Gardening In The Deep Of Winter

Do you know it? Do you know the thick, connected mass of roots that make up a plant that you are pulling up from the ground, from a container, from your yard? Do you you know it? Do you know the water-saturated acorn that tries so seriously to make a new oak tree, before you can pull it up, before you realize what is growing in your yard?

The seed company tells me that it will be September 2007 before they will send me black hyacinths. Meanwhile, I will have planted white Queen Anne's lace. Meanwhle, my black iris will flower for the second year. Meanwhile, I will give D-i-L's mother seeds from my black hollyhocks for xmas. Meanwhile, meanwhile, I will grow what I can grow in this shady yard for yet-another year.

What Is It About YouTube That Wiccans Don't Get?????

Sweet Goddess, the Corellians, Goddess bless them, are all over YouTube. Where's Starhawk? Where's Katrina Messenger? Where's Thorn Coyle? Where's the Rad Fey Where's Carol Christ? Where are the witches of San Francisco? (Don't you know that the rest of us look to you, count on you, imagine that if the crash comes, we'll treck out there to find you?) Where's Lewellyn, for Goddess sake? Where's the serious thealogians?

If you were to judge by YouTube -- only the hottest and hippest way of communicating today -- all witches are either Corellians, people who put lots of pictures of witchy-stuff to some not-so-great music, or people who can't spell.

Come on, witches! Get with the program! There are lots of interesting, controversial, visually-fascinating things to say about modern witchcraft, about magic, about feminist wicca. But they're not being said, today, on YouTube.

Wiccan Pentacle Dedication Ceremony

Liberty & Justice for All.

The Property Of Those Higher On The Hierarchy Is More Valuable Than The Lives Of Those Below

{T]he property of those higher on the hierarchy is more valuable than the lives of those below. It is acceptable for those above to increase the amount of property they control -- in everyday language, to make money -- by destroying or taking the lives of those below. This is called "production." If those below damage the property of those above, those above may kill or otherwise destroy the lives of those below. This is called justice.

This is certainly true of our intraspecies relations. Police can and routinely do bust up homeless camps, but homeless people are not allowed to dismantle police stations (or the homes of the police). Petrochemical companies are allowed to make people's homes uninhabitable by toxifying the surrounding landscape, but the residents of those homes are not allowed to destroy the refineries (or the homes of the owners). Whites could, should, and would systematically destroy the possessions of the Indians, but Indians were not allowed to return the favor. And it's true of our interspecies relations, as industrial production systematically devours the living planet, any nonhumans who threaten productivity must be destroyed. . . . [If destruction by those above of those below were not a given in our society, we would not tolerate extinction of entire species of animals,] prisons would not be stocked with small-scale criminals[,] and civilization would collapse in a heartbeat.

From Endgame, Vol. I by Derrick Jensen

Perhaps He Could Be Educated Concerning Who Hijacked Whose Holiday. That Would Be A Good Place To Start

10,000 Reasons to Doubt the Fish has an interesting story about a neighborhood where people decorate their homes with lights this time of year. One neighbor decorated his yard with a lighted pentacle. His fundie neighbor went ballistic.

Fundy: "I'm so tired of you people, thinking you can just hijack the Lord's holiday for your own agenda. Don't you get it? This is about the birth of JESUS! That's what it's for! I don't need your satanic agenda shoved down my throat when you should be showing respect for Christ!"

If we want to have a discussion about one religion shoving its agenda down everyone else's throat, I know a good place we could start. (And if the fundie thinks that his neighbor erecting a light display on his own property is "shoving" the neighbor's religious agenda down the fundie's throat, whoa boy, I wonder what he'd think about living in a world where the Pagan holiday of Yule was a national holiday?)

It's funny, because one of the few things I enjoy about this holiday is the colored lights, although, good conservationist that I try to be, I don't put any up because they require electricity, which pollutes the air and emits greenhouse gases. (I know. I know. Grinch.) But I think the lighted pentacle is a good idea for the same reason that I thought it was a good idea for my friend R. to send home Yule flyers in school children's backpacks. It forces the fundies to realize that they're NOT the only ones celebrating a holiday at this time of year.


