The Supreme Court and the Hobby Lobby Decision, for Pagans

This has taken me a few days to write, in part because I'm trying to marshal my thoughts on a topic that makes me want to vomit every time I think of it.  In all honesty, this goes far beyond simply how it affects Pagans,in into how it affects every single minority faith in the country.  I don't like getting involved with politics.  I really don't, and the mix of religion with politics is especially distasteful.  But I look on the recent ruling of the Supreme Court - the one that allows Hobby Lobby, Eden Foods, and in fact any corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship the "right" to deny its female employees birth control based on the CEO's religious beliefs - in absolute horror.  As a Witch, a woman, and a business owner, I cannot give full voice to just how wrong this is.  As a veteran, forever bound by my oath of service, I somehow must find the voice.  And for this I must focus on only one item out of the clamor.

So I'm going to shut up for a moment about the fact that the so-called "rights" of corporations have been elevated above the needs of 51% of the American population.  I'll ignore the fact that it's inherently and blatantly discriminatory.  I'm going to leave aside the argument that Hobby Lobby's corporate investments include manufacturers of the very contraceptives they specifically take issue with.  I'll turn a blind eye to the junk science, as well, that calls the morning-after pill an "abortifacient" (it's not, but it gets the Republican base riled up to call it that). 

I'm going to leave aside the fact that they still cover Viagra.  I'm going not touch the fact that it denies female Hobby Lobby employees the right to control what's in their bodies, and that if they do want it in defiance of their employer they will have to pay twice for it. 

I'm going to try not to comment too loudly on the fact that birth control is not always prescribed for contraceptive purposes - it can treat other medical conditions, and for some women even the risk of getting pregnant is life-threatening.  I won't comment on the fact that few CEOs are medical doctors, and not being such they have no right to determine what medical care their employees should or should not receive. 

I'm going to not say anything about the fact that a contraceptive prescription not an indicator that a woman is planning to have sex, nor is it basis for a judgment of her lifestyle or personal habits.  I'm going to pointedly look away from the fact that every last one of the justices involved with the majority opinion was male, three of them deeply conservative, and at least one of them (Thomas) known to be openly corrupt and an embarrassment to the integrity of the Court.  And I'm going to bite my tongue on a comment that the sex lives and reproductive health of a company's employees are not, and should not be, of any interest whatsoever to any CEO, and that no matter how strongly a person holds their personal beliefs, it is not grounds to use the law to force others to comply with your beliefs on morality.

What I will speak on is the depth of the violation of the Constitution here. 

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke so well on it, and yet she did not go far enough.  Speaking for Justices Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor in 35 blistering pages of dissent, she hit the central nail on the head in the very first sentence of her essay.  (Dissent starts on page 60.) 

"In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs."  (Burwell vrs. Hobby Lobby, pg 60.  Emphasis mine)

It took less than a day for issues raised in Justice Ginsburg's scathing, 35-page dissent to be proven out, as for-profit entities around the country (notably Eden Foods, one of the country's top producers of organic foods) scrambled to get their special dispensations based on "personal" religious belief.  Think of that - less than a day for the Supreme Court to actively tell lower courts that its decision didn't just apply to contraceptives, and that the lower courts should either reconsider their existing rejections of corporate exclusion from Federal law, or uphold their existing passes on such exclusion.  So how far will this be allowed to go?  And it is disturbing that the Court, which gave legal credence to the idea of corporations as people, now chooses to double down on the idea by endorsing the concept that said "corporate citizens" are endowed with the same rights to free speech and freedom of religion that living, breathing people have.  (We know that they're not really the same, because corporate "speech" is in the form of money - which they have far greater access to than does the individual citizen of a society falling into economic stagnation and decay.)

But the deepest and ugliest truth of it all has yet to be voiced until now.

How does secular law fare now, when placed against the "sincerely-held belief" that another person should die?

