'Teach philosophy in primary schools,' says Professor Angie Hobbs

'Teach philosophy in primary schools,' says academic

Professor Angie Hobbs believes just one philosophy class a week would benefit children’s intellectual and social development. Naomi Ackerman reports

“If we leave questioning the models children have been taught until later in life, it could be too late," warns Professor Angie Hobbs. "That is why we need to start teaching philosophy in primary school.”
By this the professor means that children should be taught from a young age that there are other ways of seeing the world to the one they are exposed to by their family and social circle.
It's a pertinent and timely point to make, especially considering the current debate around the risk of 'radicalisation' facing young people.
Hobbs is currently the only professor of public understanding of philosophy in the world. She believes that just one philosophy class a week could benefit children’s intellectual and social development.
Her department at the University of Sheffield – along with organisations such as The Philosophy Foundation – are currently pioneering the teaching of ancient Greek philosophy in UK primary schools.

Hobbs has taught Plato and Heraclitus to classes of seven-year-olds and says that "children respond very well to fundamental questions, such as 'What makes me, me? What is time? Does nothing exist?”.
She tells me that, in her experience, children love Zeno's paradox 'the moving arrow is motionless' or the Cretan liar paradox. "I tell them ‘I always lie’, and then ask ‘am I lying now?’” she says.
Learning ancient Greek philosophy at a young age taps into children’s “natural curiosity, their imaginative and intellectual zest”. Hobbs says that the natural ability children have to imagine other worlds and leap through time – the reason for their love of books such as Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings – is the same ability needed to grasp Plato.
Hobbs thinks philosophy is “a greatly underused resource in the UK” and is critical of the government’s education policy.
“Some of those in Government – and not just Michael Gove in his former role – have said that primary education should mainly be about the acquisition of facts and knowledge, and that children can ask questions later. I think this is wrong.”
Interest in philosophy is growing, however. Only this month, Hobbs received over 1,000 enquiries from listeners after appearing on Desert Island Discs.
In a country with increasingly diverse classrooms, Hobbs also believes having debates on Greek philosophy in primary schools can help build bridges of understanding between children from different backgrounds:
“Ancient Greek philosophy is a shared cultural resource and it belongs to all of us. It is great to use with primary school kids because, although some Greek philosophers were religious, they were not espousing modern religious ideology, so you can get a class of mixed or no faith kids and tackle these big questions in an inclusive way.
“Studying Greek philosophy will show them from a very early age that it is good to ask questions. It helps protect them from all sorts of indoctrination – from religious and political extremists, from gangs, even from their teachers,” she explains.
Studying these philosophical concepts can also help children cope with the choices and challenges life presents them with, Hobbs argues.
“Studying philosophy can get children to understand that there are lots of different ways of thinking, being, living and seeing the world,” she says.
Hobbs is certain there can even be distinct therapeutic benefits to studying philosophy. For example, exploring the ancient Greek Stoics’ theories on accepting loss of control and change can help young children gain “a robustness” and a sense that it is normal not to be happy all the time.
I ask Hobbs which books make the best springboard for children exploring philosophy at home: "I have to say now that I have a vested interest in The Philosophy Shop as I am a contributor," she laughs, "but it is a great book and is filled with puzzles, stories and activities."

Not in a coffin, but on his throne!

An Old Calendarist Archbishop in Greece died a week ago and they didn't put him in a coffin, but transported him on his throne. There were several photos of other high priests kissing his hand or face. Even Greek Orthodox New Calendarists were either or pretended to be shocked by this ritual. However that is how bishops are buried according to the custom of the Church and the reason why this ritual hasn't been performed the last fifty years, is because the priests knew that would alienate most people. The majority had a good laugh and many funny pictures go around the web.

