You will notice, however, that I used the female version of Druid. I am strongly in favour of words which acknowledge and celebrate women in strong, active roles - not only roles that reinforce stereotypes around nurturing and caring. A good article from "Consultancy Africa Intelligence", which is a site that publishes insightful articles about Africa aimed at consulting companies from other parts of the world which wish to work there, described how the inclusion of women in peacekeeping missions had not led to gentler forces, as the women who chose to become involved were basically best described - in my terms - as warrior women. This is actually a strong role that women can play, and used to until the neo-Christian church stopped them around a millennia ago. From the article:
"there are still multitudes of women who disprove the peacefulness myth. Even before integration into official national armies, women were active combatants throughout history. In his book War and Gender, Joshua Goldstein recounts the Soviet Union’s wide-scale female mobilisations for WWII, present-day Benin’s highly respected female unit in its standing army, and present-day Libya’s so-called Amazons dating back at least to the sixth century B.C.(26) And in cultures where only men went off to war, there were—and remain—many women very much in support of that war. Philosopher Sara Ruddick writes in Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace, “Maternal peace politics begins in a myth:…War is men’s business; mothers are outsiders or victims; their business is life. The myth is shattered by history. Everywhere that men fight, mothers support them. (27)"
(26) Goldstein, J., 2001. War and gender: How gender shapes the war system and vice versa. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
(27) Tronto, J., 2008. “Is peacekeeping care work? A feminist reflection on ‘the responsibility to protect’” in Whisnant, R. and DesAutels, P. (eds.). Global feminist ethics: Feminist ethics and social theory. Rowman & Little Field Publishers: Lanham.
There are valid reasons for having female peacekeepers, and I refer you to the rest of the article for those :)
In the context of this post, I was thinking of a word which means something like "Female Warrior of Light". Why? Well, because women are entitled to be warriors as much as men, and - with reference to "of Light" - all warriors are entitled to be about making this world a better place (i.e. serving the Goddess / the Light / Deity / spirituality / peace) - see, for instance, Chogyam Trungpa's "Sacred Path of the Warrior" (and other links here [2]).
Words have massive power - that is something which has been a key part of social rights activism for decades, and as someone who has been on the receiving end of discriminatory words, I can personally vouch for that. How to counter that?
Use words that make members of minorities stronger - such as a magickal term for "Female Warrior of Light".
So, I wandered over to the Online Etymology Dictionary, and did a little research. Unfortunately, it looks like the best term I could come up with was "Bellatrix Lux". (See also here.)
Why is that unfortunate? Because of the Bellatrix Lestrange character from Harry Potter ... has Lestrange made the use of the name/term Bellatrix impossible in any sort of positive context, much as the Nazi use of a distortion of the true swastika make use of that symbol all but impossible?
I'm not sure ...
While I'm contemplating that, something I was going to work up into a full blown post follows.
A comment that is made in Jim Butcher's latest Dresden Files book, "Cold Days", is that surviving (or enduring) can count as a victory. I think something in Marion Zimmer Bradley's book "Heartlight" repeated that sentiment, and I started thinking about it - particularly given the tendency towards the development of fascism that MZB alludes to in, of all places, the USA.
The world is well and truly in the grip of the Kali Yuga - evidenced by things such as people of good will not feeling safe in speaking out in many places in the world (for that matter, I keep my lips shut in many places in Australia!). That's a really negative world viewpoint, one which I find disturbing - but then again, I'd be worried if I didn't find it disturbing, and that feeling of being disturbed is what motivates me to try and make the world a better place - and I'd also be disturbed if I had my head in the sand to the extent that I could not acknowledge the existence of imperfection ... let alone evil.
Going back to enduring/surviving, though, I prefer to aim for victory, but it just takes a little more time ... like maybe a century a two :)
The sort of change I am aiming to accomplishing in the world is not likely to be seen in my own lifetime. That does not make my efforts any less worthwhile.
Something else that is worth reviewing at this point is what I've written on the term "Balanced Positive", which needs to be read before judging what I mean by "the Light".
Well, I'm still contemplating whether I can or should use "Bellatrix Lux", so I'll end this post here. Enjoy, and may your contemplations on the words in your life be useful, rewarding and downright enlightening :)
PS - the curve balls continue to create havoc, so posts will still be erratic for a while ...
[1] BPF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project, and here for my bindrune kit-bag.
- One size does NOT fit all.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- The secret to being (financially) rich is not to have lots of money: it is to have an income above the poverty line, and then make whatever sacrifices are necessary in order to live within 90% of your means.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other.
- The means shape the end.
- Sometimes you just can't argue with a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much in the way of grunts.
- Spiritual love is far more than just an emotion - it is a concept, thoughts, actions and a way of living.
- One of the basics of serious spiritual / psychic work is that the greatest work is that which we do on ourself, which seems trivial to many. Our own Innermost Essence, which is our Higher Self / Soul / Spirit, has the power to do so much, and is actively participating in the creation and sustenance of this physical reality. Some mote of our conscious or unconscious knows that, which is why we seem inclined to be dismissive of Self Mastery - which is a bit like the child who sees an adult spending money to buy toys, and fails to recognise the daily grind of work which has led to having the money.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi". However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
Your children are not your children. ... They come through you but ... they belong not to you ... for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow KAHLIL GIBRAN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech)
People I'm currently following or reading, or have considerable respect for, include:
- Red Catherine, a Romani woman living on Artemis, in South Australia;
- T. Thorn Coyle;
- Fire Lyte;
- http://paganinparadise.blogspot.com/;
- The Wild Hunt;and
- the Order of Scathach.
First published: Manadagr, 29th July, 2013
Last edited: Monday, 29th July, 2013