You see, the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Hobby Lobby has called into question the validity of secular law when it comes into conflict with religious law.  And worse, it has placed religious law in the position of primacy over secular law.  The Affordable Care Act mandates coverage for contraception, excepting only non-profits engaged in religious ministry (and providing alternatives for that).  This is essential for women's health, as well as for effective family planning, and the benefits to the corporations providing it include fewer days lost to appointments, routine care, issues and potential complications surrounding maternity.  This becomes a public health benefit on the order and magnitude of clean drinking water and fresh air.  Aside from that, it's Federal freaking law. 

But the Supreme Court's decision in Burwell vrs. Hobby Lobby just opened the door to special dispensations from Federal Law, based on the claim of personal religious adherence that should never have been misapplied to business law.  It is eerily reminiscent of the corruption experienced by the medieval Catholic Church with the issuance of "indulgences."  Apparently history has been forgotten (again).

There is no way to prove in court the depth of the sincerity of someone's religious beliefs, so any claim of belief must necessarily and logically be treated as just that: a claim. The greatest danger in this ruling is not the forcing of beliefs on employees, but the fact that religious belief, or the claim thereof, is now all that is required to ignore any law.

So a Jehovah's Witness can now deny blood transfusions to any employee, based on their own religious beliefs.  A CEO who is a Scientologist can now legally endanger the mental health of an employee who is in need of antidepressant medication by denying coverage based on his own personal beliefs, and get away with doing so.  A Muslim, Jewish or Hindu employer can now deny any medication that comes in a gelatin capsule (gelatin is sourced from cattle or pigs' feet) - or force an employee to pay out-of-pocket for surgery requiring anesthesia (sourced from pigs).  Hotels have been searching for years for legal justification to deny lodging to same-sex couples: now it's been handed to them.  Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, a megachurch serving the region where I grew up in Southern California, is already on board seeking religious exemption from anti-discrimination laws, specifically from the law that currently prevents him from discriminating against gays in his hiring practices (how very Christian of him).  Do we see the horror being unleashed here?Conservatives have been all worked up about the Affordable Care Act allegedly bringing government into your personal health care decisions - but they're perfectly all right with letting your boss in on the discussion, it seems.

And the worst?  Murder, manslaughter, attempts of - we hold these crimes as among the worst wrongs that can be committed against an individual by another individual.  Until now.  Secular law now has a question mark hanging over it when in conflict with religious law.  What happens when the two conflict?  What if the employing CEO holds a religious belief that actively advocates for murder of a specific sect - or even just of anyone not like themselves, or even just permits you to let them die and do nothing to save them?

Let me give an example.  The Biblical line from Exodus, "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live" is a real and very open existential threat to Pagans worldwide, especially to those who openly identify as Wiccan or Witches (like myself).  Given that I unambiguously call myself a Witch, the most charitable interpretation of that becomes that I could suddenly choke on my food, and nobody who knows I'm a Witch is under any legal, moral or ethical obligation to perform the Heimlich and save my life: they can sit back and watch me die and be perfectly excused.  In the strictest interpretation, they'll go to heaven for my murder. 

Just for illustration, this is no idle threat: this is something the Pagan community deals with on a day-to-day basis.  To this day, people are murdered around the world - tortured, mutilated, burned alive - just on the accusation of "sorcery" or "witchcraft."  Most of these are women, many are children: it is a global problem being tracked by Amnesty International and it is very serious in scope.  And witch-hunts happen here in America today, as well. 

Say I got hit by a delivery driver, one who works for a company owned by one of these "religious" folks (which is therefore a company that I try to have as little to do with as possible anyway).  Maybe he's even driving the company vehicle.  Me being me, "Wiccan" is going to wind up on my medical paperwork whether I am conscious to put it there or not.  But the CEO is a so-called Christian.  Could the company choose to deny me life-saving medical treatment, or recompense for said treatment, because the CEO's religious belief is that I should not be allowed to live?  Simply because I believe differently?

