"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right." -- Ani DiFranco
Any discussion about magic ("the art and science of creating change in conformity with Will," as Crowley defined it) is a discussion about power and the ways we wield it -- a discussion that cannot be separated from the social, political, cultural, and economic realities people inhabit.
The popular conception of "white magic," guided by the ethic "do what tho wilt, an' it harm none" feeds and is fed by the illusions of privilege that obscure the fact that that the lives we live are lived at others' expense. In a society where the messier aspects of securing survival are shunted off to armed forces that do their work out of sight and far away, rougher edged magics are not as relevant in the lives of those who have social and economic capital as they are to those who live at the edges and in the shadows. But magic has long been a means by which people have done what they need to do feed and heal and clothe and house and protect themselves and their communities. The magic that has historically been the magic of the poor and the oppressed is labeled "black magic" by those who do not need it to survive and would rather not face the realities it entails.
Victor Anderson famously said "White magic is poetry, black magic is whatever works."
White magic is reverent and celebratory. It is the right hand magic that gives thanks for the blessing and abundance that rain down from the universe.
Black magic is done with urgency, when children are starving and need food, when someone is coming to harm your family, when someone is halfway through death's door and a witch needs to tear through the veil to pull her back into this world. It is the left handed magic that takes what is needed and does not apologize for that need.
But ultimately, there is no white magic or black magic, there is only magic, wild and transgressive and resisting description. To heal and to hex, to bless and to curse, are not just identical powers that flow from the same source, they are the same action seen from different points of view.
Magic is neutral. Its application is not. Its our right and responsibility to wield it with precision and intention, knowing and choosing the blessings and the curses we enact as we do.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
7 Problems With the "Obesity Epidemic"
Here are 7 reasons why I cringe every time I hear someone talking about "the obesity epidemic"
1. "Obesity" is not contagious.
Consciously or unconsciously, when most of us hear the word epidemic we think of a virus rapidly spreading through a population. And consciously or unconsciously we tend to think of its "carriers" as a threat. Speaking of "obesity" as an epidemic thus further stigmatizes fat people who are already having to deal with discrimination in a society that privileges thinness
2. "Obesity" is not a disease.
The idea that high body weight or high percentages of body fat correlate to poor health are based on just that -- correlation. Most studies that suggest a link between a high BMI or high body fat percentage fail to account for confounding factors such as behavioural patterns around diet, exercise, and yo-yo dieting. When those factors are taken into account, differences in mortality between "overweight" or "obese" people and people whose body weights or health percentages are considered "healthy" begin to disappear. People at the extreme high end of the spectrum for BMI or body fat do have higher mortality rates -- but the same is true for people at the extreme low end of either spectrum. A disease is a physiological disorder that causes impairments in biological function. Hence obesity is not a disease.
3. BMI, the primary measurement of "obesity" is a virtually meaningless indicator.
The much vaunted "Body Mass Index," used to "measure" obesity by many physicians, and increasingly, educators and public health workers, is a crude ratio of weight to height that does nothing to take into account even obvious factors like bone density and muscle mass, not to mention the wide diversity of body types that exist around the world. Its definitions of "overweight" and "underweight" are also pegged to already dubious assumptions about the "proper" weight of people of European descent that are even less applicable to people of non-European ancestry.
4. Public education campaigns about "obesity" tend to focus on giving people information about better food choices, while glossing over the real problem of malnutrition in North America rooted in a broken food system that denies many people access to good food.
There is a real public health crisis in North America related to food -- malnutrition, which can express itself in weight gain, in weight loss, and in chronic disease. At issue is the accessibility of food that provides people with their nutritional needs. The nutrient poor "Standard American Diet" is the result not of poor education about nutrition, but of the fact that a carbohydrate and sugar rich diet is the most affordable diet for many people a) because of agricultural subsidies for corn, wheat, and sugar and b) because carbohydrates and sugars are sources of quick energy that can more easily satisfy cravings when people haven't had enough to eat. The problem isn't that people don't know that Kale is healthier than Kraft Dinner. The problem is that people are trying to feed their families on wages too low to pay the escalating costs of food, housing, transportation, clothing, and medical care. As a brilliant post at the Fat Nutritionist blog points out:
5. The pathologization of fatness tends to lead health care practitioners to pay less attention to other causes of health problems in fat people.
