Fighting the N Word Sigil - WARNING: contains profanity and offensive language

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.

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.

The Red Dress Project story - a guest feature by Janet Callahan

Sometimes, this column will feature guest writers.  This is one of those times.  Janet Callahan is a esteemed writer, activist, and extraordinary woman.  She has graciously allowed me to share some of her writing on a  powerful topic in this space.  This is her story.

There is a secret epidemic in the United States and in Canada, though only Canada is currently receiving global attention for it.

The epidemic is that of violence against Native/Indigenous women.

A Native American woman in the US is, on average, more likely to be a victim of physical assault (almost 2/3 of them report abuse) [1] than the average American woman, and nearly twice as likely as the average American woman to be a victim of sexual assault in her lifetime [2]. On some reservations, women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the national average [1].

But beyond all that, the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women has become an issue for the UN. In Canada, a recent study shows there are just less than 1200 missing and/or murdered women whose cases are unsolved since 1952 [3]. First Nations and Inuit women make up only 4% of Canada’s population, but make up 16% of murders [4].

Even when an actress who has “made it” disappears, it much the same – no one looks for her, she barely makes the news, and her death is brushed aside as a non-issue, her body only found because her family insisted on looking for her. [5] She, too, reported having been raped as a child.

It’s not just Native women on reservations that face this violence – urban Indians, too, are often seen as exotic, and prostitution is presented to them as a way out of poverty and other unpleasant circumstances [6].

While looking up statistics for this article, I ran across statistics for Australian Aboriginal women, who turn out to be 31 times more likely to be hospitalized due to injuries from assaults than other Australian women. [7]

So, one might ask, what is being done about this? 

Since the various governments involved seem incapable of solving the problem themselves, Native women are taking on the task of awareness.

The Red Dress Project [8] is presented by an artist in Canada, who seeks to place red dresses across Canada to remind viewers of missing women. Sing Our Rivers Red [9] is a similar US based project, where single earrings represent the missing, and specifically calls attention to the fact that those standing in the intersection of LGBTQQIA issues and violence against Native women are equally at risk (probably moreso, since they are more likely the targets of gender/orientation based bias to begin with).

From a more personal standpoint: I am Native American (my mom’s side of the family is Lakota, my dad’s side of the family is German), I am an enrolled member of my tribe. Of the women in my family who are my mother’s generation and my grandmother’s generation, I know that at least half, and probably more, were victims of violence. Of my generation, again, at least half of us, possibly more, have been victims – and I’m among the oldest of us. Some of us have children now, and some of them have already been victims, before even graduating high school. Somehow, this cycle of violence has to stop.

[1] http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2015/3/4/hollywood-horror-actress-death-highlights-native-american-womens-woes.html

 [2] https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/172837.pdf

[3] http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/03/nearly-1200-missing-murdered-aboriginal-women-canada-rcmp-154722

 [4] https://news.vice.com/article/un-tells-canada-to-solve-the-1200-missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-cases

 [5] http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/jun/30/misty-upham-native-american-actress-tragic-death-inspiring-life

[6] http://www.startribune.com/native-women-easy-prey-for-traffickers/218171361/

[7] http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/09/indigenous-women-injured-at-31-times-the-rate-of-non-indigenous-women

[8] http://www.redressproject.org/

[9] https://singourriversred.wordpress.com/

 

The Little Witch's Ball press release - presented for your enjoyment here in Michigan

Little Witches Ball

October 9, 2015
6 pm – 10 pm
VFW Hall
25500 Sherwood Ave
Warren, MI 48091

This years theme is going to be “Welcome To Hogwarts” from the Harry Potter movies and books to match the grown up Witches Ball theme “Magic and Mayhem”.

This is going to be a blast for our children, we will have soft drinks – Pizza and music. We are requesting donations of candy flat ware and party decorations and of course money…all donations may be given to Gerrybrete Leonard or Merlyn Firstborn.

Want to Sponsor? Get a Link to Your site Here

Admission: Children up to 17 years old $7.50 Adults 18 years and older $10.00 Church members the prices are Children up to 17 years old $5.00 Adults 18 years and older $7.50

Children Under 10 must be accompanied by a parent.

Tickets may be purchased at the following link and your PayPal receipt will serve as your ticket.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1633824370200874/
http://www.meetup.com/michiganpagans/events/223867943/
Purchase your Tickets Here http://usoam.org/little-witches-ball/

We will be collecting food for Pagans In Need http://pagansinneed.org/

We will also be collecting Toys for Yule, so please bring a new unwrapped toy to donate.

