Govt Prepares New Directives On Witchcraft

[george]

Govt prepares new directives on witchcraft

BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Culture is to join hands with the Interior Ministry to draw up new policy directives on witchcraft and spirit worship following the horrific ‘sacrificial’ murder earlier this month of a 12 year-old girl by her own mother.

The new directives are due to be discussed on 22 October at a meeting which will bring together officials from the two ministries and from the Department of Mental Health.

Mr. Weerasak Khowsurat, Vice Minister for Culture, said today that in the immediate term, the government would seek to use the 1996 Civil Service Administration Act to allow Interior Ministry officials to determine whether local spirit houses were adversely affecting communities, or whether legislation was being broken.

However, Mr. Weerasak stressed that the government had no intention of trampling on ancient beliefs, many of which gave local people a considerable amount of psychological support.

In the long term, the government is looking at extending the 1985 Spirit House Act to require all spirit houses to be registered with the Interior Ministry.

This would also require any people believing themselves to have special spiritual powers to inform the authorities of their activities.

Taking pains to point out that the government was not suggesting that local beliefs were mistaken, Mr. Weerasak said that the point of the new directives was merely to ensure that the authorities were kept informed, and that spirit worship came out into the open.

The purpose, he said, was to make sure that the public were not cheated.

“We don’t want people to worship until they can no longer see reason”, he said.

Earlier this month, a mother in Ratchaburi Province murdered her 12 year-old daughter in what she claimed to be a ritual sacrifice to the spirits.

--TNA 2004-10-13

[astral]

Did I miss the time change?

What century are we in?????????????????

[Wolfie]

So no more Wicca rituals for me then!

[stroll]

In the long term, the government is looking at extending the 1985 Spirit House Act to require all spirit houses to be registered with the Interior Ministry.

Yes, they should all be registered and comply with building regulations, because they are obviously dangerous structures which harm people.

Who knows, they might even bite unsuspecting bypassers.

[Insight]

This would also require any people believing themselves to have special spiritual powers to inform the authorities of their activities.

So no more Wicca rituals for me then!

Seems fine if you let 'em know what you're up to first

[eyespan]

This is really funny. Aren't there wackos everywhere that commit a couple of murders for the wierdest reasons? I mean in every country you would find a few of these occasionally.

Seems like the greatest wackos in this case is the gov. I really would like to see them enforce this rule and the line of "achans" waiting to be registered at the local hall.

[Richard W]

So no more Wicca rituals for me then!

Seems fine if you let 'em know what you're up to first

Shouldn't you be worrying about having to report going to church?

Would all monks have to register?

[mango]

Seems some of you realy underestimate the Thai peoples belief's in spirits and ghosts. Hard to believe you live here.

Cheers Mango

[Darknight]

wasn't a basic principle of democracy the seperation of religion and state

[mango]

wasn't a basic principle of democracy the seperation of religion and state

The United States of America has five basic principles which ensure the ability of the country. The basic foundations: fundamental worth, equality of all persons, majority rule minority rights, necessity of compromise, and ividual freedom.

Cheers Mango

[francois]

hi'

Thai people need rituals and worship places, it's a fact, how many home-spirit houses?

a lot of them, are they talking about public ones, I guess, most of them are along the roads, drivers are used to horn passing by ... some in villages, and they are part of the village's life.

I don't get the point... why the government want to control this?

what kind of idea have they got in their twisted mind?

control beliefs and religion?

worst thing to do for people who are used to live with all these rituals

just because one bad happening lately?

it happens everywhere, in country without any tradition of spirit worshiping ...

so what's their point here?

may be trying to control the people behavior. who is going to register a spirit house?

I guess that no one would bother to do so.

is it the signal that Thais would see their spirit houses disapear one day?

I can't believe this

francois

[Darth Bangkok]

"In the long term, the government is looking at extending the 1985 Spirit House Act to require all spirit houses to be registered with the Interior Ministry.

This would also require any people believing themselves to have special spiritual powers to inform the authorities of their activities."

whats the need to constantly register this and register that? ###### government can't even handle basic things like building roads and stopping floods. they just keep giving themselves more work to do. Work that they suck at and is pointless from the get-go. thais like to have their hands tied by "benevolent" ###### government types who take advantage of them at every turn.

[thaiwing]

found this for fun

Witches

This forum is provided for those who wish to learn about Witchcraft. Other Beliefnet members will offer responses to your questions. Sincere, respectful dialogue only, please! Attempts, no matter how courteous, to convert anyone to a different religious belief are not appropriate here. Disputes or criticisms must be directed to Witchcraft Challenge & Critique. Related area: Learn about Wicca.

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QUESTION ?

From SwiftyMcVie

10/04 2:21 AM obviously a night witch....

Are there witches who follow the Aradia?

REPLY ? And bloody long

CreakyHedgewitch

10/04 12:34 PM ...Not A good sleeper.....

Joe,

You mean as in being Stregheria or just following this as a Solitary Witch?

There are occasionally those who are practitioners of Grimassi's Stregheria who have posted here. However they usually don't stay long because their historical claims are not met with universal acceptance. What the........!!!!!!!

One of the major themes found here in the Earth-Based Forums on Beliefnet is historical validation rather than myth as history. Research in the last decade on the spectrum of what is called witchcraft has contributed greatly to this theme by enabling individuals who take the time to study to understand what is actually documented as history as well as the origins of what is accurately called mythological history. BELIEFNET.....!!!!!!..

For some, this can be a contentious subject no matter how it is approached. Many of the publications that exist present mythological history as actual history and people genuinely believe this is the historical truth about what they have embraced. On certain levels one literally cannot separate actual and mythological history as they are completely intertwined and both play a role in what exists today but misrepresenting myth as history or history as myth can be perceived to diminish both. .....I'm lost here.....is not 1066 ....1066...?

However, the emphasis on not misrepresenting one as the other means that someone claiming mythological history as actual needs to be prepared to offer documented proof. Subjective belief is not considered sufficient where historical claims are concerned and the lack of evidence for Leland's historical claims has been researched and documented. As Grimassi based modern Stregheria on Leland's writings, the claim for Stregheria being ancient therefore is not universally accepted here as valid. As a modern religion, Stregheria is certainly valid in its own and the myths it is based on have a counterpart in those used for the validation of Wicca, which also have been researched and are challenged here....blimey.....

Obviously for someone who truly believes that Stregheria is ancient though, the lack of universal acceptance here in the Earth-Based Forums can be an issue. Hopefully, someone will respond to you here but I thought you might wish to understand why perhaps you might not get any or an immediate response.

Doctor needed or not ?

True thread disscussion......

You can google these words for fun.....