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A windswept, five-alarm fire that killed an elderly Brooklyn woman was started by candles placed on the floor near a bed while a man and woman were having sex after a voodoo ritual, sources said today. Fire marshals determined that the Feb. 20 blaze at 346 East 29th St. in Flatbush escalated to a fifth alarm because of an open door and delays, but that it was all started by black magic. "Time and time again we respond to tragedies that could have been so easily prevented," said FDNY Commissioner Sal Cassano. "This fire had so many of those elements...

<p>Women in Zimbabwe are said to be abducting and raping men for ritual purposes.</p> <p>In the past 11 months six men have been gang-raped by women, and as per the police the figure could be much higher, as victims are often too embarrassed to report the crime.</p>

MIAMI (AP) -- Devotees of a Miami man who claims to practice a traditional African religion say they were sickened when they drank the mucus of a giant African snail. Federal authorities in January raided Charles L. Stewart's home after receiving complaints. Stewart has not been criminally charged, but prosecutors and state and federal wildlife agencies are investigating. The giant African snail is prohibited in the U.S. without special approval.

PARIS: Stéphane Urbain stood leaning against a heavy wood frame high in the north tower of Notre-Dame, wrapped in a navy blue woolen cape against the wind, as he waited for the bells to sound. Then three of the four immense bells tolled, shaking the massive oak frame, which weighs more than 187 tons. "C-sharp, D-sharp twice, F," Urbain said, a broad smile lighting up his face, even in the darkness of the bell cage. Urbain, a 40-year-old chemist by training, is the chief sacristan of the cathedral. As such, he is also the chief bell ringer. His role often...

<p>We can see a personal profile emerging from the letter, that of a well-intentioned young person, probably catechized as a Catholic, who has discovered in late High School or early college "the truth" about the Catholic Church and now, having become a more open, liberal person, wants to proclaim her new understandings to the four winds.</p>

SPIRITUAL OINTMENT: Craig couple's case is back before a judge. KETCHIKAN -- A Craig couple is arguing that their marijuana convictions should be overturned because a liquefied form of the drug was used only as an ointment in their religious practices. ....SNIP... Michael and Maria Lineker appealed the convictions, and the Alaska Court of Appeals in October sent the case back to Juneau Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks "to determine whether the Linekers' possession of marijuana was protected ...SNIP... ....human skin becomes like a tongue, said Lineker, able to absorb herbs such as the liquefied cannabis and olive oil....

Ritual piece of Stonehenge discoveredFeb 20 2007 Sam Burson, Western Mail A MISSING stone which could be an integral part of rituals at Stonehenge may have been discovered by a Welsh archaeologist. Dennis Price, who has done years of research on the mysterious stone structure, believes he has tracked down a previously lost altar stone, identified during one of the first studies of the site in the 17th century. He is convinced it is now in two pieces on either side of a road in a Wiltshire village, just a couple of miles from Stonehenge itself. Mr Price, who is...

A startling discovery of 70,000-year-old artifacts and a python's head carved of stone appears to represent the first known human rituals. Scientists had thought human intelligence had not evolved the capacity to perform group rituals until perhaps 40,000 years ago. But inside a cave in remote hills in Kalahari Desert of Botswana, archeologists found the stone snake [image] that was carved long ago. It is as tall as a man and 20 feet long.

In the Towers of Silence, an ancient ritual of death comes under threat By Peter Foster in New Delhi (Filed: 12/09/2006) The viability of the centuries-old Zoroastrian custom of allowing vultures to consume the corpses of its devotees has been called into question after a relative of one of the dead discovered piles of rotting bodies lying almost untouched by the birds. Dhun Baria, a member of Bombay's Zoroastrian community, known as Parsis, was shocked to be told that the body of her mother had lain untouched for nine months after she was laid to rest at the Towers of...

