We have had two complaints about an article wrote by Charles Walker in which he implied that black candle remains found in West Kennet Long Barrow were evidence of Black Magic rituals. I support these complaints and we have stuck up a disclaimer stating the views expressed in the article are those of the author, not Mysteriousbriatin. Many pagans use black candles, not just black magic practitioners.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/occult/westkennetoccult.html

However, I am researching a piece where I have a quote about a severed pig's head being found on an altar block in a stonehenge type folly built 190 years ago. The quote says it is evidence of Black Magic. Is it? Am we going to get people saying we use those all the time in our wiccan circle? The quote isn't mine so I could stick our disclaimer on it, but does anyone know of a ritual using a severed pigs head?

The two main Satanic organizations, the Church of Satan and the Temple of Seth, both strictly forbid animal sacrifices and the use of animal parts in their rituals. As far as I am aware even quite a few British home-grown cults do so, although it's not possible to say if this is done out of belief or to draw as little attention as possible.
As far as Pagans are concerned a few sects have been suspected of practicing animal sacrifice in the past and Odinists are known to "sacrifice" to their Gods supermarket-purchased meat, though this is almost invariably incinerated or consumed in a ritualistic feast and not left laying around. They tend to favour lamb.
I can assure you that traditional Wiccans would have nothing to do with using animal parts in their rituals, let alone willingly harm an animal. They are quite a bit touchy on the subject...
Caribbean and Latin American religions originated from African belief systems (Santeria, Palo Mayombe, Candoblé etc) are known to make vast use of both colored candles and animal sacrifice, though the latter almost invariably involve a chicken or, if circustances allow, a goat.

The problem is there litterally hundreds of dabblers in the occult and "weekend satanists" out there, those beliefs and methods cannot be fathomed and tend to be quite crude and unpleasant, ranging from writing 666 on a wall with spray paint to graveyard desacration. Also do not rule out pranksters.
In my opinion the culprits are to be found in these latter categories.

Ian, back in the mists of time the only things we found at so called "black magic ritual sites" were the remains of Red candles and offerings of flowers, unless my mind has blanked anything else out. Remember the chaos magic ritual we observed at the bottom of Glasonbry Tor ? When we went back the day after, only the remains of red candles were there. I did think at the first glance it was some bloody entrails but on closer examination it was wax
As for animal remains, we never found any. Probably the sites we went to were used by wiccans or pagans.

I did come across in a book once that an egg is a suitable sacrifice to the gods, as full blown animal sacrifice was a bit on a no no and very probably illegal.

On a similar note regarding offerings, i don't quite understand pagans/wiccans/whomever leaving offerings of cut flowers, surely the gods would be much happier if they received some seeds that something can grow from ? instead of just rotting away. Imagine a stone circle or similar with a nice bed of wildflowers ramdomly growing round it, wouldnt that be nice

Red candles and flower offerings are most often associated with African-influenced religions. The devotees are almost invariably of African or Caribbean descent. It would appear that flowers are considered a suitable replacement for chicken and goats in Europe. There has been a case like this around here recently and the "culprits" where found to be a group of immigrants from Ghana or Guinea (cannot remember right now). The presence of half-smoked cigars and/or bottles of spirits is a clear giveaway sign. Bear in mind that practicioners of traditional African and Caribbean religions are quite secretive and do not freely share their beliefs with outsiders. That's how Hoodoo and Santeria got their reputation as sinister cults.

As regarding the pigs head I am still saying that the culprits are either dabblers in the occult (and having no affiliation are very difficult to track down) or pranksters (this may include "artists" trying to "shock" the public).

Most modern Pagans are animal lovers, many are vegetarians. I'm a Pagan myself, have been for many years, and I don't know a single person that would sacrifice an animal. We usually make offerings of things like wine or bread or flowers. LeeWat, I very much like the idea of offering seeds so something can grow.

In days gone by our Pagan ancestors would sacrifice animals, or even humans, but their understanding of the world was very much different from ours today. Thankfully things have moved on, though I believe that there are still parts of the world where believers make gruesome sacrifices.

I'm not sure what to make of the pigs head. IF it was some sort of ritual sacrifice then I dare say it was done by some very misguided people. Maybe it was just a prank?

Inghinn