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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  2. <rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><description>Toward a unique and unapologetic spiritual and religious path rooted in the lived incarnational experiences of queer femmes.</description><title>The Femmelesia!</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @thefemmelesia)</generator><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/</link><item><title>Say hello to the Femmelesia!</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1280" data-orig-width="1920"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/7b66f580c5b28b663d91d963c0af5c22/tumblr_inline_p1tgtqBkdN1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="1280" data-orig-width="1920"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dec. 31, 2017  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Contemporary Priestess is soon being reborn as &lt;b&gt;The Femmelesia&lt;/b&gt;!  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What&amp;rsquo;s the &lt;i&gt;Femmelesia&lt;/i&gt;?  It&amp;rsquo;s a portmanteau of &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/166081-what-does-femme-mean-the-difference-between-being-femme-being-feminine"&gt;femme&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia"&gt;ecclesia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;.
  3.  If you are a queer femme like me, you may have felt out of place in a
  4. &lt;a href="https://contemporarypriestess.tumblr.com/post/168350171706/divine-feminine-is-sexist"&gt;heteronormative &amp;ldquo;women&amp;rsquo;s spirituality&amp;rdquo; community&lt;/a&gt;.  Lately, I feel a
  5. strong call to&lt;a href="https://contemporarypriestess.tumblr.com/post/168350570151/perpetual-maidenhood-carving-out-a-queer"&gt; forge a new spiritual/religious path that is
  6. unapologetically and uniquely for and rooted in the lived incarnational
  7. experiences of queer and/or nonbinary femmes.&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aside from this, I continue to be informed by both Goddess spirituality and New Thought teachings.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stay tuned for more in 2018!  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Love,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Willow!  &lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/169142744706</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/169142744706</guid><pubDate>Sun, 31 Dec 2017 00:11:53 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>Stop trying to “find your tribe” already.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/49fe488dec95eeec11025e873ff2a087/tumblr_inline_p0otify6pC1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many of the buzzwords I often encounter today trace their origin in the hippies&amp;rsquo; subculture and new age movement of the 1960s. The driving force behind these counter-cultural phenomena of the time was primarily young white people in the Global North (North America and Western Europe), the Baby Boomers who grew up in the comfort of their suburban childhood at the time economy was at its rapid ascendancy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In response to their parents’ propensity toward “traditional” values and patriotism, the Boomers resorted to what they perceived (or fantasized, more precisely) as a way of life that predated industrialization and the Western hegemony. Hence they stole words, images, and practices from the Asian and African traditions as well as from Native Americans. This cultural appropriation by the privileged class of people was at the heart of the hippy movement — and sadly, this continues to this day largely unquestioned by the now aging Boomers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One such cliches that I hear these days from personal coaches, self-appointed “gurus,” and self-realization fanatics is: “find your tribe.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While this admonition is wrong on so many levels, I’d like to just focus on a few items.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, self-imposed segregation and self-created “bubbles” run counter to the social progress we made since the Age of Enlightenment, which was made possible by the cross-pollination of cultures and ideas across nations and continents. The very idea of “finding your tribe” is a return to feudalism and worse, tribalism — the very primal tendency in which humans warred against one another, excluded and mistreated outsiders, and even raped and murdered those who did not belong to one’s tribe. While to the hippies, the notion of a “tribe” sounds very earthy, idyllic, and warm-fuzzy, the historical reality says otherwise. To those who consider themselves “progressives,” I must ask how your wanting to have your own “tribe” is any different from the alt-right fanatics’ wanting to have a white nationalist homeland and “civilization.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, for white people who live in the Global North nations (such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe) to desire for a fantasy version of “a tribe” (which is not even an accurate term, see the following paragraph) is &lt;a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/"&gt;a form of cultural appropriation&lt;/a&gt;. Intentionally or subconsciously, by thinking that a “life in a tribe” is something they can adopt at will as a lifestyle, they ignore the history of genocide, systemic violence, exploitation, and exclusion against aboriginal tribes by the European and Euro-American colonizers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Third, a true tribal society is a closed community that demands absolute loyalty. The bonds of tribesmen are those of blood and kinship, therefore no one can join a tribe and no one can leave a tribe. In most cases, obedience and allegiance to the tribal chieftain are absolute, as well. Despite some romanticized accounts by the white folks appropriating “tribalism,” it is not a democracy or anything that resembles a modern social system. It is rather a large extended family headed by a powerful patriarch. This would not be an appropriate analogy for the kind of lifestyle they want. After all, by wanting to “find a tribe” they want to insulate themselves from anyone they disagree with or don’t share their beliefs and values with. In a real tribe, of course, there are all sorts of disagreements and dysfunctions just like any family — yet, one’s allegiance and mutual commitment to the fellow tribesmen cannot be abandoned (unless one wants to be executed).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/white-lady-sisterhood-needs-evolve/"&gt;Here’s another great article on this very topic.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on May 9, 2017.)&lt;a href="http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/white-lady-sisterhood-needs-evolve/"&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168352330476</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168352330476</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 01:41:36 -0800</pubDate><category>cultural appropriation</category><category>racism</category><category>baby boomers</category><category>new age</category><category>self-improvement</category></item><item><title>Why you don’t need astrology</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="532" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/abf4e02f7ea253083a88c8be502d408c/tumblr_inline_p0ophbv0FP1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="532" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since my involvement with the women’s spirituality* movement in 2003, I have seen how astrology plays a quasi-integral part of many non-Christian and non-Jewish spiritual women’s* narratives.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Back then I spent over half a year in an &lt;a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030524042733/http://www.fullcircletemple.org"&gt;all-women* pagan temple&lt;/a&gt; and participated in many rituals, workshops, and council meetings. The entire calendar of the temple revolved around moon phases and various astronomical dates. The location of a planet in whatever the constellation was, was just as important to them as the day of the week or day of the month and was recorded in every meeting notes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To this day, astrology occupies a near-canonical status within the women’s* spirituality circles. Lacking a definitive corpus of scriptures or teachings, it often serves as a convenient stand-in for a divine inspiration along with divination.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While I believe that every person is entitled to their own unique path to the divine, I do not believe in astrology, nor do I believe it to be necessary for anyone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too often, astrology is used as an excuse for inaction or for conflicts. One of the most popular such excuses is so-called Mercury Retrograde. The problem is that Mercury Retrogrades occur several times every year. One can attribute anything to a Mercury Retrograde or any astrological phenomenon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some people seriously believe the idea that the world’s population can easily be classified into 12 astrological signs and make a broad assumption about one’s character or personality. Even before getting to know people, they exclude those folks whose “astrological signs” are “incompatible” with them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Astrology made sense when we the &lt;a href="https://news.vice.com/story/people-from-around-the-globe-met-for-the-first-flat-earth-conference"&gt;humans believed that the earth was flat &lt;/a&gt;and &lt;g class="gr_ gr_49 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="49" data-gr-id="49"&gt;all stars&lt;/g&gt; were neatly aligned on a surface of a celestial dome.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now, science knows that:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The earth is only but a small planet rotating around a rather insignificant star on the periphery of the galactic system.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Starlights we see tonight may be thousands or millions of years old and while the light traveled through the vast universe, those stars may have gone someplace else or even imploded out of existence.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Movement of stars are actually an optical illusion; it is that our planet is moving.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Of various stars comprising a constellation, they vary in their distances from the earth. They are not really a connect-the-dots picture on a piece of paper.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;These are facts that I learned in elementary school and whenever my mom took me to a planetarium at the science museum. As a little kid, I was drawn to astrology and the associated folklore. But I also learned about astronomy and astrophysics, thanks to some good books written for kids and to the science museum.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even more troubling to me, beyond its outdated flat-earth understanding of the universe and outright superstition, is how those who give so much power and credence to astrology are actually positioning themselves as a helpless subject of some invisible and impersonal cosmic forces. Somehow, to these women (mostly women as far as I know; not very many men) think that their lives are controlled by perceived “motions” of stars in the sky or where these stars were seen when they were born (natal chart).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“You
  8. don’t need to look to the stars for your answers, ’cause you can look
  9. to the very One who made those stars” — Carman Licciardello, in his song
  10. “God in America”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;While the New Thought movement does not articulate any strong position on astrology (and many New Thought centers or churches often permit astrologers to speak or hold an event, as they feel that every path to the Divine is equally valid), the &lt;a href="http://www.greatlakesunity.com/sites/greatlakesunity.com/files/YFM%20Doc/Unity%20Basics.pdf"&gt;basic principles of the New Thought teachings&lt;/a&gt; make a reliance on astrology a rather unnecessary distraction. When we are one with, and not separated from, the one who created the universe, the power and freedom resides in each of us. Though the stars and planets are expressions of the divine idea and divine order (one thing I credit the astrologers throughout history is that they left an impressive record of their observations, which led to a development of science called astronomy), they do not hold power over us. Hence astrology should be considered as a relic of a bygone time when people also believed that a &lt;a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/08/15/top-five-worst-superstitions-about-solar-eclipses.html"&gt;solar eclipse&lt;/a&gt; brought about plagues or natural disasters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Note: * These are somewhat of a dated language by today’s standard, but I’m using them as a historical reference and for the sake of brevity. I do not imply the exclusion of femme and nonbinary folks who may not necessarily view themselves as “women.”&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;This is the author’s own opinion only and does not represent views of any organizations with which the author is affiliated.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Dec. 8, 2017.)&lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350846471</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350846471</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 00:14:33 -0800</pubDate><category>astrology</category><category>new age</category><category>woo woo</category><category>new thought</category></item><item><title>Thoughts and prayers</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="516" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1f9d3e88beb4e5af57a8d2dc70198d7b/tumblr_inline_p0opcbI4Hh1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="516" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;I was meaning to write this for over a month but my life was a little chaotic due to relocation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some time ago, there was an Internet meme circulating on Twitter and Facebook:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="522" data-orig-width="500"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/ec8c4ad5907520e90a4d53d0d1c33e35/tumblr_inline_p0opdneSBY1v2bwu7_540.png" data-orig-height="522" data-orig-width="500"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Image description: “I named my cats ‘Thoughts’ and ‘Prayers’ because they’re useless.” (Two orange cats stretched out over a lawn chair, sleeping; a smaller calico cat behind them also sleeping.)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;The context behind this meme was the speeches given by several Republicans following tragic incidents during this autumn, such as the hurricanes in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, and Texas; and Las Vegas mass shooting. The Republican politicians were criticized for not taking tangible steps to address the problems at hand, while only saying “my thoughts and prayers are with” the victims.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a student of the New Thought teachings, I see prayers and thoughts as cornerstones of all actions. They are certainly not useless exercises, and frankly, I wished I had developed a much more robust prayer and &lt;g class="gr_ gr_33 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="33" data-gr-id="33"&gt;thought&lt;/g&gt; practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the popular religious culture of this country, however, prayer is either a meaningless religious exercise that has more to do with traditions and polite gestures; or else, a way to petition God and even manipulate God into giving them what they want or not giving them what they don’t want.