All Comments (44)

Just in case anyone's interested, I just got my first copies of the the new Reclaiming Quarterly.

Dear elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.

Where the bee sucks. there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

PROSPERO
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

For what it's worth, Prospero's Books is my all time, hands down favorite movie.

Blessed Be,
Da Lil' Boid

Fellow Tristeroids,

I spend a lot of time over at the Pynchon list.

"He takes the Diamond, and then the Diamond takes him. For it turns out to be a gateway to elsewhere, and Daniel's life's tale an account of the incarnation of a god, not the usual sort that ends up bringing aid and comfort to earthly powers, but that favorite of writers, the incorruptible wiseguy known to anthropologists as the Trickster, to working alchemists as Hermes, to card-players everywhere as the Joker. We don't learn this till the end of the story, by which point, knowing Daniel as we've come to, we are free to take it literally as a real transfiguration, or as a metaphor of spiritual enlightenment, or as a description of Daniel's unusually exalted state of mind as he prepares to cross, forever, the stone junction between Above and Below -- by this point, all of these possibilities have become equally true, for we have been along on one of those indispensable literary journeys, taken nearly as far as Daniel -- through it is for him to slip along across the last borderline, into what Wittgenstein once supposed cannot be spoken of, and upon which, as Eliphaz Levi advised us -- after "To know, to will, to dare" as the last and greatest of the rules of Magic -- we must keep silent."

OBA

Dear Arminius, PaganPlace & Privar,

[lately everythin's been happening in threes. Of cousre, I've been practically drinking the the triple goddess blend from the shop]

I'm fantasizing/conniving/invoking "Judy Foster's Army", a congenial blogspot for Reclaiming/Food Not Bombs styled Anarchist Organizations [I know, I know, don't tell me] working for peace, justice, a breathable atmosphere and other blessings of the Goddess.

The Reclaiming Newsletter is firing up again. Just Google Reclaiming. You ought to find that pretty congenial

Happy Earth Day! Blessed Be!
Robin

Priver, Well Met!

Thanks for the reply - I understand how those angry discussions would have little interest for you folks. Most of it was outside of my interests also.

God Bless,

Arminius

MMA Arminius!

I can't apeak for anyone else here, but for me the site had really jumped headfirst into Catholicism, which I suppose is to be expected with the Pope's visit and all, but isn't exactly always open to the kind of ideas we bring to the table. :)

It's been my experience that most of the Pagan posters here, Starhawk included, seem to feel (and I have to agree) that it doesn't make much sense for us to try to comment on issues that are outside of our 'jurisdiction', if you will. :)

So we're sorta forced back underground until one day, soon hopefully, the moderators can find another question that Starhawk can have an answer to.. it sucks, but it's a pretty good microcosm of our current situation even off the net.

As far as other places, i don't know of too many. Beliefnet isn't bad, there's a section on earth based religions, and there's always witchvox. It's got articles by all kinds of Pagans.. and also links to regular news articles (and some crazy fundy articles too) about free speech/nature/science/etc. that folks can comment on. a couple of folks from here have posted there from time to time. But I do miss our regular discussions.

Blessed be!

Dear Pagans,

I miss you all. I have been out on the blogs, and it is horribly, horribly depressing. Hatred and bomb throwing everywhere. No sunlight, no hope. Where do you all hang out on the internet?

Arminius

My most recent foray into the ‘Hood’ consisted of a short/term, long hours job for the IRS. I was sittin’ with pole dancin’, pimp livin’ b-atches, one of some glossy Italian finish, round-faced and sunny, with all the energy of springtime leaking out of every single be-rose-‘d pore. The youngest of the three has two children, no father in sight and a resume that includes a stint at a strip club. It’s a job, she says, that she can no longer perform due to massive stretch marks. She left East Oakland ‘cause her Mom could no longer take the drive-by’s, that pimped up/deathed out life style was way old by now. Like Sonny Boy Williamson sez, ain’t but one way out.

My supervisor was one of those holy-roller Baptists, with the rolling in the aisles and spirit possession and all those other obviously ‘Christian’ activities---not that there’s anything wrong with that, God bless my Grama Johnson’s Jesus lovin’ soul. After she told me that she asked of my religious affiliation and I said Witch, and she said what?!? and I said ‘W’, ‘I’, ‘T’, ‘C’, ‘H’ AND WE JUST WENT ON FROM THERE LIKE NOTHIN’ HAPPENED.

Dig?

