This piece was inspired by the conversations that this writer has been having over the last year in the Pagan Communities in Michigan. It comes from all races. Not seeming to understand how much they are feeding that peculiar servitor used against the African diaspora in this nation, many have continued to give it life and energy. Whether through ignorance, wrong headed belief in "passes" because of relationships that have created a "fictive kin" style status, or through flat out thinly veiled opportunistic bigotry hidden in a smile, it continues to arise.
So, let us write the word out, shall we? The word is N.I.G.G.E.R., N.I.G.G.A., and any other of the myriad creative spellings that have popped up. Polite Pagans in Michigan have used the word "N.E.G.R.A." and "Colored" in my presence at gatherings as well. This is 2015 C.E. in Michigan. And yet, I am looking for the rice fields and the hot springs and the cotton plants to simply materialize next to where I stood. They then, without fail, somehow found a way to inject the variations of the N word into the conversation. Usually to distinguish that they would never presume to use it in a derogatory way, and "don't you people use it", "your people use it all the time", "it doesn't have the same meaning when we use it ourselves".
So now, let me clear my throat and skim the froth from my cauldron. Read this very carefully, and with comprehension. Phone a friend if it is not easily understandable.
Every time we use that word, we feed it and its history. It does not change its nature because we dress it up and try to use phrases like semantic inversion. It does not change its intent, because that is what gives this energetic creation life - INTENT- (you learned that in the beginning, right?), because we simply wish to use it with impunity and offer petty excuses for it.
This author challenges anyone to show me how using the word "C.U.N.T." or "H.U.M.A.N. G.A.R.B.A.G.E." or any other insult can be inverted into a good thing. How much more vile, then, is the ludicrous assertion by anyone that the word has somehow miraculously come to mean "an ignorant person".
Such a person, or persons, sound like either fools, liars, or mental slaves. It is not, nor has it ever been, acceptable to call anyone of an enlightened mind a racial or ethnic slur as a term of affection. And to do so is to spit into the soul of every ancestor that came before every member of the African diaspora in this United States culture.
Let the lie go. Do not let your former oppressors turn you into your own. Educated people do not use this word. That has nothing to do with formal academia. It has to do with social and spiritual education and maturity. How can you come before your altar with the shadows and stains of speaking this filth upon the same lips and tongue you use to send praises to your Divine?
Do you include this word in your prayers? Is it in the lexicon of chants that you share around the bonfire and the circles? Have you seen a ritual anywhere that celebrates this? IF so, please feel free to comment below with time, place, and purpose of same. We will wait.
How dare you? Substitute that N word for the word child, priest, priestess, or any other term in your rituals and tell me how that works. How does that feel? How about you add a candle with an image of a lynched person on it and tell me how that semantic inversion works when you do a spirit communication with them and attempt to explain how it is acceptable for you to use that word in greeting.
Now, for those folks who use that word who are not of this ancestry, let's have a chat. What is that part of you that thrills to life when you use it that you have not had a chance to do Shadow Work on yet? Because that is what is needed. This is not directed at the openly racist and bigoted. You have no such inclination toward self denial. You live in honest vainglorious bigotry.
But those that lie to themselves and let is spill like poisoned anointing oil from your tongue, what is the purpose of it? Is it to fit in? Is it a feeling of the taste of the forbidden? Really, let's just be honest. And here is a little more honesty:
So, let us write the word out, shall we? The word is N.I.G.G.E.R., N.I.G.G.A., and any other of the myriad creative spellings that have popped up. Polite Pagans in Michigan have used the word "N.E.G.R.A." and "Colored" in my presence at gatherings as well. This is 2015 C.E. in Michigan. And yet, I am looking for the rice fields and the hot springs and the cotton plants to simply materialize next to where I stood. They then, without fail, somehow found a way to inject the variations of the N word into the conversation. Usually to distinguish that they would never presume to use it in a derogatory way, and "don't you people use it", "your people use it all the time", "it doesn't have the same meaning when we use it ourselves".
So now, let me clear my throat and skim the froth from my cauldron. Read this very carefully, and with comprehension. Phone a friend if it is not easily understandable.
IT IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE TO USE THAT WORD IN THE PRESENCE OF ANYONE OF WITH EVEN THE SLIGHTEST MODICUM OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE.We are magicians. We bend reality to our Will. We make matters alter from the stuff of the ethereal manifest on this plan through ways unseen and unfathomable. AND YET, SOME OF US ARE STILL FEEDING A GODS DAMNED SERVITOR OF HATRED WITH OUR VERY MOUTHS AND SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH IT.
Every time we use that word, we feed it and its history. It does not change its nature because we dress it up and try to use phrases like semantic inversion. It does not change its intent, because that is what gives this energetic creation life - INTENT- (you learned that in the beginning, right?), because we simply wish to use it with impunity and offer petty excuses for it.
This author challenges anyone to show me how using the word "C.U.N.T." or "H.U.M.A.N. G.A.R.B.A.G.E." or any other insult can be inverted into a good thing. How much more vile, then, is the ludicrous assertion by anyone that the word has somehow miraculously come to mean "an ignorant person".
Such a person, or persons, sound like either fools, liars, or mental slaves. It is not, nor has it ever been, acceptable to call anyone of an enlightened mind a racial or ethnic slur as a term of affection. And to do so is to spit into the soul of every ancestor that came before every member of the African diaspora in this United States culture.
Let the lie go. Do not let your former oppressors turn you into your own. Educated people do not use this word. That has nothing to do with formal academia. It has to do with social and spiritual education and maturity. How can you come before your altar with the shadows and stains of speaking this filth upon the same lips and tongue you use to send praises to your Divine?
Do you include this word in your prayers? Is it in the lexicon of chants that you share around the bonfire and the circles? Have you seen a ritual anywhere that celebrates this? IF so, please feel free to comment below with time, place, and purpose of same. We will wait.
How dare you? Substitute that N word for the word child, priest, priestess, or any other term in your rituals and tell me how that works. How does that feel? How about you add a candle with an image of a lynched person on it and tell me how that semantic inversion works when you do a spirit communication with them and attempt to explain how it is acceptable for you to use that word in greeting.
ESPECIALLY IN A SPIRITUAL SETTING. IN ANY SETTING.And make sure you wait for an answer. Be brave in your assertions. Then see what it gets you. IF you would not use the word in front of your ancestors, then do not use it.
Now, for those folks who use that word who are not of this ancestry, let's have a chat. What is that part of you that thrills to life when you use it that you have not had a chance to do Shadow Work on yet? Because that is what is needed. This is not directed at the openly racist and bigoted. You have no such inclination toward self denial. You live in honest vainglorious bigotry.
But those that lie to themselves and let is spill like poisoned anointing oil from your tongue, what is the purpose of it? Is it to fit in? Is it a feeling of the taste of the forbidden? Really, let's just be honest. And here is a little more honesty:
NO ONE IS FOOLED, OR IS APPROVING, OF YOUR USAGE OF THIS WORD IF THEY HAVE ANY EDUCATION AND ASCENSION OF SPIRIT. YOUR USAGE IS OFFENSIVE AND IS PLAIN OUT DISGUSTING FILTH.Remember, "as a man thinketh". So what does that make the user, hmmmm? Since some of you are willfully stiff necked, this writer will spell it out. It means that inside, there is a part of you that is filth and should be addressed. Here's the besom and the mirror, get to work. Have a look, if you are so inclined, to pursue some education on the topic.
Well said!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
ReplyDelete