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the former, prayer is nothing more than a ritualistic use of poetry. They don’t mean anything when they recite “Our Father, which art in heaven,” or “Blessed art Thou, Adonai, our God, the King of the universe.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the latter, God is someone who is separate and remote from human beings, who might arbitrarily reward or punish people. To some, prayer is a sort of “spiritual warfare” to destroy demonic forces. To some, prayer is answered only after arduous fasting and sleepless nights, as if God rewards people for intense religious practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to the New Thought teachings, prayer is neither of these. Rather, prayer aligns and reprograms our thoughts so that our thoughts, words, and actions will unite with those of the Divine. In this sense, prayer isn’t petitioning or begging God as if God isn’t omniscient. Instead, it transforms us and guides us to right action.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By extension, the transformed mind leads to actions that would express and demonstrate the law of love and justice. It may happen differently to every person. You might be inspired to start a project that would address the root causes of gun violence or extremist ideology. You might be guided to an opportunity that would contribute to hurricane recovery efforts. Each person is a unique and necessary expression of the Divine Plan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All actions stem from right thoughts and right words. Hence a genuine prayer lays a foundation for tangible, constructive actions that will restore and transform the world we live in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Dec. 8, 2017.)&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350799926</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350799926</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 00:11:55 -0800</pubDate><category>prayer</category><category>new thought</category></item><item><title>In defense of non-binary</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="466" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1705521891bdbdf9146e709556393dcb/tumblr_inline_p0op7kNHbb1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="466" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every five years or so, I go through a sort of an abrupt personality shift that involves a major change in my own values and beliefs. Even though none of these shifts were intentional, it’s quite uncanny that it happens without fail in the interval of five years: 2012, 2007, 2002, 1997, and 1992 were years of significant internal changes for me as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These changes occur almost always because of a big disillusionment with causes or belief systems that I once wholeheartedly followed, followed by a period of introspection and soul-searching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In 2012, I was deeply dissatisfied with the absurdity of the radical leftist activist community, after years of my involvement in progressive and radical community organizing culminating in the Occupy movement. This event prompted me to explore a more diverse range of political ideas, and indeed, I learned a great deal from classical liberalism as well as from paleo-conservatism. Ultimately, I had come to adopt a more centrist view as exemplified by the &lt;a href="http://solidarity-party.org"&gt;American Solidarity Party&lt;/a&gt; and other similar groups around the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also in 2012, I had what I called a “peak trans” experience. This was a time of major disillusionment with the radical queer factions within the local activist scene, which seemed to be obsessed with identity politics, oppression Olympics, and language policing — at the expense of everything else. I was frustrated by how they seemed to pigeon-hole people into a sexuality silo and how silly their obsessions with pronouns at every meeting appeared to activists who were happy to collaborate with them but were put off by this bizarre gesture. The last straw for me was when they took over a general assembly one night defending a &lt;a href="https://lolcow.wiki/wiki/Isabel_Rosa_Araujo"&gt;self-identified “trans woman”&lt;/a&gt; who assaulted a community volunteer with a weapon earlier that week. I felt that I was going nowhere as long as I was even remotely associated with this group of radical queer activists who were part of both the Queers For Liberation and the Radical Caucus (whose memberships largely overlapped).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Because of the above two developments, I severed almost all ties with the LGBTQ community from 2012 until this year. Over time, I found myself largely in agreement with the &lt;a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2015/12/gender_critical_trans_women_the_apostates_of_the_trans_rights_movement.html"&gt;“gender-critical” activists&lt;/a&gt; and certain factions of feminists who believed that those who were obsessed with 52 new gender pronouns were “special snowflakes” (I did not know that this term was &lt;a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-alt-right-terminology-20161115-story.html"&gt;invented by the alt-right&lt;/a&gt;) who were actually “men’s rights activists” who promote rape culture. As an activist and community organizer, I sought to distance myself from the radical leftists and build a rapport with the majority of the 99 percent. Therefore, I sought to assimilate into the white, middle-class, university-educated, heteronormative cultural milieu in order to be taken seriously and get some tangible achievements in public policy issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Until very recently, I opposed social and &lt;a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/oregon-court-rules-that-nonbinary-is-a-legal-gender"&gt;legal recognition of non-binary gender identity&lt;/a&gt;, as I thought (out of ignorance) such a move would enable men to easily impersonate females at will and would create chaos in workplaces, schools, and communities. I had never personally met a non-binary person, and my wrong impressions of them were those who switch genders every day on a whim or butch lesbians who had internalized so much of social stigma and misogyny that they felt it would be cooler to call themselves non-binary instead of lesbians. I also felt that this emergence of the non-binary was a logical extension of &lt;a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Transtrender"&gt;“trans trending,”&lt;/a&gt; which trivializes the serious psychological and social challenges faced by those who are legitimately diagnosed with transsexualism (DSM-III)/gender identity disorder (DSM-IV)/gender dysphoria (DSM-5) under the more stringent “gatekeeping” criteria that once existed in the past.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For too long, I was so hell-bent on being “taken seriously” by the mainstream society that I had put my own well-being and my own rights on the chopping block. I sold myself out to “mainstream” folks with whom I had little in common and could not relate to, often for societal or economic benefits. I tried hard to assimilate — too hard trying — and kept silence even when I heard obvious hate speeches against non-binary, gender non-conforming, and trans folks.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I even supported and marketed a festival that appealed to the &lt;a href="http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/white-lady-sisterhood-needs-evolve/"&gt;heterosexual white lady woo-woo sisterhood&lt;/a&gt; and was hostile toward non-binary and trans people (albeit such hostility was thinly veiled and was largely a product of ignorance — the very same ignorance and lack of critical thinking I shared at the time).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To this day I feel disgusted with and ashamed of myself and I feel very dirty for doing so, even though it has been nearly two months since that event took place — especially since that event was initially my idea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;About a month ago, I decided to abandon the long-standing pretense and re-engage with the queer community — the community that has changed quite a bit since the last time I was active in it. I found that “they” was a far more widely used pronoun today than I thought. None of the non-binary people that I met thus far fit into the bizarre stereotypes that perpetuate the media. In fact, very few of them are visibly non-binary if you come with a preconceived stereotypical idea about what they might look. Furthermore, I did not know that &lt;a href="https://www.dailyxtra.com/why-this-collective-is-focused-on-young-non-binary-femme-artists-71560"&gt;queer non-binary femmes exist&lt;/a&gt; — and they do exist in a much larger number than I even would anticipate (the stereotype of a non-binary person in the popular media usually is either a short tomboy or a bearded man in a dress).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Years ago (during the 2007–2012 phase), I was involved with a couple of local femme groups but at the time I was rather confused about the 21st-century definition of that word femme. But the queer femme subculture was something I truly felt at home then. So I came to a realization that I was painfully missing that community for years. Only a few months ago, I was trying hard to extirpate femininity and embrace what I imagined as androgyny. This came as a response to an increasing discomfort and disgust I was developing toward the white lady woo-woo sisterhood and &lt;a href="https://medium.com/the-contemporary-priestess/divine-feminine-is-sexist-e88e70d9a8b2"&gt;its wholesale elevation of sexist stereotypes as the “divine feminine.”&lt;/a&gt; I did not yet understand the whole idea (and possibility) that one can exist entirely outside of the heterosexist, binary construct and claim one’s own femme-ness as something beyond the patriarchal notion of femininity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last week, I went to a femme party. I initially decided to do so out of curiosity and to check off my “bucket list,” without thinking too much of what that might be. Usually, at a party like this, I’m the wallflower, awkward and quickly bored. Not at this one. I was having fun, I did not realize it was already 3:30 in the morning. And more importantly, I was being myself. No efforts to fit in. No torturous small talks. I felt safe. I was never creeped out by anyone. Over a half of the party considered themselves queer, non-binary, and femme.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then I saw an article a few days later in the &lt;a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/10/christian-rights-new-strategy-divide-conquer-lgbt-community/"&gt;LGBTQ Nation&lt;/a&gt; that confirmed what I had been suspecting all along for at least a year but was not able to articulate it. The Christian right (and most likely, alt-right as well) is co-opting the language of second-wave feminism to divide and conquer the LGBTQ political solidarity so as to undermine the past two decades of progress and to weaken the LGBTQ resistance to the Trump/religious right/alt-right agenda. With their loss in the marriage front, they are making the “bathroom war” the new wedge issue to attack politicians and raise funds for their own far-right candidates. Petitions such as “Remove the T from LGBT” often circulated under a name of a self-styled feminist, a feminist organization, or even a gay rights activist. Then they boast a “strange bedfellows” coalition between progressive feminists and conservative Christians to create an optic that this is a mainstream, bipartisan movement. In the meantime, every time I look around, there’s a new blogger or two who claim to be a &lt;g class="gr_ gr_114 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="114" data-gr-id="114"&gt;detransitioner&lt;/g&gt; or a parent of a &lt;g class="gr_ gr_115 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="115" data-gr-id="115"&gt;detransitioned&lt;/g&gt; youth, all trying to use their personal and anecdotal stories to help dismantle the Obama legacy of trans and non-binary human rights (Who else are working hard to get rid of anything with Obama’s name on it? Donald Trump! Mike Pence! Steve Bannon!). Most of these so-called &lt;g class="gr_ gr_117 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="117" data-gr-id="117"&gt;detransitioners&lt;/g&gt; are actually &lt;g class="gr_ gr_116 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="116" data-gr-id="116"&gt;desisters&lt;/g&gt;. There’s nothing wrong with the majority of people who start out on transitioning to desist: that’s how it was actually supposed to work, according to the WPATH Standards of Care (or, at least, it was how it used to be when WPATH was still called HBIGDA back in the 1990s; I am not really familiar with the latest version). All this is happening, often with the unwitting support from real feminists and LGB activists, despite the fact that the far-right agenda ultimately seek to outlaw homosexuality and to promote a “traditional family value” that would crack down on any non-conformity to heteronormative and sexist gender norms (which, most lesbians and gays violate to some extent). Until recently, I bought into this hook, line, and sinker — and honestly believed that I was standing up for women’s rights.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The more I think of this, the more absurd it gets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if I could understand certain factions of feminists being hostile to transgender and transsexual people (and much of criticism by Janice Raymond on what she calls the sex-change industry is quite correct), it makes no sense for them to be hostile to non-binary people. After all, the ultimate aim of radical feminism is a total abolition of gender. The vision of feminism in the 1970s is therefore now an emerging reality as more and more young people defect from binary and mutually exclusive gender silos.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And today’s queer femmes are not trying to emulate the heteronormative butch-femme model. “Femmes 4 femmes” are quite common. As I heard from a non-binary femme person, being a non-binary femme is not about abandoning or devaluing femininity, but rather about not being constrained by femininity. In doing so, they liberate femininity from the narrow definitions imposed by the patriarchal cultural norms. In other words, in this context, femininity does not exist in service to masculinity, nor does it exist in the shadow of the masculine. It is a true liberation of femininity on its own merit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the past month or so, I also have come to a conclusion that I was non-binary even before such a word existed in the common parlance. I have always existed outside the binary, and because of neurodiversity, abnormal physical development, and resulting sex dysmorphia, I wasn’t even capable of fitting in, however badly I wanted to. In my early childhood I could not easily be pigeon-holed because at every turn I defied the binary norms — thankfully, my mother was a firebrand feminist and radical communist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is unfortunate when I had bought into a toxic ideology at a time when I was feeling at a loss. But there is no excuse for this and for spending last five years of my life acting as a useful idiot. This isn’t a proud moment for me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on Oct. 28, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350748456</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350748456</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 00:09:03 -0800</pubDate><category>non-binary</category><category>queer femme</category><category>queer</category></item><item><title>Altruism: the missing link in today’s self-centered spirituality</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="535" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/986dbf27b708fcb7514dd0147196f988/tumblr_inline_p0op4lDSI81v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="535" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;I get it. I have been there many times.