The Serpent's Wisdom

Signal boosting for Kyrene Ariadne:

I want to form a group devoted to Artemis for the benefit of supporting women (both cis and trans) who have undergone assault, abuse, and/or gender discrimination.

I’d like the group to do community work, fundraisers, that sort of thing. Fundraisers could include things like publishing hymns and stories about the goddess and donating the proceeds to a related charity of choice. I have publishing connections that can help us out in this arena and give us the capacity to be both in print and e-book.

This will not be about tiara-chasing, priest(ess)ing, feathers in your cap, or what-have-you. It’ll be about doing *work*.

If you’re interested, leave me a message here or email me at kyrene(at)gmail(dot)com. This group will be open to anyone regardless of where you fall on the pagan/Hellenismos/recon/
whatever line, I truly don’t care. The cause is what matters. The only thing I insist is that a safe space is supported for anyone who joins up, as they may be survivors themselves.

Reading Guy Gavriel Kay's Ysabel. I'm glad i'm reading this now, it's a Beltane story and i can use a few glimpses of spring to come. (Yes, technically it's here, but the continuing cold and crappy weather kind of belies what i think of as "spring.")

The theme, halfway into this book at least, seems to be encounters with the numinous, which is a worthy topic. I don't know if they are proof that we don't understand reality as well as we think we do, or hiccups in the process of consciousness, or what, but each of us can probably tell a tale or three of things which have happened in our lives which we can't explain, or moments where we have touched a greater awareness than we usually enjoy.

When i was young my moments had a very Christian feel to them. Around the time i was 13 they began to take on a much more Pagan and occult feel. This was not something i chose, it is just the nature of things which i've seen or dreamed and felt.

When Kay writes about these kinds of encounters his work takes on an unusually powerful aspect; it goes from good to gripping. Crispin's encounter with the bull spirit on the road to Sarantium; Alun ab Owyn's encounter with the fairies in Last Light of the Sun - these are among the most memorable moments in his books. These overtly pagan moments are set against the backdrop of the prevailing religion, Jadism - the equivalent of Christianity in his fictional universe - which he depicts as legalistic and spiritually devoid. Anyway it's exciting to see that he's given this type of encounter center-stage in one of his novels for a change.

E-Sheep's famous Saturnalia tract (NSFW) is ten years old!

It's been a very dark fall... i'm very gladly welcoming the return of the light!

Two nights ago i dreamed of the Green Man... which i thought was very unsual, since i have not been overtly "pagan" in years. But it's not about what religion you are, or what you believe. Personally, i try to "believe" as little as possible. It's about having the bravery to seek awareness of the interconnectedness and interbeing of life. In a cannibalistic society like this, that's an act of bravery.

To what extent might the neopagan movement be guilty of cultural appropriation?

I'm going to clean up a definition of cultural appropriation from this page: "Cultural appropriation occurs when members of a majority group (usually Whites or otherwise Eurocentric folks) mine a minority culture for the jewels of its heritage for their own pleasure or benefit while the voices of that culture remain silent or silenced." It is a tool of oppression which contributes to the silencing of an oppressed class by detaching its members from meaningful connection with their own heritage.

From this short essay:

[Rev. Danielle Di Bona, VP of the Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUMM)] stressed that the context in which cultural symbols and practices are expressed is extremely meaningful. "The specificity [of their use] is so complete, that visiting Native Americans do not participate in another tribe's rituals, and to do so would be perceived as foolish. "I would not even practice the rituals of my own tribe, because I am not an elder or spiritual leader." If this is true of her own people, then the use of these things by others who share no cultural context is seen not only as particularly foolish and inappropriate.

In the United States, cultural appropriation can be a mixed blessing, because it might bring visibility or commerce to a subculture which would otherwise be invisible and/or shunned. Also, it is tempting to ask, if many of the people selling Native American items are themselves Native American, how are they being harmed? This illustrates how subtle the matter can be (but also reminds me of how some attempted to defend American slavery by arguing that white slave-traders bought slaves from members of African tribes which had enslaved others).

Clearly it is cultural appropriation to buy sacred items from someone else's religion to use them as decorations. But what if you are buying them as items to use in worship? It might get a little murky there, but you'd have to ask yourself, am I doing this in the context of a genuine connection to people in a living culture? Or am I worshipping goddess X because I liked what I read about her in a Llewellyn book?

