#spiritual colonialism

[creature-wizard]

"All goddesses are aspects of the Goddess" is one of those takes that, at best, reflects a shallow understanding of polytheistic spiritualities, and a failure to understand the worldviews from which they came. (It definitely doesn't account for animist spiritualities.)

When applied politically, it's a tool of colonialism. Because once you declare that all goddesses are aspects of the Goddess, and that you know who this goddess is and what she wants, you're putting yourself in a position to tell people that their views on their goddesses are wrong, and to tell them that they need to change their politics and lifestyles to match your ideas.

This is essentially what @/elderravenfire has been doing. He has claimed that all pagans and witches are essentially children of the Goddess, and that we have certain "duties" to fulfill, which includes becoming "warriors against the evil." He's made it clear that his idea of "the evil" is pretty much Christianity. Not any actual specific Christian institutions or movements, mind. Not just the Catholic Church, not American Evangelicalism, not Mormonism. Just Christianity. He's made it clear that he thinks the whole thing is a monolith, and believes that the average American liberal Christian wants to kill pagans. He doesn't distinguish between Black churches and neonazi churches. In his view, if we witches and pagans don't fight all of the Christians ever, we're "letting the goddess down." He doesn't merely claim that European goddesses are all manifestations of the Goddess, but that all goddesses, including Native American ones, are. Indirectly, he is proposing that in order to be true to their own cultures and heritages, Native Americans would have to follow his ideas and politics. In his eyes, anyone who tells him to fuck right off with his nonsense is "denying the truth."

Not all Great Goddess stuff takes this exact form, of course. It very often takes a radfem or TERFy angle. Sometimes it's got a New Age spin, where all goddesses supposedly represent the "Divine Feminine," which also just so happens to be the embodiment of Victorian gender stereotypes. Sometimes it's got a dark twist, where the Great Goddess is a dark mother archetype who doesn't empower women so much as fulfill men's BDSM fantasies.

But all of it, at the end of the day, serves some rotten colonialist agenda.

[koscheys-skull]

Bullying, Mean, and Honest Truths About Spirituality

Under the cut is an honest and crude description based off of my own bias and opinion of new people joining Spiritual practises, the occult, or seeking magic and mysticism.

So you want to start practising the Occult.

You are drawn to the idea of Mysticism, Magic, the Occult, and “Witchcraft”. Let me say that again, but louder.

You.

Are Drawn.

To the IDEA Of Mysticism, Magic, the Occult and “Witchcraft.

A lot of people like the idea of pets.

Pets are fun! You get a cat or a dog and they hang around and you imagine yourself going for long walks or hikes with a canine companion, or sitting at home and enjoying the company of a furry feline. Maybe it isn’t a dog or a cat or a common household pet. Maybe you want a bird! They are fun, right?

You see people on the internet through videos on whatever platform you’re wasting your hours on. You fantasize about what you would do or have. You spend hours entertaining this fantasy while looking at everyone else’s lives and situations.

You are drawn to the idea of something.

And then you ignore the important detail that these things require work, time, and dedication.

The Occult is just like people and pets.

There’s more people that i know that should not have pets than people that I know are responsible pet owners.

This, for me, is the same with the occult. Only, if you choose to neglect the Occult practise you claim to be drawn to, there isn’t really a penalty like a vet bill or a dead creature that you were supposed to be responsible for, for your negligence.

“Oh, I’ll just pick a “class” like an RPG and I’ll roll with it.”

Will you though? Will you dedicate the time and energy to do research on the subject matter you claim to be interested in? And not only will you give it the time and energy to just begin with the research, but will you also put in the dedication to put it into practice?

Be realistic with yourself. What are you actually going to do? Are you capable of maintaining routines and managing yourself and keeping up with the demands of the occult? Or are you just whimsically interested in it because it sounds “cool” and you had some friends in school that played with some tarot cards so now you think you’re a witch.

Let’s pretend you do actually have the self control and discipline to dedicate yourself to a spiritual path and practise. Let’s pretend you have that kind of integrity (but let’s be honest, you and I both know that’s a load of wash.)