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Desperate times when an hour feels forever, a short sleep is suddenly interrupted by a nightmare — or else, a dream that everything is okay, only to wake up and find yourself back at the waking nightmare instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sociologists have long established that there are three things that draw people to religion or spirituality: poverty, illness, and strife. Although the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs position “self-realization” at the top of his pyramid, for many people, faith is a matter of survival.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We want prayers at the darkest of times. There are churches and chapels that offer prayer ministers. There are various &lt;a href="http://www.silentunity.org"&gt;phone lines&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.csl.org/make-a-prayer-request"&gt;online services&lt;/a&gt; that do the same. We feel a little better when someone prays for our needs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But too often, things don’t go the way we wish.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While spiritual teachers and faith leaders exhort us to pray for ourselves as well, it always feels very difficult, especially when we are stressed out or in crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Something always distracts us from going deeper into prayer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The solution is to get out of this, get out of your own problems, as big and serious as they may be, and try praying for others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to the New Thought teachings, prayer is not about petitioning (thus, I normally do not use the word “prayer,” as it actually is a misnomer), nor is it about trying to “manifest” something. What it is, however, is simply to get out of Goddess’ way by unifying our minds with the ultimate reality. To accomplish this, it doesn’t have to be focused on your problems — or for that matter, anyone else’s — but when you practice this sort of “prayer,” you become a conduit for the divine reality that expresses itself in this physical world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, establishing a daily practice of &lt;a href="http://www.alexmarcoux.com/blog/entry/what-is-affirmative-prayer"&gt;affirmative prayer/mind-spiritual treatment&lt;/a&gt; on behalf of others and/or of the world around us is very important and beneficial not just to them but to yourself. In this sense, it is just like the metaphysical principle of giving: contrary to popular ego-centric thinking, you do not “fill your own bowl first” before you give; rather, your so-called “bowl” is actually more like a pipe or an electrical cable: until you create an outbound flow, you will remain a vacuum and nothing will come into your life. This is why the &lt;a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrsa/luke/6-38.html"&gt;New Testament&lt;/a&gt; teaches, &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqaOEVx7y9I"&gt;“give, and it will come back to you.”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On a more practical level, praying/offering a treatment for others accomplishes what you seek faster and easier precisely because of the emotional and mental distance you have between yourself and the others. Unlike focusing on your own issues, you don’t have the emotional interference and less distracted by your own fear or anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Altruism is a rather underappreciated value today, even among those who purport to be “spiritual.” While there is no such thing as pure altruism in the human world, traditionally, selfishness was never considered a virtue. &lt;a href="https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/enlightened-self-interest"&gt;Alexis de Tocqueville&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://spectrummagazine.org/article/column/2009/01/23/adam-smith-selfishness-or-self-interest"&gt;Adam Smith&lt;/a&gt; both spoke of an “enlightened self-interest,” that is, altruism ultimately benefits the self.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Several years ago, a Japanese business consultant and former diplomat named Kanda Masanori created a problem-solving method called &lt;a href="http://meaningfulconnections.net/anne-pryor/new-future-mapping-attain-goals-make-others-120-percent-happy/"&gt;“Future Mapping.”&lt;/a&gt; In this activity, you are instructed to think of one person (someone you know, or even someone entirely fictitious) who are not related to the problem you’re trying to solve and play a game to create a story about how to make that person happy. This rather counter-intuitive approach has become a major success in conflict resolution, problem-solving, and even innovative thinking in all sectors of Japanese society that now even grade-school children are taught to do this. Mr. Kanda bases this practice on two theoretical pillars: the power of storytelling, and the power of altruism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The genius of Future Mapping is exactly the genius of affirmative prayer for others: it helps free your mind from being entangled with the problems you are in, therefore, freeing yourself from a kind of tunnel vision, and more importantly, the sense of desperation and urgency that almost always lead to poor decision-making while blinding us from sometimes even the most obvious solutions out there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, if you are now experiencing a crisis, or a stressful situation, or a moment of an important decision, and like me, you can’t get yourself to spiritually grounded enough to even have a prayerful frame of mind, stop and take a few minutes to make someone else happy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Oct. 17, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350695056</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350695056</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 00:06:14 -0800</pubDate><category>prayer</category><category>affirmative prayer</category><category>new thought</category></item><item><title>Don’t tell people to cope.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="571" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/611c6c96bc70c5e787f6483e238a51db/tumblr_inline_p0ooxjkCoI1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="571" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Coping: the employment of mental and behavioral methods to &lt;a href="https://psychologydictionary.org/control/" title="noun. 1. control, authority, or impact on incidences, behaviors, circumstances, or individuals. 2. the management of all external circumstances and factors in an experiment so [...]"&gt;control&lt;/a&gt;
  11. the stipulations of a scenario when such are claimed to be wearing or
  12. beyond one’s abilities or to lessen the adverse feelings and strife
  13. resulting from stressors. &lt;i&gt;(&lt;a href="https://psychologydictionary.org/coping/"&gt;The Psychology Dictionary.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;)&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Along with &lt;a href="https://tmblr.co/Zk7Vqb2SoRo32"&gt;fighting the Woo,&lt;/a&gt; I also fight &lt;a href="https://tmblr.co/Zk7Vqb2SoSCxv"&gt;psychobabble that gives a pass to oppression.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Those who are in the mental health industry, as well as those who are personal coaches and clergypersons, in general, come with a privilege of being able to afford higher education and post-graduate education. Many of them are middle-class or aspire to a middle-class professional career.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then these people often work with people who are less privileged, those who live on the margins of society where life challenges are entirely foreign to the typical white middle-class life, and those who are deliberately disenfranchised by our economic and political systems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How dare do they tell people whose lives are devastated &lt;g class="gr_ gr_58 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="58" data-gr-id="58"&gt;to&lt;/g&gt; “cope”?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I will not cope.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I will not tell people, more importantly, to cope.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With anything.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full stop.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How dare do they tell rape survivors and survivors of domestic violence to cope?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How dare do they teach prison inmates to cope with the system of state violence and terror?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How dare do they tell veterans who lost everything fighting for the military-industrial complex and the idol of patriotism, came home like a walking corpse, to cope?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By telling people to cope, they are giving a free pass to the systemic oppression and telling people not to question the root causes of why tragedies happen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Such as,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;male violence&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;war on drugs&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;war on terrorism&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;austerity politics&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;land speculators and hoarders&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;stock speculators&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;homophobia&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;classism&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;ableism&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Republican Party&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Democratic Party&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;police state&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;institutional racism and xenophobia&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;the economic policy that does not serve the people&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;environmental devastations&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;and they shift the responsibilities on those who are victimized by the unjust system and its institutions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Who made the world such a difficult place to live?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We the humans, not some kind of monsters or robots. Not even God.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gaslighting under the guise of psychobabble and therapy is still gaslighting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The same &lt;i&gt;homo sapiens&lt;/i&gt;, therefore, can undo all the damages by questioning the assumptions and established rules, to make the world a place where no one will be told to cope with anything.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Aug. 23, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350658861</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350658861</guid><pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 00:04:10 -0800</pubDate><category>politics</category><category>psychology</category><category>systemic oppression</category><category>ableism</category><category>anti-oppression</category></item><item><title>Perpetual maidenhood: carving out a queer spiritual space in the world of heteronormative feminine spirituality</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1030" data-orig-width="685"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/8624f40ca0aae3b3875db4026a08de56/tumblr_inline_p0oosd37gD1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="1030" data-orig-width="685"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Queer women and non-binary individuals occupy an awkward place within the feminist spirituality movement. While many non-heterosexual women are happy with neo-pagan communities that often equate the female reproductive capacity with Goddess, this has had an unintended consequence of alienating those who do not conform to a heterosexist and patriarchal expectation of “femininity” and “female sexuality” that serve men.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many women’s spirituality communities have long adhered to the &lt;a href="https://medium.com/the-contemporary-priestess/divine-feminine-is-sexist-e88e70d9a8b2"&gt;idea of “Triple Goddess,”&lt;/a&gt; which is believed to represent “three phases” of women’s lives — maiden, mother, and crone. In this scheme of things, Goddess is almost always addressed as “Mother,” perhaps in reaction to the Judeo-Christian tradition of calling its deity “Father God.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are several problems with this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, if motherhood is equated with the idealized state of “Goddess-ness,” then it leaves out those who choose not to become a mother. This seems rather chauvinistic: women aren’t really women unless they make babies?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, while cronehood is generally respected in such communities (and some of them even have a “crone council”!), this still seems ageist. While the mainstream culture venerates youth and denigrates the elderly, relegating a post-menopausal woman into a venerated-yet-segregated subcommunity is still a symptom of a culture that divides people merely based on chronological age and physical signs of aging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Third, the entire concept of &lt;a href="https://feminismandreligion.com/2014/12/07/an-archaic-trinity-of-goddesses-not-necessarily-by-barbara-ardinger/"&gt;“Triple Goddess” was an invention of Robert Graves and did not exist until the mid-20th century&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fourth, the traditional connotation around “maidenhood” revolves also around “innocence” (as in denial of sexuality) and an implicit social pressure to “grow up,” get wiser&lt;g class="gr_ gr_40 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation replaceWithoutSep" id="40" data-gr-id="40"&gt;,&lt;/g&gt; and get married to a man.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All these are problematic if any Goddess-centric community seeks to be more inclusive of queer and non-binary femmes who do not conform with the hidden heterosexist norms, as well as those whose sexuality does not revolve around childbirth, heterosexual intercourse, and monogamous marriage and family.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How can we create a space for queer women and non-binary femmes?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One feasible solution is to reclaim the idea of maidenhood and turn it on its head. Instead of the patriarchal expectations of maidenhood, we could draw inspirations from Artemis or Diana (if you have watched the movie Wonder Woman, you get the idea), or maybe Freya.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://lasarafirefoxallen.com"&gt;Lasara Firefox Allen&lt;/a&gt;, in her book, &lt;a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/945072613"&gt;Jailbreaking the Goddess&lt;/a&gt;, deconstructs the concept of “Triple Goddess” and proposes a five-fold model in its place. In this scheme, &lt;a href="https://katelynnnorton.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/jailbreaking-the-goddess-potens/"&gt;Potens&lt;/a&gt; is independent, fierce, and at the same time, fully embraces her sexuality and sensuality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too often, the queer community (especially those who are outside the idealized middle-class “gay and lesbian” couples you may see on advertisements — as if they are “just normal couples except they’re same-sex”), sexuality and identity are extremely difficult to navigate. In this age of identity politics and nearly limitless “gender identity” and “gender pronouns,” one’s sexual identity is often commodified as if it is a consumer product anyone can buy and switch at will— yet, a true sense of authenticity is hard to come by. Even though the mainstream society views queer people as “over-sexualized” individuals who are only interested in sex, the truth is that they struggle not only with sexual identity, but also with self-image, body acceptance, and relationship.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To this end, it is critical to carve out a space for queer femmes and non-binary folks in the world of feminist spirituality and articulate a new vision for &lt;g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="39" data-gr-id="39"&gt;thealogy&lt;/g&gt; that is inclusive — yet, without doing injustice to or de-centering common female concerns in feminism (after all, females do not cease to experience menstruation for instance just because they are not heterosexual or no longer identify as a woman).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is a challenging task ahead, but an idea of “eternal maidenhood” as a vocation for queer and non-binary femmes within the religious feminism can point to a promising direction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My vision is &lt;g class="gr_ gr_41 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="41" data-gr-id="41"&gt;ultimately&lt;/g&gt; to create a space that celebrates and honors those who are called by Goddess to her path but may not feel at home with the common “Divine Feminine” movement, not only the queer and non-binary femmes but also those who are polyamorous and/or pansexual.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on Aug. 4, 2017.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Image credit: &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_Diana#/media/File:Jules_Joseph_Lefebvre_-_Diana,_Chasseresse.jpg"&gt;Diana&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/i&gt;