Little Witches Ball 2015

Friday, October 9 at 6:00pm

VFW Hall 25500 Sherwood Ave Warren, MI 48091

You were invited by Gordon Ireland

On the Day of Hestia Tamia, let us open our storehouses for S. Baxter Jones

There is a prayer devotional in The Pagan Book of Hours:  Breviary that brings to the heart the needful rightness of welcoming strangers.  In this space today, I ask that you open your hearts and minds and altars to the presence of S. Baxter Jones, and give him hospitality.  For none need comfort and support quite like this traveler in perilous shadows as he fights for his home against the forces facing him now.

His story has been featured in several places, yet this man is one of our Michigan own.  Not Pagan, Neo Pagan, but human, his story reaches beyond the need for soup can religious labels and reaches into the heart of what it means to be a ward of the Gods.  There is no greater mission than this, to reach across and lift up those who are oppressed among us.

And yet, his story seems to be missed in the righteous wailing and moaning of those who are enamored with far away bodies and stories of those who are in another land, while here this body is suffering.  Our faces turn away to the tales of those writ large who capture the minds and media of the loudest.  Yet in the stillness, the truth abides and can be seen for those who would but open their eyes, who have ears that hear.  So it is this spirit, it is time to hear a voice that has been lost among the cries of the whirlwhind.

 Mr. Jones, a Detroit public school teacher for 22 years, lost his home to foreclosure in 2011 when he fell behind on his mortgage payments after suffering disabling injuries in an automobile accident. Wells Fargo, servicer for Fannie Mae, refused to grant a forebearance and/or modification for Mr. Jones while he was obtaining disability benefits in violation of federal regulation.

In 2013, Mr. Jones’s offer to purchase his home at market value was turned down by Fannie Mae. Despite Fannie Mae and the FHFA’s recently announced Buyback policy allowing Michigan homeowners to repurchase their foreclosed home at market value, they are refusing to reconsider this denial.

It is to Hestia that it would seem to be the mindful devotion as we set our lights and lamps, as Mr. Jones has decided to go on a hunger strike.  While we fill our bodies with sustenance, he hungers not only for food but for rightful justice.  The fast removes him nutritionally as a representation that highlights his removal from the due and correct share of fair societal treatment as he seeks to regain the home being ripped from him at 8789 Rexford, Jackson, MI 49201.

Today is the Day of Hestia Tamia, and it is on this day that this writer asks that you lay out a feast, not for yourself, but for someone else.  Today, let your fingers rise and leaven this burden, like bread, and make the calls, send the emails, and write the letters.   Let today your Twitter fingers become like the grain as it is threshed, flying high and landing with weight.  Today, let the hunger he feels be your own, and sit at that bare table so that it can be filled with that light and goodness that those who read this column are embers for in the torch against the cold.

To sacrifice to Hestia is to put that food
In the bellies of others than yourselves.
To sacrifice to Hestia is to bring in strangers
From the cold and the wet, and offer them food
And drink, no matter how little you have.
To sacrifice to Hestia is to remember the Law
Of Hospitality, and how the Gods all love that Law,
And that the stranger most soiled and tattered
May be a vessel of the Gods in disguise.  --

The Pagan Book of Hours:  Breviary

  

Call Katrina Jones, of Fannie Mae at 215-575-1400 or email katrina_jones@fanniemae.com, so that the Gods may find that we are still good and right.  Make known that we demand, require, and stand firm that S. Baxter Jones must be evaluated under the FHFA Buyback Program as is lawful. 
Please refer to FHFA file# H-15-1408"

 Set your hospitality table and let forth the stranger into your home.  Open the storehouse of your hearts, and light your brown candles.  And let us make a pleasing welcome of our deeds.

Parsley, Sage, Marijuana, and Thyme - why herbal identification training is sorely needed

Bright Blessings.

So, occasionally this column will focus on human interests stories, or person anecdotes.  These are presented as such, and are not in any way to be confused with the normal news.   This story is one of those anecdotes that deals with the burdens of being an aspiring herb wife and Pagan.

Over the freeway, and through the streets, to my Mother's house, this writer went.  To deliver a bundle of freshly picked herbs, my mission was one of pleasant joyfulness.  Upon placing a brimming small basket full of greenery on her cocktail table, the bundles and bunches were sorted and identified for her usage in her culinary pursuits.  Sage, parsley, thyme, oregano, Tiger Teeth peppers, mint, and a few odds and ends from the garden were sampled, sniffed, and set to the side.