It sounds preposterous.  Yet the precedent has now been set that Federal law can be ignored in favor of a corporation's "personal" religious preference.  How far will this be allowed to go?  There are lines in the Bible that call it perfectly OK to rape a woman (as long as you marry her afterwards), or to have more than one wife (though in fifteen years of study, I have yet to find an example permitting more than one husband).  How about stoning adulterers or homosexuals?  Burning anyone you want to accuse of sorcery - there we go, that's always a classic.  How about keeping slaves?  Selling your daughters into slavery?  This would also constitute "religious belief" as defined by the Old Testament of the Bible.  Now we're letting the preachers decide what is legal and what isn't, not the law, and not just for their own congregations but for people who don't even subscribe to that faith.  Maybe it's not too great a stretch, then, to see that this becomes an ugly hairball, very quickly.

It goes far, far beyond Christian versus Pagan.  The same argument could be had over the lines in the Bible and the Qu'ran which each deal with non-believers.  Since 9/11 America has been in the grip of intense, and intensifying, wave of Islamophobia.  Right-wing pundits are trumpeting their fears of Sharia Law being established in America - ironically, what they've done is open the way for an equivalent Christian theological establishment ("Wahhabi Lobby," anyone?)  THAT sets up a religious war, IN AMERICA.  And i don't want to consider the reverberations through America's ties to Israel.Justice Ginsburg wrote into her dissent a chilling warning.  She said:

"Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude."

All respect to the Honorable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but "startling breadth" does not begin to cover it.  The Supreme Court's majority ruling in Burwell vrs. Hobby Lobby is an unmitigated catastrophe that goes far beyond the relatively limited issue of gender-based discrimination in contraception access.  In delivering such a damaging strike to the wall of separation between Church and State, they leave the Founding Fathers reeling in their graves.  At best, the violation of the Constitution inherent in the selective validation of certain religious faiths over others leaves a tremendous loophole wide open for the abuse of the labor force at the behest of "religious" CEOs.  Going a step further, the three-way revolving-door joining the business world, the lobbyist world and the legislatures at both state and Federal levels creates the possibility of a Christian funadmentalist theology gaining real power.  At worst, we have collectively taken another step towards the setup for a another bloody civil war, fueled in part by religious discord, to occur right here on American soil. 

There is NO good that can come out of this ruling. None.

Thunder Magick

Ah, Hawaii.

Rarely does Oahu get a good thunder-boomer going - but when we do get them, they come in from the North Pacific Ocean and generally dump torrential amounts of rain on us.  They are also not the typical Hawaiian rains, in that they stick around and pour for hours (usually, if you don't like the rain here, wait five minutes.)

But this is important rain - this is what keeps the island green, and keeps this land healthy.  And thunderstorms... well, a Hawaiian thunderstorm is no Great Plains boomer, carried across the land on the mighty wings of Thunderbird, but they have their place in magick, as well.

Planning for a Full Moon, under a Mercury Retrograde

So I should have known better.

I've studied astrology for thirteen years.  I took the name "Starlight" because I resonate so strongly with celestial energies. And, as a practicing Witch, I know what the Full Moon can do.

And, like a complete newbie to the Craft, I attempted to plan a ritual to take place on the Valentine's Full Moon.

Did I run a chart for it?  Nope.  Did I even spare a second thought for the Mercury Retrograde happening, which has a tendency to screw ALL planning up?  Not a chance.

So I was barely ready, we're getting set to walk out the door - and then I find out that one of our friends was out walking her dog prior to ritual and was attacked by another dog - who belongs to another circle member.  And we are the only folks available with a vehicle to transport her and her dog to the vet's emergency office.

During this same week, we also finally took that same vehicle in to get the brake maintenance done that we've been putting off for too long - a good activity for a Mercury Retrograde, good use of that energy - and find out that the dealership wants to charge us some $1500 dollars to change the brake pads and the rotors, with pickup not available until next week!  (Oh hell no: we got it done for a third of that price in less than a day elsewhere  We will see if Mercury's trickster side touches that at all.)

Mercury goes direct on March 1st at roughly 18'Aquarius (Sabian symbol for that degree is "A forest fire, finally quenched.")  I cannot wait.  It's been a rough ride.