Image found here.

Living In A Theocracy -- And Ain't It Grand

At some time in the last six years, and I don't know the exact date, the United States of America became a theocracy. We now have the tax dollars collected from everyone -- atheists, Pagans, Hindus, Moslems -- going to support xian churches and xian proselytizing. And, our military has become openly theocratic.

Today's WaPo reports that: A military watchdog group is asking the Defense Department to investigate whether seven Army and Air Force officers violated regulations by appearing in uniform in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization.

In the video, MUCH OF WHICH WAS FILMED INSIDE THE PENTAGON, four generals and three colonels praise the Christian Embassy, a group that evangelizes among military leaders, politicians and diplomats in Washington. Some of the officers describe their efforts to spread their faith within the military. (emphasis added).

If you think just anyone can wander into the Pentagon and start shooting film, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd really like to sell to you.

The article goes on to remind us that: In 2003, Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin drew criticism for appearing in uniform before church groups and saying, in remarks captured on video, that President Bush was "appointed by God," that the United States is "a Christian nation" and that Muslims worship "an idol." The inspector general's office determined that Boykin had not violated any rules, and he remained in a top intelligence post.

Contrast that with the fact that: This year, Navy chaplain Gordon J. Klingenschmitt was court-martialed for appearing in uniform at a political protest in front of the White House, though he maintained that all he did was lead a prayer.

Welcome to the Theocratic States of America. The military -- the ones with the guns -- are whackjob religious fundies. We can't change things if we won't even acknowledge them.

Nice

Via Witchvox, Here's an article from the Nashua Telegraph that is another well-written, respectful discussion of Wicca by a small, local paper. I'm noticing more and more often that, while the WaPo pretends that minority relligions don't exist and while other large media outlets only cover Wiccans from the "ooooh, spooky" standpoint, lots of local papers do a decent job of reporting on local Wiccan events.

MILFORD – For most of us, the holiday season involves trudging through crowded shopping malls, enduring long, aggravating lines, and slogging through the mass exodus from said shopping malls.

On the other hand, many followers of pagan religions spend the weeks before their major winter holiday – Yule – making handmade gifts, pounding out their excess energy in drum circles, and working with calming herbs to cleanse the soul.The second annual Yule Festival in the Ancient Tradition, held at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, offered all of those options to practicing pagans and curious community members alike.

The Granite Tribe chapter of SpiralScouts International, the pagans’ answer to Boys and Girl Scouts, sponsored the event.

Fundies: Go Bitch To Falwell

Here's the follow up to several of the posts below concerning Pagans in Albermarle, Virginia who decided to hoist Jerry Falwell on his own petard.

My madcap friend, R., reports that there was a very nice turnout for the event. The first part of the day was educational, with presentations concerning a number of late-December holidays, including Kwanza, Channauka, and Yule. More people attended this event than attended the afternoon event, which was a children's celebration of Yule. It's likely that some of the people at the morning program were fundies, looking for something to complain about to the Board of Education. However, they behaved themselves and then vamoosed before the Yule celebration. The kids who stayed for the Yule celebration had a great time, especially helping the Fairy Guide turn the wheel of the year. Their parents were delighted that their kids had a chance to meet with/hang with some other Pagan kids and R. came away convinced that Pagans need to do more for our young people.

It's likely that the Board of Education will be re-examining their policy of sending home religious flyers with school children (which was always the intent), but the fundies are apparently split between those who are so determined to use the schools to prostyletize that they'll put up with a few Pagan flyers and those who now realize that there might be something to this separation of church and state business.
Go, R.!

Hmm. This Reminds Me Of Someone. Now Who Could It Be?

