tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91527354877723016132024-03-08T17:27:14.276-05:00A Crone Speaks OutRamblings and hopefully wisdom from a seventy something life long Pagan woman.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-38378932193295598532024-02-20T16:26:00.000-05:002024-02-20T16:26:48.901-05:00The Third Time is the Charm<p> </p><p style="margin-left: 200px; text-align: left;"><b> by Cathryn Platine</b><br /></p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Over
the course of the twenty two years the Maetreum has been in New York
we have had to start the first time and then start over after what we
called the Insurrection five years in. About three years ago we had
another “Insurrection” by a formally trusted priestess who grew
impatience with me not dying and leaving her in control of
everything. The past five or so entries here have been our response
to the war waged against myself and the Maetreum. I took direct
action last October against the rouge, defrocked ex-priestess and her
married lover. Since then the attacks seem to have stopped.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">It is now time to reboot
the Maetreum yet again. The three other active priestesses live a
distance away from the Maetreum. One in Canada and two others in
Erie Pennsylvania. We need some fresh, young Novicates and the times
almost demand we do a complete reboot to take up the fight for
women’s and trans rights in the face of the rising tide of fascism
all around us.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The first “Insurrection”
took place shortly after we had properly incorporated and the
Maetreum property deeded over directly the the newly incorporated
Cybeline Revivial. We did seek and get a property tax exemption at
that time. The attempt to take over the property was through the
corporate structure by people who had no idea what our structure
actually was. Our organizational model is fairly unique. We are a
consensus based organization and the take over was made trying to use
Robert’s Rules which absolutely no not apply. In a scotched earth
upon that failure, the primary actor of the first Insurrection told
the town we were an illegitimate religion and allowed the town to do
a phoney inspection designed by and with the town attorney to
justify removing our exempt status and refusing for years afterward
to reinstate it in open defiance of New York law.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The second reboot required
us to engage in an eight year long legal battle seeking our equal
treatment under the law. We were forced to go to the highest court
in the State after winning at the Appellate level unanimously. We
won there .unanimously again and this time set a precedence now used
across the country for the legal property rights of minority
religions. At the same time we won the case, we applied for a low
power FM radio license built the station and went on the air with the
nations first and still possibly only, Pagan owned radio station. My
health went to hell, the rouge priestess showed her hand and then
Covid did an absolute number on us.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">At this time we have an
aging former Catskill resort inn, a caretakers house that serves as
the primary studio for the radio station and a fifth wheel
camper/mobile home that has three season water supply, waste hookup
and 30 amp electric service. We have three plus acres of land, and
an outdoor Temple. We have survived the past few years because we
own the property outright so our expenses are exactly that, our
expenses to maintain the property and utilities. At a time when the
cost of housing, especially in our area, is simple out of reach of
regular people, we are uniquely situated to house new Noviciates at
a fraction of the going rate. Living communally is a bit different
than most folks think of but really is just living as a family. You
have your room and you share the other resources such as the kitchen,
common areas and in our case, our large multi media library. You are
expected to respect the personal boundaries of everyone else, which
in retrospect, has been the source of most the past friction along
with not understanding that the whole thing works only if everyone
pulls their weight in the maintaining of the property understanding
that living at the Maetreum is NOT a tenant/landlord situation. The
expected share of expenses is just that, a share of the expenses, not
a rent.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The property is deeded to
the incorporated religion meaning no one or group of individuals can
personally profit from it any in fashion under both State and Federal
law. Both attempts against the property were to try to own it.
That is not possible under our Organizational model.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">If you feel the call to the
Goddess, contact me at firstchurch@gallae.com.</span></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-13650735028323800562023-10-12T15:56:00.067-04:002023-10-17T08:15:41.640-04:00No Good Deed Goes Unpunished<h4 style="text-align: left;"> Boundaries? I Got Your Boundaries Right Here by Cathryn Platine</h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">
</h4><p> </p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
received this email the summer of 2020 a year prior to our removal at
Jeremiah Lennox’s urging of Viktoria Whitaker for lying, abuse and
violation of all three of her oaths of elevation. At the time I
dismissed it but as it turns out I should have paid attention to it.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>KatyaDinnye@protonmail.com</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>8/6/20,
18:34</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>(No
Subject)</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Hi
Cathy. You don't know me but I've heard a lot about you. Victoria
Whitaker talks to everyone about how she is just waiting for you to
die or be put in a home. I was there when she talked on the phone to
a hospital you were in last summer, and she told them you're a pig
and they should not send you to your home because you couldn't take
care of yourself. I've been there when she told my friend that you
stole your house from the people who paid for it by lying to them,
and that she hates you for controlling her and for liking her rapist
because he is your drug dealer. She talks to everyone about you dying
from your heart or smoking or getting too sick to live in the house
you're in, how she will make things better after that. She got really
upset in January when you didn't die in surgery. She brought in a man
to help her, and she says they are planning together to have a house
without you. So maybe you're being played out by people who can't
wait to celebrate your death. Or maybe she just tells big stories
about you and she's a terrible person. I looked you up on the chance
that this might be what's true. If so, I have done the only thing I
can. Good luck to you. I'm not going to write to you any more
and I don't talk to her, but I listen. when she calls my friend. She
doesn't care who hears as long as you don't. She tells everyone.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Sent
with <a href="https://protonmail.com/" target="_blank">ProtonMail</a>
Secure Email.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
was confirmed later in a facebook reply to Jay Stewart, Julie Pousson
stated;<br />
<br />
“<i>Jay Stewart, Vikki’s goal was to wait out
Cathryn and take the place over. She stated this goal to me and to
others. She profited off the losses she caused, and wholly deserves
her fate.”</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Clearly
the man she brought in was Jay Stewart who has now been reported to
his employer, UPS, for his terrorist activities in addition to the
charges made to the FBI initially. The supposed rapist is Barry Lucas
from the Phat Coffee House who not only did NOT rape her but resisted
her unwanted stalking of him at his home after they had consensual
sex that she bragged about to me several times. He is not my “drug
dealer”. Apparently Viktoria was not shy about her plans and hatred
of me while I was totally unaware of what a nasty, vicious, hateful
liar she was. I hate doing so but will probably file a complaint with
the New York tax people about Viktoria's campaign of lies via Jay
which violates several state laws. While Jay has no resources to sue
him for, Viktoria and her actual husband do. I do not even need a
lawyer to file on my own behalf and perhaps I can find one to do so
for the Maetreum as the real world damages are beyond a doubt as this
point and her husband, Gary, is worth at least a million.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
did not want to have to continue to write about this but Jay started
again with false, rambling libelous “reviews of the Maetreum"
on Google business, now joined by “Rennie” (Deborah Graney) a
convicted felon for writing bad checks and who was involved in
firebombing my car and confessed to that in several Facebook
postings!</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We
are now up to an accusation that I stole over a million dollars,
which far exceeds the Maetreum’s total income for it’s entire
history! The average income for the Maetreum a year is around 30 to
35 thousand a year for ALL our expenses including propane, electric,
trash removal, property maintenance and repair and running the
community radio station, which is duly licensed despite Jay’s
repeated lies that it is not. Other than a few donations of under 50
dollars and a concert organized to fund a taller antenna by the Phat
Coffee boys, the station and all it’s expenses has been funded by
the Maetreum. The money raised at the concert went to buying the
antenna which was never raised for lack of volunteers and sits out
back and to pay music licensing fees for the station after asking
those who raised it if that was ok. Once again, the bookkeeping of
the Maetreum dictates that NO ONE gets paid or reimbursed. The money
only flows in one direction and for fourteen years every single penny
went through Viktoria’s hands as treasurer. Literally the only way
any money could be misappropriated would have been if it was stolen
from petty cash on the way to the bank, again ONLY Viktoria did that
as the bank is in Albany and she set up the account herself. I live
on below poverty level social security and most of that money is
deposited directly in the Maetreum bank account as well as the
royalties for book sales from the Cybeline Revival. Every penny ever
in the bank account can be accounted for as for legitimate expenses.
It held up under the attempts of the Town of Catskill to find
anything fishy during our legal action against them.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">These
constant lies are taking their toll as intended. Now I am supposedly
“wanted” in Ohio for contractor fraud. My business went bankrupt
four years prior to my moving to New York and largely due to fraud on
the part of a contractor I sub contracted for and resulting in my
filing a mechanic’s lien against a church that is still active to
this day due to shenanigans pulled in court by the bonding company
and the judge's refusal to rehear the case as ordered to do so by the
appeals court and then dying. I not only did not “flee” Ohio but
after losing my company I worked for four years at pink collar
minimum wage jobs while also engaged in national and local trans
civil rights activism. If I was “wanted” I never heard about it.
Not then, not ever.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
moved to New York after I was disabled in multiple workplace injuries
in order to establish a home for newly transitioned transsexuals to
bootstrap themselves because in those days (and it looks like the
future now as well) you almost always lost everything and everyone in
your life when you transitioned. Along with three other women of
trans history, I put everything I had left into getting the property.
We “stole it” from no one. At one point Jay claimed we cheated
our lawyer…… quite the opposite as a matter of fact. She
literally blackmailed us for additional funds at the end of the case
and then kept all the court costs awarded to us. We never saw a penny
of that money. </span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So,
you ask, why are these people so dead set on destroying my life and
the Maetreum? It’s called boundaries. Viktoria kept adding to our
housing contract for those we took in with every specific violation
of boundaries. It became almost a joke. No one was ever asked to
leave who did not violate several of the rules and were given
multiple chances. Most of the time they were asked to leave at
Viktoria’s insistence! Many of the people such as Rennie and
company she had placed binding spells on that I found while cleaning
out the freezer. Viktoria was the one who invited most of these
people to the Maetreum in the first place. The only one I recall
bringing in was Julie who supposedly was not in need but going to
contribute a full share but never did. Julie was NEVER told to leave,
she set up a situation where social services told her not to return
as recounted in a prior entry here. Whenever I set a boundary on
behaviour or out and out abuse, I became the enemy of these people.
Julie lied about her dog (an exception was made for it) being
housebroken, it was not, and it bit at least five people I know of in
two short months! She never had the funds she promised and her last
act was to attempt to have social services invade what turned out to
be our last Orphan’s Thanksgiving to force me to kick out an actual
woman in need that she herself pushed on me along with Viktoria
again, on Thanksgiving. It was a case of pure karma. I
never told her to exit or whatever version Jay is pushing this week.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Most
of those asked to leave stole from us and mostly myself on the way
out and did damages to the property in the thousands of dollars.
Police refused to take reports in all cases. What I finally learned
from all this is you cannot help people on their way to rock bottom,
only after they hit rock bottom. We never got any funding from any
agency for taking folks in need in and I still do not regret that we
did so but no longer trust my own judgment in doing so in the future.
I was always a happy person, no longer. I am not sure I believe in
the basic decency of people anymore having been shit on so completely
and without end. Jay is taunting me now with “Jeremiah left you”.
More accurately, seeing the unending and extreme harassment, he ran
away before it came to him as well. </span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
a time when some trans folks are fleeing states where their very
existence is being outlawed I now fear taking any of them in because
I have been abused, gaslighted, libeled, slandered, threatened, had
my car firebombed and attempts made to take over our home by
criminals and sociopaths. I now live under siege as a result with
cameras recording around the house and alarms set up to let me know
if anyone comes on the property so I can defend myself if necessary.