Over the years I have had many doctors simply chalk chronic health problems I was dealing with up to weight while ignoring other factors. The expectation that fat people will be less healthy tends to lead many healthcare practitioners to accept a lower quality of life as normal for fat people. As I have dealt with many of my own chronic health issues, addressing them through diet and exercise, I have lost weight. But some problems doctors previously chalked up to weight have remained. And the underlying problem was not that I was fat, the underlying problem was that shaming about my body had made me believe my health was hopeless. If instead of just telling me I was too fat my doctors had encouraged me to see how I could make changes in my life that would make me feel better regardless of my weight, I probably would have started making those changes at least 10 years earlier than I did. And I also would have sought guidance from health care practitioners earlier and more often I had expected something other than shaming.
6. Defining weight or body fat as the problem tends to encourage people to take drastic measures to lose weight rather than focusing on health.
There are lots of ways to lose weight -- and most of them are taxing on the body and difficult to sustain. Pressuring people to lose weight makes them more likely to focus on whatever will bring off the pounds rather than on finding sustainable practices to integrate into their lives that can make them healthier in the long run.
7. The campaign against "obesity" is rooted in a puritanical ethic.
Anti-obesity campaigns judge, criticize, and shame people not only based on their body size, but also based on the often erroneous assumption that fat people lack discipline and just need to say "no" to immediate gratification in order to lose weight. The underlying ideology is one of denying pleasure in order to achieve virtue -- a repressive ideology that cuts people off further from their bodies. And its in truly learning to find comfort and pleasure in their own bodies that people can best find their way to health.
There are dozens of other reasons I could give, but these are just a few thoughts to further questioning and discussion . .
1. "Obesity" is not contagious.
Consciously or unconsciously, when most of us hear the word epidemic we think of a virus rapidly spreading through a population. And consciously or unconsciously we tend to think of its "carriers" as a threat. Speaking of "obesity" as an epidemic thus further stigmatizes fat people who are already having to deal with discrimination in a society that privileges thinness
2. "Obesity" is not a disease.
The idea that high body weight or high percentages of body fat correlate to poor health are based on just that -- correlation. Most studies that suggest a link between a high BMI or high body fat percentage fail to account for confounding factors such as behavioural patterns around diet, exercise, and yo-yo dieting. When those factors are taken into account, differences in mortality between "overweight" or "obese" people and people whose body weights or health percentages are considered "healthy" begin to disappear. People at the extreme high end of the spectrum for BMI or body fat do have higher mortality rates -- but the same is true for people at the extreme low end of either spectrum. A disease is a physiological disorder that causes impairments in biological function. Hence obesity is not a disease.
3. BMI, the primary measurement of "obesity" is a virtually meaningless indicator.
The much vaunted "Body Mass Index," used to "measure" obesity by many physicians, and increasingly, educators and public health workers, is a crude ratio of weight to height that does nothing to take into account even obvious factors like bone density and muscle mass, not to mention the wide diversity of body types that exist around the world. Its definitions of "overweight" and "underweight" are also pegged to already dubious assumptions about the "proper" weight of people of European descent that are even less applicable to people of non-European ancestry.
4. Public education campaigns about "obesity" tend to focus on giving people information about better food choices, while glossing over the real problem of malnutrition in North America rooted in a broken food system that denies many people access to good food.
There is a real public health crisis in North America related to food -- malnutrition, which can express itself in weight gain, in weight loss, and in chronic disease. At issue is the accessibility of food that provides people with their nutritional needs. The nutrient poor "Standard American Diet" is the result not of poor education about nutrition, but of the fact that a carbohydrate and sugar rich diet is the most affordable diet for many people a) because of agricultural subsidies for corn, wheat, and sugar and b) because carbohydrates and sugars are sources of quick energy that can more easily satisfy cravings when people haven't had enough to eat. The problem isn't that people don't know that Kale is healthier than Kraft Dinner. The problem is that people are trying to feed their families on wages too low to pay the escalating costs of food, housing, transportation, clothing, and medical care. As a brilliant post at the Fat Nutritionist blog points out:
"You want people to eat better? Give them enough money, a place for cooking and storage, and access to a decent variety of food. "
5. The pathologization of fatness tends to lead health care practitioners to pay less attention to other causes of health problems in fat people.
