Difference and discrimination, part I: Difference and discrimination don't exist until they're named? Wrong.

I've had a piece of writing brewing for a looong time -- for more than two years, when I go back and look at scraps and drafts of things -- about this fallacy in both American society, and the Religious Society of Friends, that equates naming or identifying something with actually creating it. 

I witness, and experience, how this inhibits discussion in two areas in particular: difference and discrimination.  With difference, the myth is that differences don't exist until we name them -- and that when we do, we threaten unity and cohesiveness, and therefore organizations or communities themselves.  With discrimination, the myth is that prejudice and discrimination don't exist until we name them -- and that when we do, we're the ones who are prejudiced bigots.

What bullshit.

Whose reality?

This started out as a comment on someone else's blog, but then I realized it ought to be a short post on my own blog:  

I often hear people trash both theism in general, and Quaker non-theism in particular, as something that just cannot possibly be true at all, if it cannot be true for the speaker or if the speaker cannot understand it.  Yet, as a broader society, and as a Religious Society, we don't have that standard for, say, Christianity.  (If someone can't understand Christianity, or if it's not true for them, society locates the problem with them, not with Christianity.)  Why can't non-theist Quakerism (or Pagan Quakerism) be true and valid for someone else even if I just cannot grasp it?

Perhaps I have more humility here because I'm already used to that experience with other things that plain don't make sense to me, but obviously have great meaning, and work in real-life practice, for other people.  And therefore I accept them, even if I don't understand them, or agree with them, or even if I think they're kind of (or way) out in left field. 

This is part of the reality of life for folks who are minorities. 

Whereas, the belief, the fundamental assertion that if I can't believe it, or if it doesn't make sense to me, then it's just plain not true in an essential, basic sense, often comes from a position of some kind of dominance, privilege, or power-over that needs to be protected.  It's part of the experience of being a member of dominant culture. 

Suggestions from American Muslims for how non-Muslims can support you?

I'm having several conversations right now in different electronic fora (Merriam-Webster does say the plural of forum is fora) about how American non-Muslims can best support our American Muslim neighbors, especially this year.

Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, falls on September 10th this year, sparking fears that some non-Muslims might think Muslims are actually celebrating the attacks of September 11th, 2001; there has been a recent spike in hate crimes and domestic terrorism against American Muslims; and there are promised Qu'ran burnings on September 11th, which, while protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, are nonetheless alarming.

Some proposed actions have included:

• Reviving scarf solidarity -- wearing scarves on September 10th, September 11th, during all of September, in support of Muslim women in particular.

• Writing letters to the editors of local newspapers supporting Park51.

• Intervisitation between local mosques and Islamic community centers and other religious and spiritual groups.

• Calls to lawmakers.

• Calling local mosques and community centers and asking if visitors of other faiths are welcome at Eid celebrations. 

• Raising money to help pay for cleaning and repairs to damage to mosques and community centers and construction sites after recent vandalism and arson events. 

• Hosting interfaith peace events co-planned with the local Muslim community.   

I don't know how many of these ideas come from Muslims, how many come from well-meaning non-Muslims (of which I count myself), and how many come from Muslim/non-Muslim partnerships (which I consider preferable). 

So, in this space, I ask any Muslim readers: what actions can American non-Muslims take that will help support you?  What would help you?  What would build community?


What would help you feel supported and help you know you do not face this alone?

Recommended post: "The Discipline of Listening as Tool for Christian and Pagan Friends in Conflict" at Plainly Pagan

I have been mulling over similar topics recently...  

Oftentimes I have read Christian Friends' comments regarding the frustration of Meetings and online conversations that are, if not openly hostile to the Christ-centered Friend, at least not supportive of him/her. This is a serious concern and a hard thing for me to hear. It is especially hard when Christ-centered Friends suggest or even openly advocate that Friends be limited to Christians only. My perspective is often the opposite and so I want to argue and bluster when I read such things. To hear these things makes me feel unwelcome and defensive...  (Read more)

Enjoy.

FCNL: We Stand with American Muslims

According to Friends Committee on National Legislation, here are some ways to support American Muslims right now:  

FCNL: We Stand with American Muslims

• Ask 5 friends to sign the petition too.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper supporting the Islamic Cultural Center.
• Find out if the American Muslim community in your area might welcome a public or private opportunity to get to know your own local church, meeting or community group;
• On Friday, September 10, many local American Muslim communities around our country organize public celebrations of Eid ul-Fitr -- the end of the holy period of Ramadan. Find out if Muslims in your area might welcome the participation of people of other faiths.
• Write your senators to ask them to speak out in support of the Islamic Cultural Center.

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Supporting American Muslims: The Velveteen Rabbi's "A Gesture of Repair"

American Muslims are having a rough time of it right now.  To say the least.  Domestic terrorism against American Muslims spiked after September 11th, 2001, never dropped back to pre-2001 levels, and has surged again recently. 

American Muslims are afraid of what other Americans will do to them, simply and solely because of their religion.  And that is plain wrong. 


A lot of non-Muslims have wondered what we can do to support our Muslim neighbors right now.  Rachel at the Velveteen Rabbi offered a heart-warming response to the recent hate crime in a mosque in Queens.  (I first came across the Velveteen Rabbi's work two years ago when I was living in Ann Arbor.) 

I for one am grateful to Rachel and Stu not just for the idea, but also for Doing Something, and for demonstrating that Doing Something is possible.  Tikkun olam is the work of all our hands. 

Blessed be.

What century is this? The Summer's Eve ad in Woman's Day magazine

Sexist bullshit is alive and well.

Just in case you think we've arrived in the post-patriarchy, there's this little tidbit from Summer's Eve brand in Woman's Day magazine.

No, it's not from the Onion.  No, it's not from the 1970s (or the 1960s or the 1950s).  It's from the 2010s.  Here and now.  

Check out the great analysis by dhonig at Daily Kos. 

And please do let both Summer's Eve (866-787-6383) and Woman's Day (212-767-6000) know what you think of advertising that insults women this incredibly.

Update 8/28/10:  Verified.  I have now seen this with my own two (four?) eyes, and it made me feel all slimy.  It's on page 50 of the October 1, 2010 issue of Woman's Day.  Ew. 

Is it time for scarf solidarity again?

I've been reflecting over the past few months on my experience as a second-class citizen, socially and legally -- informally and formally -- as a Pagan.  Oh, sure, we technically share the same protections as everyone else under the US Constitution, but it doesn't actually work out that way in reality for Pagans. 

(My "favorite" case in point these days is my colleague Patrick McCollum's experience in CA, and how in the lawsuit McCollum v. California, folks really do make a legal argument that some religions are legally "better" than others, and that folks from certain religions deserve more legal recognition -- and differential access to jobs -- than folks from other religions: specifically, that the First Amendment to the US Constitution applies only to religions that existed at the time of the framing of the Constitution.  Hoo, boy.)  

(And that's not even touching my literal legal second-class citizenship as a lesbian.  (Click here to read some of what I've written about my experience with that in the last year.) 

But over the last few weeks,  I've been reflecting that while I may be a second-class citizen in my own country when it comes to my religion, my Muslim neighbors must be feeling like third-class citizens. 

These reflections started with the brouhaha about the so-called,  non-existent "Ground Zero Mosque."  It's not at Ground Zero, and it's not a mosque.  (For more information, see Park 51's FAQs and the Cordoba Initiative's FAQs.) 

If we look at the things that do exist within a mile of Ground Zero -- of the site of the former World Trade Center in NYC, the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in NYC -- it's clear that too many people in America consider it more patriotic to operate a strip club, or a church, than to operate a Muslim community center -- than to help American Muslims reclaim Islam from extremists.  (Hat tip to Daryl Lang.)