I am now 74 years old and going blind, can barely walk and living
alone.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
the property of the Maetreum may not survive me at least I know the
Cybeline Revival will through the work of our youngest priestess who
is becoming a Goddess academic powerhouse and who teaches at a Pagan
Seminary and publishes almost every month.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
keep hoping some <b>sane</b> Goddess women will join me before I pass
so this property and the first Temple to Cybele in 1600 years will
survive. I have dedicated my life to service of others in civil
rights activism and taking in those in need on the meager means I
have had myself. I can barely afford to live at this point and cannot
even get dentures. This is apparently what you get for trying to make
a better world. Frankly I deserve a hellva lot better.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Postscript
10/15/23: They are bombarding the Google business listing
for the Maetreum with personal attacks as fast as Google removes them
for violation of their rules. This is due to my starting
a new Facebook group for trans people feeling the call of the Goddess
and posting it in another Facebook group with rules against the
personal attacks and false accusations they trade in as an attempt to
prevent us from doing anything positive. </span></p>
<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">10/16/23: Today
they started calling in for false wellness checks on me, I just had
two social workers "drop by" because of the anonymous call
in. Word to the wise, done for harassment this is a felony in
New York.</span></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }a:link { so-language: zxx }</style><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }a:link { so-language: zxx }</style></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></h4>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-23099517539162752302023-09-18T10:24:00.002-04:002023-09-18T10:24:51.354-04:00What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been --Part Three, the Insurrection<p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">
</p><h2 align="right" class="western">
by Cathryn Platine</h2><p> </p><p>
</p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
have been writing this series of blog posts so as to leave behind the
facts behind the deranged attacks being leveled against the Maetreum
and myself all over the internet by Viktoria Whittaker and her
psychopath lover, Jay Steward.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria’s
assault on both the Maetreum and myself continues. She somehow
didn’t get her certificate for becoming a third degree Corellian.
She somehow was overlooked getting her Reiki master certificate and
now, despite having been excommunicated from the only Cybeline
Revival for openly breaking all three aspects of her oaths is somehow
an “independent Cybeline Priestess. In fourteen years she did not
contribute a single aspect of ritual, contribute any historical
research and she uses the drumming pattern recovered by Dr. McMahon,
Cybeline chakras I developed and the body of ritual I originated.
Her basic dishonesty is staggering. A normal person forced out of a
Pagan group for breaking their oaths and other crimes, would knock
the dust off their feet and go on their ways especially knowing that
my personal rules of engagement are not to pursue if the matter is
dropped. An egomaniacal sociopath, on the other hand, would do what
Viktoria has done. She mostly uses Jay Stewart as her proxy but make
no mistake, all the things he says come straight from her. I cannot
believe I was so clueless as to not see Viktoria for who she actually
is and it has shaken my own faith in my ability to see people as they
are to the core. It was not until the abuse started and she
admitted she was a liar that I saw her as she is. I had told her for
years one of the few things I could not stand was a liar because they
left you nothing to work with.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria
has sought out any and all people I may have had a conflict with for
my entire life. If she hadn’t recently died, I’m fairly certain
she would have sought out my ex spouse as well looking for anything
that could be spun against me. The people she has allied with are
often felons, mentally unstable people who have been in and out of
mental institutions that we tried to help, drug addicts and the worst
case, Chelsea Goodwin, a pimp of trans crack whores who with her
partner, ran Transy House which was a trans themed crack whore house
in Brooklyn. Many of the street girls from Transy House told me of
how Chelsea would push them out to whore to raise money for her. I
visited Transy House several times after I moved to New York and it
looked exactly like what it was as anyone who ever visited the place
can attest. Out of a misguided desire not to cast a negative image
on that period of trans activism I have not said anything about any
of this for decades now but as part of her alliance with Viktoria,
Goodwin is once again targeting me using her radio show and passing
on out and out lies about what we called “the insurrection”.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pauline
Park, founder of the New York trans activist group, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">NYAGRA
, has written about how Chelsea<a href="https://paulinepark.com/2009/12/27/nyagra-history-1999/" target="_blank"> almost destroyed that </a></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://paulinepark.com/2009/12/27/nyagra-history-1999/" target="_blank">group</a>
and I can attest she used exactly that same game plan on NTAC, the
first grassroot national trans rights organization of which I was one
of the founders. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She
has been notorious in NYC as someone who disrupts for the sake of
disruption and managed to avoid ever having a psych professional
evaluate her despite having “transitioned” and getting surgery
she later expressed regret about in Europe. Psychopaths </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">often
</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">have
a common trait of gender fluidness and in the case of Chelsea this
led to a de-transition to “Chet” for the sole purpose of pursuing
a heterosexual woman as a lover outside her relationship with Rusty
Moore. Chelsea is a self proclaimed vampire. Not the psychic type
but an actual blood sucker. </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She
has left in her wake a series of organizations she destroyed or
attempted to destroy and mentally abused victims that passed through
her hands. She has conned the greater LGBTQ communities of NYC that
Transy House was a housing collective instead of the crack whore
house it actually was.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Which
brings us to Chelsea’s attempt to destroy the Maetreum of Cybele.
Chelsea and Rusty sent many of their mentally ill people up to the
Maetreum for rest for several years while both of them visited on a
regular basis and participated in our rituals and even the Mysteries
of the Season of the Tree. Many of these visitors visibly improved
while here but in all cases, shortly after returning to Transy House
were institutionalized for a period of time. I made the mistake of
elevating her with several others after what would prove to be our
most successful Season of the Tree in terms of participants including
one who came all the way from Australia. Chelsea immediately started
to try to totally disrupt our organization, not an easy feat given we
are consensus based. Transy House was about to be condemned and
Rusty sold it to her son for rehabilitation which meant Chelsea and
Rusty needed a new base of operation. First they tried to remove the
oldest priestesses in Conclave by adding a clause about not active
participation. Then they worked on the lawyer who joined the same
time Chelsea did. We were applying for our 501c3 status at this time
and I had to stop the attorney from screwing the pooch just as she
had done on my own Social Security disability case which cost me
15000 in lost benefits. Rusty never did join officially. The final
step was to move into the Maetreum a totally insane trans person
named Katrina who immediately started a campaign of abuse against me
so bad I was even afraid to venture out to the bathroom. In the
classic abuser pattern, Katrina disconnected my phone, came into my
office room while I was sleeping and completely took my computer
apart so I would be cut off from the outside world. Whenever I did
leave my room she would take hundreds of photos of me trying for
anything to use against me and when I tried to drive off the property
she would jump in front of my car trying to make me hit her. All of this was at the direction of Chelsea. While
all this was going on Rusty hired a lawyer to try to take the
Maetreum over legally. One of the people in on the phone call
recorded it and I have a copy of that conversation where they are
instructed to get me off the property and never let me back on
because they <i><b>had no legal case at all! </b></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">All
of the paperwork incorporating the church, the deed to the property,
the organization model, the tax exempt paperwork and the 501c3 were
prepared and signed by me personally. None of them appeared on any
official document pertaining to the Maetreum and the lawyer knew it.
I went to the State Police requesting they remove these people from
the property and they refused because the fix was already in with the
town of Catskill.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chelsea
personally threatened to carve me up like a turkey and they conducted
illegal Conclaves (as Battakes I was the only person who could call a
Conclave under our organization model). A couple I knew from Ohio
were visiting and saw I was severely being abused and helped me move
temporarily down the street into an apartment fearing for my life
literally.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
year before all this went down we had applied for and was granted
property tax exemption because the property was deeded to the
incorporated church, the Maetreum of Cybele. Having driven me off
the property, Rusty and Chelsea moved in temporarily and discovered
maintaining a 150 year old inn was beyond their ability. Chelsea
then told the Town of Catskill we were a sham religion which led to
an illegal inspection I was left out of and resulted in revoking our
tax exempt status. It took an eight year long legal battle and
almost 100 grand in legal fees to get it back.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chelsea
wrote to others that the entire house was screaming at her to get out
and they did leaving behind a couple of crack addicts and a vicious dog to keep me from
moving back in. I managed to move back into the caretaker’s house
at this time and shortly afterwards the crack addicts fled in fear I
would take legal action against them. It was shortly after this
that Viktoria became involved in the Maetreum during the period of
time we had to rebuild much of what was physically destroyed during
the Chelsea era. Chelsea and Rusty bought a property in Pine Hill
and moved there.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria
was totally aware of what Chelsea, Rusty and Katrina had done even
though she had never met them at that point. That she would ally
with them demonstrated better than anything else the length she will
go to harm the Maetreum and myself even more than the verbal and
physical abuse she aimed at me. I had trusted her completely even to
the extent of making her my medical proxy and the executrix of my
will. It was not until she lost patience in my <i><b>not dying
during open heart surgery</b></i> that I finally had my eyes fully
opened although apparently she was telling many other people she was
just waiting for me to die.</span></span></p>
<p>
</p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
a facebook reply to Jay Stewart, Julie Pousson stated;</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Jay
Stewart, Vikki’s goal was to wait out Cathryn and take the place
over. She stated this goal to me and to others. She profited off
the losses she caused, and wholly deserves her fate.”</i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pay
attention to that part, “she profited off the losses she caused”
which can be taken that she was confessing having stolen petty cash
she was supposed to deposit in our bank account! She did drive off
the women who were priestess tracked undergoing classes during the
Pandemic.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria
even went so far as to hook up with someone she met through Chelsea
named Cynthia Brian Kate, whom I met once fourteen years ago for
about an hour at a trans event at Cauldron Farm. Together she and
Viktoria produced a radio show that was an hour long false accusation
of the Maetreum as a cult and myself as a cult leader. This was not
only broadcast on an Albany community radio station, she then
uploaded it to the entire Pacifica network distribution site! It
was eventually taken off that site but the damage was done. Just in
the past day of this writing Jay Stewart put up a libelist review on
the Google Business listing for the Maetreum falsely accusing me of
actual crimes and running a radio station without a license. This
is why I have posted these last three blog entries. Not out of spite
but as a self defense having waited over two years for these “people”
to finally stop their insane, transphobic and religious bigoted
attacks and to leave a record behind if something happens to me.</span></span></p>
<style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">h2 { margin-top: 0.14in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid }h2.western { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: bold }h2.cjk { font-family: "Noto Sans CJK SC"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: bold }h2.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Devanagari"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: bold }p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }a:link { color: #000080; text-decoration: underline }</style></p>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-52619687132342363582023-09-12T13:23:00.011-04:002023-09-18T10:25:57.305-04:00 What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Part Two<h2 style="margin-left: 320px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> by Cathryn Platine</b> </span></h2><h2 style="margin-left: 320px; text-align: left;">
</h2><p align="left">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
the past couple of years both the Maetreum and myself have been under
an almost never ending assault. That is why I am writing about our
dirty laundry at this point because we now need to rebuild from
almost scratch yet again and one can only be bullied just so much
without having to strike back.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Over
the years most of the people we have had major problems with have not
been those who came to us for religious reasons. Chelsea Goodwin was
the primary exception to that and more on her later. Jay Stewart’s
connection was sleeping with Viktoria. Now both of them are married
to other folks but I guess I am old fashion about that sort of thing.
What I did not know about Jay at the time was his long long history
of anti-social behaviour bordering on sociopathy. Recently I posted
on Facebook about the social differences between those, seeing the
pizza is limited, take one piece and those who take three for the
same reason. Jay would take the entire pizza. I learned he had been
known by others for phone harassment of others for years on end. Not
having any legitimate connection to me or the Maetreum, he apparently
has set his new life goal at the total destruction of my reputation
and the Maetreum itself all on behalf and the urging on by Viktoria
Whittaker.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
spring of 2020 was the year of covid. Leslie moved out of the
Maetreum due mostly to the unending harassment by Viktoria and
others. I did NOT ask her to leave. Shortly afterwards Frodo and I
were awakened after dark by the sound of several explosions. They
were the tires on my car exploding after it was firebombed in the
driveway. My car had not been even driven for several months at that
point, probably had a dead battery and the point of origin of the
fire was easily seen as the interior directly over the gas tank.
The fire chief declared it an electrical fire which would have made
it the very first Honda CRV to catch fire for any thing except the
window switch in history. He flat out refused to do an
investigation. So did the State Police. The very first comment on
Facebook came from Debby Graney aka Rennie Yenarg who then posted
elsewhere of her fear of being connected with the fire. I am almost
certain she was involved in the firebombing from comments she made.