  14. Size: 33&amp;quot; x 22&amp;quot;. Painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre. Provenance Hung in
  15. Mr. Buechner’s office in Corning, NY. The Schweitzer Gallery, NYC, 1974.
  16. The Thomas Buechner Estate, former director of the Brooklyn Museum and
  17. founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass. Sold at auction in
  18. 2012. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350570151</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350570151</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:59:43 -0800</pubDate><category>lgbtq</category><category>feminist spirituality</category><category>spirituality and women</category><category>women's spirituality</category><category>non-binary</category><category>queer theory</category></item><item><title>Welcome to the Contemporary Priestess! (Redux)</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1754ceb8ab2b27f073326c33d502dcea/tumblr_inline_p0ooo1XeiD1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hello!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You have perhaps wandered into this corner of the Tumblr blogosphere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;A Contemporary Priestess&lt;/i&gt; blog is unlike any other Goddess spirituality blogs. To help readers understand what this is about, I’d like to give a quick introduction.&lt;a href="http://contemporarypriestess.limeadestandworks.com"&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://contemporarypriestess.limeadestandworks.com"&gt;Contemporary Priestess&lt;/a&gt; is a &lt;g class="gr_ gr_38 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="38" data-gr-id="38"&gt;ministries-related&lt;/g&gt; servicemark used by Willow, who is a licensed priestess in affiliation with Belladonna Sanctuary, an ecofeminist pagan religious organization that was founded in Berkeley, California (and now is based in North Portland, Oregon).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, my vocation and approach to priestesshood differ from the paths of most neo-pagan and Wiccan priestesses. For one thing, my ministries are largely educational in nature and are less focused on rituals or emotionally-driven spiritual experiences. I value sound scholarship as someone who is trained in theology, and my vision is to be the “Jesuit” of the Goddess religion (for the lack of any better analogy!). Like Jesuits, I am focused on scholarship, education, social justice, cross-cultural studies, and spiritual directions — but not so much on pietism, esoteric experiences, or ritual observances.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another unique feature of this blog is my New Thought influenced take on Goddess spirituality (and conversely, a religious feminist take on New Thought teachings). While the New Thought movement teaches that it honors all paths to the Divine, because of its cultural and historical background, most New Thought teachings heavily rely on the language and cultural trapping of Christianity. But we also know that other forms of adaptations are possible: for example, Seicho-no-ie is a Japanese New Thought organization with a large membership, that successfully contextualized New Thought teachings into the language and observances of Shinto and Buddhism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is also worth noting that New Thought churches were &lt;a href="http://www.christinehoffkraemer.com/femrel.html"&gt;largely founded under the female leadership&lt;/a&gt; and were among the first to ordain women at all levels of ecclesiastical leadership. &lt;a href="http://scienceofmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/SoM_Sept2015_Horowitz_feature.pdf"&gt;Many early New Thought leaders also participated&lt;/a&gt; in the Women’s Suffrage movement and other feminist causes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To this end, I draw also from &lt;a href="https://mega.nz/#!j4ZAEKZR!AtuTnY1GTR6HsuuYNSf_ES30iqI7Iqw3eIuN5UWeDKc"&gt;The Clear Recital&lt;/a&gt;, a collection of sacred texts that originated in the 1970s England and was originally circulated by a lesbian separatist commune. While this book has been used by a number of sects over time with varied interpretations, I have come to believe that a careful reading of these scriptures points to fundamental teachings that share common roots with New Thought churches.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is not to say I endorse, or am affiliated with, any other religious sects or intentional communities that profess to follow the teachings of The Clear Recital. Many of these organizations and people espouse a &lt;g class="gr_ gr_51 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="51" data-gr-id="51"&gt;highly&lt;/g&gt; misogynist view of womanhood (which they falsely call “feminine essentialism”) and a heteronormative and stereotypical idea of “femininity.” I do not advocate for their erroneous teachings and observances.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One more thing: You will see from time to time references to Artemis. This is not because I espouse polytheism or an imagined “reconstruction” of ancient Greek religion, but it is because the symbolism of Artemis captures a kind of Goddess imagery that I can relate to the most. I reject the &lt;a href="https://medium.com/the-contemporary-priestess/divine-feminine-is-sexist-e88e70d9a8b2"&gt;sexist, ageist, and heteronormative&lt;/a&gt; idea of triple Goddess (“Maiden, Mother, and Crone”) that was &lt;a href="https://feminismandreligion.com/2014/12/07/an-archaic-trinity-of-goddesses-not-necessarily-by-barbara-ardinger/"&gt;invented by a man named Robert Graves in 1948&lt;/a&gt;. Rather, like &lt;a href="http://lasarafirefoxallen.com/jailbreaking-the-goddess-a-radical-revisioning-of-feminist-spirituality-book-launch/which-goddess-are-you/"&gt;Lasara Firefox Allen&lt;/a&gt;, I favor a model that does not reduce females to mere reproductive functions. I also find that the imagery of Artemis, being free of patriarchal gender norms, is an apt “eternal maiden” Goddess metaphor for queer femmes and non-binary folks. Beyond that, I believe that there &lt;g class="gr_ gr_54 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="54" data-gr-id="54"&gt;is&lt;/g&gt; only one power and presence in this universe, which may be called Goddess, God, Divine Presence, or whatever depending on one’s culture and language.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to contact me for prayer, spiritual direction, or anything else, feel free to keep in touch on &lt;a href="https://t.me/salixlucida"&gt;Telegram&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="39" data-gr-id="39"&gt;salixlucida&lt;/g&gt;) or on &lt;a href="http://www.xmpp.org"&gt;XMPP&lt;/a&gt; (willow@securejabber.me).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on July 30, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350519421</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350519421</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:56:52 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>I am an answer to someone’s prayer today.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="394" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/a13aa92875ebe3c39f749275a13f9cf6/tumblr_inline_p0ooksYrf31v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="394" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;“I am an answer to someone’s prayer today.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I begin every day with this affirmation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too often we are too self-absorbed. Sadly, our culture even abuses religion and spirituality for mere self-realization and fulfillment of our own desires. We might pray for our own needs and even ask others to pray for us, but it is equally important to acknowledge the part we play in the grand cosmic scheme of things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every person is a unique and necessary expression of Goddess. She manifests and expresses herself by means of you and me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The question, therefore, should be: how can I become an answer to somebody’s prayer every day?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is powerful to know that as we unite ourselves with the divine order, right actions emerge and our actions align with the faith and prayers of others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It may not be anything dramatic. It may not even be something you do deliberately. But in our everyday lives, know that even a seemingly minor and mundane activity can be sanctified for the divine purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;“She that liveth wholly with her Lady is the servant of all the world; no &lt;g class="gr_ gr_27 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="27" data-gr-id="27"&gt;labour&lt;/g&gt; is so great as this, nor so &lt;g class="gr_ gr_26 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="26" data-gr-id="26"&gt;greatly&lt;/g&gt; to be &lt;g class="gr_ gr_28 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="28" data-gr-id="28"&gt;honoured&lt;/g&gt;.” — The Clear Recital.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on July 30, 2017.) &lt;i&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350475626</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350475626</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:54:28 -0800</pubDate><category>prayer</category><category>affirmative prayer</category><category>daily affirmations</category><category>new thought</category><category>spiritual practice</category></item><item><title>When ‘positive spirituality’ becomes weaponized</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="559" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/fee58516e0995183c70a7d918dedb7f6/tumblr_inline_p0oodxLQT01v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="559" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Often people discover the New Thought movement through the writings of various New Age motivational teachers or through books on “law of attraction” and “prosperity mindset.” As New Thought churches rely rather heavily on them for outreach and congregational growth, for too long they have overlooked the glaring errors and misunderstandings in those popular talks, books, and movies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Among others, one of the most &lt;a href="https://medium.com/@NewThought.info/new-thought-yesterday-new-thought-now-9577391697f7"&gt;widespread errors&lt;/a&gt; is that one could free themselves from all limitations by merely getting rid of a “victim mentality.” This is a popular trope often spoken by motivational speakers, personal coaches, and pseudo-spiritual folks, perhaps with a genuinely good intention, but it is nevertheless a dangerous error rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the New Thought &lt;g class="gr_ gr_39 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="39" data-gr-id="39"&gt;theo&lt;/g&gt;/&lt;g class="gr_ gr_38 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="38" data-gr-id="38"&gt;thealogy&lt;/g&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The world would be a far better place if simply everyone could deny a “victim mentality” and fool themselves into thinking that there is no such thing as a victim.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But in reality, victims do indeed exist in this imperfect world. Positive thinking does not eradicate systemic violence in our society, nor does it destroy social, economic, and political oppression overnight. The only thing it does is to help change individual attitudes in spite of victimization. But you cannot force that on others, and it’s immoral and cruel to tell them to just forget “victim mentality” and move on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To say that there are no victims implies two things:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;It is wrong for people who suffer from violence and oppression (and other people’s misdeeds) to even acknowledge suffering. This logically leads to &lt;a href="https://cosmictwist.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/victim-blaming-and-the-new-age-movement-thoughts-on-the-albany-rose-video/"&gt;victim-blaming&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/power-in-relationships/200905/are-you-being-gaslighted"&gt;gaslighting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;It is okay for someone to look after their own selfish interests and screw others because nobody can be victimized. Often those who are not members of &lt;a href="http://www.unity.org"&gt;Unity&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.csl.org"&gt;CSL&lt;/a&gt;, who lack the basic understandings of the New Thought teachings, misappropriate and abuse the New Thought beliefs to exalt their own self and self-centered desires. By saying that there is no such thing as a victim, they can morally and ethically justify their selfishness as a virtue, in a way very similar to Ayn Rand and her cultists. It disturbs me very much when many well-intentioned people, who also tend to be politically left-of-center, buy into this erroneous belief.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;In one of the New Thought classics, &lt;a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/957700925"&gt;The Doors of Everything&lt;/a&gt;, Ruby Nelson writes of “&lt;g class="gr_ gr_37 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="37" data-gr-id="37"&gt;sub-creations&lt;/g&gt;.” The sub-creations are products of collective human behaviors which lead to sufferings — and for which humans are solely responsible.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“For
  19. mind and heart have always worked together to form a powerful force.
