Nowruz is an ancient celebration which began in greater Iran some 15,000 years ago. It marks the beginning of astronomical spring is about celebrating and reaffirming ties with nature and with friends and family. It is a public holiday in several countries and has been recognised by UNESCO as part of Humanity’s Intangible Cultural History.
A response to witches hexing Donald Trump
This post refers to the ongoing mass binding spells which have been organised in the USA since February 2017 aimed at Donald Trump and his administration. For the Pagan Awareness Network’s (PAN) statement on curses and hexes, please click here.
The Pagan Awareness Network does not advocate the use of spells, curses or hexes to invoke harm to others, and would like to demonstrate why, using this example.
Mǎrţişor, the Romanian Symbol of Spring
On March 1st, Romanians celebrate the coming of spring by giving and receiving small trinkets tied with red and white string. These trinkets are called mǎrţişor and they mark the beginning of the agricultural new year. Before we learn more about the history and symbolism of the mǎrţişor, it might be useful to learn how to pronounce this word.
In Romanian, the letter ǎ is pronounced like ‘urgh’ as in ‘urgh, do I have to wake up’. The letter ţ is pronounced like the ‘zz’ in pizza. The letter ş is pronounced like ‘sh’ as in shadow. Finally, the accent on this word is placed on the last syllable, so mǎrţişor is pronounced m-urgh-zz-ee-shore. The word derives from martie which is the name for the month of march. Now that we’ve established the etymology and pronunciation of this word, we can move on to its history.
The Pagan Awareness Network supports marriage equality
We recognise the right of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) volunteers and members, and members of the wider community, to live and work free of prejudice and discrimination. This includes the right to marry the partner of their choice.
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Spirit of Albion : The Movie
There is a whisper on the wind, a sound in the woodland . . . the old gods have not abandoned you.
On Damh the Bard’s recent tour of Australia, The Pagan Awareness Network (PAN) learnt of the production of a set of Damh’s songs into a feature film.
A survey of Goddess beliefs and practices in Australia
Dr Patricia Rose and Dr Tricia Szirom are undertaking a study of the Goddess in Australia – how she is expressed, how worshipped, how manifest. They invite you to contribute to their work by completing our online survey.
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PAN at the Parliament of the World’s Religions
The Parliament of the World’s Religions brings together the world’s religious and spiritual communities, to a gathering where peace, diversity and sustainability are discussed and explored in the context of interreligious understanding and cooperation.
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Book Release – Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon
Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon, Academic approaches to studying magic and the occult: examining scholarship into witchcraft and paganism, ten years after Ronald Hutton’s The Triumph of the Moon A collection of essays edited by Dave Evans and Dave Green.
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