inclusivity

The Gods know their own (and are not transphobic)

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 1 Comment

Guest post from a Gardnerian Wiccan

If a person I have known and loved before were trans (or intersex or non-binary or something else) I would honour that.

I would initiate them with a Priest or Priestess or all of us together or whatever the fuck worked to generate the dynamic interplay of energy needed.

I would invoke upon them the Goddess or the God and trust that the Gods know their own and would come.

I would kiss them as a sibling and hold them and call them by Priest, Priestess or Priestex or whatever term meant servant of the Gods to them and us.

I would teach them the beautiful and awe inspiring mysteries of the Gods and not shy away from the heterosexual generative story, but I would also explore the mysteries through other stories too and encourage them to write and share their own.

I would introduce them to the wider Gardnerian community and help them make friends and connections there.

I would work to heal them when they needed healing and receive healing from them also when I needed it.

I would work to confront my own discomfort and reconcile it, not seek to remove its source in fear.

I would work to understand where I may have done wrong and try to do better.

The person who wrote this chose to remain anonymous because of the way that transphobes tend to target inclusive people. I have shared it here with their permission.

Book review: Queer Qabala

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 1 Comment

Queer Qabala by Enfys J Book

Incredibly clear, beautifully written explanation of the Hermetic Qabala and its inherent queerness, expressed in the idea that there are three pillars (force, balance, and form), and that the Divine includes all genders and sexualities.

The book is written with style and wit by an expert in the subject. There are pathworkings to help you fully experience all aspects of the Qabala, and journal exercises to deepen your understanding of the worlds, spheres, and pathways of the Tree of Life.

All the aspects of the Tree are related to queer experiences and life events like coming out to yourself and others, and finding queer community. It explores both the wonderful and the scary aspects of being queer, including queer joy and sorrow.

This exploration of the many aspects of the Tree is grounded in a deep knowledge of the Qabala, and the overlapping Pagan and queer communities. This is a vision of Qabala that understands the importance of cyclicity: growth and decay, death and rebirth, darkness and light, immanence and transcendence, the manifest and the unmanifest.

It offers magical workings based on queer Qabala which relate to each sphere of the Tree of life and everyday experiences like getting a job or finishing a project. It is pragmatic and fun, accessible and inclusive.

This book will be valuable to everyone from beginners, who will find the subject thoroughly explored and explained, to people who are already working with Qabala, who will gain a fresh perspective on it. Sure to be a contemporary classic!

Available now

If you enjoyed this post, you might like my books.

All acts of love and pleasure: inclusive Wicca, by Yvonne Aburrow
Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft, by Yvonne Aburrow
The Night Journey: witchcraft as transformation, by Yvonne Aburrow
Visit my books page

Happy Pride

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 4 Comments

Happy Pride everyone.

❤️ Here are three of my favourite LGBTQ+ movies: Pride, about Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. Torch Song Trilogy, which I saw in my first few weeks at university because the Gay Society did a screening (yes folks, in the 1980s the Lesbian and Gay societies at uni were two separate things). And The Birdcage (which I prefer over the French film it was based on) in which gayness eventually wins over the stiff straights.

More reflections on queerness and intersectionality after the cut. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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