Not in a coffin, but on his throne
This is actually the way

Nothing to do with the Ancient Greeks

 That is what Greek Christians say. There is a website said to be written by Christians who go often to Athos, the so-called Holy Mountain in Greece. They say they are neither theologians, nor clerics or monks, however they have time for a website and they write it in so many languages. Christians do not do anything without guidance of a priest. Anyhow what they write is exactly what Christians teach when they are among themselves and they do not need to proselytise people with different beliefs.
They call Christianity and probably they mean only the Eastern Orthodox version, the Absolute Nation. Every Christian has a descent, but that is of no importance. All Christian are bonded through a godly, spiritual and a supernatural way, which eliminates the earthly bonds. So the Christians of Greek descent don't have anything to do with the Hellenic King Antiochus, however they are one through Christ with the Maccabees, who are every Christian's brothers and heroes.
Further they write that the Old Testament has nothing to do with the Jews of today and they write the words in parentheses Talmudists and Zionists. That is because, they denied God, as they call the denial to believe in Christ. The Jews of then are supposed to have said that they have no other king than Caesar, so that makes Christians the only Israel. The Christians are the descendants through Christ of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the 'just' of the Old Testament, the way it was described with the Maccabees.
Jesus Christ is supposed to have said that if they don't believe in him, they don't believe in Moses, because Moses talked about him.
So what true Christians believe is that they alone are the true Jews or Israelis.
So whenever priests and theologians protest about not being called Hellenes or say they are afraid of a civil war in these hard and sad times, which it seems to be always the case, it is all crocodile tears. One has to choose what one wants to be.
If Christians have nothing to do with Antiochos, than they have nothing to do with all the Ancient Greeks and those who aren't Christians.

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Pasion the slave becomes a banker in Athens

Wiki Pasion

Pasion (Ancient Greek: Πασίων; before 430 – 370 BC) (alternatively spelt Pasio [1]) was a slave in Ancient Greece from the 4th century BC, who rose to become a successful banker and Athenian citizen.

Pasion was born some time before 430 BC.[2] He was owned by the bankers Antisthenes and Archestratus, who had a bank at the Piraeus, the harbor five miles out of Athens. During his slavery, he quickly rose to chief clerk (Argyramoibos) in charge of a money-changing table at the port, and proved so valuable that by 394 BC he had been manumitted as reward for his faithful service.[3]

When his owners retired, Pasion inherited the bank and established a shield factory. The gifts he provided Athens included one thousand shields and a trireme. Ultimately, Pasion was granted Athenian citizenship and started investing in real estate in order to accumulate more wealth. When he became too old to work, Pasion had Phormio, another slave, take care of the bank. When Pasion died in 370 BC[4] his widow married Phormio in order to keep the bank in the family.[5] Pasion had two sons with his wife Archippe: Apollodorus and Pasikles.[6]

Margaret Thatcher named worst prime minister of the century

Admirers quote her a lot and usually they talk nonsense and the quotes do not make a better impression.

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The Historical Writers’ Association on Tuesday announced the results of a 45-member survey naming Margaret Thatcher the U.K.’s worst prime minister of the past century, narrowly beating Brexit harbinger David Cameron.
The England based literary society judged 19 prime ministers who have held the top job since 1916. Thatcher, who served from 1979 to 1990 netted 24 percent of the vote, tailed by Cameron and Neville Chamberlain who earned 22 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
A litany of historical authors weighed in on the Iron Lady, whom D.E. Meredith panned for a notorious “lack of compassion” due to Thatcher’s infamous line: “There’s no such thing as society,” while Lord Paddy Ashdown praised her as “a great and necessary destroyer.”
“Thatcher made the idea of society, in the sense of a community that cares for all its members and accepts the premise that people need support and should not be stigmatized for it, an anathema,” wrote author Catherine Hokin, adding that Britain was “still reaping her poisoned harvest.”
Former chair of the Historical Writers Association, Manda Scott, listed “neoliberalism, de-industrialization, free-market ideology, Scottish poll tax, selling council houses and failing to act on early stages of global warming,” as reasons for choosing the Baroness, who died in 2013.
The deliverer of Brexit was not spared the writers’ wrath either, “He gambled with the country’s future prosperity and lost,” wrote author Angus Donald. “Then ran from the battlefield leaving the rest of us to pick up the pieces.”

Deputy Ministers Homeopathy Methods for Fooball!