As a classical music maven who simply adores ABBA [try “Like an Angel Passing Through My Room” someday] I was blown away when this lady told me that she just loves “Soft Rock” [me, I’m a real big Jet fan, muhself] and Fleetwood Mac in particular. So I conjured up a copy of the self-titled debut of the Buckingham/Nicks version of the band. She wanted it for “You Make Loving Fun”, a Christy McVie classic. I loved the fact that she was so hopeful in her attitude, so sunny. What ever it is that they’re doin’ at her church is alright with me.

Anyway, I quit Friday because of my other job. I applied at the IRS asking right from the very start if they could accommodate my hours at this shop I work at---we do pranic healings, the usual herbs, incense, scrying decks and have some great Buddhist tankas. The owners are particularly keen on Avalokiteshvara, and who can blame them? If I stayed at the IRS I would be betraying my friends at the shop.

What would Judy Foster do?

In 1997 I went “crazy” for the third, and hopefully final time. And I did some embarrassing and stupid things, one at a reading in 1998, that Starhawk made at the now defunct, alas, Gaia Books in Berkeley.

I won’t evoke the details of what happened, it was in the grand scheme of things very minor and it all arose out of massive ego inflation. That ego inflation finally landed me in the street and destroyed my reputation as a recording engineer. The Goddess wasn’t about to let get away with me dissin’ the Hawk! And like all lessons from the Goddess, there was a happy ending.

I first encountered Judy Foster at a Spiral Dance in 1989. She made a magnificent altar for fall. There was no secondary cultural overlay at this altar, no comic book figures, no little “goddess” statuary, no symbols. On display were the fruits of the fall, shades of oranges and the deep deep blood reds, the pomegranate and the fallen leaf. It could have been a Sonoma Williams display, save that there was nothing to sell, not a trace of money energy anywhere, just the fall in and of itself. O felix culpa.

After my not so great fall [I’m made of the same stuff as Tigger, Jai Durga’s helpmate], still homeless I partook of Judy’s “Gourmet Tuesday’s” spread at People’s Park. I was blown away, having spent so many hours playing my favorite guitar on that little stage in the park. Eventually, I wandered over to Judy’s little house to help make the meals, moving from the role of being served to serving. What a blessed feeling ! ! !

At the Spiral Dance of 1998, after the ritual was closed and the circle opened I asked Starhawk what should I do to go about finding a place to sleep that night. She, being a wise woman, told me to continue to clean up, and that whoever would stay the longest would be the most committed and most likely offer up a couch. She was right of course. This path led to spending lots of time with Judy Foster. I did a lot of volunteer work with Judy in Food Not Bombs. She was at Gaia when I was such a T.W.I.T. and she properly me chastised for my egregious behavior.

Ever been balled out by a Witch?

Anyway, after that I looked at her directly and saw that right behind Judy all my pagan radio shows on cassettes were all lined up in a neat little row on the top shelf of her huge collection of cassettes and I pointed them out to her that they were my shows and she looked at me with amazement---like just about everybody else at the time, she assumed I was female. I get nervous on air and have extension into the countertenor range. And if you play enough Ferron, that seals the deal.

And from then on we got along like brother and sister, mother and child, like blood-to-blood and my head cleared up. I stayed three months in Judy’s basement, sleeping beside heaping bags of rice and beans, grabbing drinks from the walk-in refrigerators, checking out the astrology books on her shelves down there. It was anarchist paradise. Judy was so perfect; she was visually straight out of central casting. Judy was practical and strong and was looking death straight in the eye without blinking---she had liver cancer and only a year to live. Judy never let a little thing like that slow her down.

She was the best.

Blessed be,
Robin

PS: Dear Starhawk: I hope have a lovely little Seder in your crater.
Blessed Be.
And once more: BLESSED BE ! ! !

As mentioned before, my father was very active in the civil rights movement. He died last year. At the funeral, I spoke of his work with C.O.R.E. and N.A.A.C.P. I also held up a miniature copy of the Tao te Ching, Stephen Mitchell's version. The translator is wise enough to alternate gender assignment. The "master" can be either/and male or female. The Tao te Ching is the work of a writer, whoever that writer might be, on "The Earth Path." I held up the book in this church, full of church go-ers, and proclaimed, "this book contains the greatest wisdom in the smallest possible space" and read the following passage:

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?
If you don't understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

Blessed be,
Robin

Definitely agree, there, Robin: I was kind of referring to being careful of playing into the 'flaky' image we get saddled with, when it comes to certain subjects.

