Singing the Goddess Workshop

bread & roses spiritual nurture

 
and 


Reclaiming Scotia 


invite you 
to

Sing the Goddess

Saturday, 10 November, 2-5 pm

The Hall at St. John’s Church

Princes Street & Lothian Road, Edinburgh

Singing the Goddess workshop will include songs from simple chants and rounds to more complicated pieces, drawn mostly from the Earth spirituality movement and the feminist spirituality movement.



Come as you are, whether or not you think of yourself as a singer.  No music-reading needed.  All genders welcome.



For more information, contact Staśa. 



Free; donations requested to cover hall hire. 

Please share widely!

Edinburgh Solstice Singers, and Singing the Goddess in Edinburgh

October or November: Singing the Goddess -- give date input now

bread & roses spiritual nurture and Reclaiming Scotia are co-sponsoring a singing workshop which I am facilitating in October or November.

I would like to schedule it for when the greatest number of people who are are interested can make it.  The proposed dates are Saturday afternoons in October or November, except for two dates where I have conflicts.

I need to make the booking for the hall by Monday at the latest.  So if you live within reach of Edinburgh for a Saturday and are interested, please let me know which dates will work for you, or are particularly good or bad for you.  

Thanks!

Workshop description draft:

bread & roses spiritual nurture and Reclaiming Scotia invite you to a 3-hour workshop with songs ranging from simple chants and rounds to more complicated pieces, drawn mostly from the Earth spirituality movement and the feminist spirituality movement.  Come as you are, whether or not you think of yourself as a singer!  No music-reading needed. All genders welcome.  [TIME, DATE, MORE INFO.]

Edinburgh Solstice Singers -- forming now

I am now forming the Edinburgh Solstice Singers, to sing in the December Winter Solstice Celebrations in Edinburgh.

We meet once a week for song-learning sessions / rehearsals.

• We are a non-audition ensemble.
• You do not need to read music, although if you do, that can be helpful.
• All genders and voice ranges are welcome.
• Our music is written for sopranos and altos; we can make adjustments for tenors and basses.  (I am willing to work with tenors and basses if you are willing to work with my inexperience with those voice ranges.)
• There are no dues, but there may be a small charge for room hire for rehearsals.

We have a few copies of the songbook available to borrow during sessions, but not to take home.  You may choose to purchase your own copy, which comes with a compact disc that includes recordings of all the songs in performance, as well as teaching tracks for songs with harmony parts.

If you are curious about or interested in joining, please contact me.  More information at http://stasa.net/winter-solstice -- particularly the links for Edinburgh 2012 and Edinburgh Solstice Singers. 

Come sing with us! 

Recommended article: "Access in the Academy: Accommodating faculty members with disabilities can help everyone," by Stephanie L. Kerschbaum

Access in the Academy:
Accommodating faculty members with disabilities can help everyone
By Stephanie L. Kerschbaum
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2012/SO/Feat/kers.htm

I recommend this article to individuals, Meetings, Pagan organizations, UU churches, singing groups, and other groups, for a whole handful of reasons. 

As I read it, I found myself gleefully muttering, "Yes, yes, yes," over and over.  

The biggest reason I'm recommending it is that Kerschbaum offers ways of thinking about disability and access that are interesting, useful, and very likely different from how we/you are used to thinking about disability and accessibility.

There is so, so much good stuff in this article, it's hard to pull out even a fragment for you.  But I will lift up / pull out two things:

One is that I am reminded of how the fragrance-free policies in various groups and events (http://sites.google.com/site/stasasministry/resources/fragrance-free-resources/successful-groups-events) benefit everyone there, not only people with chemical and fragrance sensitivities. 

Another is the issue of nametags, and how happy I am that Kerschbaum brings up nametags as an accessibility issue.

Nametags make events more accessible for me.  Plain and simple. 

Require name tags at department events and socials. Even if you know everyone in your department, there are often visitors at such events who may not. For some people, it can take many repeated encounters to remember another person’s name; for others, memory is visual rather than aural. In both cases, the name tag eases some of the social stress of the event. 

Yes, yes, yes.  

In the US, many (but definitely not all!) Quaker Meetings and organizations I've been part of have used nametags.  So have many dance groups; folk and Scottish dancers in the US, in fact, will often sport name tags whether they're provided or not.  In Pagan groups and organizations, this has varied widely. And so forth.

In Scotland in the last year, I have been to two, exactly two, Quaker events where there were supposed to be nametags... and they were missing from the first one (no one could find the box), and there were no provisions for substitute nametags.  This is seen as a cultural issue, not an access issue.

It places one more barrier for me to full participation in community.  

So far, when I've brought up that nametags are useful, not just for me with my particular disability, but for other people with other issues as well, I've been told variations on, "We don't do that here."  

I have hopes of addressing this more successfully in other Quaker groups I'm part of here.

Read the full article here. 

What it feels like to be full, spiritually

From the final FLGBTQC (Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns) worship at FGC Gathering this summer:

I am so tired physically.  And yet I do not feel depleted.  I feel full. 