Over the years I have had many doctors simply chalk chronic health problems I was dealing with up to weight while ignoring other factors. The expectation that fat people will be less healthy tends to lead many healthcare practitioners to accept a lower quality of life as normal for fat people. As I have dealt with many of my own chronic health issues, addressing them through diet and exercise, I have lost weight. But some problems doctors previously chalked up to weight have remained. And the underlying problem was not that I was fat, the underlying problem was that shaming about my body had made me believe my health was hopeless. If instead of just telling me I was too fat my doctors had encouraged me to see how I could make changes in my life that would make me feel better regardless of my weight, I probably would have started making those changes at least 10 years earlier than I did. And I also would have sought guidance from health care practitioners earlier and more often I had expected something other than shaming.
6. Defining weight or body fat as the problem tends to encourage people to take drastic measures to lose weight rather than focusing on health.
There are lots of ways to lose weight -- and most of them are taxing on the body and difficult to sustain. Pressuring people to lose weight makes them more likely to focus on whatever will bring off the pounds rather than on finding sustainable practices to integrate into their lives that can make them healthier in the long run.
7. The campaign against "obesity" is rooted in a puritanical ethic.
Anti-obesity campaigns judge, criticize, and shame people not only based on their body size, but also based on the often erroneous assumption that fat people lack discipline and just need to say "no" to immediate gratification in order to lose weight. The underlying ideology is one of denying pleasure in order to achieve virtue -- a repressive ideology that cuts people off further from their bodies. And its in truly learning to find comfort and pleasure in their own bodies that people can best find their way to health.
There are dozens of other reasons I could give, but these are just a few thoughts to further questioning and discussion . .
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Trillium
I wrote this poem several Aprils ago in New England . . tonight, on the Equinox, on the other side of the continent, it speaks to me of the liminal space at the edge of spring:
TRILLIUM
Deep crimson blossoms
recall blood
and the taste of iron,
spray of stars
in the center
guide you in
to the carress
of petals
that draw you
down to
darkness.
Blooming
in the moments
before spring
has decided
whether
to remain,
Our Lady of the Forest
draws no distinction
between birth
and death.
Whichever passage
you choose
she will hold you
through the night
then deliver you
to the April morning,
stillborn
or drawing
your first breath.
TRILLIUM
Deep crimson blossoms
recall blood
and the taste of iron,
spray of stars
in the center
guide you in
to the carress
of petals
that draw you
down to
darkness.
Blooming
in the moments
before spring
has decided
whether
to remain,
Our Lady of the Forest
draws no distinction
between birth
and death.
Whichever passage
you choose
she will hold you
through the night
then deliver you
to the April morning,
stillborn
or drawing
your first breath.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Exorcising the false god
In his poem, "Imagine the Angels of Bread", Martin Espada wrote:
Growing up Catholic, the Pope was God's representative on Earth.
And even though I left the church many years ago, the Pope continued to be, for me, the personification of a faith that insisted that I was born tainted with sin and could only hope to be saved from it by renouncing the body I was born into and its desires, and making penance for every time I failed to hold them at bay.
But yesterday, when Benedict XVI announced that he would again become Joseph Ratzinger, the child inside me was finally able to see the man behind the curtain, and realize that neither he, nor the false god he represents, have any any power over. And since then the rage and grief I didn't let myself feel for years have been pouring out through me. And behind them, I feel a sense of freedom I never knew was possible.
In many ways, I was one of the lucky ones. I never endured any physical abuse. My hell was all in my own head and my own heart.
Despite coming from a liberal family, I was an oddly devout and conservative Catholic as a kid. I wanted desperately to know and experience the divine. And I considered myself utterly wretched, rescued by grace I did not deserve, grace that would run out before I could make myself worthy of love.
