Current mood:	pensive
Current music:	just the ventilation system at work

American gods


"When that time comes remember us. We shall long to play our part wherever we may be. Give us the opportunity to do so... We shall not fight with material weapons then, but we can help you if you will let us. We shall be an unseen but mighty army. Give us the chance to pull our weight."
- Wellesely Tudor Pole, The Silent Road

One of the teachers at the Between the Worlds interfaith esoteric conference was Diana Paxson, an author and teacher in the Asatru tradition. At one of the panels, she spoke of the need for a specifically American variety of spirituality, one based on a non-denominational honoring of the Founding Fathers and other American heroes- in essence, these are our Ancestors, our Mighty Dead.

As I said in my earlier post, these are troubled times, but there is hope- and help. If we honor this nation's Mighty Dead, if we ask for their help, they can and will grant it. I have it on good authority that at least some of them are mighty peeved at the ongoing attempts to distort the principles to which they dedicated their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Sure, there have been some reassuring signs- according to recent articles, the religious right vote wasn't as important as first suggested; Ashcroft is going bye-bye; Sen. Specter has put the White House on warning that they shouldn't expect to be able to shove ultra-conservative judicial appointments down the Judicial Committee's throats.

But the religious right is acting like they won the election, and Bush is acting like he has a mandate. I expect that the continuous, steady and mostly subtle assaults on civil liberties from the last term won't abate, and will probably even step up a bit. And there's still a lot of resistance to be overcome, even when things are moving in the right direction.

Those of us in the DC area have access to a wide range of shrines to these national Ancestors. Sure, the Park Police would be leery of leaving candles and offerings at most of these places, but you can stand and pray or meditate. Then return to home or other more private place to make your offerings, light your candles. You could even build a shrine in your home...

If you are worried about religious freedom, honor and call on Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and those like him. Go to the National Archives and read the holy documents of our nation; honor and call out to the ones who wrote them, who fought and bled for the ideals they enshrine. If you think that the Republicans have strayed from their earlier ideals, go to the Lincoln Memorial and honor him; call on him to restore those ideals to his Party. While you're there, honor Martin Luther King and and call on him to support the fulfillment of his Dream.

Go to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial (where you can leave offerings, last I heard). Honor the dead there. Ask those fallen soldiers to keep the Iraq war from becoming another futile destroyer of youth. There and at the other war memorials, honor the dead and call out for protection for the men and women in America's military.

Further afield, there are other shrines to Freedom scattered up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and all through our nation. Perhaps it's time to make pilgrimages. Equality, justice, choice, privacy, free speech... for every right we hold dear, there is an Ancestor. Seek them out. Honor them. Ask for aid.

And there's at least one Power to invoke who's not an Ancestor or one of the Mighty Dead, but something close to a true American Goddess: Lady Liberty. Visit Her, or at least speak to and honor Her. Ask Her to shine Her lamp as much on the land that lies at Her back as on the ocean roads leading to the Old World.

As I said before, work in this world as well. "Faith without works is dead". But if we ally our work for justice with the aid that is there for the asking, we can make our efforts even more effective. This isn't worship. It's honor and remembrance, a partnership of power.