The Rite of Lilith and Transgendered Pagans

I know that I am probably a little late with this, but I felt compelled to put my two cents in on this issue. The internets have been a buzz with an event that took place at Pantheacon with the Rite of Lilith ritual and how transwomen were not allowed to participate in the event.

Although I want to put my two cents in, I have to admit that I'm not really sure what my two cents are....

Unlike many of the people who have commented on this Pantheacon discrimination issue, I actually attended the ritual. As we all stood in the hallway before the Rite began a woman left saying that she would not participate because the ritual leaders would not allow transwomen to participate. I don't know if this woman was trans or not, in fact it doesn't matter. My point is, I had this information ahead of time, but I chose to stay. Part of me was upset about people being left out, but there was another part of me that understood the decision.

There is a part of me that feels there is a place for for gender specific rituals. There are times when it makes sense. This shouldn't be about exclusion of anyone, but the work with a specific type of energy.

This specific issue was brought to everyone's attention due to a miscommunication. I don't know if this miscommunication was due to CAYA Coven or the Pantheacon people, but it wasn't the only miscommunication of the weekend.

I was involved with a Pantheacon presentation with the Reclaiming Tradition. Our ritual was marked at 'restricted' in the program, but it wasn't a restricted ritual. And in the lead up to Pcon it was never marked as restricted in our paperwork. I know our presentation was not the only one to be improperly labeled. (It feels odd to use the world labeled in this post and yet, there it is.)

If the Rite of Lilith had been properly marked as a 'restricted' ritual, would this conversation even be happening? I don't think it would. But the reason this has come into the forefront is really no longer important. Here is why I think this whole thing is actually good for the Pagan community...

In the Reclaiming community we spend a lot of time talking about gender, sexuality, and identity. We work very hard to make sure that everyone, no matter how they might self identify, feels welcome and included. This isn't always easy work, but it is so important.

The conversation about trans-inclusivity has been happening in Reclaiming, but has it been happening with other groups? These are important conversations for us, as Pagans, to be having and I am glad that they are happening now, even if the catalyst for it has been uncomfortable.

I do believe that there should be space for women to do magickal work with only women and men to do magickal work with only men. I don't have the answers as to how this fits into the bigger picture and how this works with trans-gendered folks in our communities, but I am glad it is being talking about openly.

This is a big topic, it is hard to have a clear yes or no, black or white answer. In fact I don't think there is one. In fact there are many articles up on Patheos about duality without gender and the Sacred Third. This is exciting for me because it goes beyond this one event into something bigger. Now that the conversation has started it needs to keep on rolling. What we must do is keep open, clear, and honest communication.

My Pantheacon Thoughts

I am a witch that currently practices in the Reclaiming Tradition. This is not the only Pagan tradition that I have studied under, but it is where I am now. There are a lot of things that I love about Reclaiming, but there are also some things that make me feel a little crazy about Reclaiming.

In fact, Reclaiming was my first Witchy love. As a teenager in the Bay Area I had easy access to Reclaiming on a public level. This helped to shape me into the Pagan that I am. There weren't any other groups, at the time, doing what they were doing.

The more I get involved and immersed into the Reclaiming culture the more insular I start to feel. I am starting to learn the intricate connections, ties, and relationships that go back in my community, sometimes 30 years. This is beautiful, amazing, and frustrating.

Since I am so involved in my community I tend to forget that there are other Pagans and Witches out there. And many of these groups don't do anything remotely like what Reclaiming does. Pantheacon is the perfect place for me to get a much needed reality check. There are more styles of Paganism than I am even aware of. Pantheacon helps me to see some of the amazing styles of worship that are out there and appreciate my own home tradition.

At Pantheacon this year I had the pleasure to meet Jhenah Telyndru the founder and Morgen of the Sisterhood of Avalon. The SOA is an organization that I have cyber-stalked for years. I was also able to participate in a Rite to Lilith put on by the Amazon Priestess Tribe where I was reminded about the inherent power of women. And I was schooled by amazing Priestesses like Luisah Teish, Leilani Birely, Orion Foxwood, and of course Starhawk.