It has been so long since I felt full in this way.  I think that often I am reaching because my spiritual reserves or reservoirs feel empty.  And yet as exhausted as I am I do not feel depleted; I feel abundant.  I feel filled.  

I'm thinking about how wonderful working with [a particular group of people in Edinburgh] has felt.  And yet after, I feel in myself that reaching, because doing that work with those lovely people feels like a scarcity.  A wonderful drink of cold, clear water, leaving me wanting more, to drink until I am not thirsty.  

My spiritual hunger has been fed this week.  

In so many ways.  

And it is wonderful.  

"Sex without consent is rape. We can stop it."

A new campaign designed to highlight vital changes in sexual offences legislation was launched in Edinburgh today.

With the tagline “We can stop it”, the campaign invites people, and in particular young men between 18 to 27 years old, to consider their own attitudes and behaviour and the role they can play in preventing rape. 

-- from Rape Crisis Scotland

Some of the most important information the campaign provides are definitions of consent (and when consent cannot legally be assumed), and that victims can be of any gender.

For more information about the campaign, see:

We Can Stop It: 

http://www.wecanstopit.co.uk/
 

Rape Crisis Scotland: 

http://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/news/new-rape-prevention-campaign-launched/

Some facts that might (or might not) surprise you:

• Nearly one in four women worldwide may experience sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime (WHO, 2002).
• Most serious sexual assualts are carried out by a man known to the woman - 86% of victims said they knew the offender in some way (Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 2010 – 2011).
• A third of teenage girls in a relationship suffer an unwanted sexual act (NSPCC survey, 2009).
• 40% of young people know girls whose boyfriends have coerced or pressurised them to have sex (EVAW, 2006).
• Conservative estimates indicate alcohol is prevalent in 34% of reported rape cases, and drugs in 12% of cases (Finch and Munroe, 2006).
• The victim is male in approximately 8% of all recorded rape cases however the actual number is thought to be higher (Stern Review, 2010).
• The UK charity Mankind estimates 3 in 20 men are victims of sexual violence (Stern Review, 2010).

from http://www.wecanstopit.co.uk/did_You_Know.aspx

The We Can Stop It website includes:

• Did You Know? -- information about rape and sexual assault
• What Is the Law? -- information about the Sexual Offences Act (Scotland) 2009, including What Is Rape?, What Is Consent?, and What Is Sexual Assault?
• What Can You Do?
• Our Stories
• News
• Contacts

It's comprehensive and well-put-together.  I strongly recommend checking it out and passing it on.

Recommended article: Amanda Marcotte's "It's Really Time for the Harassment to End"

Amanda Marcotte's "It's Really Time for the Harassment to End" is just brilliant.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/07/its-really-time-for-the-harassment-to-end/

There is so much in here; I suggest the whole thing.  But I will start you out with this snippet:

Jen McCreight has hung up her marvelous blog Blag Hag, even though she loves writing, because of all the abuse she’s been getting due to the rest storm in the atheist blogosphere over whether or not women are required to give any man attention because he wants it. The feminists say no, and support policies at conventions that state clearly to men that women’s consent matters. If a woman declines to give you anything—sex, flirting, any kind of attention—that is her right, and exacting your revenge by harassing her is unacceptable. A loud minority of atheist dudes find this unacceptable, and refuse to budge from their belief that they are owed women’s attention. They claim “free speech” gives them a right to an audience with the woman of their choosing, and claim that the requirement that a woman consents to an interaction means the end of flirting and sex. They grind their teeth over and over at the nerve of Rebecca Watson saying that it’s not cool to corner an unwilling woman in an elevator; their “right” to have a woman’s attention if they want it means that they are allowed any tactic, no matter how scary, to extract that attention, even if it means approaching a woman when she literally has no immediate means of escape. Hitting on a woman in an enclosed space sends the signal that she is not allowed, in your opinion, to decline the interaction. The anti-feminists occasionally pull sad faces and say they’re sorry that it has to be this way, but a man’s right to “free speech”, i.e. to extract attention from any woman at any time, trumps a woman’s right to free association.

To say otherwise—to say that a woman has a right to decline to give you attention—is “misandry”. The response to women who state boldly that a woman’s consent is required for any interaction has been many variations of “I’ll give you something to cry about.” Richard Dawkins raising the subject of serious oppression of women in some Muslim countries. Translation: “You should be grateful that we’re only demanding forced flirting, because there’s a lot more hellish things we could force you to do.” Many, many rape threats thrown at female bloggers who speak out: “You think forced flirting is bad, but there’s worse things we could force on you.” The notion of abandoning force altogether is preposterous to these men. There will always be force, they seem to be saying. Extracting what you desire from women by force is just the way of the world. You should be grateful that we demand so little of you, in terms of non-consensual interactions. 

Read more...

Theaological diversity among Friends

In July, I co-led an interest group at FGC Gathering with John Hunter from NC.

Actually, it was two interest groups merged into one: "Theological Diversity Within Our Meetings," and "Every Quaker Has a Place in This Meeting."

