{"id":6794,"date":"2014-10-17T13:26:01","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6794"},"modified":"2014-10-17T13:26:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:26:45","slug":"satan-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6794","title":{"rendered":"Satan in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dennis Wheatley (1897\u20131977),\u00a0 British military intelligence operative and author of occult-horror novels, <\/a>is supposed to have left the “strategic military deception” trade after World War II, but his spirit evidently lived on.<\/p>\n

According to a recent article<\/a> in The Guardian<\/em> newspaper, during “the Troubles” \u2014 the period of conflict between versions of the Irish Republican Army and their Unionist [loyalist] opponents that peaked during the late 1960s and 1970s<\/a> \u2014 British intelligence operatives tried to create a “Satanic panic” that would hinder all the so-called paramilitary groups.<\/p>\n

Many Irish nationalists were strong Catholics, while many Unionists were followers of the “Free Presbyterian” minister\/politician Ian Paisley. Both were likely to accept the idea of Wheatley-style Satanists among them:<\/a><\/p>\n

The head of the army\u2019s \u201cblack operations\u201d in Northern Ireland, Captain Colin Wallace [said] that they deliberately stoked up a satanic panic from 1972 to 1974, even placing black candles and upside-down crucifixes in derelict buildings in some of Belfast\u2019s war zones.<\/p>\n

Then, army press officers leaked stories to newspapers about black masses and satanic rituals taking place from republican Ardoyne in north Belfast to the loyalist-dominated east of the city.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If nothing else, it kept gullible teenagers off the street late at night, maybe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dennis Wheatley (1897\u20131977),\u00a0 British military intelligence operative and author of occult-horror novels, is supposed to have left the “strategic military deception” trade after World War II, but his spirit evidently lived on. According to a recent article in The Guardian newspaper, during “the Troubles” \u2014 the period of conflict between versions of the Irish Republican […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":[50,135],"class_list":["post-6794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ireland","tag-satanism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1LA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":784,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=784","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":0},"title":"The explication of Sheela-na-gig","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sheela-na-Gigs by Barbara Freitag, (Routledge, 2004) caught my eye at the AAR-SBL bookshow because it promised a thorough, cross-disciplinary methology, if not the answer to the origin of the puzzling carvings on old Irish and English churches.You can buy a Sheela-na-Gig T-shirt too.Author Barbara Freitag, who teaches at Dublin City\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":817,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=817","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":1},"title":"Where are the Irish-speakers–in Ireland?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Now and again among North American Pagans, I run into an earnest student of Gaelic.When M. and I honeymooned in Ireland (back when the Celtic Tiger was still a kitten), I learned to puzzle out the signage and to go through the door marked \"Fir.\"But outside of Co. Kerry, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Celts\"","block_context":{"text":"Celts","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=celts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8422,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8422","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":2},"title":"CFP: Irish Network for the Study of Esotericism and Paganism","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Extended) DEADLINE APPROACHING In association with the Study of Religions Department, University College Cork To be held on Friday, 31st March 2017 We are pleased to invite scholars to take part in the launch and first workshop of the Irish Network for the Study of Esotericism and Paganism (INSEP), a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"esotericism\"","block_context":{"text":"esotericism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=esotericism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/INSEP-Twitter-Image-square-White-BG.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7362,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7362","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":3},"title":"Irish Druids Now Officially “Indigenous” \u2014\u00a0They Say","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"That is how the Celtic Druid Temple frames government recognition as an \"official charity.\" The Celtic Druid Temple is a full member of the World Druid Order and now has legal and formal recognition in Ireland as a religious charity with a CHY number 20684 issued by the Dept of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Druids\"","block_context":{"text":"Druids","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=druids"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.celticdruidtemple.com\/uploads\/2\/0\/0\/7\/20074727\/1395427677.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12216,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12216","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":4},"title":"Interviews with Some Irish Witches","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Thoughts from several contemporary Irish practitioners about the Craft and nature, including an appearance by Jenny Butler, a member of The Pomegranate's editorial board.","rel":"","context":"In \"Ireland\"","block_context":{"text":"Ireland","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ireland"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11826,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11826","url_meta":{"origin":6794,"position":5},"title":"How the Irish Invented Halloween (But Americans Saved It)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Friend-of-this-blog Jenny Butler (University College Cork) leads off this RTE video on \"How the Irish really invented Halloween.\" (You can watch a larger version at the link.) Also, divination with snails.","rel":"","context":"In \"Halloween\"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=halloween"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794","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=6794"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6798,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions\/6798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}