December the month that was unblogged

Sorry for not updating my blog but in December I ended up having only 4 days off including today, & the time was spent getting ready for the festive period. But what a month it was with Nelson Mandela dying, aeroplane disasters, storm winds, Russia taking note that the world is watching them & India taking a backwards step in gay rights.
So taking each one in turn Nelson Mandela from which ever perspective you saw him became an emblem of hope & equality for many, OK he did have his freedom fighter days & sidled up to some communist factions, though on reflection can you blame him on either actions, as in his own country that was the only way he could get noticed & it was the communists who offered him support when the more democratic countries were trying to get him hanged. But it is what he did in his time in prison & saw to the equal rites of his people when he was elected we should focus on, the world misses you Madiba.
Russia freed Pussy Riot & the Greenpeace protesters as the world turns its attention to the country even more with Socchi 2014 drawing ever near, but it is not just the people who want freedom & equal rites that are noticing Russia as religious extremists are using the world's attention their advantage too. Hopefully Russia will look to seeing about sorting it's backwards slide in human rites & in turn perhaps India will have a change of heart too. OK that is possibly delusionally optimistic, the reality probably wont be thus.
So to the disasters, my thoughts go out to the families who have lost loved ones in the storms & plane crashes of recent times. My thoughts also go out to those who spent a miserable festive period without power & hope that you managed to get some sense of enjoyment through the festive period somehow, whether it was spending time with family that may not have seen otherwise or they celebrated Christmas on another one of the 12 days instead.
In the next couple of days I hope to put my musings of the festive period up, as well as other things that have crossed my mind too. Enjoy the remaining 6 days of Christmas & have a happy new year

Trans Deities & Other Religious Figures

Carrying from yesterday's theme from Trans Remembrance Day I would like to take a look at the trans side of religious figures, as if being trans is good enough for gods, goddesses & saints it sure as anything good enough for the rest of us. So where to begin? These are very brief overviews of highly complex mythologies so sorry if they seem to short to hold too much detail

Loki- Loki is a trickster god of Norse Mythology & often tried to curry favour/manipulate the giants by dressing as Freya, he also shapeshifted into a mare seducing a giant's stallion to thwart the giant & became pregnant giving birth to Sleipnir which became the steed of Odin

Dionysus/Bacchus- the Greek/Roman god of wine, ecstasy & liberty was depicted as gender ambiguous as a youth before being depicted as a bearded man in his later years

Athena/Minerva- The Greek/Roman goddess of wisdom, cities, craft & war (more on the resolution via strategy if war was unavoidable than creating violence & mayhem). Athena is occasionally depicted in men's clothing but has taken on male form, most notably in the Odyssey where she took on the form of Mentor, Telemachus, a Phaikian man & shepherd boy as well as other guises.

Inari- the Shinto kami of agriculture, industry & fertility is not given a gender as Inari can appear as a young woman giving out food, an old man carrying a sack of rice & as a blacksmith. Inari's other osscaiation is that of the fox.

Vishnu- a Hindu god who one of his Avatars is that of Mohini, whilst in this form Mohini acquires a pot of Amrita from the demons & returns it to the gods ensuring their immortality. She also tricks Bhasmasura (an ash demon) who is besotted with her into killing himself by getting him to touch his own head turning himself into ash. Shiva too is drawn in by Mohini's look too but later finds out that it is Vishnu.

Ardhanarishvara- is the merging of the god Shiva & goddess Parvati & is shown as an androgynous figure

Uumarnituq- in Inuit mythology the first two humans were male Aakulujjusi & Uumarnituq who were both male they decided to mate & Uumarnituq became pregnant, unable to be able to give birth Uumarnituq was turned into a woman.

Saint Marina/St Pelagia- she was raised a devout Christian by her father, but when she came of age to marry so devout was Marina to faith decided that living as a monk was preferable to marriage, Marina head shaved & in men's clothing headed to Qannoubine. Whilst living living there one of Marina's tasks meant staying the night at an inn as work took Marina out of the confines of the monastery, Marina was accused of getting the innkeeper's daughter pregnant, although the father was actually a soldier who was also staying there. Marina accepted the blame & was subsequently evicted from the monastery & raised the child, after ten years of being a beggar outside the monastery walls she was allowed back in but was given hard labour as penance, it was only at Marina's death did they realise that brother Marina was a woman& mourned at the harsh treatment given wrongly to her.

