Drawing a Line in the Sand

There is a lot about cultural appropriation in the pagan blogosphere lately.  What is right?  What is crossing a line?  This article sums up my personal feelings on the subject.

My personal practice has come from years of experience, research, and experimentation.  My practice includes Native American Shaminism, Huna (Hawaiian), Buddhism, Feri, Wicca, ADF Druidism and bits and pieces from every person I've encountered in my life.  It's how I learn and how I become.  What I do use, I use with great respect and honor.

Drawing a Line in the Sand ~ Racism in Paganism
by Amythyst Raine

There appears to be new pervasive negative influences rumbling through the pagan world.  This movement is slowly building walls, creating boxes for sorting and labeling people, their beliefs, and practices. It’s negative, harmful, hurtful, constricting, and goes against everything I believe and think about paganism and spirituality.  While these ideas are being spread and presented as a movement against racism and cultural appropriation, they actually enhance and promote racism.  These ideas pave the way to restriction and segregation of human beings and their free will to practice their spirituality, to embrace the divine in their own way, through their own means, across cultural and ethnic boundaries.

The people promoting this type of restricted spirituality talk about “Closed Cultures”, often stating that before you can honor and worship a divinity from a culture that is not the culture you were born to, you need “permission”.  I adore Kuan Yin, I have loved this goddess most of my life, I honor her in my home with statues in her image, with candles, herbs, and flowers on my home altar, with a tattoo on my body.  I’m not going to contact the Chinese embassy and ask their permission to adore and worship Kuan Yin.  Period.  And no pagan anywhere in the world has a right to stamp their foot and demand that I seek this “permission”.  Period.

My book, The Spiritual Feminist, has aroused the ire of the “Spiritual Separatists”, as I call them.  I was accused of cultural appropriation and racism because my list of 45 goddesses include goddesses from around the world, goddesses from many different cultures and ethnicities.  The irony of these accusations against me were not lost on me.

I’m an American, my own ancestry and heritage is a melting pot of several different cultures and ethnicities.  I don’t have a right to worship or embrace Native American spiritual practices?…Both of my great-grandmothers have ties with American Native tribes.  One is a quarter Lakota Sioux, the other is a full-blooded Chippewa woman.  I don’t have a right to connect with Hawaiian deities?…My husband is Japanese, 3rd generation Pacific Islander, with family on the big island.

Do you see the danger here?  The ignorance?

Everything I believe and feel about spirituality in general, and paganism in particular, is sullied and tainted by the “Spiritual Separatists” and their attempts to police our spirituality and spiritual practices.  If we sit back and allow this movement to grow, if we allow these people to intimidate us, if we allow these people to insult and label us, we will contribute to the destruction of our religious freedom.  Instead of trying to “protect” cultures and ethnicities from “appropriation”, they are dividing and classifying people according to race, they are in effect trying to implement spiritual separation.

Pagans unite for Religious Freedom!  Support “Multi-Cultural Spirituality”.

Note ~ I talk about racism in paganism in the last segment of this radio broadcast:  “Something Wytchy” with host Onyx Moon

The Metta Sutra

The metta sutra.
by Michelle Margaret Fajkus

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

~ Buddha

Animals

I've always loved animals...well, most animals.  And although I've never done anything to directly find my spirit animal(s)/animal guide(s), I've felt connections to certain animals.  Made sense to list them out and then do a bit of digging into their meanings.  So, for now, the list:

• Panda
• Polar bear
• Bear
• Snow Leopard
• Gorilla
• Cow
• Turtle
• Frog
• Manatee
• Elephant
• Giraffe
• Otter
• Dog/Wolf/Canine
• Seal/Sea Lion

Looking at my list, most are Earth animals with a few Water animals tossed in.  Considering I'm most affiliated with those elements and affectionately call myself Mud, it makes sense.  I would like to find a connection to an Air and Fire animal or two, but we shall see.  Just off the top of my head, Air animals I am curious about would be Owl and Cardinal and Fire animals could be Salamanders and certain Lizards.

Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF)

Guess who joined ADF?  ME!

Focus round one, part two

Why do I feel I need to be proficient at something "witchy"?  Will it prove my status within my community?  Will it prove to be worthwhile?  Can it make me a more valuable witch?

Nope.  Nah.  And no.

So why do I want to do it?  I realized something...I don't.

