Black Witch

The Establishment (AfroPunk) Version

Oh boy, the holidays! I love the holidays, love ‘em! The cheer, the joy, the (chance of) snow, the music, the gentle lights, the food – can’t forget the food – the parades, decorations and funky colored candy canes! The holidays are my kind of year. In my mind, the holidays are kicked off by Samhain/Halloween – my datebook fills up, I get wish lists and increasing questions of “What are you doing for the holidays?”

I try not to see the holidays as a stressful time, they should be cheerful and bright. If the holidays are too stressful, you’ve missed the meaning entirely. Since I’m Pagan and my family isn’t very aware of it, I have to work double time. Act Christian enough around my family and do Pagan stuff with my friends. I’m used to playing the part: remembering the Christian story of Christmas, Christmas songs, refresh my scripture knowledge and try to leave as little Pagan trace as possible. Thank goodness Christmas is an offshoot of the Pagan Germanic/Nordic holiday Yule.

Yule marks the first day of Winter, the Winter Solstice. Following an astronomical calendar, the holiday falls on either December 20^th, 21^st or 22^nd. (This year it’s Dec. 21.) It’s the last festival and harvest before the harsh winter and a call for the sun to return. Yule is often referred to as Saturnalia when actually the festivals are very different. The quickest distinction between the two solstice holidays is that Yule is Germanic and Saturnalia is Roman. I have seen The Boondocks’ History of Christmas and the clip says that it stems from Saturnalia but actually it has stemmed moreso from Yule. (Yule logs, evergreen trees and “Twelve Days of Christmas” anyone?)

I don’t celebrate Saturnalia since I don’t really connect to the Greco-Roman pantheon but I do prefer Yule, which is just Christmas without the Christian overlay so I don’t have to do too much double work, just remember when to say “Happy Yule” or “Merry Christmas” at the right times.  This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Christmas, I love it – except for the omni-American spend-yourself-into-debt thinking and over-commercialization of Christmas. I appreciate Christmas/Yule for a cheery time where I hear Boyz II Men “Let it Snow” and The Temptations “Silent Night” on the radio, I get to watch old timey shows such as A Charlie Brown Christmas and whatever Christmas cartoon that’s being played on PBS. I love singing Christmas favorites such as “Carol of the Bells”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Need a Little Christmas” and Stevie Wonder’s “This Christmas”. There’s the food and the presents and friends and decorations! I don’t often buy presents because I hate gift wars and American gift politics but I do like spending time with those I care about most. I also have lovely Christmas cards that I honestly need to send out to friends and figure out how to wrap presents while my cat tries consistently to shred the ribbons and play in wrapping paper. I do love my Christmas.

As for Thanksgiving, I have once been asked, “So, since you’re a Witch ‘n Pagan ‘n all, do you celebrate Thanksgiving?” To much of the dismay of many narrow-minded and over-patriotic Christian Americans, my religious convictions do not grant nor nullify my American citizenship. In layman’s terms, no matter what religion I am, I am still an American and thus will stuff my face on Thanksgiving, an American holiday. Thank goodness for that, I love Thanksgiving and I love food.

I generally stay home for the holidays although when I was younger I would be sent sometimes to my grandmother’s house on my dad’s side. Since my dad side of the family is from Jamaica, we would have what I saw as a split Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner – American foods on one side (Turkey, mashed potatoes, etc) and Jamaican foods on the other side (goat curry, oxtail, chicken and dumplings,  etc). The American food tasted a bit off and everyone had rather the Jamaican food, the American food was merely an act of assimilating into American celebrations of the holidays. I remember the smell of jasmine incense that would just permeate the air, oh, it was such a nauseating smell when I was younger. I remember my grandmother’s accent and everyone nestled in the living room watching television and opening their gifts. When it came to Christmas on my mom side of the family, it was a usual big dinner at my grandmother house. All the fixings of an African-American Thanksgiving/Christmas like greens, turkey, ham, nuts, everything. Since I’m such a homebody and I’m not as close to my family as I was in the past, I simply stay home.

What I also like about Thanksgiving is the Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving dinners for the poor and homeless. Bea Gaddy is considered a hometown hero here in Baltimore for she was very generous and helped those who were much like herself, poor and homeless. She’s most known for winning the lottery and using the money to feed the poor and homeless in her neighborhood. Bea Gaddy is very important to me because there’s not a lot of people like her in the world and to help their own city or others in their situation in such a humble manner. Often people take the lives they have for granted and when given the opportunity to help others, especially in a financial way, it never matter how well it all starts, soon those golden hearts being to tarnish and bronze. I was raised poor myself so I knew how to appreciate what I have and to appreciate those who help the downtrodden. Not everyone has the luxury to have an expensive phone or a home that can spark envy and it seems those people who cannot afford or even dream of having such luxuries are often cast to the side and deemed parasites of American society, too lazy or too stupid to get a job. Hard times are hard times and when living in hard times, there is no time to think of keeping up with the Jones’ when it’s more important to keep up with the continually stacking bills. It is good to see someone like Gaddy who truly wanted to help out, not take advantage of, the poor and the homeless. She didn’t do it for good PR, she wasn’t a plucky suburbanite trying to “save the world”, she simply saw that people needed help, the very same help she needed when she was going through rough times, and did just that, helped the people who needed it most.

