lainelawless

Noble Savages*

Traveling through Indian Country in NM, AZ and CO, I try to take every opportunity to look at petroglyphs. I am obsessed with them, and I find them to be an amazing record of native shamanism, magic, astronomy and a unique worldview. They are a window into a murky and unknown past. But alas, it is not MY past.

Supposedly the people who made them were ancestors of the current Indian tribes, although it seems that archaeologists cannot quite make up their minds on this, depending upon what year it is, and what is considered politically correct. While the stereotype I see on TV shows Indians as wise, good trackers and very spiritual (not a bad stereotype, is it?), I wonder if most of them fit that description.

One thing I have become aware of traveling in both the winter and the summer is how much early humans were affected by the seasons, as I have spent much more time outside and been affected by the weather and the seasons. Yes, winter is pretty depressing when it gets dark at 5pm, and I can certainly do without the cold as well! I too, would have prayed for the light and warmth to come back. I have prayed for cooler climates during the heat of the summer, and partially found that in the Rocky Mountains.

I know large numbers of New Agers have turned to Indian religions as a way to connect with the earth, but I’m not sure if the Indians are thrilled about this. There are aspects of any religion which are sacred, and unlike Christianity, some are secret and are not supposed to be shared with those outside the tribe. I do find it curious for people to turn to religions of others rather than first seeking out their own heritage. Some use the justification that they have crossed over based on who they were in a past life! And on the other hand, I have seen many people struggle with the religion of their parents, and try to fit into it, when what they should be doing is to find a spiritual path which suits their needs. So, it’s not for me to judge. Find a spirituality which suits your needs, and allow it to fill you, I say!

What excites me as a neopagan about any other pagan people who are actually living their earth-based religion is the possibility that I might learn from them. You see, I’m not entirely certain that Wicca was not invented by Gerald Gardner in England in the 20th century, and as a White Bread American, I’m not really sure how close I am to my roots. Of course, not all Indians practice the religion of their ancestors; many were converted by missionaries and have stayed Christian. But enough of them are living their religion to inspire me.

I get excited about all small-scale societies where the people have a spiritual history spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years, because if I am fortunate enough to be invited to any of their ceremonies, I will be able to observe a natural worship which I believe is akin to what my ancestors practiced. Being a part of any modern pagan practice sure beats monotheism! A Navajo Ranger told me that their society is matriarchal, which made me much more interested in studying it. I figure if it’s functional, it might be worth more than just a shot, as we in America are saddled with a patriarchal society which is largely non-functional. Now you can speculate about WHY it’s non-functional: materialism, industrialization, the White Man in charge, or whatever, but I think it has a lot to do with the spiritual paucity of Christianity. There’s just no there there, as Gertrude Stein would say.

Being a former urban dweller of an industrialized society with a typically analytical Aquarian mind is not the best formula for tuning in to the spirits and doing shamanic journeying. I guess if you are a bad shaman, then you get no journey!? (Just a joke from a weekend workshop I went to...) I think now a little LSD would help, but it seems I took that when all I wanted to do was get high, and I learned nothing from the little squiggly things I observed when I was very much younger. Would I do it again? In a New York minute! The problem is, it seems all entheogens that are being used now either make you barf, have the runs, or both. Being high as a kite and hurling doesn’t appeal to me any more than fasting or going without sleep.

So because of the excessive development of my intellect, I find that I have to release a lot of that learning, and to learn to just BE, and to listen to the voice within. I really wish I were better at it. Gotta find some LSD...

Anyway, back to paganism. I find it a special thrill to attend any modern pagan gathering, especially if I know the people have customs dating back thousands of years. For example, I once attended a Candomble ceremony in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil which was a ceremony for Shango, the male god of thunder and lightening. I was there with a group of all white tourists; all the people in the ceremony who were dancing and playing drums, with one exception, were black. It was held in someone’s house in a black neighborhood, and the ceiling was illuminated by a sting of bare light bulbs across the room. People asked me what I felt; I didn’t feel anything, as I am not a worshipper of the male deities. It was summer in Brazil, and I was extremely hot and sweaty. I learned quite a lot about Candomble from my guide who knew the participants, and I enjoyed the colorful costumes. We white tourists were quite a curiosity to the celebrants. I later learned that one of the owners of the B&B where I was staying had a father who was a Santeria priest, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stay to attend a Santeria ceremony, as that would have been fascinating. I am very much drawn to the Afro-Brazilian rhythms that comprise samba and bossa nova. I’m not sure why. I think every time I hear a lot of percussion, I imagine my ancestors sitting in a circle around a fire in the forest beating drums and worshipping their deities.

I’m finding that as I get older, I want to get more and more back to my roots, which means studying prehistoric Northern European myths and folklore. The more I go to pre-Columbian Indian ruins of the Anasazi, ec., the more I want to know about MY ancestors, and I wonder if there are as many petroglyphs in Europe as there are out West? I know there are a number of ancient caves with pictographs (paintings) in them and there are similarities to the petroglyphs of the American West. (See the book The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves by Clottes and Lewis-Williams.)

