Children Have Rights Too!!!

Christopher Turner, an 11 year old student from Bowden, Georgia, is your every day kid.  He plays basketball down the street with his friends, he is a straight A student, and he likes to go to church every Wed. with his friends because he finds it fun and like to socialize.  What makes a straight A student who loves school to be fearful of returning to school?? Bullying, plain and simple.

When bullying happens it is usually taken care of by the school, but what happens when a mother’s cry for help gets no answer? What happens when the faculty at the school are the ones doing the bullying?  Nothing apparently, except for even more discrimination and harassment.

Towards the end of October the Turner family was getting very excited for Halloween, or for them Samhain. For them it is not just a time to get free candy and dress up for a night, but rather it is a holiday to give thanks and to remember ancenstors for the lives they lived. Samhain fell on a Monday, and like any other religious holiday, Christopher did not attend school. The next day Christopher’s teacher, Mrs. Ross, pulled him out of class and proceeded to drill him about Paganism, ending the conversation with “Paganism is not a religion.” Remember, this is an 11 year old student, with no parent present while being harassed about his religion by someone who is suppose to be an educator.

Christopher’s mother, a single mother of three, immediately called the Carroll County Board of Education. She was transferred to Mr. David Goldberg, assistant Superintendent  He apologized and assured her that her son had every right to Freedom of Religion in school. He promised that a meeting would be set up between the teachers of all three of her children with the principal of the school present, but she was never given the opportunity to also be involved in these discussions.  Is this what our school system has come to?  Secret close door meetings about our children, belittling students in front of their peers, pulling 11 year old children out of classrooms in order to bash them for what they believe in?  It’s a pretty disgusting way to run our education system, but I guess that’s how Carroll County likes it.  Who needs religious freedom anyway? Certainly not Pagans.

It didn’t stop there for little Christopher’s nightmare.  Thinking the worst was behind, Christoper went back to school, but there was another surprise from Christopher’s teacher. On November 29th Mrs. Ross informed her class that they would be doing an essay on “How Christmas started”. In the good ol’ fashion of history, she informed the class that they couldn’t have anything on their report pertaining to Paganism. Intrigued, a female student in Christopher’s classroom asked what paganism is.  In response to the question, Mrs. Ross looked directly at Christopher, not the student asking the question, and replied “anything that is non-biblical is paganism.” According to David Goldberg, assistant superintendent of Carroll County Board of Education, Christopher was assured religious freedom.  Is this religious freedom?  Can a school force a student to write only about “biblical” essays when his religion is different than that of Christianity?

Understandably, Christopher didn’t know what to do, especially when later that day he got suspended on the bus ride home for speaking Spanish.  He was speaking Spanish with other Spanish speaking students and was told by his bus driver, Mr. David Ayers, that he couldn’t speak Spanish on the bus. Christopher being part Hispanic, continued speaking with his friends, who were not given the same warning. After being kicked off the bus and being given two day of ISS (in school suspension), his mother was told by the bus driver “If he (Christopher) continues to speak in a language that I can not understand then he will get in trouble.” Not only will this 11 year old child be bashed by his teacher for his religion, but now he will get suspended for speaking a language that he has every right to speak. Is this YOUR America??  If you can stand for this type of treatment for our children then our country is in serious trouble.

Since this time, Christopher has been back to school once.  His mother has tried to call his teacher and Mr. Goldberg, but no one will call them back or give them the time of day. Christopher cries every night thinking he has to return to this bullying and discrimination from the same people he feels should be there to protect him. It is sad that with everything children have to overcome in this day and age, that they have to be fearful of the one thing that is there to give them an opportunity in life.  We can not stand for this!

This family is in need of help. Please call and blow up the phone lines and email boxes of the people responsible for leaving this child fearful of attending school.  No one should have to deal with this type of harrasment!
Superintendent – Mr. Scott K. Cowart

Phone Number: (770) 832-3568

Email: Scott.Cowart@CarrollCountySchools.com

Teacher – Mrs. Connie Ross

Phone Number: (770) 258-2161

Email: Connie.Ross@carrollcountyschools.com

Principal – Mrs. Rebecca Waldrep

Phone Number: (770) 258-2161

Email: Rebecca.Waldrep@carrollcountyschools.com

A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practicing “witchcraft and sorcery,” according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, at least the second such execution for sorcery this year.

The woman, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, was executed in the northern Saudi province of al-Jawf on Monday.