My mother died two weeks later.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rennie
(Debbie) and her husband Bruce got involved with the Maetreum solely
on the basis of her being a Facebook witch. She never once attended
any religious service or even went down to our Temple. She, instead
“held court” on our front porch and arranged events for herself
we were expected to pay for. Both Rennie and Bruce turned out to be
convicted felons. Ironically, although neither Rennie nor Bruce
ever attended any of our rituals, their dog did several times. Rennie
is notorious on Facebook as a spammer, stalker, and hacker of
accounts. I had asked her to leave one night after she had been
asked not to come over when Mandie, a young woman we had taken in
with her two kids, had a miscarriage scare and asked me to tell her
not to come over. Apparently that was all that was needed to make
me enemy number one in her book. By the way, the dog, who Bruce had
crippled as a pup with a lawn mower, got revenge on both of them. He
dragged Bruce over a ledge and Bruce broke his leg in three places
and a few weeks later tripped Rennie in the middle of the night and
she broke her collar bone. After being asked to stay away from the
Maetreum Rennie started a “secret” Facebook group trashing the
Maetreum where she sought out several individuals we had to ask to
leave for violating the rules of the house and in one case, actually
posing a real and present danger to Mandie’s kids.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
the record, Rennie and Bruce were two of the 18 + people Viktoria had
magically “bound” using my mirror spell which I discovered after
cleaning out the freezer and finding the spells. Apparently Viktoria
overused this spell quite a bit! Rather than leave peacefully, when
Viktoria was finally removed from the Maetreum she immediately, as
within hours, launched attacks on myself and the Maetreum. She
shared literally every intimate detail of my life she had learned
over the course of 14 or so years and shared it all on Rennie’s “I
hate the Maetreum” private email group and directly with Jay. She
actively sought out everyone who had been asked to leave the Maetreum
in the past 14 years, most of whom she herself actually wanted
removed! At her direction, Jay started a campaign of accusing me of
stealing funds from everyone, Jay phoned in a threat to destroy the
Maetreum and the radio station from a Stewart’s sandwich shop and
left it as a message which I still have. We called the shop and
verified they had a security camera that filmed him in the act and
Jeremiah called it in to the FBI. The accusation of misuse of funds
is particularly phony given that the Maetreum has a policy of no one
being paid or compensated under any conditions and all cash being
deposited in the bank account. Viktoria was the treasurer for almost
a decade and, as a result, every single penny went through her hands
including all the petty cash! She and Jay also claimed I “stole”
all the money over the course of sixteen years she contributed as
part of her shared expenses for running the Maetreum. That is like
saying a landlord stole all your rent money you paid while living in
their apartment.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria
and Rennie and Jay started a campaign of terror against me personally
threatening to “out” every supposed secret I had, vicious emails,
deadnameing me (using my birth name), threatening and harassing
messages on Facebook, comments on almost every public posting I made,
false reviews of my book, additional phone calls. All this continues
to this day. But the cream of this crop was Viktoria sought out
Chelsea Goodwin to be an ally. They even collectively picketed the
Maetreum when we were trying to organize a post covid Season of the
Tree celebration a year ago. We had to cancel that at the last
minute due to the pandemic not being over but they did not know that.</span></span></p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Which
brings us to Chelsea Goodwin. </span></span>
</p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To
be continued:</span></span></p>
<h2 style="margin-left: 320px; text-align: left;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></h2><p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-28097085953447250392023-09-09T12:34:00.039-04:002023-09-18T07:41:11.764-04:00What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been<p> </p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>by </b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cathryn Platine</b></span></span></p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
has been quite some time since I have been writing or sharing much
of anything and a LOT of weird water has passed under the bridge. On
Facebook my posts have mostly been restricted to political re-posts
and the cute animal shares and for a good reason. I suffered a major
health crisis the spring of 2019 following getting a pacemaker the
first of the year. Instead of improving my health, it caused my
health to go down hill. Apparently the cheap Medicare approved two
wire model interfered with the electrical rhythm for part of my heart
and I put on, by early June, 60 lbs of edema water weight.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
the time a younger couple from NYC had started to stay full time
instead of just frequent visits but the trans partner was very
mentally unstable and as I asked for greater help with chores such as
taking care of the chickens it was resented to the point she came
into my bedroom and screamed at me for over an hour while I was
bedridden. My sister priestess, Viktoria, was not picking up any of
the slack on her weekend visits either. As a result of them not
cleaning the coop and keeping the chicken feed in the vermin proof
containers, we got a rat infestation for the first time after having
chickens for almost seven years prior to that. It was also the
first time since the insurrection of 2007 that I did not feel safe in
my own home.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
my health declined, I turned my bedroom into an efficiency apartment
of sorts. I had a microwave, small freezer, small refrig and a
breakfast cooking station complete with a griddle and coffeemaker.
The ladies bathroom with directly outside my door so that as also not
an issue but by the end of May I was, practically speaking,
wheelchair bound for anything off the property. Finally I got a
doctors appointment and was told to check into the hospital that day.
My cardiologist worked out of St. Peter’s in Albany so that is
where I was taken. I was put on IV diuretics, practically lived on
the can and peed out sixty lbs of water in two weeks. At that point,
one of the nurses, ignoring my request she not do so, examined my
genitals. I don’t discuss is, but I am intersexed and when I had
down there surgery, remained so. She freaked out and got two aides
and immediately rushed me out of the room I had been in for two weeks
with other women. I mean immediately, like five minutes notice.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
was confused at first but then realized what had just happened. I
complained and asked for a supervisor. I got an apology but the
nurse wasn’t even disciplined at all despite the non discrimination
notices everywhere you looked. Rev. Jeremiah Lennox was visited at
the time I was rushed to a private room and basically read them the
riot act on my behalf.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
I was in the hospital, Viktoria was supposed to bring me needed
personal items since her Albany home was only ten minutes from the
hospital and she was still doing her weekends at the Maetreum.
Apparently this was asking too much and I waited up to a week for her
to “get around” to bringing me underwear, my incontinence pads
and pj bottoms among other things of a personal nature. Instead of
cleaning up the chicken coops, she gave away our chickens and adopted
ten feral cats from NYC to take care of the rats. She proved unable
to even pay the bills despite her having been the treasurer for about
seven years at that point and I had to run the radio station remotely
from my hospital room. I spent my 70’th birthday alone in the
hospital. Later I was to learn from several sources that Viktoria
was counting on my not surviving my open heart surgery and was
extremely resentful that I did. She had even printed up business
cards for herself as Battakes of the Maetreum!</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
was hospitalized for just over a month and had two more transphobic
encounters with staff during that time. I demanded release and came
home mostly confined to my bedroom with no one else in the house
except Viktoria on the weekends and my cat Frodo, his brother Gandy
having died shortly before my hospitalization. Despite having lived
at the Maetreum full time for a two year period in the past,
apparently it was too much to ask she do so again for a couple of
weeks as I started to recover some of my strength. I did have a
visiting nurse for a couple of weeks, twice a week for an hour or so.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Unable
to do much those first few weeks, Viktoria continued to produce the
Phat Coffee House show on the weekends. Keeping these guys from
turning our studio into a party house had always been as challenge
but Viktoria let them run totally wild and then turned around and
lied to me about it to my face. Eventually it got so bad we had to
cancel their show altogether.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
a Conclave, all the active priestesses had agreed that we would stop
taking in any charity housing women for the immediate future. We
had been burned badly by a succession of users who trashed the
property and stole from us on the way out. A woman from Texas, who
was a FB friend for several years but I did not really follow,
approached me about moving to the Maetreum on a full shared expenses
basis. Seeing an advantage of someone living with me full time and
pulling their own weight during the winter, I asked the other
priestesses and was given the go ahead. Big big mistake. She
promised she was not into drama at all which should have been a red
light. She turned out to be the drama queen champ of all time and
upon her arrival, I knew I had made a huge mistake. Her housebroken
dog wasn’t. The dog got out and I spent the first four hours of
her arrival searching the grounds “before a bear ate her”. She
and Viktoria bonded immediately over metal music, smoking too much
dope and sleeping with the guys doing their radio show. Having
committed to contributing a full share of expenses (600 @ month)
Julie immediately announced that due to unexpected travel expenses
(someone else drove her up from Texas) she couldn’t make the first
month payment. She did have money for dope a week later. During
the two plus months she was here, her dog bit at leave five people I
know of. Luckily none of them sued us although they could have.
During that time she made exactly one contribution of 500 (not the
agreed on 600) and borrowed money from me personally twice.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
night Viktoria informed me that her friend Beth was coming up with
someone who needed a place to stay. Remember, a Conclave which
included Viktoria, all agreed we were NOT taking in anymore emergency
housing cases. I was forced to sit at the table, with Leslie, the
woman in need, Beth, Viktoria and Julie and keep telling them, no, we
had all agreed not to do this again as a Conclave. Yes, I finally
gave in having been made to feel like the ogre of all time. Leslie
had some serious issues but overall not as bad as some of the
characters we had in the past. But after only a couple of weeks
Julie decided Leslie was going to kill her and all the rest of us in
our sleep. She was totally irrational about it. She had nothing to
base this on. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
more than fifteen years we held what we called Orphans Thanksgiving
every year for folks who didn’t have family or were estranged from
family or just wanted to join us in a Thanksgiving celebration. 2019
was the last one. The night before, while several of us went out to
dinner, Julie decided she was going to have a medical emergency and
called Viktoria to leave the dinner early and take her to the
hospital. We had a houseful of guests either already there or
arriving the next day. Julie told the social worker at the hospital
she did not feel safe at the Maetreum because of Leslie in an attempt
to force me to throw Leslie out on Thanksgiving. This prompted a call
to me from social services who were going to come and investigate
<i>while I had a houseful of guests</i>. I explained the situation
and as a result she would not be allowed by social services to return
to the Maetreum and got a free hotel room. I never told her to
leave, she maneuvered herself into the position of not being able to
return out of a mean spirited attempt to force someone else out.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanksgiving
day I was doing most of the prep work, still recovering from my heart
surgery and getting wore out. Viktoria started yelling at me as I
tried to go up to my bedroom to lay down and followed me upstairs
into my bedroom screaming at me about Julie and Leslie. She would
not stop. Downstairs we had a full house of guests. Once again, I
felt totally unsafe in the very home I had founded. My heart
condition, commented on by several people at the time, aggregated by
Viktoria’s assault, left me cyanotic from the lack of circulation.
Two months later I had to have another surgery to replace my bottom
of the line pacemaker with a better one. Apparently, according to a
couple of anonymous emails I received, I was once more expected to
die by Viktoria who apparently was telling a large number of people
that she was just waiting for me to die so she could take over the
Maetreum! The prior entry here “For the Record” contains the bare
bones account of why Viktoria was removed from the priestesshood the
following summer. In a facebook reply to Jay Stewart, Julie Pousson
stated;</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Jay
Stewart, Vikki’s goal was to wait out Cathryn and take the place
over. She stated this goal to me and to others. She profited off
the losses she caused, and wholly deserves her fate.”</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viktoria
had met Jay (John) Stewart at the funeral of Randy Ripley, a long
time friend of mine and operator of the community radio station in
Woodstock. Jay had been a long time hanger on to the trans
communities with a reputation as a user and harasser via phone of
other individuals. The fall before my heart surgery, Viktoria had
invited Jay and his wife to our Yule celebration and dinner. Jay’s
wife, Cheryl, openly insulted me <b>while I was giving our meal
blessing</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">. Jay went on to get
totally orc-faced drunk that evening. Afterwards I discussed the
behaviour with Viktoria and made it crystal clear that Cheryl was
never to come back and I was not happy about Jay being coming by as
well especially since neither of them was Pagan, let alone Goddess
oriented. Viktoria started sleeping with Jay and meeting him at the
Maetreum on the Sunday of her weekend visits. As a result, what
little work around the Maetreum Viktoria had been doing was replaced
with her leaving me a sink full of her dirty dishes every weekend and
Jay eating any food available I had for the following week.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
fall following my surgery several folks had cut and split a large
amount of firewood for use during the winter. We partially heat with
wood from a cookstove I had bought the Maetreum many years before.