Most likely, you’re coming from an Abrahamic Background, aren’t you? In the least, you’ve spent a lot of your life surrounded by vaguely misshapen ideas of “some sort of binary system where there’s good and bad spirits” or something or another and demons might be a thing? You don’t really know. But you took a class once that talked about Greek and Roman gods or maybe the Norse and Celtic gods, so you know there’s Gods out there! So that’s a START! Let’s go!!!!!!!!

You can just pick a god and run with it, right? Like, who cares? Just pick what makes you go “Yeah that’s neat and cool. I’ll take this out for a spin.” and pretend that you’re somehow deeply connected to this being. You read something or another about this deity or this pantheon at some point or another (or something like that). Just google search and read the Wikipedia page and waste a few more hours on it till you’re a Reddixpert on it! You have everything you need and a few days later you throw down a candle and incense and you’re blown away by feeling a strong connection to this god! HOLY COW! It’s working?! Let’s face it, you’ve not been connected to anything at all in your self obsessed life for a long time. So you think it’s “Special” when you get an answer. It’s not.

Sorry, sugar. You’re not special. You’re not a little special little sugar plum fairy that is adored by the gods. Because, believe it or not, you have to build relationships. But not just that, you’ve just pulled a “White Person” move. Most likely, you didn’t consult with or have any discussions with practitioners of the ethnicity and belief system you are interested in. Nor did you research the culture and how the religious and spiritual beliefs of those people manifest. I would suggest you learned some or a little bit or even all of the language of the people that the religion belonged to, but let’s be honest again with one another, you don’t have that in you for sure. You chose to take a God from a Pantheon and chose to take it entirely out of context. Congratulations! You pulled a White Colonialism Move so good that you took it to a spiritual level!

What? You thought you could just pick whoever from wherever and just rip them out of their culture, place, language, and people and water it down till it suited you? What is this, Wicca?

It might be! If this sounds like your idea of fun, check out Wicca. They’re full of it. You have gods from across all seas (Except for some reason the Pacific? Not sure if it’s a weird Asian racism problem or if they’re just focusing on everything the British Empire stole from) being Shipped together like smutty fanfiction. It’s insane. Anubis and the Morrigan are having babies every year, I guess, and their child, who’s always a Son, is the next Cernunnos who is also Pan but also Hades and also is Thor every third life (or something, I don’t know I’m not Wiccan).

What, you didn’t think that you actually had to respect a culture and the people that a religion belongs to? What are you, a pilfering bandit? There’s a right way and a wrong way to do these things. But what’s important is that you have to be honest.

Yeah that’s a big word. “Honesty”.

How honest are you with yourself? How true are you to what you think you can achieve and accomplish? Are you really going to read all of those books and write notes and document things? Are you really going to make a whole entire lifestyle change that surrounds and accommodates the culture, belief systems, and structures of a culture’s religion and beliefs? Are you? Are you really? If you make the change, are you going to commit to the change? Or, in a few weeks or months are you going to revert right back to the way you’ve always lived your life?

Again. This is the difference between enjoying the idea of something versus actually doing the work. And that is what the occult is. It is work.

Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. It is putting you on the grindstone and making you both rethink, reshape, and re-evaluate your entire being. It is going to make you uncomfortable. It is going to challenge you. It is meant to help you grow and be better. And growth doesn’t happen when you’re being spoon fed off of a lace spoon. Your idea of what things are is going to be challenged.

That’s another word that has a tendency to throw people out of the Occult. Challenge.

If you’re new to the Occult, you’re going to have to learn a critical skill that, in my opinion, very few possess.

Everyone wants to be “right”. It sucks when you’re wrong. How well do you handle it when someone corrects you. Let’s be honest. It’s awkward. It’s embarrassing. Everyone wants to be right. YOUR PRIDE IS SENSITIVE DAMNIT!

You’re a sensitive snowflake and you need to be swaddled in soft cashmere and reassured that you’re perfect because of course you are, sugar-pie.

But we have to touch some grass and live in reality. Yeah, I know the occult feels like you’re indulging a fantasy, but it’s not. Spiritual practises and spiritual beliefs are real things that have real people of many different cultures and languages and walks of life. And these practises are not just little badges and stickers you can throw on a water bottle and make yourself feel like a “Validated Witchy Bitch, Baby! ‘Cause we’re Feminist and COOL.”

(And by the way, you are not “The Daughters of the Witches you Couldn’t Burn”. Get fucked, you uneducated slut.)

