WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
The Fate of the New Witchhunters
Readers of past issues CWR will recognize many of the following names as belonging to the "new Witch hunters" who were at one time first and foremost in the lines of the "occult crime hysteria". But this, with apologies to Paul Harvey, is the REST of the story:
Pat Pulling - Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons
In the late 1980s, Ms. Pulling was the Executive Director of B.A.D.D. and was considered one of the foremost "authorities" in the business of "occult related crime". She appeared on numerous radio and TV talk shows and eventually authored her own book, "The Devil's Web: Who is Stalking Your Children for Satan".
At the present time, it seems as though Ms. Pulling is a real estate agent for Hall & Buckingham Realtors, a Coldwell Banker firm in Richmond, Va. CWR has a real estate flyer dated 11/91 depicting Ms. Pulling as a specialist in "residential and investment properties." One can only suppose that the bottom dropped out of the "occult crime" market. I just HOPE Ms. Pulling knows more about real estate than she did "occult crime"!
Linda Archer - IHP (In His Palm) Ministries
Ms. Archer's name was seen in the pages of "File 18 Newsletter" in July 1988 when Larry Jones, editor and founder of "File 18" wrote, "Linda is an ex-witch who speaks to a variety of groups about the lures and pitfalls of witchcraft, Silva Mind Control, and other related topics. She is available as a resource to law enforcement. In 198 , she was heard on Marlon Maddoux's "Point of View" Christian talk show to say, "These people [witches] are trying to take your children away from you in the dark by stealth. Don't sit there and take it any more." In the past, the CWR staff has attempted to correspond with Ms. Archer. She has returned our letters unopened.
In April of 1991, a friend of Cwr received a reply from Ms. Archer in response to a letter of inquiry. This letter stated that, "I am no longer actively pursuing the ministry as God has released me in this area ... I wasn't able to contribute enough to the support of my family from my speaking engagements and information packets ..." It seems as though the "occult crime" circuit was no longer profitable!
Lauren Stratford - Author of "Satan's Underground"
For many years, Ms. Stratford was the "star witness" of the Witch Hunters with her stories of victimization at the hands of a "Satanic cult". Her story was disproved by a major Christian magazine, "Cornerstone," published by Jesus People USA. Their in-depth investigation into her background revealed an emotionally troubled individual, but NOT a victim of SRA. Harvest House Publishers pulled her books from publication as a result of the investigation. Rumor has it that the book has been picked up by a small Christian publisher in Louisiana, but we have no confirmation of this.
Mike Warnke - Christian Comedian and author of "The Satan Seller"
Mr. Warnke was another of the "star players" in the ranks of the Witch Hunters. He was widely accepted as an authority on Satanism and the occult and was frequently a guest on many Christian and secular talk shows. However, "Cornerstone Magazine" also did an in-depth investigation of HIS background and was able to prove that, not only were his claims of involvement in Satanic covens fraudulent, but so were his educational credentials! This controversy is still going on and CWR will follow it as it happens. The "Cornerstone" article is reviewed elsewhere in this issue of the newsletter.
So, it seems that the bottom has dropped out of the "circuit" and it no longer profitable or possible, thanks to organizations like Jesus People USA for outrageous claims to be made concerning the "great Satanic conspiracy". We can only hope that 1993 will see even more of these fantastic stories discredited. CWR will keep you informed of further developments.
HEATHENS IDOLIZE SCHOOL PRAYER
BY John Hintergerger, The Seattle Times, date unknown
"Ahhhhoooo!"
"Shhh! You can't howl in the Board of Education offices."
"Now hold on! What in the name of God are you people doing? What are you dressed up in all those old fur vests?"
"You guessed it! We're here in the name of God. We are the elders of the United Church of Barbarians, Orthodox Pagans and Druids, Scientist."
"Ahhhhhhhhoooooo!"
"Pipe down, Beowulf. Beowulf sometimes gets carried away."
"Oh, I get it. You are here to protest the school prayer amendment issue."
"No. No. We are all for it. It's time someone put Thor back into the classroom."
"Thor?"
"Sure, Thor. Also Woden, Frigga, and the Ancient Ones. You see, we heard that under the terms of the president's proposed amendment to allow school prayer, the content of the prayers could be taken from classic world religions or be written by local clergy. We just want to make sure that our congregation is represented."