  20. When thought combines with feeling, activity is set in motion, things
  21. are brought about. The more intense the feeling, the greater is its
  22. active force. It is for this one reason, simple though it may sound,
  23. that many kinds of troubles with plague the world have been brought into
  24. existence… It is because of this misuse of thought and feeling that…
  25. planet earth has been perverted… This superimposed web of destructive
  26. forces is merely the sub-creation of the surface mind, the
  27. strictly-human side of mind which evolved away from the [Divine]
  28. consciousness… To call the web of human sub-creation ‘appearances’ is
  29. not to say that it is imaginary. Actually, it is real,
  30. painfully — sometimes inhumanly — real and active.”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;New Thought did not start out as a religion of the rich and powerful to justify their greed and worship of self. For example, &lt;a href="http://www.unity.org"&gt;Unity&lt;/a&gt; was started by a former salesman Charles Fillmore who failed in business and his wife Myrtle Fillmore who suffered a series of devastating illnesses. Ernest Holmes, the founder of what is today known as the &lt;a href="http://csl.org/"&gt;Centers for Spiritual Living (CSL)&lt;/a&gt;, was a poor student from an economically impoverished background who had to work retail jobs to pay his way through a ministry school. In the early history of the New Thought movement, most of its teachers and authors were women, who did not enjoy the level of equality and economic power that we now take for granted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In recent years, both Unity and CSL — two of the major New Thought denominations — are refocusing their teachings to help their members evolve beyond “prosperity” and self-actualization, toward social justice and “spiritual activism.” Indeed, the slogan of CSL today is &lt;a href="http://cslgh.com/aworldthatworksforeveryone-centers-for-spiritual-living-conference/"&gt;“for a world that works for everyone.”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weaponizing a spiritual or religious language — regardless of whichever the path you may be following — to demean others is wrong. Even the best of wisdom and truth can be abused and misused that way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on June 14, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350403086</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350403086</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:50:35 -0800</pubDate><category>spirituality</category><category>new thought</category><category>positive thinking</category><category>gaslighting</category><category>victim-blaming</category><category>spiritual abuse</category><category>religious abuse</category></item><item><title>Why non-oppressive language matters</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/d891e4354ea66fac02196f8f22fd5f45/tumblr_inline_p0oo89qwlt1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="533" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Five years ago I played a very active part in social justice activism. I had a major disillusionment and ultimately, a fallout with the activists because of what I saw as ridiculous policing of language over a trivial choice of words, such as “gender pronouns.” I saw how minor squabbles over what was acceptable speech and what was oppressive became a distraction from the real issues that we were fighting for.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then Trump happened in the fall of 2016. Weeks leading up to the election and weeks thereafter, there were reports of hate crimes allegedly committed by the emboldened alt-right and Trump voters (though, some of such incidents turned out to be hoaxes).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pundits argued over why Trump won. Many said it was because of identity politics and political correctness leading the traditionally Democratic voters — such as the white working-class union members — to a major disappointment, prompting them to choose Donald Trump as a champion for the working-class.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While there is a lot of truth to this analysis, I also believe that in this age of Trump we need to practice non-oppressive language more than ever.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, what many Americans forget is that words mean something and ideas have consequences. This is evident in the way average Americans carry their conversations: they are often filling the air with words before pausing and thinking about the implications of what they say, even by using meaningless words and vocalizations. Americans like to waste words in vain.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to accepted theories of linguistics and sociology, language shapes one’s reality. Sociologist &lt;a href="https://fireofnorea.com/2015/06/12/pierre-bourdieu-on-how-language-shapes-reality/"&gt;Pierre Bourdieu&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/sapir.cfm"&gt;linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf&lt;/a&gt; essentially say the same thing here. According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, human thoughts and behaviors are guided by the language. This is why people of two different linguistic groups behave and perceive the world very differently even if they may share similar histories and racial backgrounds. Bourdieu posits that social institutions often exert control over discourse and thoughts by attempting to control the language — particularly, through choice and definitions of words. One example would be the use of the term &lt;a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/4/drop_the_i_word_in_victory"&gt;“illegal alien” versus “undocumented (or irregular) immigrant.”&lt;/a&gt; Political institutions and their affiliated media have constantly fought over these words. And you can pretty much tell anyone’s opinions on immigration issues by looking at their choices of words. Another contemporary example is the treatment of the Black Lives Matter movement by the pro-Trump talking heads such as Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and David Clarke: to them, BLM is not activists but “thugs.” By controlling the words that describe BLM, they can control the public attitudes and in return, political discourse. Ultimately, this leads to legislation and administrative policy that would be hostile to African-Americans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Historically, the &lt;i&gt;Associated Press Stylebook&lt;/i&gt; has served as a barometer of a sort when it comes to using of words referring to groups of people. One notable example is the treatment of trans people by the AP Stylebook. Until the turn of the 21st century, the stylebook called for the use of pronouns corresponding with one’s birth sex until “sex changes” (the actual AP Stylebook entry heading at the time) took place. During the previous decade, this was amended to read: “Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics (by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery) of the opposite sex and present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.” This year, the Associated Press officially added &lt;a href="http://www.newsnetnebraska.org/2017/04/15/ap-stylebook-adds-singular-they-to-accommodate-transgender-gender-neutral-community/"&gt;“they” as a non-binary or gender-neutral singular personal pronoun&lt;/a&gt; in recognition of the current social trend.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While it is tempting to laugh all this off as “political correctness” to not offend “special snowflakes” who cannot apparently handle the freedom of speech, the truth is it’s a lot more serious.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Using a non-oppressive language has little to do with civility or “being polite” but has everything to do with whether we as people and society allow certain kinds of harmful and inflammatory rhetoric against certain people — and thus tolerating oppressive and violent treatment against them whether by the popular culture, by the governmental institutions, or by the economic institutions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As long as we carelessly throw around words like “mental case” and “retard” we dehumanize (even unintentionally, as repeated uses of words ultimately leave mental imprints on the way how we think and behave) those who are neurodivergent, developmentally disabled or experience mental illnesses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As long as we make jokes about someone being a “bum” (even if we aren’t referring to anyone who is actually experiencing homelessness) we express our assent to the systemic violence waged daily against those who, due to extreme poverty or lack of social support, live without homes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As long as we allow our children to insult their classmates by saying “it’s so gay” or “fag,” we are teaching the next generation to continue the legacy of homophobia and gender-based oppression.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Second, words are powerful because our thoughts are powerful and words power our thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I used to speak ill of myself, perhaps because of the cultural influence from my Japanese father, or perhaps because of my perpetual inferiority complex and sense of inadequacy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Having spent so many years homeless and feeling like a useless reject only exacerbated this problem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then I encountered teachings of the &lt;a href="http://www.unity.org"&gt;Unity&lt;/a&gt; church and read through books written by its historical and modern teachers, including Eric Butterworth, Ellen Debenport, Emilie Cady, Emma Curtis Hopkins, and of course Charles and Myrtle Fillmore. There I learned that the foundation of what we call “prayer” is really about retraining our minds away from misguided and self-harming words and thoughts (a bit like learning how to hack our brains in order to remove and rewrite malicious codes). I stopped badmouthing myself even in private. Speaking ill of myself is not the same as humility, nor is it about merely being tough on myself, nor is it a constructive form of self-criticism. Rather, in so doing I constructed a certain worldview in which I was not only bad but also a world in which everybody is evil and was driven by their own selfish agenda trying to harm others in order to get ahead. It wasn’t healthy for me, nor was for others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Third, it is also about our own personal integrity and trust. If you are around your friend and all that you say is how “fucked up” someone is or how “retarded” they are (behind their backs!) you are undermining your own ethical integrity and trust. How would you expect your friend to believe that you aren’t talking bad about them when you are someplace else with somebody else? If you want to be seen as trustworthy, stop badmouthing anybody, period.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Throughout the modern history, words have changed and evolved to reflect the growing knowledge. A century ago, gay folks were called “inverted” because the medical experts of the time believed that homosexuality was caused by a brain that was inverted (from male to female). Half a century ago, developmentally disabled children were called “retarded” because the scientific understanding of the time was that they were merely being “slow” to grow up. Even the Trump Republicans no longer publicly use the words such as “niggers,” “ragheads,” and “spicks” — and know that consequences for using such words would be swift and serious (the Internet trolls use them because they think they are free of consequences, in the safety of anonymity).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This isn’t about free speech nor is it about “telling it as it is.” If anyone has legitimate ideas and opinions on any topic, the marketplace of ideas is still open and they can discuss what they would — and that does not require the use of oppressive words. In fact, oppressive and dehumanizing words simply dilute and delegitimize their messages instead.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on May 19, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350356221</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350356221</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:48:09 -0800</pubDate><category>political correctness</category><category>non-oppressive language</category><category>anti-oppression</category><category>linguistics</category><category>social justice</category><category>slur</category></item><item><title>Questioning cultural appropriations in neo-pagan communities.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="497" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/7a29c702c05b091bd1c30b643a263a9f/tumblr_inline_p0oo47d7h21v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="497" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neo-paganism is not a monolith. At the same time, it also lacks centralized authorities to standardize and regulate its practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many solitary and group-based neo-pagans consider themselves as “eclectic” or simply pick-and-choose rituals, ritual tools, and deities from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In North America, most neo-pagans are white and of European ancestry. Yet, many rituals and books used by them inappropriately misappropriate cultural heritage of other cultures, namely of the people of color.