For years I would joke about it: how at 13, when I went to bed, I would pray for forgiveness for all the "impure thoughts" I had during the day. But as I prayed, thoughts and images of sex would come slipping in around the edges of my mind. So I would pray for forgiveness again. But my prayers could never keep up with my libido. And I would wake up the next morning, afraid I was going to hell.
When I tell the story now, grief and rage come as I see the ways I was denied a chance to experience the goodness, the power, and the wild innocence of my body and its pleasures.
Praying over and over again, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you," robbed me of my sense of my own goodness. I kept looking to some outside authority to finally absolve and bless me long after I stopped consciously believing the theology that told me I was a sinner in need of forgiveness.
With the Pope's abdication, that scared 13 year old inside me can finally see the hollowness, the powerlessness, and the cruelty of all claims to authority over my soul by anyone other than my highest self.
And I realize that the denial of the goodness, the innocence, the blessedness, the divinity of every one of us is the root of all the church's crimes from the Inquisition to the blessing of genocide in the Americas to the Magdalane laundries to the coverup of the rape of children to the silencing of the prophetic voices within its own fold who speak out against oppression and corruption and violence.
And so I pray:
By the Holly that guards the darkness,
my innocence is protected
By the Hawthorn that opens the gate,
what left this world returns,
By the fire of Devil's Club,
I step forward in the fullness of who I am.
Blessed be my wildness
Blessed be my humanity
Blessed be my divinity
In the name of my Godself I am free.
These words keep coming back to me as I navigate the emotions unleashed by the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI."[. . . ] every rebellion begins with the ideathat conquerors on horsebackare not many-legged gods, that they too drownif plunged in the river"
Growing up Catholic, the Pope was God's representative on Earth.
And even though I left the church many years ago, the Pope continued to be, for me, the personification of a faith that insisted that I was born tainted with sin and could only hope to be saved from it by renouncing the body I was born into and its desires, and making penance for every time I failed to hold them at bay.
But yesterday, when Benedict XVI announced that he would again become Joseph Ratzinger, the child inside me was finally able to see the man behind the curtain, and realize that neither he, nor the false god he represents, have any any power over. And since then the rage and grief I didn't let myself feel for years have been pouring out through me. And behind them, I feel a sense of freedom I never knew was possible.
In many ways, I was one of the lucky ones. I never endured any physical abuse. My hell was all in my own head and my own heart.
Despite coming from a liberal family, I was an oddly devout and conservative Catholic as a kid. I wanted desperately to know and experience the divine. And I considered myself utterly wretched, rescued by grace I did not deserve, grace that would run out before I could make myself worthy of love.
For years I would joke about it: how at 13, when I went to bed, I would pray for forgiveness for all the "impure thoughts" I had during the day. But as I prayed, thoughts and images of sex would come slipping in around the edges of my mind. So I would pray for forgiveness again. But my prayers could never keep up with my libido. And I would wake up the next morning, afraid I was going to hell.
When I tell the story now, grief and rage come as I see the ways I was denied a chance to experience the goodness, the power, and the wild innocence of my body and its pleasures.
Praying over and over again, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you," robbed me of my sense of my own goodness. I kept looking to some outside authority to finally absolve and bless me long after I stopped consciously believing the theology that told me I was a sinner in need of forgiveness.
With the Pope's abdication, that scared 13 year old inside me can finally see the hollowness, the powerlessness, and the cruelty of all claims to authority over my soul by anyone other than my highest self.
And I realize that the denial of the goodness, the innocence, the blessedness, the divinity of every one of us is the root of all the church's crimes from the Inquisition to the blessing of genocide in the Americas to the Magdalane laundries to the coverup of the rape of children to the silencing of the prophetic voices within its own fold who speak out against oppression and corruption and violence.
And so I pray:
By the Holly that guards the darkness,
my innocence is protected
By the Hawthorn that opens the gate,
what left this world returns,
By the fire of Devil's Club,
I step forward in the fullness of who I am.
Blessed be my wildness
Blessed be my humanity
Blessed be my divinity
In the name of my Godself I am free.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Swamp Lantern at Imbolc
Swamp Lantern (Lysichiton americanum -- aka Western Skunk Cabbage) emerges from the frigid, still waters of the swamp at Imbolc.