It definitely can play into civil rights struggles in ways some might find unexpected: it's pretty common practice to cast disadvantage groups as *being* insufficiently-ascetic, ...particularly in terms of LBGT rights struggles, where that 'sinful evil world' idea is *directly* applied to human beings in dehumanizing ways.

It's certainly another way in which people can be led to opress each other, as well, taking less joy out of life themselves, they are less likely to see good in others.

Most authoritarian tyrranies are *very* concerned with other people's sensuality, it seems to be a very effective way to turn people's energy toward aggressive purposes and the authorities themselves.

Dear PaganPlace,

Speaking of tripped-out hedonists. . . .

"First, we must reject spiritual systems that further that flesh/spirit split. We must reject ascestism, hiearchies, the confining of sex to marriage or reproduction. Spirituality can be voluptuous, sensuous. Religion can mean touching each other, allowing ourselves to feel moments of beauty, of energy, of joy fully. If the Goddess is immanent in flesh and nature. 'All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals,' She says."

Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark

Blessed Be,
Robin

I mean, don't get me wrong, Robin, it's not like we couldn't do with a little levity... gets kind of *grim* talking to all these cowans, but a lot of em do hasten to believe we're a bunch of tripped-out hedonists in cahoots with all manner of enemies of all goodness and such and such.

That's any time we open our moths.

Dear Paganplace,

"Almost like we had our *own* civil rights to be worrying about."

But of course we do!

I just started work at the IRS today [that's right, two jobs, one within the belly of the beast, the other at a Wiccan Tsotchke shop, oh how I love paradox], my bumper sticker says "My Other Car is a Broom", picked it up in Olympia WA., didn't slap it on my bumper till Tom DeLay went down, figured it was safe in Fresno by then.

Well of course it's an issue of civil rights.

Blessed Be,
Robin

"Sorry if I seem to be coming on like Alistair Crowley."

Don't worry, that wasn't exactly the impression that came to mind. :)

It's just that in this place, we do kind of have to focus on, oh, I dunno, coming across like some kind of serious religion or something.

Almost like we had our *own* civil rights to be worrying about.

Go figure.

Dear Paganplace,

Sorry if I seem to be coming on like Alistair Crowley.

[Gaad! I hate when that happens!]

I guess I've been interested in the civil rights movement for a while, looked into the subject a bit, few of the byways, possibly got into rambling on a bit. . .

[Hypno-toad is commanding you to go to YouTube and dial in "That Novel You're Working On".]

PaganPlace: Spring's definitely calling, though, ennit? :)

Mos Def.

Okely dokely,
Robin

And pardon any sense of impatience, Robin, but we are neither quite-Buddhist nor half-brain dead, as willing as we may be to learn from anywhere with great respect.

This ain't kumbayah-diddly-hi-ho, sport.

This is our ways. Best we can make em, no excuses.

Actually, the quote comes from Gandhi: "What do you think of Western civilization," he was asked, and he said, "I think it would be a good idea."

We're Pagans. We don't breathe in and out alternating nostrils for 49 years and wait for something to happen. We breathe. Starting now. Any now.

It's basic. It is not all.

[ROBIN]: "A true, and frightening, thought. Our Monkey Minds always are more capable of coming up with stuff that’s waaaaaaaaaaaaay too dangerous to leave just laying around, waiting for some thoughtless and hormonally crazed Monkey to set the thing off before reading the instruction manual."

PAGANPLACE: “Well, remember that our 'monkey minds' are also what make us capable at being distressed about these things, and care for each other, and seek to change them.
I think people are so *habitually blind* to those scorned 'animal instincts' that they end up ruled by them, ...or by anyone that hits on a way to control them by them.

It's a particular challenge of us, as a species, learning how to do this 'civilization' thing, to recognize that we're primates... animals, with all that can imply, for good or ill... and *use* that understanding for helping us choose and organize the good, ...not deny it.”

This is a case where I did not provide enough context for the phrase ‘monkey mind’. It’s a phrase you find in Buddhism concerning roiling, obsessive internal dialog, the kind that good meditation manages to dispel. Alternate nostril breathing is something I’ve been doing for 49 years and it always quiets the mind to some degree. Lately I’ve had some guided meditations, very good stuff for charging the spiritual batteries. Meditation has everything to do with breath. The Word “Spiritual” has everything to do with breath. A lot of meditation is being witness to one’s own breath, riding the energetic flow of the diaphragm, consciously slowing it down, being witness to the ongoing changes in consciousness. There is a lot of “changing consciousness at will” that derives from meditation and conscious breathing.