Jay took it all. Following the disastrous Thanksgiving, there having
been no leftovers, that Satur</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">day
I cooked another turkey for Leslie and I to have for the following
week. Jay came by on Sunday and ate most of it and took the rest. T</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">o
be clear, I survive on a below poverty level social security income
and was also helping Leslie with food. Jay had been joining Viktoria
in passive aggressive sniping at me plus refusing to use the mens
room toilet, instead the stall I used and leaving the seat up on
purpose. I finally had enough and told Viktoria I did not want him
in my home any longer.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">T</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">o
be continued:</span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p><p><style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-83967135319628987612023-03-27T13:23:00.010-04:002023-05-12T12:14:51.857-04:00For the Record<p>It has been some time since I last posted on this blog. I am now 73 years old with a bionic heart (two artificial valves and a pacemaker) and the Maetreum has suffered, as much of the rest of organized religions from the worldwide Covid pandemic. We have been unable to hold a Season of the Tree celebration since the spring of 2019, shortly before my heart surgery. Orphan's Thanksgiving was last held the fall of that same year.</p><p>While we continue to hold regular Full and New Moon celebrations, attendance is sparse. We attempted to have a Season of the Tree last year but the outbreak of the Omicron variant led us to cancel at the last moment. During the pandemic, the summer of 2020, we took advantage of the summer weather to have many weekends working on the property and priestess training for three novitiates. We started to do the same the summer of 2021 but ran into major trouble with one of our priestess, Viktoria Whittaker. We had to remove her for egregious violations of all three aspects of her oath of elevation. From that time forward she has sought out everyone ever at odds with the Maetreum and myself and waged war on us.</p><p> Lately she and her married lover, Jay Stewart, have been accusing me online of stealing the funds of the Maetreum and from her. I will quickly address that. During the time she claims I was stealing the funds, she was the treasurer and <b>every single penny including cash </b>passed through her hands. As per our organizational setup, no one gets any money from the Maetreum, period. No reimbursements, no salary, no purchases on their behalf. I ran my own business for many many years and learned that for a non profit, this is the only way to make yourself bullet proof and it was borne out during our court battle. She and Jay, her lover, are also claiming I stole 100 thousand from Viktoria in contributions. Lets look at that one square in the face. She maintained the Maetreum as her primary residence and part time residence for the entire run of her priestesshood. We all pay part of the expenses of running the property, suggested until recently at about six hundred a month to cover utilities, upkeep, garbage removal etc. She paid her share most months (not all) and claiming that money was somehow stolen is the same as saying the landlord of the property stole all the rent you paid while you lived on their property.<br /></p><p>Rather than give my own account of what led up to Viktoria's removal I am including the letter she got initially, the report to the entire Conclave of priestesses from Jeremiah Lennox and the letter removing her completely. They speak better than I can. I have waited almost two years for her insane war to end but she just steps it up so this is the record in case something happens to me.</p><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbs5FzOKBzi0plBVCogjPL4wZiPNgWgT6-6b1bETAus3smpoNxFFEBuOccWEZH7UOxWAiAMspQxtSmFkJvRGPW8XDCt7DZCHTc2_XgXOaiJTGvb30EprOSsfthfHErw8hcRDZH_FLf56C1wnbO8yMk3JY-JAaou8E2obiZ_l5bWB9_qD_ALPW-wfh/s1100/Official%20Battakes%20Notification%20Viktoria2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="850" height="777" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbs5FzOKBzi0plBVCogjPL4wZiPNgWgT6-6b1bETAus3smpoNxFFEBuOccWEZH7UOxWAiAMspQxtSmFkJvRGPW8XDCt7DZCHTc2_XgXOaiJTGvb30EprOSsfthfHErw8hcRDZH_FLf56C1wnbO8yMk3JY-JAaou8E2obiZ_l5bWB9_qD_ALPW-wfh/w601-h777/Official%20Battakes%20Notification%20Viktoria2.jpg" width="601" /></a></div><i>Rev. Jeremiah Bruce Lennox, OMM </i><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Chapterhouse of the Ordo Magna Mater </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Care of Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>3312 Route 23A </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Palenville, New York 12463 </i></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><i>Regarding Viktoria Whittaker, Former
Priestess of the Catskill Phrygianum</i></h3><p><i> 7
th July 2021</i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><i> OVERVIEW</i></h4><p><i> Over the course of the preceding two years, since shortly after the hospitalization of the Battakes,
I have served Mrs. Whittaker in the capacity of spiritual director, with both the blessing of the
Battakes and Mrs. Whittaker’s willful agreement. Given recent developments regarding Mrs.
Whittaker’s change of status within the Catskill Phrygianum and the Cybeline Revival as a whole, I
feel compelled to submit this report regarding my work with and observations of her for formal
review by the Conclave. I would also note that I have rescinded my role as spiritual director for
Mrs. Whittaker and have, as of this date, made it abundantly clear through direct text messaging
that I am unwilling to serve as a “go-between” for any communications she may wish with the
Battakes, the College of Priestesses, or any other business of the Maetreum despite her repeated
requests for such action.</i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><i> PAST ACTIONS AND DERELICTION OF DUTY </i></h4><p><i>1. At the time of the Battakes’ hospitalization, Mrs. Whittaker held the informal title of
‘Battakes-in-Waiting’ and as the only priestess at that time living within the State of New
York, it was not only her duty to step up in sacred service but an absolute necessity for
both the well being of the Battakes as well as the well being of the Maetreum.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Whittaker was either incapable or prevented from stepping up to meet
that moment, depending upon which version of the story she chooses to tell. During the
course of my tenure as her spiritual director, I have heard several variants of the story. In
the instance of being “incapable”, she has blamed her diagnosis of autism as the reason
that she could not tend what needed tending (that being bringing supplies to the Battakes
in the hospital, maintaining the Maetreum and its rites, and the business dealings of the
Maetreum, such as paying the bills- noteworthy is that she was also entrusted as the
treasurer at that time) because she was simply overwhelmed and could not rightly
process what needed doing, and thus almost nothing was properly taken care of. In the case of her being “prevented” from doing so, Mrs. Whittaker blamed her husband as he
would not allow her to tend to her duties in a timely or productive manner, and that is why
she was unable to tend to the needs of the Battakes and left the Maetreum essentially
shuttered and uncared for. </i></p><p><i> 2. Following the hospitalization of the Battakes, Mrs. Whittaker provided next to no
assistance to the Battakes during her recovery period except on weekends, leaving a
septuagenarian recovering from major cardiac surgery in the Phrygianum alone (the
building of which is arguably not well set up for such recovery or ease of access for the
handicapped or disabled). This is both a direct dereliction of duty to the Battakes she was
vowed to serve and tantamount to elder abuse. </i></p><p><i> 3. On several occasions, Mrs. Whittaker has admitted to lying to the Battakes in matters
regarding the management of the WLPP-LP 102.9 FM radio station, an extension of the
ministry of the Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc. and another not-for-profit in its own
right. These lies covered issues such as drug and alcohol abuse within the radio station
by persons brought in by Mrs. Whittaker, her own use of alcohol while on air, and her
engagement in an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of the broadcasters. I will
note that the sexual relationship was inappropriate not because of any issues of age or
consent, but rather because she was portraying herself as an officer of the station’s board
and as a priestess of the Maetreum and engaging in a relationship with a person which
ought to have been kept strictly professional for the wellbeing of both not-for-profits. </i></p><p><i>4. Also following the hospitalization of the Battakes, Mrs. Whittaker was stripped of the
informal title of “Battakes-in-Waiting”. Despite that change in status being made
abundantly clear to her on several occasions both by the Battakes and myself, Mrs.
Whittaker continued, until this past week, publicly misrepresenting herself as the
“Battakes-in-Waiting”. Furthermore, she has misrepresented her role with the WLPP-LP
102.9 FM radio station having been publicly referring to herself as both a member of the
board of directors and as the program director, neither of which was accurate as she was
removed from that board in order to serve on another not-for-profit radio station’s board
of directors, and it would have been illegal for her to serve on both. It was only this past
weekend, on the same day that Mrs. Whittaker received the Official Notification from The
Battakes of the Catskill Phrygianum, that she issued her letter of resignation to the
manager of the other radio station. </i></p><p><i>5. As you are aware, following the Battake’s recovery, we have engaged in an intensive
rehabilitation effort to revivify the Maetreum, returning the buildings and grounds to a
state satisfactory for use of worship and community service. This has involved many
work-retreat weekends, bolstered by the Nemeton of the Ways’ community, to see the
work through. Throughout the course of these work-retreat weekends, Mrs. Whittaker
has paid great lip service to being in service, but was continually found wanting in actual
engagement of service. Regularly she avoided participating in any actual rehabilitation work, instead burying herself in the “World of Metal” radio show, something distinctly
lacking in ministerial character. On the rare occasions she chose to participate, or more
frequently was directly told to participate by the Battakes, it was always lackluster and
without any real effort to do the work correctly, which in turn actually hampered the
rehabilitation process. While this does not constitute direct malevolence, it does serve as
character witness indicating that the wellbeing of the Maetreum and service to the Temple
has not been at the forefront of her heart or mind. </i></p><p><i>6. Given that Mrs. Whittaker, during her time as a priestess, engaged in very little actual
ministerial work (the only actual instance I am aware of is a single wedding she officiated
and sought out my advice for), I encouraged her to begin offering the Daily Noontime
Praise. This was one action that she performed admirably with, and to begin with I was
pleased at her follow-through with it, especially considering that any other project given
to her met with almost no follow through. That action served the Maetreum well and
provided an avenue for Mrs. Whittaker to engage in some direct, if minor, pastoral work
through the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, instead of inspiring her
to a life of deeper prayer, meditation, and service, it devolved into what I can only
describe as a severe case of the “High Priestess Olympics” wherein she felt compelled to
constantly spend money on new outfits weekly to show off during the daily praise. While
she is free to spend her money as she sees fit, if wastefully, she continued to engage in
this spending out of vanity while simultaneously claiming that she could not fulfill the full
terms of her monthly contribution for maintaining residence within the Phrygianum.
Neither the vanity nor the shorting of her contributions to the Phrygianum are indicative of
a priestess who is in a healthy, grounded, spiritual mindset. </i></p><p><i>7. During this period, the Cybeline Revival was given a blessed opportunity to reform and
renew in the form of three women who submitted themselves as Novice Sisters with the
blessing of the Battakes. During the course of their novitiate, Mrs. Whittaker on several
occasions spoke with them on topics that were inappropriate for a priestess to be
speaking to a novice about, oftentimes dredging up past traumas and debacles,
oversharing regarding the inner workings of the Maetreum and its past, and with one
novice in particular, bonding in an unhealthy manner over their shared autism diagnosis.
Never did she ever engage in any actual teachings of the tradition, or how to be in service
to the Temple and the People of the Goddess - she remained only mired in base gossip.
Even after the loss of two of the novices, never once did she attempt to step up in service
to teach and inspire the remaining novice. Indeed, even with the remaining novice, Mrs.
Whittaker overstepped boundaries in an unhealthy manner with a woman who, while
having been a congregant of the Maetreum for a decade, she had never once before
acknowledged the commitment, work, and devotion of that novice prior to her novitiate,
only latching onto her and treating her as a person after it became apparent that this
woman was taking meaningful steps towards the priestess-track. Mrs. Whittaker also spoke to a novice telling tales of how the Battakes is a “narcissist and abuser”. On a
recent occasion, having recognized that she herself had overstepped boundaries, sent a
text to this novice asking “Have I been shitcanned?” - something that is, from any religious
tradition, deeply inappropriate for an ordained clergy person to be asking a novice. The
lack of respect for the novitiate and for the continuity of the tradition has been deeply
worrisome. </i></p><p><i>8. There have been a number of occasions where Mrs. Whittaker has acted out in what is at
best unhealthy, and at worst psychotic, behavior, often in front of guests of the Maetreum.