The Deputy Minister of Sports in Greece is probably totally ignorant about his portfolio like nearly every Minister. The peculiar thing is that although he has studied Law he doesn't speak English; not even at the level of the current Prime Minister. The second peculiar thing is that he speaks Romanian. A language spoken by people who have studied there as it was easy to get an admission to study. However his CV states that he graduated from the Law School of Athens. So probably he failed the entrance examinations for the Greek University, he went to Communistic Romania, studied one or two years and than he was transferred to the Greek University. He studied at the time of the Union Five; people who were in the Students Union could pass the exams with a 50%.
Football is the way, FIFA wants it to be. The referee has to understand what each player is doing even if he cannot see it directly and decide if it was done on purpose or not. There is corruption, there is subjectivity and mistakes happen. Fans always try to affect the judgement of the referee by complaining and that is what they like to hear, that their team is wronged.
It is totally weird to accuse a team that it controls the Football Federation and use exactly the same person that that team is supposed to have used to take over the Federation twenty years ago for the so called purification of the Greek Football. They named this Apparatus 'The Shack' after him. His name is Thomas and therefore the Apparatus' name is traced to the 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'.
Now the Prime Minister and the Deputy Minister are boasting that they are purifying the Greek Football. However football is far more simple than Economy.

The Church doesn't confirm the Archbishop's story!

The Archbishop of Peiraius Seraphim had said that he was present at the Athens Polytechnic Uprising and had asked where the current Minister of Education was at that time. A thing difficult to verify, but a month later in an article published by a site of the Church, states that the only Archbishop, who could say he was left-wing in his youth, because apparently he was by the uprising of the Law school, was Ephraim Archbishop of the island Hydra. And what about Archbishop Seraphim of Peiraius? Did he participate as a right-wing person? No, these are things left-wing people do. Archbishop Ephraim did those things, so he was left-wing, when he was young. Now, they all are right-wing and they stay home. So Archbishop Seraphim, who wasn't left-wing like nearly all Archbishops, what was he talking about participating at the Polytechnic Uprising?

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9.300 priests, 7.270 doctors in Greece II

The second guy that came is a typical "priestboy". Grown to act like old virgins, they know they are ridiculous, so they act like they think "those outside" act. "Those outside" are all that are not very religious. So these pious kids learn by heart every phrase in slang.gr, try out different poses in the mirror and then they feel ready to confront the world which is the "devils domain". They have as well learnt all logical fallacies in order to use them, because they are not interested in this world, but the world of Yahweh. So they are nothing but caricatures that just don't behave and act like crazy old virgins.

Archbishop of Athens: Do you want war? Do you want blood?

I don't know if Greek politicians are afraid of the Greek Church only because of its votes, or they prefer to rule together with the Church like monarchs always did.
The minister of Education and Religions decided to make some changes in the way religion was taught in schools and the Archbishop of Athens and Greece refused to discuss with him about them. Actually it is none of the business of the Church, the Church should only have control over its Sunday schools.
However the Prime Minister is a clown and so are the members of his government. There was a meeting with the Prime Minister, the President of the other coalition party and Minister of Defence and the Minister of Education. The Archbishop of Athens and Greece went with two Archbishops and a legal counsel.
The Minister of Defence usually goes around to military camps, dressed in military uniforms, but on the meeting it was said that he broke in tears and said to the Archbishop that if the latter wished from him to withdraw from the coalition, he would do it, but the Archbishop should keep in mind that there problems with Turkey now. So politicians get elected by the people but do what the Churches wishes.
Many Archbishops weren't content with this comedy and said they they had to discuss from the beginning, the elected government shouldn't come with an agenda to the negotiations etc. The Archbishop asked what more do the 83 Archbishops want, war? And blood? The Archbishops will wait again till November to see if the Prime Minister will obey to the Church and appoint somebody else as a Prime Minister, someone with whom there will be mutual understanding. They named also a name as their favourite. Further they will see what will happen with the revision of the Constitution. There is an article which is pure nonsense, but the theocrats want to have it. That Eastern Christian Orthodox Christianity is the prevailing religion in Greece.
If everything will be as they wish, they will not massacre people.

