Thank you! What a beautiful cat.

contrary, with Submission, to the Designs of an Omnipotent and Merciful God, who has created every Man to be saved, according to the Tenor of Holy Scripture, if his own perverse Will, and voluntary Transgressions, do not obstruct his gracious Intentions.

Nursed up in Enthusiasm and pretended Miracles, attended with the dangerous Doctrines of assuring Grace, they have learnt to look upon the Rest of their Fellow-Creatures as no Part of the divine Creation; that is to say, as a Set of Wretches reserved for Vengeance hereafter;

Neither good subjects, good Servants, and, what may concern the Male-Creation more, good Wives, can reasonably be expected to be found amongst them.

The very Doctrines it teaches, tend only to make its Professors obnoxious to society; and I can affirm, from Experience, that it is imprudent to put any Confidence in them.

I have some sympathy with this, but I think the line of "stuff that's pagan isn't necessarily satanic" is worth defending. The Guardian hasn't handled this brilliantly, but I think there is a story here.

I'm sure that's true, and it's a shame that the Guardian didn't reach out for comment to one of us who specialise in this area. Educate rather than sneer indeed. There is an interesting story here behind that image and the article would have been improved by telling it.

I'd say that there is a relationship between the image in that context and TWITW; they're not disconnected. Kenneth Grahame was a Pagan revivalist and it's not difficult to imagining him subscribing to Hellebore, although I appreciate we can't ask him his view now.

I don't think that's what was going on here, though. The person seems to be sincere and the Abbey has admitted that they may have made a mistake. This is about a church employee conflating Pagan imagery with Satanic imagery. There is a history behind this, and it's not ok.

I think that works both ways, though. You could equally say that the modern stereotyped Christian image of the Devil was constructed from the iconography of Pan.

Ironically, Kenneth Grahame referred to his own native Christianity as "Scots-Calvinist-Devil-Worship".

cc @pjrobichaud.bsky.social