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November 15th. 2009 ...
 Recovering From a Bad Coven Experience
 You Are Not A Tool
 The Dangers of Virtual Reality and Magickal Life: A True Story
 Diary of a High Priestess
 When Religious Intolerance Destroys Friendship
 Thinking With Your Heart
 Beauty in Death
 In that Moment: “Understanding Born From Sorrow”
 Raining Down A Different Kind of Peace

November 8th. 2009 ...
 Why Many of Us Will Never Be Christian (No Matter How Hard We Try)
 Making Your Life Magical
 Soul Connection: The Means to Finding Your Life Purpose
 How I Met My Soul Mate. Twice
 Perfect Love and Perfect Trust: Thoughts on Love and Loving
 Love and the Use Of Magick
 Spiritual Transformation
 Follow the Yellowbrick Road: Sometimes Staying on the Path Takes a Miracle!
 The Path: A Spiritual Chautauqua

November 1st. 2009 ...
 My Magic Doesn't Work! (Because It Sometimes Doesn't)
 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paganism
 The Breath and Faking It
 Coming Out Of The "Broom Closet"
 Profound Fruit Loops
 Magick and Science
 I Want To Live A While Longer
 "Me Time"

October 25th. 2009 ...
 Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone Touring East Coast USA for Samhain
 Lemon Magic
 My Black Kitty
 Autumnland: Pagan Path and Paradise
 The Modern Coven: Importance of Documentation
 Crossroads Rite (Version 11)
 Perceptions of Life
 The Challenge of Acceptance
 The Circle of Life

October 18th. 2009 ...
 Honoring Our Elders, Leaders and Teachers
 Space Clearing: A Fresh Look at a Classic Tradition
 Group or Solitary: Which Is Best For You?
 Which Witch is Which? The Importance of Scientific Terminology.
 Soap Making 101
 How I Maintain My Spiritual Practice in a War Zone
 To Be or Not To Be – In Pagan Business
 "Fusion" Magick

October 11th. 2009 ...
 Italy, Clavicles and Witchcraft
 The Fairies of Samhain
 Horns of Gold, Horns of Red: The God as a Sacred Focus
 The Veil as Seen Through the Eyes of a Witch
 Owl Mythology, Folklore, and Magical Interpretation
 A Celtic "Young Goodman Brown"

October 4th. 2009 ...
 What Should I Put In My Book of Shadows?
 How Do You Draw Your Pentagram?
 Your Book Of Shadows
 How I Became a Wiccan
 Five-Point Witches’ Self-Healing Plan
 The Responsiblity of Elders of Pagan Paths
 My Curse
 Thoughts on Death
 Dinosaurs and Druidry

September 27th. 2009 ...
 When I Was A Christian Wiccan
 Shamanism: Seeing in the Dark
 Dream Invasion: What It Is and How to Stop it
 The Warrior Archetype and the Reemergence of the Goddess
 Twittermancy and Open Sourcery
 Past Life, Present Mission
 The Burning Times: May We Never Forget
 Ophiuchus, the 13th Constellation: A Call for Change
 Changes: Facing Them and Making Them

September 20th. 2009 ...
 How I Found My Craft Name (and Tips on Finding Yours!)
 Life Without End: Death From A Pagan Perspective
 Creating Your Reality
 My Road To Wicca
 Officiating At A Crossing Over Ceremony
 The Energy of My Beliefs
 Tree of Life in Wicca
 My Life Entwined With Death
 The Curious Case of Birds
 Who Sings Now? XVIII

September 13th. 2009 ...
 Yes Witches Can? Yes, Witches WILL!
 Coven or Solitary: Age Old Question. A Few New Answers (I Hope!)
 Organized Pagan Community: Good Idea Or Hopeless Cause?

NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.
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Article ID: 12972

VoxAcct: 365359

Section: words

Age Group: Adult

Days Up: 370
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RSS Views: 32,873
| To Be Young, Gifted, Black…and Pagan in 21st Century America

Author: Dina
Posted: November 16th. 2008
Times Viewed: 2,267
I wish that my Grandmother were alive today. She grew up in Jim Crow Tennessee and moved to Detroit with the rest of her family for a better life in the then industrial capital of the world. At the time of her death eight years ago, she had six children, five grandchildren and was a retired schoolteacher. She raised her family to for education and excellence because where she was in the South, these things eluded her.
Welcome to 2008, when forty years ago a bullet claimed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, America has done something that made the world stand still: it has chosen a Black man to be the Commander and Chief. Suddenly, a song written by Funkmaster George Clinton called “Paint the White House Black” takes on a whole new meaning.
Now with President-Elect Barack Obama preparing for his time in the Oval Office, the Black Experience is a focus on the minds of billions of people around the world. Many people has always had been exposed to the lives of Black people in one way or another and whether or not you agree with the government that Obama is now the figurehead for is another conversation altogether but one thing can be certain- ever since November 5th, Afro-Americans had more pep in their step and glide in their stride.
As an Afro-American Pagan, I am motivated to examine my understanding of what the Black Experience is. To be honest, it is a varied answer, because like anyone else, we are all different. We are not all of the same education, socio-economic status or even the same faith. Obama is a Christian; my mother is a Christian as was my Grandmother. Most Black folk I know are Christians. I am not. I don’t feel less Black or American because I am Wiccan and an Ifa initiate.
And I don’t feel less Pagan when I say that Christianity has been fundamental for the advancement of Afro-Americans.
I have been challenged on many occasions from White Wiccans who wonder why I would say that. For an answer, I calmly inform them that it is true that the Slaves who survived the Middle Passage were forced to convert. I acknowledge that in the New World, the African Slaves were required to adopt new Christian names and forsake both their native tongue and spirituality. However, even within the context of Christianity, the slaves prayed for freedom. While they sung gospel hymns in the cotton fields, they used double speak and secretly gave each other clues as to when and how they were going to escape.
When they did become free due to the Emancipation Proclamation, they opened churches to gain support and to be a support for the freedmen and women. During the twentieth century, it was the institution along with Elijah Muhammad’s Islam that helped to nurture the careers of people like Martin Luther King who inspired people like Barack Obama the world over.
I am not a Christian because unlike my ancestors, I have a choice on what faith I want to adopt as my own. When I learned more about Africa before the Slave Traders, I fell in love with the faith that motivated the people. That is how I got into Ifa. Somehow, I imagine that maybe my great, great, great, great, great grandmother prayed to the same deities I am praying to. Practicing Ifa helps me to tune into my heritage and I feel proud of it. I don’t agree with Christianity as a religion for myself, but I respect the institution of it and how it has helped my people. It has helped my Grandmother through some rough times as well as my mother. How can I totally down anything that is able to do that? I hope that my future kids will say the same about me: Believing in Oshun and Yemaya has made me a stronger person. No matter how you name it, faith does that to you.
Practicing my spirituality gives me a link into the past. It feels as if I am taking back that culture that was stripped from my ancestors. The Ifa/Yoruba people of Nigeria, like Wiccans, advocate the stewardship of the earth and being aligned with energies. Even though Wicca is European-based, in many books on the subject, I see descriptions of various Ifa “Gods” and “Goddesses” like Oshun, Chango and Yemaya. I don’t see many Black people within Wiccan circles or ceremonies but when I do, it is like seeing a long lost relative as we exchange hugs.
Wicca does the same thing for me. Like Ifa, it mandates alignment with energy and respect for our world. Even though our new President is a Christian, I feel that I can walk with my head held high in confidence. If he can run the country as a Black man, then I can live my pagan life happily and openly as a Black woman.
My family doesn’t agree with my choice of faith. My hometown of Detroit is a Bible town. All you have to do is to look on most street corners… you will see a church on them. I am out of the broom closet but I am not naďve: if I go downtown and proclaim my Witchy ways, I will either be regarded as crazy at best or evil at worst. There are many open minded African-American Christians who truly loves their neighbors and are not judgmental to other faiths. Still there are a lot of ultra-conservatives who think that anything not dealing with Jesus is automatically satanic.
I once got into a screaming match with my Mother because she felt that me going to mediate at a nearby Buddhist temple was shameful if not sinful. In fact, I have disassociated myself with many members of my family because they refuse to understand where I am coming from spiritually. Many of them deemed me damned and are praying for my soul. I still love them but I understand that Spirit loves me in a way that my own family or anyone else can’t.
If my Grandmother were alive today, she might feel really good to do something that no other Black person as done in recorded history become President of the United States. That being said, she would also most likely look at me with my pagan paraphernalia and scowl: “Baby girl, why isn’t your butt in Church!?”
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Dina
Location: Ferndale, Michigan
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