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9.300 priests, 7.270 doctors in Greece I

Somebody posted this title on his facebook account. Then some peculiar people started posting nonsense. The first could not probably use two fingers to type, he had to hold the keyboard steady with the one hand, so he pressed Caps Lock once and wrote everything in Capital letters. No punctuation, no grammar, no syntax, no sense in his posts. He started writing the usual nonsence of atheistic stalinism, conspiracy theories about communists being everywhere corrupting the souls of little children. That we shouldn't bother with the priests, but everything is the fault of the communist syndicalists. I searched a bit and found out that he is a member of the party ANEL, which stands for 'Independant Greeks'. He leads the sector social media in his area. This party is right wing split from the Greek Conservative Party. However there was no problem in forming a goverment with Sy.riz.a, a coalition of left parties, some of them communistic. A known member of the Parliament elected with ANEL, has been a former member of Syriza and the Greek Communist Party. This guy was around Paris in 1968 and says he is still a communist. Another member Rachel Makri went from ANEL to Syriza. 
Too bad I didn't have time to ask him about his membership and what he thinks about the coalition party.

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Sacred Sites: Oracles of Tile Films Ltd for the Smithsonian Channel (2016)

Sacred Sites: Oracles of Tile Films Ltd for the Smithsonian Channel (2016)

Jephthah's daughter and Orthodox repulsive behaviour

I wrote this post yesterday, about how Greek Christians defame the Hellenic Ethnic Religion. I came accidentally upon a Greek Orthodox Christian blog and saw it had an article about the daughter of Jephthah. He is a biblical figure said that, he promised to Yahweh as a burnt offering the first thing that would come out of his house, and to his misfortune it had to be his only child, his daughter.
The author of the article writes about Antichrists with too much hypocrisy pretending they are scepticists, critical and profound scholars of Christianity.
He accuses the people of using a translation of Vamvas, and says that Vamvas (1770-1856 CE) had translated the Bible from an English translation and not the original. This was an accusation made against Greek authors some decades ago, when ancient Greek passages were used and there were no translations in modern Greek. The Greek State never bothered publishing ancient Greek texts with a good translation and it is the last twenty five years that some private companies started translating all ancient Greek texts. However the language that Vamvas uses is very archaic and very near to the Koine Greek of the Bible. Those who could use it had definitely no problem understanding the Koine Greek of the Bible. It would be a lot easier to translate from Bible's Greek than English. As Vamvas had studied in France, it is obvious that a French translation would be a lot easier than an English one, if he had in mind to do something like this. At the time of Vamvas they believed that the Bible shouldn't be translated at all. People of the Church were afraid, people would read the Bible, if the language barriers were dropped. So the translation of Vamvas was discarded out of principle, so other people would be discouraged to translate the Bible into local dialects. However when translated versions were accepted, Vamvas' translation was accepted as well.
Now that some people start reading the Bible, the people of the Church seem to try to invent a new language barrier. They say that the Old Testament was firstly written in Hebrew and was later translated by 72 interpreters. Then they use the Masoretic Text as if these texts were the original Hebrew Bible, which the 72 interpreters had before them, when they were writing the Septuagint, the Bible translated or written in Greek. A Talmudic story relates that there were three Torah scrolls in the Temple court and at variance with each other. The scriptures were supposedly translated into Greek in Alexandria between about 280–130 BCE, again supposedly ordered by Ptolemy Philadelphus. This Septuagint is the basis of the Old Testament in the Eastern Christian Orthodox Church. The Masoretic Text was written between 700 and 1000 CE. Of course they used older manuscripts, but there were so many variations, that trying to find the original Bible, if it ever existed, is something for very pious people.  In every case, the Eastern Christian Orthodox Church uses variations of the Greek Bible and not the Hebrew one as Protestants do, so the use of the Masoretic Text is irrelevant. Everyone has the right to use and argue upon the Greek Bible.
The author of the article about Jephthah used the Masoretic text in order to say that the daughter wasn't sacrificied but dedicated to Yahweh and the girls didn't mourn her but visited her once a year for four days. Ever heard of Jewish nuns?

Here, is where John Chrysostom admitts that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter and Yahweh accepted the offer. John is one of the most important Church Fathers, together with four others. These Church Fathers are the authorities of explaining the Bible in the Eastern Christian Orthodox Church and because they spoke Greek, they are used as a proof of the supposedly hellenisation of Christianity, which of course never occured. Greeks living in the same are were the Hellenes lived and speaking dialects of the hellenic language, cannot trace the ancestors in the Bible, but in Hellenic History and Tradition. So these Church Fathers are used to fake a continuity between Hellenism and Christianity.