I will not attempt to make a full list of these moments, but will include a few notable ones.
During an Orphan’s Thanksgiving, a time honored ministry of the Maetreum, Mrs.
Whittaker had a full meltdown and actually chased the Battakes up the stairs and into her
private room and then proceeded to scream at her, during which guests were left at the
table in a state of trepidation and confusion. More recently, within the past month, two
occasions come to mind: A moment when Mrs. Whittaker walked off with the novice while
in a state of agitation, and then proceeded to have what she claimed was an “autistic
meltdown”. During this episode, she violently threw herself onto the ground, then rolled
around while screaming loud enough that those in the Temple legitimately thought that
someone was being violently attacked (including first time visitors to the Temple). While I
am not a psychologist, I doubt the authenticity of the moment as a genuine autistic
meltdown as she remained fully verbal throughout the incident, spewing accusations
against the Battakes and the rehabilitation process. The weekend immediately following
this instance, Mrs. Whittaker engaged in a long series of passive-aggressive actions
aimed at the Battakes, during which time the Battakes was trying to continue engaging in
meaningful rehabilitation work and simultaneously avoid Mrs. Whittaker because of the
barrage of passive-aggressive actions. This culminated in a moment when the
exasperated Battakes asked Mrs. Whittaker to “give me some space” to which Mrs.
Whittaker then replied with more than some drama “I’m not staying where I’m not wanted”
and stormed off, then stood by her car to see if anyone would chase her. Again, this took
place in front of a guest of the Maetreum who was visiting. </i></p><p><i>9. Over the years, the Maetreum has taken in a series of deeply unwell women in crisis that
the Maetreum did not possess the skills or resources to care for in a healthy, meaningful
way. This has repeatedly led to theft, destruction of property, the Battakes being made
unsafe within her own home, and a serious loss of standing within the broader community.
During a previous Conclave, it was decided to end that open door policy and cease and
desist in taking in any more crisis cases. Unfortunately, Mrs. Whittaker was unwilling to
abide by the binding will of the Conclave and welcomed in another series of women in
crisis, which led to a repeat of the pattern of theft, destruction of property, the Battakes
being made unsafe within her own home, and again a serious loss of standing within the
broader community. The most recent example of this happened just at the end of this spring into early summer, though that incident was fortunately dealt with more effectively
this time with only minimal loss of face and no theft or property destruction. However,
Mrs. Whittaker’s unwillingness to abide by the will of the Conclave and readiness to place
the Maetreum in a state of jeopardy repeatedly is disconcerting, as is her predilection for
attracting unstable individuals within her personal affair. </i></p><p><i>10. While sorting through boxes that had been stored in the second floor of the back house, it
was discovered that Mrs. Whittaker had inappropriately stashed away official documents
of the Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc. Included among these documents were an
official copy of the Maetreum’s Articles of Incorporation bearing the seal of Greene
County, a variety of banking documents, agendas and notes from previous Conclaves, the
letters of approval from the Internal Revenue Service, and documentation that held the
necessary information for use of the tax exemption. </i></p><p><i>11. Finally, I sat as witness and mediator during the morning of Saturday, July 3rd 2021 when
Mrs. Whittaker was formally presented with the Official Notification from The Battakes of
the Catskill Phrygianum stripping Mrs. Whittaker of her role as a priestess within that
Phrygianum and the Cybeline Revival as a whole. While the initial conversation went
peacefully, and was rooted in prayer at the start and at the end, and the expectations
regarding Mrs. Whittaker’s immediate loss of residence and ability to function as a
priestess were made explicitly clear, she proceeded to try to negotiate around the
boundaries and made next to no effort to actually begin moving out. Immediately
following the conversation, the Battakes politely requested that Mrs. Whittaker hand over
the Maetreum’s Lowes card and the house key that she possessed (a key which she was
not actually supposed to have had, but had made a copy of without consent) - the Lowes
card was returned, the house key was not. Her primary concern seemed to be for her
radio show, which the Battakes graciously made clear that while Mrs. Whittaker is no
longer welcome to use the radio house, that she could continue producing the “World of
Metal” from home and send it into the station via dropbox. Unfortunately that evening,
Mrs. Whittaker had made no efforts to move and when confronted by the Battakes, made
a claim that she had intended to stay the night and use the station the next morning,
saying that it was never made clear to her. Fortunately both the letter and the
conversation had, in fact, spelled out the details clearly and she did leave that night, after I
had to personally pack her car while she remained on the telephone weaving tales of woe
to her husband and her co-host and lodging accusations against the Battakes. While the
official notification presented to her outlined a clear path of mercy, part of which included
the stipulation that she in no way represent herself as a priestess of the Phrygianum, the
Matreum, or the Cybeline Revival, Mrs. Whittaker then proceeded on the following day to
post to social media that she was moving forward as an “Independent Cybeline Pagan
Priestess” in direct violation and contempt of the Battake’s formal action. Since then she has proceeded to foment ill-will against the Maetreum behind the scenes in an effort to
undermine the tradition, Temple, and remaining priestesses. </i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><i>CONCLUSION </i></h4><p><i>Reverend Mother and Reverend Sisters, it has brought no joy to my heart to submit this report to
you for your review during Conclave. However, as stated in the overview, I felt compelled to
share my experience of working with and observing Mrs. Whittaker over the course of the
previous two years so that this situation can be fully addressed by the appropriate authorities of
the Cybeline Revival and, hopefully, rectified. While I will make no recommendations within this
report as to how to proceed, I will state that Mrs. Whittaker will not be allowed to serve within any
ministerial role within my own communities moving forward, be that the Nemeton of the Ways or
the Ordo Magna Mater. Furthermore, please also be aware that while this report may seem long,
it is by no means exhaustive of the ways in which Mrs. Whittaker has failed to meet the sacred
trust of priestcraft, it includes only those most egregious circumstances of which I am personally
aware. In my opinion, Mrs. Whittaker is wholly unfit to serve in the capacity of cleric, and while
the Battakes’ offer of a twelve month period as priestess-at-large to seek healing and renewal
within herself was indeed gracious, I hold little hope that Mrs. Whittaker will actually engage with
that period of time as an opportunity for healthy reformation.</i></p><p> </p><p>The full Conclave met on July 10 and by consensus voted Viktoria be removed from all association with the Maetreum and be striped for all time of any claim to be a priestess of Cybele. Since that time she sought out the lunatic that reported to the town we were a phony religion costing us an eight year expensive legal battle and the malcontents who firebombed my car. Last year, unaware we had cancelled Season of the Tree at the last moment, she, her psychotic lover, the lunatic that drove me out of the Maetreum during the "Insurrection" as we called it and someone else picketed the Maetreum for more than three hours saying I should go back to Ohio and calling out my birth (deadname) name in a demonstration of the most transphobic behaviour possible. Harassing emails and messages and threats continue to this day.</p><p>
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>
Dear Mrs. Whittaker,</i></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i>As you are aware, on Saturday the 3rd of July, 2021, you received in
person the Official Notification from The Battakes of the Catskill
Phrygianum informing you that you were being immediately transferred
from active priestess status to priestess-at-large status for a
period of twelve months due to a series of egregious, willful
offenses against the vows you took in sacred service to the Battakes,
the College of Priestesses, and to the Great Mother Goddess. That
period was offered as a path of mercy and recuperation, during which
you were explicitly forbidden to “represent yourself in any form as
a priestess of the Catskill Phygrianum…[or] the Maetreum of
Cybele/Cybeline Revival”. Within hours of receiving the Official
Notification, you began violating the conditions laid out therein,
going so far as to begin publicly representing yourself as an
“independent Cybeline priestess” in direct contradiction to the
path of mercy as had been made clear to you in the Official
Notification and through direct conversations.</i></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>It is also notable that from that day forward, the Maetreum and
clerics in service to the House of the Mother began receiving a
series of threats and endured a campaign of harassment from close
associates of yours. That the threats and harassment came from your
associates is not in doubt, having been verified through both phone
and video records from several of the locations from which the
threats were issued.
</i></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>It is therefore our duty to inform you that as of the 10th of July,
2021, through a unanimous act of the legally convened Conclave of the
College of Priestesses, that the initially outlined path of mercy and
recuperation graciously offered by the Battakes has been wholly
suspended. Furthermore, as of that date, you have been formally
defrocked from the Priestesshood without recourse. While this action
has brought deep sadness to the whole of the Priestesshood, it was
deemed absolutely necessary through natural consensus. To be clear,
your vows as a Priestess of Cybele have been revoked and nullified
and, because of the threats and harassment brought against the House
of the Mother and Her clerics by your personal associates, you are no
longer welcome in any capacity upon the grounds of the Maetreum of
Cybele, Magna Mater.
</i></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>With great sadness,
</i></p>
<p><style type="text/css">p { color: #000000; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; orphans: 0; widows: 0; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }p.western { font-family: "Arial", serif; font-size: 11pt; so-language: en-US }p.cjk { font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 11pt; so-language: zh-CN }p.ctl { font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 11pt; so-language: hi-IN }</style></p><br />Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-43592796559413886632016-08-07T17:40:00.001-04:002016-08-07T17:51:59.692-04:00TERF Wars and Trans-terrorism <div style="text-align: center;">
<b>How the most trans affirming Pagan tradition got labelled transphobic and why you should care.</b></div>
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Back when the Maetreum legal case first came to the attention of
the Pagan community by an article on the Wild Hunt, one of the very
first comments made on that article was that the Maetreum was not
“worthy” of support because it was a “tranny” tradition. I
kid you not...... Just yesterday I was called a TERF and
transmisogynist in comments on the Wild Hunt on another article about
Cherry Hill Seminary. The Maetreum was called transphobic and a
claim was made we never ever ever helped any transwomen who were not
post surgical! Both, by the way, are not true. I was the principle
founder of the Cybeline Revival of which the Maetreum of Cybele is
the main home and Temple. I was born intersexed myself, the three
other women who bought the property originally (it is now owned by
the incorporated Maetreum of Cybele) were all transsexual women.
The very first women we took in for emergency housing were trans
street girls of colour, literally the most at risk class. Sylvia
Rivera, the transwoman often credited with starting the infamous
Stonewall rebellion, planned to retire to the Maetreum had she
survived her last bout with liver cancer. Our basic policies remain
exactly the same today as they were then, so how did we get labelled
transphobes you ask??? Big nosed Pagan wannabe trolls. At the time, two years ago, when the following happened, we were at our most vulnerable, needing the support of the community as we were facing the loss of our home, our tradition, everything we had worked for over a decade to accomplish.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I have<a href="http://cybelinecrone.blogspot.com/2014/09/ageism-and-pagan-elder-abuse.html" target="_blank"> blogged</a> here in the past
about what happened without naming names but since this just came up
yet again on the Wild Hunt blog in comments several years later, it
is time to call out the perps, as it were. Perp #1 is Lauren
Ouellette-Bruchez, the woman who was about to move in to the Maetreum
with her two husbands (which we were making a major exception for),
about to start priestesses training with us and who left all her
personal possessions clogging all the downstairs of the Maetreum and
a dead car in our driveway at the exact time the Town of Catskill was
attempting to condemn our property under zoning violations as a last
ditch effort to force us out just as the final appeal was hitting the
court. The stuff was here for literally months!
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Perp #2 is Shauna Aura
Knight, a relentless self promoting fraud who gives “leadership”
workshops all around the Pagan circuit when her only leadership
experience is leading those workshops! Further, having attended one
of them hostessed here at the Maetreum, I can state without question
she trashes actual Pagan leaders in those workshops carefully giving
enough information to identify them without naming them specifically.