A psychopath can be defined as one who willfully does damage without remorse: "Such individuals are impulsive, insensitive to other's needs, and unable to anticipate the consequences of their behavior, to follow long-term goals, or to tolerate frustration. The psychopathic individual is characterized by absence of the guilt feelings and anxiety that normally accompany an antisocial act." Dr. Robert Hare, who has long studied psychopaths, makes clear that "among the most devastating features of psychopaths are a callous disregard for the rights of others and a propensity for predatory and violent behaviors. Without remorse, psychopaths charm and exploit others for their own gain. They lack empathy and a sense of responsibility, and they manipulate, lie and con others with no regard for anyone's feelings." Hare also states, "Too many people hold the idea that psychopaths are essentially killers or convicts. The general public hasn't been educated to see beyond the social stereotypes to understand that psychopaths can be entrepreneurs, politicians, CEOs and other successful individual who may never see the inside of a prison."

From Endgame, Volume II by Derrick Jensen

Sunday Akhmatova Blogging

The Sentence

The word dropped like a stone
on my still living breast,
Confess: I was prepared,
am somehow ready for the test.

So much to do today:
kill memory, kill pain,
turn heart into a stone,
and yet prepare to live again.

Not quite. Hot summer's feast
brings rumors of carouse.
How long have I forseen
this brilliant day, this empty house?

Summer, 1939

Translatedby Stanley Kunitz & Max Hayward

Saturday Goddess Blogging

Corn Woman


Amy Sophia Marashinsky says that: Corn Woman brings her love for you in the form of food to tell you [that] it is time to nourish yourself. Eating is a sacred act. Something living dies and you take it in, whether you hunt/kill the animals [that] you eat with your own hands or buy your vegetables in the supermarket. Part of being human means causing death in order to live. To treat the act of eating as a chore, as something to be feared or avoided is to denigrate the gift of love from Corn Woman and the plants and the animals.

Too Little Too Late Is Not Enough

Today's EEI newsletter reports that:

More Details Emerge on Sen. Boxer's Plan for Climate Change Probe
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has indicated that she likely will hold an "intensive" round of climate change oversight hearings early in the 110th Congress, which convenes in early January, Inside EPA reported. Her goal is to lay a foundation for a clear understanding of a wide range of opinions on how Congress can intervene in the critical components that make up climate change.

According to one source knowledgeable of Boxer's plan, the newsletter reported, "the initial hearings are likely to focus on updated science showing overwhelming evidence of the earth's warming, quickly followed by sessions digging into the principal policy issues related to various emission-reduction schemes, including carbon cap-and-trade schemes."

Boxer was quoted as saying the initial hearings would be designed to "listen, listen, listen, hear all the ideas and then put some legislation together. We're going to take our time and do it right." Added the newsletter: "Boxer said she will set a gold standard for climate legislation that would be 'very close' to an aggressive law recently enacted in California that will cap carbon emissions."
Inside EPA, Dec. 8.

I'm glad to hear that Boxer's going to hold intensive hearings, but if she thinks that coming close to the California plan is a "gold standard," she's mistaken. The California plan is not enough to save the Earth. Hopefully, those testifying before her committee can convince her of this.

Separation Of Church And State -- What A Good Idea.

The xians continue to have their panties in a wad over a policy that they went to court in order to implement. Swear to Kali, these people sure do love to see themselves as persecuted.

Via Witchvox, WorldNetDaily reports that: In the appellate opinion from Maryland, Judge Diana Motz concluded giving school officials "unbridled discretion to deny access to the oft-used forum [notices in kids' backpacks] – for any reason at all, including antipathy to a particular viewpoint – does not ensure the requisite viewpoint neutrality."

In that case, the school board specifically wanted a policy allowing teachers to hand out flyers from groups school officials liked, but that would ban flyers from Christian Evangelism Fellowship.

WorldNetDaily is lying. School officials had a policy that allowed them to send home, for example, notices about the local Department of Parks and Recreation, but did not allow ANY religious notices. It had nothing to do with whether or not school officials "liked" a particular group. A fundie father got Jerry Falwell's group to sue the school system and the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit -- one of America's most conservative -- told the Board of Education that if it sent home any notices that were from any organization other than the school system itself, it had to allow religious notices, as well. The fundies were perfectly happy with that, thinking that they could now prostelityze a captive band of children to their hearts' content.

Well, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Pagans who attend the local Unitarian church sent home an announcement for their Yule celebration through the school system.