Do we have a problem with the sculpture "And Jesus Wept" at the site of the former Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City?  Even though a Christian extremist was responsible for that bombing?  

And in the discussion of the non-existent "ground zero mosque," American Muslims are been getting treated like crap. 

But, wait!  It gets better!  Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida -- doves being a symbol of peace, remember -- is hosting International Burn-a-Qu'ran Day on September 11, 2010, because "Islam is of the Devil."

Two pieces of good news:  1)  The First Amendment protects their right to burn books, even if it doesn't guarantee them a fire permit.  2)  Other local religious leaders are not taking this sitting down: the Gainesville Interfaith Forum, comprised of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, are hosting a "Gathering for Peace, Understanding, and Hope" the night before.

But let's be honest, folks.  American Muslims are the targets of hate crimes all the time.  We just don't hear about it.  American Muslims, and mosques in America, have had to cope with this particularly since September 11th, 2001, as if all Muslims were responsible for the behavior of a group of extremists.  We don't act as if all Christians were responsible for the behavior of the extremists who were responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.  But we act like all Muslims are responsible for September 11th. 

But wait, you're saying.  I don't act like that. 

Well, what do you do to stop it?  When people bad-mouth Muslims around you, do you speak out against it? 

Personally not blaming Muslims ourselves is no longer enough.  Not in today's political and cultural climate. 

On the radio today, I heard a guest on WHYY's Radio Times talking about how Muslims in America are afraid of violence directed against them personally on the upcoming anniversary of September 11th. 

And that's just wrong. 

No one -- no one -- in this country should be afraid they will be attacked physically because of their religion.  

And that statement brought back memories. 

Of September 11th, 2001 in Philadelphia.  

Of the aftermath.  


Of the bomb threats at my Meetinghouse.  


Of how it felt like my entire workplace, my entire family, the entire world around me, was demanding vengeance. 


Of not knowing where friends, family, and loved ones were -- including folks in the military, folks on commercial airplanes that day, and folks overseas.  


Of threats to bomb Afghanistan "back to the Stone Age."  


Memories of Americans being attacked for being suspected of being Middle Eastern.  


Memories of American Muslim women -- regardless of race -- who wore the hijab, or headscarf, being attacked and harassed, and so either leaving their headscarves at home, or simply not leaving home -- becoming prisoners in their own homes to hate.  


Memories of Quaker women I knew wearing headscarves of some sort in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan and with American Muslim women.  

I came late to scarf solidarity that year, but wore a headscarf for a good month or so -- October?  November? As long as I was led.  I still wore long, full skirts frequently then, and probably looked more Jewish than anything else.  Still, it felt important. 

One co-worker looked at me worriedly and said, "But Stasa, what if people think you're Muslim?"  Exactly, I told her.  "But you're not.  I mean, you're obviously not."  Exactly, I told her.  She didn't get it.  The idea is to make people think, I explained.  She was still nervous for me. 

I have been wondering: is it time for scarf solidarity again? 

I looked up scarf solidarity when I got home today, and found the story of Jennifer Schock's Scarves for Solidarity Campaign originally planned for October 8, 2001; I also found this article from the LA Times. 

Jennifer did her homework.  She talked to Muslim women.  She called local mosques, Muslim associations, and Islamic centers.  I haven't done any of that work yet.  I have tried to reach Jennifer, but haven't been successful (yet). 

Is it time for scarf solidarity again?  If so, on September 11th, 2010?  Longer?  Coinciding with Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan - ?  (September 9th, this year.) 

Thoughts? 

"Divining Divinity" -- Bob Patrick at Meadowsweet & Myrrh

I very much enjoyed Bob Patrick's recent post "Divining Divinity" over at Meadowsweet & Myrrh.

What spoke to me about this post? A whole bunch of things.  Rather than go through and analyze and annotate the whole thing, I'll just pull out a few highlights: 

1)  "Belief" vs. "working with," or experience.

"That is a Christian presumption that other religious paths require belief as it does. What of those paths that do not require belief?"

I come face-to-face with this often, with the assumption that a dedicated religious or spiritual life of course requires belief -- and that a spiritual or religious life that is based in belief is by definition superior to one that isn't. 

Recently, I was at a conference that focused on the diversity of Quaker women's theaological experience.  Not our theory, not our thoughts, but our experience: narrative theology was the phrase shared with me with excitement by the conference organizers. 

I was nonetheless yanked up short by how wedded some of the Christian women in particular there were to this assumption about belief. 

"So, if you don't believe in Jesus, but you're here because you're Quaker, but you're telling me -- you're -- a -- Witch -- then -- that means you believe in -- well, not the Devil? -- I guess, if you're -- a member of your -- Meeting -- so -- what, exactly?" 

When it was my turn: "Actually, I would say, You experience the Divine as Jesus, or through Jesus, whereas I experience It as, or through, the grass, the trees, the seasons, Nature, the other women here, animals, all life, the Earth, the Air, the Fire, the Water, the Spirit, the Goddess.  It's not about belief.  It's about experience.  I can go outside and touch.  I can touch you.  I can breathe the air.  I eat food." 

Blank looks. 

It's one thing to come across this attitude from people who operate in a particular theological tradition; but I also get it all the time from non-Pagans who are non-theists and atheists, too.  What gets me is how Judeo-Christian these nonbelievers still are in their thinking and reactions, and how they still try to force other people into that same narrow box they claim to reject. 

2)  "Worship"

The word "worship" has a connotation of subservience rather than one of simply reverence.  It definitely generates the idea that when we gather in worship, we are holding ourselves subservient to that which we worship, and holding that which we worship as superior to ourselves.  As a Feminist Witch, I struggled with this when I when I first came to Quakerism; and something that I appreciated was the discussion in my then-Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice about the roots of the word in worth-ship: what do we hold in worth, in esteem? 

What's more, here's that notion again of not only the separation of divinity from creation, but also of creation at all.  This is so enshrined in Judeo-Christian, and possibly all Abrahamic, thinking, that most folks simply don't recognize the assumption they're making -- much less the religious and theaological ethnocentrism in it. 

This is just not my experience of the Divine. 

Seeing "divinity as totally other and superior to the creation."

Sure, there are plenty of creation myths in Paganism / in different Paganisms.  But if the gods and the world are not separate -- if That-Which-Is-Sacred and That-Which-Is aren't different -- creation isn't linear; it's cyclical.  Personally, I may have a Mother Goddess, but I don't have a "creator."  My relationship with the Earth is to someone who grew me, not someone who made me.  And there's a big difference.  Reverence in connection.  The gods are not outside the world, separate from it: They are the world, the creator and the created. 

In technical terms, we're talking about world-views of immanence and transcendence, and world-views of both.

3)  That conversation!

Why can't I be that articulate all the time? 

On the Prop 8 ruling (Perry v. Schwarzenegger)

Two seemingly-unlikely courtroom bedfellows, David Boies and Ted Olsen, speak with Rachel Maddow just after the federal court decision regarding California's Proposition 8 banning same-gender marriage. 

(If you've never read Ted Olson's piece "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage: Why same-sex marriage is an American value," I highly recommend it.) 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For info about the MA court case they refer to regarding the court finding the federal Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, click here. 

For the NY Times basic story about the Prop 8 ruling, click here. 

If you'd like to read the ruling itself, click here.  I haven't read the whole thing yet, but from what bits I have read, and from the exclamations and excerpts erupting from the other end of my living room as well as the analysis I keep seeing, it's an amazing read.  You can skip the mind-numbing legalese and just read the juicy parts, which I'm told (by many friends) really are beautiful, even to the lay reader, from a legal standpoint.