If you will be in the Baltimore area and you would like to volunteer for the annual Bea Gaddy Thanksgiving dinners, here is the information.

Not in Baltimore but want to help anyways? Last year the fund for the dinners fell short due to the suffering American economy, please donate this year to make someone’s season bright. Here is the information to support the Bea Gaddy Family Center.

Happy Holidays!

Oh wait! I have to talk about what I’m grateful for, that’s right! I kinda did a small bit for Mabon (which is somewhat of a Pagan Thanksgiving) on Twitter but here’s the rest for Thanksgiving:

Beyond the basics (health, shelter, clothes), here is what I’m grateful for, Black Witch edition:

AfroPunk – They gave me the opportunity to create Black Witch and became the foundation spot for my column and with a ready audience to read my work. I never thought I would be in journalism of any sort but this is a very wonderful and interesting experience! I’m very happy that Black Witch has been very well received.

Wondaland – When I first met Wondaland back in May, I remembered mentioning Black Witch on a semi-whim because I didn’t want to come off as just a fan and that was back when BW was only still a pitch to AfroPunk, nothing physical. I wanted them to remember me for something and to foster friendships. Well, almost seven months and three Wondaland features later, I think something came through, haha! Because I told the very people I admired, I wanted Black Witch to be impressive now, Wondaland gave me a goal far enough I’d have to work to achieve it but close enough to know it’s possible. If I didn’t have, “Oh crap, Wondaland could be reading this! This thing’s gotta ace!” in the back of my mind, I don’t think Black Witch would look even half as good as it does right now, Wondaland pushes me to strive for the best and to be better than that.

My readers – Welp, despite all the support I’ve been given from AfroPunk and my own friends, it is important for a column to have readers. That is kinda what a column is for, I already have a personal blog for soapbox yammering. Plus if there is someone out there who is reading, hopefully it means my work is going to good use somehow. I want Black Witch to be for the Black teen still trying to figure out what they believe but know in Jesus Christ isn’t exactly it, for the closet Black Pagan to not feel like they’re alone and for the Black Christians who think that it’s either Christ or highway – some prefer the highways, byways, hills and mountains, to be anywhere but trapped inside an institution they don’t truly agree with or believe in. This is to let the world know we’re not crazy, devil-worshipping freaks and that our lives don’t look a thing like Harry Potter if it were completely colored in. Black Witch is for everyone but it’s mainly for my Black Pagan readers to have something to enjoy and for us because frankly, we need it.

Erica, Angelica & Kimmah – Erica gave me the idea to have an external site for Black Witch. AfroPunk was a little slow getting BW up and that was making me antsy, I don’t like feeling tugged about and out of control. Erica then told me to make an external site for the column to keep my head and my wits together. Best. Idea. Ever. I have gotten so many positive responses about the site and how it has led people to Afro-Punk, I felt this was great. Plus I could make business cards and really put my best foot forward because I felt comfortable now, I had a control of something. Angelica and Kimmah gave me the idea to have a Black Witch Twitter and even a BW Fan Page (currently in the works, should launch in January at the latest Currently up now) to better keep in touch with my readers and respond to them. I can have control and the utmost liberty to connect with my readership, that’s all I needed to feel confident enough about my column to spread the word about it.

My friends who deal with my BW bantering – From Wondaland worries to wack responses to potential columns and paranoid freakouts, my close friends hear it all. They’re the ones telling me that I’m not screwing up and my fears are all in my head. They let me know when I’m being unreasonable, rambling or not making a lic of sense but they all give me good ideas and let me know when I’m on the right track. They’re the safety net to my tightrope so I can keep on tippin’ without (much) worry.

