All The Creatures

So here's where I've been sleeping. It's the weight room in the athletic building that the Red Cross is using as a shelter. I brought my backpack and hiking gear, which seems like a good decision. They are currently short of housing for shelter volunteers and since I'm so short term, I'm happy to stay at the shelter and sleep on a cot.

 The shelter I am working in is one of those that can accommodate animals. They have a heated trailer out back staffed by volunteers. We went outside for some kitteh and puppy therapy.

Shelter in the storm

We arrived at 10:00 this morning at Red Cross headquarters. They sent us to an orientation class. After we identified ourselves as health care workers, we were "fast tracked" in regards to assignments.

It took two hours to get us an assignment--the Red Cross headquarters were less than organized chaos. The nor'easter was spooking everyone. The Weather Channel is calling this storm Athena:



We're now expecting six inches, if this is to be believed.

Five minutes after we left the headquarters, the Red Cross issued a travel ban, but we were already on the road, and honestly it wasn't bad yet.

The shelter Tanya and I arrived at had on nurse who'd been on for at least 24 hours. She'd been promised an EMT the night before who never arrived.

So, it seems that Tanya and I are going to be here through tomorrow evening. I'm working 12:00 to 8:00. Tanya worked 4:00PM-8:00PM and will work 8:00AM-8:00PM. In all likelyhood I will work tomorrow from 8PM to 8AM.

We took our supplies to the Occupy drop point because they seem to be the ones who are doing the best job distributing things. Here's what was bought:

Gas lines were back again today and many stations said "No gas".

 The Governor Christi and Mayor Bloomburg put out travel warnings, asking people to get off the roads by 4:00. We passed this sign on the way.

So here's us in our vests:

Tanya is better at taking pictures than I am.

It may be that we will see an influx of residents tonight or tomorrow. Or perhaps not. We'll see.

Things are really difficult down here. Everyone seems to be waiting for the locusts and pestilence along  with the governor.

One thing that we're expecting is that people who can no longer afford to stay in hotels will have to come to the shelters, as perhaps, people who've already been ten days without heat.

We're seeing utility companies from all over, but its tough to work in this stuff.

Arrived!

We have arrived safely in NJ. So far, except that we keep seeing people with lots of stuff in the backs of their cars and on trailers, you wouldn't know that much is wrong here.

However, under the surface you can hear the anxiety. Lots of people talking about this or that persons house gone, people still without power.

We waited for gas in Ramapo for twenty minutes. That was nothing, compared to some of the lines.

Once inside NJ proper, about half the gas stations were closed and some stores didn't have power.

We dropped off our donations at the Lyndhurst Police station, where Occupy is gathering them. Everyone seems to agree that Occupy is doing the best job of distributing things.

Going to head into the Red Cross in the morning.

Paganaidd becomes Pagan Aid!

I'm heading down to volunteer with the Red Cross in New Jersey day after tomorrow. Praying to the God of the Roads to keep me safe while I do so.

If anyone wants to contribute monetarily, I've got a microgiving account opened

Prayers and good thoughts are also appreciated!

Omens

A bird in the house. Red and white flowers with no other flowers in the arrangement. A red blanket on a white bed.

These were the worst of omens when I was growing up.

Along with new shoes on the table, blood on the doorstep, salt spilled on the table.

But my family wasn't superstitious.

If a bird gets in the house, there's going to be a death.

Red and white, an accident. In the UK hospitals where my great Aunt used to be a nurse, if someone sent a red and white flower arrangement, it was a sign that someone on the ward would die.

New shoes on the table, bad news.

Blood on the doorstep, very bad news.

Salt spilled, the Devil's in the house.

Any of these sound familiar to anyone else? I've seen them in books about the Appalachians and heard them from New Englanders and Southerners. Westerners?

Animism can stand beside any other brand of religion, I think. Even Monotheists want to propitiate the local spirits.

Once upon a time it was hex signs and witch's bottles. Now it's affirmations and "The Secret."

I think its very important to think about these beliefs; it is through this unconscious Animism that I first came to an understanding of my own beliefs in the sentience of everything.

Not every bird is an omen, but when one starts to persistently insist on being in your house, that's something to think about.

Blood on the doorstep doesn't mean much when its accompanied by the body of the mouse your kitty dropped off for you. It's different when it's red drops against white snow and you don't have any animals to either cut their feet or bring you presents.

It's the weird thing that grabs our attention. 

I've wondered before what the purpose of omens are. They don't tend to be helpful in forearming people for hard times. They're so darn vague that, generally, one never has any idea what they're about.

But, like so much about the way we view the world, that's a rather human-centric idea, that the omens would be good for us.