In “How it feels to have a stroke”, a lecture on YouTube, Jill Bolte Taylor describes the experience of losing [via a stroke] the function of the left lobe of her brain, the lobe she describes as the serial port for consciousness, the logical, sequential and rational lobe of the brain. All her conscious was now coming from her right –parallel port, intuitive, poetical—lobe. She says it was NIRVANA, “I felt enormous, expansive, like a genie just liberated from her bottle. And my spirit soared free, like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria.”

That was the point of reference for my thoughts on “The Monkey Mind.” Al was wondering how one can live in this world according to the precepts of nonviolence. If we return to the original concept of Satyagraha, of soul power or soul force, the concept is easier to grasp. It is no longer a question of throwing away a tool, but one of developing a magical power. Gandhi’s word for the principle we call non-violence, “Satyagraha”, really means Truth Force or Soul Force, much closer to James Brown’s “Soul Power!” much more an active power of resistance to tyranny than passive acceptance of violence visited upon oneself. There is innate spiritual power in Truth. Speaking the truth, particularly when that truth is something most folks don’t want to hear has great Soul Power. I’ve heard Starhawk use the phrase “Speaking Truth to Power” a number of times. There is innate spiritual power in Pranayama, the yogic science of breath. The spiritual culture that came up with Pranayama is a big part of what made Gandhi’s work possible.

It’s interesting, the quote “Civilization is a great idea, I wish somebody would try it” is attributed to both Mahatma Gandhi and Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. Speaking of breath control. . . .

Blessed Be,
Robin

"A true, and frightening, thought. Our Monkey Minds always are more capable of coming up with stuff that’s waaaaaaaaaaaaay too dangerous to leave just laying around, waiting for some thoughtless and hormonally crazed Monkey to set the thing off before reading the instruction manual."

Well, remember that our 'monkey minds' are also what make us capable at being distressed about these things, and care for each other, and seek to change them.

I think people are so *habitually blind* to those scorned 'animal instincts' that they end up ruled by them, ...or by anyone that hits on a way to control them by them.

It's a particular challenge of us, as a species, learning how to do this 'civilization' thing, to recognize that we're primates... animals, with all that can imply, for good or ill... and *use* that understanding for helping us choose and organize the good, ...not deny it.

The source of so much of the strife and nast out there, are really ideas, concepts, and perceptions, *jangling people's instincts.*

Much of the real power of nonviolence is in fact in *actively-humanizing* situations where people might otherwise jump straight from concepts and certain mob mentalities to ugly actions...

I'm not by philosophy what you'd strictly call a 'pacifist,' ...I've been subjected to an awful lot of, negativity, shall we say. I'd prefer to identify with, shall we say, a more Jedi-kind of mentality. There's a lot of power for good in getting it across, "There is no fight, here."

By the time it gets down to a fight, in a way, something's already gone wrong. How to stand without *escalating* things, etc.

Spring's definitely calling, though, ennit? :)

AL: ”Plato in affect wrote about the same ills in his time: militarism, slavery and poverty. Technology advances, but little changes regarding the core human inadequacies it seems.”

A true, and frightening, thought. Our Monkey Minds always are more capable of coming up with stuff that’s waaaaaaaaaaaaay too dangerous to leave just laying around, waiting for some thoughtless and hormonally crazed Monkey to set the thing off before reading the instruction manual.

There is a remarkable video over at You Tube, concerning a scientist whose specialty is the brain, experiencing a stroke that incapacitated her for the better part of eight years. Jill Bolte Taylor describes the experience in the language associated with great cosmic revelations, the kind of rhapsodic language you’d expect from fifty years of work in the realm of Meditation.

Perhaps the hardest thing when you’re a nonviolent activist is dealing with the bad vibes, the ill will, that is sent in your direction. The anger directed at my parents—the white citizen’s council driving by with shotguns dangling out the windows of their cars, being hosed down with water, later having manure tossed in their general direction, all under the noses of the local cops, well that’s the kind of emotional baggage that just doesn’t wash off when you get home. Without some route for those bad vibes to go, the rage fills up and goes out of control. I know, I lived through it.

