Confessions of a Modern Witch: community

Showing posts with label community. Show all posts

Witchy Wednesday - Trademarking Yule - PT 2

March 15, 2017

Last week we chatted about a Pagan business owner looking to put a trademark on the winter solstice holiday of Yule, The owner of Sage Goddess, filed a federal Trademark request to make YULE her trademark. She was sending cease and desist letters to other vendors who use the word Yule in their product names.

Several bloggers picked up the story and even The Wild Hunt got in on the act. As a result the owner of Sage Goddess abandoned her attempt to make Yule her trademark, much to the surprise of many in the industry. I even noticed a new Facebook ad running yesterday to get likes to her FB page. Makes one wonder if this was some sort of marketing campaign.

In any case I confirmed and the request has indeed been abandoned.

Photo Credit - Website Screen Capture

I would not have found out about this without the work of Charisssa and the Pagan Business Network. If you have not heard of her, please check out her group on Facebook. Under threat of libel she persisted and continue to voice her opposition to this case. I also want to give a shout out to Loren Morris of Primitive Witchery without her skill in investigation to bring out this story and her dedication to fight for what should be open to everything, I would have missed this story. She brought the message to me personally and then to our Witches & Warlocks group on Facebook. Great job to both Charissa and Loren for their support in getting this out in the open.

While I'm pleased that the trademark application was abandoned, I'm concerned about what this means for our community going forward. As a person who has been on the receiving end of frivolous legal action at the hands of someone who is clearly wrong, I am concerned about what it means to our community. In a world that hands over our eye of newt for a court room what does this mean for the magical community. While I believe that we should indeed use mundane actions on mundane work, I'm also worried about the litigious nature of our community.

When did a simple disagreement online result in hiring an attorney? When does one feel they have the right to own a holiday? I'm not surprised by this action, as it is pretty much the world around us. I think that maybe I held our community to a higher standard.

When you're working with people who claim to hold energy high and you see this kind of behavior, it is disheartening. I know that in my personal case I was surprised to see so many people continuing to support someone against me who was so obviously wrong. It made me yearn for a community who would actually ostracize someone who was attacking others, instead of saying... "It's just how they are. You'll get use to it."

Today I'm happy that this application was abandoned, but I'm skeptical. I think we should keep a close watch out. I don't think this is the end of this story and I'm sure my witchy friends can feel it too.

Blessings
Sosanna

Pagan Infighting - Ranting

September 22, 2014

This weekend was Pagan Pride weekend in Raleigh NC. I love going there and meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. I spent most of the weekend in joyous celebration. For the most part.

I love my community. We have a wonderful time at bonfires, summer festivals and bringing in the seasons. This weekend, and past week however, have been a little eye opening.

Let's start with Facebook. I recently joined a group called Witches and Warlocks. Great group, lots of fantastic discussion and a bit of snark from time to time. Just my cup of tea. When suddenly a message comes into the group slamming a local group of Pagans from Washington. The guy making the comments, doesn't attend events any more with this group, then that group, then another group because THEY all have the problem. Honestly if every group you enter into ends up in you leaving because they think you're an ass. I'm going to think you might need to pick up a mirror and figure out exactly what you have to bring to the table. What do you have to offer the world, the community and humanity. No one is interested in placating to your ego. Either become a real working Witch or get off the broom. Being a Witch is hard. It calls for helping others, getting your hands dirty and working with the people. Not sitting up on your high horse and passing judgement on those around you. Running down those around you, to try to life yourself higher will result in failure.

Which leads into my second complaint. At some point when you're dealing with any community, you have to get over yourself. People make mistakes. People can be assholes. How you react to those assholes is on you. If you don't like someone, walking around each tent being really obnoxiously loud and saying your name loudly isn't making you look cool. Taking pictures of each both around me, and talking to each vendor around me and skipping over me while raising your voice so loudly doesn't make ME feel bad. Honey, I don't need your approval or your permission to be exactly who I am. I don't need minions to follow me. I don't need a coven or to be a high priest. I'll sit right over here taking care of my animals and creating my sacred place to share with the world.

Threats do not bother me in the least. So by all means, continue to come beside me and make your snarky comments. Each time you do that you reinforce my hold and my position. ;)

You see, there are two kinds of people in the world. People who are honest, sincere and want to see you succeed. These people join together with each other like magnets. They see each other across a distance and work together to create a sense of peace and harmony. They are the ebb and flow of the ocean. One drawing back at the precise time the next needs to roll in with the tide. These are the energies that I like to surround myself with.

