as are most religions, even Christianity, whose earliest exponents were Gnostics, a term meaning “knowers”, as opposed to believers. They sought, and many found, direct experience of the secret knowledge that mind creates matter, and not the other way round.

Dr Rupert Sheldrake, a contemporary biologist, has conducted many scientific experiments showing the influence of mind over matter, or “extended mind” as he calls it. His recent The Sense Of Being Stared At is a treasure chest of empirical idealism. His other work on the psychic abilities of animals is ground-breaking science at its unprejudiced best.

Black’s book is eye-wateringly comprehensive across the field, but concentrates on the ancient timeline and secret society aspects of the topic.

Anyone who has ever doubted the primacy of matter over mind, should read it with an open mind. It is a richly rewarding classic of its kind.

Reviewed by John Evans

Chris Carter still hasn’t come up with a title for his movie sequel to the popular X-Files series. While he refuses to divulge any information about the plot, he has announced that he has dumped the conspiracy theory that kept fans glued to their sets for the better part of a decade.

“There’s a whole audience I want to introduce X-Files to,” Carter says. “There were kids who couldn’t watch it on TV because it was too scary. Now they’re in college. I wanted a movie that everyone could go to.”

I have to admit that I enjoyed the show’s stand-alone episodes better than the main theme because they centered on paranormal subjects such as ghosts, curses, cults, etc. And, I enjoyed the interaction between Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. They had an outstanding chemistry. If and when this movie ever comes out, I’ll be curious to see it. I may even take my boys, who were infants when the X-Files premiered.

Blair Butler of the G4TV network says the film could benefit from an ironic twist: the Writers Guild strike. She feels that it might be “comfort food” for the people who enjoyed the original show and are now forced to watch reruns of their now-favorite shows. Hopefully, the X-Files hasn’t fallen too far off the radar. But if it has, and the movie is good, the X-Files could receive a welcome comeback.

Source: freep.com

I was pleased when I received this book for Christmas because I had put it on my wish list for a writing project I have started working on. Occult Investigator is a collection of true stories by NYC-based investigator Bob Johnson, who owns X-Investigations. The first chapter is an interesting narrative about how he started his paranormal/private investigation business and how he landed his first case.

You’ll find a good variety of stories between the covers of this book. There are ghosts, Santeria demon possession, vampires, werewolves, satanists, etc. I’m not sure which story made me do a double-take: the vampire or the satanist story. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I were to search my teenager’s room to find an ornate silver box filled with dirt and bone fragments hidden inside his closet.

Many of these stories read like bite-sized fiction novels, only without the drama and suspense. Highly recommended.