What waited all winter, dreaming beneath earth and water, is beginning to stir.
Heat builds in the spadix that will become a yellow flower as it grows toward the returning sun. It flows downward through the roots, warming the cold mud.
Soon the bears will awaken too, from long winter dreams where they heard the song the Swamp Lantern roots sang underground. Hungry, they will dig the roots and devour them.
Winter is still here, but life is stirring. Swamp Lantern comes ahead to prepare the way and open the gate, just as hir cousin, Skunk Cabbage, does in the eastern swamps of my childhood.
The blossoms that survive the bears will be dusted with pollen at Beltane, which I will use to anoint myself, blessing my body with blazing, ecstatic light and fire.
But for now, its the fire in my head that's blazing, as inspiration returns, and I engage with the world anew.
What waited all winter, dreaming beneath earth and water, is beginning to stir.
Heat builds in the spadix that will become a yellow flower as it grows toward the returning sun. It flows downward through the roots, warming the cold mud.
Soon the bears will awaken too, from long winter dreams where they heard the song the Swamp Lantern roots sang underground. Hungry, they will dig the roots and devour them.
Winter is still here, but life is stirring. Swamp Lantern comes ahead to prepare the way and open the gate, just as hir cousin, Skunk Cabbage, does in the eastern swamps of my childhood.
The blossoms that survive the bears will be dusted with pollen at Beltane, which I will use to anoint myself, blessing my body with blazing, ecstatic light and fire.
But for now, its the fire in my head that's blazing, as inspiration returns, and I engage with the world anew.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Practical Plant Magic
January 15 — February 26 — $200
Just as people living in the countryside traditionally knew how to deal with colds and coughs and scrapes and bruises using the plants around them, so too they knew how to enlist the plants’ help for clearing energies, protecting themselves and their homes, and blessing their lives.
Through a series of talks (given on conference calls but available afterward as recordings), traditional herbalist and witch, Sean Donahue will teach you how to begin doing this work with the plants around you. Calls will take place on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time. A class forum will also be available for participants to post questions after the calls.
January 15 — What is magic anyway?
January 22 — Clearing energies with plants
January 29 — Plants for protection
February 5 — Plants for dreams and visions
February 12 — Love charms
February 19 — Plant allies
February 26 — Plants for prayers and blessing
This course will provide the basic knowledge necessary for those wishing to take the more intensive year long Plant Magic course at a later time.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available for people doing transformational work in their communities
To register, e-mail seandonahueherbalist@gmail.com
Just as people living in the countryside traditionally knew how to deal with colds and coughs and scrapes and bruises using the plants around them, so too they knew how to enlist the plants’ help for clearing energies, protecting themselves and their homes, and blessing their lives.
Through a series of talks (given on conference calls but available afterward as recordings), traditional herbalist and witch, Sean Donahue will teach you how to begin doing this work with the plants around you. Calls will take place on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time. A class forum will also be available for participants to post questions after the calls.
January 15 — What is magic anyway?
January 22 — Clearing energies with plants
January 29 — Plants for protection
February 5 — Plants for dreams and visions
February 12 — Love charms
February 19 — Plant allies
February 26 — Plants for prayers and blessing
This course will provide the basic knowledge necessary for those wishing to take the more intensive year long Plant Magic course at a later time.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available for people doing transformational work in their communities
To register, e-mail seandonahueherbalist@gmail.com
Friday, January 4, 2013
Clearing with aromatic plants
"Medicine and magick started as aspects of the same activity and gnosis -
they only are separate if you make them so." -- Mitch Bebel Stargrove
The medicinal and magical actions of a plant are inextricably linked. Medicine is just a specialized form of magic -- ``the art and science of creating change in conformity with Will`` applied within the realm of the human body. All magic operates within this same universe of matter and energy we inhabit, and so it stands to reason that the physical properties which we use to identify the medicinal actions of a plant can also be used to understand and describe that plant`s more esoteric gifts.
Aromatic plants exist in most every ecosystem. They release volatile oils into the environment that help to kill airborne pathogens, protecting the plants (and the other plants around it) from infection. Aromatherapist and herbalist David Crow coined the phrase ``community immunity`to describe the ecological function of these volatile oils.
