Showing posts with label women. Show all posts

Celebrating Equality on July 4th

As today's festivities get underway remember the history of today. The founding fathers, slave owners, fought against an oppressive monarchy. They fought against a government that did not provide fair and equal treatment. Much like they were doing in their own colonies by treating human beings as chattel. They proposed a notion of freedom. Freedom and equality for all. Yet this, at the time and still to some extent today, was an entitlement for white wealthy land owners. Land, stolen from the indigenous peoples of this continent. They wanted fair and equal representation because they felt their government was not proving that. Much like I, and I know many others, feel today.



I sit here, seeing our President behave much like the monarchy this nation fought against. A tiny group of people against tyranny. Today we must not allow our nation to be ruled by the elite few. Our history is made by those coming from around the world. The oppressed, the tired, the hungry yearning to be free. Our beginning was in oppression. Our future is in freedom.

Max D. Stanley's painting “The Trail of Tears.”


Our country was built on the backs of black people. Our country was built on the labor of people of color. Our country prospered on the backs of the immigrant, the forced slavery of a proud people. This country is stolen from a people, the first people, pushed to the brink of extinction by white people.

Image SRC - History.com


Today we need to accept that this nation, our nation, is not perfect. We have blemishes. We made mistakes. As white people we need to use our privilege to raise up those who are disenfranchised. We need to not speak for, or speak over these people. We need to pass the mic.

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So, what can we do? Today July 4, 2019 declare your independence from tyranny. Use your voice to embrace equality. Share content from black people. Believe black women. Raise awareness on the injustice in the workplace, the education system and the prison pipeline that railroad black people and people of color in this nation. Follow black bloggers. Read black authors. Learn black history. Learn LGBTQI history. Learn about people of color. Learn about immigration. Welcome the Muslim, the Jew as well as the Atheist to the table. Make room for those who without your support would be forgotten.



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Most of all, close your mouth and listen. Don't explain black people. Don't speak for black people. Don't try to explain what Trans people should feel. Don't speak over the disenfranchised. Instead amplify their voices. Share their work. Give them the platform you have.

  


I share a lot of articles with out commentary. I do this because this is their story. This is their voice. This is our time to show our support for our black brothers and sisters, our families of color and our LGBTQI family.

We are not free as long as one of us are bound.

Today, pass the mic.

A Post for Justice - Mallory Owens



Today is the day I usually save for my rituals to Hecate.  A group of folks that I’m friends with started doing Tuesday night rituals to keep our country in freedom.  I enjoyed this ritual; I looked forward to Tuesday so I tried to continue to do it.  When Hecate’s Supper or when a full moon is near, I usually post pone Tuesday and wait for the lunar event for my ritual.

Yesterday I saw something that really disturbed me.  A young lady, Mallory Owens, in Alabama was brutally beaten after being invited to her girlfriend’s house for Thanksgiving Dinner.  So while some were eating their dinner and enjoying the comforts of being with the family, this poor girl was beaten beyond recognition according to the complaint.

The family says this has happened before.  We don’t know why no one stopped him.  Her alleged attacker, her girlfriend’s 18 year old brother did not approve of the relationship.  Travis Hawkins Jr took it upon himself to punish Mallory for her crime.  Her crime was love.  

When I first saw the pictures I was confused.  How could the police in Alabama allow someone who did this to another living thing out on the streets?  I questioned the threads in my LGBT groups on FB.  I search everywhere I could think of on Google.  This couldn’t be true.  It just couldn’t.  No one would invite someone into their home and then do this to them.  I was in utter disbelief.  Slowly the news sources started to come in line with what the Facebook Page – Prayers and Support for Mallory had been saying all day.  They really did allow a person who beat this girl so badly out on the street. (news story)

As a survivor of domestic abuse, I can say I never reached out to the police for assistance.  I can say that I have turned in people who have attacked children.  I have been the safe house for kids to run to when the bullies across the way were coming. I am an advocate.  I have a strong sense of justice and law.  I believe this is why I am so attracted to Hecate.  She after all is the Goddess of Witchcraft and Justice.  As I sit here in these early morning hours and think about what I want to do to support Mallory so many things come to mind.  I’m not going to show you the pictures of her savage beating.  I’m not going to show you the blood pooled on a pillow behind her head while both her eyes are swollen completely shut.  

What I am going to do is ask you to do is take the hand of someone you love.  Your son or daughter, aunt or uncle.  Take the hand of your partner, lover or spouse.  Hold it tightly and think for one moment that someone could see you with their hand in yours and decide that you are not worthy of life.  That’s what happened to Mallory.  Someone decided that her love, her dedication to her partner was something that was wrong.  And the “RIGHT” thing to do, was to beat this poor girl nearly to death.

A petition has been set up for Mallory because the law in Alabama has decided that Mr. Hawkins was allowed out on the streets.  He was charged with 2nd degree assault.  I wonder, if Mallory had been straight, would he be out?  If Mallory had been his wife, would he be out?  We can’t say, there are lots of variables here.  I do feel this way.  I’ve gone to my partner’s family’s house for Thanksgiving before.  You’ve done it.  There’s always thought of “Will they like me?” “I hope I say the right thing.”  We don’t know if Mallory thought these things, but I do have to say, can you imagine the utter hurt, dismay and complete abandonment she must have felt as the first swings started?   Can you imagine how alone and confused she must have felt?  These wounds will take much longer for this dear soul to heal.

Below is the chant I wrote that I will use tonight in my ritual to call upon the Goddess Hecate to bring justice for Mallory.  I urge my blog followers to pick up your totems, open your prayer books, call your congress, and take some sort of action to stop this kind of thing from happening again.  If for no other reason, at least that Mallory was someone’s child, and no matter what you think of her sexuality, no one… NO ONE deserves to be treated this way.



Calling to Hecate for Justice
Hecate Hecate Hecate
Dark Mother, Mistress of the Night
I call upon you and your hounds under the dark moon
Bring forth your justice with all its might.

Hecate Hecate Hecate
I call out to you times three
Protector of women and those in need
I’m here at the crossroads, belladonna in hand
Requesting from you justice for this horrible deed.

Hecate Hecate Hecate
Hear my chant and bring forth justice
Vengeance is not what you give, nor what I seek
Bring forth your powers to protect the meek.
~Sosanna

I will be donating a portion of my sales in my shop to her cause.  I don't have a huge amount of money but I urge anyone that can to please reach out and try to help this family.


Namaste and Blessed Be
Sosanna