St Wilgefortis- another devout Christian who escaped marriage, she was the daughter of a Christian mother & a Pagan King prayed to be unappealing to her Pagan suitor & in return sprouted a beard. Her suitor was put off by this & her father was furious & sacrificed her life.

Trans Remembrance Day

Today I wore a sprig of rosemary, in the language of flowers it means remembrance. Trans Remembrance Day should not need to exist as no one should be killed or persecuted into taking their own life because of their gender identity, but it does exist as unfortunately these things happen all to often, so the fact that this day does occur & people care does put a little bit of hope & faith in humanity back in my heart. It started in remembrance of Rita Hester in 1998, the murder is is as yet unsolved, this year 232 trans people have been killed, that is 232 too many. The press are seem to do little to help & in many cases hinder trans rites even in this country, with Lucy Meadows being case in point, harassed by the press so much that she felt that ending her life was her only option. This should not be happening, instead of trans people being an easy target for shaming & persecution they should not be a target at all. I was at a remembrance service today, it was non religious, but the impact was just as great, what was the most saddening part about the whole thing was the number of unidentified people, no family or friends claimed them as one of their own, seeming like they had no one to turn to or had barely even existed. This to should not be happening, regardless of someone's gender identity they should not be treated as outcasts & it saddens me that it does. My thoughts go out to all the friends & families of these people who lost their lives because of their gender identity & my thoughts go out to all those living with the horrors of transphobic bullying.

Hooray for gay marriage

Thank goodness for that, Britain will now be joining the rest of the enlightened world with the introduction of same sex marriage. So my attending of the public consultation did not go to waste. Some of the comments that I heard against same sex marriage in the House of Commons & the House of Lords just did not make sense. As a gay man I will now be able to marry my partner, I won't be able to marry my dad or my pet as some of the members suggested as incest laws & bestiality laws have not changed & no one has asked for them to be changed for this to happen, plus euw gross to anybody who would want to change them as that is just plain nasty. It won't lessen any of the marriages between heterosexual couples, how can it? Traditional marriage has not existed for centuries/millennia so won't affect them either as most of them don't exist. To the people who don't like the idea of same sex marriage there is an easy solution don't get married to someone who is the same sex as you. It is still not quite equal but it is still getting better. Thanks to all my friends who have campaigned for it, who took time out to visit the public consultations, who filled out the online consultations & those who have campaigned through their churches for it & thank you to all the MPs & members of the House of Lords & to the Queen who have now made it law. Perhaps now it could help lead to legal recognition of Pagan weddings as that was one of the issues with Pagan weddings is that a handfasting of a same sex couple was considered equal to that of opposite sex couples. WOOHOO & YAY!!!! 

Gay Marriage Revisited

Well it seems that it has been all over the news again as the bill entered parliament & was dicussed again. It also showed that there are some politicians trying to do the best they can to try & prevent equality by throwing up another notion that also questioned equality. Now I do believe that heterosexuals should be allowed to have civil partnerships & if it was a pro gay marriage politician putting forward the bill I would have supported it, but no, it was someone anti gay marriage who was trying to put it in to the bill to postpone the gay marriage bill going through to beyond the next election, which Annwn forbid could see Nigel Farage's lot get in with their lack of human rights stand. But it is good to see that it is generally getting a good reception by most & hopefully Britain will become the next country to join those with equal marriage rights so that we aren't dragging behind. It still won't stop the stupid comments that have been springing up. Gay marriage will not allow parents to marry their offspring just as heterosexual marriage doesn't allow it either. I haven't heard a valid arguement against it yet. There is a view held by some that it would devalue heterosexual marriage, I'm not sure how if two men say 'I do' how it would mean all of a sudden it would mean that an oath said between to people of opposite sex would be worth less than what it did before. I don't see what the insecurity is about, gay marriages are already happening in this country it is just that they will be become legally binding that is all. I have also heard whispers that another religious organisation is supporting the bill.