If even that much legalese is too much, try starting with these two NY Times articles -- this editorial, which does some legal analysis of the discrimination angle, and this analysis article, which tackles some of the legal and judicial structure around what happens at the levels of different courts, why and when "findings of fact" do and don't matter, and why some people are so excited about that beautiful legal language I mentioned above. 

Sure, this is going to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, and sure, it might well be going to SCOTUS after that, and sure, Walker (the judge in this case) placed an immediate temporary stay on his ruling pending appeals, so nothing practical changed right away.

But none of those things diminishes my joy.  This legal ruling states very clearly that California's bar to same-gender marriage discriminates irrationally against me, and my sisters and brothers, in a way that can't be justified legally.

It states very clearly something that should be a reminder to all of us when it comes to other issues as well:

“Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and women.” 

Announcing the CPT Boutique on EBay!

Too totally awesome.  If you're looking to simplify your life, get rid of old stuff, etc, and aren't satisfied with your current local options... why not CPT?  
 

U.S.-Canada: CPT Boutique accepting valuables from donors; all profits support work of CPT
You know that valuable old necklace handed down from your Aunt Agatha that you never wear and your children don’t want?  Or that antique china you think is kind of hideous? Or your sister's stamp/coin collection? Or that designer outfit that doesn’t fit you?

Put it to work for peace!  CPT now has a boutique in the Ebay store, Kathy’s Hideous Little Ego.  CPT will accept any legal, valuable item that can mail easily...

Not only will you be simplifying your life, you will be supporting the peace and human rights work of CPT in Colombia, Iraq, Palestine and in North American aboriginal communities.

Click here for more information...

(Click here for the boutique!)

Fidelity and infidelity in community

Thinking more about Max's article, or, Part B.

I agree with Max about spiritual community and about how true spiritual community helps us be faithful to the Inner Light, the Goddess Within.  Held by true spiritual community, my spiritual life -- not to mention my ministry -- is one not of contraction, or of artificial growth, but one of expansion and natural growth, of ebb and flow, within the rhythms of nature and the cycle of the seasons. Held by true spiritual community, I have been able to do things I have been led to do, but couldn't otherwise do. 

And yet I have been particularly aware again lately of a number of the ways in which both other Friends and other Pagans have asked me to make myself smaller, or have tried to make me smaller, or have asked or demanded that I be unfaithful, so that they might be less uncomfortable, less disturbed, by my life or my witness or the truth of my experience.  Not just ordinary folks I come across in a given day or week or First Day or committee service or Gathering -- but folks whose "job" it is, as a Friend, friend, co-religionist, or co-clergy member, to help me be faithful to myself and to what the Goddess is asking of me.  Folks with whom I am in spiritual community. 

So I am living very much in the awareness right now of the both/and of spiritual community -- of how good spiritual community can indeed help me be more a more faithful Quaker and Witch, and also of how poor spiritual community not only makes it harder for me to be a faithful Quaker and Witch, but actively inhibits me from doing so.  

When we ask each other to be unfaithful because another's faithfulness makes us uncomfortable, we diminish ourselves.  We diminish our own relationships with ourselves and the Divine within us.  We diminish our own integrity.  We diminish our ability to be in relationship with the Divine with each other -- spiritual communion and spiritual community.  We weaken our Meetings, our circles, our Covens, and our larger spiritual communities.  We weaken our ability to build and participate in interfaith groups and dialogue.  We weaken community, small and larger. 

We create an injury to the spiritbody of the Sacred. 

Max Carter, and Quaker parallels with Anne Rice and Christianity?

Today I read Max Carter's recent article in the Washington Post about Anne Rice's decision to leave Christianity in order to remain committed to her relationship with Jesus. 

I was struck by something Max wrote:

Unfortunately, too many Christians - among them many Friends - are caught up in "notionalism," equating faithful Christianity with particular notions about proper dogmas, doctrines, creeds, formulas, rituals, and social norms.

And I couldn't help wondering, How might this be true of Quakerism itself today?  

Are there ways we, as Friends, equate faithful Quakerism with particular notions about proper norms -- proper behavior and thoughts?  

Are there ways we look more at how someone -- ourselves or someone else -- fits the external notion of Quakerism, rather than how they are faithful to the Light within, to Quaker worship, or to Quaker process?

How do we tell if they're faithful to the Light within, Quaker worship, and Quaker process, anyway? 

How do we tell, when we know someone, if they're a "good Quaker" or not?  What do we look for to tell us that? 

I was reminded of something Merry Stanford once said in an article in Friends Journal:

...I yearned so strongly to belong that I strove to be a "good" Quaker, rather than an authentic one.

How do we ask each other to be "good" Friends, rather than authentic Friends?

Recent deaths

I feel particularly held by the circle of death and life right now. 

Two recent deaths, Daniel Schorr and Mabel Lang, leave me feeling like two pillars of the universe have upped and left for some other universe.  Their deaths are not remotely out of season -- both were 93 -- and yet, somehow, it's the very length of their presences in my life that makes their absence seem so strange. 

Death in due time, I can deal with; I grieve, but that's okay.  Early death is harder for me.  When it comes at the end of a terminal illness, I feel relief for that end, and still feel a kind of helpless rage.  

My F/friend Christine Oliger's death is no surprise, yet it is hitting me hard. 

The unexpected death of Art Gish, a beloved activist often involved with CPT Hebron / al-Khalil, is also hitting me surprisingly hard.

Death is part of the cycle of life.  For Witches, we honor it, but we also honor our grief; and right now, I am grieving. 

I am grieving in the Light, and in the comforting Darkness.  I have the support of beloved F/friends and family; I am blessed and lucky. 

I've also just received word of the unexpected but welcome pregnancy of someone very dear to me. 

The circle of death and life continues, inexorably. 

--------------------

• Daniel Schorr's obituary (at National Public Radio)

• Mabel Lang's Obituary (at Bryn Mawr College)

• Christine Oliger's Obituary (at Friends of Christine)

• Art Gish's Obituary (at the Church of the Brethren)

New Health and Human Services rules prevent the most vulnerable women from paying for abortion coverage themselves

I am so pissed about this, I'm not even going to attempt putting it in my own words.

Then again, yes, I am.  

The US Department of Health and Human Services announced recently that "the state high-risk insurance pools intended to provide coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions will not generally include coverage of elective abortions" (National Partnership for Women and Families).  Even if women pay for this coverage themselves, out of pocket.  Excuse me??

This means the women who are most economically and medically vulnerable -- women with pre-existing conditions, who are more likely to have complicated pregnancies or failed birth control, women who are in the high-risk pool because they are having a harder time getting other health insurance -- women who are more likely to need abortion services, are going to have even more barriers to obtaining safe and legal abortion.

News on this: Google news search "HHS abortion"

Good article to start with: Medical news today from July 19th

The Catholic Reporter says, Eh, it's not news.

Planned Parenthood says, Yeah, it is, and it's a problem, too.

Gah!!!

Recommended article: Hospice medical care for dying patients: the New Yorker

This was a hard, but really good, read.

Most of us know, should we be diagnosed with a terminal illness, that we don't want to die in the ICU.  We want to say goodbye, to put our affairs in order, to die in a dignified way, without heroic measures, with good palliative care, with our pain managed, surrounded by loved ones or maybe one loved one, maybe alone.

The problem is, most of us don't know how to make the leap from aggressive medical management of our condition to hospice care.

Neither do most of our doctors.