I do want to get better at numerology so I could go without a cheat sheet and still give people a bit of information.  And I want them to know I can work at getting them a more detailed report with some time.  I'm not going to claim to be a master at it, but I am going to consider it something that I can and will do.

As for the rocks...that's what reference materials are for.  I do want to learn some stones that are good for specific things - the common needs so I can have that information without needing to reference a book or website.  I'd also like to know multiple properties on the more common stones that are easy to find for purchase.

It's good enough for me.  I don't have to be a master.  I am truly confident in myself, my abilities, and my achievements.  I only need to improve upon myself and be better than I was the day before.  There's no one I need to or want to impress.

Blog prompts

Starting in April, I'm going to use blog prompts from The Pagan Experience.  Check them out if you are interested.

Elemental colored pinwheels for Spring

Focus, round 1

I'm and eclectic pagan with lots of bits and pieces of information jammed in my brain.  I know a lot of things but nothing would I consider myself to be an expert at, heck, not even proficient.  That is going to change.

First, I've always been interested in stones - regular stones you find in the alley, crystals, gems, etc. - but I've never really studied them.  Yes, I have reference books to gather meanings and descriptions but I really want to work on getting a better knowledge base of stones.  This is the first focus area.

Second, would be my love of Numerology.  I have the basics of how to establish your numbers and can then reference what that all means.  I want to be able to know it and do readings without an aid.  I've taught a class on basic Numerology so I'm hopeful my lesson plan for that class will provide the basis for my study.  Also, since Numerology has so many different numbers, I'm going to start my focus on the Core numbers:

• Life or Birth Path number
• Expression, Personality, or Destiny number
• Soul Urge or Heart's Desire number
• Birthday number

So Numerology is my second focus area.

I shall begin working on both of those promptly and I expect my blog will reflect that.  It's a good place to start.

Prayer

Shortly after my husband and I separated and I moved to Omaha (September 2014), I began reciting a nightly prayer for my kids. It was my way of staying connected to and with them.  Here it is:

Zayne and Kyah - my stepkids

"By Earth, by Air, by Fire and Water

Please protect my son and daughter.

Keep them safe throughout the night,

Waking them gently when the time is right. 

Wrap them securely in the light of my love,

Protecting them from harm, both below and above  

Never let them doubt how much they mean to me,

For as I will it, so more it be". 

After my daughter passed away (January 2016), I needed to change it. My nightly prayer for my son remained the same with a few changes in the wording. 

"By Land, by Wind, by Flame and Rain

Please protect my amazing son Zayne.

Keep him safe throughout the night,

Waking him gently when the time is right. 

Wrap him securely in the light of my love,

Protecting him from harm, both below and above  

Never let him doubt how much he means to me,

For as I will it, so more it be". 

I've been struggling to write something for my daughter so I've been using the original prayer and modifying it for a single person and using feminine pronouns. But it doesn't quite fit so I'll be coming up with something - hopefully - soon. 

Nightly prayers are something of a comfort to me. I remember praying before bed as a child. My most vivid memory of nightly prayer comes from my paternal grandmother. She would pray every night, say a rosary, and read some from the bible. It was beautiful to watch her transform as she worked through her bedtime prayer routine. 

Besides the prayers for the kids, I often toss out a few other requests for those I love and hold most dear. Generally it's just a request that they be loved and protected and find peace. Occasionally I will offer up some love for someone I've never met but have heard could use a boost. This could be from a news report, word-of-mouth, or a donor I've spoken with at work. 

As I write this, I realize that I don't pray for myself. As per typical Shanda fashion, my focus and concern is for others.  This is something I plan to actively work at changing because I need the love and support too. 

Starting up again

I've decided to start blogging again.  I currently have 3 different blogs but am going to do my best to blog weekly - at least - in each blog.  If it comes down to it, my goal is one blog post a week.

For this blog, I've decided to loosely follow prompts from two different programs.  The Pagan Experience is a weekly prompt set up in a month-to-month forum.  Each month has an overall theme and the weekly prompts are arranged with some alphabetical ranges.  Posts are shared weekly on Sundays.

The other program is the Grimoire Challenge on Tumblr.  The prompts are presented weekly will there being writing prompts for most days.  The idea with this challenge is to set up your grimoire by the end of the year into a way that works for your and your workings.