And the fundies, used to having their cake and eating it, too, are going nuts.

The whole debacle simply goes to show what a good idea separation of church and state really is.

Pagan Jujitsu on Virginia Fundies

Here's the blog of the Baptist pastor who thinks that since they're a minority, the Pagans should just sit down and shut up and here's the blog by the oh-so-xian mother whose little darlings shouldn't have been exposed to a flyer from those nasty Pagans.

Simply because we always strive to provide competing viewpoints.

Inhofe -- Major Jerk

From today's EEI newsletter:


Sen. Inhofe Uses Hearing to Slam Media Reporting on Climate Change

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the outgoing chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, used his rights as chairman to conduct a final hearing condemning media coverage of climate change issues. Inhofe brought a group of witnesses forward who generally supported his position, but Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., challenged them to address whether Inhofe was correct in an assessment he has issued calling climate change "a hoax." None would agree with that assessment, only that it was being hyped and unfairly cast in the media.

The Washington Times today quoted Inhofe as saying: "The media often fails to distinguish between predictions and what is actually being observed on the Earth today. Rather than focus on the hard science of global warming, the media has instead become advocates for hyping scientifically unfounded climate alarmism." And the Los Angeles Times today quoted Inhofe as saying: "Hysteria sells. Scare tactics should not drive public policy." [Gee, Jim. That's not what you said about attacking Iraq.] The Times wrote that Inhofe believed that "rising Earth temperatures are mainly a natural, cyclical phenomenon. His staff distributed a 64-page booklet that included a speech by Inhofe in September that he characterized as 'a skeptic's guide to debunking global warming alarmism'."

The incoming committee chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle today as saying: "In a free society in what is the greatest democracy in the world, I don't believe it's proper to put pressure on the media to please a particular Senate committee's view. My other sadness about this hearing is again we're arguing about who believes what rather than moving toward solving the problem." The Tulsa World today quoted Inhofe as saying: "As the Democrats rush to pass costly carbon cap legislation in the next Congress, today's hearing showed that the so-called 'scientific consensus' does not exist."

Wrote the Chronicle: "Boxer was one of five senators who joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a fireside chat Wednesday night at the British Embassy to discuss Blair's efforts to push the United States and other nations to address climate change. The other senators invited were Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I- Conn., co-authors of a bill to limit carbon emissions, as well as Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who is seeking to replace Inhofe as the ranking Republican on the environment committee."
Los Angeles Times , San Francisco Chronicle , Tulsa World , Washington Times , San Jose Mercury News , Dec. 7.

Come on, January. I can't wait until Inhofe's insane ramblings are those of a MINORITY member.

Just To Piss Off The Fundies, Part The Second

My madcap friend, R., is tweaking the fundies in a rather innovative way. Chas Clifton has the link.

In Albemarle County, Va., fundie central, Pagans recently sent a notice home with all school children inviting them to attend a Pagan Yule celebration. "What!?!" you say; "Doesn't that violate the First Amendment's requirement of separation between church and state?" Why, yes. Yes it does. And the fundies, as you may imagine, are none too happy about it. But they have only themselves to blame.

The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.” Many public schools use special folders placed in student backpacks to distribute notices about schools events and sometimes extra-curricular activities to parents.

School officials originally denied the request from the twins’ father, Ray Rakoski, citing a school policy barring “distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.”

A Charlottesville weekly newspaper, The Hook, reports that Rakoski “sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county,” and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.

Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.

“Have you ever wondered what ‘Holidays’ refers to?” reads the flier. “Everyone knows about Christmas – but what else are people celebrating in December? Why do we celebrate the way we do?”

The flier invites people to “an educational program for children of all ages (and their adults), where we’ll explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule.”

It concludes, “Come for one or both parts and bring your curiosity.”

Many members of this congregation are strong supporters of church-state separation who don’t believe public schools should promote any religion. But they were also unwilling to cede the field to Falwell and his fundamentalist allies. Falwell opened the backpack forum, and the Pagans were determined to secure equal time.

