“The Magick of Gallaudet”

To a Witch like myself, a big part of my spirituality is the practice of magick. True magick is the art of creating change. And change is something that makes a lot of people mighty uncomfortable. Change is challenging, which is perhaps why so many people shy away from it; it’s demanding, which is perhaps why so many react negatively to it - not wanting to meet the challenge, they instead criticize it.

Marion Weinstein, herself a respected leader and author in the Pagan Community, states that

The work of magick involves transformation, and the first transformation is the shift of perception.

The shift of perception. As I read the countless blogs which circulated about (and continue to circulate) in regards to the Gallaudet Protest, the one thing that became pretty clear is that the transformation was indeed happening; that people’s perceptions of Gallaudet University - of what it is, and what it could be, and what it should be, and what it has become was clearly undergoing that shifting. The change is happening, whether we like it or not. The best thing we can do is accept it, and prepare for it.

But change to what? To a fuller range of possibilities, to a broader spectrum of spirit. Not change to something else, but to something more. First we learn to know ourselves, then we expand…stretching our hearts and minds and souls, and exploring and developing new territories within ourselves, and within our community.

Yes, I can sense it now…people rolling their eyes and thinking

“What kind of horse manure is this woman trying to preach at us? This all sounds like New Age hooey-dooey to me! I’m not falling for that Witchy Voodoo crap!”

And of course, eyes open up wide, jaws drop, and folks ask me…

“You mean to say that MAGIC took place at Gallaudet?”

Well, certainly! And it still is! In fact, it’s going to take even more magick to help get us through the coming days. The change is only beginning. There’s a lot more work to be done.

Magick can happen anywhere, and often in the most unexpected of places. That it would be happening at Gallaudet should hardly come as a surprise, considering the sacredness of the campus in the hearts and minds of the people who now fight to preserve that very sense of sanctity.

In her article “Toward an Activist Spirituality” which Starhawk published three years ago, she writes of the use of magick:

Much of our magick and our community work is about creating spaces of refuge from a harsh and often hostile world; safe places where people can heal and regenerate, renew our energies and learn new skills. In that work, we try to release guilt, rage, and frustration, and generally turn them into positive emotions.

Hmmmm. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this what the Deaf Community has been working for all along?

Isn’t this at the heart and soul of what Gallaudet means to us – the creation of that space of refuge, a safe place where people feel free to be who and what they are; to share what they think and express what they feel…to regenerate, to renew, to release?

And wouldn’t it be perfectly normal for a community that has raised so much energy and focused that energy towards the creation and sustenance of such sacred space to react with vehemence at any action which threatens it?

This doesn’t mean we have to constantly remain in that state of anger and frustration. What it does mean is that we need to use our magickal tools – our identity, our pride, our heritage, our unity – to face those sometimes overwhelming realities that confront us, acknowledge those thoughts and feelings, and transform them into positive change.

Magick is about power – about calling forth power and utilizing it for positive change. But if we are going to raise that power and channel it as energy for achieving our goals, then we need to understand what it is… and what it is not.

Power, to those of us who work magick, should never be power over another. Rather, it is the power that comes from within.

Power-Over is basically a power of oppression, a power of domination, a power of annihilation.

Power-From-Within, which is the power that I speak of, has nothing to do with oppression, nothing to do with domination, nothing to do with annihilation. It is a power that takes its definition from the root meaning of the word – podere, from the Latin “to be able.”

Power-From-Within develops from the ability to control ourselves, to face our own fears and limitations, to keep commitments, and to be honest. To be able to channel this power requires personal integrity, courage, and wholeness. It cannot be assumed, inherited, appointed, or taken for granted…and it does not confer the right to control another.

As I read all those blogs, it strikes me that what the Gallaudet Protest was really all about (as are most protests) is power…and the perception of power. Undoubtedly each side will accuse the other of that Power-Over, and in fact already has.

I’m not going to debate who’s right or wrong in this regard, because frankly that’s besides the point at this time. The Protest is over, the Board has made its decision, and it’s now time to move on. Casting fingers at each other regarding such seems rather moot.