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Romanic Propaganda

The Christians in Greece use many tricks to keep the Greek people away from the Hellenic Ethnic Religion of their ancestors. It seems they do not have anything else in mind, but to defame Ancient Greece. These type of Christians are a minority, however they have the power as the Church knows what to do to maintain it. These people don't want to be called Hellenes, but Romioi or Romans.
There was a trial going on of two drug addicts, who killed the four-year-old daughter of the one of them and then they cut her to pieces. They do not know more things as the trial is going on. However the prosecutor said that what happened was even more tragic than the sacrifice of Iphigeneia.
Iphigeneia wasn't sacrificed according to the myth, but abducted by the goddess Artemis or Diana to Crimea. 
However the lie will be told at a point that no one will argue with her as it is irrelevant with the case, neither at that particular moment nor later. As modern people think of the heroes of mythology as historical persons, the defamation of the Hellenic civilisation is obvious. The people who made such progress in philosophy, science and arts were totally retrogressive in the field of religion, that is what Romioi want us to believe.
In her religion there is a similar tale, that of Abraham and Isaac. Yahweh demands that Abraham sacrifices Isaac, without an apparent reason. Isaac is saved the last minute by an Angel. These people will pretend they are impartial but will  not say that angels do not exist, so Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Nor will they say, that when the Achaeans looked away, the augur changed the daughter with the deer and said that Artemis made the swap.
Some say that Euripides living the 5th century BCE, had more modern views of religion than Homer and tried to cleanse the religion of the barbaric elements. One attempt was Iphigeneia in Tauris.  Homer however doesn't write anything about Iphigeneia and a daughter of Agamemnon is called Iphianassa. On the other hand the tragedians didn't invent the myth, they used old known ones, many of which we know only by their titles and some verses. The myths are more than simple stories, they are symbols of eternal truths. Agamemnon distorts the rules of the world and he must suffer the consequences, his people as well. Nature settles to a new equilibrium, but at some costs. Not as a revenge, but the rules cannot be neglected, not even by the gods. A simple way to think of it is that if someone gets carried away and hunts too many deers, they wild animals that hunt them will have to seek other sources of food, maybe defenceless children, maybe those of the hunter. However deer from elsewhere will feel the gap and equilibrium will be restored. A simple way to begin with the laws of the World and the Gods. The story of Abraham and Isaak must be an invented one in order to show that total submission to the priests of the monotheistic God is expected.
Don't these people have any better things to do with their lifes than think of such tricks to defame the Hellenic Ethnic Religion and the Hellenic civilisation? They will think of moments like that to tell a lie to the uninterested, which however they will remember and at a latter point and will draw wrong conclusions. For the more interested, they have other lies, like that of polytheists being like the satanists in their fantasy and that the supposedly monotheistic philosophers refined the Hellenic religion.

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Comedy for retarded amoebae

In Greek schools religion is taught 10 years long, because Greeks have to become faithful Christians. Not only one has to learn by heart a lot of things, that even priests do not remember, but one has to believe those things, which is nearly impossible.
The present Minister of Education and Religions said that the course had to impart knowledge about the Eastern Christianity and other faiths, mainly Judaism and Islam. However no new books were written and the teachers would be informed during the year of the changes in the way of teaching. Actually the same teachers who have studied Eastern Orthodox Christianity will teach their faith and the other faiths. The Church however moaned, the Archbishop made some stupid comments and denied to talk to the Minister.
The goverment is a coalition of radical left and a conservative christian party voted by old calendarians. They all had a meeting, Archbishop of Athens and two other Archbishops, the two party leaders, the Minister and Deputy ministers, and they agreed that the books would be the old ones and there would be some guidelines during the year.
So what was the fuss all about? It should look like the Archbishop made the Minister take his decision of using the old books and giving new guidelines of teaching during the year back and instead accept that the old books would be used and new guidelines of teaching would be given during the year. Christian celebrate the victory over the atheist Bolsheviks and all atheists should feel defeated and the might of the Holy Church.
The real problem is that if the course will impart knowledge instead of faith, then also non Christians will have to attend the lessons. Instead taking a step to democracy and Enlightment, there is a step back to theocracy and the Dark Ages.