The interest groups sub-committee had asked John and me if we would merge our proposed interest groups, since on the surface they seemed so similar.  John and I emailed with each other, spoke on the phone, and agreed; once at Gathering, we met, settled on how we'd facilitate the evening, and finalized our queries.  What we came up with was somewhat different than what either of us would have done on our own; I think it was an interesting compromise, and led to a richer experience for the folks who attended -- and certainly more so than if there had been two separate interest groups, because among other things, there was definitely a richer mix of Friends present than those who would have chosen to go to one of the interest groups over the other.

The two interest groups were:

Theological Diversity Within Our Meetings - A great Strength of Quakerism

We all "have a place in the choir" at our home meetings.  This is true even as we may hold different personal theological beliefs.  We will explore how unity in such diversity might be a great strength for Quakerism.  A presentation will be followed by small groups where we each may explore our own theological assumptions and how we are included in our meetings and in the wider body of Friends.

Every Quaker Has a Place in This Meeting
Three Friends walk into Meeting for Worship: a Christian, a Pagan, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Non-Theist.  Each gives vocal ministry from their own experience; all experience gathered worship.  Come create the rest of the story: coming together, supporting each other, building community, helping each other sing in our own unique voices, singing in harmony. 

(They do ask you, when you put in a proposal, to consider the Gathering theme...)

58 people attended -- the room was certainly full!

We opened with silent worship.  John and I introduced ourselves, talked about what we planned to do with our evening (hour and 45 minutes), asked those present to introduce themselves -- your name, where you're from and where you attend Meeting, if you do; one word describing how you feel right now; one word describing what drew you to this interest group. 

John and I each gave our presentations, and then we divided the room up into small groups, handing out slips of paper with guidelines for Claremont Dialogues (similar to worship-sharing, but with some differences) and with the queries/prompts for the dialogues. 

The small groups seemed energized, respectful, and enthusiastic.  I very much liked the feel of the energy among them.

The small groups didn't all "feel" the same to me -- many of them seemed to develop their own short-term sense of group identity.  Some were quieter in their listening; some more boisterous, as folks' answers sparked resonating or sympathetic laughter from others in the group; some intensely talkative.  At least one was quiet and intense during the dialogue rounds, finished early, and then took the rest of the time for what seemed to be deep and enthusiastic conversation. Each group really did seem to have its own little bubble of energy and space around it, as cramped as the room was. 

(I confess I was vastly entertained by the myriad ways timekeepers in each group chose to undertake their tasks: everything appeared from watches, to people watching the wall clock, to smartphone apps going "Ding!" every few minutes and prompting more laughter.) 

Towards the end, we brought the group back together for large-group discussion to talk about what we learned -- any surprises, etc? 

There was a marvelous sunset out the wide windows of the room we were in, which someone pointed out, and we took a moment to open all the shades and admire it. 

We ended with silent worship. 

A number of people stayed for more conversation; some left for other commitments; some stayed for a bit then headed out for other commitments.

I felt blessed.

* * * * *

Would you like me to facilitate a similar workshop in your Meeting, Coven, Church, Circle, or other spiritual group?  Contact me at stasa dot website at gmail dot com. 

* * * * *

Recommended article: "Things I Wish White Pagans Realized"

"Things I Wish White Pagans Realized"
http://sacredprofanity.com/2012/08/28/things-i-wish-white-pagans-realized

...far too often, the question of racism in paganism, along with all the other -isms that exist in society get brushed aside, silenced when mentioned, or are casually dismissed as being ‘not important to the circle and its workings’.  So, here’s my list of things I wish white Pagans realized when PoC (Pagans of Color) join the circle, (all of these are written in the first person singular, because these are things I WISH they realized, each PoC’s list will be different by a little or a lot, that is part of the joy of dealing with people NOT as a single voice for their ETHNICITY OR RACE, but as the INDIVIDUALS they ARE): (Read more...)

YES, yes, yes.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Also reposted at Daughters of Eve (in a font  I find easier to read):
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daughtersofeve/2012/09/guest-post-things-i-wish-white-pagans-realized/

Ritual outline for Meeting for Worship

There is an arc to the ritual in unprogrammed Quaker Meeting for Worship. 

It's plain to me.  And it's something I can't help seeing, with my background and training -- in my undergraduate and graduate studies; in my spiritual and religious work; as a Friend; as a Priestess & Witch.

I've written and talked about this in Meeting for Worship some before, including in "'Four Doors to Meeting for Worship' from a Quaker Witch's Perspective" (http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2009/03/adult-religious-education-presentation.html). 

But I've been thinking about it a lot again lately.  

