[pagan-magik] A Pagan Response to Katrina

[evol at c6.org]

            A Pagan Response to Katrina
                        By Starhawk



As Pagans, as worshippers of nature, how do we respond to an event like
Hurricane
Katrina, one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of
the United
States?   What does it mean to ‘worship’ something that, with one breath, can
wipe out a major city?  Do we see this as punishment, retribution for some
Pagan
sin?  As an object lesson in the reality of climate change and global
warming?  As
an overheated Goddess batting away some of the oil rigs contributing to
her fever?

            Of course, no one can speak for all Pagans. There is no
overall Council
of Pagan Thealogy to hand down an official dogma.  But here is my own
answer, as a priestess, teacher, writer, activist and thealogian.

Pagan religions are not punishment systems. We don’t worship Gods of
retribution,
but a Goddess—or Gods and Goddesses-- of mystery, in many aspects. The
Goddess has
immense power, both creative and destructive: the power that pushes a root
out from
a tiny seed and sends its shoot reaching for the sky, the power of the
earthquake
and the volcano, the rain that feeds the crops and the hurricane.  We
respond to
that power with awe, wonder , amazement and gratitude, not fear.

The great powers of nature have an intelligence, a consciousness, albeit
different
in magnitude and kind from our own. Everything in nature is alive and
speaking: the
deep, crystalline intelligence of the rock heart of the planet, the fungal
threads
that link the roots of trees into the nerve-net of the forests, the
chattering birds
and the biochemistry of plants and mushrooms are all communicating.  Our
spiritual
practice, the practice of magic, is about opening our eyes, ears and
hearts to be
able to hear, understand, and communicate back. And those powers want us to
communicate with them.  The Goddess is not omnipotent—she is co-creative with
human beings.  She needs human help to create fertility and regeneration. 
The
elements, the ancestors, the  spirit beings that surround us want to work
with us to
protect and heal the earth, but they need our invitation.

Nature is also human nature.  Our human intelligence, our particular,
sharp-pointed
ability to analyze, think, draw conclusions and act, our
esthetic/emotional capacity
to thrill at a beautiful sunset, our deep bonds with those we love and our
empathy
and compassion for others, are all aspects of the Goddess Herself. 
Indeed, she
evolved us complicated, contradictory big-brained creatures precisely to
experience
some of those aspects.  Or to put it simply, she gave us brains and she
expects us
to use them.

As a Witch, as a priestess of the Goddess, I make daily time to meditate
and listen,
ideally in some place where I have direct contact with nature.  I rarely
use an
indoor altar any more—instead I sit in the woods, or at least, in my
garden, quiet
my thoughts, open my eyes, look and listen.  And what I’ve been hearing
lately, in
company with every other person I know who is in tune with the deep powers
of the
earth, is anguish, distress, deep rage, and dire warnings.  The processes of
environmental destruction, in particular, the overheating of the earth’s
climate,
are already underway.  A few weeks ago, when we were preparing for the
Free Activist
Witch Camp that Reclaiming, our network of Witches, offered in Southern
Oregon, I
asked, “Is there any way to avert massive death and destruction.”  The
answer I
got was an unequivocal ‘no’.

“The process has gone too far,” was the answer.  The image that came to me
was
river rafting and shooting the rapids..  There was a point where we as a
species
could have chosen a different river, or a different boat, or a different
channel.
But now we’re in the chute.  We can’t turn back.  We can’t stop.

There’s a command in river rafting, used in extreme situations: “Paddle or
die.”  If you paddle, you have some power—not enough to change the flow of
the
river, but enough to steer a course and avoid crashing on the rocks.  If
you give
up, the river will most likely flip your boat, and you will drown.

When we emerged from the woods, a little-reported item in the news media,
hidden
away on the back pages, informed us that vast stretches of the tundra were
melting
in Siberia.  If we were collectively using even a minimum of our human
intelligence,
this news should have been trumpeted on the front page with all the alarm
of a
terrorist attack, for it is far more dangerous.