An Iraqi Shiite Muslim woman beats her head during a procession, in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 20, 2006. A million Shiite Muslim pilgrims descended on the holy city of Karbala to mark

A 6,000-year Dales story of ritual and cannibalism... Bone finds in Yorkshire caves finally throw light on stone age life after breakthrough in radio-carbon dating. Sally CopeFarmer Tom Lord pictured at the entrance to the caves in Giggleswick THEY roamed the earth almost 6,000 years ago, performing rituals on animal remains and devouring human body parts. But these are not the strange creatures of film or fiction – they were farmers in the Yorkshire Dales. New research on bones discovered in six Dales caves has revealed that farming in the area dates back thousands of years – and with it...

For those who have been there, Hell Week is a sleepless, bitter cold, gritty, soaking wet, hell on earth where exhausted candidates – pumped full of antibiotics to ward off a variety of infections – survive on sheer heart, tenacity, seemingly incomprehensible physical courage, and about 5,000-7,000 calories per day (given they can muster enough strength to consume them). Hell Week is a short span of eternity at Coronado, California where the SEAL hopeful comes to a reckoning of the soul. Here, he “realizes,” according to Commander Richard Marcinko (USN, ret.), “the body is only tissue and the mind/brain can...

Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the Old City of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place [a mikvah, where Jews do a ritual cleansing] for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, according to the Gospel of John. "Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit" to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. "Now we have found...

Pakistani arrested over prayer ritual for suicide bomber By Massoud Ansari in Karachi (Filed: 31/07/2005) A Pakistani who led a mass prayer ceremony for one of the London suicide bombers at his ancestral village in the Punjab has been arrested as part of President Pervez Musharraf's anti-terrorism clampdown. Molvi Abdul Rehman, 30, was detained after he organised a ritual service in honour of Shehzad Tanweer, the 22-year-old Briton whose parents emigrated from Pakistan. Tanweer killed himself and six passengers in the Aldgate Tube bombing on July 7. Suicide bomber: Shehzad Tanweer The ceremony, held at the Samoondran mosque in the...

A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said. Members of the convent in north-west Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual. Father Daniel Cornici was found dead on the cross on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police. On Saturday a priest and four nuns were charged in connection with her death. Orphan Police say the 23-year-old nun, who was denied food and drink throughout...

Ancient mound used in summer moon ritual Thursday, January 27, 2005 - Bangor Daily News Sacred monuments The "hippie" revolution of the 1960s may have been predated by some 6,000 years if researchers' suspicions about the chambered mound called Gavrinis are correct. The mound, more than 26 feet high, is located on a small island off France's Brittany coast and dates to 3500 B.C., making it older than the pyramids. A passage into the mound extends for 40 feet before ending in a chamber. What immediately catches the eye are the walls that are covered with etchings of concentric rings,...

DOWNEY -- Three men, one wearing a black, hooded cloak. A black kitten in a bag with its legs tied together and a puncture wound in its hip. A knife, candles, a wax skull, daggers, four roosters in boxes...

Someone recently asked me, “What must I do to be saved?” He wasn’t asking because he expected me to know the answer exactly. He was more interested in seeing what I would say. But, as you might expect, the answer to the question "what must I do to be saved" is both a lot shorter and a lot longer than we all probably expect. The short answer is Christ's: Love God with everything you are and above all else and love your neighbor as yourself. The long answer is elaborating on what this means in day-to-day life.

Why do priests use incense at Mass? — A reader in AlexandriaIncense is an aromatic substance which is the resin from certain trees. When burned over charcoal, the incense produces a sweet smelling aroma. To make the smoke thicker and to enhance the fragrance, sometimes other perfumes are blended with the incense.The use of incense in the ancient world was common, especially in religious rites where it was used to keep demons away. Herodotus, the Greek historian, recorded that it was popular among the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians. In Judaism, incense was included in the thanksgiving offerings of oil, grain,...

Does Ritual Attract Homosexuals? I'm not sure, but the following post by Leon Podles suggests it. Recently about forty thousand (40,000) pictures of homoerotic pornography and child pornography were found at an Austrian seminary in a diocese known for being sympathetic to Tridentine ritual. Podles proposes that traditional Catholicism is attractive to homosexuals because it is not only beautiful, but it celebrates celibacy and provides a rather simple way to create the semblance of sanctity. On the other hand, Podles notes that low church or Protestant sexual misconduct is usually heterosexual and involves men trying to prove that they are...