http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/ Blessed Bee en-us Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:19:06 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly Blessed Bee News http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/images/title.gif http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/ http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59 Pierce the Darkened Veil of Mystery with ISIS Paranormal Radio (July 3, 2008) On July 6, ISIS Paranormal Radio Show will air its first official show! ISIS Paranormal Radio is co-hosted by Dayna Winters and Patricia Gardner, the co-founders and co-directors of ISIS Paranormal Investigations, a team that investigates paranormal claims in the New York, Vermont and Massachusetts areas. The first show will involve an interview with the successful film director Michael Baker, the director of 14 Degrees: A Paranormal Do(edited)entary, which has sold in every state and in 16 countries around the world. Patricia and Dayna are from Upstate New York, and have had a paranormal team actively involved in investigating hauntings and alleged paranormal activity for the past five years. Previously appearing on the Discovery Channel’s A Haunting, as well as in the 14 Degrees film, The ISIS Paranormal Investigation team is well known in the paranormal community. ISIS Paranormal Radio is being featured on blogtalkradio.com, a site that has expanded the traditional blog and allows bloggers to host a talk show based on the topic of their selection. The format of ISIS Paranormal Radio merges the topics of paganism and the paranormal to allow for discussion of some topics of incredible interest including topics pertaining to Wicca, the occult, hauntings, electronic voice phenomena, ghosts, spirits, and a variety of topics related to the unexplained. When speaking of future plans, Dayna and Patricia announced that they will also be offering special workshops in the future: mini-workshops pertaining to coven management and group dynamics as well. Patricia and Dayna state: “We are extremely excited about the upcoming guests we have in the coming months! We are in the process of booking authors, people with extensive experience in the paranormal field, and people that are active members of various pagan communities. We also appreciate the fact that by hosting a Internet radio show, we are able to reach people from around the globe.” ISIS Paranormal Radio will air every Sunday at 6 PM EST, and the tagline of the show is “break free from the fear, pierce the darkened veil of mystery.” The co-hosts selected the tagline to express exactly what kind of talk show they are in the process of developing; one where people can, with an open mind and without fear of ridicule, discuss highly controversial topics. The show’s co-hosts want future listeners to note that the show won’t be all doom and gloom simply because the paranormal is part of the show’s format; Pat and Dayna assert that there are plenty of positive aspects about pagan spirituality, and spirituality in general that will be discussed too. To tune into the show, anyone can listen via the Internet at: www.blogtalkradio.com/isisparanormal Don’t worry too much if you miss out on a live show, all shows are archived for easy download and accessibility any time! For a listing of upcoming shows, and more information about ISIS Paranormal Radio or the ISIS Paranormal Investigations team, visit: www.isisinvestigations.com/isisparanormalradio.html The co-hosts of ISIS Paranormal Radio welcome queries and requests for specific show topics. If there is something that you would like discussed on the show, or there is a topic that truly interests you and it is suitable to the show’s format, the co-hosts are more than happy to take requests and to attempt to arrange a show based on requested topics. In addition, if you are an active member in the pagan or paranormal communities, you may well be just the type of guest that ISIS Paranormal Radio is looking for! Contact Dayna and Patricia for more information! For questions, queries, comments, feedback or show information, contact: ISISINVESTIGATOR@aol.com Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:19:06 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=58 Some 30,000 people celebrated the summer solstice as dawn broke at Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Druids, hippies and sun-worshippers were among those who gathered to watch the sun rise at the ancient stone circle at 0458 BST on the longest day. Rainy conditions obscured the sunrise but the turnout was still the highest in five years. Police said the event was peaceful, with 17 arrests overnight for public order offences. As the dawn broke a cheer went up from revellers who gathered at the Heel stone - a pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument. Unemployed John Tarbuck, 33, from Bude, Cornwall, set up a small tent party next to his car. "The best thing about Summer Solstice at the 'henge is you get to meet loads of new people," he said. "All the people here at my tent party, I've never met before." Another man, dressed in a black hooded top, who gave his name as Cathbad, said: "It's a beautiful experience. It's about celebrating nature, life and what makes the world go round. "It's a little bit too heavily organised, with too much intervention from the establishment, but I'll keep coming back. "It's all about the feeling you get when the sun bursts through the stone." A spokeswoman for English Heritage, which runs the 5,000-year-old site, said the last time a turnout of 30,000 was achieved was in 2003. "It's been very wet and soggy," she said. "Probably a few disappointed people, many streaming out before sunrise because it was so wet and cold. "I don't think it will discourage people from coming again. Quite a few people come every year and are quite hardy." Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:05:11 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=57 Evidence of pagan rituals involving swans and other birds in the Cornish countryside in the 17th century has been uncovered by archaeologists. Since 2003, 35 pits at the site in a valley near Truro have been excavated containing swan pelts, dead magpies, unhatched eggs, quartz pebbles, human hair, fingernails and part of an iron cauldron. The finds have been dated to the 1640s, a period of turmoil in England when Cromwellian Puritans destroyed any links to pre-Christian pagan England. It was also a period when witchcraft attracted the death sentence. Jacqui Woods, leading the excavations, has not traced any written or anecdotal evidence of the rituals, which would have involved a significant number of people over a long period. There are no records of similar practices anywhere else in the world. Ms Woods, an archaeologist who has advised on the discovery in 1991 of Europe’s oldest human mummy, the “Iceman”, in an Alpine glacier, has been digging at the site at Saveock Water for the past eight years. Saveock Water was, in the 17th century, a community of five houses whose occupants worked at a nearby mill. Human occupation of the site dates to prehistoric times but some of the activity uncovered was more recent. A stone-lined spring that may have been a “holy well” was full of offerings from the 17th century, including 125 strips of cloth from dresses, cherry stones and nail clippings. There was evidence that the well had been filled and the site destroyed to hide what went on there. Each of the feather pits, which are“ about 40cm square by 17cm deep (15 by 6in), have been carefully lined with the intact pelt of one swan and contain other bird remains. The pits where the contents were intact also contained a leaf parcel holding stones that experts have traced to Swanpool beach, 15 miles (24km) away, an area famed for its swan population. Ms Woods said: “Killing a swan would have been incredibly risky at this time because they are the property of the Crown.” There was a particularly macabre discovery in one of the feather pits: fifty-seven unhatched eggs ranging in size from a bantam to a duck. They were flanked by the bodies of two magpies, birds that have long been the subject of superstition in Cornish folklore. The organic remains survived because they were preserved in the water-logged ground. Although the shells of the eggs had dissolved, the membrane remained, revealing chicks shortly before they were due to hatch. Ms Woods said: “A lot of the paganism of the Celts was wiped out by the Romans, but not in Cornwall. “Swan feathers had a connection with fertility. It’s possible these offerings were being left. Then, if there was a conception, nine months later the person would return to empty the pit. “Often when secret rituals are abandoned people will talk about ‘things that were done in my grandmother’s day’ but there has been no whisper of this. It really makes me wonder whether that is because it is still going on.” Ms Wood will deliver a paper on the feather pits at the World Archaeology Conference in Dublin in June. Burnt, hanged and drowned — The pits were created in the 17th century when the law stated “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” — Thousands of women, the vast majority innocent, were burnt, hanged or drowned — The first Witchcraft Act was passed in 1541 — In the mid-16th century, when it was believed that the plague was the work of sorcery, persecution of witches reached a frenzy The death penalty for witchcraft ended in 1735 — Last week the Scottish Parliament was asked to approve a pardon for the 4,000 people killed — The last person to be convicted was Jane Rebecca Yorke, a medium who was fined £5 in 1944 for claiming to be able to contact dead servicemen Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:25:10 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=56 Plans to build a road tunnel under Stonehenge have been scrapped, the government said on Thursday, raising fears that nearby traffic could damage the ancient World Heritage Site. After years of argument over how to ease congestion around the stone circle in Wiltshire, ministers said they had decided that a tunnel would cost too much. Environmental campaigners, road groups, archaeologists and druids who worship at the site have argued for decades over how best to protect it from the thousands of cars that pass each day on two busy roads. Built between 3,000 and 1,600 B.C. as a temple, burial ground, astronomical calendar or all three, the stone circle has been described as "Britain's pyramids." Thousands of revelers and druids converge there on the summer solstice — the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere — to watch the sun rise. Transport Minister Tom Harris said he could not justify spending 540 million pounds on a 1.3 mile tunnel, adding: "(It) would not represent best use of taxpayers' money." The Liberal Democrats said the decision not to divert traffic was made after a "decade of dither and delay" by the government and could damage Stonehenge. "It puts a UNESCO World Heritage Site at risk of damage from the ever-increasing volume of traffic," said the party's Arts and Culture spokesman Dan Rogerson. English Heritage, the public body which looks after the site, said the decision not to build a tunnel was a "huge disappointment." David Holmes, chairman of the RAC Foundation, a motoring charity, said: "The government has condemned Stonehenge to further environmental damage and the A303 (road) to chronic congestion." But campaign group Save Stonehenge, which opposes the tunnel, welcomed the decision, saying: "Christmas has come early." "No one with any sense wanted a tunnel, a flyover, a dual-carriageway, and two whacking great interchanges here," its spokesman Chris Woodford said. "It's just not acceptable to build 1950s-style motorways in places like this any more." Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:20:30 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=55 NOT too long ago, a horse carrying a Civil War soldier appeared on the misty Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania. Thinking the horse and rider were actors, a tourist spoke to them. But the two just stared—then disappeared. Cindy Codori-Shultz hears stories like this all the time. "We have ghost sightings so often that it doesn't really spook us—anymore," says the owner of Sleepy Hollow of Gettysburg Candlelight Ghost Tours. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0610/ Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:14:48 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=54 The brand new DVD from author Philip Gardiner, entitled Gnosis: The Secret of Solomon's Temple Revealed is being peer reviewed to great acclaim and features top rock bands such as Marcy Playground, Warrior, Sybreed, Soul Strip, Love Planet and G-Zero. Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:14:23 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=53 It's coming up to the party season - by 'witch' I mean a string of parties including Bonfire Night, Christmas, New Year, St Valentine's Day and, of course, starting with Halloween. Devoutly religious people do have a problem with this old Druid festival, but the majority really only see it for what it is meant to be - spooky fun for kids, and grown-ups who are kids at heart. I don't know who first suggested that garden centres go for Halloween in a big way: it was probably something to do with pumpkins being grown by gardeners! But I have to say, it's a lot of fun. The celebration of Halloween originated with the Celtic Druids, around 700BC, who believed that the souls of the dead returned to inhabit the bodies of the living. This, they thought, occurred, every year on October 31. People wore masks and costumes and paraded to the outskirts of their villages to trick roving spirits into leaving. Later, the October date was incorporated into the Christian calendar as All Hallow's Eve (All Hallow's Day being November 1), honouring all martyrs and saints. Children wearing costumes offered to fast for departed souls in exchange for an offering. The one aspect of Halloween celebrations that I'm not keen on personally is the 'trick or treat' culture. But this is also steeped in history. It is thought to have originated with a ninth century European custom called souling. On All Souls Day, November 2, early Christians would beg for 'soul cakes' made out of pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors (the thinking being that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven). Today, we often think of the commercialism of Halloween as being something from the US, but it was the Irish Catholics, fleeing from the potato famine in the 1840s, who introduced it to America, including the practice of carving pumpkin jack-o'lanterns. Some other Roman traditions also take place in October, such as the day to honour Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples at Halloween. It's not just the spooky costume and a carved pumpkin, however, that can make your Halloween party go with a swing. Tea lights and hanging lanterns placed strategically around the garden will give it that spooky glow. The broom favoured by witches, known to gardeners as the 'besom' (and to fans of Harry Potter as the 'Nimbus 2000'!), should be on full display. And of course, apples from your tree can be used for apple bobbing games. One superstition about this is that, when bobbing for apples, it is believed that the first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry. Other appley things: try peeling an apple from top to bottom. It was believed that the person with the longest unbroken peel would be assured the longest life. Also, if you threw the apple peel over your shoulder, the initial it forms upon landing is the initial of your future partner. Similarly, if a girl puts a sprig of rosemary herb and a silver sixpence (not sure where you'd get one of these today!) under her pillow on Halloween night, she will see her future husband in a dream! Light the pathway to the house with pumpkin jack o'lanterns. Switch the 'BigBen' door chime to the Death March, and hang a few rubber bats at inconvenient head height from the porch. Don't forget to display the all-essential wreath of dead flowers and garlic strands hanging over the devil's head doorknocker to entice callers in! Then spray on a few cobwebs, and, voilà, your party preparations are complete! A trip to your local garden centre will give you plenty of ideas for Halloween. And it will also, I'm sure, give you some ideas for the garden as well! Happy partying! Link Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:49:21 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=52 Not so long ago, before electric lights, farmers relied on moonlight to harvest autumn crops. With everything ripening at once, there was too much work to to do to stop at sundown. A bright full moon—a "Harvest Moon"—allowed work to continue into the night. see captionThe moonlight was welcome, but as any farmer could tell you, it was strange stuff. How so? See for yourself. The Harvest Moon of 2006 rises on October 6th, and if you pay attention, you may notice a few puzzling things: 1. Moonlight steals color from whatever it touches. Regard a rose. In full moonlight, the flower is brightly lit and even casts a shadow, but the red is gone, replaced by shades of gray. In fact, the whole landscape is that way. It's a bit like seeing the world through an old black and white TV set. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/28sep_strangemoonlight.htm?list5513 Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:48:18 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=51 The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is investigating claims that a dog was nailed to a cross and left to die, in the village of Enniskerry in Co Wicklow. The 'sacrifice' is believed to have taken place about two weeks ago at Knocksink woods. The ISPCA has confirmed that a dog of unknown breed or ownership was killed and bled dry on a home made altar. The society has referred to the incident as "a most serious incident" and has also expressed concern over the time it took for the incident to be reported. http://www.k9magazine.com/viewarticle.php?sid=15&aid=1508&vid=0&npage= Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:48:02 GMT http://www.blessed-bee.co.uk/nuke/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50 A church leader who sparked outrage after refusing to bless a controversial well dressing because it had a 'Pagan' symbol is standing by his decision. Rev Andrew Montgomerie, Rector of Eyam, angered local residents when he would not perform the traditional 'blessing' ceremony on one of the village's three wells during carnival celebrations. Mr Montgomerie made the announcement in front of hundreds of onlookers, saying the well's depiction of the 'Green Man' represented a Pagan symbol which could not be blessed under his Christian beliefs. The move caused upset throughout the community, with many residents claiming his decision marred festival celebrations – and sparked some to don 'Green Man' costumes in protest during the parade on Saturday. http://www.chesterfieldtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=728&ArticleID=1746893 Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:47:46 GMT