new zealand Archives

Wonderful Maori carvings at Mine Bay, Lake Taupo, New Zealand

May 30, 2013 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Lake Taupo is the largest lake, by surface area, in New Zealand. It’s a freshwater lake too that sits in a caldera created by a super volcano about 27,000 years ago.

There are still hot springs in the area, especially at the Horomatangi vent and the volcano is considered dormant and not extinct.

These carvings were done by local Maori and look simply wonderful.

In Pure Spirit

Have you ever had a holiday in New Zealand? Would you like to go or do have you have any recommendations for tourists planning to fly to New Zealand?

What do you know of Maori mythology? Share your wisdom in the comment section below.

Image credit: Abaconda via Visit the World.

Is a Jesus cult terrorising Kim Valentine?

July 31, 2011 by Andrew 1 Comment

The video below is a brief introduction to Alan John Miller and his Divine Truth. Yes; the website has a bold retro design.

AJ has stepped forward to announce that he is Jesus, the son of god, Yeshua ben Yosef. His partner, Mary, is Mary Magdalene. AJ says that the Divine Truths he taught during the 1st century have been lost to error.

The video suggests that Neighbours star Kim Valentine’s ex-husband is in the cult and that she worries this will impair her ability to stay in contact with her daughter.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Is this a fair and balanced news piece? Is there a difference between a cult and a religion?

Hell hot cross buns: “For a limited time. A bit like Jesus”

April 7, 2011 by Andrew 1 Comment

Hell Pizza in New Zealand have (another) advertising campaign that’s upsetting the Church.

What have they done? They’re selling hot cruss buns for Easter. The buns are decorated with an inverted pentagram – a symbol commonly associated with Satanism.

There’s more. The tagline for the advert – which appears in billboards all over Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand – read;

For a limited time. A bit like Jesus.

Hell are scratching their head in confusion. In a statement to the New Zealand Herald, Warren Powell a director at the pizza firm, said;

“I do not see how it could possibly be disrespectful to anyone’s religion.

“We may bring them back next year, and everyone’s saying that Jesus Christ is coming back one day,”

The ASA in New Zealand have said they’ve recieved official complaints about the adverts. An investigation is underway.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Are these adverts insulting? Are they eyecatching and successful? Would you order any of Hell Pizza’s hot cross buns? In fact, would you ever order hot cross buns alongside a pizza meal?

Is religion is dying?

March 24, 2011 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Researchers in America working for the Northwestern Universityand the University of Arizona have concluded that people the West are finding religion to be less useful. They suggest that religion itself may die out in nine nations.

To get to these results, the research team used mathematical techniques, nonlinear dynamics, to mine data from census results going back a full centruy from Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

At the core of the prediction is teh suggest that social groups that have more members are more attractive to join. Social groups have status, utility or both. For example, it’s useful to speak the language of the largest social group in your area and you join that group by learning the language.

The survey and modelling is available online from the Cornell University Library.

Richard Weiner, a researcher at teh University of Zrizona and one of the authors, walked press through some of the conclusions. He said;

“There’ll be a continuing loss of membership among people that identify themselves as belonging to a religion. Over time, we could reach a time where society is dominated by people who claim religious non-affiliation,”

In the Czech Republic nearly 60% of people identified themselves as non-affiliated with religion. That was the highest recorded in the study. Countries like The Netherlands have a non-believer percentage in the 40% area but that figure is predicted to soar to 70% by 2050. That’s less than 40 years.

In Pure Spirit

Are you a non-believer? Do you think this is a natural course of the development of society or does the possible exctinction of religion in some countries herald a terrible tradigy?

Photo credit: Jerzy Kociatkiewicz

Flaming faces haunt burning New Zealand building

May 6, 2009 by Andrew 8 Comments

New Zealand newspaper The Press has been collecting photographs taken in New Zealand of ghostly and unexplained sightings.

The paper dismissed most of the photographs as explainable and orbs, in particular, where described as dust on the camera lens.

Some of the photographs, however, were not so easily categorised by the judges.

Of particular note is the sighting of a ghostly face of flames peering out of the window of a burning building.

The photograph was taken in 2006 by the Volunteer Fire Brigade of Westport while they attended the scene.

A single photograph might have been dismissed as a trick of the light, smoke or perhaps an odd reflection. However, the Westport Fire Brigade has two separate pictures of the same incident that clearly show the face-like image in the flames.

New Zealand Paranormal Investigation Society director Brad Scott was shown the pictures collected by The Press.

He said, I hate orbs with a passion because I know they’re dust. There’s nothing paranormal about a little flick of dust.”

Scott added, “If you see a face in the window, it could just be a reflection of light. There are very few paranormal pictures out there,”

The New Zealand Skeptics Society wrote the pictures off. A spokeswoman said, “Shots involving fire, smoke and fog are notorious for producing ghost images.

“These indistinct environments produce the kind of patterns we try to resolve as meaningful, and the most meaningful pattern we know is the human form.”

The competition also highlighted pictures of a ghostly face peering out of a washing basket.

Another picture that caught the judges’ attention was of two Linwood College students posing together. Squashed between the two students seems to be a disembodied head.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Are these photographs just the effects of smoke and light or do they show something else?

Mother drowned in Maori exorcism

May 4, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

: Image by stewils via Flickr

A court in Wellington, New Zealand, was told that a family drowned Janet Moses in an attempt to remove a makutu or curse from her.

All nine people charged with manslaughter, three men and six women, are members of Moses’ family.

Trouble began for Janet Moses when her sister stole a lion statue from a local pub. Janet started acting oddly and a kaumatua, a tribal elder, explained to the family she would continue to do so until the statue was returned.

However, even after the lion statue was returned to the pub Janet Moses continued to act strangely. The family came to believe that she had become possessed.

The family exorcism began with karakia, prayers and incantations, but became more intense with shouting and water being poured down Janet Moses’ throat and into her eyes.

The New Zealand court was told that her 14 year old cousin also had her eyes gouged during the exorcism and had water poured down her throat.

In Pure Spirit

This is a sad story. It seems all to clear that the family was trying to help. If you were the judge what would you rule?

Is it a good or bad that these traditional beliefs persist?