Astrology - Grand Water Trine, two different views

Sun: 29'Cancer
Moon: 18'Capricorn
1 Day to Full Moon

So.  A friend of mine emailed a group we are both part of on Wednesday (good day for mass emailings, being that that's Mercury's day) regarding a major astrological configuration coming exact this past Thursday.  Specifically, Mars + Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces, all coming to trine one another for the Grand Water Trine pattern.

Now, the Grand Trine happens fairly often - I have one in my own natal chart, across the Air signs.  But usually when it happens it involves the fast-moving Moon and only lasts for a few hours, or it'll split elements (one planet sitting in a different element than the other two when it occurs close to a cusp).  It's a lot rarer to get the much-slower social and generational planets involved across the same element: Jupiter, as the fastest of those three, still takes about a year to transit the 30 degrees of just one sign, and they stay together for a bit when it happens both prior to and after the most exact point.

I find it interesting to hear how the same aspect patterns can spark totally different takes on it.

GreenCorvid.com

Sun: 13'Cancer
Moon: 09' Gemini
Dark of the Moon

A shameless self-plug here, but I have spoken often about Monsanto and the other biotech giants, and their roles in promoting unsafe GMO products and deadly pesticides that are endangering entire ecosystems.  These are things that can and should interest Pagans, Wiccans, and anyone who claims to follow a nature-based religion.  I speak out often.  I Marched Against Monsanto.

Now I am putting my money, my reputation, and my honor where my mouth is in permanent business opposition to the companies that are killing the Earth and the creatures who live upon Her.  I am pleased to announce that my new online storefront has opened for business at www.GreenCorvid.com.

www.GreenCorvid.com will eventually carry the full line of Herbal Choice Mari health and personal care products: the entire line is certified cruelty-free and USDA Organic.  HCM is in the process of re-designing their labels to reflect the USDA Organic and Leaping Bunny logos, so I cannot openly list it on the website until Nature's Brands (Herbal Choice Mari's parent company) gives me the go-ahead, but the certification has been approved.

I am very glad to see it happening, myself: the USDA certification is an automatic guarantee that no part of the product was produced with sewage, radiation, pesticides or genetically-modified ingredients.  It means that there are no synthetic ingredients of any kind, including chemical preservatives (they keep themselves fresh based on their own natural properties).  Pthalates?  Hell no.  Parabens?  Absolutely not.  It is the highest standard of organic purity in the country, and the Green Corvid is proud to carry products that carry that seal.

Also, the development of these products was done and continues without involving innocent animals, either directly through testing or indirectly through parts and by-products.  Therefore, an Herbal Choice Mari moisturizer is based in purified water (meaning that it meets the Universal Standard of Purity), certified organic olive oil, certified organic jojoba oil and wildcrafted candelilla wax, all derived from plants, instead of lanolin (which comes from sheep's wool).  They are vegan-friendly and certified Cruelty-Free by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC). 

(As an affiliate, the rules of the CCIC prohibit me from displaying their Leaping Bunny seal of cruelty-free certification even though the company I am marketing for has already earned it for their product, but the company's direct website does display it proudly and the link above verifies that they do have the right to do so).

Not all ingredients can be certified as purely organic, because they are wildcrafted.  The only safe way to wildcraft involves a deep and unshakeable commitment to environmental stewardship, which is a business ethic in short supply these days and which I am very happy to support with my business, both as a customer and a marketer.

Finally, the full line of Herbal Choice Mari is created with the idea of not using any of the ingredients that are common allergens.  There are no nuts or nut products (no almond oil, for those allergic to tree nuts) in the Herbal Choice Mari line.  There are no glutens to worry about, no dairy byproducts, no soy (95% of global soy production is GMO, which would invalidate the USDA Organic certification).