These plants are easy to identify. When you rub their leaves between your fingers they release their potent scents (and the scent will likely linger a bit on your skin.)
When ingested (whether by chewing on the leaves or taking a tea or a tincture or absorbing them through the skin in a bath or by burning the plants and inhaling the smoke), plants rich in these volatile oils:
-- Combat infection in the tissues they come in contact with
-- Irritate the mucosa (some mildly and some more severely) promoting the secretion of new healthy mucous and thus breaking up congestion
-- Help to carry other medicines more efficiently through the body when included in formulae
Not surprisingly, most cultures use the aromatic plants growing in their environment ceremonially to clear stagnant emotions and protect, clear the mind and heart, and protect against spiritual contagions such as rage, envy, jealousy, and resentment (known in many traditions as the evil eye). Whether burned as smudges, infused in bath water, or carried as talismans, these plants can be powerful allies in clearing the way for magical work by dispersing unwanted energies from in and around a witch.
Aromatic plants with a nauseatingly bitter taste like Wormwood and can serve to root out deeply festering energetic infestations.
Oily, aromatic roots like Angelica and Osha, with their spicy, earthy scents, stir what sleeps in the deepest waters of the unconscious, opening the way to dreams and visions.
Sweetly aromatic plants like Sweetgrass help to nourish the heart and settle parts of us that have been upset by grief or pain.
It is essential when working with plants, however, to remember that they are not inert objects, but living entities -- not ingredients in ritual preparations, but active partners in the magic being done. Treated with respect, over time a plant will reveal more of its character to you and offer itself more deeply in your work.
But it all begins with meeting the plants around you and engaging them with your own senses. And the aromatic plants, filling the air with their scent, are ready to begin sharing themselves with you.
The medicinal and magical actions of a plant are inextricably linked. Medicine is just a specialized form of magic -- ``the art and science of creating change in conformity with Will`` applied within the realm of the human body. All magic operates within this same universe of matter and energy we inhabit, and so it stands to reason that the physical properties which we use to identify the medicinal actions of a plant can also be used to understand and describe that plant`s more esoteric gifts.
Aromatic plants exist in most every ecosystem. They release volatile oils into the environment that help to kill airborne pathogens, protecting the plants (and the other plants around it) from infection. Aromatherapist and herbalist David Crow coined the phrase ``community immunity`to describe the ecological function of these volatile oils.
These plants are easy to identify. When you rub their leaves between your fingers they release their potent scents (and the scent will likely linger a bit on your skin.)
When ingested (whether by chewing on the leaves or taking a tea or a tincture or absorbing them through the skin in a bath or by burning the plants and inhaling the smoke), plants rich in these volatile oils:
-- Combat infection in the tissues they come in contact with
-- Irritate the mucosa (some mildly and some more severely) promoting the secretion of new healthy mucous and thus breaking up congestion
-- Help to carry other medicines more efficiently through the body when included in formulae
Not surprisingly, most cultures use the aromatic plants growing in their environment ceremonially to clear stagnant emotions and protect, clear the mind and heart, and protect against spiritual contagions such as rage, envy, jealousy, and resentment (known in many traditions as the evil eye). Whether burned as smudges, infused in bath water, or carried as talismans, these plants can be powerful allies in clearing the way for magical work by dispersing unwanted energies from in and around a witch.
Aromatic plants with a nauseatingly bitter taste like Wormwood and can serve to root out deeply festering energetic infestations.
Oily, aromatic roots like Angelica and Osha, with their spicy, earthy scents, stir what sleeps in the deepest waters of the unconscious, opening the way to dreams and visions.
Sweetly aromatic plants like Sweetgrass help to nourish the heart and settle parts of us that have been upset by grief or pain.
It is essential when working with plants, however, to remember that they are not inert objects, but living entities -- not ingredients in ritual preparations, but active partners in the magic being done. Treated with respect, over time a plant will reveal more of its character to you and offer itself more deeply in your work.
But it all begins with meeting the plants around you and engaging them with your own senses. And the aromatic plants, filling the air with their scent, are ready to begin sharing themselves with you.
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