* * * * *

Here's the ritual outline for how Meeting for Worship went in one of the Meetings where I was active for several years:

Outline for Meeting for Worship at [Blank] Friends Meeting: 

• Gather
• Meeting for Worship begins when first person starts to worship, usually a few minutes before 11:00 am
• 11:10, doors close; latecomers are not admitted until children leave
• There might or might not be vocal ministry
• At 11:20, an appointed person signals that it's time for the children to leave; the children leave worship and latecomers enter worship
• There might or might not be vocal ministry 
• At 11:50, the appointed person stands and explains Joys and Sorrows
• Joys and Sorrows
• At app. 12:00, the appointed person shakes hands with the person next to them; shaking of hands continues
• The appointed person stands, makes some routine/regular/repeated announcements about the Meeting; welcomes newcomers and visitors and asks them and those who have not been there for a while to stand and introduce themselves; makes additional announcements and passes out printed announcements; requests donations; other Friends may ask to make other announcements; eventually, appointed person declares we are done and invites everyone to social hour / coffee, tea, snacks
• Room is cleaned up

That looks like a ritual outline to my experienced eye.  A pretty simple ritual outline, but a ritual outline. 

How does this look in other Meetings, or in general?

Well, as with all ritual, there are things we need to do ahead of time, and there's what happens during the event itself. 

Ahead of time:

• Make sure the chairs and/or benches are set up the right way / the way we like them / the way approved by the appropriate committee (Worship and Ministry, Ministry and Counsel, Elders & Overseers, etc) -- whether in a circle, in rows, in squares
• Put small tables between some of the chairs
• Put the central table in place
• Make sure the guest book is in its place, that it has a pen, and that the light is on over the guest book, etc.
• Put books and literature on facing benches or central table, some on smaller tables: Faith and Practice, Advices and Queries, different versions of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, hymnals, printed announcements, the monthly newsletter, other announcements, etc.
• Put bowls for contributions on central table or envelopes for contributions on facing benches or appropriate places
• Put carafe of water and empty glasses on central table (or appropriate places)
• Put flowers on central table (or appropriate places)
• Turn on loop hearing system
• Decide who closes Meeting
• Decide who speaks at rise of Meeting
• Decide who has care of Meeting (which member/s of Worship & Ministry or Ministry & Counsel, Elders & Overseers, etc., are expected to be present)
• If there's a special collection, decide who will talk about it
• If children are present for the first part of worship, decide who determines when it's time for them to leave
• Decide who will clean up room; if it's a rented/hired space, who puts chairs back, etc.
• Determine who is responsible for social hour -- coffee / tea / snacks / etc. -- providing these, serving these, cleaning up afterwards, etc.
• Decide who closes the doors to latecomers and who opens them again

Some of these don't apply to every Quaker Meeting; there are other things I haven't listed here that could also be included. 

During Meeting for Worship: 

• Gather
• Greeters / doorkeepers greet people at the door(s), makes sure newcomers know where to go, especially newcomers with children
• Meeting for Worship begins when first person starts to worship 
• Those who have official roles take their places -- care of Meeting / Elders & Overseers / members of Worship & Ministry or Ministry & Counsel, person closing Meeting, person handling announcements, etc.
• There might or might not be vocal ministry
• Greeters / doorkeepers / appointed person(s) close doors to keep latecomers from entering
• If children are present for the first part of worship, children leave after X minutes
• Latecomers enter; if not when children leave, greeters / doorkeepers / appointed person(s) open doors at pre-arranged time for latecomers
• There might or might not be vocal ministry
• If children come into worship later, or leave and return, children enter worship after Y minutes
• There might or might not be vocal ministry
• If Joys and Sorrows, Joys and Sorrows
• Shaking of hands by appointed person at appointed time
• Appointed person welcomes everyone and speaks about the Meeting in general, including requesting donations; also asks visitors, newcomers, and those returning after absences to introduce themselves
• In some Meetings, all present introduce themselves
• The children may share what they did during First Day School / Children's Meeting
• Appointed person makes announcements; there may be additional announcements from the floor
• If there is a special collection, a different appointed person speaks about that organization and requests money
• There may be a reading from Advices & Queries
• There may be a brief resumption of silent worship
• Appointed person "releases" the meeting
• Room is cleaned up

Again, some of these don't apply to every Quaker Meeting, and there are other things I haven't listed here that could also be included.

So, yes, we have ritual.

One question is, are we honest about it?

* * * * *

Friends (Quakers) like to say we don't have ritual.

Before I ever started attending Meeting for Worship regularly, I had a fair amount of experience as a Priestess & Witch analyzing spiritual and religious ritual, as well as some experience and undergraduate training with cultural ritual, too.  And as I spent more time in unprogrammed Meeting for Worship, it became pretty obvious to me that Quakers have ritual, without calling it that.

September 11, 2001, further convinced me of this.  That week, my Meeting, like many others, hosted Meetings for Worship outside our regular Sunday, or First Day, worship.  Suddenly, just how much ritual was involved each week became clearer to me.

Because the usual people from the usual committee were not always available, other people, who were less practiced, had to set up for Meeting for Worship, had to "run" Meeting for Worship, had to end it, had to herd people out at the end, etc.

Because we have no clergy / we're all clergy, and because we believe we all know how to do this, no one made plans ahead of time for who was responsible for worship -- and those of us from the Meeting who showed up found it hard going when we arrived.  Where were the guest book and pen?  The bibles and hymnals and copies of Faith and Practice for the facing benches?  Should we have informational pamphlets available?  Which ones?  Where are they stored?  Since we had so many people from the community, should someone introduce and explain Meeting for Worship at the beginning?  Who would close Meeting?  Did anyone have "care of Meeting," the particular task of holding the Meeting for Worship in the Light and helping to center it?  Should someone speak at the end after the shaking of hands?  What would they say?  (What did the usual people say?  Where was the script they used -- ?)