This was all topped off by a reminder of why I am part of the Reclaiming Tradition. This was done by my participation in a Reclaiming ritual at Pantheacon. I am really proud of the work my group did to prepare a ritual for the people of Pantheacon which represented Reclaiming. It was my first time being a presenter at the Con and I feel honored and humbled to have been a part of such an amazing listing of presenters and panel members.

Being back at home is hard. Although I am happy to sleep in my own bed and shower in my own shower, I long for the special connection I had with everyone I walked past at the Con. As a Pagan I see my connection to every person, Pagan or not, but there is something special about filling a hotel convention center with Pagans, Witches, Wizards, Asatru, Orishas, Celts, Stregans, Egyptians, and on and on and on.

So there are my Pantheacon thoughts, until next time, my heartfelt thanks.

*Twinkle*

I am part of the Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft. I have been on the outskirts of this group for many, many years. In the past my only level of involvement was to attend public rituals and flirt with the idea of taking classes. In the past year all of that changed and I find myself getting more and more immersed in the community known as Reclaiming, which is a beautiful and amazing thing.

There is a process in Reclaiming that is really quite awesome. It is known as 'twinkle'. Here is what twinkle means: twin-kle - verb: to show you are in agreement or understanding of another persons point of view or position. i.e. "I twinkle that."

To twinkle is to put your hands in front of you palms down and wiggle your fingers in the direction of the speaker. This developed because active listening is a very important part of the Reclaiming community. You don't want to continually comment when another person is speaking, but often there is a need to show that you understand, or are in agreement. To twinkle is actually using the ASL sign for 'applause'.

So why am I telling you all of this....well, good question! Now that I spend so much time around Reclaiming people, in Reclaiming classes and so forth, I find myself 'twinkling' a lot! So much so that I have to consciously remember to NOT twinkle when I am with non-magical folks. I cannot even begin to explain how many times I have wanted to twinkle someone in the check out line at the grocery store, or at a restaurant, or at the kids school! So I have decided instead of trying to modify my behavior for the rest of the world, I am just going to start twinkling when I feel called to twinkle! If someone asks me what the heck I am doing, I will explain....and hopefully twinkling will become a world wide phenomena.....How awesome would it be if everyone you encountered was engaged in active listening? What a different world this would be.

Teaching the Pagan Way

So I had my first teaching experience this past weekend. I student taught a class called Elements of Magic. It is based off of the Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft and is their prerequisite for other classes that are offered in the tradition.

Ten years ago I had multiple opportunities to take this class, but I felt that it was 'below me'. I didn't want to take a class that taught the fundamentals of a practice I was already familiar with, so I scoffed and moved on. Not taking the intro class meant that I was not able to take other more challenging classes, but my pride would not scoot over enough for me to actually start at *gasp* entry level.

Fast forward nine years and you will see me finally taking the Elements of Magic class almost exactly one year ago this past weekend. Tired of playing the solitary practitioner game I finally decided to reach out to the Pagan community in my area, by way of Reclaiming. The teachers had changed, as had many of the community members. People that I had met ten years ago had moved on to other places and that ended up being a really good thing for me.

Was Elements life changing for me? Well in a word, yes. I did not learn anything earth shattering about myself during that intensive weekend, but I did learn many things that I was able to fold into my personal practice. I did start getting more and more involved with my local community and I did end up forming and amazing Circle with two women who were also in the class with me.

A year has passed since that fateful weekend and now I have become the teacher (well student teacher for now anyway). I helped to lead a class that ten years ago I felt was beneath me. It was an honor and privilege to work with the two beautiful women who have taught me so much over this last year. And it was way more exhausting than I thought it would be....

After taking so many workshops and classes I have always thought that the teachers have it easy. I figured their hard work was in the prep....putting the class together, figuring out what activities will take place, all of the set up. I was surprised to find that teaching, even co- or student teaching, is exhausting. So much more so than attending. I have a new respect for those that I have taken classes from.

So now a new beginning. I have one class under my belt and I look forward to many more in the future. Riding a new wave with promising possibilities.