A source close to the Saudi religious police told Arab newspaper al Hayat that authorities who searched Nassar’s home found a book about witchcraft, 35 veils and glass bottles full of “an unknown liquid used for sorcery” among her possessions. According to reports, authorities said Nassar claimed to be a healer and would sell a veil and three bottles for 1500 riyals, or about $400.

According to the ministry, Nassar’s death sentence was upheld by an appeals court and the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council.

Philip Luther, the interim direct of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program, condemned Nassar’s killing, calling it “deeply shocking.”

“The charges of ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling,” Luther said.

Luther said that a charge of sorcery is often used by the Saudi government as a smokescreen under which they punish people for exercising freedom of speech.

Nassar was not the first person to be executed for alleged witchcraft by the Saudi government this year. In September, a Sudanese man was publicly decapitated with a sword in the city of Medina after he was found guilty of the same crime.

According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far in 2011, more than three times as many as in 2010. The human rights group condemned the kingdom’s reliance on capital punishment.

“Where the death penalty is used, under international law it should only be applied to the most serious crimes,” Luther said.

The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Story from ABC news

HOW TO USE SAGE FOR CLEARING

A wonderful and effective way to remove negative energy either around yourself or your environment.

SMUDGING -HISTORY & INSTRUCTIONS

Smudging is the common name given to the sacred smoke bowl blessing.

Saging is a powerful cleansing technique from the Native North American Tradition. Smudging calls on the spirits of sacred plants to drive away negative energies and restore balance. It is the art of cleansing yourself and your environment using simple ritual and ceremony. For thousands of years smudging has been a part of Native American tradition but now its power of cleansing is available to everyone.

THE POWER OF SMUDGING

How can smudging be so powerful? The answer lies in the subatomic world of subtle or spiritual energy. Homes and bodies are not just made of purely physical matter; they also vibrate with quiet, invisible energy.

Cleansing a space or our bodies with techniques such as smudging clears away the emotional and psychic ‘energy debris’ that tends to collect or hang onto us. It is a like spiritual spring cleaning.

The effects of smudging can be surprisingly swift and dramatic. The rituals  can help you banish stress, attract love, sooth you, or give you energy.

They can bring your family closer together and let you adjust to the healing seasonal rhythms of the year. Above all they can turn any space, however humble, into a soothing sanctuary – a place of renewal and happiness.

The History Of Smudging

Smudging may seem a very modern practice. We read about city dwellers using it to sell their apartments or improve their business luck. But smudging has been used for thousands of years. When you light a smudge stick you are connecting with a spiritual tradition that originates from the depths of time.

A Tradition From The Mists Of Time

It is impossible to say for certain when smudging began. Perhaps early civilizations came to realize, through sheer trial and error, that the smoke generated by setting alight particular herbs had beneficial effects for humanity. Certainly many cultures have an old tradition of driving animals through smoke to kill off pests and diseases. Nowadays modern science has proven that certain herbs do indeed have cleansing powers, acting as strong pesticides.

Aside from this beneficial and practical aspect of burning herbs, humans have become aware that smoke ascends to the heavens – to the world of spirits – almost as if it were acting as a spiritual messenger.

The idea of purification through smoke is certainly not the sole preserve of the Native North Americans.

Most rituals have some element of cleansing, and incense or herbal smoke mixtures that are burned. Around the world – from China, India, and Southeast Asia, to Europe and the Western world- many countries have used some form of smoke or smudging for ritual and clearing.

The Native American Way

Originally, mixtures of sacred herbs and resins were burned in a special bowl. Smoke was then wafted around the person or place needing purification and cleansing. However, smudge sticks (bundles of dried herbs tied together with colored thread or a strip of hide) offer an easier way of smudging that is just as effective.

The herbs most often used in smudge sticks are sage and sweet grass. Sage drives out negative thoughts, energies, spirits, and all influences. Sweet grass is used to attract positive energy after all the negative energies have been banished by sage.

Native Americans see smudging as a way of shifting between various levels of reality _ connecting us here in the material, physical world to the subtle realm of spirits.

How to Smudge

An abalone shell is the accustomed Native American vessel to use for holding the sage. However, any small, flat, heat-proof container will do.

Leave the sage as is, tied with the string in the bundle. Light the sage and let it flame for a minute or so. Extinguish the flame so the sage is smoldering and smoking.