Suddenly not everyone was pleased by the open forum. Jeff Riddle, pastor of Jefferson Park Baptist Church in Charlottesville, wrote on his personal blog, “If the school allows the Baptist or Methodist church to send home a note to its students about Vacation Bible School, it also has to allow the Unitarian Church to send home a note about its ‘Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule’….This kind of note adds weight to the argument that it is high time for Christians to leave public schools for reasonable alternatives (homeschooling and private Christian schools).” [See, now this is what's funny. You'd think he'd conclude that this kind of note adds weight to the argument that we ought to keep church and state separate, but, sadly, no.]

Another conservative Christian blogger in the county complained about finding the flier in her child’s folder. Apparently unaware of Falwell’s role in bringing it about, the blogger who goes by the name Cathy, noted disclaimer language at the bottom of the flier noting that the event is not connected to the school and wrote, “They [the school officials] aren’t endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn’t have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs.”

She then fumed that a “pagan ritual” is “an educational experience my children don’t need.”

To be clear, I'd strongly prefer to have NO religious flyers sent home from public school. I think it violates the First Amendment of the Constitution to have the school sending home announcements about any religion. It seems to me that the school should only be sending home notices about school and, maybe, say, the Department of Recreation or the Health Department.

But R.'s action is a great way to remind the fundies why we need separation of church and state. Don't like having your tax dollars used and your captive-audience child subjected to propaganda about my religion? Or a madrassa that teaches that the United States is the Great Satan? Or the Scientologists who want to sell your child "services," or the child-molesting Catholics? Fair enough. Then keep your damn vacation bible school announcements to hand out at your Sunday school.

Gee, five seconds of thought might have allowed the fundies to see the logical outcome of their actions, but, as demonstrated by Jeff Riddle, logical thought may not be their strong suit.

****************

The event is planned for this Saturday, December 9th 1-3 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charlottesville (Rugby Rd). Drop by and say hello to the Fairy Guide.

Just To Piss Off The Fundies

The Dilemma That Patriarchy Poses

Some days, we have to believe six completely obscene things before breakfast

The beams fired by the ADS feature 3mm wavelengths as opposed to a 12cm wavelength used in an average household microwave oven. As a result of the shorter wavelengths, the weapon does not represent a radiation risk to victims and will not impose long-lasting damage in most cases.

Human volunteers (active, reserve and retired military personnel) subjected to the beam felt immediate and immense pain from the ADS weapon. The beam causes a person to feel that he or she is on fire and triggers a "flight" response. A result, Air Force officials say that the weapon has what is called the "Goodbye effect" meaning that subjects turn tail and run. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it -- reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again," reported one test subject.

Tests on the volunteers revealed that most subjects reached their threshold for pain within 3 seconds while no one could hold out for more than 5 seconds at a time. After roughly 10,000 test exposures, there were only six reported cases of test subjects receiving blisters from exposure to the beam. One test subject did, however, receive second-degree burns in controlled laboratory testing. . . . In one war game, an assault team staged a mock raid on a building. The ADS was used to remove civilians from the battlefield, separating what the military calls "tourists from terrorists."


From The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk:


"Why didn't we start weapons production three months ago?" a young woman asked.

"We have no factories to make guns and bombs and laser rifles," said a large man whom Maya had seen before, speaking for the Technician's Guild. "We have no consensus to build them. And if we had, it would have been at the expense of something else, food production, or communications[,] or transport. . . .

"That's exactly what they wanted. We could have tightened our belts," said a young man who was, in Maya's opinion, already far too thin.

"Maybe," said the big man. "But if we start choosing guns over food and water, we become what we're fighting against."

"But if we lose to the Stewards, we won't have the luxury of choosing food or water over anything else."

"That's the dilemma patriarchy has posed for the last five thousand years," Greta said. . . .

"Isn't that our collective challenge, then?" Lily said. "if we don't have guns, we have vision and imagination."

"A vision ain't much protection against a laser rifle," a voice called from the back of the crowd. . . .

"Don't give up," Lily addressed the room as the discussion lagged. "We are simply challenged now to extend our imaginations beyond solutions that have been tried before."

Gore says Iraq 'worst strategy mistake in US history'

Listen.