You are going to have to approach everything, and yes I mean everything, with the air of caution in your heart and mind that says “Maybe I do not know what I am talking about.”

This is almost impossible for some (haha just kidding it’s pretty much everyone. I’m guilty of failing at this sometimes myself), to approach everything that someone says with an air of “Maybe this person knows more than me.”

When you engage with other people and you give them the space to speak about a subject that they are educated in, always be open. You must be so open that you automatically assume that you know nothing about the subject that someone is going to educate you on. Assume you have no education at all. And then listen. Yeah, I said it. You have to listen.

Listening??? To someone else??? Telling you what’s what???? Are you kidding me? What is this, a Learning Experience?

Yes, Yes it is you poor summer child. It is a learning experience. And if you can’t be bothered to learn and to try and learn then you’re not going to make it.

And if you can’t be bothered to listen, to read, to do work, to give effort, and to re-evaluate yourself constantly, you are not going to make it.

So make the choice.

Commit. Or walk away.

No one is going to think poorly of you for admitting that you’re not cut out for this.

But everyone. Everyone you interact with that is a real practitioner with a real lifestyle that encompasses their spiritual practise (because, surprise! The spiritual and the Mundane are intertwined in a very close and intimate way for practitioners) will be able to sniff you out from a mile away and know that you’re not worth your own salt.

It’s okay to be “casual” in some circumstances. It’s okay to be “subtle” or to follow paths that are more accommodating to your needs. That’s fine. Don’t get me wrong. This is a high energy and very taxing experience. There are paths that are accommodating to your needs and your degree or spoons, your laziness, or your life conditions. (I’m inclusive, dammit. Some people are disabled. Some are just fucking lazy. Some are kids with a fantasy fetish. I don’t know. I don’t care. Figure out which you are and make choices like an adult).

But don’t go picking a path or integrate yourself to a spiritual lifestyle that has high demands or you cannot adhere to. Not only is it disrespectful to the culture, the people, and the beings involved. But it’s not good for yourself, either. You will not benefit from the experience. You won’t make it anywhere and you’ll be left constantly feeling like a failure because you cannot accommodate the demands of a lifestyle and belief system that has expectations that are outside of your parameters to accommodate.

But back to YOU! Because let’s be honest, this is mostly about YOU. Everything is mostly about you and yourself. That’s just how a massive amount of people think. Which isn’t wrong, don’t get me wrong. But you have to be Self Aware. (I know most of you are not self aware. Get over it). When you set yourself up with all these fantastical expectations and then nothing progressive and fantastic happens with your practise, it is mostly because you failed to follow through with your own work. Something happened along the way where you struggled for some reason or another and you didn’t have the discipline and the integrity to keep up with something. And that feeling sucks. You feel “Let Down” by the Occult. But you let yourself down. In some way shape or form, you let yourself down. Because everything is about you, this means you have to be responsible for YOU. Yeah. I said it. You have to be responsible for yourself. No one’s wiping your Spiritual Ass for you. You have to do your own work and wipe your own spiritual butthole, and that also means cleaning up your own spiritual messes and doing the spiritual work and dedicating the time and dedicating the energy and making the changes to your life you need to make and then committing to them. It’s all Change, baby! And if you can’t handle change, then you can’t handle commitment to the occult.

And that’s okay! If you can’t handle some things, then DON’T FUCKING DO THEM?????

Maybe step away from that. And yeah, it’s okay to “try” some things to a degree. But please. For the love of fuck, approach them with the respect, dignity, and understanding that they deserve. Always approach a practise (And 99% of all practises have roots in SOME sort of ethnic culture!) with the respect it deserves. Do your best to adhere to those cultures and their beliefs and be as strict as you can while accommodating those traditions. They’re called “Traditions” for a reason. Treat them like they are sacred because they are. I shouldn’t have to explain to people that “Traditions of Spiritual Cultures are Sacred”, yet this post is being made because, quite clearly, this is a common issue.

I’m not “Gatekeeping” anything by saying this. I’m telling you to explore as much as you can. But when you do so, don’t explore different spiritual practises and traditions like the tourists that make the locals want to commit a homicide. Which is how so many people getting into the occult treat Traditions they are exploring.