After a few days, a phone call split the mundane pace of my day.  It was from downtown Detroit, and on the other line was a laughing, yet slightly offended, mom.  As she related the following, the story became more and more absurd until even this writer was puzzled as to how the minds of folks work.

You see, dear readers, an acquaintance had come to her home had spent some time chatting and enjoying the afternoon in her living room area.  During this visit, this friend noticed the bundles of herbs.  After being informed that they were grown by the daughter, this writer, she inquired as to their types.

As my mother proudly listed each one as best she remembered, the person started acting strangely.  Picking up a bundle, she pointedly asked if this bunch was marijuana.  You know, cannibis.  At this, one can imagine the look of incredulity that passed across my mother's face.  The acquaintance became quite insistent that it would be this, as the daughter is strange anyway.

After a moment of weighty silence, she was asked quite directly what would make her think that any daughter would gift her mother with a bundle of "weed" when she was clearly bringing over herbs.  Reevaluation of the mental faculties of this person took place on the spot.  The eternal mantra of the unpleasantly surprised came forward, "What is wrong with you?", and she was courteously encourage to consider her stay a tad bit overlong.

The fact that the writer is "strange" was code word for "witch" in these circles.  But seriously, when does that make one the local Cheech and Chong dream delivery franchisee?  The fact is, there are so many people who never take the time to look at what herbs, or other foods, look like before they are processed lead to this messiness.  Seriously, sage is not cannibis.

And if she is mistaking it for something she has had before, it is time to reconsider her sources.  Though to be frank, she does not seem the type to be featuring a bong display on her tatted lace doily collection.  While it is encouraging that she attempted field identification with limited training, it is most unfortunate that that was the first intuitive leap she would make.

Gentle readers, this writer encourages you to take to the highways, the hills, the byways, the streets, and the recreation centers to share your knowledge of actual herbs.  Please spread the word that just because it is on a stem, and has flowers and greenery that is not grass or hostas, does not mean it is a drug.  Shaking of the heads, indeed, were shared over this phone call.  Please don't let it happen to your friends and loved ones.  Only you can inspire a potential wildcrafter my fellow Detroit peeps, only you.

Happy First Anniversary, Pagan Pathways Temple

Happy Anniversary wishes are in order.  It is almost a year since Pagan Pathways Temple opened its brick and mortar doors to the Pagans in Southeast Michigan.  And what a year it has been.

Community town hall meetings, classes, workshops, and Wiccan services have all been held in its walls.  Weddings, a community thanksgiving, and a community center aspect that has hosted children's activities has made this home to many.  When there is no where else to find answers for the new seeker, this wonderful board and its leader, Rev. Nashan, have opened their arms and hearts to all who would come in peace and sincerity.

And now, wow, a full year has gone by since the opening.  The smiling face, beaming with pride and happiness, that was Nashan's is still easily brought to mind.  It was a celebration for all as they opening ritual raised a joyful noise with the music of "Happy" lifting all spirits in joining with their accomplishment.  

But as this writer always says, "The work is only done, by those who do the work".  And while they have been working their bodies and minds well beyond the limits of reasonable expectation, there are still many who have not heard of their existence, nor their message of inclusive Paganism.  They hold space for us, and for that, we give them honor.

So without any further delay, it is with great awe that the words of the good Reverend Nashan are shared here from his announcement regarding the anniversary celebration on September 12-13, 2015.  A good day to make a good memory and associate with the building of something good and right.  A good day to come out and contribute to the continued existence of this place. 

"Greetings all!

Well the official countdown has begun. 11 days until we begin our celebration of one complete year of service to the community that we Love. I would first like to thank the Pagan Pathways Temple Board for all of your hard work this year and your hard work in putting together this 2 day event. You guys inspire me! smile emoticon Love you.

I would also like to thank our dedicated staff of volunteers who (often times without being asked) take the time out of their schedules to work our events, clean the temple, act as temple keepers, and just get everything we need to get done, done. You guys Rock so hard!

Now we have a number of things coming up, but None as big as our Anniversary celebration. We have 2 days of fun and fellowship in store for you all and we sincerely hope you come and celebrate with us both days.

The schedule of events will be posted here on FB and on our website shortly so check back here soon.

Our goal is no less than 200 people each day showing up to hang out with us. We want to spread the word far and wide that the Temple is open and here to stay! So bring a friend. Bring that certain someone who has meant to get down to the temple, but just hasn't had that chance.

Join us as we change the world!

Blessed Be

Nashan"