The bitch did this to me based solely on the private whining by
Lauren Ouellette-Bruchez that I somehow “triggered her” during
the incident that she was actually actively interfering in a
priestess of the Maetreum only matter, was told in no uncertain terms
that was the case and yet still attempted an “intervention”
against me personally with others who also were not priestesses of
the Maetreum! Ms.Knight wrote a <a href="https://shaunaaura.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/pagan-elders-and-abusive-dynamics" target="_blank">“hit piece” blog entry</a>
aimed directly at myself, based on what she knew first hand was out
and out lies and then proceeded to start posting on the Maetreum
Facebook page that we were transphobic. She also started trashing us
all over the internet and managed to totally dry up all the legal
fund contributions at the very stage we needed them the most, nearly
sabotaging eight years of legal battles. Knight and I never had
contact prior to her visit despite her claiming otherwise, never had
any actual face to face discussions because of the incident the only
night she stayed with us. None of the exchanges Knight claims took
place actually took place at all on our Facebook page because the
priestesses conferred and we simply removed her nasty comments.
Knight goes on to claim my successor was “co-dependent”! That,
by the way, infuriated her and is about as untrue as it gets because
she argues with me all the time, is encouraged to do so and is
personally more empowered as a result of being part of the Maetreum
than at any prior point in her life. She is even debating with me
as I write this about whether or not we should publish it!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We had welcomed Ms. Knight into our home, allowed her to do her workshop
for another Pagan group at the Maetreum and she was present when that
night our home was attacked by a local bigot, our windows broken, threats were made to shoot up our house with an assault weapon and
the local police refused to take a proper complaint. The supposed
conversations she and I had never happened at all because of those
events. Further, she promised to send us an affidavit supporting
what had happened and never did so. At the time she was apparently
quite sympathetic to what we had been experiencing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Neither Shauna nor Lauren are in any fashion trans. They both
accused me personally and the Maetreum of being transphobic.... I
have a trans/intersexed medical history. If this can be done to me,
it literally can be done to anyone regardless of how trans supportive
they actually might be. This is why it is important to tell this.
By the rules now being used all around Paganism, both should be “no
platformed” everywhere at every Pagan event. Fair is fair because
what they both did is the worst type of transphobic behaviour.
Demands to ostracize other women have been made for much much much
less. In addition, and a further indication of exactly how bigoted
Ms. Knight actually is, she has blogged in the past that those on the
autism spectrum should be excluded from Pagan groups for being too
much of a distraction. When she gave her workshop at the Maetreum
she repeated this <i>in the presence of two women on the autism
spectrum!!!! </i><span style="font-style: normal;">The younger one
required counselling</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">
as a result. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Knight is a
bigot of the worst sort, that who believes she knows better than
everyone else. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span>
<br />
Spread their shame, demand they be removed from any Pagan events
in the future, do it because they are both liars and they slandered
and libelled the Maetreum of Cybele that won the most decisive legal
battle in the past twenty years for Pagan equality under the law.
<br />
Why write about this now? Because it won't go away. We waited
hoping it would go away but it remains circulating in Pagan circles.
Because women who have merely questioned the trans dogma have
suffered loss of position and venues when Knight continues to go
around claiming a position of moral superiority when she is actually
an out and out bigot. Because Knight does not hesitate to out and
out lie about actual leaders in the Pagan community and who knows how
many others she is slandering as you read this. Call her out for her hypocrisy to talk about ethics when she clearly has none whatsoever.
90% of what she wrote about me simply never happened at all.<br />
<br />
Because all of the negative things that have been repeated about the
Maetreum trace back to Lauren and Knight, and that ain't right! Am I
an opinionated strong willed woman? You're damn straight I am and I
make no apology for that but I am also the very model of a so called
leader who does not act unilaterally without the consensus of the
other priestesses and our very organization was deliberately set up
so I could not do so!... by me!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Call them out as I have done. They weaponized the desire to be
supportive of transwomen against a woman of trans/intersexed history
and literally the most trans supportive tradition in Paganism! What they did is out and out abusive, like most victims of abuse, I felt I could not call this out until now. As part of my own healing process, I need to address this abuse publicly on, not only my own behalf, but my sister priestesses and the Cybeline Revival we all dedicated our lives to. Both of these women have done real world harm to the Cybeline Revival and it is past time to hold them accountable as that harm continues to this day.<br />
<b>
<br /><br />
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
</b>Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-70206937391130712622016-07-02T10:46:00.000-04:002016-07-02T10:46:39.978-04:00Gender Reality ChecksFor every transsexual woman there are roughly 100 crossdressing, male identified transgenders.<br />
<br />
Not one trans person has EVER suffered any physical harm from being excluded from a Dianic group. Not...One...Single...One.<br />
<br />
The cries of "you are killing us" are utter bullshit but what is real is that a core practice of today's so called transadvocates, trans and other wise <b>IS </b>the attempt to destroy the careers of any woman (it is almost always aimed at women) who opposes anything less than full "inclusion" (read forcing into women oriented groups that have the right to decide who joins them) and maximize the damage to their lives. This is the very essence of gynophobia by the way.<br />
<br />
Every single method of attack that so called TERFs are accused of was perfected by advocates of "transgender" against post operative transsexual and intersexed women for years, every damn one of them. Personal knowledge on this one......<br />
<br />
Women do NOT kill transwomen, men do. Men with internalized homophobia who freak out after having or fantasizing about sex with "chicks with dicks" in almost all cases. Almost all the victims are poor trans women of colour but it is white "transgenders" who scream "you are killing us" loudly. Tell me how this is not appropriation of the experiences of a sub group they are not members of.<br />
<br />
Anyone who's gender identity is so damn fragile that it is destroyed by someone mis-gendering them needs the therapy that transsexed women were forced into to get "permission" for body correction. Is the experience of being mis-gendered annoying? Oh hell yes, is it life threatening in any fashion? Oh hell no. Believe it or not, a lot of non-trans women experience being mis-gendered as well without being psychologically destroyed by it.<br />
<br />
Having an innie is vastly different than having an outie psychologically, that is just a basic fact.<br />
<br />
Transgender people today have a much much easier time "transitioning" because of the women who came before them but they attack and erase those same women. Nobody knows this better than I do. But you would never know this by all the pissing and moaning going on about "how hard it is" Damn straight it's hard, trying learning from the experience instead of whining about it. Those who came before had it much much worse, trust me. Oh, all those things trans people claim are transphobic in nature almost always actually experiencing the loss of male privilege. Almost all women experience it but you didn't know that did you?<br />
<br />
The backlash by non-trans women was CAUSED by the excessive demands of the transgender movement, they literally invented it with over the top attacks on feminism. It did NOT exist 15 years ago. Forgotten by most is that NOW was trans-affirming LONG before HRC, GLAAD or any other gay rights group.<br />
<br />
When a trans identified person joins a woman only group, it becomes all about the trans and issues important to non-trans women are often then put on the back burner or worse yet, declared "non-inclusive" and thus off limits. I have personally witnessed this over and over and over. This tends not to happen with women of transsexed or intersexed history who are happy to be included in the discussion in the first place.<br />
<br />
Actual transsexual women have existed in every human culture at every point in history. The lesson from this is essential identity as female or male is not constructed and the difference between the central nervous system of men and women is real. In the past 35 years more than 800 peer reviewed scientific studies have confirmed this. But it is important to note, that actual transsexual women and intersexual women are a tiny minority within what is called "transgender" today. So called "gender identity" is vastly more complex than either side wants to admit. There are pre-natal central nervous system hardwiring components as well as socialization ones. It is NOT either/or.<br />
<br />
And I will leave you with one last thought: Trans experience is the only one in human history where the "experts" are those who never actually finish the journey and those who do finish it are the heretics. Think long and hard on that one folks.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-88702820981663574102016-07-01T10:13:00.001-04:002016-07-01T10:13:17.955-04:00"Cyber-Pagans" You read them, we all read them, the "popular" blogs that often are little more than internet cliques for often relentless self promoting "leaders" who never seem to do much in the real world but endlessly give their opinions.<br />
<br />
Paganism is lousy with them. But a word on the offshoot of that problem, the comment trolls. You know them, you've seen their nicknames in every comment thread. They use the comment section of the blogs to boost their egos, never give their real world names and often reveal nothing personal about themselves but rather launch ad hominum attacks against anyone who actually comments about having done anything or offers an opinion that varies from the current revealed "truth".<br />
<br />
They specialize in commenting from a presumed position of authority without challenge. They take the "moral highground" without any facts because they trade in emotion, not substance.<br />
<br />
Challenge them. It's fun for the whole family. Ask who they really are, what they have actually done in the real world. Demand details of who they actually are because they are often straight out trolls getting their rocks off on taking down anyone who challenges anything or actually does anything in the real world.<br />
<br />
Do it because they do real harm to those who try to make the world better or promote actual debate on complex issues.<br />
<br />
Do it because that is how you change the dialogue from feel good bullshit to intelligent conversation... and we need that more than ever in a world that apparently is going bat shit crazy.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-14644738924847404102016-06-30T10:14:00.000-04:002016-06-30T11:49:47.439-04:00Another Open Letter to the Pagan Community on "Trans-jacking" Paganism and MisogynyDear Pagan community:<br />
<br />
You were duped by a classic bait and switch. How can I say this? I was there during much of the history of the inclusion of the "t" in LGB, fought like hell for it back then. I was there when "transsexuality" was essentially erased and then appropriated by "transgender" and I fought like hell against that as well. Ironically against the LGB establishment in the form of the HRC and GLAAD.<br />
<br />
There used to be a lot of transsexual voices on the internet, several years ago we all collectively decided that the constant attacks weren't worth it anymore and we all removed our blogs which may have been a mistake but one done when we "won" the medical battle with the revision of the DSM that finally decreed that when we corrected our bodies and our lives we were "cured" and the psychiatric community would then get the fuck out of our lives. And we breathed a collective sigh of relief, and got on with our lives. In the course of the battles leading up to that point we had to fight wholesale redefinitions of everything gender related to the point we had to constantly come up with new terms for concepts that had been understood up to then.<br />
<br />
Back then there was maybe five active "TERFs" total on the internet and they were so hateful and vicious they were almost totally ignored. They were the lesbian equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church. The term TERF was actually coined by a transgender bait and switch artist known to lie about pretty much every aspect of trans history and was done to provoke them.<br />
<br />
A little history is in order. Let's start with Stonewall. It was a tranny uprising, and yes, I get to use that word because I came out with it being a playful term we used for ourselves and has a rich part in actual trans-history. Gay men moved heaven and earth to erase that from their history, particularly those we came to call the "A"-Gays who ran the political side of gay rights, almost all rightwingers btw. Sylvia Rivera is credited with starting the Stonewall riot. I knew her, we respected each other and we both were together fighting her last battle before she died....... against the gay establishment in New York that cut deals to get their protection legally by trading off trans rights. I was at her funeral procession in the streets of New York City and had she survived her last bout with liver cancer, she planned to retire to the Maetreum of Cybele.<br />
<br />