And this brings us back to living with nonviolence. "Ahimsa" came from a place where Meditation was central. That internal silence that meditation provides is the mental equivalent of smudging with sage followed by scenting with rose oil. First the mind must be emptied. A few simple exercises like alternate nostril breathing can help quiet the mind and lower the heart rate. Then one must fill one’s mind with sweet thoughts, compassion, loving-kindness, and the embrace of life at its sweetest. It helps to erase bad old messages and self-spellings and replaces the energy sucked out by the haters.

AL: “We should note of course that you can't legislate what is in people's hearts, and this leads us to ask again: what is a non-violent crusader’s practical solution to deal with the violent and the tyrannical (from whatever country), with the untold problems and suffering they create……..beyond only words indicating the insanity of it all?”

Not that life is all skittles and beer, floating along in some fairy paradise. But the processed world being fed to us on the Tube is purposefully designed to make us feel inadequate, like our life is simple not complete without HDTV. Starhawk writes, in “The Earth Path”, about the importance of being in the world, of having a meditation where one is tuning in to the sensory realm of the forest, the garden, the meadow, the stream, grounding oneself in the reality of Gaia.

Our mantra for this meditation is:

“I’ve already seen all the LAWNORDERS, I’ve already seen all the CSIs, THE DAILY SHOW is in reruns, I’m turning off my TV and going outside to listen to some birdsong.”

Blessed Be,
Robin [5:01 am, pst]

Al,
Who said it would be easy?

To change people you have to make it worth their while. They need to lose their bigotries and tyrannies, to make it worth their own self interest to get along and act in peace...just like more and more folks are seeing that careing for the earth is in their self interest.

Some times it takes people sticking out their chins and geting knocked on their bottoms...and getting back up and doing it all over again. Sooner or later people see a light...like the Bus boycott in Selma...alot of walking on tired feet..but they won.

As a Pagan I left the broom closet long ago, and gained thick skin. I keep trying to open that one mind at a time. I take it on the chin some times, but I have opend minds and gained friends along the way.

No one said it was going to be easy, but Starhawk proves it is possible.

Many Blessings,
terra

Robin:

"You don’t want my learning curve, trust me. You really don’t want my learning curve."

Nor mine, I think most would say. :)

And, Al, I'd say that sometimes one has to defend onesself, but change, well, that takes time, and sometimes being willing to stand peacefully for the future.

I find Starhawk interesting, well intentioned and passionate. Nicely supportive of MLK's approach.

But my sincere question to her would be: what do you realistically, practically and specifically do with those who disagree with your nonviolent approach to life, politics, spirituality and values?

This is always the eternal dilemma on this planet.
When we preach to the choir, everything is wonderful and we all nod in knowing agreement.

But of course some in the world don't agree with our sense of right and wrong; in fact they violently disagree.

And this is an endless story that the best and brightest of every generation have never been able to solve (not to be interpreted as we shouldn't try to solve, but again how specifically to do it).

Plato in affect wrote about the same ills in his time: militarism, slavery and poverty. Technology advances, but little changes regarding the core human inadequacies it seems.

We should note of course that you can't legislate what is in people's hearts, and this leads us to ask again: what is a non-violent crusader’s practical solution to deal with the violent and the tyrannical (from whatever country), with the untold problems and suffering they create……..beyond only words indicating the insanity of it all?

51% of the population must be convinced to rise to a new point of view, and there has to be logic, reason, receptivity and emotional connection/empathy to cause the transformation.

Seems finding common ground reflecting in some measure that which is just and fair to the largest number possible would be a good start.
Only if it were that easy, we wouldn’t be dealing with the same once again.

Could it be that only a program of personal reformation; one of voluntary, individual efforts to transform our individual frailties (pride, greed, selfishness, anger and judgmentalness) will truly suffice.

PAGANPLACE: “I for one, am not sure what you mean, Robin, about 'What's it got to do with a Witch,' ....Frankly, it's got everything to do with everyone.”

