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BBC: Pakistani Couple Charged with ‘Occult Killing’ of Baby

A couple in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi have been charged with murdering their baby daughter as part of an alleged “black magic” ritual. Officers found the body of the four-month-old girl buried in the couple’s house, a court heard. Doctors say it had been there for about four days. They believe the couple were planning to murder their second daughter, a girl of three, who police found tied up.

Telegraph: Saudi ‘Sorcerer’ Who Raped 100 Sentenced to Death

He first drew them in by saying he could cast love spells, but then surreptitiously filmed their meeting and used his work for extortion and to rape them

Sky News: Russian Orthodox Believers Hospitalised After Drinking Holy Water

Those affected, including 48 children, are being treated in hospital for acute intestinal pain after drinking water from wells around a local church last week.

Seattle Times: Accused Killer Scattered Body Parts, Prosecutors Say

Christensen told police the text message was evidence Harlan had broken a “Wiccan blood oath” she’d made to break off a relationship with the other man, prosecutors allege.

Yahoo! News: Motivational Speaker Charged in Sweat Lodge Deaths

About halfway through the two-hour ceremony, some began feeling ill, vomiting and collapsing inside the 415-square-foot structure. Despite that, Ray urged participants to push past their physical weaknesses and chided those who wanted to leave, authorities and participants have said. Two people – Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee – passed out inside the sweat lodge and died that night at a hospital. Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn., slipped into a coma and died a week later. Eighteen others were hospitalized.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Witch-Hunt Victim Recounts Torture Ordeal

Those who beat, punched and kicked Kalli Biswokarma, 47, accused her of casting evil spells on a schoolteacher who had fallen ill in the village of Pyutar, 40 kilometres south of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

The Boston Globe: Haiti Calls Upon Voodoo Priests for Help

Beauvoir said the priests are counting among their own people, so they expect accurate numbers. He is confident the religious and scientific perspectives will not clash. In a nation where government barely functions, and where more than half the population of 9 million is believed to practice voodoo in some form, the assistance of these priests is considered critical to better assess the situation. The priests in Haiti dispense unofficial justice and cater to religious needs.

BBC: Voodoo Religion’s Role in Helping Haiti’s Quake Victims

“Some Christian communities do not want to give food to voodoo followers”

7online.com: Mom, Grandma Charged in Child Voodoo Burning

A mother and grandmother in Queens were charged Thursday with performing a voodoo ritual that left a 6-year-old girl – scarred for life. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said 29-year-old Marie Lauradin and 70-year-old Sylvenie Thessier allegedly used an accelerant to set fire to the child, who suffered life-threatening injuries during the incident in February.

BBC: Child Sorcery in DR Congo

12 year-old, Henri, which is not his real name, points at a large fresh looking scar on his midriff. “People accused me of sorcery and my mother believed them,” he says. “Look, here on my stomach. She tried to kill me with a knife. It really hurt and I cannot understand why my mother did it.”

BBC: Indian Children ‘Sacrifice’ Probe

Five children poisoned to death in a village in India may have been “sacrificed”, police say. They say that the children were killed in Maharashtra state by a childless couple in a suspected black magic ritual to enable them to conceive.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: 12 Children Die During Bad Luck Ceremony

Twenty-five children were rescued with minor injuries but 12 others – all below the age of 12 – were swept away in strong currents. The children were watching a ritual ceremony to dispel misfortune after a measles outbreak in the area. The adults were throwing offerings in the form of chickens into the river when the bridge collapsed, the official said.

All articles continue at links. Part three of a series, see also [1][2].  Magick is disappointing at best, murderous at worse.  No outcome can be known before an experiment is made.  Experiments that seem foolish may yield wonderful results.  But when outcomes are known then ignored in favor of conviction or passion (magick, religion, superstition) then the worst sort of outcomes will become normal.   For example, if one child sacrifice didn’t work then try two.  Meanwhile genuine solutions to problems (measles vaccines) or acceptance of situations that perhaps cannot be changed or are not so terrible (lack of love) are cast aside.  Magick might disappoint but make people feel better for trying.  Reason and compassion disappoint less and make people feel better for trying.  Where people are guided by reason and compassion, they do not elect for child sacrifice.  The number of people sacrificing children is small, but it would grow smaller still were the ‘nice’ magickians around them to be less satisfied with their disappointments in magick and turn to other pursuits.  Without the camouflage of the mean, the extreme withers.