Spartan Detachment and Priests of Hellenic Ethnic Religion in Salamis

A Spartan detachment Mora and Hellenic Priest of the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes were invited by members of the Greeks State to pour libations in honour and memory of those who fought at the battle of Salamis.

Meeting the UK's Top Pagan Police Officer

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Police Sergeant Andy Pardy is not your average British policeman. His philosophical touchstone is not the Daily Mail or The Sweeney. It's the Norse god Heimdall, guardian of the gates of Asgard.

Andy is a Pagan. More specifically, he's a Heathen. Not "heathen" as in the snobbish insult. Heathen with a capital H; a follower of the ancient northern European religion based on the worship of Norse gods and goddesses. When he's not patrolling the streets of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, Andy runs the Police Pagan Association, a body set up amid much predictable media piss-taking in 2009 to support the needs of Britain's pagan coppers.

The PPA has 200 members, 80 of which have not "come out" to their bosses for fear of discrimination. On its website, the PPA says it "understands and promotes our co-dependency with the Earth and therefore promotes the tenets of community and the pursuit of peace and prosperity". Which is not something you see in Scotland Yard press statements very often.

With the Autumn Equinox – an important day of bonfires, feasting and dancing in the Pagan calendar looming next week – I had a chat with Andy about what it's like being a Pagan police officer.
VICE: I would never have put being a Pagan and being a police officer together. How did this all come about?
PS Andy Pardy: I found Paganism while rebelling as a teenager; my mother was a strict Jehovah's Witness, who, when I declared that I did not share her beliefs, threw me out at 14 years of age. I turned to other religions as a form of rebellion and I developed a genuine interest in Paganism. The Nine Noble Virtues of Heathenry mirrored almost to the word the tenets to which I had already attempted to live up to, and to which I refer in my job. I firmly believe that I would not be a police officer today if I had not found the Pagan path.

What is a modern Pagan?
Pagans believe all of life is sacred and there's a vital energy in every living thing. Instead of worshipping a deity, we see the earth as a living vital thing. We see our place in the cycle of life as divine, rather than a single creator. It's what people believed before the concept of God was introduced, recognition that the seasons have a direct impact on people's lives and their wellbeing. The 2014 census found there are just under 80,000 Pagans in the UK. But I suspect there are twice as many, as Pagans keep their religion a secret because of the stigma.

What does being a Heathen involve?
Heathenism is one of the four main paths of Paganism [the others are Wicca, Shamanism and Druidry]. Heathenism was brought over from northern Europe during Anglo-Saxon times. It's the only branch of Paganism which doesn't originate from the UK, and the only one with accurate records of its beliefs and traditions, such as the eddas, which are Norse poems.

As a Heathen I acknowledge the Norse gods and goddesses are relevant to my culture. I recognise that certain deities are relevant to differing aspects of my existence, such as the God Heimdall – often seen as an educated figure and an able communicator, to whom I often address my thoughts prior to public speaking, for example. I don't believe that a horned Norse God physically exists on a higher realm, rather that he is a manifestation towards whom I can direct my thoughts in times of need.

How does Paganism impact on your job?
Almost by default the PPA has become an occult investigation team. We were called to a prominent cathedral in London [St Paul's] last year. They contacted the PPA because the groundskeeper had come into work one morning and found an occult set up – a ram's skull on top of a photo of a woman's breasts, surrounded by 12 candles and an anti-church message – on the steps on the way into the cathedral. We were able to confirm straight away that it was not Pagan but a ritual likely to be the work of an individual with occult tendencies.

We often get involved when horses get maimed, because people suspect it's the act of Pagans carrying out a ritual. It's true, in the historical past, horse sacrifices used to happen, but I have to explain that nowadays Pagans don't believe in killing any living things – we've moved on. There was a sad case recently we were brought in to advise on where two men claimed to be Pagan priests and sexually abused vulnerable female members of the Pagan community. We've also been contacted in cases of African witchcraft and a cold case murder investigation with possible occult or Pagan links from the 1990s.