Global warming increases the intensity of storms.  Turn up the fire under
a pot of
water, and the bubbles will be bigger, faster and stronger. Hurricanes
draw their
energy from the heat in seawater.  The Gulf of Mexico is abnormally warm—and
hurricanes have doubled in average intensity in the last decade and a half.
Hurricane Katrina was a natural phenomenon, but Katrina’s progression from a
Category Two up to a Category Five as she crossed the gulf was a human-caused
phenomenon, a function of our choices and decisions, our failure to steer a
different course.

The forms and names we put on Goddesses, Gods, and Powers help translate
those
forces into terms our human minds can grasp.  And so the Yoruba based
traditions
that originate in West Africa have given the name ‘Oya’ to the whirlwind, the
hurricane, to those great powers of sudden change and destruction.  Santeria,
candomble, lucumi, voudoun, all include Oya in some form as a major
orisha, a Great
Power.  Offerings are made to her, ceremonies done in her behalf,
priestesses dance
themselves into trance possession so that she can communicate with
directly with the
human community.

No city in the U.S. has more practitioners of these traditions than New
Orleans.  On
the night the hurricane was due to hit, I made a ritual with a small group of
friends to support the spiritual efforts that I knew were being made by
priestesses
of Oya all over the country.  We were in Crawford, Texas, at Camp Casey,
where Gold
Star mother Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Itaq, camped near
Bush’s ranch
to confront Bush with the painful reality of the deaths his policies have
caused.
Many of the supporters there were from New Orleans, worried about their
homes, their
friends and families.  The overall culture of the camp was very
Christian—we found
no natural opening for public Pagan ritual, although a number of people
did indicate
to me quietly that they were ‘one of us.’  But our little group gathered
by the
roadside, cast a circle, chanted and prayed.

We prayed, speaking personally in the way humans do: “ Please, Mama, we
know what
a mess we’ve made, but if there is any way to mitigate the death and the
destruction, to lessen it slightly, please do.”  That same night
Christians were
praying and Orisha priestesses were ‘working’ Oya, and the hurricane did
shift
its course, slightly, and lessened its force, down to a Category Four.

And New Orleans survived.  Not without loss, and death, but without the
massive
flooding and destruction that was feared.,  We all breathed a sigh of relief.

And a day later, the levees failed, and the floods came.  They failed not
from an
Act of Goddess, but from a lack of resources.  The Bush Administration had
systematically cut funding for flood control and for repairing and
increasing the
strength of the levees. The money went to Iraq. Much of the Louisiana
National Guard
was also in Iraq.  FEMA, the Federal Agency responsible for responding to
natural
disasters, had been gutted, defunded, refocused on terrorism, and its
directorship
given to a Bush political crony with no experience in disaster response.

Now, weeks later, New Orleans remains under martial law.  Official efforts
at relief
have ranged from inept to brutal, and the lack of planning and concern for
human
life, the punitive quality of the official response, seem deeply linked to
prejudice
and racism which devalues the lives of the poor, especially if they’re black.

  But ordinary people of all faiths have responded to this disaster with
caring and
compassion, with massive donations and relief efforts, and with shock and
rage at
a government which so completely fails to embody the values of human
decency and
respect for life that it claims to represent.

The Goddess does not punish us, but she also doesn’t shield us from the
logical
consequences of our actions. Katrina’s destructive power was a consequence
of a
human course that is contemptuous of nature.  A Native American proverb
says, “If
we don’t change our direction, we’re going to wind up where we’re headed.”
Katrina shows us a glimpse of that awful destination.

And she also shows us hope.  We can change, and if we truly awaken to the
need,
maybe we will, before it is too late. The outpouring of concern and
efforts to help,
the hope, determination and vision of some of the citizens of New Orleans who
remain, the grief we feel for the dead and the losses and the compassion
that a huge
tragedy evokes are the tools we need to set a different course, one that
honors
nature and human life, that uses our human intelligence to restore and
regenerate
the natural world, awakens our compassion, and kindles our passion for
justice.
When we set a new course, all the powers of life and growth and
regeneration will be
flowing with us.  And when we ally with those powers, miracles can happen.