"That seems reasonable, but it seems you're a rather minor ..."
"Ahhhhhooooo!"
"Beowulf, knockin' sie off! Sir, we are a nation of religious minorities. With 51 million members, the Roman Catholics are the largest single denomination (there are about a half million evangelical Christians by comparison), but the United States doesn't have a dominant religion."
"I see. Well, what form of prayer do you want?"
"It varies. On Monday, we'd appreciate if all of the children could bow their heads and worship the moon."
"The Moon!"
"Well, that's what it means. Moon day, from Monan Daeg or Montag. What did you think Monday meant? Moon Day is kinda special to us. We like to howl a bit."
"Well, I suppose since it's only one day of the ..."
"Now Tuesday is another matter. Tuesdays we think the children should drink mead and practice sword fights."
"Sword fights!"
"Well, perhaps it would be enough if they just had a silent moment of bloody thoughts in honor of Tui,k the Teutonic god of war. I mean, if you're going to use the name of our war god on your calendar, at least pay him a little appropriate respect."
"Tui likes swords?"
"Loves 'em. Wednesday, of course is our big day. We really go nuts on Wednesday. Woden is our chief Teutonic god (and also Olaf the Norselanders -- he calls him Odin) and Wodnesdaeg is our day of religious frenzy. If you look up the root words in old German, you'll find that wodeno means raging or insane, or carried away by the spirit. We like to do it up right. Lots of chanting and howling."
"Ahhhhhhhhoooooo!"
"Shhh, Beowulf. I know it's Wednesday, but lighten up. Thursday, the schoolchildren should make great groaning noises for a minute or two. It's the day of Thunder."
"But what about Jesus? And God? And the Virgin Mary? What about them? We can't have all the kids in America groaning every Thursday."
"God? What do you think we're talking about? As for the other two you mentioned, they are relative newcomers. If you don't want your kids to worship Thor, the god of thunder, on Thursdays, stop using His name in vain."
"I suppose you have plans for Friday as well."
"Funny you should ask. Friday is a day for making love. Now, here's our plan ..."
"Stop! You can't impose your crazy values on the children of the nation."
"Frigga ..."
"Don't talk to me like that!"
"Friday is Frigga's day. Frigga is the wife of Woden. It's the day of love, of warmth, of passion. It's always been. Even the Romans called it Veneris Dies, Venus's day. And statistically, more Americans make love on Friday night than on any other night of the week. Frigg (or Frigga) is very big."
"I don't care!"
"Don't you want your children to know what Friday means? They'll be saying it all their lives."
"I don't want them to know anything about all this wierdo rubbish. I just want them to put God back in the schools, where He belongs."
"So do we. But whose god? "
"Mine. Ours!"
"Ahhhhhhoooooo!"
"Oh, go ahead, Beowulf. What the heck, it's Wodensdaeg. Get spiritual. Go crazy."
ON THE SWASTICKA
by "the Bard"
This is a precis of information found on the use and meaning of the swasticka in various cultures and ideologies.
Swastica: Sanscrit "su" meaning "good" and "asti" meaning "to be"
Cross Cramponned: English heraldic term relating to angle-irons (crampons) Cross Gammadion: Greek, pertaining to the Greek letter "G" or "Gamma" (it looks like an inverted Roman alphabet "L".)
Crux Dissimulata: Latin "Cross Dissimulated" used as a Christian symbol by the early Christians to avoid persecution. (see below)
Hakenkreuz: German "hooked cross"
Jaina Cross: a swasticka-like symbol of the Jains of India.
Pramantha: Brahmin (supposedly as some sort of fire-making tool, though never having seen one used as such I can't figure out how.)
In order to discuss this symbol, we must first do a little backtracking, with -some- speculation. It has been postulated that the first method of measuring time was by the moon's phases. These are obvious, easy ways of measuring the year, and we find it, for example, in Woodland AmerIndian culture, along with naming the years by what happened of note that year. The female menstrual cycle seems to follow it, and that would tend to make the moon-calendar (and Goddess concepts) almost universal in hunter-gatherer cultures, and so it is, in the remaining such cultures on our planet.
But this moon-calendar, while quite sufficient for hunter-gatherer cultures, is NOT sufficient for the next "level" of civilization: farmers. It is not sufficient because it shows a year that, due to the variant lengths of the moon-months, tends to mess up the calculations for harvest time and planting time.