The fact is we all have within us the potential for both types of power – the potential to do good and to do bad, to build and to destroy, to empower and to oppress, to love and to hate. If we are going to accuse others of such behaviors, we better be ready and willing to take a good hard look at ourselves.

What Power-From-Within dictates is that we must act responsibly…that we must utilize that power properly, and ethically. Yes, that merger of the spiritual and the political often does mean that we must act to challenge systems – particularly those which perpetuate that hate and oppression. We must act to recognize those who have too little social power, and those who have too much.

As Starhawk explains, trying to equalize that power means changing that system. And systems don’t change easily:

Systems try to maintain themselves, and seek equilibrium. To change a system, you need to shake it up, disrupt the equilibrium. That often requires conflict.

Conflict in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing; oftentimes it is an essential part of change and transformation.

But conflict isn’t violence. Control isn’t coercion, maneuvering isn’t manipulation. If we are going to practice the concept of Power-From-Within, we cannot act on Power-Over principles.

Violence can be defined as the act of using Power-Over.

Now, before anyone starts screaming at me and sending angry emails, I want to clarify that I am not accusing anyone of utilizing violence during the Gallaudet Protest…although if we use the definition of violence as explained above, we can certainly find examples of such perpetuated by both sides of the protest.

What I am saying is that if we are to truly move forward from this crisis, if we are to truly heal ourselves from all that has happened over the past few weeks, if we are to truly learn anything from this protest…

We need to take a good hard look at these two concepts of power, how they were applied – by both sides – during the protest, and how we can get beyond these power struggles to a deeper understanding of the issues, and a greater appreciation of and respect for one another.

Virginia Beach (the person, not the place!) is known as Reverend Ocean a Wiccan High Priestess and ordained Pagan Clergy. She has spent most of her adult life showing identification to name skeptics, and confusing travel agents while attempting to purchase airline tickets. Although Virginia has lived in the East on a few occasions (including five years as a Gallaudet student), she was born and raised in the Midwest, and currently makes her home there. A lover of all things Celtic, Virginia is saving her pennies with hopes of a trip to Ireland in the near future. When she’s not reading up about the Druids, Virginia can be found browsing in antique shops or buying yet another piece of handmade pottery to add to her already vast collection.

By Elizabeth Stone

One article I read a year ago in Ode magazine, written by and for optimistic intellectuals, claims that motivation is based on fear while inspiration is based on love.

What I am going to say here is going to be touchy-feely. Yes, I’m going to get all mushy and corny here. It’s time.

We need love.

I admit, the world can be a depressing place. Even so, every cloud has a silver lining. So I am inspired to perspire in order to inspire you. Here are selected examples (mostly from Ode) that show the positive power of love:

• Chug Along and Give Away: A British think tank has proposed establishing charity bars, where profits from food and drinks will be distributed to support good causes. According to Ode, “…pubs should be at the heart of communities rather than just a place to get drunk.”
• Forgive and Prosper: Bill Clinton wrote a piece on forgiveness as a winning strategy, citing Mandela Nelson as an example. Clinton wrote, “Mandela made a grand, elegant, dignified exit from prison and it was very, very powerful for the world to see. But as I watched him walking down that dusty road, I wondered whether he was thinking about the last 27 years, whether he was angry all over again.” Mandela responded, “When I felt that anger well up inside of me, I realized that if I hated them after I got outside that gate, then they would still have me…I wanted to be free so I let it go.” Mandela went off to become a global heroic symbol and the President of the Republic of South Africa.
• Going Green by Getting Dirty: Statistics from the 2006 DC Green Festival at which I volunteered two weekends ago:

• 94% resource recovery: only 6% of our trash went into landfills. (I was one of the garbage-handling volunteers. It was eloquently called the “Green Team.”)
• 25,000 people attended, which is 33% more than last year.
• 514 bicycles were parked at the bike valet.

These are a few sources of inspiration. Who knows if that’ll move you to be the next Charity Bar Owner, Mandela, or Eco Superhero.

But for today, let’s focus on Mandela. He’s a good example of what we can aspire to be in our own little ways. Here is this guy who was imprisoned for a good chunk of time. Got divorced twice. Not a perfect human being by any means. But Mandela, driven with a clear vision for a better South Africa, didn’t stay behind and mope around.