Kellindo & Nastassia – Yes, I already did my Wondaland bit but these two have been nothing but big helps to me when starting up Black Witch. See, I have never done column work or even official features before so to have their kindness and support really means a lot to me. Whether it’s Nastassia being super kind to me as my first feature to contact or Kellindo reading my columns and telling me I’m a good writer, they’re really nice mental boosts to counterbalance the “Am I even good enough? My pieces are wack.” If those two weren’t so nice to me and such good friends, I would probably be scared stiff when it comes to doing features and talking to professionals. Kellindo was who I told first about Black Witch on that semi-whim and I remember Isis jumping a little at the idea but he never broke stride and that stuck with me. Oh, I was so proud giving Kellindo my business card at Merriweather, I felt accomplished because I simply remembered his generosity and receptiveness. I felt even better when he complimented the card as colorful, ha ha! Nastassia is just darling and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met! She embodies true Christianity in that she’s kind, caring and very humble. I was very scared contacting her at first because I didn’t know what to expect. What if she’s mean? What if she doesn’t want her work up on a Pagan site? Instead she was very happy to work with me and have a successful feature that even became the most popular column on AfroPunk and The Establishment as well as featured on another site Black Girl with Long Hair. I always love working with her! Kellindo and Nastassia are the closest friends I have in Wondaland and I appreciate them both equally, don’t know what I’d do without them. (Yes I do, it’s called “being a nervous wreck.”)

That’s my list, what are you thankful for?

Next week kicks off The Arts! Who’s featured:

– Shazzypbear
– Angelica Temoche
– The Poem-cees

Be there and submissions for Ask Black Witch is wiiiiide open (as always) so send in good questions!

The Establishment (AfroPunk) Version

The title is a favorite quote of mine from a game I love, Marc Ecko’s “Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure”. I loved that quote so much I would always say it in my mind whenever I hear crazy conspiracy theories, especially when they involve secret societies such as The Illuminati, Freemasons or other members-only clubs that people believe are bent on New World Order, devil-worshipping and other notions that don’t ever seem to get old.

Now, for those who don’t know and are luckier than me in regards to having their ears stuffed about it, here’s a rundown of a few secret societies that people often talk about, as defined by the Watkins’ Dictionary of Magic (I love this book):

Illuminati: A term used by occultists from the late fifteenth century onwards to describe spiritual adepts who had received mystical insights or “illumination” from a transcendent source. The Order of the Illuminati was founded by Adam Weishaupt, a Bavarian law professor, in 1776, but this was hardly esoteric in any mystical sense and based most of its “secrets” on the work of Voltaire and the French Encyclopedists. Weishaupt and another enthusiast, Baron Adolf Knigge. later adapted the order’s teachings in order to infiltrate Freemasonry. A decree in Bavaria in 1784 banned all secret societies – including Freemasonry – and the order declined. However, it was revived around the turn of the 20^th century by the occultists Leopold Engel and Theodor Reuss. In recent times the idea of a secret brotherhood of adepts or Illuminati has been popularized by fantasy occult writer Robert Anton Wilson and New Age spokesman Stuart Wilde.

Freemasonry (or Masonry): This international institution now has the nature of a benevolent, friendly society, but was originally an esoteric organization. It still has elaborate secret rites and ceremonies and a code of morals, and requires that its members believe in “the Great Architect of the Universe”. Freemasonry may be descended, directly or indirectly, from a guild of stonemasons that existed in fourteenth-century England; but modern Masonry dates from the establishment of the Grand Lodge of London (1717). Freemasonry later spread to the United States and Europe. At times, in some countries, Freemasonry has been suppressed by the state. Traditionally, it has aroused the hostility of the Roman Catholic Church, but in recent years this antagonism has subsided.

Rosicrucians: The name used by many occult groups who have claimed inspiration from a figure called Christian Rosenkreuz or Rosencreutz. The origin of the Rosicrucians (who take their name from Rosenkreuz, which mean “Rose Cross” or “Rosy Cross” dates from the publication c. 1614-1616 of three books purporting to emanate from an occult order, the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (Fraternitas Rosae Crucis) – it is likely, however, that all three were written by Johann Valentin Andreae. The first of these publications, Fama Fraternitatis, described how a certain Christian Rosenkreuz met the “Wise Men of Damcar”, and subsequently translated the mystical book Liber M. into Latin. The second, Confessio Fraternitatis R.C. provided more details about Christian Rosenkreuz and invited members of the public to join the order. The third, Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreuz (The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz) was a Hermetic allegory in which the central figure witnesses a royal marriage and later discovers the king’s “secret books of wisdom”. The Rosicrucian myth has been a strong influence on several mystical groups, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (who incorporated Rosicrucian elements into the initiations of their second order, the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis). Similiarily, Franz Hartman started a Rosicrucian order in Germany; and Sar Josephin Peladan ran a fashionable Rosicrucian salon in Paris. Competing Rosicrucian orders of questionable authenticity now market the esoteric wisdom of Christian Rosenkreuz in the United States.

Ooh, spooky.