Look at the (Lunar-based) Islamic calendar. The months do not fall in the same seasons with regularity, making Ramadan (the fasting month) a real burden when it falls in the heat of summer. Any Muslim or Baha'i can vouch for this (both use a Lunar calendar). You must add an intercalary month (or days) from time to time to make it come out right.
But a -solar- calendar is more accurate. Indeed, you can make a solar calendar at home. Just wait till Midsummer, and mark where the Sun rises on the horizon, from a fixed viewpoint. Then mark Midwinter, and whatever other calendar points strike your fancy. With both of those, plus the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, you will get a layout on the ground that looks a bit like this: (tho this one is more regular than most of the real ones)
[diagram omitted]
The Sun moves in an apparent circle, so connecting the dots in a ring is a logical next design step. This would be facilitated by taking astronomical observations, adding the directions of the compass, and such other doo-dads to the four seasonal points. When we add the central observation point, we get the Sun-Wheel:
[diagram omitted]
Stonehenge (which was -not- built by those naughty Druids) and many, many other such circles all over the world all seem to do the same thing: point to the seasonal position of the Sun and stars.
If you have an accurate calendar, you know to a pinpoint when you need to plant. This is a simple -survival- thing. If you plant at the wrong time, you, your family and friends all starve to death. This tends to make such things IMPORTANT, and they would be a commonly repeated religous / artistic motif in such cultures. What with the Milky Way and it's apparent "belting" of the Earth, the Zodiac, and the apparent circular motion of the Sun, we get a -repeating- theme of circularity that perhaps might lead to the dichotomies of light/dark, alive/dead, and so forth in an endlessly recurring cycle. This makes the circle seem to have some religious significance, and may have led to the -spiral- design (another very common artistic theme in primitive cultures) having a related meaning, but a bit more esoteric.
It is an easy design-step from this to the swasticka. There is no occult origin here. Just a very clever Sun calendar illustration that is found all over the world......and most probably for the same reason: it told the time.
It is such an ancient symbol that its true origins are lost in pre-History, but I feel that the above -speculation- is probably hitting pretty close to the mark.
Now, let's get a little more specific:
The symbol is pretty much universal throughout the world. It is found in such diverse cultures as:
China India Japan Tibet Egypt Ancient Crete
Ancient Troy (level of excavation unknown)
Scotland (Picts) Ancient Ireland Kickapoo Indians
Tennessee and Ohio Indian burial mounds (Hopewell Mound) Pottawatomie Indians Hopi Indians Zuni Indians Old Norse
Plains Indians (who were originally -farmers- until they were pushed into the Plains by neighboring tribes, and then became nomadic)
Central American Maya and Aztec (two -very- different cultures!)
Buddhist (found on the soles of the Buddha's feet, in statuary)
Pre-Hejira Arabs
Seen on a quilt pattern (age and pattern name unknown)
A variant with only three arms is used on the Isle of Man, and is known as a "triskeleon." It is usually represented as three -legs- and thus suggests the act of running. Found in the Catacombs of Rome (see Crux Dissimulata)
A coin of Ethelred of Northumbria (9th cent. CE)
Embroidered on Christian vestments (8th and 9th cent. CE)
English heraldry: CHAMBERLAYNE (Argent, a chevron between three fylfots gules) circa 1394 CE
German heraldry: VON TALE (Ecartele en equerre de gueules et d'argent) (date unknown) (English blazon: Quarterly per fylfot gules and argent.) "Equerre" refers to the carpenter's square, and may be a clue as to the usage of it by the early Christians, due to Joseph's occupation as a carpenter.
NSDAP (Nazi Party) (Gules, on a roundel argent a fylfot reversed in bend sable) circa 1920-1945 CE. (note: many other combinations of designs were used by the NSDAP, usually combining gules, sable and argent with the swasticka.)
German medieval brasses (usage unknown)
MS Landsdowne, no. 874, circa 1480 CE, uses the name "fylfot" to describe a monogram of the initials "F.F."
Austria (an anti-Semetic emblem used post WW-I)
Estonia (circa WW-I and post-War)
Finland (circa WW-I and post-War)
"There is no reason to suppose that all of these have been derived from a common source...." (Gough & Parker)
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