During the late eighties and early nineties was the heyday of the talk format tv shows. Every "sweeps" week, when the ratings were decided, they competed to get the most provocative guests and that often was transsexual women. The thing was transsexual women are statistically 2 points above the mean in intelligence and creativity, a medical fact. We are smart and creative in other words. These women did such a great job talking about the subject that they talked themselves out of sweeps week! The talk shows had to switch to gender bending club kids and married crossdressers as a result. Now for the shocker, I learned this many years later trying to make sense of why we had to fight the LGBs for our rights. In the early nineties, HRC (Human Rights Campaign) did a survey in North Carolina of all places on public acceptance of gay rights and trans rights. The gays came in at around 30% but trans rights came in at 80%! Yes, you read that correctly, we had won the battle for hearts and minds of the general public thanks to the brave women of transsexual history who did the talk show circuit. HRC freaked out...... especially when a bunch of us started a grassroots effort to lobby congress for trans civil rights. Trans women from around the country came to DC to lobby, most of us poor as church mice on our own dimes.<br />
<br />
HRC literally bought our DC organizer with a condo in Florida! With her aid, they hit every democratic congressional office with pre-lobbying two weeks before each of our lobby days telling Senators and Congresscritter to "pay no attention to the crazy trannys". How do I know this? I was one of the best lobbyists and they took me aside, one after another and asked me "what the fuck is going on with this"??<br />
<br />
Seven of us met at the end of one of the Lobby Day efforts at a restaurant in Bethesda, compared notes and went home determined to do something about this betrayal and we established the first actual grassroots organization to address the problem and confront HRC for their actions against our civil rights, NTAC. HRC pulled out all the stops to stop us including setting up phoney groups "opposing our methods", accusing us of all sorts of misdeeds and eventually founded their own bought and paid for version with offices in their own building and tame trannys to run it. At the same time they pushed for the "transgender" umbrella and tried to force transsexual and intersexed women under it. Transgender was a term coined by an earlier crossdresser who hated transsexual women, so there was a lot of push back by us on that term. Total war was waged on post operative women of transsexed and intersexed history with the aid of the A-Gays. Why? Because we came within a hair of winning our civil rights back then several times which would have made monkeys of the big money HRC who couldn't get any legislation passed.<br />
<br />
When you hear the word transgender today, you are supposed to think of women of transsexual history but you are being sold a bill of goods because, for the most part, we left that movement and it means everyone else who messes with "gender", whatever the fuck that is. You are pushing for crossdressing men, drag queens, sexual fetishists etc to be forced into woman only space without realizing it and you started knee jerk reacting to womens groups that objected to that without a clue that was what you were doing. Why is it this is directed only at women? You know why.<br />
<br />
My own experience transitioning was I literally lost everything in my life but I was totally accepted into lesbian circles then with them knowing my history and that I was bisexual myself. I used to tell transwomen that if they approached woman groups as women and not trans somethings, 99% of the time they would be accepted, I certainly found that true, even among the old school second wave feminists that it is oh so popular to trash these days............. Other women like me found the same thing to be true. But these days we want no part of these trans battles so for the most part you don't hear our voices.<br />
<br />
<br />
I fully realize I am pissing into the wind with this but if a few wake up to the con job that is ripping Paganism apart, it was worth it.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-40801337843885733822016-02-10T10:28:00.000-05:002016-02-10T11:54:53.910-05:00The Maetreum of Cybele, a View from Outside the Pagan "Bubble"As the Maetreum of Cybele continues to break new ground, the "mainstream" (can anything Pagan actually be mainstream?) Pagan blog-o-sphere continues to basically ignore us. This used to piss me off but upon reflection is one of those accidental "gifts" in many respects.<br />
<br />
I don't do a lot of updates to this blog because frankly, I work my butt off doing real world work. Our community low power radio station for example takes up a lot of my time and effort. I am personally producing about 43 hours a week of original programming, doing much of the bookkeeping and maintaining the equipment. This past fall, despite only being on the air for a little over two months at that point, we <a href="http://www.radioworld.com/article/this-radio-conference-is-held-in-the-woods/277781" target="_blank">hostessed a national community radio conference here at the Maetreum.</a> We are the <b>first and only</b> Pagan owned and operated broadcast radio station in America, that alone would have been crowed to the hills if someone besides us in the Pagan community had pulled it off, let alone turning around and hostessing a <b>national</b> radio conference to boot.<br />
<br />
A little over a year ago we won an eight year legal battle for legal recognition of a Pagan "church", us, to equal treatment under the law. This was considered a landmark case in legal circles, was even written up in the Washington Post and Forbes magazine but barely mentioned in the Pagan world.<br />
<br />
Currently one of our priestesses is writing her doctorate thesis on the Cybeline Revival, the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a Pagan Goddess tradition will be elevated to a field of academic study. While other Pagan groups are recognized for gathering some canned goods to help those in need, we have been taking in, supporting and helping women bootstrap their lives back for well over a decade. We even took a refugee from Nepal all the way through the minefield of getting asylum status from Homeland Security and the Immigration system after being told by so called "professional" immigration aid organizations we would never pull it off.<br />
<br />
Our legal battle saw us <b>ignored by every single Pagan rights organization</b> and all the self appointed legal Pagans when we asked for help.<br />
<br />
So remember, if you attend all those various Pagan conferences like Pantheacon this year, that while they are all talking about what they are going to do some time in the future, we've been doing it.... for years.<br />
<br />
There, got that off my chest :)Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-43877142318676780092015-12-12T13:42:00.001-05:002015-12-12T13:46:11.109-05:00An Attempt at a Discussion with the Predictible Results<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
Yet another Pathetic Pagan blog entry that cried out for a response, this time on the <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2015/12/the-ladys-quill-a-transgender-perspective-on-gendered-mystery-rites/#disqus_thread" target="_blank">"waa waa, I don't bleed so I can't lead" school of "you must change your tradition to suit my ego" school</a>.<br />
<br />
I commented (and am posting it here because it probably will be disappeared if it gets any up arrows)<br />
<br />
The Dianic traditions were started because of the limitations of
traditional Wicca regarding women and in particular, lesbian women. Leo
Martelleo started the gay male covens for the same reasons back in the
mid seventies. The Radical Faeries yet another example. In Paganism we
do not hold some mythical afterlife of punishment for not following any
given tradition as a sword over anyone's head. Paganism has a long
proud history of new traditions arising to fill a need that hasn't been
met.<br />
<br />
Women of transsexed history have participated in women's
mysteries all around the world including among the Aborigines of
Australia in both the near and ancient past. Why is this suddenly an
issue? Why haven't those who insist they need a new tradition for
genderqueer and transgender people started one? Are you aware that
transsexual priestesses were part of EVERY Mother Goddess tradition of
the ancient world. That by setting women up in an oppositional class of
"cis" you are actually defining yourself out of womanhood? (and by your
own hand) That there is an entire body of trans focused mysteries that
is still celebrated today and was a rich part of the Roman practices...
open to all?<br />
<br />
It is the height of egotism to demand a tradition
change itself to suit one's self. To deny access to women and men to
mysteries based on your own personal physical differences. Women cannot
take part in men's mysteries either and vice versa. Yes, it can major
suck to deal with being trans but that is not the be all and end all of
suckyness people have to deal with for being different. Enough of the
oppression Olympics already and move on just as thousands of women of
transsexed history have done before you.<br />
<br />
The response:<br />
<br />
<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
<i>“Why is this suddenly an issue?”</i><br />
<i>It didn't become an issue suddenly, it's been an issue for a long time.</i><br />
<i>“Why haven't those who insist they need a new tradition for genderqueer and transgender people started one? “</i><br />
<i>Because
the folks who are demanding that we go celebrate our own mysteries
aren't us. I'd be leery of a “trans Mystery” created by someone who invalidates my gender identity and insults me.</i><br />
<br />
<i>“That by setting women up in an oppositional class of "cis" you<br />are actually defining yourself out of womanhood? (and by your own<br />hand) “</i><br />
<br />
<i>Being
cisgender is the antonym of being transgender. Both are descriptive
traits for different kinds of people. Being cisgender means that you
identify with the gender that you were assigned at birth. Being transgender means that you do not. Being a cisgender woman or a transgender woman does not make you less of a woman, anymore than being a cisgender or transgender man. It's a label used to describe the different experiences we have in relation to our gender<br />identities.</i><br />
<br />
<i>“That there is an entire body of trans focused mysteries that is still<br />celebrated today and was a rich part of the Roman practices... open<br />to all?”</i><br />
<br />
<i>If it's open to all, then it's not a trans Mystery, now is it? Also,<br />there are plenty of Pagan trans folks that aren't Roman<br />reconstructionists. That works just fine for modern day Gallae like<br />those who worship at the Matreum of Cybele. Not so much for every<br />other tradition out there.</i><br />
<br />
<i>“It is the height of egotism to demand a tradition change itself to suit<br />one's self. To deny access to women and men to mysteries based on<br />your own personal physical differences.”</i><br />
<br />
<i>I'm demanding nothing of the sort. I wouldn't have people denied access to women's or men's mysteries based on our physical differences – that's the problem that I'm raising here, that that is what is happening.</i><br />
<br />
<i>“Yes, it can major suck to deal with being trans but that is not the be all and end all of suckyness people have to deal with for being<br />different. Enough of the oppression Olympics already and move on just<br />as thousands of women of transsexed history have done before you.”</i><br />
<br />
<i>Oppression
Olympics suggests that I am trying to compare or compete in claims of
being oppressed. I'm really not sure how I did that here. In<br />engaging in this dialogue I am trying to move on, I'm trying to<br />introduce people to concepts that they may not have understood<br />before, may not have considered before, and may want to consider.</i><br />
<i>What
I wrote was not about oppression, it was about empowerment. It was
about claiming our rightful place, knowing who we are and not<br />allowing hostility and hatred to overcome us. There are far more of<br />us than most people realize, and we're not going away, and at some<br />point folks are going to have to deal with our presence. There are<br />plenty of womens' groups that will accept transwomen, and there are<br />some mens' groups that will accept trans men, and in the long run<br />we're going to see that being the rule rather than the hateful,<br />exclusive exception.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Why does it bother you so much that another woman wants to engage in womens' rites, when you claim that it has happened in every society?</i><br />
<br />
And my reply:<br />
<br />
<a class="user" data-action="profile" data-username="cathrynplatine" href="https://disqus.com/by/cathrynplatine/">
</a>
<br />
<div class="post-body">
<div class="post-body-inner">
<div class="post-message-container" data-role="message-container" style="height: auto; max-height: none;">
<div class="publisher-anchor-color" data-role="message-content">
<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
Bother me? not in the least but you sidestep a MAJOR issue here.
When the transgender movement basically erased transsexuality in the
name of "opposition to the gender binary" they dismissed out of hand
those who transitioned and got on with their lives... as men or as women
without modifiers like myself. Funny how my long experience was that
when you approach a womens group as a woman rather than as a
trans-whatever, you are welcomed with open arms 99.9% of the time. The
fact of the matter is that when the transgender movement started using
"cis" as an oppositional position, and yes, that is exactly what it is,
it was to oppose the gender binary and it thus follows you surrender
all claims to womanhood or manhood in the process and thus any right to
participate in rituals that a woman or male specific. You can be a man
or you can be a woman but if you identify as trans, deny actual physical
realities as a result or oppose a gender binary, you are something
else. You cannot have your cake and eat it too and that is the
dishonesty that has personified the "trans inclusive" movement in
Paganism. Rather than participate in all the traditions that are not
binary specific, you demand those that are must change to suit yourself
and that my dear is pure ego entitlement. It is no different than if I
approached Baptists and insist/demand they switch to worshipping the
Goddess to accommodate my feelings and call them bigots if they refuse.<br />
<br />
Your
entitlement is showing big time. It takes a lot of work to start a new
tradition or reclaim an ancient one and that is the real reason there
are no trans specific, non binary traditions. Those with entitlement
issues don't do the work, they demand everyone else change to suit their
own worldview. As for the Cybeline mysteries, they are actual
mysteries in the ancient sense, not discussed and experienced on a
personal level, while the rituals leading up to them are open to all.