We muddled through.  It was stressful.

It was illuminating.

A few years later, I gained further academic experience analyzing ritual in religious and spiritual contexts.  From a religious studies point of view, from a ritual studies point of view, yes, Quakers have ritual.

It's very simple ritual.  But it's there. 

Recommended article: Judith Butler's ‘I affirm a Judaism that is not associated with state violence’

Judith Butler: ‘I affirm a Judaism that is not associated with state violence’ 
http://criticallegalthinking.com/2012/08/29/9979/

Strongly recommended.  A particularly good read if you are concerned that people who criticize Israel or endorse BDS (the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement against Israel and/or the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories) are anti-Semitic (or, if Jewish, self-hating) or automatically support Hamas or Hezbollah.  

It is untrue, absurd, and pain­ful for any­one to argue that those who for­mu­late a cri­ti­cism of the State of Israel is anti- Semitic or, if Jew­ish, self- hating. Such charges seek to demon­ize the per­son who is artic­u­lat­ing a crit­ical point of view and so dis­qual­ify the view­point in advance. It is a silen­cing tac­tic: this per­son is unspeak­able, and whatever they speak is to be dis­missed in advance or twis­ted in such a way that it neg­ates the valid­ity of the act of speech. The charge refuses to con­sider the view, debate its valid­ity, con­sider its forms of evid­ence, and derive a sound con­clu­sion on the basis of listen­ing to reason. The charge is not only an attack on per­sons who hold views that some find objec­tion­able, but it is an attack on reas­on­able exchange, on the very pos­sib­il­ity of listen­ing and speak­ing in a con­text where one might actu­ally con­sider what another has to say. When one set of Jews labels another set of Jews “anti- Semitic”, they are try­ing to mono­pol­ize the right to speak in the name of the Jews. So the alleg­a­tion of anti- Semitism is actu­ally a cover for an intra- Jewish quarrel.

In the United States, I have been alarmed by the num­ber of Jews who, dis­mayed by Israeli polit­ics, includ­ing the occu­pa­tion, the prac­tices of indef­in­ite deten­tion, the bomb­ing of civil­ian pop­u­la­tions in Gaza, seek to dis­avow their Jew­ish­ness. They make the mis­take of think­ing that the State of Israel rep­res­ents Jew­ish­ness for our times, and that if one iden­ti­fies as a Jew, one sup­ports Israel and its actions. And yet, there have always been Jew­ish tra­di­tions that oppose state viol­ence, that affirm multi- cultural co- habitation, and defend prin­ciples of equal­ity, and this vital eth­ical tra­di­tion is for­got­ten or side­lined when any of us accept Israel as the basis of Jew­ish iden­ti­fic­a­tion or val­ues. 

Read more...

Balaam's ass kicked mine

At FGC Gathering this summer, when I was at the Meeting for Worship hosted by FLGBTQC one afternoon, a Jewish Friend gave vocal ministry about Balaam's ass.

Rather than share her re-telling -- which I honestly can't -- here is the version of the story of Balaam's ass told in the World English Bible: 

1 The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

2 Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. 4 Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. 5 He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, there is a people who came out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me. 6 Please come now therefore curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."

7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. 8 He said to them, "Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Yahweh shall speak to me." The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. 9 God came to Balaam, and said, "Who are these men with you?" 10 Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, [saying], 11 'Behold, the people that is come out of Egypt, it covers the surface of the earth: now, come curse me them; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.'" 12 God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people; for they are blessed." 13 Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land; for Yahweh refuses to permit me to go with you." 14 The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us."

15 Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they. 16 They came to Balaam, and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me: 17 for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.'" 18 Balaam answered the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of Yahweh my God, to do less or more. 19 Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what Yahweh will speak to me more." 20 God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do."

21 Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

22 God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of Yahweh placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way. 24 Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. 25 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again. 26 The angel of Yahweh went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" 29 Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you." 30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?" He said, "No."

31 Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. 32 The angel of Yahweh said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me: 33 and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive." 34 Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, "I have sinned; for I didn't know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again." 35 The angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

from http://worldebible.com/numbers/22.htm

This is not a new story to me.  I enjoyed hearing her retelling of it.

And then her ministry kicked me in the gut.  

One of the things she asked was:

In what ways am I letting self-interest -- riches, other people's opinions -- separate me from G-d, keep me from seeing the angel?

Balaam's ass kicked mine.  

As I sat in worship, I found myself asking:

• In what ways is this happening in my own Quaker community?  Am I letting others' opinions about how to be a good Quaker come between me and the Goddess and how the Goddess informs my Quakerism?  Am I letting my desire for their good opinion mean more than my authentic connection with, relationship with, the Goddess?  Am I letting other people's opinions twist my basic Quakerism?  Am I letting other people's notions of Quakerism, and my desire for community, corporate discernment, and Quaker process, mean more than genuine Quakerism?  
• Community vs. integrity is an artificial, no-win fight. 
• Am I allowing my desire to be a faithful Friend, in terms of community, keep me from being a faithful Friend, in terms of integrity and the Goddess? 

