A Miscellany

Gosh, so much going on…I didn’t want to do a billion smaller posts (though, a million would be all right…), so I’m going to attempt to do this as a bit of a round-up of various issues, often unrelated, starting with some Ekklesía Antínoou-specific matters, and moving into other areas.

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Ekklesía Antínoou names three “Builders”

There are various titles within the Ekklesía Antínoou that usually designate that someone has performed a particular action or service, or has participated in a certain ritual (e.g. Lupercus/a/um, Mystes Antínoou). Not all such titles have been definitively identified, and newer ones will emerge as time goes on, I’m sure. However, one such title that existed in previous groups, I felt, needed to be given out again, because the first instance on which it was given has been fulfilled and exceeded by three individuals. All of their combined efforts from 2008 until 2011 have made it possible for me to attend PantheaCon, and the utter necessity of what the three of them might simply view as “playing their part,” “doing what they can,” “helping a friend,” or “being hospitable” have been, in fact, much more than that, and thus they deserve recognition.

Thus, I made this declaration earlier today in our own group, and would now like to make it more public:

Erynn Rowan Laurie, Luperca and Mystes Antínoou,
Ogam, Mystes Antínoou,
and Disirdottir, “Assistes” Antínoou,
are henceforth to bear the title Aedificator/Aedificatrix as part of their official titulature for their actions in supporting the work and the building of the Ekklesía Antínoou, particularly at PantheaCon but also on other occasions.

An aedificator/aedificatrix is literally a “builder.” However, I’m also somewhat playing on the old Roman priestly position of aedile, a rank that was in charge of the maintenance and building of temples.

I’d also like to say a word on the “Assistai,” since Disirdottir is among their number. In the Antinoan Mysteries, there are a number of people who have very courageously helped me out in putting them on. It is possible for me to do it on my own, but very difficult, so having others in a position to assist is very welcome. However, in doing this, they essentially volunteer to take part in the Mysteries without actually having them conferred, and by so doing they negate the possibility of ever being initiated into these Mysteries in the future. Without the various “Assistai,” I would not have been able to initiate as many people into the Antinoan Mysteries since 2008 as I have, both in San Jose during PantheaCon and in Seattle at other times. As we will, with any luck and the grace of the gods, be doing another round of the Antinoan Mysteries this coming April, the services of several Seattle-area “Assistai” as well as Mystai will be needed again, and so I’m ever grateful and thankful for their essential participation.

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Supreme Court Ruling protects hate speech

That jackass Fred Phelps and his crew recently got a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court in terms of their ability to protest slain U.S. servicemembers’ funerals and other such activities as they see fit, even though local regulations can restrict the areas and such where their activities occur. As freedom of speech and religion are very dear rights that we have in the U.S., on the one hand this can be seen as a victory for that; on the other, it’s fucking Fred Phelps, whose rhetoric is so screwed up that I am hard-pressed to maintain rationality when speaking of it and must very deliberately try and attempt not to just say “fuck fuck fuck” the entire time.

People, however, who do counter-demonstrations are also fully protected in doing so now, and so I encourage you, as well as any groups you may know about, to do these whenever the Phelps gang comes to town. Here’s a suggestion: everyone dress up like Bes and sing Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You”! In fact, an altered lyrics version of the song might be very appropriate to compose for such occasions. Anyone want to help me with that?

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More of the same…

My apologies for recently saying I wouldn’t discuss this topic any further and now bringing it up again. But, there are some interesting further developments that I wanted to make sure you know about.

First, Mistress Ladybug, a member of Come As You Are Coven’s Amazon Priestess Tribe, has written her own response on this, which I think is also excellent and wonderful and I suggest you check it out. It, again, makes me very happy to have C.A.Y.A. Coven as an ally through Communalia.

Second, the ever-resourceful Sannion has written his own meta-commentary on the issue, which must be seen (literally) to be believed. Make sure you put all drinks down before reading it.

Third, foxfetch has done a very excellent call for new gods in the image of trans people. I’m all for that, and perhaps in the near future, I’ll be writing more on that subject here. As much as I like many of the deities from the past, including Antinous and many others, I do think that some entirely new deities might not be bad, rather than trying to re-interpret some deities from the past into new molds, or pigeon-holing certain deities (like Attis and Cybele) as trans-positive deities when transwomen are not the same as self-castrated devotees, and the life of Tiresias is not a thing that most people are able to attain.

Fourth, Thora Drakos, a Come As You Are Coven priestess who was the only one from the group at the gender discussion on Monday at PantheaCon, has written an account of her own experience with this matter at the con’. I highly recommend reading it. One of the things it does extremely well–which I must admit I have not always done in my own coverage here–is that it clearly distinguishes that there was a separate movement to open a discussion about gender exclusivity at PantheaCon independent of the events that occurred with C.A.Y.A. Coven’s Lilith ritual. This is really important in the context of the wider discussions that have gone on. While some may not agree with C.A.Y.A. Coven’s Amazon Priestess Tribe and their stances on some of these matters, nonetheless one cannot accuse them of not having integrity at this point in the aftermath, nor of not taking these issues very much to heart–which is as much as we can ask of anyone on any issue, I think.

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That’s all for now, I think. More later on other topics, probably.