I have learned in my experience that just like the over-skeptical and over-analytical, there’s no arguing with a conspiracy theorist who believes the world is a puppet at the complete and total whim of a few old men in a secret club that conjures the devil and do all sorts of crazy things no normal person would do, all in the name of world domination…white Persian cat, maniacal cackle and black high-back executive chair not included.

I’m a witch but I find this all incredibly ridiculous, just as ridiculous as I think of those who believe all witches are wicked souls bent on destroying and deceiving others regardless of circumstance. (Erm…I know quite a few people like that and nary of them are witches, but a notable amount are Christians and that attitude really goes on overdrive when they find out you’re not). Lemme let you in on a secret (not a society, too much micro-management)…I live across the street from the Hiram Grand Lodge O.T.O., a Freemasonry. Next door to that is a synagogue (that was bought and now owned by Hiram Grand Lodge) and I’m completely surrounded by churches, including the very first Black church in America, Bethel A.M.E.. Annnnnnd down the street, I believe, is a few more churches and a mosque. Pretty lively Black neighborhood, wouldn’t you say? The men and women who go to the Lodge are always sharply dressed in suits and dresses or always throwing bashes and parties. I have yet to see or hear any demonic laughter or ominous thunderclaps during any of the time I have lived in this neighborhood. In addition, I have friends who are Freemasons or have Freemasons in the family to the point of generational tradition. I don’t perceive being part of a secret society as much different or any greater threat than a normal, well-known, hard-to-get-into club.

I hear so much talk about Illuminati this, the Freemasons that and it usually revolves around Hollywood. I generally never agree with Kanye West on anything at all but he was right when he asked who was the Illuminati and why does everyone think all celebrities have a membership in response to accusations made about West’s relation to the occult group because of the broadly metaphorical production of his short film “Runaway”. West is, almost unsurprisingly, another celebrity who a bunch of crazy theorists believes he partakes with the Illuminati simply because he’s popular, knows it, flaunts it and clearly doesn’t mind it. I have heard these same accusations for Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles, Lady Gaga and even utterances of Janelle Monae (you could probably believe I was only quiet upon hearing such “news” for I wasn’t sure whether to bawl in laughter or simply stare confused and perplexed. The most esoteric Wondaland could possibly get is me and I’m not even part of the group, just friends with a few.) While I do believe the music industry itself is quite evil but celebrities taking part in secret societies simply because they’re popular or have a few out-there and abstract music videos? That’s senseless. They’re creative and will pull out all stops to express it…and have a killer promotion & marketing team backing them up. Nothing unusual about that except for their manner of creative expression – which is in an incredibly appropriate field: the fine arts.

Since I peruse the same metaphysical shops, hang out at the same sites and simply am a Black Pagan columnist, I get to run into these wack and fragmented theories fairly frequently. Where the devil falls into this, I simply do not know but I must admit, anything occult does garner images of evil, bloody goat heads, fire and scary stuff. People do fear what they don’t understand, after all. Good thing I’m here and with an Ask Black Witch submission form. When I do hear these wacked out theories, I often tell them to my Freemason friends to see their reactions. They may roll their eyes, laugh or just give a look that communicates, “They said that?” They wonder how people come to these conclusions and will even joke, “Wait, so that means Jay-Z works for me too…Then how come I still can’t get into his concerts or the tickets are too high? Ain’t I suppose to have a special pass or somethin’? He does work for me after all!” The findings that people create to connect the dots are really farfetched often times and looking into the history of secret societies, the theories wouldn’t 100% work because, quite frankly…they don’t make a lic of sense.

Do I believe in secret societies? Well, yes, especially since I practically live across the street from one but I’ve never seen them as the spooky secret society that everyone else sees them as. They’re just another organization to me. But if they were bent on world domination, Persian kitty, nice swivel chair, controlled thunderclaps and all, maybe that’s what they would want you to think. Hmm…

Naaaaah.

And speaking of spooky, thank you everyone for attending the first ever Black Witch vcast on Halloween! It was a lot of fun, although I was fairly nervous since this was my first video anything but I enjoyed myself. I was very happy to see so many viewers and chatters. Sadly for those who weren’t there, the hour long broadcasting was not recorded due to my derpiness but I did stay an extra fifteen minutes and recorded that. There will be more vcasts such as that but at the very least twice a year for the Black Witch anniversary on June 9th and on Halloween/Samhain.

And speaking of Wondaland, remember Nastassia Davis, the Wondaland photographer with the lovely pictures that I featured on The Arts? She’s going to be selling some of those prints so if there was a particular picture that you adored, it can be yours! Send an email to contact@nastassiadavis.com. And don’t forget to peruse her site, nastassiadavis.com, for ideas of what prints to ask for!