Paulie Rainbow

The healing power in the fullness of our inheritance

In the magical community we spend a lot of time looking for the ancient ways. We're fascinated by the archaeological evidence of folk magic, and seeming religious icons carved tens of thousands of years ago. There are entire groups that investigate the interpretations of Minoan wall murals, prolific writers who provide translations of poetry written in obscure, dead languages. We have access to instructional videos on the stitching techniques of the Vikings. 

We're not alone in our look back. At home DNA testing kits have been selling furiously. We love uncovering a mystery. We love a personal connection to the past. 

Mostly. We also all have preferences, biases that shape what we want to see, protective patterns for viewing what is always an imperfect past, and books, plenty of books that reinforce our chosen frameworks. 

When a specific view of the past helps us to feel secure, provides us with values, and secures our self esteem, it's normal to wonder what good can come out of tearing it up. 

The reason is that those tiny, even stitches, those colorful mural brushstrokes, and those scratches on an ancient stone carving are all the evidence we need to connect with the movement of once-living human hands. We know, perhaps better than other people, that what is done is never erased. That the effects of actions echo forward in time, whether or not people acknowledge or believe in them. 

A great deal of that connection is uplifting and more than we wish is very difficult to face, much less to own. A young person in my community tried to tell me that they knew that "it's unfair that Africans were sold to colonists as slaves." They ticked off historical instances from the last two centuries of this "unfairness" very blithely, feeling safe at the distance of time. They felt very comfortable about being "not racist." And what is more important than that? What is more important than being "not racist" right now, in the present? They asked this of me, a person who spends hours pouring over pictures of carvings and reports of archaeological discoveries related to humans that lived tens of thousands of years ago. 

I know what's in history books. But I'm not in this for the politics. At this moment I'm not looking at tackling racism as being "fair" to Black people for the "unfairness" of the past. That misses the point.

The question is: why is racism important to me as a Druid? Specifically as an Irish Polythesist?

And the answer is because racism violates Truth and Right Judgement. And those are two of the triads I live by. When I violate my triads, it affects me spiritually. I know that from my personal experience, and I know that from the lore. Violating truth and right judgement sweeps away the position and power of the figures at the center of myth, time and time again. All of this is about my spirituality.

So let me start at the top: I don't think "it's unfair that Africans were sold to Colonists as slaves."

It's not unfair. It was, in that moment, a war crime. And like someone who is involved in a death....that involvement affects the spirit.

When I look at a picture of the villages invaded and the evidence that the healthiest, smartest people were taken prisoner...regardless of the morals of the time...I know that that is spiritually wrong. As we look at the attack of the Russians on the people of Ukraine, we know it's wrong. When we wage war to take captives and enslave them, we know that's wrong. When we rob a village, or a country, of its best and brightest, of its young people, warriors, teachers, parents, scientists, we know that's wrong. We think for ourselves, we listen to our guts, we put ourselves into the story and look around.

We look at the stitches of Viking clothes and we see the hands doing the stitching. We see the cut marks on the stone turned into a Goddess and we see the hands doing the carving. 

When I look at the numbers of people who died on the Atlantic crossing and whose bodies were thrown into the ocean... I know that is spiritually wrong.

I inherit that. I don't just inherit ancient Goddesses and warm clothes. I inherit cruelty and disregard. I inherit impulsive anger and poor decisions. I inherit it. 

I have the opportunity to look at that inheritance in my own hands and ask myself: what is right?

When I read about one of my heroes, Thomas Jefferson, and then dig deeper and find that he treated his own flesh and blood as property, that he arranged for them to be sold for profit...I cannot just inherit the Declaration of Independence. I also inherit the inhumanity of not recognizing your own flesh and blood as fully human. 

I inherit that. What shall I do?

As a spiritual leader, how should I speak? What is the truest thing I can say? What is right judgement for me?

I have the opportunity to hold the fullness of my inheritance in my own hands. I take the opportunity to engage in the ritual of witness and acceptance. It is uncomfortable. Who will I be after I accept all that I have inherited? I know for sure I will be more whole. 

So I don't see racism just as what isn't fair for African Americans. I see it as how do I open my eyes to my inheritance. I see it as the opportunity to apply Truth and Right Judgement to the whole of my inheritance, and that will change me, magically, spiritually, maybe even physically. I cannot thrive by applying my most deeply held spiritual values to only a part of me. 

How can I see and connect to the hands that carved an image of the divine thousands of years ago, and fail to see and connect to the hands that tossed the body of a child into the sea? What happens to me when I do make that connection, and how might that change the world? 

The past is real. What has been done echoes through time. I will work with the truth of history as well as I work with the phases of the moon and the seasons of the year. I don't just see the House of our nation, I see the hands that built it. I don't just see the face of our first President, I see your teeth in his mouth. I see your life behind those teeth. 

We, who understand the tides of the moon, the invisible energy fields, we are critically well placed to see the ripples of history, to hold the fullness of our inheritance in our hands, and change the world. 

It is uncomfortable. It is strong. 

Peace of the mountains to you, 

Paulie Rainbow

Founder: Druidry Centered Women's Circle