You want to be a good and a welcome guest. You can’t just trample whatever you feel like because you’re too self centred with your selfie stick in Greece to be aware that you’re disrupting people trying to live their daily lives. The locals should want you. Try to connect to the people and their language and culture. Don’t just stand in their ways and think their society should accommodate you because you’re visiting.

It is okay if something turns out that it isn’t for you. Be honest about it. Be respectful about it. Thank the people and the culture and those gods for their time for being Gracious Enough to Host you. And then move on. A little respect goes a long, long way.

The Occult and Spiritual practises opens the way for you to re-think everything that you believe and to apply new ideas, beliefs and principles to yourself to help you grow and explore yourself and your connection to people and places with deeper understanding.

Be honest.

Be open.

You have to grow. And if you are interested in the Occult, Spirituality and Mysticism, get ready because there’s going to be so many growing pains.

And if you can’t handle that,

Then why are you here?

[marisatomay]

Been listening to books about the Salem witch trials and it’s so weird to me that there’s this prevailing narrative where people think of Salem as “oh they were deluded primitive folk who believed in witchcraft lol” when there are contemporary documents where prominent people said the accusers and the court (which hadn’t followed standard legal procedures even for that time) were committing crimes so grievous it would forever be a stain on New England

[kemetic-dreams]

Christianity arrived in South Africa with the arrival of European settlers, primarily Dutch colonists led by Jan van Riebeeck, who established a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, bringing with them their Dutch Reformed faith, which became the dominant form of Christianity in the region;. 

Key points about the introduction of Christianity in South Africa:

Early settlers:Jan van Riebeeck and his Dutch East India Company crew were the first to introduce Christianity to South Africa when they landed in 1652. 

Dominant denomination:The Dutch Reformed Church became the primary Christian denomination practiced by the early settlers. 

Later influences:Following the Dutch, other European groups like French Huguenots also settled in the region, contributing to the diverse Christian landscape. 

[anistarrose]

I think when a lot of queer people who aspire to marriage, and remember (rightly) fighting for the right to marriage, see queer people who don't want marriage, talking about not entering or even reforming or abolishing marriage, there's an assumption I can't fault anyone for having — because it's an assumption borne of trauma — that queers who aren't big on marriage are inadvertently or purposefully going to either foolishly deprive themselves of rights, or dangerously deprive everyone of the rights associated with marriage. But that's markedly untrue. We only want rights to stop being locked behind marriages. We want an end to discrimination against the unmarried.

We want a multitude of rights for polyamorous relationships. We want ways to fully recognize and extend rights to non-romantic and/or non-sexual unions, including but not limited to QPRs, in a setting distinct from the one that (modern) history has spent so long conflating with romance and sex in a way that makes many of us so deeply uncomfortable. And many of us are also disabled queers who are furious about marriage stripping the disabled of all benefits.

We want options to co-parent, and retain legal rights to see children, that extends to more than two people, and by necessity, to non-biological parents (which, by the way, hasn't always automatically followed from same-gender marriage equality even in places where said equality nominally exists. Our struggles are not as different as you think). We would like for (found or biological) family members and siblings to co-habitate as equal members of a household, perhaps even with pooled finances or engaging in aforementioned co-parenting, without anyone trying to fit the dynamic into a "marriage-shaped box" and assume it's incestuous. We want options to leave either marriages, or alternative agreements, that are less onerous than divorce proceedings have historically been.

I can't speak for every person who does not want to marry, but on average, spurning marriage is not a choice we make lightly. We are deeply, deeply aware of the benefits that only marriage can currently provide. And we do not take that information lightly. We demand better.

Now, talking about the benefits of marriage in respective countries' current legal frameworks, so that all people can make choices from an informed place, is all well and good — but is not an appropriate response to someone saying they are uncomfortable with marriage. There are people for whom entering a marriage, with all its associated norms, expectations, and baggage, would feel like a betrayal of one's self and authenticity that would shake them to their core — and every day, I struggle to unpack if I'm one of them or not. If I want to marry for tax benefits, or not. If that's worth the risk of losing disability benefits, in the (very plausible) possibility that I have to apply for them later in life. If that's worth the emotional burden of having to explain over and over, to both well-meaning and deeply conservative family members, that this relationship is not one of romance or sex. (Because, god, trying just to explain aromanticism or asexuality in a world that broadly thinks they're "fake" is emotional labor enough.)