So the more I visit the Indian ruins, the more I think, “These people are not my ancestors!” As humans, we are all the same under the skin, but still I want to know what MY ANCESTORS did. I found that for years I studied Mediterranean deities since there was a wealth of information on them and I could pronounce their names, but then one day I realized I was not related to anything Mediterranean, and I began my quest to find the authentic, natural deities who were worshipped by my ancestors.

Much has been said of how poor and downtrodden the Indian is. It is not easy being a conquered people, and being dependent upon the government is never helpful (see Uncle Sam’s Plantation by Star Parker). However, I think it’s time to set the record straight about all “indigenous” people. ALL of us have lost a good portion of our unique racial and natural ethnic, cultural heritage. What happened to the Indians was just more recent in history and more glaring. I think it was a crime for the European conquerors, including the Catholic Church, to force Indians to be their slaves in Missions, it was a crime to commit the wholesale genocide of the native people of America, and it was a crime for the Christian zealots to rip children away from their families, just so they could send them to school and train them to be proper Christians and to keep the Indians from being “heathens.” On the whole, it was a massive crime to try to make the Indians act and think “white” and to keep them from their cultural and spiritual heritage.

As someone once said, land is always purchased with blood, and it seems the history of mankind is littered with dead bodies created by wars over land. Turning the pages of history WAY BACK, we find that the European peoples were conquered by the invading pagan Romans, and then again by the Christian Romans. Since the ancient Europeans had no written language at the time the Holy Roman Empire and Church conquered Europe, we have no written record of how they lived, what they thought, how they worshipped their deities, etc. The only descriptions we have of our “barbarian” ancestors were written by the victors, Christian monks, who hardly constitute unbiased, culturally-competent historians! We do have an archaeological record, which is actually less than what American Indians have today. To some degree, they at least have oral histories passed down through the generations, as well as a native language still spoken by elders, and which they are trying to teach to their younger members in order to preserve their unique culture.

Are Indians truly Native Americans? I wonder, do they think of themselves as “natives?” That word is not always used in a kind way. I think it can be argued that I am “native” to America because I was born here and so were several generations of my ancestors. In fact, Indian people came to America from Asia! Yes, perhaps they were here for thousands of years before Europeans came, but does that mean they are “native” and we are not? The only thing that separates their migration from ours is TIME. Perhaps the only NATIVE people are the first homo sapiens who emerged from Africa (so we are told) and then migrated to other continents and grew to become what we now know as the various races of humans. It seems the story of humanity is one of migration; the Jews left Israel and Judah (and then returned), the Europeans left Europe and migrated to North and South America and the Caribbean, the English migrated to Africa, the Africans migrated (unwillingly) to North and South America, the Japanese overtook much of Asia through conquest, the USSR absorbed many Eastern European and Asian countries, the Moors invaded Spain, etc. Just who is NATIVE at this point? Oh, and let’s not forget the Mexican illegal aliens who are “migrating” to the United States!

You see, I take the point of view that as conquest has occurred, whole groups of conquered peoples have had their cultures annihilated. Yes, I certainly do feel for the Indians of the United States, but they are not the only group to have their culture and their numbers decimated. Remember the Turkish massacre of Armenians in 1915 and the Iraqi massacre of the Kurds in the 1980’s?

I mourn for my lost ancestry, my heritage, the culture and spirituality of my ancestors. I am going to do what I can to find out how they worshipped and how they lived. I may not like what I find, but at least I will know the truth, and I will have some basis for knowing who and what I really am, and where I came from.

*The title Noble Savages refers to a stereotype of small-scale societies, and the people in them. In this group my sense of irony demands that I include ALL pagans of every ethnic background, including Caucasians. (Just a note so the PC crowd doesn't have a leg to stand on when they have a hissy fit.)

posted by lainelawless @ 12:53 PM 0 comments

Is It Time For A Revolution?

Has America turned into a dictatorship? Ask any left-winger and they’ll tell you that George Bush is as bad as Hitler. I may tend to agree with them, for some different reasons. It’s not all about “evil Republicans,” but rather evil people who do not care about The People.

The illegal immigration crisis has come to a head during the Bush administration. It was been rapidly building since before the1986 Reagan Amnesty, when illegals learned they could break the law and still get off scot-free. Given the fact that hordes of them have poured into America in ever-increasing numbers, that they have become very vocal in demonstrating for rights to which they are not entitled, it’s clear that amnesty sent them the wrong message.

People in Mexico and in other countries get word of what goes on in America. Perhaps they cannot speak the language of our country, but they listen when their media repeats what is said, and they have the gossip-tree to inform them. They certainly listened every time GWB said the word “amnesty,” as the numbers crossing measured by the Border Patrol went up 50%. I know a Minuteman who stands by the barbed-wire fence yelling, “No hay amnestia—Bush lied to you!” There is no amnesty—YET.