Hard questions.  Good questions to be asking, though.

If I am letting the desire for other people's good opinions of me separate me from the Goddess, keep me from "seeing the angel," than I know I need to stop.  I need and want most to be a faithful Friend by being faithful to how She leads me.  I know from experience there lies joy. 

But one of the gifts of Quakerism, indeed of spiritual community, is the assistance of others in discerning the movement of the Spirit, of the Gods, in our lives, and of the direction that movement takes.

It can be very hard to recognize that the people with whom we are trying to be in spiritual community are not leading us to be in greater tune with That-Which-Is-Sacred, but asking us to compromise ourselves.

It can be very hard for me to recognize that the people with whom I am trying to be in spiritual community are not leading me to be in greater tune with, faithful to, That-Which-Is-Sacred, but asking me to compromise myself. 

I am reminded of two things:

• Merry Stanford sharing: 'It was among Friends that I yearned so strongly to belong that I strove to be a “good” Quaker, rather than an authentic one.' (http://www.friendsjournal.org/i-am-who-i-am/)

• When the Meeting where I became a member didn't ask, "What will the neighbors think?," but rather, "How are we led?," and, "How can we help you be faithful?" 

I suspect there will be more with Balaam's ass in the future.

p.s.  Doesn't "Balaam's ass" get her own name?  She's designated as female in every version of this story I've read.  She's a creature of the Goddess, That-of-Goddess, herself.  Why should she be known only in reference to some guy?  Besides, if she's coming into my life as some sort of spirit guide, she needs her own name.  Well, I expect She'll share Her name when she's good and ready; but perhaps in the meantime you all can help me come up with a place-holder name for Her of Her own, other than "Balaam's ass."

Recommended article: "How is rape defined?"

[Trigger warnings for explicit discussion of sexually assaultive behaviors.] 

This includes a brief but excellent table comparing the laws regarding sexual assault and rape in Sweden, England and Wales, Scotland, the US, and Germany. 


Includes:

• What is the legal definition of rape?
• How is consent understood?
• What is meant by incapacity?
• Can a woman be charged with rape?
• Spousal rape
• What is the maximum penalty?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19333439

Recommended article: "A response to George Galloway, and what we mean by consent"

-- Note: Content and trigger warnings for rape culture and rape.

The very short version, in case you've missed it in the news: George Galloway, Respect Party MP for  Bradford West in the UK, claimed that if a man has sex with a woman while she is asleep, it is not rape:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/20/george-galloway-julian-assange-rape

This response post is one of the best I've seen -- much better than ones which are getting much more play on teh interwebs -- and I invite you to read it, for oh so many reasons.

"A response to George Galloway, and what we mean by consent"
http://sianandcrookedrib.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/a-letter-to-george-galloway.html?m=1

A few points:  

Because the way I read [your remarks], my body, as the common parlance would suggest, is ‘fair game’ to anyone who has ever had sexual access to it. If those people tried to have sex with me without my consent, it seems you believe they would merely be guilty of ‘bad sexual etiquette’, rather than rape. 

I love the way the author puts this plainly and calls it out -- the dangerous idea, which so many persist in clinging to, that sex without consent is no big deal, rather than something life-threatening and life-changing -- that sex without consent equals "bad sexual etiquette’, rather than rape." 

The recognition that women are not the sexual property of their partners is one reason why marital rape was made a crime in this country in 1991. And why we don’t have laws that recognise degrees of rape. Such degrees don’t exist.

Yes.  

 

Consent is not an absence of ‘no’. It is not a permanent state of being. It is the presence of an enthusiastic, mutual ‘yes’. It’s present, for example, when your partner is responding enthusiastically. It is NOT present when your partner is asleep, or when it’s dependent on using a condom and no condom is used, or when you’re trying to fight off a man pushing your legs apart (the other allegation made against Assange) and that woman is trying not to cry, or when, out of fear, you’ve frozen and can’t speak that ‘no’. Those are just a few examples of when consent is absent.

 

Consent is not a permanent state of being.   Consent once does not mean consent two times, three times, or an infinite number of times.  

Read the full article here.  It's short and a (relatively) easy read.

Words That Are Biphobic, and Why

Yesterday, I shared a poster about words that are transphobic, and why they are transphobic (http://aquakerwitch.blogspot.com/2012/08/words-that-are-transphobic-and-why.html). 

The same organization that produced that poster, the UC Davis Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, also has this wonderful poster, "Words That Are Biphobic and Why," available at http://lgbtcenter.ucdavis.edu/lgbt-education/words-that-are-biphobic-and-why. 

Biphobia and discrimination against bisexual people are real, folks, and cause real harm. 

I encourage you to challenge these words and phrases when you hear them -- whether you hear yourself saying them, or someone else saying them.  