Marriage is a fundamental alteration to who I am, to what rights an ableist government grants me, and to how I am perceived. I don't criticize the institution just because I enjoy a "free spirit" aesthetic or think the wedding industry is annoying, or whatever.

[divinum-pacis]

Can a River Be a Person? | Indigenous Traditions: Crash Course Religions #7

What does it mean for a river to be a person? An ancestor, even? In this episode of Crash Course Religions, we’ll learn how Indigenous religious traditions’ emphasis on place, kinship, and diverse spirits challenge the dominant assumptions of the Western worldview.

[creature-wizard]

"I don't mind New Agers and starseeds so long as they're minding their own business-" Look, the thing is, New Age and starseeds will never mind their own business, because that's not how the belief system works. Appropriating other cultures' traditions and converting as many people to New Age as possible is the core of this belief system. They'll never stop their spiritual colonialism and cultural genocide because that's what it's all about.

[dailyanarchistposts]

The Anarchists

We got the invitation through a Mapuche friend we had worked with on our previous trip to Wallmapu. Having been their guest, and having collaborated on land recovery, translation and diffusion about their struggle, prisoner support, and other projects, we had a personal basis of trust, solidarity, and friendship. Without that, they never would have thought of contacting us when they learned that a nearby community needed to find a way to generate its own electricity.

The next step was finding comrades who were interested in the project and had the needed skills. We prepared for several months making arrangements, getting resources together, and practicing techniques for the fabrication of different generation systems.

We also talked about our expectations and desires for the trip.

A clear priority for everyone involved was a total rejection of charity. We did not see ourselves as privileged people going to help underprivileged others, nor as allies to the Mapuche struggle. The only reason we considered going was because the Mapuche were struggling for their freedom, and we as anarchists were involved in a distinct but interconnected struggle for our own freedom. This was, in a sense, the “community of freedoms” Fredy Perlman writes about.

The purpose of the project was to deepen the relationship of solidarity between different people in struggle. We were being invited because of specific skills some of us had, but we had no illusions about being unique in that regard. Only because the Mapuche had created such a potent, insightful struggle was this project even possible. It is no coincidence that none of us had ever set up an electricity generation system before; never before had doing so held revolutionary implications. We wanted learning on this trip to go both ways, and we knew that it would. Speaking for myself, the conversations and experiences I had on the previous trip to Wallmapu, the worldview and the vision of struggle I encountered, forever altered my own practice as an anarchist.

Because it was impossible to communicate directly with the people in the community until we arrived, when planning the trip we decided we should begin with a conversation about our goals, motivations, and expectations. We would not get distracted by the technical details, as important as they were. We were not going to set up a generation system in a village, we were going to deepen our relationships. The material infrastructure was an anchor that would permit the intensification of anticapitalist relations, and a point of leverage for the liberated social relations to push back against the imposed capitalist social relations.

As such, success for the project could be defined as the following:

forming relationships that would enable mutual solidarity

working together with peñi and lamuen in a collective process to install one or several models of electricity generation using local materials, with an emphasis on passing on skills, such that the model could be recreated without external aid and set up in other communities in struggle.

In other words, if we effectively set up an electricity generation system in a community and left, and the people there did not know how to make another one on their own, the project would have been a failure for us.

[panicinthestudio]

Uncovering the Power of Hoodoo: An Ancestral Journey, May 16, 2023

Tank Ball explores the origins of Hoodoo, a unique and powerful form of spiritual practice deeply rooted in African American culture and the ancient ritual of ancestral worship.

Religions like Vodou in Haiti, Candomblé in Brazil, and Santería in Cuba share similarities with Hoodoo, but are unique to the places where they were created. Through interviews with renowned scholars and spiritual practitioners, Tank Ball traces the lineage of Hoodoo back to the era of slavery, where African spiritual beliefs intertwined with Christianity and provides an intimate glimpse into the practices and philosophies that bind generations together.

PBS Voices

[kemetic-dreams]

The term 'Sub-Saharan' Africa is a colonial language that was used to belittle African nations south of the Sahara and to separate the other countries from North Africa– Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan due to them being Arab states.

Colored, Negro, Black, Nigger

Every one of these terms come from the mindset of Europeans not Africans. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.

Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "Black race" as socially constructed.

Black is a term developed in the Colonial Assembly of Maryland, after a rebellion called Bacon's Rebellion, fought from 1676 to 1677.

The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes) disturbed the colonial upper class. They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705.

White took on the meaning "British, Christian and having rights. Black meaning not having rights.

These divided the two populations, by giving poor Europeans with no power, unprecedented power over all non-Europeans.

The laws were devised to establish a greater level of control over the rising African slave population of Virginia. It also socially segregated white colonists from black enslaved persons, making them disparate groups and hindering their ability to unite. Unity of the commoners was a perceived fear of the Virginia aristocracy, who wished to prevent repeated events such as Bacon's Rebellion, occurring 29 years prior.

By refusing to call you an African, it belittles you, no such thing as black names, black land or black languages. It is like calling a woman big lips or flat butt and refusing to call the woman by her actual name. "Hey colored girl, or black boy".

In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people.

African populations have the highest levels of genetic variation among all humans. 

Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo'

People in many parts of the Arctic consider Eskimo a derogatory term because it was widely used by racist, non-native colonizers. Many people also thought it meant eater of raw meat, which connoted barbarism and violence. Although the word's exact etymology is unclear, mid-century anthropologists suggested that the word came from the Latin word excommunicati, meaning the excommunicated ones, because the native people of the Canadian Arctic were not Christian.

According to the Constitution of India, we are “the people of India that is Bharat”

In English language discourse, the word ‘India’ is used and in Hindi expressions, the word ‘Bharat’ is used. The Anglicised call it ‘India’, and the indigenous call it ‘Bharat’. Our ruling class calls it ‘India’, the others, the janata, call it ‘Bharat’. It has become a trend and fashion to prefer the word ‘India’ over ‘Bharat’. We converse with the country in Hindi and other vernaculars while we govern it in English.

Japanese people usually refer to their country as Nihon or Nippon 

The name "Japan" in English is derived from the Portuguese word "Japão," which was used during the 16th century when Portuguese traders and explorers first arrived in Japan. The Portuguese term "Japão" likely evolved from the Malay word "Japang" or "Japang Pulau," which referred to the Japanese archipelago.

The Japanese people themselves refer to their country as "Nihon" (日本) or "Nippon" (日本), and these terms have been used in the Japanese language for centuries.

As European seen themselves as the elites of all races and god's chosen people. They took on the mindset of what I say makes the most sense.

Renaming essentially all populations they came in contact with, using their language as opposed to learning the language of the natives.

And whatever religion or spirituality people had Europeans demonized it and forced converted people to Christianity.

[blood-and-foam]

i can always tell i’m entering a new era in my life when i get inexplicably obsessed with a different mountain goats album/ep. it’s like my version of mercury being in retrograde or whatever

[animxpossessed]

It's some bullshit that the western colonial ass mfs like to take a good thing and then "purify" it into an unwieldy potent extract and then ban it because they don't know how to treat it with respect.

[batglare101]

Wouldn't that mean Kyle/Greenflake is dead if he was a member of the white lights?

it's a pretty convoluted part of the lore here- I'm going to struggle explaining this.

at some point, the green lights colony was at war with (insert another color colony. maybe red or yellow. still have yet to decide). Greenflake fell during battle and he woke up in the white lights colony. there he was given a choice to go back to the living world or stay in the afterlife, similar to how Squirrelflight and Leafpool (canon warrior cats characters) were given the choices, if I remember correctly.

Greenflake was given the choice because he was a part of a prophecy- he was destined to be the one to end the war. anyway, bla bla bla long story short, he comes back to life obv and fulfilled the prophecy.

[sjwallin]

”Spiritual Songs of the New World” for Orchestra (MIDI Demo)

Certain musical patterns are shared among all of humanity, transcending geographical and temporal boundaries. This selection of early spiritual songs originating from the North American continent exemplifies this remarkable unity. Whether it be the music of indigenous peoples displaced by European colonists, the religious songs adapted from folk songs of European origins, the poignant spirituals of the enslaved forcibly brought to America’s shores, or the hymns sung by impoverished rural Southerners, humanity expresses hope through their shared language of music.