I can say the same for us. We can sit back and say our work is done and decide we deserve a rest. Or, we can move forward as a thriving community, as a living essence of managing many layers of conflict. I don’t have the roadmap, but I have the moral compass to find my way.

I know many of you have that also. I urge you to use it. Put aside all egos and fears and talk among yourselves. Be solution-seekers, not flame-throwers. Be open-minded and refrain from passing judgments and placing assumptions on others. Be proactive and determine your reactions before you act upon them. Most important, be courageous and loving, and love will lead to healing.

A section from Ode:

“Fear places a wedge in our relationships and distracts us from our daily tasks. It diminishes our effectiveness in the world and the contributions we make as humans. Our basic primal desire is to love and be loved; the second is to inspire and be inspired…when we are frightened we cannot lift up anyone else, because frightened people are not inspiring people and when we are frightening, we are not inspiring.”

Over a very long period of time, we have seen a lot of oppression and anger escalating in our community. That’s not normal. It’s consciousness-raising to apply critical thinking in what’s happening around us. As a community, we have a responsibility to be accountable for those actions and words that hurt others. Abdicating that responsibility garners no respect. Absolutely none.

Even though the masses have spoken and the torch they’re carrying is a symbol of bittersweet victory, the future remains uncertain and unwritten. There are no victors in this conflict. But, like Mandela, we now have this opportunity and vision for a better deaf America.

It is easier to stay behind, to hide, and to look the other way. I know I would rather run in the other direction than to endure this kind of transition hell. And yet, I am stubborn. I’m hopelessly in love with this community. It is because of this that I am inspired to see us take this chance to rebuild our future, to recreate what it means to be deaf Americans. We cannot go back to what we used to be. We are forever changed. We have this tremendous responsibility and rare opportunity to ascend ourselves from what we were to what we can become.

One last thought from our friend Ode: “…motivation is a relationship between personalities, while inspiration is a relationship between souls.” See, love comes from being open and honest. It is also being brave to be ridiculed, to be criticized, and to be judged. There’s freedom in doing your own thing and doing it right. Look within yourselves and decide, “Am I motivated to do this? Or am I inspired to make a difference?” Think of your comment before you click that Enter key. Think of your action before you act.

It’s time to love.

Elizabeth Stone, a San Diego native and once-a-year novice surfer, resides in Capitol Hill and is a proud ZipCar user. Happily endorses Metro as the main mode of transportation around the city. Has a serious French fry addiction but has enough willpower to eat them sparingly. Currently works as a development officer at Gallaudet University. Alma maters are the Rochester Institute of Technology with Bachelors in Social Work and American University with Masters in Public Administration.

Not only does the Washington Post Express read DeafDC.com Blogs they read our comments too! “The Blog Log” in today’s Express featured the following quote by DeafDC.com commenter Virginia L. Beach:

“Although I have not had a chance to see this victory video at this time…I have to agree. Sometimes victory is better celebrated with humility.”

A commenter on DeafDC.com Blog says that the victory Gallaudet University Students achieved with their protests was soured when twos student leaders chugged beer following Sunday’s news that the appointment of incoming President Jane Fernandes had been terminated.

To see the Blog Log quote, download the file here and go to page 32 (Warning, this is a big file! It will take some time to download).

Virginia L. Beach’s comment refers to the following snapshots from DeafRead’s video coverage of the victory celebration:

Tent City Mayor Chris Corrigan slamming a bottle in front of a cheering crowd.

Corrigan with FSSA leader LaToya Plummer chugging together.

Celebrating Dr. Jane Fernandes’ termination.

There’s more! Eyeth Studio covers this “debauchery” complete with photographs of piles of spent beer cans and glasses along with a really really long beer bong!

Sunday night, I sat down to dinner at a Thai restaurant in Eastern Market with two of my friends. The waiter had just served my dinner, a vegetarian glass noodles dish, and I was about to dig in when I felt the vibration of my Sidekick. I’d been waiting for it all day, really all month. The Board of Trustees had just met to decide whether or not to continue supporting their appointment of Dr. Fernandes. I didn’t think it could turn out good. Nothing seemed to get through to them. I didn’t have any hope. From the start of the protest, I was deeply disappointed that no one from the Board or the administration tried to listen to the protesters or even showed the slightest sign of interest. There was madness at Gallaudet and no one seemed to care.

