Signs & Portents

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Pagan News Beagle: Airy Monday, April 25

A writer explains what fairy tales can reveal about our heritage. We take a look at witchcraft in Japanese popular culture. And a reviewer explains the appeal of The Librarians. It's Airy Monday, our weekly segment on magic and religion in popular culture! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Unknown to many Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were neither writers nor storytellers by trade. Rather, the Grimm Brothers were philologists, interested primarily in the historical roots of the German nation and its culture, through which they believed folk tales were a lens. At The Washington Post, Sarah Kaplan argues they were right.

If you're a fan of the occult or horror in comics you may already have heard of Harrow County, Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook's eerie series about a young woman forced to deal with the onset of magical abilities within her even as he faces a hostile world filled with monsters and suspicious humans. Fans and newcomers alike may take interest in this interview with artist Crook, who explains the process behind bringing the comic alive.

Anyone familiar with Japanese animation has probably heard of the "magical girl" or "majokko" genre, which features adolescent girls who fight evil by transforming into magically empowered versions of themselves. Pure fantasy you might think, but interestingly enough it has some of its roots in traditional Japanese folklore.

After spinning off from the low-budget Librarian movies about an antiquarian tasked with protecting magical artifacts, the TNT series The Librarians has attracted a small but passionate fan base. But what's so special about it? Alasdair Stuart for Tor.com explains why the whimsy of The Librarians works.

Paganism and tabletop roleplaying games share a long, overlapping history: little surprise considering how many Pagans have a fondness for fantasy. But the tabletop scene isn't always as fun as it should be. One gamer explains her long and fraught history with the hobby and how some white male gamers make it hostile for other people.

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Aryós Héngwis (or the more modest Héngwis for short) is a native of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, born some 5000 years ago, near the village of Dereivka. In his youth he stood out from the other snakes for his love of learning and culture, eventually coming into the service of the local reǵs before moving westward toward Europe. Most recently, Aryós Héngwis left his home to pursue a new life in America, where he has come under the employ of BBI Media as an internet watchdog (or watchsnake, if you will), ever poised to strike the unwary troll.

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