The second kind of person is the taker. This is the person who wants what you have. They cannot make success for themselves so they want to destroy or take what you have around you. This type of person will never have much of anything real in their lives. They will always be complaining about what they cannot do, making excuses for what they were supposed to do and blaming others for their failures. This person is an emotional drain on the first type of person.

Take a moment to evaluate what you bring to the Pagan family table. What do you want to be known for. Do you give or take? Are you a positive or a negative. We could do so much for our community if we just put aside all this petty bickering and work as Pagans in the past worked. Help the neighbor next door. Help those who do not have food. Send positive energy out to help. Put aside all this petty name calling, following people around with cameras, and running people down in groups. I don't give a rat's ass who you think your are, acting like this is childish and wrong. It is time for us to grow the hell up and take care of our own.

Sending out a collective kick in the pants to all to need it!

Blessings!
Sosanna
)O(

Who are Our Pagan Elders Anyway?

October 29, 2013

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Recently a discussion in a Facebook group led to this very question. Who is an Elder? I had to first really examine the word.

Elder is defined as one of a group who is of greater age.

As a solitary, I've had very limited experience with a formal coven setting. I've been involved in two “alternative” groups both did not end very well. As the online community has grown I've been able to meet some really wonderful people. People who know a lot about different subjects and who I consider to be subject matter experts (SME) in their area of study.

I have friends that are extremely well versed in plagiarism and copyright. I have friends who are certified project managers and some who are animal rescuers. I have friends who are artists and some who are authors. But when I look over my list, are there any elders there? In fact, where are the elders anyway?

For this particular post I went over to “About*” to check out what Patti Wigington had to say on the subject. Her article on Pagan Elders is on the money. She writes, “Elder is a status that is generally given to someone, rather than claimed for oneself.”

To me I believe that there are many out there who are in the community for the show of it all. They are looking to sell a candle or a book, make some money and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. I spent a few hours looking over a few popular Facebook Pages to help locate a post not credited and found that most of the people appearing on the pages all have very sultry looks, a large walking stick and thick eyeliner.

Is this the “new” Pagan? Are these folks elders?

For someone who spends the majority of her spare time making items by hand for her shop, rescuing kittens and feeding her hens, the thought that I need to have high heels and eye liner to be a pagan sorts takes away from what its really all about for me.

This takes me back to Patti’s article where she writes – “a Pagan Elder is a little uncomfortable with the title - not because they haven’t earned it, but because often they do their work for the community out of love”

Yeah, Patti that’s it. It is not the eyeliner or the podcast. It is not the book or the candle. It is about helping each other. That is why I do what I do. Because of a love of what I do. That’s not to say that someone is wrong for having a shop or wearing eyeliner, it really isn't that simple. We cannot, nor should we judge who is real in their practice. Each path is individual. But we do have to consider at what point is wisdom valued over pomp and circumstance.

Here is my opinion on the subject, and please feel free to disagree.

I believe an elder would be something like my grandmother. She passed away at 98 years old. I spent Sundays with her making biscuits and hearing her stories of the old days. I had a chance to share in her wisdom and learn from her. She would be an elder.

I've had the opportunity to learn about authors in the pagan community, some of which I've actually met in person and spent time with. Some have been great friends. I wouldn't classify an author as automatically an elder, but I would say that I have a tendency to put them on a higher level. I probably shouldn't do this, I have been let down in the past based on this very thing. I've also been honored to have one on one online relationships with some of these people and they've been really rewarding.

Currently looking at the way I define elder, the only one I can find is Selena Fox. The main characteristic seems to be love. I don’t know her personally at all. I've only had one exchange with her via a message on FB. However to me, she seems to honestly be one with what’s around her and always positive.

I’m sure others have differing opinions and I’d love to hear them.

But as a community, what do we have now.

Who are our elders?

What makes them an elder?

Does this status change based on who is using it?

Would we include Zsuzsanna Budapest?

How about Selena Fox?

Is an author automatically an elder?

This post isn’t meant to answer the question but yet pose that question to my readers. Feel free to share this message. I’d really like to see what people feel about this topic.

Blessings

Sosanna

)O(

*Special thanks to Patti for her permission in referencing her article on about.com

Pagan Blog Project 2012 - U is for Unity

October 19, 2012

U is for Unity: u·ni·ty/ˈyo͞onətē/

Noun: The state of being united or joined as a whole, esp. in a political context. Harmony or agreement between people or groups.