This orchestral suite opens with a rendition of a Lakota lullaby titled, “Čhaŋté Wašté Hokšíla (My Kind-Hearted Boy)”. This then transitions into a New England colonial rendition of the traditional song “Wayfaring Stranger”.  The song’s sentiment of constant journeying, being a stranger in a strange land yet lifting the eyes in hope toward the promise of a better home, links the stories of all who reside on this continent: European immigrants fleeing oppression, indigenous communities forced upon trails of tears, and African people enslaved against their will.

From this wayfaring song that links them all, a lone trumpet introduces the melody, “I Wade the Water to My Knees”, a traditional ring shout song that recalls the historic 1803 rebellion and subsequent mass suicide at Dunbar Creek on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The lyrics of this call-and-response shout song bring this powerful imagery to life:

I wade the water to my knees.

I’m gonna pray, gonna pray.

I wade the water to my knees.

I’m gonna pray til I die.

Lord, the water’s so cold… Til my body but not my soul… I’m gonna sink and never rise… Won’t rise now but don’t know when… With my faith I’ll rise again…

Following a brief harmonic transition, a faithful orchestration of “Wondrous Love” is presented. The harmonies are accurately reproduced from those found in the Sacred Harp tunebook of 1844. This distinctly American tradition of harmony and singing-style originated in New England during the late 18th century and was subsequently codified in the aforementioned tunebook, published in the American South.

 After this rugged rendition of “Wondrous Love” comes “Idumea”. The melody was initially composed by Ananias Davisson in 1816. Subsequently, it was paired with Methodist lyrics (authored by Charles Wesley in 1753) and included in the shape-note hymnal Southern Harmony in 1835. The hymn was further incorporated into the Sacred Harp collection in 1844.

At long last, our journey culminates in a seamless fusion of the melodies from “Idumea” and the Lakota Lullaby that began this musical narrative — once more, illustrating the striking commonalities shared in the music of our diverse heritages.

[creature-wizard]

Somebody sent me a whole entire Charge of the Goddess in my inbox, the one beginning with:

Hear the words of the Great Mother, Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arionrhod, Brigid, and by many other names:

This person ended the message with:

Sounds a lot better to me then blind obedience so... I'll be sticking to my path, thanks.

Hey, hey Anon. Did you know that you're presenting a false dichotomy here? Did you know there are actual options beyond whatever shitty religion of "blind obedience" you're picturing, and this historically and mythologically unsound "all goddesses are actually the Great Mother Goddess" bullshit?

Did you know that claiming that all goddesses are the exact same goddess is spiritual colonialism and spiritual imperialism? Did you know that you're no better than the Roman Empire here, who went around deciding they knew better than other people what their own traditions were really about? Do you know how many POC and Jews are sick and tired of white neopagans justifying cultural appropriation with this rhetoric?

Your path isn't actually "better." It just serves you better. It isn't so hot for everybody whose spiritualities have been colonized and appropriated by people like you.

[root-of-theseus]

Opadeaux - 𐤏𐤐𐤀𐤃𐤉𐤀𐤅𐤑- The land of Spirits, Spices, and The Goddess' Love.

Founded by: Protohumanoids and Spirits

Capital: Maison d'os 𐤌𐤀𐤉𐤎𐤏𐤍𐤟𐤃𐤏𐤎 (The House of Bones)

Notable Locations/The 9 Wonders: Maison d'os 𐤌𐤀𐤉𐤎𐤏𐤍𐤟𐤃𐤏𐤎 (The House of Bones) Reliure Rouleaux 𐤓𐤉𐤋𐤉𐤅𐤓𐤉𐤟𐤓𐤏𐤅𐤋𐤉𐤀𐤅𐤑 (The Scrolls of Knowledge) Tours d'antan 𐤕𐤏𐤅𐤓𐤎𐤟𐤃𐤀𐤍𐤕𐤀𐤍 (The Towers of Old) Grottes d'art 𐤂𐤓𐤏𐤕𐤕𐤉𐤎𐤟𐤃𐤀𐤓𐤕 (The Cave Paintings) Temple d'trio 𐤕𐤉𐤌𐤐𐤋𐤉𐤟𐤃𐤕𐤓𐤉𐤏 (The Temple of the Trio) Rivière d'esprits 𐤓𐤉𐤅𐤉𐤉𐤓𐤉𐤟𐤃𐤉𐤎𐤐𐤉𐤓𐤉𐤕𐤎 (River of Spirits) Montagne Persévérance 𐤌𐤏𐤍𐤕𐤀𐤂𐤍𐤉𐤟𐤏𐤉𐤓𐤎𐤉𐤅𐤉𐤓𐤀𐤍𐤔𐤉 (Mt. Perseverance) Pierres d'Hengé 𐤐𐤉𐤉𐤓𐤓𐤉𐤎𐤟𐤃𐤄𐤉𐤍𐤂𐤉 (The Henged Stones) Mer morte 𐤌𐤉𐤓𐤟𐤌𐤏𐤓𐤕𐤉 (The Dead Sea)

