Personal: Fragmented Identities
For a few years now a core part of my personal practice has been working with Queer Ancestors. This takes many forms: queer history research and lectures, maintaining a private shrine, and personal rituals throughout the year. The synthesis of my queerness with my magical practice, however, is a relatively recent development and is just part of a larger pattern of coming into the “wholeness” of who I am.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: William Stringfellow and Anthony Towne
William Stringfellow and Anthony Towne were charged by the U.S. government in December 1970 for harboring a fugitive - a Jesuit priest named Daniel Berrigan. Father Berrigan was part of a group known as the ‘Catonsville Nine’ who had been charged with destroying federal property for burning hundreds of draft cards during a protest against the Vietnam War. After evading federal authorities for months he was eventually found at Stringfellow and Towne’s home on Block Island, Rhode Island.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Siwa Oasis
This post is a bit different because it doesn’t center a particular figure and instead focuses on a location: the Siwa Oasis. This oasis is located in Egypt, near the Libyan border. It is one of the most isolated settlements in Egypt with a distinct culture and language. Settlement at the oasis dates back to ancient Egypt, and it was home to an oracle of Ammon.
Ritual: Cane Blessing
I realized over the holiday break that a lot of my craft centers and celebrates my marginalized identity as a queer person but this was yet another space where I was distancing or ignoring another identity that is increasingly central to my world experiences: being a disabled person.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Piers Gaveston
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, was born around 1284 and died on June 19, 1312. He is famous for the impact he had on the royal court of Edward II and the role he played in the kings eventual downfall. Contemporaries of the two, and many scholars since, have had a hard time framing the relationship between these men as anything other than a queer sexual relationship. The “were they/weren’t they” of these men is just one example of how our contemporary understanding of queer identity is hard to apply historically, as well as the frequent straight-washing of history.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Frank Kameny
Frank Kameny (May 21, 1925 - October 11, 2011) was an American astronomer and early gay rights activist who was one of the most influential figures in the American gay rights movement. While many early queer liberation movements focused on cultural and social change, Frank Kameny is notable for his early work brining gay rights issues into the US court system.
“This Isn’t Who We Are”: Actually, It Is…
I’m sitting in my kitchen in a DC suburb a few days after the attempted coup at the US Capitol Building. Like many folks I’m still processing what happened - and what is continuing to happen - and have a hard time putting my phone down. Among the breaking news reports of arrests, the grandstanding of GOP elected officials doubling-down on conspiracy theories and rhetoric that stoked these violent flames, and chatter over what is and is not protected by the First Amendment I keep seeing a common refrain: This isn’t who we are.
Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Ma Rainey
Born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia Ma Rainey would grow to become the “Mother of the Blues” and one of the first blues singers to be recorded.
Guest Post: Temporary Memorials As Sites Of Grief
In recent years, we in the US have had to see a number of temporary memorials rise up. These memorials mark untimely, especially traumatic, deaths usually associated with victims of gun violence, brutality, or accidents. Memorials, especially if they are on the site of the event, become places to be in community with those lost and inhabit the same space, even if it is a headspace that is in memoriam. But these spaces aren’t just for remembering the dead, for the living temporary memorials become liminal sites that help individuals confront the trauma of sudden and often violent death.
Ritual: Storytelling As Healing
Storytelling has become an increasingly important part of my practice. It is a way that I connect with, call forth, and honor ancestors. There is power in being remembered and, when it comes to Queer Ancestors, power in having the lessons in your life shared with the next generation.