Even murkier: is it cultural appropriation to reconstruct religions long dead? Or to read about other traditions and draw inspiration therefrom? Or to play musical instruments or wear fabrics from another culture, or eat at ethnic restaurants? (I'm leaning no on these, because they are not involved in the silencing of an oppressed class, and these have been aspects of international trade for milennia.)

At the heart of the issue is the motivation we experience -- a search for meaning and beauty, combined with the feeling among seekers that relevant aspects of dominant American culture are corrupt. For example, if an American feels that Christianity is corrupt or feels disconnected from it, where else might one turn for spiritual expression but the religions of other cultures? And where does one cross the line from "drawing inspiration" into cultural appropriation?

While writing this it dawned on me that several of my icons, including the one of Mohini which has been my default for some time, is probably an example of cultural appropriation. I have very specific reasons for feeling connected to the myth of Mohini, but she does not represent my heritage and it does not seem that I have earned the right to use her image.

"Neo-paganism initially focused on heterosexual union because the roots of our reconstruction are based in fertility cults - fertility of the tribe and fertility of the crops. No gay witch is going to dispute the role of fertility. We all got here through reproduction. But a gay witch will recognize that everyone has male and female, god and goddess energy in themselves. All men have feminine energy. All women have masculine energy. GLBT folk have a different blend of these energies when compared to the traditional heterosexual roles. It makes them perfect for magical world, because they can access whatever current of energy that is needed."
Christopher Penczak, in this Beliefnet interview on his new book, Gay Witchcraft (emphasis added)

Do you agree or disagree with the part of this statement that I highlighted? This matches my own beliefs and experience, going back to when I was a practicing ceremonialist.

Expanding the idea beyond neopaganism or witchcraft -- it has long been my contention that being transgendered, and to a lesser extent being non-heterosexual, is a great spiritual blessing, no matter what one's beliefs are. There are difficulties associated with it, but these are far outweighed by the spiritual insights brought about by the perspective one has, and by the personal discoveries one must face, because of it. We are creatures of uncommon beauty.

Here is the text of the pulpit essay I am reading tomorrow at church.

( Perfect Love and Perfect Trust )

Sometimes it seems like ideas just come through you, instead of to you.

Was thinking about alobar's description of the game of Destiny, and his lament that there was not a large enough group of familiar people in New Orleans to have a viable game. I thought, "Well, we'll just have to bring them *back* here, then," and the following idea was born. Of course, it is now way beyond the game of Destiny, but I'm on a roll now.

Suppose a conclave were to be held, perhaps under the auspices of lady_babalon's Raven Clan. Suppose certain former (and future?) residents of New Orleans who now live in Massachusetts and Texas, and others, could be enticed to come here for an extended weekend.

Sketchier parts of the idea started to flesh themselves out while I was in the shower this morning. A possible location might be the clothing-optional campground in Slidell where the Wyldfyre festivals were held. As I understand it the owner of the place is pagan-friendly, though I'm not so sure about the management. (I know that three or four of you were directly involved with this -- do any of you care to speak on whether this is a viable option? I'm not about to call LC and ask.)

Since many of the friends who came to mind have an interest in BDSM it seems logical to acknowledge that in some way.

If we set it around Mabon, the preceeding weekend (Sept. 19-21) seems like a reasonable time to hold a campout in New Orleans. Another thought is Samhain, but I think the nights in Slidell are actually cool enough in late October to cause some of us to have hesitations about camping out then.

Thoughts?

EDIT: I would prefer to keep this as informal as possible. Nothing organized whatsoever -- perhaps a short itinerary of events -- but more or less just an agreed upon place and time.

Well, last night was to be the night that Dee and James announced their resignation as leaders of CUUPS.

They were talked out of it.

Many good words were said on the need to "heal rifts" and "build communities."

Some of the reasons for discord came out. Voices were a little raised, but sometimes that's how it has to be.

I'm waiting to see what happens before we judge it a success. We've had many good words before this, and still this happened.

New Moon rit, performed Tuesday night with CUUPS. Many of the ritual details are different from my usual working style (well, such as it was when I was an active ritualist), geared towards the language they are accustomed to.

The Priestess' portion of the guided meditation was written by Melissa Holder. The rest was me, taking some pretty obvious inspiration in many places. The simple feast portion is a modified form of the bread-and-honey dedication I performed during lady_babalon's ritual on Mardi Gras.

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