Workshops, Mad-dog Raids and an Upwelling of Earth Wisdom
Workshops, Mad-dog Raids and an Upwelling of Earth Wisdom
August 31, 2008
My Dear Feres, Friends and Family,
I have had a very interesting last few days. Things are flowing so fast that I am fully conscious of living in the Winds of Change.
I spent this last Thursday and Friday participating in Magickal Activist Day Camp anchored by our lovely Starhawk. I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of such a wonderful mini-Witch Camp. I wish you all could of joined us.
The Day Camp was a delightful balance between discussion, action and feasting on our brown bag lunches and communal treats. We started each morning connecting to the gracious spirits of the sacred site (Coldwater Spring) where we meet.
We shared our names and energy to begin each morning. And then practiced our grounding skills as we began our morning session. We covered such basics over the two days as the importance of setting a clear intention for any magical working, be it learning to live in abundance and plenty to transforming human culture. We practiced the Art of Dropped and Opened (a way to deeply focus one’s attention) to gather inspiration. We received visions of (among other things) the River, the Dragons, crystals, webs and spiders, the powers of water which fill us with inspiration, joy, wonder and fear. We examined our relationship with panic. We tasted the deep calm that flows eternally through our being. We consciously walked in our own authority. We also visited various ways of being in a street action/demonstration such as: how to ground quickly and keep on the move, the importance of having a buddy and developing an affinity group and deciding what level of risk one can afford to be in while participating in an action. We visited legal ways of interacting with police officers (do not touch an officer!) and ways to communicate in large groups. It was a nurturing and inspiring two days in a beautiful sacred site.
And yes, we were under observation. We actually had drive through visits from Homeland security and the county sherif’s department. Amazing. But no high drama visited us for the Day Camp.
That was soon to change. Friday night, while Mark and I were watching the classic, Angels In America, our phone rang. The Ramsey County Sherifs department had gone crazy. Our dear fere Starhawk, called us as the sherif’s people were raiding the Convergence Center in St. Paul.
Mark and I were stunned.
How rude! How mean spirited! Is this how we treat our guests to our beloved state, Minnesota? Is this how we who think of ourselves as gracious hostesses, painfully polite, yet deeply proud of our traditions rooted in justice and fair-play, welcome folks coming to express their constitutional freedom of speech? Has Minnesota officialdom sunk to such low standards of behavior? The answer is clearer in my mind than ever before. Yes. We have become a people in thrall of an openly and offensively ill-mannered vicious cabal of fear. Such behavior from public servants simply will not do. It is totally unacceptable and beyond the pale.
I learned at a meeting at my neighborhood park the next morning that the raids were continuing. I learned that the police had raided the Center with guns drawn while very young children played in the midst of the peaceful gathering being held at the center. I learned that many adults were handcuffed, but all were eventually released. But, I also learned that homes in my own neighborhood had been raided and folks had been arrested and were being held without bail on bogus charges. These actions appear to me, to be clearly intentional acts of intimidation aimed at silencing all opposing and/or questioning voices outside of the control of the overseers’ spin meisters’ revisionist pens.
Last night (Saturday night) Mark and I joined over a hundred Witches in Indian Mounds Park, St Paul, to Court the Upwelling of Earth Wisdom. Yes, we were constantly under observation. But that fact could not distract nor lessen the beautiful and inspiring magic we engaged together. We invited Mystery to join us. We sang and danced. We spiraled up a cone of Earth Wisdom and sent some of it through the bedrock, directly up the foundational piers of the Excel Center (where the RNC is being held), filling the whole building to overflowing with transformational understanding. This same Earth Wisdom flowed into the Mississippi River, the Late Summer Winds, the Sacred Soils, the breath of all of those who sing the songs of Earth Renewal .... to permeate all of the entity that we currently call the United States of America with Earth Wisdom. The Dragons swarmed, gathering Their strength, preparing for a Visitation. The Spiders laid down Their webs of connection and transformation over the human chaotic webs of disinformation, fear and control. The Trees and the Crickets sang Their songs, adding Their voices to the spell working. The Bald Eagles flew overhead blessing the spell with Their amazing powers. The spell was set. The spell was activated. The storms are brewing. The Wells of Compassion are filled with healing. The Fountains of Earth Wisdom are flowing freely.
I have noticed that the Nature Folks (the Others) are paying particular attention to this human gathering. The Wild Fae have gathered to do whatever they do. The Twin Cities is fairly swarming with Mysterious Ones. I am seeing them walking the streets, flying the in the winds, swimming the waters, examining ever crack and crevice of this place.
Grandmother Spider, Grandmother Bear, Hera, Cybele, Ing, Freyja, The Three Queer Brothers and a host of Others keep telling me:
“Do not be deceived! We are all at a nexus of possibility.
We are at the mercy of your choices.”
I have noticed that there is no place to stand aside. There are no bleachers for spectators. There is no tourist platform. We are all in the midst of this storm.
Witches! Are your Witchy senses buzzing? Are your eyes open, your ears listening, your tongues tasting, your fingers feeling and your noises smelling the possibilities brewing in this electoral caldron of struggle and transformation? It seems to me that we are called to make active choices now. What acts will we each perform to make room for the emerging sustainable Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight?
It seems, that it is all that much more important for people of spirit of all persuasions to be plainly visible as we live our daily lives. I suspect that this is yet one more opportunity for us all to choose to live in worlds of wonder and healing now. This is not a time to wait for a tomorrow in which someone else declares that some nebulous revolution has been won and that we are now free to live our authentic lives. It is time for us to claim our own lives. It is time for us to grow our own families and communities. We need no one’s permission to dwell in joy. We need no one’s permission to publicly and passionately fall deeply in love with the sensuous Good Green Earth.
Please, my dear ones, pay deep attention to what is happening here in the Twin Cities as we wait to experience how the magics transmute the world as we know it. Tomorrow is the big licensed celebratory march. Please keep us in your minds and hearts.
Are there sister storms brewing at both ends of the Mississippi River?
Bless the Bees.
Coldwater Spring