Yes in-diddly-deed-y. My physical appearance is getting closer to Ned Flanders every day. I work at one of them there ‘metaphysical bookstores’ (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more). I’m looking forward to Halloween, getting a green sweater and a pink shirt, some round-framed glasses and some moustache wax, so’s I can scare the bejesus out of the tatted and pierced goth zombie army as they do their last minute shopping. Ms. ‘Hawk’ will be glad to know that ever since I’ve shown at the store up we haven’t been able to keep “The Spiral Dance” on the shelves and we’re getting “The Earth Path”--a great, essential book--back in stock toot sweet. As I have said elsewhere, Starhawk’s writings remind me of the Tao te Ching, the knowledge that power is very paradoxical and that the world is alive. The 60th little poem in the Tao speaks of governing by seeming to not be governing, The 17th poem speaks of how the best ruling of a country seems to be the least, that the best way to rule is to not to talk, but to act. If that sort of ‘non-talking’ work is done right everybody celebrates, saying “We managed to do it all by ourselves.” There is much more power in working on being “US” than focusing on acting in revenge against “THEM.” I know many, many Christians who are carrying on the work, and they can dance the Spiral Dance as well as anyone else. It’s not the religion you’re in that determines one’s morals; it’s the intent and the resultant actions that come out of that intent. The great thing about the Civil Rights movement at its peak was how so many people, coming from so many different cultural backgrounds. moved together, unified in their willingness to work for simple human needs, working with respect for others.

PAGANPLACE: “Not that I haven't stirred a few pots of stone soup, myself, this time around. ;)”

Blessed Be!!! I always make a point of eating whatever I cook at FNB, no other way it can be a real communion. Of course, making soup gives you the best excuse to stir a bubbling cauldron. Silly Wiccan! Brooms are for sweeping!

PAGANPLACE: “I dunno, Robin, somehow my sum total of impressions of the era just isn't trippy-hippy. But that's just me. We live and learn, I guess. :)”

You don’t want my learning curve, trust me. You really don’t want my learning curve.

PAGANPLACE: “I mean, hey, just maybe if I were better at being in the right place at the right time, I'd be a younger person today. :)”

Read Proust. You’ll find out you were at the right place at the right time, only you didn’t know it until many years later.

PAGANPLACE: “Still, I got a notion there was more going on, somehow. :)”

And then there’s Hesse’s “Journey to the East”, concerning a wandering bird who manages to lose his way with the flock, only to find out eventually that he really was in the right place at the right time, and with just a little courage can find himself in the right place right now. And it has the additional virtue of being about 3000 pages shorter.

Okely dokely,
Robin

Robin,
I welcome you to our little band..I have a feeling you will add much to our store of knowledge and spirit.

Cory,
Welcome here...Starhawk has a talent for wisdom and writing.

Paganplace..Hi Sis!

terra

Thank-you for Starhawk's article on being jailed in Israel. It resonated deeply with this reader and is the kind of journalism I'd like to see on a regular basis.

Something Bobby said that night in Indiana..

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

terra

Blessed be"s everyone...

Merry Meet Robin...

I remember the riots in Baltimore in 68, the National Guard was called out..rioting, burning...a fierce anger.

I remember Robert Kennedy and his speach that kept the same thing from happening in Indiana. That has been on mt mind alot this week...his furtherence of MLK's call for peace and unity. A white man went into that park to tell all those black folks that MLK was murdered. But Bobby brought the memory of what King had died for...them. Their hope and their promise...and Bobby saved lives that night.

Yesterday Obama was in Indiana inbstead of in Memphis and he honored MLK and Robert Kennedy.
Obama reminded us what MLK said..

"You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. But what he also knew was that it doesn't bend on its own. It bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice.

So on this day - of all days - let's each do our part to bend that arc.

Let's bend that arc toward justice.

Let's bend that arc toward opportunity.

Let's bend that arc toward prosperity for all.