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many neo-pagan rituals start with smudging and calling of directions, both stolen from First-Nation Americans. I have even seen women show up at rituals wearing a saree, make sounds with a Tibetan Buddhist metal bowl, and paint henna on their hands as part of their ritual. During Samhain season, it is common to see more Mexican cultural elements than Irish ones. They often choose to “work with” a certain goddess or goddesses for a ritual — which frequently includes deities such as Kali Ma, Guanyin, Amaterasu-o-&lt;g class="gr_ gr_30 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="30" data-gr-id="30"&gt;mikami&lt;/g&gt;, Our Lady of Guadalupe (a Mexican aboriginal goddess before she was appropriated by the Roman Catholic Church) or even Oshun. Never mind most of them know very little about Hinduism or Buddhism (and how misogynist they could be); nor do they understand how the worship of Amaterasu-o-&lt;g class="gr_ gr_31 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="31" data-gr-id="31"&gt;mikami&lt;/g&gt; was closely tied to Japanese imperialism and genocide. Oshun is an African and Afro-Caribbean goddess that came with enslaved Africans to the Caribbean islands and to the American South.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Frankly, I do not understand why they feel any need for stealing deities and rituals from cultures they have nothing to do with (and adapt them in such a way that has absolutely nothing to do with traditional observances in their proper national and ethnic contexts).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a wealth of deities, mythos, and heritage within European cultures: Baltic, Irish, Teutonic, and Nordic to say the least, plus Greek and Roman. White neo-pagans ought to limit themselves to European deities and rites. In particular, the Greco-Roman mythologies have a universal appeal because, until a few decades ago, every educated person around the world learned at least something about the Greek and Roman mythologies as part of the history of world’s greatest civilizations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is nothing wrong about European-Americans to feel proud of their own ancestry and heritage as long as they afford the same respect to other cultures. What is wrong, however, is to hide their sense of “white guilt” by pretending to be “multicultural” but in reality, stealing from traditions of other ethnic groups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The neo-pagan community must engage in honest conversations on the topic of cultural appropriation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Feb. 25, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350289566</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350289566</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:44:37 -0800</pubDate><category>racism</category><category>cultural appropriation</category><category>paganism</category><category>wicca</category><category>religion</category><category>spirituality and women</category><category>women's spirituality</category></item><item><title>Why I quit following my heart.</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="800" data-orig-height="500" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/cd3cc16bdec7217b2b5b9bbb0d830532/tumblr_inline_p0onxwfAOv1v2bwu7_540.jpg" alt="image" data-orig-width="800" data-orig-height="500"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;The baby-boomers created a culture that tells us to just “follow your heart.” Do whatever that makes you happy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As a Gen-Xer, I grew up with this mindset, with parents that were permissive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even these days, self-improvement and spirituality sections of bookstores and interwebs are full of messages like this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This culture of hedonism that glorifies self-centeredness — the progressives who place so much premium on feelings and the libertarian-leaning conservatives who worship Ayn Rand and her “virtue of selfishness” — led to the election of Donald J. Trump, the ultimate prototype par excellence of the selfish culture that dominates our world today. We deserved this. Trump’s campaign isn’t that much different from the selfie-generation ethos that drives the Millennials.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many people mislead others into choosing a career path that “follows one’s heart.” The deadly problem with this is that a genuine vocation must be something that is greater than one’s own self.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too often, “I’m just following my own heart” becomes a poor excuse for the lack of self-discipline and direction. Whenever one hits a difficult time, or things go bad, it is not the self that keeps the fire burning — it is always something that’s bigger than the self, be it called God, America, or family.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, &lt;a href="https://www.ashoka.org/en/focus/social-entrepreneurship"&gt;going into business&lt;/a&gt;, or choosing a holy vocation in the priesthood, enlisting in the armed forces, or attending a college all stemmed from one’s aspiration for serving something far greater than they are (like, “for God, King, and Country”). Today, it’s just a consumeristic choice made out of someone’s whim that could change anytime. Accordingly, they don’t develop any sense of loyalty, commitment, or steadfastness. Even career coaches these days tell folks to quit their jobs before you would regret not leaving that job sooner.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some younger people are obviously dissatisfied with this shallowness that pervades today’s culture. Some become radicalized and even aspire for martyrdom — perhaps one among many other reasons why so many American-born, American-grown youth are caught engaging in terrorist acts. In earlier generations, these kids joined religious cults. Either way, they were hungry for that which is bigger than who they were, to which they can dedicate their lives and energies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The culture that is alienated from its historical and traditional roots, from its spiritual and ethical underpinnings, cannot produce greatness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It takes far more than merely following my own heart to aspire to that greatness. Until we understand what we have done as a society to promote selfishness above all, we have no moral right to condemn Trump.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on Dec. 14, 2016.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-provider="youtube" data-orig-width="540" data-orig-height="304" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F6MBaFL7sCb8"&gt;&lt;iframe id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6MBaFL7sCb8?feature=oembed&amp;amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;amp;origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&amp;amp;wmode=opaque" allowfullscreen="" width="540" height="304" frameborder="0"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350232011</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350232011</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:41:30 -0800</pubDate><category>millennials</category><category>self-awareness</category><category>generation x</category><category>fleb</category><category>selfishness</category><category>cultural decay</category><category>hedonism</category><category>vocation</category></item><item><title>‘Divine feminine’ is sexist.</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="534" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/c6bff0845060902e4e1928dc303d999d/tumblr_inline_p0onuymkQt1v2bwu7_540.png" data-orig-height="534" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the bulk of the past 10 years, I was involved with the Goddess spirituality movement in various shapes. This was after my disillusion with sexism within the Christian church and my own discomfort with the idea that Christianity and Judaism portray their God as “the father.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I enrolled in a post-graduate program at a seminary majoring in feminist theology, to learn about this subject in a more systematic way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I realize that the Goddess spirituality movement developed hand in hand with the second-wave feminism. The early pioneers of feminist theology such as Mary Daly and Carol Christ were also radical feminists and had valid analysis and critique of patriarchal religions, primarily the Judeo-Christian traditions. Proposals for alternative institutions such as woman-church deconstructed the foundations of Christian ecclesiastical paradigm based on hierarchy and patriarchal theology. At the same time, lesbian separatist movement adopted Dianic Wicca as the de facto official religion and its rituals began to be an important part of the emerging women-only communities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the 1990s, aided by the mass-consumeristic promotion of New Age books and emergence of third-wave feminism, Goddess spirituality began to enter the mainstream progressive America along with an increased social acceptance of Neo-Paganism.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This has created a problem that probably was not foreseen by the earlier generation. Just as third-wave feminism greatly shifted the definitions of feminism, the new iterations of Goddess movement — now adopting the phrase “Divine Feminine” — also began de-emphasizing the feminist analysis and praxis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The notion of “Divine Feminine” is fraught with problems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It reinforces the old gender stereotypes of how females are supposed to be feminine, and that Goddess is defined by patriarchally-constructed sex stereotypes of femininity such as compassion, empathy, and sensuality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Great many “Divine Feminine”-focused and “Red Tent” groups are organized and led by heterosexual or bisexual women who are blissfully uncritical of this, and instead of consciousness-raising and organizing, they favor activities that are not only sexist but also border on cultural appropriations (such as Native American-themed ritual circles, henna, belly dance). Even worse, some of these women insist that “Divine Feminine” must always be “balanced” by “Sacred Masculine” and that women exist to offer sexual pleasures to men (they tend to be also heavily into so-called “tantra,” which is another egregious form of cultural appropriation).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Divine Feminine” not only became highly sexist but also highly heteronormative. Queer women no longer feel home in many of these groups as conformity to sexist gender norms and heterosexist biases dominate these groups.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, the equation of “Divine Feminine” attributes with patriarchally-constructed gender stereotypes leads to reducing women to their reproductive capacity (The popular “triple-Goddess” of the maiden, mother, and crone in Neo-Paganism was an invention of a man named Robert Graves) and also erases neurodiversity and experiences of women who survived psychological traumas. They should not be criticized for not expressing “feminine” characteristics such as empathy and friendliness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The hijacking of the Goddess movement by anti-feminist actors has made it irrelevant and powerless in the fight against misogyny and patriarchy. Obviously, something needs to change.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://lasarafirefoxallen.com/"&gt;Lasara Firefox Allen&lt;/a&gt;’s recent book, &lt;a href="http://www.addall.com/New/BestSeller.cgi?isbn=0738747971&amp;amp;dispCurr=USD"&gt;Jailbreaking the Goddess&lt;/a&gt;, proposes several paths forward to bring feminist analysis back into the Goddess movement. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about it and read through it, as Lasara was in the past (in the early 2000s) better known as a sex teacher. The book touches important topics such as avoiding cultural appropriation and heterosexism and separating Goddess spirituality from the idea of womanhood as a baby-maker.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The construct of “Divine Feminine” is a deification of the feminine stereotypes females are socially pressured into conforming. Instead of fighting patriarchal social norms, it merely validates them and gives them an aura of divinity. “Mother God” is as much a problem as “Father God” in this regard, as the very idea of mothering is so deeply entwined with misogynist, heteronormative, ableist expectations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Dec. 10, 2016.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;Photo credit: &lt;a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romuvan_ceremony_%282%29.PNG"&gt;Wikimedia Commons&lt;/a&gt;, Creative Commons Public License 2.0 BY&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350171706</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350171706</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:38:20 -0800</pubDate><category>feminism</category><category>goddess</category><category>spirituality and women</category><category>women's spirituality</category><category>paganism</category><category>divine feminine</category></item><item><title>Anxious America: let’s build a spiritual ‘firewall’ against national anxiety</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1440" data-orig-width="1920"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/7e02a754726ed32cfb088284255f03bc/tumblr_inline_p0onm7Dcaq1v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="1440" data-orig-width="1920"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;What characterizes the 2016 presidential election cycle in the United States is a profound sense of national anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whether you are voting for Hillary Clinton or supporting Donald Trump, or for any of the minor candidates, the overriding narratives from all sides have been those of doom and gloom: an imagined specter of a catastrophe should your opponent wins the election.