{"id":10216,"date":"2019-02-07T11:14:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T18:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10216"},"modified":"2019-02-07T11:19:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T18:19:43","slug":"russian-witches-work-magically-for-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10216","title":{"rendered":"Russian Witches Work Magically for Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 480px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-10216-1\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Russian-Witches-Cast-Spells-in-Putin\u2019s-Support-Video270-Mp4.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Russian-Witches-Cast-Spells-in-Putin\u2019s-Support-Video270-Mp4.mp4\">https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Russian-Witches-Cast-Spells-in-Putin\u2019s-Support-Video270-Mp4.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>I saw this video (there is a higher-resolution version at the link) on a <em>Moscow Times <\/em>story, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/themoscowtimes.com\/news\/russian-witches-cast-spells-in-putins-support-video-64420\">Russian Witches Cast Spells in Putin&#8217;s Support<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"tmt-news-text\">\n<blockquote><p>Russian witches and seers performed on Tuesday one of their most powerful rituals, &#8220;the circle of power,\u201d to pass on their mystical energy to President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of people who claim to have supernatural powers stood side by side, reading spells in their effort to support the Russian head of state.<\/p>\n<p>Self-proclaimed leader of the Russian witches Alyona Polyn said the main intention of the gathering is to enhance quality of life in Russia, the whole world in general and to support the president. (<a href=\"https:\/\/themoscowtimes.com\/news\/russian-witches-cast-spells-in-putins-support-video-64420\">Read the rest<\/a>.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Who is Alyona Polyn? <\/strong>I asked a Pagan studies colleague in Eastern Europe who responded, quoting Polyn&#8217;s website:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Alyona Polyn is a clairvoyant hereditary witch, author of magic books, oracles, and the world&#8217;s only complete Tarot deck.&#8221; I don\u2019t see any place on her website where she calls herself any kind of yazychnik.\u00a0 She says in one of her videos that &#8220;wedma\u2019&#8221;(witch) is often &#8220;confused&#8221; with &#8220;Vedism&#8221;(usually meaning the Book of Veles end of Rodnoverie) and shamanism, which I think counts as distancing herself at least a little from both of those.\u00a0 And there are no Slavic deities prominently mentioned on her website, and no obviously Gardner-derived materials. \u00a0Nor does she seem to hang out much with the <a href=\"http:\/\/ru.paganfederation.org\/en\/home\/\">Moscow chapter of PFI<\/a> from what I can see online.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We in the United States have seen news stories about Pagan Witches working against President Trump. Consider, however, that Russia and the United States are both large and diverse countries. There might be Russian magickal practitioners working <em>against<\/em> President Putin, for all I know. And I would not bet against the possibility that some American Witches, etc., are working <em>on behalf of<\/em> President Trump. But as I said, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9948\">The Gods Do Not Vote, So Why Are You Asking Them<\/a>?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I saw this video (there is a higher-resolution version at the link) on a Moscow Times story, &#8220;Russian Witches Cast Spells in Putin&#8217;s Support.&#8221; Russian witches and seers performed on Tuesday one of their most powerful rituals, &#8220;the circle of power,\u201d to pass on their mystical energy to President Vladimir Putin. Dozens of people who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,53,29],"class_list":["post-10216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-witchcraft"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2EM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11001,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11001","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":0},"title":"Have We Indeed Reached &#8220;Peak Witch&#8221;?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I doubt it. But that is the kind of significant question that the New York Times is asking during Witchcraft and Paganism Media Month: \"When Did Everybody [sic] Become a Witch?\" Witches are your millennial co-workers doing tarot card readings on their lunch breaks, and professional colleagues encouraging you to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"journalism\"","block_context":{"text":"journalism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=journalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=671","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":1},"title":"The Witches of TVIn a\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Witches of TVIn a post titled \"Farewell, Primetime Pagans,\" Idol Chatter blogger Ellen Leventry marks the end of Charmed.And while the show took artistic, action-driven license, it also provided a decent representation of a belief system not often portrayed on television. Reviewer Wren Walker noted that while warlocks don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":173,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=173","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":2},"title":"50th Anniversary of Witchcraft Today\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"50th Anniversary of Witchcraft Today This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft Today, a fascinating book, although flawed by the author's pretense that he is a sort of anthropologist reporting on \"them,\" the witches, rather than in fact what he was--co-founder of the modern\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1117,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1117","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":3},"title":"Review: Good Witches Fly Smoothly","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a lot of books about religious Wicca out there. There are a lot of books about practical magic, spells, etc. There are very few books about what happens next, but Good Witches Fly Smoothly: Surviving Witchcraft is one of them.Mistake 27: Using a mind key that can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"publishing\"","block_context":{"text":"publishing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=publishing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8839,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8839","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":4},"title":"Pentagram Pizza: The Second Generation","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"1. I like to point out Pagan writers who are doing more than \"how-to\" writing, so click over and read Kallisti's piece on \"Some Reflections on Being Second Gen Pagan\/Polytheist.\" Most of the issues boil down to how different it is to grow up within something versus convert to it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/pentagrampizza.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5350,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5350","url_meta":{"origin":10216,"position":5},"title":"Around the Pagan Blogosphere","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 At The Used Key Is Always Bright, a young boy's dream of \"small gods\" intriguingly includes \"the god of keys.\" \u2022 Ivo Dominguez deals with someone who thinks that His People own the idea of four directions, the elements, etc.\u00a0Via Miniver Cheevy, where there is a postscript. \u2022 Christopher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10216"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10220,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10216\/revisions\/10220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}