Unity. As defined, unity is a harmonious agreement between people or groups. Some may think of a circle as “unity”. I would agree. When we look around our community, be it a community of witches or a group of voters one thing that is lacking in my opinion is unity.

Now you may ask the following question, “Sosanna, how can two completely different groups unify?”

For this I have an answer. We are not two completely different groups. We may indeed have differences. Much like a litter of kittens for example. There may be white ones and black one, maybe even a calico one. But, they are all kittens. We can compare this to other things, like plants or trees. There are all types of trees, but alas they are still unified in one thing. They are still trees.

Looking around my different circles today I can see where the unity has become separated. Meaning that in my personal life, my work life and my witch life, things are broken. I am usually a pretty upbeat positive person, which people like to be around. Over the course of this last year I've been blocked on Face Book by 5 people, two of which I’m related to. Now at some point you have to say, well it is what it is and move on, however I believe that this is evidence that we as a group; we as humans have an inability to coexist. I’m not saying you need to be friends with everyone on Facebook, but I am saying is that are we so sensitive that we cannot simply exist in our worlds, unified that we are indeed all human beings that should care for the general welfare of our own species and put the need to be right on the back burner?

Perhaps this is enlightenment. Maybe this is the point that you get to when you can look at another and know that they completely and totally disagree with you and in fact have specifically said things against you, and you can say, I honor that light in you which is also in me.

Unity.

When a group has unity, their force is greater than that of one standing alone. We together to join a fight, a cause or battle and reach a goal much quicker than one person fighting that battle alone.

So for this week’s Pagan Blog Project and my NaBloWriMo entry, I’m asking all of my readers to take up the fight and let’s take a stand to assist one team in Maryland reach their goal in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. This team is at 50% of their goal and has only until Sunday to complete their pledge.

I know it’s a tough time right now, financially so what I’ve decided to do is on top of promoting this great cause and this team I’m also going to do something for those donating. ANYONE sending a donation in via this site before Sunday will receive a coupon code for Sosanna's Closet for 20% off their purchase. Now your donation must be made by Sunday, but your coupon code will not expire until February. So make your donation, $5, $10 any amount will help this great event.

Let’s unify for this fight.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

My Thoughts on the Pagan Community

July 26, 2011

Yesterday a friend of mine, Kallan, posted a wonderful post on apathy. It really hit home for me. Living in a rural area, I had no idea of the Pagan Community that was here all along.

I shopped online and did my best to conduct myself as a good solitary. I've never been much into large groups and gatherings and believe it or not I'm really a pretty shy person. So the entire concept of joining a coven or seeking out others outside the safety of my little box was something that never entered my mind.

I commented on Kallan's blog and moved on with my crazy busy day. I did stop to consider a couple of times what I should blog about today but generally I kept my day humming along. Like so many of us out there today, the economy is killing me. Hubby and I lost our business and I spend most of my time coming up with new ways to make things or sell things to help make ends meet. Hubby is pounding the pavement looking for work and we've got the candles, the oils, the positive thoughts and of course the applications out across the US!

A little later in the day I saw a reference to another posting related to the Pagan Community. Amy over at The Realm of the Green Witch posted a similar post around how the pagan community can react to a threat. She talks about shopping in your local stores and spending the few extra pennies to help support the community instead of ordering off the internet.

Strangely enough at that same moment I got an email from Kay Soto over at Truely Unique in Wilson. I did a blog post on her shop a while back. It's about an hour from me. I attended one of her herb classes and signed up to attend one coming this Friday. I've turned that email from Kay into a note on Facebook.

I sit here and spend a lot of time on the internet trying to find places that don't charge to sell my wreaths, or hubby's dream catchers. I spend so much energy trying to find materials online, something shipped directly to my house so that I don't have to spend the gas money to drive out to pick up this or that.

I've decided that's going to change. If we want our community to be strong, we must support it. We must network. Yes, I said the N word. Not networking on the computer. Network in person. Step out from behind that monitor and attend a gathering. Offer to host a night at your local pagan store. Offer to maybe car pool on a particular night to that store that's an hour away. This is our community and it needs support.

A relationship doesn't just grow. Much like an herb garden, as all witches know, you must tend it. You have to pull the weeds. You have to water it. You have to talk to it and love it to watch it grow. The relationship we have with our religion; with our community needs that same dedication and attention.

Here's to taking care of our own.

Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(