co-exist.

As a budding witch in America, I should be glad I am in a safe place to practice a belief variant without being persecuted for it. I am grateful that I am free to progress in my practices but not in the way that country-wide law entails other belief systems to co-exist to me. So let’s talk about co-existing.

I mentioned that I was raised Baptist in a Black family. There are elements of that practice that embody some of my heritage. I appreciate that religious space for keeping some of those cultural ties alive to this day. It was the space I learned to pray and give praise. It put the joy of dance as a place of worship for the deities. What I don’t like is the religious rivalry between the ideals of Baptist and other Christan variants. It bothers me that in this country we feel the need to put belief systems into a competitive space.

I remember hearing about the open homosexual practices in the Catholic faith meeting up with some members of the Baptist space and the individuals in that circle informing the preachers that Baptist reared individuals would be better in bed in addition to being discreet about the need. Ignoring that such secret sexual spaces in the faith should not exist, that pronouncement of inherited competition among the faiths should not be nurtured.

But back to the secret sexual practices for a moment. Many Christian variants of belief have an aversion to sex that is outside of marriage. I abhor this rule as a practice. It is rife with social complications and limitations for sexual exploitation. I acknowledge that removing sexual concerns from my social education did assist me in being myself as it reinforces my own asexuality but my path and unwillingness is not the path for everyone else to seek. So when a religion enforces on avenue to sex, a place to worship the god/goddess in holy union, it is disrespectful to the religion and the worship of union.

What really annoys me about this is how Christianity came into fruition in the first place. It is a religion built on other sexually free spiritual practices. It corrupts the idea of sex as a gateway onto someone’s spiritual path. I recall someone mentioning to me that they felt uncomfortable masturbating because it was deemed dirty. This individual also mentioned that their family members had a photo of the Madonna in their bedroom which enhanced this discomfort. It bothered me personally that this was the path of his thoughts. Why would you not want your sexual union with your lover watched over by the gods? What in the act of ultimate creation makes you not want the gods watching when the act is embodied by the deities in the first place.

How does this go back to co-existing? Well, these other religions still exists under the surface of the Christian facade. These other spiritual practices, the other deities are still embedded in the Christian spaces. They may wear different names and tolerate different faces but they still are there under the surface. When the Puritans came to this land of other aspects of the gods and goddesses, they used their personal belief system to wipe away the well-worn paths and access to the indigenous peoples' magic. And with their new faith systems, built new paths for other gods and goddesses using blood magic.

And as this country evolves, it still lures people with the promise of co-existing as if this country has made spaces for the other deities. We haven’t really.

But then, the politicians don’t talk to the deities of the other faiths.