Letting Go
What should medicine do when it can't save your life?
by Atul Gawande

Recommended interview: Richard Cizik on Fresh Air, 7/28/10

I caught the beginning of this interview, and to my surprise I listened to the whole thing.  I was glad I did. 

I recommend it.  Especially if you identify as an Evangelical Christian, or if you have strong feelings or strong opinions about Evangelical Christians.

If you listen long enough to get beyond the civil union issue and into the breadth of the interview, you might be surprised. 


As a lesbian, as a Quaker, and as a Witch, I appreciated a lot of what Cizik said.  

For 10 years, the Rev. Richard Cizik was the chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents roughly 30 million constituents across the United States.

But he was forced out of that position in December 2008, after remarks he made on Fresh Air about his support of gay civil unions, among other things.

On Wednesday, Cizik returned to Fresh Air to discuss how his life has changed since he left the association and why he started a new group called the Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, which he hopes will be an alternative to Christian groups that focus on the culture wars.

For interview highlights, click here. 

For options to listen to the interview, click here. 

For a transcript, click here.

Some thoughts about Lammas

I like to try to post about different holidays on the Wheel of the Year and how they speak to me, how I am moved by them.  Some of them are "easy" for me; they're really obvious, instinctive; it's like I've always known them in my soul, as if they've spoken to me from birth.  Some of them have spoken to me from birth -- Beltane, Samhain, Winter Solstice / Yule.  Others are more subtle, and it has taken time, as I've grown into my relationship with the rhythm of the seasons, for me to grow into my relationship with them; but I still love them.  Other holidays or way-points on the Wheel of the Year just plain challenge me, perhaps as what's happening in nature at that time of year just plain challenges me. 

Lammas is interesting for me for a bunch of reasons.  It's my former Coven's, and now my Tradition's, anniversary.  It's the time when the days start getting darker, faster, but when there's also an end in sight to July's heat waves here in the Mid-Atlantic.  Wherever I've lived, I've loved discovering what's in season locally at Lammas.  (One week after Lammas 2008, I moved to Seattle and ate Rainier cherries for the first time.  Wow.) 

This year for Lammas, I thought I'd share some of what Roses, Too! Coven has written over the years in our newsletter and celebration invitations.

About Lammas: 

• The cross-quarter days (Lammas, Samhain, Brigid, Beltane) mark turning points in the year when the days get shorter or longer more quickly or more slowly. Since Litha, or Summer Solstice, the long days of summer have slowly been getting shorter. When Lammas comes at the beginning of August, the days start getting shorter more quickly. This may be a sad thing for those who love summer, but a relief for those waiting for the end of sticky heat!  

• Lammas is a time of harvesting, of evaluating what we have harvested and what we hope to harvest.  The days start growing shorter, faster, as we feel the turn of the year’s wheel towards Fall.  

• Summer Solstice was the longest day of the year -- the day with the most hours of daylight in a 24-hour period.  From Summer Solstice on, the days begin to get shorter, but at first the change is gradual.  At Lammas, the change comes more quickly and is more dramatic, and we can notice more easily how the balance of light and dark changes.  

• Lammas is the first of three harvest Sabbats we celebrate.  This time of year marks the beginning of the harvest, of storing against the winter.  Gardens are going crazy, and we rejoice in the abundance around us.  It's still easy to see the Goddess as life-giving Mother.  But the harvest is still uncertain.  Severe weather, storms or drought, can still destroy crops.  And when we successfully bring in the harvest, we also see the face of the Goddess as Reaper -- She Who Cuts the Grain.  In Harvest is the death that allows life to continue: seeds for next year's crops, food for the winter.  Some traditions celebrate Lammas/Lughnasadh as the wake of the Sun God Lugh, whose sacrifice at Summer Solstice is the death that allows the cycle of both animal and plant life to continue. 

Ritual: Cornbread!

In circle at Lammas, we break cornbread together, sharing the joys and sorrows of what we have reaped in the past year and our hopes for the harvests to come.  We ask ourselves, "What have I harvested so far this year?  What do I hope to harvest?"

Potluck theme: Local Food

Lammas is the “loaf-mass,” the ancient Celtic celebration of the harvest of grain. We live in a world full of global networks that ship produce to us from all over the world. In the USA we have access to a stunning diversity of fruits out of season.

This Lammas we encourage everyone to look for foods that are locally grown, to reconnect with the seasons of the places where we live. What is being harvested near here right now? What will you harvest?

(And don’t forget the protein!)

So, dear reader, my query to you is: 

What does Lammas mean to you?  

• What is happening in nature around you?  

• What have you harvested so far this year in your life, literally and metaphorically?  What do you hope to harvest yet?  

• What foods are local to where you live?  What grows near you?  If you live in the city, what are urban gardeners growing? 

All God's Quakers Got a Place on a Committee

We have an event at North Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Session called Community Night.  It's like an open-mic night, or a a talent show, or a cabaret, but where each performer is a group within the Yearly Meeting: Monthly Meetings, Worship Groups, Preparative Meetings, Quarterly Meetings, the occasional Yearly Meeting committee or two.   

With profound apologies to Bill Staines, here are the results of the efforts of the Songwriting Committee of University Friends Meeting. 



A Place on a Committee

All God's Quakers got a place on a committee
We don't care if you're plain or pretty
You have to be a member for Worship and Ministry
But everybody's welcome on Hospitality

Religious Education is a good one, too
'Cause all our children really need you
Oversight's got a lot of clearness to do
And Building and Grounds has plenty, too

Our homeless neighbors share our worship space
And provide our Meeting with a measure of grace
Social concerns proceed apace
And the dish-washing tends to itself -- NOT!

Please take pity on the Finance Committee
They beg for money and they hardly get any
We value all our other seventeen committees
But nobody talks to Nominating

So we all got together for a Year of Discernment
It lasted eighteen months and it left us in ferment
We talked about our talent and commitments and souls
And how to share our gifts and time and anything we got now

All our Friends got a place in our Meeting
From setting out chairs to standing and greeting
Christian and Jew and Buddhist and Pagan
And all of our potlucks have options that are vegan!


----------------------

Permissions update


The Songwriting Committee had no idea this would be of such interest to other Friends, and is humbled and honored by all the interest that's been expressed.  

After consultation with the Clerk and some of the Elders of the Meeting, I (Stasa) have been asked to say:  

• Performance: Permission granted by University Friends Meeting for use for religious / spiritual performance only, with attribution to UFM for the words.  (We cannot, of course, grant permission from Bill Staines for use of the tune.  His contact information is here.)  

• Links: Feel free to link to this page or to RantWoman's page if you would like to link to the lyrics.  (This page: http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2010/07/all-gods-quakers-got-place-on-committee.html.  RantWoman's page: http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2010/07/all-gods-quakers-got-place-on-committee.html.)  

Thank you, Friends!

...And why is this important?

Yesterday, I posted information about the Mid-Winter Gathering for Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, as well as information on "What is FLGBTQC?"

Why is this important?  A couple of reasons: 

1) If you are a person of faith who is questioning your sexual orientation, your gender identify, or both, it is important to understand that you do not have to give up your relationship with God (or the Goddess) when you come out.

I have come to realize over the last 20+ years that I was truly lucky, and truly blessed, when I came out. First, it never occurred to me to give up my faith because I am bisexual or or a lesbian; second, I came out into a community of faith.

When I realized I love other women, I never thought to choose between my relationship with God and being who I truly am: coming out deepened and enriched my spiritual life.

I also knew other lesbian and bi women, as well as gay and bi men, who were involved in Christian, Jewish, and Pagan spiritual communities. What's more, within a year, my Jewish (now former) partner found for me a lesbian, gay, and bisexual Christian faith community where I felt at home almost immediately, and where I later served in leadership.

