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Magick IRL: Bending the Proud Necks of the Oppressors

Magick IRL: Bending the Proud Necks of the Oppressors

Last updated on: June 3, 2020 at 3:06 pm by Vincent Higginbotham

Magick IRL: Bending the Proud Necks of the Oppressors 2020-06-03T15:06:20+00:00 Vincent Higginbotham

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“Come, giant Hekate, Dione’s guard,

O persia, Baubo Phroune, dart-shooter,
unconquered, Lydian, the one untamed,
sired nobly, torch-bearing guide, who bends down proud necks,
Kore, hear you who’ve parted gates of steel unbreakable.
O Artemis, who, too, were once protectress, mighty one,
mistress, who burst forth from the earth, dog-leader,
all-tamer, crossroad goddess, triple-headed, bringer of light,
august virgin, I call you.” PMG IV 2714-2725

Riots on the Streets

I was moved to tears over the weekend as I watched a live stream of people looting Walnut street in Philadelphia. For years I called this area of the city my home. To watch as people took baseball bats to storefronts I used to shop in was an emotional moment. It made me angry, to be honest. As I watched people break into a store I had helped build, I was disheartened by my fellow humans.

Then like a flashback I was reminded of watching the same scene play out as a ten-year-old in 1992. I remembered being scared because my parents were. Remembered knowing that riots were happening all over America and on all sides of me because we lived in the Bay Area. In ‘92 the riots were fueled by the same senseless act of violence, only Rodney King didn’t die. His assailants were just set free of the charges for beating him senseless.

I was moved to tears over the weekend. Photo by Fajrul_Falah via Pixabay.

It took a day to set in. By Monday morning I wasn’t angry at the looters any more. Who cares if the Apple store was looted of their displays, or if Lucky Jeans was robbed of all their denim. They have insurance. They were covered. Who isn’t covered is the child playing in the park with a toy gun, the man on a morning jog, the woman in her apartment minding her own business, or George Floyd who was pinned to the ground by a cop’s knee while he contested “I can’t breathe”.

I am angry at the system that was built in order to protect us. I am angry at the people who abuse their power in order to kill men, women, and children who are members of my human family. I am disgusted that even one life is lost because some man in a big White House can’t get his act together long enough to pull his head out of Twitter and focus on the real problems facing our nation.

Because nothing has changed. Nearly 30 years later the brutality of our police system is getting worse.

What If Rich White Straight Men Didn’t Rule the World Anymore

Racism. We shy away from calling it out all the time and that is the problem. I work in corporate America, for one of the largest power tool manufacturers in the world. We have a hierarchy of leaders that allows for a lot of chefs in the kitchen with plenty of lower level people for them to rule over. There are multiple VPs and guess what, not one of them is a person of color.

No one is calling them out. No one seems to be pointing out that there is a systemic inequality to the system we are all buying into. At least not anyone in power is anyway.

Walmarts all over the nation are closing at 3pm right now because they are afraid of being looted. Curfews have been instituted nationwide in large cities for fear that the people who are rightfully rising up might get out of hand. Meanwhile we are six months into a pandemic and it is the looting that is shutting down stores and cities.

Curfews have been instituted nationwide in large cities. Photo by KCB1805 via Pixabay.

A 100,000 people are dead from a virus and the whole time we kept trucking along in our capitalism. But a few hundred stores are damaged and the nation reacts by closing down and boarding up its windows. Because the truth is that rich white men run our country. They care more about the products on the shelves of some store than they do about our lives.

But here’s the thing. They fear us because they know the power we possess when we stand together.

If More People Were Screaming Then Maybe I Could Relax

Magick in real life isn’t about how many crystals we own. It isn’t about how great our altars look or how fancy our herb collections are. Magick in real life is about how authentically we live our truth. It is about how willing we are to stand up for what we believe in. How honest we are being with ourselves. And more than anything, magick in real life is about how willing we are to work for a change.

I am dedicated to a Goddess who goes by many names. She is the torch bearer, the gate breaker, the untamed one. She is the bender of proud necks, the all-tamer, the guide, and the bringer of light. And this is her moment.

