I wrote this poem and the note below it on 1 March 2003, in response to the Iraq War. Sometimes those of us opposed to that war were accused of having forgotten the dead of 9/11. Just like now when those of us opposed to the bombing of Gaza are accused of indifference to the dead of October 7th.
Continue readingMonth: January 2024
Thoughts on AI
First off, the thing that is currently being called AI is not really AI, depending on your definition of AI. Itβs not conscious. Itβs uncannily able to resemble consciousness because humans tend to attribute consciousness to things that science says are not conscious. Iβm not even sure if it would pass the Turing Test, although that has been criticized as insufficient for detecting consciousness.
Continue readingJewish solidarity with Palestinians
Also the most famous Jewish witch ever, Starhawk, has consistently stood up for Gaza and was even barred from Israel for doing so.
Review: The Book of Mormon
We went to see the stage show of The Book of Mormon at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. I havenβt laughed so much for ages. It was hilarious. Itβs also making some serious points about religion.
Read the rest of the post at the Changing Paths blog:
Diverse Witchy Novels
There are many excellent and entertaining books with diverse LGBTQ+ and Black characters that you could be reading instead of that book, or that other book. Deciding whether to boycott the work of problematic authors is on a case-by-case basis, and depends on how awful they are, or were. In the case of living artists, is buying their work enabling them to continue to be awful? (Almost always yes.) Is their awfulness reflected in their work? But thatβs the subject of another post. This is about reading authors who write more inclusive books.
There seems to be a flurry of witchy romance books at the moment, and magical stories in general are definitely having a moment.
Continue readingA historic moment
I am so proud of my friend Linda, who gave the first ever Pagan reflection at the Scottish Parliament today. She did a brilliant job.
Continue readingNonbinary Vikings
Thereβs been a bit of a trend lately for AI-generated βwhat would you look like as a Vikingβ pictures. Iβm boycotting AI for various reasons (itβs soulless, I donβt like where it is headed, itβs currently unregulated, and AI βartβ plagiarizes human art). So I thought I would search for a nonbinary Viking image created by a real artist and post that instead. I found a picture of a dead nonbinary Viking, which was featured in a really interesting article about a nonbinary Viking burial (obviously the Vikings didnβt necessarily have the same ideas about gender as we do, but this burial has both male and female accoutrements and the deceased person had Klinefelter syndrome).
Continue readingDespair and the inner life
How do we continue with the inner work when everything is scary and bleak?
One book that really helped me with this question is Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit.
And I also think that it is necessary for activists to practice self care (in the Audre Lorde sense of self care, which is more of a communal and radical self care, not the commercialized version).
Sometimes, when things are overwhelmingly bleak, spirituality can seem like self-indulgence (especially when it doesnβt acknowledge the suffering of others).
Continue readingHappy birthday Doreen Valiente
Happy birthday to Doreen Valiente π―οΈπ―οΈ
βDoreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 β 1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five books dealing with Wicca and related esoteric subjects.β
Wikipedia
I was lucky to hear her speak at the Pagan Federation conference in 1997. You can find a transcript of her speech on the inclusive Wicca website.
One of the things she said during the speech was this very important thing:
βIn every period of history, in every country in the world there have been gay people, both men and women. So why shouldnβt Mother nature have known what she was doing when she made people this way? I donβt agree with this prejudice against gay people, either inside the craft of the wise or outside it.β
One of the loveliest book reviews I ever received is from Misha Magdalene who said about Dark Mirror:
βa clear, pleasant writing voice reminiscent of Doreen Valiente, equal parts βstraightforward instructionβ and βchatting over tea and biscuits.β As an academically trained feminist nerd with a taste for systems analysis, this approach makes me positively giddy with delight.β
You can buy Doreenβs books (and two of mine) at the Doreen Valiente Foundation shop).
Dowsing for Divinity 