And if we can do that and march together - as one nation, and one people - then we won't just be keeping faith with what Dr. King lived and died for, we'll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often, and "let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."

~~~
I have so many memories of those times...I remember the Freedom Buses passing by...DC OR BUST! full of happy and excited people, black and white on their was to make history.

terra

ARMINIUS: I do not understand your comment on Jesus. Tell us more.

Well, I just looked at my entry---O Goddess Sophia, cans’t thou cast out these cursed typos? Or should I be invoking “Google” the Goddess of Spelling (or is it Hecate?)?

It’s supposed to read:

“I tend to think of Jesus as the first Digger anyway.”

The Diggers were an anarchist collective that activated a bit before the “Summer of Love” and in many ways are similar to the Cynics, the Greek street philosophy at its peak during common era year zero. The cynics are recognized as the source of satire.

Burton L. Mack, former professor of New Testament at the School of Theology at Claremont, focuses on establishing a timeline for the materials included in the New Testament and makes the case that the shared parables and some of the stories in the Gospels come from a common source, known as the Book of Q and that “Q” appears to have been derived from cynic sources. Check out “The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins”, ISBN 0-06-065375-2.

Never forget that Jesus handed out free food without a certificate from the Jerusalem Board Of Health.

Blessed Be,
Robin

Eh. I realize that didn't make a great deal of sense: I'm going to rest my aches and try again maybe tomorrow. :) It's good to see you here, Robin. :) Hi, Arminius. :)

I for one, am not sure what you mean, Robin, about 'What's it got to do with a Witch,' ....Frankly, it's got everything to do with everyone.

Not that I haven't stirred a few pots of stone soup, myself, this time around. ;)

I dunno, Robin, somehow my sum total of impressions of the era just isn't trippy-hippy. But that's just me. We live and learn, I guess. :)

I mean, hey, just maybe if I were better at being in the right place at the right time, I'd be a younger person today. :) Still, I got a notion there was more going on, somehow. :)

Robin,

Re your post.

I am, I must confess, very awestruck. One hell of a dialog.

I was there too, in the '50s and '60s. However, I was not in the trenches as you were. But I do remember Brown vs Board of Education, 1954, I belive. I went to school, finding my peer group sounding off loud about the outrage of having to go to school with 'N-Words'. My reaction was, 'Huh?' I had the good sense (or cowardice) to keep my mouth shut, which saved me from multiple beatings.

"When there's care and compassion and commitment you feel real gratitude on either side of the serving table".
Right you are.

Ace of Cups - interesting, and good, reference. I do know where that comes from.

I do not understand your comment on Jesus.

Tell us more.

Arminius

Well Hi-Diddley-Ho there neighborinos!

I suppose that quite a few of you out there in the virtual world are asking yourself: “What in the gosh-Diddly-Darnation does a Self-Professed Witch have to do with Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement?”

Good question.

My parents were so deep into the civil rights movement that nearly the moment they divorced each other (1963), they proceeded to the marry “persons of the colored persuasion.” I spent a few summers in South Central and 1966 in glorious downtown Watts. Ah, what halcyon memories those words bring, for these were unusual times. For the most part, my memories of that time and that place are quite pleasant. For one thing, the people I encountered had, in general, well developed manners: their mamas raised them right. I had a highly developed vocabulary and a wicked Eric Blore imitation: my numerous brand-new aunts and uncles called me “The Professor.” The church--very much the center of that community--was a very powerful place. A lot of what the people of this community could bring back from their ancestors in Louisiana and Africa survived in the Baptist church. The Pastor’s deconstruction of whatever text he chose to riff on was more akin to “A Love Supreme” than “When the World’s on Fire”, more jazz than jeremiad. Grandma Johnson, the matriarch of the clan that my father married into, ran a little soul food café with a giant Louisiana hot link painted on the side of the building. Grandpa Johnson was a deacon at the church. Every Sunday, Grandma Johnson made a giant meal for the neighborhood, and everybody who knew about it--just about everybody in the church, that is--showed up. No one was turned away.

I do have a few scary memories. Just this morning I was listening to an old tape of my mother talking about the civil rights movement and “Redwood Summer.” She spoke about continuing the work of recognizing human injustice. Judi Bari was very much on her mind. I recall my father going off to the march in Selma, the one that didn’t quite turn out as planned. Back home in Altadena, I was in bed with a temperature of 105. I was delirious. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves were at the foot of the bed, beckoning me to join them. There were made of hard plastic with fixed expressions. It went on for four days, and it terrified me to the depths of my soul. Later, after reading about the Goddess Innana, I saw a resemblance in these two archetypes. I know part of what made me sick must have been anxiety for my absent father and fear for his life. My father was a friend with a pastor who didn’t come back from some previous act of civil disobedience. During those years death was a distinct possibility.

The sixties really did happen kiddies: that wasn’t smoke and mirrors. There’s probably more smoke and mirrors nowadays then ever before anyway. LSD? A lot of people basically blew out all their receptive portals at once, and the resultant scientific conclusion of the CIA’s greatest thought experiment was that the Witches might have been right after all. Gaia is real.

