Friday, August 1, 2014

Hoof and Horn, all that dies shall be reborn






It is Lammas/Lugnassad depending on what part of the country you are living in.  Down here Tomatoes are a plenty, the eggplant is starting to get more purple and fill in, the peaches have already dropped, you are watering your plants plentifully every night so they can live through the grueling sun (100 degrees is average here now)...and the Pagans are all planning and gathering for their Sabbat rituals.  I look at Lammas as a good time to show you what it takes to survive down south because if you see the analogy of the grueling sun that is like a spotlight on us all here you understand that sometimes just walking around outside is horrendous and a burden.  Yet, we gather and we worship and this is why some of us prefer worshiping indoors!

The soil here in the south is interesting, red clay, light brown, or stony.  It needs lots of water, and minerals and supplements and many of us use mulch, and manure to get that soil just like we need it and a compost pile will smell up to high heavens real quick here because of the heat and humidity.  This is what we have to plant our seeds in, yet plant them we all do.  WE know our seasons, we know what it takes and it does not discourage us; for we keep on planting, tending, watering, weeding (it should be stated weeds don't thrive well cause we don't water them) and slowly but surely the fruit drops, and the plants mature.

Clergy here in the Deep South face these same issues and yet they have "green spiritual thumbs"  this is a hostile climate to anyone or anything different than them.  The South is notorious for being about 20 years behind in fashion, and everything else including education practices.  It does not mean, we hate where we live.  It does mean, to plant a community, circle, grove, here takes a dogged determination and a will power and tenacious spirit that many do not see.  This community is large much larger than you would expect and it has grown deep like a tree that has constantly been tossed to and fro by the winds around it.  The winds of Change have made this community dig down deep and grow roots that spread long and far and so groups, groves and circles are every few miles spread out and Temples and Churches are popped up every few cities.  Here in Memphis we have two churches that are Pagan...Two! 

I have visited and lived in more liberal parts of the country where the insulation makes it to where you do not have to worry if you are Pagan.  It is a wonderful experience and completely different from what most here have to walk.  To be "out" and Pagan here takes moxie, and most people here are "afraid" and rightfully so to be "outed" or to tell friends and family they are not Christian.  To be even Buddhist or Hindu would be shocking but to say "I am a witch.  I am a Wiccan.  I am Pagan."  Might as well be saying, I worship the devil, smear blood on myself, and devour innards....at least that is what we assume so most do not tell their friends or family.

The Climate is changing down here.  Temple of the Sacred Gift-ATC had a dream and it acquired a building to change this landscape.  With acquiring that legal 501c3 licensure we could assure people that their "spiritual path" was qualified as a "religion" and they could not be discriminated against.  No, you could not bring it up in court when a divorce came up.  No, you could not bring it up at a job.  No, you could not force our people to have a Christian chaplain at the hospital anymore.  No, we did not have to be buried and use "Christian" rites.  No, you do not have to hide.  When people say where do you go to church?  Since they will ask you this very quickly, you can say..."I go to the Temple of the Sacred Gift."  They smile, and nod and say nothing because this means you are going to church, and thus they are not concerned for your soul and it does not go one step further. 

You can come to workshops at our church and learn in a building that is in a good part of town, and not fear that you will be judged or that people will even know what you are doing!  You can come to our library and "borrow" a book and learn and grow and not have to go to the library fruitlessly searching for an occult book that is either out of date, or gone permanently due to the "religious" feelings of the "Board of directors".  The Temple has outreached and established after many years a strong relationship with the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center thus placing us on the map as a "supporter of"  non profits that socially and politically make a difference.  This year, we have expanded to include a relationship with MIFA, Memphis Humane Society, and a few homeless shelters and battered women shelters.  We do this because we believe that part and parcel of our path is to make a difference; we do this because the more we do this the more likely it is that we will establish in people's minds that PAGANS are people that CARE about our city; and that we live here also.  Few people are willing to hurt  people that which does SOOO much good!

At Lammas, we bake bread and we share it together.  The days of planting grain (other than corn) and threshing it, and separating the chafe from the grain is so far removed from us we forget this at times while baking the bread.  The sweat of the workers and the energy expended so that we could bake that bread is just "taken for granted" for we are so far removed from this at times we cannot remember that people worked sooo hard for us to have milled wheat, flour, grain.  We ingest and take in that energy. It mixes with our saliva and leaves a distinct flavor on our palate.  We will all gather and give to the Memphis Humane society from the "cauldron of prosperity"  (to show our Gods we are grateful we have so much).  We look at our own tree/self and we notice where we sacrificed, what limbs expanded, and what we need to work on and we Promise Spirit and our personal Lord and Lady we will "sacrifice" this and understand that parts of what we knew must die to go on.  Sometimes we forget we are "Forrest" we are too busy looking at our own tree!

I ingest the bread, and I look at the people and enjoy that air conditioning, and see the roof over our heads and I personally know some of the Clergy and Leaders that went before me making sacrifices, watering our souls for hours when we were parched, planting in the stony soil and despite obstacles yielding generations and generations of a Pagan community.  We have become so prolific and so scattered we forget, that in 1991 one of our own marched with snipers at his head for our rights.  We have become so prosperous we forget that one of our own went to court 7 or more times to just have the right to have an occult store in our town.  We forget the sacrifices made, so that we could have this building. We do not look at the Clergy standing in the middle of the Circle as farmers, gardeners, people who are planting their seeds under harsh conditions...but they are.  They must have incredible "green thumbs".

This Lammas, as you stand in circle.  Whether it be in someone's back yard, or at a Park, or in a building like we will be worshiping.  Take the time to think about the bread you eat.  We are not entitled.  It did not come for free.  Remember, that we are all connected.  That in some regions, we are grinding grain in rocky soil and live in no insulated climate where liberal ideas are the norm.  Let us look around, and know that at that moment all over the Bible Belt people gather under adverse conditions and are so brave as to take what they love and wear it proudly "out there" for all to see.  Let us sing, Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn, all that dies shall be reborn and realize it will be...WE are living it.  We are being born out of the death of "old ways of being". 

Today, I know of a new Occult store opening in this City.  Today I know there will be at least two Pagan Churches and four flourishing covens, a CUUPS group, and several groves and circles that will celebrate just in the city of Memphis alone.  WE are connected.  The sacrifices were made, and will still continue to be made.  Let us celebrate this Harvest!  The South has come a long way, and we are being reborn.

May your harvest be great, and may we all not take for granted those who tirelessly plant those seeds, and cull that wheat (separating the chafe from the good grain) so that we may stand where we are.  WE are a circle, and that circle can only be built from hard labor and sacrifices.