The secret lives of Maltese pagans

[icymist]

A Massey researcher studying modern day witches and pagans in the Mediterranean island republic of Malta says she has had to conceal the identities of those she interviewed to protect them.

Social anthropologist Dr Kathryn Rountree believes the people she interviewed for a book could risk losing their jobs if they became known as practising pagans in the strongly Catholic country.

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She was aware that these 23 unique monuments – the oldest free-standing stone buildings in the world – were frequently visited by modern Goddess followers on pilgrimages from the United States and Britain. But she had never come across a local version of Goddess worshippers.

About a year after returning to New Zealand from a trip to Malta in 2003, she received an “intriguing” email from someone in Malta, asking her if she knew about a secret order claiming to have revived the worship of a pre-Christian Maltese Goddess.

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