The Phantom Bloggers

Hail, the great chocolate bunny!Image © Getty Images A couple of years ago, I saw all the Easter candy in the store a while back, and thought that there had to be a way to incorporate all that sugary goodness into a ritual. Thus was born the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Chocolate Rabbit, which [...]

Get ready to celebrate OstaraImage © Nick White/Getty Images Ostara is a time of balance. It is a time of equal parts light and dark. At Mabon, we have this same balance, but the light is leaving us. Today, six months later, it is returning. Spring has arrived, and with it comes hope and warmth. [...]

Thanks to MeanerSchnitzel for sending this one in — it’s a tradition in Austria that I had never heard of, but seems really cool. Apparently there’s an event called the Mullerlauf held every February near Innsbruck, and it includes men and boys dressing up in elaborate masks, rattling bells and banging sticks together. Brass bands [...]

In British Columbia, the University of Victoria is sponsoring a series of talks between representatives of a number of different religions, and it looks like it’s got the potential to be very enlightening indeed. The University’s Interfaith office will host debate topics focusing on how religion impacts such issues as freedom of speech, environmental policy [...]

Thanks to Lesley, Shivam, and several others who forwarded me this chilling article from the BBC. A recent investigation into the ritual killings of children reveals that the practice may be far common than anyone realized. Ugandan witch doctors say that there is a belief that child sacrifice can bring prosperity. I’ll warn you ahead [...]

Janus represents new beginningsImage © Getty Images In Roman mythology, Janus is known as the god of doors, gates and new beginnings. What better time to honor him than in January, the month named in his honor? Janus is also a god with two faces, which allowed him to see into both the past and [...]

This is cool. Back in October, a wildfire swept across some sixty acres near Scarborough, in Yorkshire. Recently, aerial surveyors from English Heritage got a chance to fly over the site, and took the first photos of a monument that could be as much as 4,500 years old. Although archaeologists were aware of the site’s [...]