“Touch her heart”
August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) tells the story of the Black Madonna to the Daughters of Mary during a homegrown ritual melding Catholic and African traditions, in this scene from The Secret Life of Bees.
Month: May 2025
“Return of the Shaman”
James Parker reviews Manvir Singh’s new book Shamanism: The Timeless Religion for The Atlantic: Singh is less interested in the specific contents of trance states, or in a psychic map of shamanic otherness, than in shamanism as a world-historical phenomenon, popping up all over, almost a function of human consciousness. It starts, for him, in … Read more“Return of the Shaman”
The “Mystical Paganism” of Louis Ménard (1822-1901)
Click here to read D.G. Charlton’s illuminating essay on 19th century secular religions, as exemplified by the life’s work of French man of letters Louis-Nicolas Menard.
The Cult of Rame Tep (“Young Sherlock Holmes”, 1985)
The teenage Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe), John Watson (Alan Cox) and Elizabeth Hardy (Sophie Ward) investigate the sinister Cult of Rame Tep in this tense scene from Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). While the notion of a secretive and literally underground ancient Egyptian cult active in Victorian London strikes a romantic chord, various occult and esoteric … Read moreThe Cult of Rame Tep (“Young Sherlock Holmes”, 1985)
Sky News Australia responds to the CREATION documentary
Andrew Bolt, host of the conservative Sky News Australia channel, airs his grievances regarding the rival Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s screening of the documentary CREATION: A New Religion on Easter Sunday. Mr. Bolt’s comments are highly reminiscent of various Fox News presenters’ remarks on the Satanic Temple over the past ten years or so, mixing incredulity … Read moreSky News Australia responds to the CREATION documentary