Earlier that morning when I woke up, I had intense feelings of sadness and frustration. My life has been completely disrupted for the last month. I haven’t attended classes regularly. I’ve barely worked more than five hours at my job. I’ve been walking the campus helplessly in a daze. I’ve been checking email, blogs, the news obsessively. I didn’t think anything good would come out of all of this and began wondering if there were any point to it all. How many more buildings would the protesters take over? How many more students would be arrested? How many more would get hurt? How many more negative news reports would I have to read? How many more tents would I have to see on my way through the front gate? How many more conversations would start with “So the protest…”? I couldn’t take much more of it.

When I felt my Sidekick go off at the dinner and I read the statement from the Board of Trustees, “Gallaudet’s Board of Trustees votes to terminate Dr. Jane Fernandes appointment as president,” I didn’t have much hope. I kept thinking “Of course, they’re going to stick by their decision. They won’t let a ‘mob of dissenters’ overtake their decision. They won’t give in.” I had to read the email over and over before the word “terminate” finally sunk in. Jane’s gone? They’ve decided to terminate her? With a spurt of energy, I waved over the waiter and asked for a box for my uneaten vegetarian glass noodles. I wanted to go to Gallaudet and celebrate with everybody else.

On the way over in my friends’ car, I forwarded the announcement to anyone and everyone I could think of. Replies poured in instantaneously. One of my friends responded “Ugh.” I replied, “What do you mean?” He told me, “This protest wasn’t about Jane. While I’m glad she’s out, I have a sinking feeling about what’s gonna happen next.” He’s right in a way. This protest unveiled a great many issues that people are going to need to resolve. A better administration. A more appropriate communication policy. More sensitivity towards diversity and international student issues. It’s not going to be easy. People are already tired from the protest and, like Allison Kaftan said in her recent blog, they want their lives back. Are they going to be able to keep the same fire we’ve seen in the protesters the last few weeks? Are they going to be able to get to what really matters?

When I got to Gallaudet toting my box of vegetarian glass noodles, everyone I encountered gave me a big hug and uttered some exclamation, “Wow!”, “We did it!”, “Yes!”, “Pah!”, “Can you believe it?” The spirit was contagious and I started to feel better. Those feelings of sadness and frustration I had earlier in the morning were being diminished and replaced with hope. It may be silly to give in to such irrational and premature feelings. I’ve seen enough to understand that it’s difficult to change the system, and most people are just too indifferent to try. But I like this feeling of hope, I think I’ll hold onto it.

The Spirituality of Gallaudet

Okay folks, I’m coming out…out of the broom closet, that is. I am about to make a confession which while known to some of my friends and peers, isn’t exactly public information.

I am a Deaf Pagan…a Deaf Witch (Perfect timing for such a confession, eh?).

To be more precise, I am a Third Degree Wiccan High Priestess – to the best of my knowledge, the first and only culturally Deaf woman here in the United States to hold such a title.

Why do I mention this? Because as a practicing Pagan and a member of the Deaf Culture, I have found myself often fascinated by the parallelisms that exist between these two communities. Granted, there are some major differences between the two which have caused clashing at times; but nevertheless, putting such differences aside, as I study the history and the struggles of both the Deaf Community and the Pagan Community, I find a number of commonalities that we could share and learn from one another.

These commonalities particularly surfaced over the past few weeks, as I would read the various blogs posted in regards to the protest at my alma mater, Gallaudet University. As I struggled to better understand the issues behind this protest, and the actions taken by both the administration and the GUFSSA, I found myself going back to the teachings of my spiritual path for guidance.

And in doing so, I think I have come to a deeper appreciation of just what this protest was really all about.

Perhaps the greatest insight came from the writings of one of the Pagan Community’s best-known and well-respected leaders – Starhawk. She is the author of many books about Witchcraft – including the classic publication The Spiral Dance…considered a must-read in the Pagan Community. But it is one of her other books that I wish to quote from, a book which I feel really hits home with what happened at Gallaudet. This is a book entitled Dreaming the Dark, which was first published in 1982. It’s a well written book, and as one reviewer stated, “should be required reading for anyone involved in social justice activism.” Starhawk knows of what she writes – she has been involved in many different protests over the past 25+ years, and arrested on several occasions. She has written of such experiences in a number of her books, including this one.