Gay Marriage Rights, Cures & the Tory Support

So this old chestnut again, sorry for revisiting a subject again, but the Tories are in town & along with it so has homophobia. Tories want to not be seen as the nasty party then don't have hate spouting politicians it's a simple equation. There have been conferences against gay marriages & one for gay cures. George Carey former Arch Bishop of Canterbury said allowing gay marriage will lead to a Nazi Germany style state, lets look at this so if gay people get marriage rights, gay people will be asking to be be hated, tortured, held in concentration camps & be gassed, along with Jews, Liberal Politicians, disabled people & Romany Gypsies? Yeah I'm pretty much sure that is not what voting for equal marriage is not going to do that to Britain's society, promoting inequality to keep down the people who aren't flavour of the month does that.

Gay 'cures' are a curious thing, seeing as though being gay is not an illness, it is more like being left handed or being able to roll your tongue. How can your cure something like that, brainwashing someone into being heterosexual when they are not would lead someone into lying about who they really are & last I checked Christianity dishonesty was frowned upon, so why are the radicals pushing it, it is one of the things that is turning people away from the church, not encouraging them, so please stop putting money in chasing phlogiston & put your money to good use like HIV treatments in Africa or anti malarial drugs in the third world & making poverty history. We did not chose to be gay we are just making the best of our lives with what we have got & trying to live our lives as decent honest people.

Birmingham Pride, Fun & Games or Something More?

I have been going to Pride for 14 years now or is it 13? I can't remember but it has been a long time, to begin with it was nothing more than a good day out for me, the politics of it were pretty much lost to me, things have rather changed, perhaps that is because ever since 2004 I actually got involved with it. It gets under your skin, the politics, the showmanship, the community. One thing is for sure it doesn't just happen, even with the little bits that I get involved in there is stress & I'm only a very minor player in the event, I would hate to go through what some of the main contributors to Pride have to go through. Although I still enjoy Pride it is more for business than pleasure nowadays, supporting the Pagan group, the interfaith network etc. I have also made my flying monkey outfit ( the theme for our float is safari & I decided to go tongue in cheek). The year they cancelled the march as they saw it as not important so protest march was set up, I was involved & I was front page news in the Pink Paper (well more my friend Lorna who had a banner saying Hated by the Daily Mail, but I was standing next to her with a banner saying it's a matter of Pride) after that time the politics really kicked in & it felt more important to march & this year the LGBT Interfaith Network are doing a rallying speech in support of gay marriage instead of a vigil (possibly more to do with the time of day because very few people want death with their lunch). A couple of years the community area was almost squeezed out until it was pointed out they would lose the council funding if they did & one year made it difficult so the community groups had to hold the pride organisers to ransom, which is not fair for either side. For goodness sake play nice with the community & they will play nice with you. But until all is equal & people start treating each other with respect, Pride will still be needed. We will get the tourists that come to gawp at the gays & want to create trouble, their will always be those who are there just to have fun (which to be honest even those on business should get a bit of fun out of it), there will be those who are there for the original if somewhat masked spirit of the occasion. Keep safe have fun & fly my pretties, fly.

Is gay marriage doomed before we even get it?

With the political dust settling, with few people voting, the Conservatives are being told to scrap some of their policies including gay marriage & concentrate on squeezing more money out of the poor to line rich peoples pockets, sorry I meant get us out of the recession, sorry that should be credit crunch to sound more like a cereal rather than the monetary sink hole we are in. I have one question, why? Gay marriages will provide income for people, so therefore will boost the economy. Plus they want to ditch the nasty party image so giving equality would also do that. There are very few bills put through parliament that don't get someone's back up somewhere along the line. At one point my view on the Tory/coalition government was softening a little because of this (when I say softening it went from stone to house brick level of softening). So why are they backing down? There are some senior members of the church who are anti us, not all of them but so far the ones that are getting most of the press attention are. But the church does not own marriage & it never used to in this country until the Reformation. Plus there are religious groups who are backing the bill. They could kill 2 birds with one stone though at this time of year the only game birds in season are pigeons & Canada geese. Please everyone support the bill for gay marriage we are so close, we can't lose it now. This Birmingham Pride instead of a vigil we (Birmingham LGBT Interfaith Network) are doing a support of gay marriage ceremony, please come along & show your support.

