This is not a polemic! It's a meandering.
I often wonder what it would be like to be allowed only one deity. As a modern Druid I can generally write my own pantheon along with my rituals, sometimes going pure Celtic, sometimes mixing in acknowledgement to Buddhist or Hindu traditions, not to mention Christian or Natural Deity like the sun, the moon, the plant and animal kindred. It's a very rich palette to work with.
Funny, my elder sister wrote from Radcliff to her parents some 55 years ago that we were given not freedom of religion, as my parents who were renegade Catholics often opined, but rather freedom from religion. Our parents always told us we could go to any church we wanted to, and their three daughters went to none-until I came along.
In my fifties, I began to review my life as a sort of spiritual quest. Married twice, first to an American Jew and later to an Egyptian Moslem, I joked that I was now looking for a female Buddhist. In sincerity, I wanted a spiritual home, a community of others who also honored and prayed to a confluence of deity, who recognized that life itself was a sometimes miraculous coming together of diverse energies: some "natural", some "human" (male and FEMALE), some yet to be understood. Since by this time I knew that my knowledge of the entities/forces supporting my existence would always be imperfect-there is just too much going on in the matrix of living for any one being to be fully cognizant-and that I needed wisdom from others (physical and metaphysical) in order to choose "better" actions to take on my path of living-I joined a community of seekers who foster many paths.
Likewise, when I moved to New Mexico with all its ancient sacred haunts, I committed myself to a spiritual duty-to seek guidance and listen to the manifold messages the universe might offer. When I decided to move here, my reasoning was somewhat obtuse. In the simplest words, it felt like "home".
In my new home, I strive to be "open." Under the "influence" of whatever gifts come my way.
So, when the opportunity presented itself to join the Raging Grannies, I did. When it occurred to me to wear a chador (burka-Islamic women's covering) in an anti-war demonstration, I did. When I wanted some corn pollen to honor the sunrise and use in healing ceremonies, I grew some corn. When it became clear that I would not easily find employment after undergoing a quad bypass, I applied for disability and gratefully found some time to finally do something I have wanted to do since I was a child: explore my abilities as a writer.
And when I saw 10 cop cars arrive on my street, and assault my neighbor's home in the name of "Nuisance Abatement"-a really devious new sort of statute that sneaks around due process and allows folks to be expelled from their homes if they can't come up with the cash to bring their houses up to code within a 90 day time frame-I took it upon myself to go and ask the cops what exactly they were doing. They claimed they were "inspecting for code violations"-but in fact they were executing a search for criminal activity-domestic violence, association with known felons, meth labs, drug distribution-in homes where they hadn't done the due diligence to obtain a legitimate warrant. I got on the "horn" and called several city offices to protest. In speaking with the police officer in charge of the Nuisance Abatement Team here in Albuquerque, I said: "It seems to me that this Ordinance could render homeless women and children who are the victims of domestic violence. Oh, and since we have a political system that seems to have made prisons a growth industry, I'm curious, where are ex-cons supposed to be allowed to live?" His response: "I don't know-Phoenix perhaps? Just not in my jurisdiction." Gees!
My "guides" haven't given me a way to proceed on this problem yet. But the young woman with two children under 6 who I sheltered in my yard while the "Inspectors" were going through her house was spared from eviction while two other homes on my block were shut down. She told me she thought my action helped her, and said that when the inspectors returned to recheck for compliance they came with only 2 cops.
I am not yet clear about what I am doing on this earth. Maybe I'll never be. Yet I am enjoying the process here in Albuquerque! Gratefully. And finding that good questions are frequently more spiritually satisfying than pat answers.
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