Symbol(s): The Blue Orb ●, Fushia Reverse Fleur-de-lis ⚜, The Eye of InfnI ✴, The Triquetra of LuIu⅃ ☘︎, and the Heart of AoyoA ❦, The Trinity ⧝

Languages: Universal Tongue, Motsrosée 𐤌𐤏𐤕𐤎𐤓𐤏𐤎𐤉𐤉 ('Mouth's Dew' it's basically French with Phonetician Letters)

Pantheon(s): Goddess InfnI 𐤉𐤍𐤇𐤍𐤉 - Mother of Traeh, God Lulu⅃ 𐤋𐤅𐤋𐤅𐤋 - Father of Traeh, & Goddex AoyoA 𐤀𐤏𐤉𐤏𐤀- The Spirit of Love

Previous Keepers/Priestesses: Many documented, and the position is lifelong and grants immortality until passed down. The last one was Priestess Belladonna 𐤁𐤉𐤋𐤋𐤀𐤃𐤏𐤍𐤍𐤀 who gave up her reign after 5999 years.

Current Keeper: Priestess Lycoris 𐤋𐤉𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤉𐤎 has reigned for 2000 years (she stopped counting after the first 1000 passed) She is referred to as Ly by her friends, Prêtresse by her followers, and Vieille bique (old hag/crone) by her detractors.

Exports: Tea, Spices, Alcohol, Rice/Grains, Minerals/Ores, Cotton/Silk, Jewellery, Pearls, & Literature.

Reasons to Visit/Live there: Unconventional Marriage, Spiritual Retreats/Guidance, Museums/Historical Sites, Relaxed Atmosphere/Culture, Multicultural, Food Tourism, & Festivals.

Miscellaneous information:

Opadeaux, or translated as the "Opulant Dew" is known as Traeh's "Cradle of Spirits." It is the oldest country out of all globally, with its history predating written language. The country prides itself in being diverse, welcoming all types of species, spirits, and humanoids alike.

Because Opadeaux boarders Vassatänder at a culturally important river for the both of them, the two countries collaborate and converge quite often, especially with festivals. While each country has their own special traditions and holidays, there are several instances where the two share important dates or moon phases. For example, Equinoxes and Solstices, End of year rituals, and the Spirit's Ceremony. (Similar to Halloween on earth.)

Gender and Sexuality are seen as divine rites of existence given to us by the Trinity:

Goddess InfnI gives us the courage to embrace our bodies and desires.

God Lulu⅃ gives us the ability to think for ourselves and know what we want.

And Goddex AoyoA gives us the power to express our love onto others without fear or judgment.

It is culturally acceptable to be in relationships which some of the other countries may have trouble approving of or have outward issue with; particularly polyamory and interspecies relationships. Many come to Opadeaux to get married, and some stay because they feel at home with themselves there.

The country has historically been run by priestesses for millennia, but that idea is getting challenged as years wear on. Especially under the rule of Lycoris, the Priestess of the last two millennia. When she came into power, her previous successor, Belladonna, left her to deal with a war without guidance. Which in turn makes Lycoris scared of conflict.

Because of this, many people who live there think that Lycoris is unable to run the country that would benefit others, especially with the Patria Magia priests starting to try and establish their faith at every corner. Opadeaux prides itself in being open to all faiths, but many people left Patria Magia specifically to get away from the oppressive ideas about being themselves. To see that Lycoris isn't doing anything about it, or speaking about it openly, makes residents wonder whose side she's truly on.

Will Lycoris learn to speak up for herself and her people? Or will she be overthrown by the people she swore to protect?