Do Animals Have Souls?

Well my pathworking went well on Tuesday, didn't write anything down just in case the rustling of paper distracted people from meditation & I had regained my ability to concentrate, it was well attended as far as faith focus session went & I was pleased the way it turned out. Various people in the pathworking saw animals in their visuals in their meditations, which being a wildwood working is not surprising I guess, but it was not the the last time that animals got brought up in a spiritual context that day as later on I got talking to our Catholic chaplain (which when we get into our little discussion modes can be quite interesting, sometimes we agree, invariably we don't, but agree to disagree & without coming much to a conclusion still shake hands). But we got talking about animals which is no surprise for those who know me & we got talking about animal conciousness, do they know the divine? Are we spiritually & otherwise superior to animals? He took the traditional Christian view on the subject, I being Pagan did not.

There was the argument about an animals ability to grasp concepts of the divine, can animals see the great divine, do they have their own version of it, Catholic chaplain said no, I said I'm not so sure what is there to stop animals having an idea of such concept, just because we don't necessarily know what they are thinking doesn't mean that they don't have any idea of such a concept, my mind drifted off to Neil Gaiman's Sandman novels & I did recommend he read them (lead balloon time). Then I found something that foxed him slightly more, the elephant graveyards & no clear disagreement happened. Then there was the argument that animals don't prepare their food & i pointed out that Japanese macaque monkeys do, they wash their food before eating & only in certain springs that it will also season their food too again the argument was not so clear cut, I should have also pointed to the point that bluebottles & little owls tend to prep food in their own ways too. Then there was the beautifying argument that kinda got lumped into the food argument, if I'd separated it out from it i could have pointed out that birds like the bower bird, magpies& adelie penguins decorate nests sometimes just because they like them or to impress a potential mate who will hopefully will, so they appreciate beauty, animals groom themselves & each other so understand the need for cleanliness & appearance, so what is there to stop them having spirit/souls.

I don't see myself as above other animals, but equal to, our brains maybe more developed & we may have move dexterity in our hands & tend to be better problem solvers, but isn't that more to do with the fact that we lack the natural defences of speed, agility, strength & noxious chemicals (barring the after effects of eating curry or over cooked cabbage). We may have built bigger houses but in that respect we could argue that we are getting in contact to our in bower bird & have the ability to use a larger array of tools, but without animals we would have little food either by direct or indirect production, they provide us with companionship, some fabrics, transport & awe at such beauty, how can you not feel connection with them on an equal level, we couldn't live without them, but I wouldn't like to put a bet on it the other way around. Also when the Pagan cultures that were & still are still around when the more modern communities came into contact with them they refer to animals as brother or sister as well as the plant kingdoms & they communicate with the spirit of them to live in harmony with them & they live freer lives believing it. We are not the uber species, many manials can kill us some which eat us like lions & wolves some don't like hippos & elephants, so let us not forget that. We maybe impressive in many ways but animals can be more so so don't write of their abilities in their minds yet.

Gay Marriage

OK so this is me getting a little on the political side, what is the big deal about same sex marriage? Its 2 people who really love each other making a commitment to each other that is more than just a mere legal document like a civil partnership is. Although I admit a civil partnership is a step in the right direction it is not marriage, it is a piece of paper saying don't you dare take what my partner & myself have worked for after one of our deaths you money grabbing person there was somebody more deserving of my legacy seeing as though they helped build it thank you very much & things of that ilk. It is not marriage its a poor substitute, OK it could be worse but it could be a whole lot better, why should the sanctuary of marriage just be for heterosexuals, LGBT people love just as strong & there love is just as sacred, so let them declare it properly. On the reverse side I also support the notion that heterosexuals should have civil partnerships if they don't want to get married but want legal provision for their partner, equality for all. OK it is a bit weird a Pagan jumping into the fray on this one as gay Pagans have handfastings & they are considered as equal to that of heterosexual ones. Perhaps on this one the world could take a leaf out of the Pagan book & follow its example, or is that just too radical? I am quite looking forward to jumping the broomstick with partner (who would then be husband) in the future, I hope other people get the chance to do that what ever their life path. And no it is not a flying broomstick (if only such thing existed).