What if omens were just a result of interacting with the world?

There's this idea that time as a linear thing only seems that way because of human perception. I won't go into that, because it starts to hurt my head to think about it too much. Suffice to say that, to quote Dr Who, "It's all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff." The perception of time can, perhaps, be bent and and perceived in advance.

According to a Cornell researcher, our lymbic systems (where many of our emotions arise from and what can just shut down our higher cognitive functions in a pinch), can perceive events before they happen, especially those events that are emotionally charged.

So, perhaps our interaction with the natural world, combined with these perceptions, produce the omens, dreams or precognitive moments that happen so frequently to people. 

Most of the time, a raven is a raven and we don't see it or think about it. Every so often, when some powerful event is about to happen, we get that weird peek through time. Our mind must give it context, so one gets a deep chill from the raven that is cawing on the branch in the yard. 

In other words, we are merely noticing these meaningful symbols in reaction to these moments of perceptual breakthrough.

So, omens are not necessarily helpful. They just are.

As an Animist, I can accept that those being that I have forged alliances with, might be trying to communicate in their own alien (in the sense that they are non human intelligences) way. 

Some years ago, I had a week where I kept seeing foxes everywhere. Pictures of foxes ended up being sent to me by email. I say foxes in stores, on bumper stickers, all kinds of places. One day I looked outside to see a fox standing in the middle of the yard, looking at me. I was invited to a talk a psychic was giving and she, in the middle of the Q & A session looked at me and asked, "Did you know you have a fox totem?"

So I go and look up foxes--Here's what I find:

The fox encourages us to think outside of the box and use our intelligence in different, creative ways. The fox also brings us a message to try to approach our circumstances differently that we normally would. Be aware of some of our habits, and try a different angle of action.

The fox also a reminder that we must utilize all of our resources (seen and unseen) in order to accomplish our goals. Sometimes this means calling upon some unorthodox methods.

Furthermore, the fox is a sign to be mindful of our surroundings.

Phenomenally effective shapeshifters and incredibly adaptable, the fox beckons us to not make too many waves but rather, adapt to our surroundings, blend into it, and use our surroundings (and circumstances) to our advantage.

A week later, I found myself in the situation where all of these things were true. So, for whatever reason, Fox had taken an interest in me because I needed her (the fox I saw was a vixen with kits). Why? I couldn't tell you, but Fox is one of the spirits that chose me I guess.

As far as omens in general go, it doesn't do to get too hung up on them, unless they are clear enough that they supply you with a way to change your future. Most of the time, a raven is just a raven.








  

Heather needs help

My friend Heather over at Adventures in Animism is in serious need. She can no longer live in her apartment due to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. I've set up a microfunding site for her.

She needs a safe place to live. If you are one of her followers and you can spare anything, you would have my deepest gratitude.

Juneteenth

I'm not a summer solstice celebrator. I tried, I really did, when I was younger and attempting to do the Celtic Recon thing, but it just never really spoke to me.


What does speak to me is Juneteenth. This is the 19th of June: The annual National Day of Reconciliation and Healing from the Legacy of Enslavement (This year the official celebration was on the 15th, but the original holiday was June the 19th).


That is something to be celebrated.


Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it's origins:

Though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in the Confederate States of America. Texas, as a part of the Confederacy, was resistant to the Emancipation Proclamation, and though slavery was very prevalent in East Texas, it was not as common in the Western areas of Texas, particularly the Hill Country, where most German-Americans were opposed to the practice. Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865. June 18 is the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived inGalveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. On June 19, 1865, legend has it while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”:

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name coming from a portmanteau of the words June and teenth like nineteenth and other numbers ending with -teenth.

The holiday went into decline around the Depression, but has seen a resurgence in its observance since 1994. 

I lived in Louisiana in the late nineties, and that was where I first heard of it. A day of healing and reconciliation. Not a solemn holiday, but a celebratory one. To celebrate the first steps this country took into actually making real the promise of  "All men are created equal".


I found a rather pleasing piece of history the other day. Many African American surnames are Welsh; Evans, Davis, Jones, Morgan and Floyd (from the Welsh Lloyd which is pronounced with an odd aspirant that doesn't exist in English--the word means "Brown"). There were not many Welsh slave owners, so these names didn't come from owners. Turns out, there were many Welsh Quakers in the Underground Railroad. Moreover, these Welsh Churches welcomed freed men and women into their midsts. The newly freed people often took common surnames of others at their church.


Being Welsh, these are ancestors I can feel good about. The Welsh of this land. Celtic spirits I can honor and respect.


So, Happy Juneteenth everyone!