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans offered a tangible message of hope. If Barack Obama in 2008 rode his way into the White House with the words “Hope” and “Change,” whoever who wins the election this Tuesday will do so because the voting public chose her or him as the least of two evils: the “un-Trump” versus “un-Hillary.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, if you perceive yourself to be a member of a disempowered class — ethnic minorities, immigrants, working class, LGBTQ, or whatnot — this election no doubt has left you feeling utterly powerless, as if some “silent majority” of voters in a state you may not even live in will be putting your human rights to their popular vote, maybe on a whim, misinformation, or lies. Democracy can be hostile to the marginalized classes of people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this time of national anxiety, so many of us are obsessively fixated on the latest news, latest polls, and whether there are another “leaks” and “scandals.” But let’s call this for all what it is: a mass anxiety that afflicts the entire nation of the United States of America (and most likely, many other nations of the world).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The news media outlets have turned this election into a real-time game of political football, aided by social media. It is to their economic interest that they stir up and exacerbate anxieties among the viewers until the last minute, in order to increase rating and more importantly, to profit from multi-million-dollar ad buys from these campaigns and super PACs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now, as helpful as polls may be to the campaign strategists and canvassers, they are far from conclusive and certainly, they do not determine the final outcome. Pollsters may be polling every day, but there will be only one ballot. Ultimately, no one for certain knows the results until well after November 8.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What then, should we do now?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This election cycle, as I noted earlier, has been that of anxiety and fear.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The metaphysical law of the universe, as it has been often said, is that on which we focus in our minds the most, becomes the reality for us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too much of our minds have been occupied by the thought of our “opponent,” whichever that may be, depending on your political persuasion. Very little of our attention has been on what kind of America we want, and what kind of world we want. This is exemplified by the latest advertising surge by both Clinton and Trump campaigns — negative messages focused entirely on how unfit and criminal their opponent is.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are like me, it would be a lie if I don’t worry at all. A slight change in polling figures causes an increased stress level. This is the zeitgeist of the day: a nation overwhelmed by worry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Regardless of your religious or spiritual persuasion, please hear me out for a moment. I try to be as nonsectarian as possible here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most Americans pray or send good thoughts, or generate good ju-ju. In fact, among the world’s most developed nations, the United States has consistently been the most religious country. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in some form of deity or higher power.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prayer isn’t about convincing “God” (I’m going to use this word for now, for the sake of wide acceptance and clarity) to change the divine will or do something for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If there’s anything, prayer is about changing your mind. After all, the divine will is and has always been, the ultimate good. There is no evil in God, and God’s will for us is that every one of us lives to our highest potentials of happiness, wholeness, and strength. So to be anything less than that would be against the divine will.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a sense, prayer as a “petitioning God,” or “speaking to God,” is an analogy written in the language people understood. A more apt analogy for today is that by intentionally uniting our thoughts with the divine will (the biblical Koine Greek word that is translated as “to confess” literally means “to speak the same”) we reprogram — or “hack” — our minds into getting ourselves out of God’s way of healing our lives and restoring this world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fear, worry, and anxiety are all forms of faith: the faith in the “worst-case scenario.” When we fear we visualize an imaginary scenario (however vague that may be) of disaster and catastrophe. When we worry, we are actually trying to micromanage the universe. It is simply a reactive mental response to the fear of losing control.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am calling today all people of good will and all faiths, of all political persuasions and affiliations, and of all U.S. states and territories as well as everywhere else, to devote at least 30 minutes each day this weekend to intentionally let go of that anxiety and pray for an America where the higher good serves all people, an America where everyone is happy and prosperous, and an America where all forms of violence become history.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This isn’t about praying for a victory of your favorite candidate, or worse, a defeat of the candidate you so loathe and detest. Winning an election by a candidate is merely a path toward the ultimate goal, not the goal itself. In deliberately shifting our collective spiritual and mental focus on something higher than the election, we elevate the spiritual/metaphysical/mental airspace of this country that is overwhelmed by an overreaching national anxiety.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is one thing I would like to ask you, whether you are an evangelical, a Catholic, a Muslim, a Jew, a pagan, or even if you don’t profess any specific religious creed. Do it for the sake of your own mental well-being, and do it for the sake of the country. And please feel free to disseminate this article by however means you see fit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And yes, if you are a U.S. citizen and a registered voter, please vote.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on Nov. 5, 2016.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350030946</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168350030946</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:30:48 -0800</pubDate><category>anxiety</category><category>elections</category><category>prayer</category><category>new thought</category><category>politics</category></item><item><title>Problematic expressions I hear too often</title><description>&lt;figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="500" data-orig-width="800"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/2a966ebcc15b7ff90c4cc63b3caeec99/tumblr_inline_p0onfyx8e81v2bwu7_540.jpg" data-orig-height="500" data-orig-width="800"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are three sayings that are thrown around that make me cringe — almost invariably people who can say these things are in an economically or socially privileged position and subconsciously use these weaponized words that inadvertently hurt people who are less privileged.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;“You’ve got to work on yourself.”&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I was in elementary school, I was taught to be tough on myself but be gentle with others. If my memory is correct, this came from Confucius — be as hard as a diamond inside, yet be soft outside. It is entirely up to you to “work on yourself.” If you do, more power to you! The problem with this “self-improvement culture” (and related niche called “human potential movement”) is that in one’s quest for “working on oneself” people also tend to pass judgment on others using the same (often impossible and unrealistic) standards, not realizing that they know little about other people’s situations and they never had walked a mile in other people’s shoes. Followers of human potential and self-improvement subcultures, therefore, insinuate that anyone who does not follow their path is some kind of defective human being. Again, if you work on yourself, go for it; don’t tell others to do it — in fact, if you had really worked on yourself there would be no need for telling others what to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;“We’ve got to set boundaries.”&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Boundaries” (or “healthy boundaries”) is a psychobabble born from therapy culture, unique to urban/suburban North America where society tends to be highly compartmentalized. In the professional arena, they serve to insulate the professionals from getting overly involved in the lives of their coworkers, clients, or customers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But stop for a moment and take a look at this closely: those who get to “set boundaries” are almost always those who possess more power and privilege over the other party. The poor, the vulnerable, the dispossessed, do not have the same ability or luxury to set boundaries. Whereas a social worker may “set boundaries” by limiting client contact to place and time of her own choosing, her clients most likely have little or no choice over these. It is, thus in practice, purely a power play.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Often people feel the need for “boundary-setting” out of fear that those who are poorer or more vulnerable might take them “out to the cleaners.” In other words, it is primarily motivated by the privileged individuals’ fear of who possess less, much like the xenophobes’ cries for building walls on the Mexican borders (the U.S.) or keeping African refugees away (Europe).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Poor people are not stupid and they see through this power play and feel that they are treated like suspect subhumans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;“You’ve got to overcome victim mentality.”&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes, you’ve heard this. Motivational speakers and personal coaches are fond of saying this. Nobody wants to be around people who go on endlessly whining about how so-and-so does this and that to them. I know words are powerful, and how your mind is the only thing that you have a total control over (generally speaking, for most high-functioning people; I acknowledge there are certain neurological and mental conditions that limit this ability). Personally, my life has significantly improved after I discovered &lt;a href="http://unity.org"&gt;Unity&lt;/a&gt; and began incorporating its religious teachings in my life. I know first hand the importance of well-disciplined words and thoughts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But here’s the fact: Victims do exist in this imperfect world. Because we humans tend to be ignorant of our full realities as individualized expressions of the divine nature (as we say in Unity) we err and make wrong behavioral choices, often harming others along the way. Some people abuse, rape, murder, steal from, manipulate, deceive, and destroy others (and themselves while at it!) and that means there are many hurt people. The last thing you should be saying to them is to insinuate that somehow it is their fault that they are victims. They need our love and compassion, as well as time and mental space to process their anger, pain, and grief on their own terms before they can explore that there are better options. Again, positive-sounding talk is being weaponized against people who lost so much and have very little.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These problematic expressions are examples of how seemingly innocuous phrases function often as weaponized tools of oppression to maintain privilege. It’s how you say it, and how you say these words without thinking.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Originally published on June 8, 2016.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349978361</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349978361</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:28:07 -0800</pubDate><category>life lessons</category><category>ableism</category><category>self-improvement</category><category>classism</category></item><item><title>Watch your language: my case against swearing</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="1920" data-orig-height="1424" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/a37ef66590633d1cd7b83627a7c1a0f7/tumblr_inline_p0on9re1ye1v2bwu7_540.jpg" alt="image" data-orig-width="1920" data-orig-height="1424"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recently I came across an article entitled, &lt;a href="http://www.providr.com/intelligent-people-stay-late-love-swearing/"&gt;“Psychologists explain why you should be friends with who swear a lot.”&lt;/a&gt; The article starts with this paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Growing up, we’re usually taught to refrain from swearing because it’s inappropriate and rude. There’s definitely a bit of a social stereotype in which those who swear are seen as uneducated, but according to a recent study, potty mouths might be a lot smarter than they were once perceived.