Gay marriage isn't going to to destroy religion, bigotry & hatred might, treating people as second class citizens might. People thought the world would end when mixed race marriages started to appear again but it didn't, the world still carried on, no one was hurt except the people who were being discriminated against. The government are trying to create an even playing field, for once the coalition government is doing something I agree with, don't ruin their last redeeming feature. Gay marriage doesn't threaten the institution of marriage as much as those who don't take their vows seriously, who get married only for it to not last any more than a few days, weeks, months or a couple of years. Marriage is a life commitment & LGBT people are capable of that. Give them that chance & they will show you.

She's a Real Witch

So following from that is so gay post I thought I would address the she's a real Witch issue, OK how many of the people who are opposed to the the term that is so gay have called someone a Witch & not meant a Wiccan, Hedgewitch or other form of Witch in the Pagan sense? A Witch is a term often used to describe someone who is not actually a Witch but someone who malicious, scheming & generally unpleasant, but no one batters an eyelid at that phrase. The term Witch meaning someone is unpleasant gets banded about too readily without public uproar, but soon as someone says that is so gay people are up in arms about it. Isn't that double standards? Witches have feelings too & hey we are not evil, well maybe if I haven't had much sleep & I have to be up at the crack of dawn I can be thoroughly unpleasant , but unless you are one of those freaky people who enjoy the early to rise thing I think most can empathise with that. So what to do, lobby the equal rites commission to get the word Witch not to be used as an insult? Witches have been ingrained into the mass public psyche as being wicked creatures & most of the time people think of Witches as being monsters more than humans. How do we get across calling someone a Witch is offensive to Witches as far as insults go, when we can't even get people to stop calling someone gay as an insult. Unfortunately we can't but if you are one of the people who thinks its wrong to call someone a gay but is OK to call someone a Witch, then you have double standard, go & look in your political correctness handbook & come back with a reasonable explanation as to why it is justifiable. Don't come back with we don't mean a Witch in the Pagan term we mean it in the other term, the other is the Pagan term, it is just that we got demonised by religious fanatics centuries ago & the influence of that is only just starting to wear off. I do not recommend calling anyone a Witch as an insult unless we can use other religious titles as an insult without any comeback on us. So long & short of it don't call someone who is not a Witch a Witch, just as much as don't call someone gay who is not gay. Level playing field here we come.

That's So Gay

OK eytomology time again, the word gay gets used a lot, mainly to refer to homosexual men & occasionally homosexual women, but in recent years it has meant that something is stupid as well. People get uppity about the usage of this term & in the way that it is ever more increasingly used. But haven't we purloined a word that was used as an insult at the time anyway? Lets look at the ways in what it has been used it originally meant happy or cheery, nothing wrong with that, but just as the word grotesque ended up being a word for an ornament that is a gargoyle without a function a gay became the opposite an ornament which was desirable & a nosegay is a term still used as bouquet although less so nowadays, I'm not sure if you classed me as an ornament I that wouldn't end up being more like a grotesque personally. Another meaning of the word gay meant carefree, which by modern standards is considered a good thing meaning happy, peaceful & free if somewhat naive, but not back then it didn't the happy & free bit probably stuck but the lack of morality in general was also meant. With that in mind the term changed to incorporate another meaning & for the first time a purely negative one, as a prostitute, meaning that they were nothing more than a pretty object to take pleasure out of without thinking of the morals of what they are doing, thankfully that meaning of the word disappeared into obscurity. But then another less welcome interpretation came into use, gay started to mean garish & flamboyant, which is the term gay came from that eventually meaning a homosexual male, yes they were calling us garish not happy or jolly, but we have subsequently taken it as a badge of honour ignoring the fact that way before it got used for us it was starting to be quite a negative term, eventually we took it on renouncing the garish connotation & putting the happy gleam on it. OK I'm proud to be gay myself & it is a badge I wear openly. So why does it seem that I'm supporting the negative use of the word, most people when they say it, do not mean that is so like a homosexual, it has become habitual & people use it without thinking, they just mean something is stupid, soon language will change & something else will mean stupid, though what I'm not sure. Please take things in context. So one of the fall outs of such phraseology has become the Queer being used by gay people about themselves, those who are not comfortable with the term gay any more, my problem with this is that queer has never been a none pejorative, it means weird or not quite right. OK heterosexual people use queer as their status too because as they don't like the stereotypical connotations of the word straight & is also used by Bi people as it may cut out some of the flack they receive & I have no problem with such a status existing, in fact I quite support it, just don't call it queer, it never has meant anything pleasant, call it other, unspecified or none heteronormative or something that is not an insult. I would prefer to be called gay than queer because at least gay does have some good connotations to it. OK people should be a little more aware of the situation that they may cause by using the term gay meaning something rubbish, but then we also need to realise that it isn't a direct attack on us.