Oh yeah, they also found out that long drum solos tend to really suck.

And what I learned as a child continues to be passed along as an adult. Today the good folks at Food Not Bombs made a ten gallon pot of beans with Jason working it over with cumin, chili, garlic, onions, hot sauce, a splash of vinegar, salt, a touch of sugar and some black pepper. I was hovering over a ten-gallon pot of stone soup, lentils, barley, fake chicken broth, Bragg’s, and a batch of things Whole Foods no longer had any use for. Tina and the other Robin --he has a weird habit of throwing grapes into anything--worked on the salad with a whole lotta chi-chi stuff from everybody’s favorite overpriced vegetable stand, like organic watercress and dandelion greens. The ghost of Judy Foster must have been nearby. But most certainly Grandma Johnson as well. And a lot of those homeless or simply underpaid people at Roeding Park got their only fresh vegetables or hot meal of the week. And it all tasted real good. When there's care and compassion and commitment you feel real gratitude on either side of the serving table. And that’s the real point, the rain of heaven, the Ace of Cups, loving-kindness overflowing.

And just so you know, Ned Flanders is just alright with me. I tend to thing of Jesus as the first Digger anyway.

Well then, Okilly-dokilly and Blessed Be,
Robin

Hi, Paganplace,

"And I'm having *inordinate* trouble not tripping the filters, here."

That got a laugh! Been there, done that. Back to MLK?

As an addendum, my time spent in West Berlin, 1970, taught me to hate walls and despotic governments. However, the Berlin wall was built to keep the good people in, and the Israeli wall was built to keep the baddies out. I can understand that, but it does not excuse the Israeli mailed fist being applied so often.

Arminius

As usual Starhawk its the nail on the head with her distinct clear style. The world is turning more and more to alternative ways of solving problems rather than the violent barbaric ways of the past. It is not mainstream yet to respond in this way, but I believe that it will be...one day. We have enacted violence on each other and other species with the misguided idea that there is plenty more where they came from...trees,animals,soldiers. Now we have hit the baseline with our violence towards the earth herself, the penny is finally dropping that there is no more after that!Once we have wreaked our vengeance on the Mother, it is not she who will be whipped out but our own species, leaving way for new ones to evolve. How much better to learn the lessons before its to late. Keep writing Starhawk!

And I'm having *inordinate* trouble not tripping the filters, here.

Let's talk about Dr. King.

It's not a 'tribute,' Gary, ...it's a wall.

I might like a wall sometimes, too. Doesn't mean I'm not responsible for what I do with it.

There's a thread for storming about relating to Israel and Starhawk, though, if that's your pleasure. I know you saw it.

The wall exist as a tribute to the fact that Palestinians refuse to this day to live in peace with the Jews.

You won't have a right of return for Palestinians until such time as the average Israeli feels himself to be safe if it is permitted and that won't happen until ten years after the last suicide bombing occurs at a minimum.

Well, that's a nice thing about being Pagan. No one stops no one from returning nowhere. Not in the long run.

Seeing a place fit to return *to,* well, that's on all of us, whether we make a book or a fence or not.

Israel has refused admission to Starhawk, a Jewish woman who spends her life working nonviolently for peace, justice, and the environment. Because she has supported the International Solidarity Movement, she is now one of the few Jews who do not have the right of return.

She's in good company. Palestinians, driven from their homelands sixty years ago, also are refused the right of return.

Israel's inability to see what it's doing--to itself and to others--is going to end badly. It's not going well, and more and more people around the world are beginning to see clearly that Israel has no intention of giving the Palestinians their land for their home. This has been clear to some from the beginning. Certainly there are historical records confirming it. (Including comments in Ben Gurion's diary.)

"But we have a long way to go. King believed, above all, that the universe is on the side of justice. It’s up to us to prove him right."

So mote it be. :)

I have always been struck by the changes that I've seen in the world in my lifetime: born into the world just after King's death and that of so many other luminaries, and all the struggles to, maybe, negotiate with the changes.

It's heartening, but also something to be sure to account for: to a younger generation, so much of how things were is actually quite alien; unfortunately occasionally to the point where they don't see the importance of all this. But also a hopeful thing to see.

My favourite quote of his is non-religious and always relevant:

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that ~an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring~."

That's it right there. Non-violent protest to achieve political change because the current system *just isn't good enough* is about the most inspiring thing I can think of.

The question asks "How is he relevant to us today?" - I think Starhawk did a very good job of answering that, and even if there weren't hours of equally important speeches, this quote will ensure he always remains relevant.

Starhawk,

I have always read your essays here with appreciation, but this one broke all records. It was an almost-in-tears great and fitting tribute to one of the greatest Americans. Hell, one of the greatest people on the planet. I am not a pacifist, but I believe strongly in non-violent protest. As MLK said, quoting Gandhi, "An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind."

God bless, and keep up the good work,

Arminius