This was not how the story went back then for all, or even most, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer folks when they came out.   

Even today, one of the biggest struggles LGBTQ people of faith face when coming to terms with their sexual orientation, their gender identity, or both, is the notion that accepting who they are means giving up God. 

This is simply not true. What's more, it's cruel.

There are a lot of LGBTQ spiritual and religious organizations. Off the top of my head, I know about, or can find, Christian, Jewish, Pagan, and interfaith organizations; and I also know how to use my Google Superpowers (thanks, Peterson, for introducing me to that term!) to find other kinds:

• Christianity: There are a number of organizations within Christian denominations that are specific to LGBTQ inclusion and equality; there are individual churches, and networks of churches, within Christian denominations that are "welcoming," "open and affirming," etc. (the language varies) of LGBTQ people; there are Christian churches and denominations are that are primarily LGBTQ-welcoming but open to all.

• Judaism: There are Jewish LGBTQ organizations, synagogues, and shuls, within different kinds of Judaism.

• Paganism: There are Pagan LGBTQ organizations, circles, covens, groves, etc., within Pagan umbrella organizations and within different Pagan traditions.  

• Islam: I'm afraid I don't know much about the Muslim LGBTQ movement, but I do know there is one.  I welcome input from readers who are involved or have friends who are involved.

There's no way I can provide an exhaustive list of resources, but they are findable with the use of the aforementioned Google Superpowers. And folks are certainly welcome to add info in the comments on the resources you've personally found the most useful.

My specialty areas are Quakerism, Paganism (particularly, Feminist Witchcraft), and to some extent Feminist Judaism, so the resources I've listed so far on my website are primarily Quaker and Pagan.  As always, if there are resources I've missed that you'd particularly like to see me list, please do let me know.

2) FLGBTQC is open to everyone.

FLGBTQC is open to all Friends. There is no "card check" at the door. You can't necessarily tell who fits which particular labels. A number of folks don't fit any of those labels. And some folks are even straight. 

These are some of the things I love about FLGBTQC.

Yes, it's definitely LGBTQ space.  And there's room for all Friends.

And, come to think of it, you don't technically have to be a Quaker to be part of the FLGBTQC community. You just have to come to our events and, well, participate in our community.

And we do have pretty awesome Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business.  

I had an interesting conversation with a Friend recently.  We've both served as treasurers of Quaker organizations, and I was bemoaning how hard it is to make numbers line up in nice, neat rows at the end of a fiscal year, even when they've behaved well all year.  Ze responded by saying, rather airily, that ze hadn't found it that difficult, even when ze was treasurer of zir Yearly Meeting.  "Well, I'll be sure to bring your name to the attention of FLGBTQC's Nominating Committee for treasurer next cycle!" I laughed.  Ze got very serious.  Oh, no, ze wouldn't be at all appropriate, being straight, ze said.  "Whyever not?"  I asked.  Because ze wouldn't be a good representative of the organization, ze feared, being straight and all.  "Does that mean our clerks who've been in opposite-gender legal marriages haven't been 'good representatives of the organization'?" I asked, honestly curious.  Oh, no, ze replied, I'm sure they've been excellent representatives of the organization.  I was kind of left scratching my head. (It turned out ze was trying to respect what ze thought was separate space.)

In all actuality, it's the not-part-of-the-FLGBTQC-community part that would be the barrier, not the straight part.  I don't think I communicated the no-card-check-at-the-door, you-can't-make-assumptions part, very well.  I hope I'm doing that better right now.

3) Equality for LGBTQ people isn't here yet, folks. It's not even here for all LGBTQ Friends.

I know it's tempting to focus on equality in civil marriage as the be-all and end-all of LGBTQ equality.  I know it's really, really tempting to say, "We have a minute in our Meeting supporting same-sex marriage, so in our Meeting, LGBTQ people have full equality," or, "We marry same-gender couples in our Meeting, so in our Meeting, discrimination's not an issue."  Or, "There is a [lesbian, gay man, trans person] in a position of leadership in our Meeting, so LGBTQ folks know they're welcome here." 

Did African-Americans achieve full equality when every African-American person became able to marry legally and religiously?  (We'll leave aside for now the question of whether or not that's really true in 2011 America.)  Has racism in the United States ended with an African-American President of the United States?  Put that way, it seems obvious that homophobia and heterosexism won't end when same-gender couples can marry legally and religiously, or with LGBTQ persons in civil or religious leadership positions.

But about your Meeting: 

• Are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons represented proportionately in your Meeting's positions of leadership?  On your committees?  

• Do couples who make long-term commitments and get married do so in the Meeting?  Do individuals, couples, and other families who raise children raise them in the Meeting?

• If your Meeting is in a state where same-sex couples cannot marry legally, and couples go to states with civil marriage, do you coordinate with other Meetings so their civil marriage is under Friends' care?  Do you witness to the discrimination same-gender couples face in civil marriage?  

• When newcomers who are lesbian, gay, bi, queer, or trans come to the Meeting, do they stay, or do they wander off?  

• Does your Meeting have a statement of welcome on its website (if you have one) and in its entryway for LGBTQ folks and for people of color, and is your Meeting accessible to people with mobility limitations and by public transit?  

• If your Monthly Meeting is part of a Yearly Meeting where there is conflict around the welcome or full equality of LGBTQ persons, and your Monthly Meeting is in unity about lifting up the equality of all people, then it is particularly important that you have a statement of welcome on your website (if you have one) and in your entryway for lesbians, gay men, bisexual people, and transgender people.  Language in the minute and epistle from the Central Committee of Friends General Conference in 2004, available here, may be helpful for you.  

Did African-Americans achieve full equality in our Meetings when slavery ended?  We are learning, thanks to the tireless work (okay, the sometimes exhausted work) of Friends like Vanessa Julye and Donna McDaniel, authors of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans, and the Myth of Racial Justice, that the Quaker narrative about the testimony of equality and how we walk our talk -- or the testimony of integrity -- don't always go hand-in-hand.  That's an uncomfortable truth, and it's uphill work. 

Being welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people is part of being welcoming to people of color, people with disabilities (obvious and "hidden" ones, as well), and people of different ethnicities, ages, genders, races, kinds of families, kinds of theaologies within Quakerism, traditions with Quakerism, and more.

It's part of the spiritual hospitality that makes for robust Meetings, deep and centered worship, and robust Quakerism.

Okay, you ask, what if my Meeting doesn't have a marriage minute?  What if we honestly don't welcome LGBTQ folks openly and fully?  What if we wish we did, but we're just not in unity, and we're not going to pretend otherwise? 

Be honest about that.  You may be pleasantly surprised by the gifts the Spirit brings you.

RantWoman and The RSoF: Tending Ministries of Blogging

I can tell this blog post by RantWoman is going to prompt all sorts of interesting thoughts and questions for me about blogging and writing and leadings and ministry once it's had the chance to rattle around my brain a bit.  I think any number of folks I know who blog or write in other ways as part of their ministry, whether Quaker, Pagan, Unitarian Universalist, Jewish, something different, some combination, might find some useful things to chew on in this.

RantWoman and The RSoF: Tending Ministries of Blogging

What is FLGBTQC?

What is Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns?

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns is a Quaker faith community within the Religious Society of Friends. FLGBTQC deeply honors, affirms, and upholds that of God in all people.

We seek to know that of God within ourselves and others. We seek to express God's truth in the Quaker and in the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual/transgender communities, as it is made known to us.