Fun is Not Just for Us Younger People

So as promised here is my Monday posting, a bit later than planned but I do have an extremely busy week this week. So I was at the Rammstein concert on Saturday & absolutely enjoyed myself. For those who haven't come across Rammstein they are a German metal band, it was a brilliant night with loads of pyrotechnics & fantastic music. Now not everyone is a fan of that kind of music, in fact most people certainly would not think of a fan of such music would be in their 70's but there was a woman there who was, even though she had a walking stick for support she was there to rock with the rest of us, but it did get me thinking about how cool the older generations can be, just because they may not be at your prime any more doesn't mean they should stop enjoying themselves. I needn't look any further than my own grandparents, well the two who are still alive, my paternal grandma was never really one for getting up & dancing at parties until fairly recently, I don't think I can get the image out of my head from my cousin Sasha's wedding day, when my Grandma was up & dancing to Kings of Leon- Your Sex is on Fire, it's not something you would normally expect, but then again this also the same woman who was regularly taking vegetarian food to the Birmingham Northern Relief Road protesters & got me into Hedgewitchery in the first place. She has now recently taken to Greek mythology in a big way too, huge bonus points from me for that one. My maternal Granddad is very much online & is in fact one of my Facebook friends, he is involved with the local theatre (from which we have a photo of him as an Ugly Sister) & still gets out & about & is dedicated to his family & possibly keeping an eye out for the ladies. I have also met a woman who when she broke her foot wanted a bed by the window, why? it was blowing a gale & it was funny watching people fall over, struggle with umbrellas, etc. I met a motorcycle veterans club one holiday. Plus we should not forget some of the more famous showings of older people having fun like the Good Charlotte video for Girls & Boys, Sigur Ros video for Hoppipola, various parodies of youth culture on Youtube & the Haslemere Nursing Home that had a resident die one year from cardiac arrest due to a called resident Gladys Elton doing striptease & the following year another resident Harry Meadows dressed as the Grimm Reaper for fun leading to 3 further fatalities. So just because someone is of an older generation don't judge them as boring as they surprise you.

Being a Woman is not a Competition

I have totally forgotten what I was planning to write about today, possibly a woe is me I'm doing Lent something, but last night on my way to the train station back home, there was a protest going on outside a bar, I was intrigued so went over to see what they were protesting about. Was it that the Temperance Movement started up again? No, their was not even the merest hint of a crinoline dress in sight. It was a protest about a beauty contest going on inside. Now I'm not a fan of seeing women wandering round in bikinis trying to out pose one another, there does seem to be a bit of an objectification of the women on stage, whether they are there for a vanity or prize money it does seem a little well impersonal. When they are up on stage you don't get to see the real them, and exterior looks are not everything. Plus what they try to purport is a standard on society of what beauty is. I don't go to male beauty contests either as they purport exactly the same thing before anyone comments on the sexuality issue. So where am I going with this post, well I'm not entirely sure, with the number of issues it is bringing up in my head I think my musings should be spread out over a couple of posts otherwise I'll keep going of on tangents & those who of you who know me, know how easily that occurs in my thought patterns & topics of conversation. Plus at the moment my eyes are glazing over & I want to go back to bed as I got to bed at 2 this morning & my other half's alarm goes of at 6 which leaves me rather sleepy & the fact that I have a cold at the moment does not help one bit.