In the epilogue to Dreaming the Dark, Starhawk explains that

this is a book about bringing together the spiritual and the political.

BAM! Right then and there, I suddenly understood. At the heart of the matter, the Gallaudet Protest was about bringing together the spiritual and the political. The Protest was a crossroads where paths of spirit and action joined together to create a single trail that many (although not all) members of the Deaf Community felt compelled to follow.

Now, when I talk about the spiritual, I am not referring to religion. I’m not talking about which church you attend, or what God you worship.

Rather, I am talking about the spirituality of Deafhood – of the thoughts and beliefs and ideas and concepts and struggles and dialogue that define a process by which Deaf people identify themselves and their existence in the world. It is this spirit of Deafhood that defines the Deaf community, a community which has looked to Gallaudet as a symbol of such spirit for nearly 150 years.

Defining the spirituality of Deafhood might cause one to conclude that the Protest was indeed all about the debate of “not Deaf enough.” On the surface, this might seem to be the case, but if we explore deeper, we find that the issues go much further than that. At the heart of the matter is not the question of what is Deafhood, but rather what one chooses to do with it. The individuals of Gallaudet University must ask themselves – “now that I know what I believe, what do I do with it?” That is not such a simple question…nor does it have any simple answers.

What makes Dreaming the Dark such a challenging book for many Pagans is that it presents a harsh but honest ethic: that if you believe in and follow the Pagan Path, your spirituality will demand that you act, and work to bring about change. And change is never an easy thing to deal with.

By the same token, the GUFSSA was confronted with that demand to act, and that need to bring about change. It is a need that is linked to a growing realization amongst many of its members that the world of oppression, the world of domination, cannot sustain our inner lives, nor our lives in community with each other.

The context by which Starhawk brings about such change is political activism. However, she is quick to point out that activism

…tends to involve the risk of bodily harm or incarceration…and to put one into contact with extremely unpleasant people, whether they are media interviewers, riot cops, or at times, your fellow activists. Not only that, it generates enormous feelings of frustration and rage…

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? 135 individuals were arrested on Black Friday; there were allegations of harassment by members of the Gallaudet DPS; conflicting information was fed to the media, with the result that news stories often contained inaccuracies; members of the Deaf Community traded angry barbs with one another as they expressed thoughts regarding the protest; and certainly emotions are ran high during the time.

So why would anyone in their right mind want to engage in such behavior?

Because if we look at this recent situation from that spiritual perspective, from that whole sense of the spirituality of Deafhood, the spirituality of Gallaudet University itself, then we must acknowledge that spirituality isn’t always about feeling good. Spirituality is also about challenge and disturbance, about pushing our edges and giving us the support to take great risks.

It is a mistaken assumption that spirituality must be about calm and peace, and conflict is thus unspiritual. If this be the case, then the spirituality of Deafhood would insist that we sit back and act like passive victims as we endure oppression, discrimination, prejudice, mistaken assumptions, and downright hostility from an unknowing and sometimes uncaring world.

I highly doubt that any of us could accept such a definition of Deaf “spirituality.” If we did indeed see ourselves as passive victims, there wouldn’t be so many Deaf advocates in the world. Indeed, there wouldn’t have been a protest at Gallaudet back in 1988, and there wouldn’t have been one in October of 2006.

Virginia Beach (the person, not the place!) is known as Reverend Ocean a Wiccan High Priestess and ordained Pagan Clergy. She has spent most of her adult life showing identification to name skeptics, and confusing travel agents while attempting to purchase airline tickets. Although Virginia has lived in the East on a few occasions (including five years as a Gallaudet student), she was born and raised in the Midwest, and currently makes her home there. A lover of all things Celtic, Virginia is saving her pennies with hopes of a trip to Ireland in the near future. When she’s not reading up about the Druids, Virginia can be found browsing in antique shops or buying yet another piece of handmade pottery to add to her already vast collection.