Words That Are Transphobic, and Why

I saw this fabulous poster and wanted to share it, especially since some readers have requested clarification about language which is transphobic vs language which is well-meaning but uninformed.

This is from the UC Davis Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center.  It can be found at http://lgbtrc.ucdavis.edu/lgbt-education/words-that-are-transphobic-and-why.

They say:

"Click here to download the Words That are Transphobic and Why poster. Feel free to print and display it in your office, classroom, or room to remind everyone to be more conscientious of the words we use in our everyday interactions."

So... here it is. 

Another reason marriage equality matters for kids

Marriage equality is not only about justice for the adults involved.  It's also about what's best for all our kids: 

With only one legal parent, children in gay households are not entitled to health and Social Security benefits, inheritance rights or child support from the other parent. If a gay couple splits up, only the legal parent has custody rights.

Steven and Roger could re-adopt the kids somewhere else that allows same-sex couples to adopt together, but it is expensive, about $1,500 for each child. Steven says there always seems to be more pressing financial needs.

Read more in this article about how two dads, in a state where they can't marry, co-adopt, or adopt each other's children, finally managed to get both their names on all their children's birth certificates, with some help:

 

Gay dads, 12 kids are officially a family

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/07/26/20120726gay-dads-kids-family.html#ixzz23QHyZGsJ

Recommended article: Asher's "Not Your Mom's Trans 101"

Well, except it could be, depending on who your mom is. 

I read this article a long time back, and my F/friend Nancy passed it on to me again recently.  It was definitely helpful for me to re-read it. 

I'm recommending it for a couple of reasons -- it answers a bunch of questions raised by commenters on some recent posts about transphobia, cissexism, being an ally, and languge; it brings up some more good ways to help change our thinking around gender and sex; it's another good, and interesting, resource for cisgender people. 

So, here you go. 

Not Your Mom's Trans 101
http://tranarchism.com/2010/11/26/not-your-moms-trans-101/

There is a huge problem with the way that people are taught about gender in this society. Children are indoctrinated early to believe that there are two sexes, corresponding with two genders, which are both immutable and non-voluntary and completely beyond our control. This worldview is called the gender binary, and it has no room in it for us.

Trying to teach a new perspective to the victims of this extremely aggressive brainwashing can be daunting. In fact, the task can seem downright impossible. The temptation, therefore, is to “dumb things down” for the benefit of a cisgender audience. This situation has given rise to a set of oversimplifications collectively known as “Trans 101.” These rather absurd tropes, such as “blank trapped in a blank’s body” cause confusion among even well-meaning cis folks, feed internalized transphobia among us trans people, and  provide endless straw-man fodder for transphobic ‘radical feminists,’ entitled cisgender academics, and other bigots.

Near the beginning of my transition, I myself taught “Trans 101” this way. Because I didn’t know any better. Because I had been taught to think of myself in terms of these same useless tropes, as an “FTM,” as a “female man,” as somebody who was “changing sexes.” Eventually, through a lot of intense discussions and a lot of tough love from people who were more knowledgeable, more radical, and more politically sophisticated than myself, I came to see things very differently.

I haven’t tried to teach Trans 101 since extracting my head from my rectum. But I think the time has come for me to tackle the problem of explaining and defining what it means to be transgender without resorting to cissexist language. It strikes me as I contemplate this task that Trans 101 is generally not only dumbed-down, but also declawed. There are truths that I must speak here that are incredibly threatening to a cissupremacist worldview, that attack its very foundations. But I for one am willing to do that. I am not here to make cis people comfortable or to reassure them that they are still the center of the gendered universe. In fact, I am totally fine with doing the opposite.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

Read more...

Quaker Study Centers in the US (yes, more than one!)

I keep hearing about "Pendle Hill, the Quaker study centre in the US." 

I hardly ever hear anyone say, "Pendle Hill, one of the Quaker study centres in the US."   I don't think I've ever heard anyone here talk about any of the others (except in our house). 

I realize Friends here may be familiar primarily with Pendle Hill, but there really are others; so I thought it might be useful to post what some of them are. 

Off the top of my head, I came up with six, and that was without thinking about it very hard.  Thinking some more, doing a little research, and posting to social networking about it, I got three others. 

Granted, I'm not making a huge distinction between "study centers," "retreat centers," and "conference centers," especially since there's a lot of overlap; but I promise, more than one of these are "Quaker study centers."

Here's my list; I'm sure there are more: 

• Pendle Hill (PA): http://pendlehill.org/
• Powell House (NY): http://www.powellhouse.org/
• Ben Lomond Quaker Center (CA): http://www.quakercenter.org/
• Woolman Hill (MA): http://www.woolmanhill.org/
• Quaker Hill (IN): http://www.qhcc.org/ 
• Burlington Conference Center (NJ):  http://www.pym.org/burlingtonconference/ 
• Friends Wilderness Center (WV): http://www.friendswilderness.org/home0.aspx
• William Penn House (DC): http://williampennhouse.org/
• Michigan Friends Center (MI): http://mfcenter.org/ 

(And I'm not even including a whole raft of Evangelical conference and retreat centers which operate as camps during the summer.)