Earlier this year a young lad was searched by police and they found an athame [a Pagan knife] on him. He was bailed and the force contacted us for advice. We found out he was a practicing Pagan and had just come from a handfasting [marriage]. These knives are part of the religious uniform, a bit like Sikh knives, so he was released without charge.

How can I spot a Pagan?
It's not that easy. Depending on their path, most Pagans would wear a pentacle – a five pointed star – on a chain around their neck. Heathens often wear a mjolnir, a Thor's hammer symbol. I have a valknut, three intertwining triangles, which is another Heathen symbol.

What was your last ritual?
We had a day marking the end of summer, a recognition we are coming into harsher times. This time of year is seen as part of a cycle, with the sun that gives earth energy passing away. It's quite a solemn time, a time for remembering your past relatives. We have vegetable stew, light candles for dead relatives and drink a glass of mead or two. Morrisons sell their own brand, although it's a rather commercial form of mead. We brew our own. I highly recommend it.

How strong?
Depends on how long you leave it to brew and how much sugar or honey you put in it. It can be quite potent, believe me.

Do you have a family and are they also Pagans?
My wife discovered Paganism by her own means, but we have always stated that we wanted to educate our children about all faiths, so that if and when they choose a path it is an educated choice. At this time, however, they have always celebrated the Pagan holidays with us and consider themselves Pagan; if they change religion for whatever reason, or do not choose to follow a faith, we will support them regardless. Most Pagan households have the hearth as the spiritual centre. We have candles, a written work from one of Norse poems.

Why did you set up the Police Pagan Association?
I found out Paganism wasn't recognised as an official religion in the police when I tried to take off Yule as a religious holiday. Also, there were some inaccurate guidelines about Paganism being handed out by one police force, saying things like: "If you enter a household and you find a naked woman tied to the table it could be part of a Pagan ritual." I knew Pagan officers from that force who did not like that, and they complained but were suppressed by a senior officer who was anti-Pagan. So we came up with a national association, able to circumnavigate local level and answerable to the Home Office.

In 2009, when you set up the Police Pagan Association you got teased in the tabloid press as "the one with the horns on his helmet, seconded to the raping and pillaging squad". Other members were accused of casting spells. What did you make of that?
The papers had to apologise for that, although I must admit I have one of the cartoons in my hallway. They raided my Facebook page and found an old fancy dress picture of me in a ninja outfit, which they showed on Have I Got News For You.
Do you get any grief from police colleagues, any anti-Pagan slurs?
Some police officers think we shouldn't exist and some officers have felt they have been passed over for promotion or not allowed opportunities because they are openly Pagan. Unfortunately, there are certain groups within Heathenry that misuse Paganism for white supremacist agendas and Aryan race ideals. A lot of the Norse symbols were appropriated by the Nazi party. You will get white supremacist groups who are pretending to be Heathens. So I've been called racist and a white supremacist quite a lot. We get called sexual deviants a lot. People think being a Pagan is all sex and nakedness. I keep saying to them if that's what it was there would be a lot more Pagans around.

Do Pagan police do naked rituals?
Sure, there are police officers who do worship naked, but not on all the eight religious days of the Pagan calendar, and only when it's suitable. It won't be in public view, usually in private estates, land where they have a right to be, or in their own gardens. By the way, I don't do it. Heathens do not believe in magic or nudity as a way of worship. It's mainly Wiccans.

Talking of Wiccans, what do you think of The Wicker Man?
The film was a great deal of help for the PPA when we were trying to get endorsed by the Home Office. We had to provide evidence that Pagans are misrepresented in popular culture, and The Wicker Man was by far the best example. It glorified historic acts of Paganism and represented them as contemporary culture. This is what the public think Paganism is: more of a cult than a faith, with sacrifice being a central aspect. You couldn't get a more inaccurate film, really.

Thanks Andy, and enjoy the Autumn Equinox.

Hellenic Ethic Religion Honours and Celebrates

Hellenic Ethic Religion Celebrates the Autumn Equinox and Honours the Warriors of the Battle of Marathon!

Battle of Salamis - AMAZING HISTORY DOCUMENTARY