It is our hope to offer an oasis to those who have been spurned by the world at large. We are learning that radical inclusion and radical love bring further light to Quaker testimony and life. Our experience with oppression in our own lives leads us to seek ways to bring our witness to bear in the struggles of other oppressed peoples.

We gather twice a year, at our Mid-Winter gathering and at the Friends General Conference Annual Gathering of Friends in the summer. At these times we worship together, discern our corporate witness through Meeting for Worship with attention to business, share our individual journeys, celebrate our lives, heal old wounds, and draw sustenance from the Spirit for our work and life in the world. After almost thirty years, we are still learning to spread love in the face of rejection and hostility and to embrace new friends. We have found faith and voice to speak truth to power and the courage to be open to new revelation.

(adapted from a minute approved 15 Second Month 1999)

For more information about FLGBTQC, Quakers, where to find us, how to get involved, etc, click here: http://flgbtqc.quaker.org/whatis.html.

FLGBTQC 2011 Mid-Winter Gathering

Reclaiming the Past
Proclaiming the Future

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns

Join us at the Summit (Brown's Summit, NC)
http://tiny.cc/1mvsc
Newly Remodeled!

February 18-21, 2011

for

Mid-Winter Gathering

Need more info?
(MidWinter2011@gmail.com)

A small rant on the theist/non-theist continuum

Below is an email I recently wrote as part of a larger thread on the Non-Theist Friends email list. There are a couple of reasons why I'm sharing it here.

The big one is that I'm tired of people ranting at me without actually being in conversation/community with me or the other people they're ranting about.

I've heard a bunch of random comments and outright rants over the last few months from people who just can't understand and just can't support the presence of non-theists in the Society of Friends. These statements, when I've asked these folks, have been based on what they think a non-theist Friend is, and have not been based on conversation with non-theist Friends or on the real, lived experience of non-theist Friends.

On both the Non-Theist Friends email list and in real life -- including the interest group I facilitated at FGC Gathering -- I've heard and read a bunch of rants implying anyone who's either a mystic or not a complete a-theist isn't rational and can't be a scientist. Paired with that have been comments and rants about Pagans' (and Christians') (I hear a Dar Williams song now...) irrational belief in the supernatural. This one often has me scratching my head; but you'll read what I have to say about nature and the supernatural and science and the supernatural in a moment (if you keep reading), so I won't rant in advance of my rant.

Another reason I'm sharing what I wrote in this email is because I don't talk very frequently about what I actually believe; about why I identify as a Pagan; or about why I identify along the non-theist continuum, much less how I'm too theist to fit in with many non-theists, and too non-theist to fit in with most theists. What's more, I just facilitated an interest group where I was rather insistent that we talk about our own experience -- not just about what happens in our Meetings or about the dynamics in our communities when we talk about our own experiences.

So, here it is.

(Please remember this email is taken out of context, and refers back to an email thread not presented here.)

-----------------------------------

I've just returned from FGC Gathering, and I'm sure I'll have more to share once I've had the chance to ponder what's been written so far and let it simmer in my brain for a bit, like a good stew. But I did want to say that for me, there are a couple of important things in here:

a) There's a big difference between the either/or of theism/atheism, and a *continuum* of theism/non-theism.

When I hang out with people who believe in a creator god who is all-knowing and all-powerful, or with people who toss reason out the window and are satisfied with the explanation "It's God's will / because God said so," it's pretty obvious to me I'm not a theist. When I hang out with people who have no room in their lives for anything science can't prove yet, or with hard atheists, it's obvious I'm not an atheist.

Put another way: if there are only theists and atheists, and if non-theist is a polite way of saying atheist [as someone asserted earlier], then I guess I don't exist. *laughing*

(And the babelfish disappeared in a puff of logic, a la Douglas Adams.)

b) Science and mysticism or spirituality are not by definition incompatible. I'm trained as a scientist. If you can't conceive of what science doesn't know yet, you literally can't *do* science; you can't use scientific method for scientific inquiry if you can't imagine things that don't yet make sense. Many things that have seemed supernatural in the past make sense now thanks to science. Many things that we don't understand now are simply things science can't explain yet. What's more, many of the scientists I know are deeply mystical people -- and some are deeply religious. So to say science and religion are incompatible is factually untrue. It may be your or my opinion; but that doesn't make it a fact.

b1) There are no controlled, randomized, double-blind studies, and there are no well-designed scientific experiments, that prove that any specific spiritual practices (such as prayer, meditation, or magic) "work" or "don't work." [Someone had earlier asserted, forcefully, that prayer doesn't work.] What little research there is doesn't, or can't, define clearly what "work" means, or completely isolate every variable (such as who is affected). There *is* some interesting research that demonstrates certain things, such as brain changes during meditation. But anyone who claims science proves spiritual practices do or don't work is factually incorrect.

c) There's more than one way to conceptualize the Divine / God / Deity / That-Which-Is-Sacred. To insist on conceptualizing it only in certain ways, and to insist on reacting against or defining one's self against only those conceptions, is to give those conceptions primacy and power.

Some non-theists may choose to reject religious and spiritual language completely because for them it's completely tainted by one conception of Deity. Some of us choose to use it in ways that for us are true, accurate, and have integrity.

I can say, with perfect truth and integrity, that the Earth is the Goddess to me. This doesn't mean, remotely, that I subscribe to a belief in an all-powerful creator deity, or that I'm ascribing such characteristics to the Earth. It means that I name the Earth, exactly as it is, to be Divine.

d) This also means that being somewhere along the theist/non-theist continuum, or being outright theist, does not automatically mean ascribing supernatural powers to one's Deity. My Deity is *nature*. You can't get ANY LESS supernatural than that. The Sun doesn't do anything supernatural. Neither does the Earth. Nor do the Stars, the Air, the Water, human beings, my cats, or the danged squirrels who have eaten their way into our car's engine. To say, as Witches do, "Thou art Goddess. Thou art God," is to say that the Divine is right here, in this world, is this world, is you and me.

Compared to some folks, this makes me a theist. Compared to others, it makes me an atheist. To me, it's a pretty meaningless distinction, b/c that concept of Deity is not one that has meaning for me to believe in or not believe in. I don't BELIEVE in a Deity -- I don't believe in the Earth, or the Air I breathe, or the Sun above, or the Water I drink, or the food I eat, or the cats I cuddle, or the rain that falls, or the rocks I carry in my pockets. I EXPERIENCE them.

Blessed be,
Stasa

Fund-raising for travel in the ministry

Dear F/friends,

As I've mentioned before, there are several trips I feel led or called to take this summer which I do not have the financial means to do myself. For health reasons, Beloved Wife and I were not able to go to the FGC Couple Enrichment Leader Training; we were sad to miss it, but glad we stayed home recovering and taking good care of ourselves and each other. I did go to the Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference, and am definitely glad I went! I am still raising money to meet my costs for that trip. Tomorrow we leave for FGC Gathering, where I am serving in several ways; I have done well with financial assistance and work-grants for Gathering. Right after we get back, I leave for North Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions, and I need to fund-raise for that.

Here are the details:

Pacific NW Quaker Women's Theology Conference:

Costs:

• Registration: $250
• Plane ticket + fees: $423
• Misc food & ground transportation: $75.88 (does not include brownies)
• Total: $748.88

Raised so far -- thank you!:

• Scholarship: $250
• Gifts: $266
• Total: $516

Still needed: $232.88.

North Pacific Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions:

Costs:

• Registration: $236
  
• Plane fare: $524.80
• Misc food & ground transportation: ??
• Total: $760.80 + a little more

Raised so far (thank you!):

• $500 total combined from Monthly Meeting and Yearly Meeting

Still needed: $260.80 - $300.00.