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I went to a very progressive high school where freedom of speech and just about every type of leftist political causes were celebrated — this was in the early 1990s and we had a handful of gay and lesbian teachers, for instance — yet, the school also had a near-zero tolerance policy for cursing. If I said the “F” word twice, even if it was the unintentional slip, that would mean a trip to the Dean of Students, and I could possibly be expelled from the school on that very day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lately, I often encounter articles (many of them from a reputable publication) that appear to call for a greater social acceptance for obscenities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even myself, as I grew into adulthood, I used to “swear like a drunken bum” (that’s several steps higher than a drunken sailor!). Since popular culture now seems to make it more acceptable these days, cursing often is now seen as a sign of maturity and “strong personality,” or even worse, &lt;a href="http://www.providr.com/intelligent-people-stay-late-love-swearing/2/"&gt;personal authenticity&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If we look at the history, half a century ago, most religious teachings frowned upon swearing — even so-called &lt;a href="http://archive.is/nJZPz"&gt;“minced oaths”&lt;/a&gt; such as “gosh,” “shoot,” “golly,” or “fudge.” (“goodness gracious” and “for mercy’s sake” were also considered minced oaths.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This wasn’t purely out of politeness or civility. Traditional faiths understood the power of words.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the time, people understood that every word meant something and all ideas ultimately have a &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideas_Have_Consequences"&gt;consequence&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From a metaphysical point of view, words shape our thoughts and the thoughts, in turn, shape our reality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This means it is rather counterproductive to curse something or some situation that frustrates or angers us.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the common modern examples is the pandemic of road rage. Road rage has become a serious social problem over the last couple of decades, often resulting in acts of violence against a person or a vehicle. Road rage comes from situations that are out of anyone’s individual control such as traffic jams or poorly designed traffic signals. Yet, a driver who experiences a road rage takes their anger out to a driver of another vehicle or a pedestrian. Or, sometimes at traffic signs, construction workers, pedestrians, or even their own car.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Goddamn it!” “Motherfucker!” They let their frustrations out thinking that in the safety and privacy of their own vehicle, nobody hears.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But cursing a situation, another person, or a vehicle won’t be really solving any problem or making the situation any better, does it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If anything, experiences like that are largely framed by one’s own perception of reality. You could curse a traffic jam because it’s keeping you from getting home after a long day of work, or bless it because that means some extra “me time” and you can sing a song or listen to a podcast. It’s all about attitude.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And cursing the darkness only makes you feel more miserable and angry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Metaphysically, every word conveys a specific vibrational frequency and neural imprint. While &lt;a href="http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html"&gt;some people may go so far as to suggest&lt;/a&gt; that these vibrations literally affect the molecular structures, at the very least, habitual responses to frustrations by cursing train your brain to react in a destructive and self-defeating way every time you are faced with a difficulty. This closes your mind to creative imaginations, positive outlook, and resilient adaptations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even when everything around you seems out of control, you have a complete freedom and sovereignty over what to do in and with your mind. Ultimately, that’s the only freedom you have at all times.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is why I watch my own language and no longer use curse words. These days this sounds too conservative or counter-cultural — late-night comedians on TV are full of bleeps when they talk about American politics. Parents these days no longer discipline their teenage children when they use obscenities. But ultimately, these words are harmful if not just wasteful.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on Aug. 4, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349928516</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349928516</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:25:27 -0800</pubDate><category>language</category><category>metaphysics</category><category>positive thinking</category><category>psychology</category><category>anger management</category><category>new thought</category></item><item><title>I am the woo fighter.</title><description>&lt;figure data-orig-width="1920" data-orig-height="1080" class="tmblr-full"&gt;&lt;img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/62addc596642d261589eb88db591c0b0/tumblr_inline_p0on57VTyY1v2bwu7_540.jpg" alt="image" data-orig-width="1920" data-orig-height="1080"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;In both New Thought movement and in women’s spirituality subcultures, I witness too much &lt;a href="https://lippard.blogspot.in/2010/05/origin-of-term-woo.html"&gt;woo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Woo
  31. is a term for pseudoscientific explanations that share certain common
  32. characteristics, often being too good to be true (aside from being
  33. unscientific)… Woo is used to blind or distract an audience from a real
  34. explanation or to discourage people from delving deeper into the subject
  35. to find a more realistic explanation. (&lt;a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Woo"&gt;RationalWiki&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;In my earlier posts here, I have warned my readers of &lt;a href="https://medium.com/the-contemporary-priestess/when-positive-spirituality-becomes-weaponized-178d52efaa8f"&gt;classism and ableism presented under the guise of New Age spirituality and positive-thinking&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As I noted then, their woo effectively functions to gaslight victims of the unjust system and of violence, while upholding the supremacy of the privileged people’s perspectives over of those who are oppressed. Instead of delving deeper into the subject of patriarchy, kyriarchy, capitalism, and other institutional systems of society, their woo explains that victims allegedly chose to become victims because of their mindset or character defect. While positive thinking can greatly help shape attitudes and thus affect human behaviors in a more constructive way, in and of itself it’s not a magic thinking that will make victims into fictions and oppressions into a fantasy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href="https://www.truthunity.net/de/lessons/mark-hicks/background-of-new-thought/new-age"&gt;infestation of New Age philosophy&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://mortentolboll.weebly.com/the-ego-inflation-in-the-new-age-and-self-help-environment.html"&gt;grotesque distortions&lt;/a&gt; of the &lt;a href="https://medium.com/@NewThought.info/new-thought-yesterday-new-thought-now-9577391697f7"&gt;historical New Thought teachings&lt;/a&gt; within today’s New Thought centers and teachers is not a mere passing trend, but is rather a product of the commodification of New Thought churches into profit centers that peddle books, videos, and retreat tickets by self-appointed gurus who may be promoting certain aspects of New Thought but often without the requisite understanding of its historic and philosophical contexts, and often mixed with a number of questionable New Age elements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Likewise, today’s women’s spirituality industry is full of woo that generates millions of dollars in profits to those who sell that woo. This is a stark departure from the women’s spirituality and feminist theology movements of the 1970s that sought to undermine the predominant capitalist-patriarchal system. With the increased acceptance of non-Christian spirituality in the West, however, this became a new business opportunity. The self-appointed psychics, healers, authors, and other &lt;a href="https://summerinnanen.com/94/"&gt;Female Lifestyle Empowerment Business&lt;/a&gt; people prey on desperate people at difficult and challenging crossroads of life, tell them that they are somehow defective people in need for help (and this “help” means their products and services), offer them unqualified, pseudoscientific, and unethical “diagnosis” (despite most of them not possessing any license to practice medicine or clinical psychology) along with their silver-bullet lotions and potions (or their retreat programs or books or $500-a-session webinars, or whatever).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today, I declare myself to be a Woo Fighter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s time to bring back sanity, ethics, reason, and justice to spirituality that has morphed into “spiritual entrepreneurship.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In particular, I will target my righteous wrath toward:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who guilt-trip and shame their clients and prospects into buying their “spiritual” products that they can’t even afford.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who tell people that they are “investing in themselves” when they shell out the precious little money they have on whatever the programs or products — with false and misleading promises of guaranteed success or wealth.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who misappropriate indigenous, non-Western, and ancient cultural traditions without sound scholarship, due respect, and understanding of history, anthropology, and traditional cultures.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who place the emotion over the reason.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who excuse poor judgment and recklessness by saying that they are just &lt;a href="https://medium.com/@salixlucida/why-i-quit-following-my-heart-462fcab67af1"&gt;“following their heart.”&lt;/a&gt; (And teach others to do the same.)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who weaponize their woo to abuse people and promote classism, ableism, white cultural supremacy, victim-blaming, body-shame, and others.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who use astrology, spiritual omens, “bad energy,” or any other woo-woo language to excuse their lack of responsibility, their flakiness, their hate speech, or their exclusion of those whom they don’t like.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Those who sell spirituality to the highest bidders and to the affluent, while acting like those who are poor that they don’t deserve it.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is just a short, incomplete list.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you’re not working for a world that works for everyone, you are not practicing a real spirituality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Your spiritual awareness should naturally lead to a consciousness that leads to ethical, honest business practice and drive for social justice. This is true whether you’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan, “spiritual but not religious,” or anything else, even if you’re an atheist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://virginiarosenberg.com/blog/2016/7/10/converting-hidden-spiritual-racism-into-sacred-activism-an-open-letter-to-spiritual-white-folks"&gt;Here’s another great article, by Virginia Rosenberg, on this very topic.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Discussion? You are invited to my new &lt;a href="http://forum.contemporarypriestess.space/"&gt;Contemporary Priestess discussion forum&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Addendum: If you think “woo” is a “racial slur,” here is a very likely &lt;a href="https://lippard.blogspot.in/2010/05/origin-of-term-woo.html"&gt;definitive etymology of “woo-woo,”&lt;/a&gt; which originated in 1983 and first used by New Age musician George Winston as recorded in the New Age Journal, most likely as an onomatopoeia imitating the sounds of a New Age music. According to the Xinhua Zidian, the official Chinese characters dictionary published by the Chinese government-sponsored Commercial Press, there are &lt;a href="http://xh.5156edu.com/html2/w09.html"&gt;over 150 Chinese characters&lt;/a&gt; that sound like “woo” according to the Beijing standard pronunciation, some of which mean “bad,” “raven,” “pollution,” “five,” and “nothing.” Also Wu (sometimes romanized as Woo) is a &lt;a href="http://www.silkxp.com/surname/006.htm"&gt;common Chinese surname&lt;/a&gt;. While &lt;a href="http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/5019.html"&gt;one of such Chinese characters&lt;/a&gt; happens to mean “witch,” “shaman,” or a “sorcerer,” the American English usage of the word woo almost always refers to paranormals, New Age, and various other non-traditional spiritual activities by white people. It is almost never used in reference to any East Asian traditional religions or spiritual practices (except, of course, for versions of those which are stolen and misappropriated by white Americans). Another theory that woo-woo derived from “voodoo,” is even less credible with no documented connections. Once again, the word woo almost invariably refers to the white New Age movement, not Afro-Caribbean traditions (except, of course, those that were stolen and misappropriated by white Americans!). Coincidence does not equal etymology.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=""&gt;(Originally published on Aug. 20, 2017.)&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349868226</link><guid>http://femmelesia.co.vu/post/168349868226</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:22:23 -0800</pubDate><category>fleb</category><category>womens spirituality</category><category>new age</category><category>business ethics</category><category>new thought</category></item></channel></rss>
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