Witches of Justice Arise

At the weekend I talked to my parents in the UK. We discussed our dismay at the attempted deportation of individuals in the UK who came over from the Caribbean in the sixties to live and work in the UK. They were humiliated and terrified and made to feel like outsiders after over forty years of living and working the UK - a country that had originally colonized and enslaved their ancestors in what was called the "West Indies". We talked about the ICE raids happening here in my neck of the mountains and how one brave young woman asked the sheriff to please not destroy her family and his response was that he was simply following the law. 

Why am I writing about this? Why should you care? Because at one time, those raids were for witches. Those men were following the law too.  Women were persecuted and murdered. In some places witches are still persecuted and murdered. 

As I chatted with my father who had been a minister in the Church of England for forty years. An altruistic man with a long history of social justice work and community organizing,  he confessed that he felt he had contributed to a damaging patriarchal structure. I said to him "Why do you think I became a pagan?"

Why am I writing about this? Why should you care? Because I need to be honest with you and, to quote Syliva Plath, "let the wind blow in more roughly". True, Open Coven is about unleashing your creativity as a witch and/or occultist and in so doing reclaiming the power we all have. 

Now what do we do with that power? 

This month I ask you to choose your cause and put your magick and your life towards that cause. You commitment can be small and often small is more effective. We do not exist in a vacuum and whether you believe in the wiccan rede that anything you send out comes back threefold, whether you believe in karma or you simply believe in kindness we have to agree that we are all connected.

I want to share an organization that I love and am proud to support: Southerners on New Ground. To quote their vision: "SONG envisions a sustainable South that embodies the best of its freedom traditions and works towards the transformation of our economic, social, spiritual, and political relationships. We envision a multi-issue southern justice movement that unites us across class, age, race, ability, gender, immigration status, and sexuality; a movement in which LGBTQ people – poor and working class, immigrant, people of color, rural – take our rightful place as leaders shaping our region’s legacy and future. We are committed to restoring a way of being that recognizes our collective humanity and dependence on the Earth."
Sound good? Perhaps consider donating to them, every bit helps.
So Mote it Be.