Nazis, Nuns and Murdered Sheep; recent UK news.

selfie, 2020

In the last six months I've seen a few things in the news that for the most part are none of my business. I still feel ruffled by some of them-  I've held back and not even sent an email but it would be useful to mention how the following are occasionally confused with Paganism.

Lets start with nazis. I was stunned to see this news report, much of which I hope is exaggerated. It's a sad fact that as long as something exists and can be accessed or read by people, there is often at least one person who takes it to heart and turns it into a hobby.

Durham Advertiser, January 9th 2020

As reported in the above article, a teenager has been jailed over an obsession with nazi ideology, which included planning to attack different areas, a planned arson spree and a desire to attain various weapons. The boy has an autism spectrum disorder which was taken into account as part of his trial. This was potentially a dangerous individual within the North of England, however in my opinion if he was young and generally inexperienced - particularly if he had a carer, I doubt he would have been able to achieve very much. Maybe we'll never know.

Durham Advertiser, 9th Jan 2020

In the same newspaper, a journalist has written a brief opinion about the threat of terrorism with a focus upon the neo-nazi far-right group.

Two of the 'most alarming' nazi incidents have occurred in County Durham in the past two years. Both involved teenage terrorists.

The previous incident involved a pair of 15 yr old boys who were planning a school shooting.

In both cases these were teenagers with most likely no real responsibilities in life. Even an unemployed adult would not have the finances or vehicle available to support a violent attack or 'planned' series of attacks. I think we have nothing to worry about from the public at large regarding this. Most of us find it difficult to read about the holocaust, never mind to recreate the disgusting things that they did or the perverse reasons that motivated them.




What connects Paganism to this is that the more recent case (involving a 17 year old boy with autism) was described as being an incident of  'occult neo-nazism'. The occult is regularly intertwined with paganism and various aspects of pagan practice such as witchcraft, ritual magik and druidic ritual. Not all pagans practice occult ritual but most do have items that may be described as the tools or charms of witchcraft. Wicca is a separate religion, similar to paganism.

The difference, as I've stated before is that occult practice has no religion attached to it- no deity, no god or goddess or church or temple. When a witch, druid, shaman, etc takes up items to pray, to create a charm, it is a religious or spiritual practice because there are nature gods and/or a goddess in connection with the ritual. When a person goes into a church to pray or wears a symbol such as a cross or a fish, a hand or an eye, it is a religious act. Take away the religion and we have occult practice- that's the only difference. All prayers are asking for control, for change, for a blessing- all prayers and charms and such are asking for the world to change to bring in something new, or to change it's motion so that an existing thing can stay the same. It's all about movement or stagnation of energies. Occult practice is not a bad thing, it could even be viewed as art therapy depending on what is done. There are so many methods that people use today- right down to using common kitchen herbs in food or in perfume. Problems only arise when it is used to harm others for fun or out of discrimination, such as hatred of a minority group, jealousy or greed.

An aspect of nazi practice seems to be that of stealing Norse symbols and old Runes. I'm quite fond of old Norse religion so it upsets me whenever these nazi groups use aspects of the runes as part of their hate crime. Many pagan people are Asatru which is a modern take on the old religion, also called Odinism and sometimes Heathen. For more info on Asatru, click here

Someone with an interest in Asatru, with images of Odin or Norse deities and Runes may not be a heathen or follower but they are probably not a nazi either. A number of neo-pagans have an eclectic interest in the old religions with a mixture of Greek, Celtic and Egyptian worship or others. Heathen is said to mean 'godless' or 'of no religion' yet the practicing heathens have a well documented popular religion with a set of rules like any other.

Next I'd like to draw attention to these English Nuns.

Benedictine nuns at Malling Abbey at war with housing developer...

I was horrified to see this in the news, not just because a group of peaceful women, caretakers of a historic building, were to have their peace shattered- but also because the housing development planned next to the Abbey would damage the nature in the area with 80 meters of mature trees to be felled to create a road. Even with a hedge or other 'buffer' space between the proposed estate and the ancient Abbey, it would still cause huge disruption and spoil the tranquility of the Nuns and the area overall. We all know how messy people are, there are always things being dumped in the countryside- there are plenty of empty houses around the UK. We don't need any new builds. Existing buildings which have been out of use for a long time could be converted or demolished and new housing created from existing space.

The Nuns have been present at the Abbey since 1090. Apart from when King Henry the Eighth established the current Church of England.

I prayed in my own way for the safety of the woodland, hedgerows and nature of the area. It is heartwarming to know that the locals opposed of the plans and then successfully blocked the new build.

malling-abbey-nuns-delighted-nearby-housing-development-rejected

West Malling Abbey is none of my business, but I feel that the trees are and if necessary, I'd become personally involved if such an occasion arose again, or was more local to me. These horrible ideas and incidents can be avoided if we put all of our concerns together, working toward a common goal instead of creating further segregation. Humankind over the years seem all to eager to create segregation.

MURDERED SHEEP

As I write I don't think that this has been resolved. It's a worrying, ongoing problem in the New Forest, South England. A bit too far for me to travel to and again, not really my business except that the New Forest is full of Witches. I like Witches. One of the articles that I read made a local Witch look like she was dangerous or out to cause trouble.

The BBC described the original attacks as Occult Attacks on New Forest cattle and sheep

Other reports state the attacks continued after November 2019;

Terrified-residents-voice-concerns-Satanic-style-cult-roaming-national-park

Is there a devil worshiper in New Forest?

Ewe-stabbed-death-inscribed-pitchfork-cross-hay-Hampshires-New-Forest

Police arrest man, 41, over sheep killings

Words used in these reports include 'black magic pentagrams' and 'devil worship' or 'satanic'. The symbols said to be used in the killings are the Biblical 'number of the beast' '666' and inverted crucifix carvings, a pitchfork and pentagrams. Anyone familier with satanism knows they use the sign of sulphur and generally mind their own business, unless it is to shamelessly promote their group much in the way some other religions do via legal actions and the media.

I believe that whoever is or has killed these animals in the New Forest either has a low IQ (and probably access to a car) or this is a sensational 'cover' for their real intentions. There was another article recently about 18 sheep being killed in Warwickshire.

18-sheep-deliberately-run-over-and-killed-in-warwickshire

This has to be horrendously damaging to the farmer. Who on earth finds the time to run over 18 sheep? Why do that? They must be attacking the farm, it could be a rival business. On the other hand, only a dangerous individual would do something like that for fun. It's only a matter of time before they target people, or commit a similar violent crime.

I'm not going to speculate deeply on what appears to be an unresolved crime in the New Forest. However, since hollywood-like satantic symbols were used, it may be relevant that the Bible refers to Christians as 'sheep' and non-Christians as 'goats'. This person may have an issue with Christianity. A local church was also vandalised.

Everyday Pagan people are quite peaceful. We still seem to be restricted in the media and we have a loosly defined faith compared to some other creeds, this is in part due to how much we have been restricted, and killed over the years.

It is for the best to keep creating a better understanding of the different faiths and also crimes around the world, in order to support clarity and make sure we can live together in greater harmony. The last thing we want is another witchhunt.

16th-18th Century penalties for witchcraft and homosexuality

Text by Volk B
Images taken by Volk B

March 20th 2020 Spring Equinox.