Some Pagan Resources:

The Pagan Cluster—the group of Pagan activists I work with, will be
sending a team
to the area in October.  For information and donations, see:
www.pagancluster.org

The Blanket Project is an ongoing spell of compassion with the goal of
providing
handmade blankets to survivors, symbolizing the intention to blanket the
country
with compassion and caring.  For information, see:
http://www.theblanketproject.com  or email info at theblanketproject.com.


E-Witch Pagan Auction:
www.e-witch.info/
Look for items marked NOLA PaganRelief
I will be donating an original manuscript and a limited edition, signed,
numbered
leather-bound 10th Anniversary Spiral Dance

Housing board for Pagan hurrican survivors and those who can offer housing:
www.ironoak.org

http://www.officersofavalon.com/
An organization of Pagan police officers and emergency service providers,
they have
already made one supply run to Missippi, reports are on their webpage as
well as
information on how to donate.

Temple of Diana is accepting financial donations to be sent to the best
organizations involved with hurricane relief efforts. Send your
donations in any amount, and  payable to Temple of Diana, with "hurricane
relief" in the memo, and send to:
Temple of Diana
p.o. Box 6425
Monona, WI 53716

Some general places to send aid:

www.rebuildgreen.org
Hurricane survivors who have remained in the Algiers neighborhood of New
Orleans are
determined to remain, rebuild their city with environmental awareness and
a social
conscience.  They have set up the first functioning medical clinic for
ordinary
people, and have other projects in hand.  They desperately need funds.

Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children are doing
intense work
among the shelters and prisons with displaced youth, mostly African American.
Believe me, the Red Cross and the Christian charities won’t be pouring out
relief
to this group!  They can also use some volunteers (especially African
American) and
many gifts in kind.
Send a check to the “FFLIC Hurricane Relief Fund” to 920 Platt
Street, Sulphur, Louisiana, 70663.
awakenprogress at yahoo.com
kd.higgs at yahoo.com


The Veterans for Peace bus that was at Camp Casey in Crawford, TX has now
gone down
to Covington, Louisiana to do relief work.  They also need donations of
money and
computer equipment.

Make a donation to Veterans For Peace Chapter 116 http://www.vfproadtrips.org

Tax deductible cash donations can be send to:
Contact:

Veterans For Peace Chapter 116
28500 Sherwood Rd
Willits CA 95490
pjtate at sonic.net
Cell PH 707-536-3001

Food Not Bombs will be providing food for refugees. They can use
volunteers to
prepare and serve food, and, of course, donations.
www.foodnotbombs.net. You can make a financial donation on line or mail
checks to
Food Not Bombs, P.O. Box 744, Tucson, AZ 85702. Please call
(1-800-884-1136) or
email (katrina at foodnotbombs.net ) us if you can join them on the bus or
help with
gas money.


Starhawk
www.starhawk.org

Feel free to post, forward, and reprint this article for non-commercial
purposes.
All other rights reserved.

Starhawk is an activist, organizer, and author of The Earth Path, Webs of
Power:
Notes from the Global Uprising, The Fifth SacredThing and other books on
feminism,
politics and earth-based spirituality, including the co-authoried Pagan
Book of
Living and Dying.  (All are available at www.starhawk.org  ). She works with
Reclaiming, a network that offers training in earth-based spirituality and
ritual,
www.reclaiming.org  . She teaches Earth Activist Trainings that combine
permaculture
design and activist skills, www.earthactivisttraining.org  and works with
the RANT
trainer’s collective, www.rantcollective.net   that offers training and
support
for mobilizations around global justice and peace issues.

Donations to help support Starhawk’s trainings and work can be sent to:
ACT
1405 Hillmount St.
Austin, Texas
78704
U.S.A.

To get her periodic posts of her writings, email
Starhawk-subscribe at lists.riseup.net
and put ‘subscribe’ in the subject heading.  If you’re on that list and
don’t want any more of these writings, email
Starhawk-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net
and put ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject heading.