Take the smudge container and using circular clockwise movements, encircle yourself with the smoke. The Native American custom is to use a very large feather from a poultry bird, such as a turkey. Using the feather, fan the smoke all around the room going around windows and doorways. I always say a prayer as I do this asking for all negativity be released, opening up for all that is good and holy. If possible, open some windows and doors to allow the smoke to leave.

You can do this for the whole room and even the whole house. Start at the most northerly room and working again, clockwise, through your home, let the smoke from the sage permeate throughout. Try and finish off the smudging process by ending up at an open door. You should have come full circle around your home.

A note of interest. Whenever I have done this, it has never set off any of my smoke alarms, which I have found very strange indeed. Now it MAY set off yours, so be prepared to disconnect it during your smudging and be SURE to re-engage it upon completion of your smudging.

I say a little prayer over and over as I do my smudging, asking the ‘powers that be’ (Spirit of the sage) to remove all negativity and unwanted energies.

IT WORKS!!!!…when first doing this on a regular basis, you may find yourself feeling agitated or uneasy and not sure why. It is because you are ‘clearing’ with the help of the smudging. This would indicate that there is a lot of ‘negative’ energies in your environment. I do not have a set amount of times to smudge. You will find your own feel for how often for yourself.

Sage is the most potent herb for smudging but you can also use cedar and sweet grass.

Enjoy your new found source of clearing yourself and your environment!

From george@wiccancottage.com / www.wiccancottage.com

PUMPERNICKEL BREAD

2 cups warm milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons molasses
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/3 cups rye flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/3 teaspoons salt
2 2/3 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 2/3 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix well bread flour, rye flour, cornmeal, salt, yeast, cocoa,
and brown sugar. Add milk, oil, and molasses. Mix
thoroughly. When mixed well enough that the dough holds
together, knead by hand 15-20 minutes.
Cover, let rise in bowl 30 minutes. Punch down, form, and
place into 9 1/2×5 inch pan. Cover with damp cloth and let
rise about 1 hour.
Bake in preheated 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes

• 4 bell peppers (your choice of colors)
• 2 onions
• 2 yellow squash
• 4 Portobello mushrooms
• 2 zucchini
• A bunch of green onions
• 1/2 pound asparagus spears, trimmed
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Balsamic vinegar to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Fresh rosemary
• Oregano

From the Native American Herbal Tea Company

Carbonated Iced Victory Tea
Servings: 6
The Native American Herbal Tea Company’s Victory tea is all natural and is caffeine free.
A refreshing twist on iced tea. Victory tea has a beautiful deep red color. Looks best served in glass.
3 cups water
6 Victory tea bags
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups lemon-lime soda, chilled
lemon, lime or orange for garnish, thinly sliced (optional)
Bring the water to a gentle boil in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Add the tea bags,
cover and remove from the heat. Let steep for 10 minutes
Remove the tea bags without squeezing them. (Squeezing the bags may add bitterness.)
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Let cool, then chill. Putting hot tea in the
refrigerator may make it cloudy.
When ready to enjoy, pour the tea concentrate into 6 glasses filled with ice. Top off the
glass with lemon-lime soda. Garnish with a thinly sliced lemon, lime or orange

Native American herbal teas are made by a Native American owned and operated company. The teas are based on traditional recipes.

May Wine
from “Dancing with the Sun” by Jasmine Yalenorn

1 cup sweet woodruff
2 bottles rose’ wine
4 dozen rose petal ice cubes
1 quart strawberries
1 quart chopped peaches
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white rum
2 bottles champagne
1 bottle white wine
1 liter lemon-lime soda

Two weeks before serving: clean woodruff and pack into one bottle of wine. Cork and let sit.
The day before serving: make four dozen ice cubes by placing rose petals in the compartments before adding water. Freeze until solid.
Hull and wash the strawberries. Slice. Mix peaches and strawberries. Add sugar and rum. Marinate overnight.
An hour before serving: Strain woodruff out of wine and discard leaves. Mix champagne, all remaining wine, lemon-lime soda, and fruit in a large bowl. Stir.
Add ice cubes 15 minutes before serving. Serves 20.

Farls (Oat Cakes)

3 cups real mashed potatoes
2 cups dry oats
2 Tablespoons margarine or butter
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch pepper
Pinch rosemary

Soak oats in warm water for 15 to 20 minutes until soft and slightly swollen. Mix them with other ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Knead until mixture is like a thick dough. If it seems too thin or moist, add a teaspoon or two of flour. When thoroughly mixed, form small sections into small patties. Fry in hot vegetable oil in a small skillet until lightly browned. Serve immediately.