Please click here for information on how to make gifts to my ministry.

Sometimes it's very hard for me to ask for financial support to travel in ministry. It helps to remind myself, in the words of FLGBTQC's co-clerk, that it's ministry given through me. Then I worry less about the personalities involved, and am reassured that it's not whether it's my ministry, and it's not whether what I do speaks to people, it's whether I listen well and discern how I'm called, and it's whether I'm faithful.

Thank you for your support, for holding me in your spiritual care, and for your financial help.

Yours in Friendship,
Blessed be,
Stasa

Voices of Pagan Pacifism

Thanks to Jason Pitzl-Waters for the tip. - sm

Voices of Pagan Pacifism

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Voices of Pagan Pacifism project!

We hope this website will become an archive of helpful resources, inspiring stories and challenging essays available to the Pagan pacifist community, as well as the larger community of Pagans, Witches, Druids, Heathens and others interested in pre-Christian and earth-centered spirituality. It’s important to know that we are not alone, and to showcase the work and lives of our fellow peace-makers and social activists!

We conceive of this project as providing a showcase and permanent archive for the many voices of Pagan peace-making in the modern world. For this reason, we gladly accept submissions that have already been published elsewhere, provided they are submitted by (or with prior permission from) the original author and are accompanied by appropriate references and credit to the original publication source (including a link, if available). We also welcome new and original work never published before, by aspiring and previously-published writers alike!

We are currently accepting submissions for work in three main categories:

• Articles & Essays
• Rituals & Practices
• Interviews, Biographies & Organizations

In all submissions (excepting the interview application form), we are interested in writing with a clear vision and a unique voice, with a minimum of grammatical and spelling errors and suitably credible research sources (when appropriate).

Submissions should be sent either as an attached file (in one of the following formats: .txt, .rtf or .pdf) or in the body of the email itself, along with the name of the writer, a short bio, and any relevant links to online sources or previous places of publication. (If you submit a piece on behalf of someone else, please include their contact information so that we can confirm permission to use their work.)

Submissions can be mailed to: submissions [at] paganpacifism [dot] com Please indicate which category/subcategory you think is appropriate for your work in the subject line of your email. See below for details on each of the categories.

I think this sounds really interesting, and I look forward to seeing what comes of it.

I believe this is of especial interest to Pagan Quakers and Quaker Pagans.

Feel free to let me know if you get involved, and what your experience is like!

The meaning of 'madrase'

from http://cpt.org/cptnet/2010/06/19/palestine-reflection-meaning-%E2%80%9Cmadrase%E2%80%9D

CPTnet

19 June 2010

PALESTINE REFLECTION: The meaning of “Madrase”

by Sam Nichols

Returning to the U.S. from my stint in Palestine this time, I was pulled aside to a small room, where I was initially the only white person. There was a group of Arab men, a group of people from Southeast Asia, and later on some Eastern European women came in. After a while a Lt. Spiekerman told me I was going to be asked some questions.

I was asked where I had been and what I was doing. “Israel and the Palestinian territories doing volunteer work and Egypt for tourism, blah blah blah.” Pretty standard questions, which I have become accustomed to because of Israeli security officials, but he asked me six to eight times if I attended any madrassas during my travels. Follow up questions consisted of, "did you receive any additional training or education, did you learn how to use arms, receive any...uh training...you know what I mean, did you attend any madrassas."

I asked a clarifying question. “By madrassas, do you mean madrase, which is the Arabic word for school? Are you asking if I attended a school or enrolled in an institute or higher education? If that's the question then the answer is no, I did not.”

Unfortunately, the guy didn't clarify his terms, but just kept asking about flipping madrassas.

A small linguistic lesson: There is really only one all-inclusive word for school or learning institute in Arabic, and it's madrase, or the plural, madaares. It's the word written on the exterior of elementary schools, secondary schools, etc. Madrassa is just a bad English transliteration of madrase. The word has been utterly co-opted by Western politicians, media, and neoconservatives to mean a radical Islamic, anti-western, pro-terrorism institute of Islamic indoctrination and Islamic brainwashing. That's clearly what this guy was asking me about. I don't think he was asking me if I took a course in cooking at the American University in Cairo, or if I took a Hebrew language course at Jerusalem University.

Wikipedia in its description of the word it transliterates, “Madrasah,” gives a more elaborate description, which contains the following section, “Possible misuse of the word,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrasah#Possible_misuse_of_the_word:

The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization examined bias in United States newspaper coverage of Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and found the term has come to contain a loaded political meaning: “When articles mentioned 'madrassas,' readers were led to infer that all schools so-named are anti-American, anti-Western, pro-terrorist centers having less to do with teaching basic literacy and more to do with political indoctrination.”

Take that U.S Customs. Take that U.S. media. Take that U.S. public. Take that Lt. Spiekerman.

Please, STOP using an ordinary word and twisting it around to paint all educational institutions in the Middle East (i.e. the part of the world you don't like) as bastions of violent and hateful Islamic teaching. And Spiekerman, I have attended a madrase when I was learning Arabic, in order to do my human rights work at a more professional level. But lucky for you Lieutenant, I didn't attend a madrase on this trip.

American crows, Northwest crows, and ravens

Northwest crow

On my recent trip to Seabeck, WA, at low tide on Seabeck Bay, I spent some time in Meeting for Worship with Attention to Shore Birds. More on that wonder later, with pictures, I hope.

Some of those birds were crows; and I commented on an email list recently about how much more gregarious crows are in the Pacific Northwest of the US than they are in the Mid-Atlantic. Someone asked, Might they have been ravens?

I was pretty sure they weren't -- they didn't look enough different from crows, for one -- but this did prompt me to go do some research, especially at U Mich's Animal Diversity Web. Which, among other things, often has great recordings of bird calls.

Yes, there's a difference between the American crows I grew up with in the East, and the Northwest crows I became friends with in Seattle and visited with there and on the Kitsap Peninsula this trip. And neither of them are ravens.

Here's what I found. Enjoy!


Northwest crow:

• http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Corvus_caurinus.html

• http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?value=search&id=317

Here's how they sound, which caused me to say, "Yep! That's them!":

• http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/naturesongs/crow1.wav/view.html

American crow:

American crow

• http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Corvus_brachyrhynchos.html

• http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?value=search&id=316

Common raven:

Common raven

• http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Corvus_corax.html

• http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=318

The Epistle from the Pacific NW Quaker Women's Theology Conference

Here is the epistle from the 8th Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference. Our epistle committee included Iris, Aimee , and Erin, whom we thank for their faithful work.

To our Quaker family,

Surrounded by the waters and wildlife of Hood Canal and the snowy peaks of the Olympic Mountains, sixty women gathered in Seabeck, Washington from June 16-20, 2010 for the eighth Pacific Northwest Quaker Women’s Theology Conference. Begun fifteen years ago to promote dialogue and build relationships among different Quaker traditions, this conference continues to be deeply Spirit led and enriches the lives of women who attend.

Though we represent different backgrounds and branches of Quakerism, the lines between these seemed very thin and blurred. No one avoided talking about her home meeting or church, but our membership didn’t have as much weight as our personal experiences shared in love. Even as we attempted to be open and accepting, at times we misstepped and unintentionally hurt each other. Many of us felt broken open and left this conference changed.

Through reflection papers we wrote, plenary sessions, home groups and discussion, we each connected personally with the theme, “Walk With Me: Mentors, Elders, and Friends.” Each plenary brought us back again and again to the awareness of the need for support and mentorship in our lives. We identified places in which we are being accompanied and are accompanying others and places where we feel the absence of that loving presence. Many of us made commitments to seek those relationships in our meetings, churches and beyond.