I believe I have found a quality product line: I am removing the product testimonials that the parent company's website lists because I believe the ingredients' lists on every product speaks for itself.  I also support and hold the same commitment to non-GMO, organic, wildcrafting, and animal-free ethics shown by Herbal Choice Mari.  I truly believe that this is a line of products worth using, worth promoting and worth the price, and I am willing to work to ensure that the ethics driving Herbal Choice Mari and similar companies become more visible and more popular throughout the cosmetics industry: if it happens to be a way through which I can help provide for my family, even better.  This is something I can be passionate about.

To put it another way: 8 months pregnant with a baby girl, I am switching my house over to Herbal Choice Mari health and personal care products, because they are safer for my family than anything else I have found on the market and I wish I had done it sooner.  I am willing to use their organic products on my baby's delicate skin, because she won't pick up the toxic ingredients from them that she would otherwise from commercially-produced "baby products" like Johnson&Johnson.)

My Pagan side has brought me a good deal of knowledge of what different herbs and essential oils may be used for, both magickally and medicinally.  I find their product line offerings to be absolutely sound in this regard.

If you don't think organic is worth the cost, you might like to know what's in the products you're using now.  Check out the Environmental Working Group and their (very extensive) cosmetics database at www.ewg.org/skindeep.  Even some of the department-store "natural" and "organic" brands might surprise you.  (What are dimethicone, polyquaternium-7 and the ubiquitous, nebulous and ultimately undefined "fragrance" doing in JASON Brand Natural Cosmetics?  They're owned by the Hain Celestial Group - the same people who brought you Celestial Seasonings tea - which is known to carry dangerously high levels of pesticide contamination.  Same with Tom's of Maine, owned by Colgate-Palmolive.  How about Nature's Gate Organics?  Surprise, surprise... if there's anything in that ingredients list that a five-year-old can't pronouce, it's not natural, let alone organic: each of the companies I just linked make products that are commonly found at the grocery store in the "organic" section - and every one of them has an EWG score over 7, which is high-risk.  Compare to Herbal Choice Mari, where nothing - not the brand, not a single ingredient, ranks higher than a 2: safe.) 

Now, come find me at www.greencorvid.com and start kicking the toxins out of your body and out of your life.

Speak, for the cup of hemlock is not yet on your lips.

Sun: 09'Cancer
Moon: 16'Aries
Last Quarter Moon

In the United States, we are very fortunate that the Constitution protects our freedoms of both religion and free speech: of all the objections raised to the original writing of the document, the rights of free speech, press, religion and assembly were the first to be preserved specifically to the populace by the Bill of Rights.  Religious fundamentalism of any stripe is at odds with both of those rights.  Christian fundamentalists attack both the freedom to believe as one wills and and the right to say it (the brainless claim that non-Christians are waging a "War on Christmas" rings a bell here) within our own country.  Islamic fundamentalists (and others) do the same elsewhere.

It is a courageous few, comparatively, who stand up and speak for all by saying they wish only to be left to their own beliefs in peace.  This blogger in Bangladesh was almost murdered - and still lives in fear for his life - for no reason other than the fact that he believes (or, more accurately, does not believe) as he chooses and speaks about it.  And his words are the title of this post, which I quote in respect.

What cowardice could motivate a person to attack from the shadows, to murder or attempt murder in defense of a theology that claims God (by any name) is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present and created all things (including the one being murdered), and then slink back into the shadows convinced that God will protect and absolve that crime, the theft of the life and free will of another of His creations?

Speak, for the cup of hemlock is not yet on your lips.  Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and if those around you are silenced, let their voices join yours and roar defiance at those who would silence freedom forever in the name of religious tyranny.

Ji...hawg?

Sun: 05'Cancer
Moon: 22'Aquarius

You know, I've spoken about spiritual warfare before.  Last time it was in the context of what Pagans face from some of the more determined religious fanatics of the Christian Right here at home. 

Conscience forces me to address it, however, when I see another ethnicity being attacked for their beliefs - quite literally.  So it was with great disgust that I noticed an article on the HuffPo about "Ji-hawg" bullets - bullets painted with pork-laced paint, meant specifically for use against Muslims.