Often identified as the Goddess of Witches, Hekate is all around us right now. As cities are burning and corporate America feels the pressure of the downtrodden, she is rising along with us. This is magick, that is where our power resides.

We are not empowered by the statues we purchase on Amazon. Image by margodeco via Pixabay.

We are not empowered by the statues we purchase on Amazon. Instead we are empowered by each other. Sure, I love my iPhone, with all its bells and whistles, but what I love more is knowing that the proud neck of the CEO of Apple is bending when his stores are boarded up. To know that his proud neck is bending under the pressure of the people as we rise up and revolt, that is what gives me joy.

We are one, and our brothers and sisters are dying at the hands of our brothers and sisters. This is disgusting. We have a choice to make right now. We can continue to press and hold our family accountable or we can watch another 30 years go by and see the same scenes play out on this constant loop of senseless murder.

Here is a Strange and Bitter Crop

We are a new generation of Witches, born into a world that has seen the slow but steady liberation of women’s and LGBT+ rights. But somehow we are stagnant when it comes to Black Lives. As Witches we hold in ourselves the power to affect our environment, to change the world around us. I see a lot of us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posting sentiments that speak to the changes we want to see. But that’s not enough.

We need to do more. We have power and collectively we can protect our black family. We have a responsibility in our privilege to do all that we can. Whether it is by surrounding them with protective light or hexing the patriarchy that is bearing down on their necks. We must use our power, we must join forces, enhance the strength of a movement that has been fought for far too long for such little advancement.

We are a new generation of Witches. Image by Simons41 via Pixabay.

We are the new crop, the strange fruit, and it is up to us to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those who would see our sibling’s demise.

Rally ‘Round the Family With a Pocket Full of Shells

The Strawberry full moon is upon us. It is called this because it was said to be the best time for picking wild strawberries. The strawberry symbolizes purity, decency, righteousness, and nobility. This full moon coincides with an eclipse and it is said to help you learn to become the best version of yourself possible.

Full moon magick isn’t a new idea to us Witches so I propose a call to action. On this night, at a time when our powers to manifest are at their highest, let us rally around our family. We can harvest this bitter crop and feed it to the powers that be that do not believe that #blacklivesmatter. I say we culminate all our energy, all our gifts, and send it straight down the throats of the patriarchy that prefers money over livelihood.

Let’s force-feed the anguish black lives have known for far too long. Individually we manifest all sorts of things successfully, money, jobs, book deals, love. The collective power of our magick can surely create the change so many of us want to see. Fires raged in Australia and a world of Witches worked on creating rain. A virus is ravaging our planet and sigils have been created to protect and heal the populace.

We all thought 2020 was going to be great and honestly it is, because look at our community. We continue to come together to merge our magicks for the sake of the world. And this month it is time to do it again. Protect our brothers and sisters, stomp out the ruling regime that marginalizes our loved ones, stand up against the capitalists who want our money regardless of the lives lost, and send out the magick within you to see the system fall so that a new one can rise. One that we can manifest as well.

The collective power of our magick can surely create the change so many of us want to see. Image by Skitterphoto via Pixabay.

Protect our human family because this village is made up of all sorts of members. Some of us are on the front line being tear-gassed, others are behind a screen cheering them on. In the end it will take every one of us to make a difference. The only real question here is, will you contribute to the revolution or sit on the sidelines and watch the rest of us do the work?

This fight doesn’t belong to only the black lives. It belongs to all of us. We are all responsible for the well-being of our family and it is time to take action.

This article is inspired by the following songs:

April 29 1992 by Sublime

Rich, White, Straight, Men by Kesha

My IQ by Ani DiFranco

Strange Fruit by Nina Simone

Bull on parade by Rage Against the Machine

Please follow me on Instagram @vincent_higginbotham

About Vincent Higginbotham

When Vincent was eight he knew he wanted to be a writer when he grew up. After a decade living on the streets he went to college at The Art Institute of Philadelphia where he received a BS in Industrial Design. He isn’t using his degree at all. Instead Vincent works in construction as a logistics manager. He has two sons and a handsome husband he loves dearly. Vincent works with Hekate and Hermes in all things magick. He intends to work his way into a full-time writing career. You can read more about the author here.

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