While it appears that the House and Senate will be deadlocked on immigration “reform” bills, and there will be no legislation before the end of this year, most Americans are left wondering why the government just cannot enforce the laws we already have. We have no lack of resources or money; if we can send our military reserves and our national guard over to Iraq, can’t we at least keep them here more cheaply and use them to assist in maintaining United States’ sovereignty?

I have been asked repeatedly by reporters what I mean by sovereignty. I have asked them in return if they went to college and took journalism classes and if they knew how to use a dictionary. But let’s get this clear once and for all: sovereignty is government free from external control. This means government for the people, of the people, and by the people, and free from the external control of a foreign nation. It is supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign state; in other words, complete independence and self-government. To me, it’s the right of indigenous people to control their own territory. It’s the national equivalent to supremacy over one’s own body. Anyone who has been born in the United States to parents who were citizens is a person indigenous to the United States. I say this in spite of the fact that Native Americans existed here before the Europeans came; since they migrated here as well, I think the only distinction between them and the Europeans was the timeline as to when each group arrived.

As a freedom-loving American, I support the rights of all indigenous peoples to self-determination, which is the right to control your own territory. While 80% of American citizens say they dislike illegal immigration, it seems we are saddled with a globalist government that is completely out of our control; a government that persists in giving away America to foreign nations, a government that allows foreign nations to shape and mold our immigration, foreign, and domestic policies.

When was the last time an out-of-control government was overthrown by the American people? It seems it was in 1776 when American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain. Let’s take a look at the reasons why, from the Declaration of Independence:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome andnecessary for the public good. He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for thetenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of theirsalaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out theirsubstance. For imposing taxes on us without our consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial byjury: [This very thing happened to Chris Simcox and is now happening to Roy Warden]

For altering fundamentally the forms of ourgovernments: He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us; [not protecting us from invasion—Article 4, Section 4, U.S. Constitution]

He has...destroyed the lives of our people. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the [illegal aliens], whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. [Considering the latest victim of Hispanic racial hatred, as well as previous ones, it's obvious that they prey on women and the elderly. See borderguardians.org]

And what have American citizens done to stop these usurpations? Read these words and see if they don’t sound familiar:

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Have we not been petitioning for redress of our grievances by writing, calling, and emailing our elected representatives and our President and asking for a comprehensive, thorough and effective enforcement of our immigration laws? We have been met with phony promises, smoke and mirrors, and lectures that we don’t understand what’s best. I know people who have been working on illegal immigration reform who have been at it for 20 years, and what is the result? Have things gotten better or worse?

It’s estimated that over 1 million illegals have entered America every year in the last 10 years, and 4,000 PER DAY come through Arizona, which translates to 1.5 million every year just through Arizona alone! The flood of illegals has only gotten worse since NAFTA was passed in 1994. I wonder, WHO has benefited by the passage of NAFTA? Based on history, it is not any working person in the United States, and it certainly hasn’t benefited the workers of Mexico.

Last year, CAFTA, a smaller version of NAFTA, was passed against the protest of the majority of Americans. Will we wait until FTAA, the mother of all bad trade agreements, is passed, before we rise up and say NO MORE?

Americans have suffered repeated abuses by our Congress and our President. In the Constitution, the 3 branches of government were created to balance each other, and it appears to me that they have turned against the people and are all corrupted. While the judiciary worries over peripheral issues such as whether or not we should have the 10 Commandments in courthouses, illegal aliens are sucking away the life blood of America and clamoring for citizen’s rights when they broke the law to get in here!

And we don’t think it’s time for a revolution? As the Declaration continues:“...all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” How long will we wait? Will you, my fellow patriots wait until every firearm in the United States has been outlawed, or until globalization has reduced you to such poverty that you cannot afford to buy any ammo for the one gun you have been allowed to keep? What will it take for America to rise up and recreate herself anew? Will deprivation of drugs, booze, TV, and football do it? I wonder...

Do we continue blaming illegal aliens for taking advantage, by hook or by crook, of free welfare, free medical care, and a free ride in America, when we Americans have been done in by our own government which is no longer responsive to the will of the people? This is not a partisan issue, as the Democratic party talks out of both sides of its mouth while it pretends to be the champion of the working class! Both parties are in this together!

To quote an oft-spoken phrase: It’s the government, stupid! The illegal alien problem is only the tip of the iceberg of government complicity in the economic neutering of America. Once we were a great manufacturing nation; once our working class held jobs which paid a middle-class wage. Slowly, at first, jobs went to foreign nations; then foreigners were imported to do jobs Americans would do, but for which they wanted a living wage; now we are being fed the myth that illegals only do jobs Americans won’t do, when the truth is employers only want to hire people who will work for slave wages. Our pretty new houses are falling apart because they were built by illiterates who cannot take directions and who do not speak our language! The assurances that all is well coming from government bureaucrats, our chief executive and congress critters are, to quote Shakespeare: tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Fellow patriots, I ask of you, will you join with me in mutually pledging to each other “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor?”Can we do this while America is a distinct and separate nation? If we wait until America is a polyglotted, multi-cutural Tower of Babel, we will be losers. Start the revolution now!

posted by lainelawless @ 8:04 PM 0 comments