"To People in my Facebook Circle Who Support Chick-fil-A: Are you my friend?"

by Claudia Ginanni

Before I ask you a serious question about our relationship, I want to make something clear.

I am an ardent defender of the First Amendment, and I think it was wrong--not merely a tactical error, but wrong--for government officials in Boston and Chicago (or anywhere) to suggest that they would use the power of public office to prevent a company from doing business in their cities just because they disagree with the political or religious beliefs of its owners. That's an abuse of power, and they shouldn't have done it.

Now, on to my question.

I am a lesbian. Do you think that means that I'm probably a pedophile?

If the answer is yes, please let me know so I can go ahead and unfriend you. If the answer is no, allow me to explain why I asked.

Chick-fil-A (not Dan Cathy as an individual, but the corporation) has donated millions of dollars to antigay organizations. Among the beneficiaries of this corporate largesse is the Family Research Council, an outfit whose relentless defamation of LGBT people has earned it a spot on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups, right alongside the likes of the Ku Klux Klan and the New Black Panther Party (surprised? Yes, the SPLC considers antiwhite rhetoric hate speech, too).

Representatives of the FRC have repeatedly asserted a link between homosexuality and pedophilia, even though numerous studies by reputable social scientists have definitively established, many years ago, that there is no factual basis for this scurrilous claim. That is one of many slanders against LGBT people that the FRC and similar groups repeat endlessly.

If Chick-fil-A continues its past pattern of "charitable" giving, some of the money you spent there Wednesday will eventually fund a propaganda campaign suggesting that I am a promiscuous, sex-crazed pedophile who aims to destroy families. That insulting caricature of me and people like me will be used to justify, among other things, opposition to laws that would prevent me from being fired just because of my sexual orientation, a kind of discrimination that is still perfectly legal in 29 states. I hope you can understand why I'm not giving that a thumbs-up.

And here's my second question: if you don't believe that I'm a pedophile, and there are people going around implying that I am, why aren't you defending me against this slander? Can't I expect that of someone who claims to be my friend?

If you are a Christian who takes the Bible as a moral guide, let me direct your attention to Exodus 20:16, which says, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

The Bible passages that can be construed as prohibiting homosexuality for Christians are few and obscure, and their interpretation is a matter of dispute among Biblical scholars who have read the text in the original language. But lying and slander are condemned in so many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that it's hard to count them, and the injunction against bearing false witness is one of the Ten Commandments. Shouldn't Christians be outraged by corporate funding of that?

My belief is that bearing false witness made the top-ten list because defamation genuinely injures people, which means that it also violates Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself. And I promise you that the calumny against LGBT people perpetrated by the FRC and similar groups has ramifications far beyond denying us the social and material benefits that heterosexual couples get from state recognition of their relationships. It contributes to profound human suffering.

At my age and stage of life, my personal response to the steady stream of insults from groups like these is mostly anger and frustration, but young people who are just discovering their sexuality are deeply vulnerable in the hostile environments this kind of rhetoric creates.

According to the most recent National School Climate Survey, "84.6% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 40.1% reported being physically harassed and 18.8% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation." The percentage of homeless teens who identify as LGBT is hugely disproportionate, and a large majority of those kids are on the street as a result of having been kicked out of their homes because of their sexuality or gender presentation. They are bombarded with messages telling them that they are disgusting, foul, sinful, unclean, and fundamentally unlovable--is it any wonder LGBT teens commit suicide at five times the rate of straight teens?

Chick-fil-A also funds Exodus, an organization that propounds "reparative therapy," which tries--and fails--to change people's sexual orientation through prayer and faith. Michael Busse, one of the founders of Exodus, renounced this approach several years ago. Busse recently joined three other former Exodus therapists in apologizing for their role in the organization.

"Some who heard our message were compelled to try to change an integral part of themselves, bringing harm to themselves and their families," their statement said."Although we acted in good faith, we have since witnessed the isolation, shame, fear and loss of faith that this message creates." Busse and his colleagues went on to tell some stories that illustrated the heartbreaking results of the deep self-loathing and despair that Exodus treatments create. Confronted with evidence of this failure, Busse repudiated this approach and embraced life as a gay Christian. But Exodus continues to ignore the suffering it has caused.

Unless you read lefty or LGBT media, it's likely that you haven't heard much about the organizations Chick-fil-A supports--the mainstream media has framed the story mostly as a controversy about Dan Cathy's personal views on marriage. But if you've read this far, now you know that some portion of every dollar spent at Chick-fil-A will be used to fund activities that threaten the reputations, dignity, employment rights, and even personal safety of people like me. Are you my friend? Then please don't support those efforts.

(c) 2012 Claudia Ginanni, reprinted with permission

Llamas? Lammas!

(Sooo many Lammas / llamas jokes going around the internet...)

Happy Lammas!

• What have you harvested so far this year?
• What do you hope to harvest yet?

And, happy 19th birthday to Roses, Too! Tradition of feminist, eclectic Witchcraft!