Despite colds, more serious illnesses and concerns for the health of loved ones, we drew strength, support, and encouragement from one another. Many think of the Women’s Conference as a reunion and newcomers found they were welcomed into the family with open arms.

In keeping with the testimony of community, we opened ourselves to another group, Interplay, also staying at the conference center. We described the kind of work that we each came to do, invited them to join us in worship, and likewise were invited to experience their ministry and we shared grace together before meals.

We celebrated the gifts of many through plenaries, workshops, singing and readings by several published authors. During one plenary session, several young adults shared personal experiences of their ministries in relation to the theme of the conference. We were thrilled to hear stories of women being supported and held sacredly in their ministry. However, we were deeply saddened to learn that some are not empowered or recognized in their ministries. We were thus reminded of the reality of sexism in the Society of Friends. Encircling the young adult women, we joined together in heartfelt prayer and were moved by its healing and supportive power. This experience deepened our worship and fellowship together. We challenged ourselves to be aware of internalized sexism, as well as the sexism in our churches and meetings, and to work toward true equality.

During business meeting on Saturday, we reaffirmed the work of this body of women and our leading to continue meeting together as an intra-faith group. We look forward to the next opportunity to join in fellowship.

Thinking about Summer Solstice: Shame, Pride, Strength, and Power

I was on a long train commute recently, trying to use the time to get some work done. I ended up writing in my Book of Shadows (spiritual journal) about Litha, or Summer Solstice.

Because I find That-Which-Is-Sacred in nature and the seasons, I like it when my spiritual work is in tune with the rhythm of the seasons. The Wheel of the Year is useful for this. The Sabbats -- the Solstices, when either day or night is longest; the Equinoxes, when dark and light are equal; and the cross-quarter days in between -- are convenient times for me to stop and check in with myself with respect to the seasons, and are also a convenient time to check in with the Goddess / the Gods in a more mindful, take-stock kind of way than I do most First Days.

Some of the Sabbats speak to me deeply, and were part of my life before I ever identified as a Pagan. Some of them just make a lot of sense to me emotionally and spiritually. And some make sense mentally, but not on that instinctive level. Summer Solstice, or Litha, is one of these.

Oh, Summer Solstice makes mental sense to me. It's opposite Winter Solstice, which does speak to me on a gut level. As I've lived in different parts of the country, Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice are times when I've really had an especial sense of place about where I've been living: sunrise and sunset on the longest and shortest days of the year are very different in different parts of the US. The longest day is much longer in Seattle than Philadelphia; sunset on Summer Solstice is later in Ann Arbor or at Camp Grayling than in the Mid-Atlantic; the shortest day is shorter in Seattle than in Ann Arbor than in Philadelphia.

Last year in Seattle, we threw a Summer Solstice cookout where it wasn't dark til nearly 10 pm, but it was chilly enough we were all wearing fleece and long pants in the backyard, gathered around the grill.

You get the picture.

But while Summer Solstice makes mental sense and place-sense, it has never spoken to me in my gut the way some of the other Sabbats do.

On the train, I was trying to plan this year's Summer Solstice Celebration, and not getting far. So I started writing instead.

.....

- What do I actually want to do for Summer Solstice?
- What would be faithful to my leading?
- What is my leading?
- What about my MFW notion that came to me in MFW?
- What is my leading with respect to Roses, Too! Tradition?

I have a strong leading and commitment to Feminist Witchcraft.

I have a leading to teach it to other people, especially women.

So what do I have to teach, and what do I have to learn, about Summer Solstice?

The Sabbats that follow this are all about harvest -- at Lammas, we ask, "What have you harvested so far this year? What do you hope to harvest yet?"

At Litha, we've often talked about fruits, pride, and first fruits.

Gay pride, queer pride, Pagan pride; Pagan pride is more associated with Mabon.

The flip side of pride for both of those is perhaps shame.

So how can Litha, with its bright, purifying (burning?) sun, chase away (burn?) shame, transform shame, into pride?

What things have we been ashamed of that are actually sources of strength, power-from-within, and pride?

• femaleness; female gender; being women
• our bodies
  
• femininity -- characteristics stereotypical of female gender
• being femme or being perceived as femme in a queer culture where that may be suspect or not as honored as being androgynous or soft-butch or gender-bending
• feminism
• being Pagan; being too, or too obviously, Pagan; being not Pagan enough
• being spiritual/religious
• doing "ritual"
• doing ritual that is too plain, too down-to-earth
• health, body, physical issues
  
• cognitive and energy deficits
• education -- high school and seminary especially

So: how to take this stuff about shame, that provokes or produces shame, and transform it into pride?

(One key is feminist analysis of shame based on oppression and powerlessness...)

Transforming shame and powerlessness into pride, strength, and power-from-within.

Burning things? Eating rainbow fruit salad? [ <--- Rainbow fruit salad has appeared at past Roses, Too! Litha potlucks where the theme was "Take pride in your fruits (all puns intended)"]

Writing them down, putting them into a cauldron [the Cauldron of Cerridwen], stirring them around, pulling them back out, reading them - ? ie, "I have been ashamed of/when ---," then, "X is a source of pride / strength / power-from-within" - ?

(What do we do with them afterwards?)

What about things like violent or destructive behavior, illness / injury / disease, addiction, etc?

Transform the statement.

"Recovery is a source of pride, strength, and power-from-within."

"The ability and willingness to take responsibility for my actions is a source of strength and power-from-within."

"My body is a source of pride, strength, and power-from-within."

"My body's ability to heal is a source of pride, strength, and power-from-within."

"Not taking crap from inferior doctors is a source of pride, strength, and power-from-within."

Etc, and more.

I was done writing then, but all this has been bubbling away in the stewpot in the back of my brain. And I'm curious to see how things will cook up for Litha.

And although I might not have consciously realized it until now, that little bit of work has borne some fruit already: I bought jeans (on sale for cheap!) yesterday that show off my belly fat.

Not something I ever would have done before.

I need your help to travel in the ministry

I am really terrible at asking for financial help for ministry. But the truth is that, as with most of us, whether we're Quakers, Pagans, or both, my ministry is not self-supporting, and that right now, I'm in a bind.

My ministry oversight committee from my Meeting encouraged me to register for the Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference. The Conference at that time had not received any donations toward its scholarship fund; my committee and I agreed that I would fund-raise for registration and housing ($250), and request travel assistance from the Meeting. I went ahead and booked my ticket ($423), and then found out the Meeting is out of travel assistance monies for the rest of this fiscal year! So now I need to raise all of that money -- $673 -- myself. And I have no income right now. Eeep!

(Update: The Conference now has some scholarship monies, but I do not know yet how much I might receive from them.)

So I am asking for gifts towards my travel in the ministry. I've created a separate page on this blog -- click here for full information, or see the link at the upper right-hand side of the page. If you need to give through an organization, I have details there as well.

Truly, any amount is helpful.

Another thing that will help a great deal is holding me, and the Conference, in your spiritual care.

Thank you, friends.

Interest Group at FGC Gathering

I received word that my interest group proposal for FGC Gathering this summer has been approved. Here's the blurb (50-word limit!):

Many Theaologies, One Religion – the Gift of “Listening in Tongues”

Stasa Morgan-Appel

Unprogrammed Friends share Quaker worship and practice - and theaological diversity. How does That-Which-Is-Sacred speak to you? To the person sitting next to you in worship? (Does it?) And how do we talk about it with each other? We’ll practice “listening in tongues” and speaking tenderly and faithfully.