If you are going to discuss mysteries, you should read up on what they
actually are.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-30700005689506008322015-07-08T10:11:00.000-04:002015-07-09T10:16:51.339-04:00Be Thou the One and Renew The Light<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }</style>
<br />
I wrote on this issue as part of a <a href="http://www.cybelinecrone.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-maetreum-wins-largest-legal-battle.html" target="_blank">prior blog entry</a>
but perhaps it is time to tie this together with other threads from
this blog. To be a witch you must first live a witch's life meaning
if you are all words and no deeds, you are not a witch, a Pagan or
practicing a religion, you are just a blowhard poser.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The last Pagan Emperor of Rome and devotee of Cybele, Julian,
charged Pagans to "Be thou the one" referring to doing
public works and charity and thus providing a living example to the
rest of the world. We live by this at the Maetreum. As far as I can
tell, other than a few other groups like the New Alexandria Library,
the so called Pagan blog-o-sphere is dominated by those who do
nothing in the real world except write. When they write they mostly
ignore those who are doing. They often oppose Pagan infrastructure
because they have no damn idea on how to make that happen. They
gather a bit of food at Pagan Pride events and pat themselves on the
back for doing something to help those in need but how many actual
lives do they save? Who do they take in that are homeless? Where
are the gardens and solar panels and wind generators of these so
called defenders of the planet?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
When you read those so called Pagan blogs, be aware of a few
things. These people appointed themselves spokespeople, no one
elected them. They gather at large so called Pagan events like the
Pantheacon that are far out of the reach of the average Pagan in
terms of expenses where they debate whether or not Paganism is a
religion, who is more oppressed than who, and anoint each other
“leaders” without actually doing a damn thing in the real world.
They act as gatekeepers on what Pagans and Pagan groups are worthy
to be discussed. If you look a bit more closely, they are largely 20
and 30 something males and the women who cowtow to them. These are
today's Pagan “thinkers”.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
They have almost zero respect for Crones who have little of value
in their eyes until they are safely dead and thus can no longer stand
up to bullshit they spread about who they are. “By their deeds you
shall know them”... and they have almost none.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Real Pagans are out there but you would never know it by cruising
the net and they are harder and harder to find as a result of these
posers. Online witch groups often contain no actual witches as in
those living a witch's life. So called Pagan online leadership
groups are overrun with those who never actually led anything and
taught by those who only credentials of leadership are teaching about
it. Zero real world experience, almost no actual practice of
anything resembling rituals and religion.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I call foul on this<br />
.<br />
If you want to claim a leadership role, be thou the light and
actually do something in the real world or shut the fuck up and stop
poisoning the well for seekers. If you claim to be a Pagan leader and you cannot point to at least ten
lives you made better by your direct actions, you are not a leader,
you are just some random asshat with opinions and everyone has those.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I have spent most of a long and weird life in service to others
with zero regrets. What will you be able to say when you are my age?
Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-80825328351445403262015-07-07T15:31:00.001-04:002015-07-07T15:31:32.159-04:00Cultural Appropriation Gone Wild
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<br />
<div align="left">
Cultural appropriation is one of the buzzing new
concepts flying around the neo-think crowd. Basically it is the
disrespect of a culture by taking over key elements that define that
culture almost always to the disrespect of the culture being
appropriated. An excellent example is young white people running
around acting like black people and in Paganism, acting like Native
Americans to the point of sometimes even being so bold to instruct
those of Native background or injecting themselves into Native
ceremonies univited.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div align="left">
It is considered a bad thing.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div align="left">
Interestingly enough it is totally at odds with
another neo-think axiom, that you are whatever you say you are and
can totally ignore actual reality in the process and everyone else
damn well better just accept that without question. Or you are a
bigot, or transphobe or a cranky old lady........ (please note the
agism and sexism in this last one.) “If someone tells me they are
a woman, I accept that without question” sounds all wonderful and
accepting and oh so liberal but the reality is some of those who
claim to be women in male bodies are actually oversexed male asshats.
I know, I took a bunch of them in over the years. Transsexuality is
rare as hell. Those claiming to be transgendered are not.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div align="left">
This 'you are anything you claim to be' concept has
now spread to Paganism. Every six months or so someone does a quick
google search on the word and attempts to define it in non religious
terms. Yes, in the original Latin it meant country folks but they
always seem to miss that Julian, the last Pagan emperor of Rome,
redefined in terms of non Abrahamic religions because up to that time
we didn't actually need to coin a word for that until the christians
tried to outlaw all religions but their own. Julian was a convert to
the Cybeline religion from christianity. Paganism, from the mid
fourth century CE on, has been defined in terms of religion. Despite
the widespread modern confusion, it is not Wicca, a mid 20'th century
invention of Gardner. The word has an actual meaning, a well defined
one and a cultural one in terms of religious practice. I, myself,
have been an actual practicing Pagan for more than fifty years.
Along with others, I personally reclaimed the Cybeline religion and
re introduced it to the world. That would be the religion of the
Roman emperor who defined the word as understood by the rest of the
world for 1600 freakin' years. I apparently got a bunch of atheist
panties in a wad when I blogged about atheism is the opposite of
Paganism. The most recent one of these asshats is the one that
called me “cranky” and linked to that blog entry.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div align="left">
“I get to call myself a Pagan even if I do not
believe in any Divine principles” is not an argument. It is not
logic. It is an oxymoron, plain and simple and further, it is a
direct cultural appropriation of Paganism from those of us who
actually are Pagans. Athiests are no more entitled to this
appropriation than some guy who ties a pink bow on his penis is an
actual woman absent all the experiences that goes along with being a
woman in today's world. Reality check time please. You do not have
the right to redefine whole categories with clearly understood common
meanings because you feel like it. That is the ultimate in
disrespect on so damn many levels I lose count. That is the act of
an ego out of control. It is sociopathy ultimately.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div align="left">
You neo-think children writing on Pathetic Pagan
channel take note. You don't get to redefine the world or words
based on your freakin' egos. Doing so makes actual communication
impossible. Same for you <a href="http://humanisticpaganism.com/2015/06/28/atheopaganism-and-the-broader-pagan-community-by-mark-green/" target="_blank">Mark Green</a>, you sexist asshole. Learn to
respect your elders......that's one of the things actual Pagans are
supposed to do you know. I manifest into the real world actual things. Reclaimed an ancient lost religion, reclaimed Pagan history regarding especially the transsexual priestesses of the ancient world, built the first Temple to Cybele in 1400 years, won a major legal battle for all Pagan religions, started the first Pagan owned and operated FM radio station in the US, reintroduced Pagan monasticism to the world and taken in more than forty people in need to get them back on their feet, mostly women. </div>
<div align="left">
You write a blog.
</div>
Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-85984529026992407352015-06-03T10:56:00.000-04:002015-06-03T11:09:00.218-04:00Caitlyn Jenner as the Goddess? Seriously?<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Once again I check
out Patheos Pagan channel and read yet another entry that simply has
me going “what the fuck?”</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2015/06/alone-in-her-presence-caitlyn-jenner-and-still-knowing-goddess/" target="_blank">Alone In Her Presence: Caitlyn Jenner and Still Knowing Goddess</a> written by someone
named<span style="text-decoration: none;"> E</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/author/edupree/">rick
DuPree</a> </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">does a
reasonably decent job of explaining the concept of Divine </span>immanence<span style="text-decoration: none;">
but then steps off immediately into the ozone. Erick defends his
teaching women the women's mysteries using the Goddess within us as
an excuse for doing so. Let's look a bit into this and how it is
almost impossible not to see this as sexists as all hell. A man, and
one into trantric practice at that (sexual magic/yoga) presumes to
teach women about mysteries that have been the exclusive providence
of women since the dawn of history and then hangs this whole thing on
a brand spanking newly transitioned celebrity transsexual with
literally only days of “experience” living as a woman and one
totally sheltered from the reality most women deal with on a daily
basis at that by virtue of being a celebrity!</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">Gee,
who could possibly see anything wrong with this?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">Just
like another author from this site, the Allergic Pagan, I've
mentioned before, Erick apparently likes to take perfectly good words
with well established meanings and just redefine them to suit
himself. In this case it is matriarchy. </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">In
trying to parse his using this term it is clear he is not using the
established meaning but hanging some internal sense of </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">worshiping</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">
women on it instead. The word means a society ruled by women,
something that never actually existed in the real world throughout
human history. What some people called matriarchies in the ancient
world were in fact egalitarian societies which admittedly, viewed
from the patriarchy of today can be seen as matriarchy simply by
virtue of difficulty in most people of actually grasping societies
where men and women are actually equal.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">Erick
is blown away by the image of Caitlyn Jenner, America's latest three
day wonder. Of course he is! The image is overly sexualized and
photoshopped to turn a 65 year old newly transitioned transsexual
into a masculine wet dream image. In other words, the very sexist
patriarchal worst of reducing women's worth to whether or not some
man gets a hardon or not, to be blunt as hell.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">And
let's not even go further into exactly how creepy it is for a man
into trantric sexual practices to be teaching women about the women's
mysteries, something he cannot have any personal knowledge about but
does put him in a position of authority over a group of unsuspecting
women. Gee, what could possibly go wrong here?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">I
am not going to attack Caitlyn Jenner. The journey she is about to
start is a long and difficult one I actually know quite a bit about
having lived roughly half of my adult life first as a nominal male
and then a woman just as the ancient transsexual priestesses of the
Goddess before me. But Erick, my dear, there are damn good reasons
why male bodied people were not among the priestesses of the ancient
world and it has nothing to do with the fact that the Divine is part
of you as it is myself. Your heart might be in a good place but
please take a step back and see that women need to address the
patriarchy as empowered women and having a man “show them the way”
doesn't cut it in a world where men telling women who they are and
passing judgment on their worth is the problem.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">There
is no paradox with </span>immanence<span style="text-decoration: none;">
btw. It is simply a concept that humankind understood the Divine by
until the Abrahamic religions screwed it up with Poppa god. Paganism
today, in a true paradox, has turned from the Poppa God to mostly the
ancient concept of the Divine Feminine principle, not completely, but
</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">in that </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
majority of Pagans now refer to the Goddess rather than God and
Goddess from Wicca, even those who define themselves as Wiccan. But
sexism is still the order of the day among Pagans who will forgive a
child molesting sexual predator </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">male
</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">“leader” but vilify
any Crone who dares to speak out against it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-decoration: none;">S</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">exism,
pure and simple. And I am getting really sick and tired of seeing in
in Pagan venues that should know better.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-80356388387554878692015-02-06T10:49:00.003-05:002015-02-06T11:18:50.783-05:00The Future of Paganism, to Build or Not to Build<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style>
<br />
Can you name the Pagan group that was written up in the New York
Times, Forbes Magazine, The Washington Post and a whole slew of legal
reviews? No?, perhaps that is because the cliché that thinks it
owns Paganism refuses to mention it. The Maetreum of Cybele was
founded in 1998, owns real property that includes a former Catskill
Mountain Inn, an outdoor Temple/Grove, three acres of land and has
been doing real world charitable work for those in need for more than
12 years. The Temple is the first dedicated to Cybele, Magna Mater
in more than 1600 years. The charity work has taken in more than 35
women in need and fully supported them in room and board until they
could get their lives back together. Other families have been fed,
had clothing provided, household goods provided and holiday gifts
supplied for needy children. It included taking in victims of
hurricane Irene in the hard hit area in the Catskills and raising and
disbursing emergency funds for victims of hurricane Katrina,
particularly the mostly ignored LGBT victims. We did all this
ourselves, on a shoestring budget.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We had to ask for help when the Town of Catskill, in which we are
located in as part of the Hamlet of Palenville, forced us to court
for equal rights as a religion even though we are incorporated, our
property belongs to the corporation and we are fully recognized by
the IRS as both a religious charity and a church under 501(c)(3)
That battle was long and hard and very very expensive and the Town
fought us up to the highest level court they could. The resulting
win established legal precedences regarding minority religious
property rights that range far beyond New York State. And only one
Pagan blog covered the win, just one. The Washington Post covered
it, the New York Legal Review covered it, Forbes covered the initial
win at the Appellate level, but only one Pagan blog. Not one single
Pagan “defense” group such as the Lady Liberty League came to our
aid in that fight. The ACLU ignored us as well, we had to go it
alone with some grassroots support from mostly individual Pagans
raising the money need for legal fees.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We do real world charitable works that aids real people.<br />
We reintroduced Pagan Monasticism to the world after more than
1400 years.<br />
We built a Temple.<br />
We recovered lost history including the role of transsexual
priestesses in EVERY Mother Goddess tradition of the ancient world.<br />
We reintroduced Pagan monotheism to the world.<br />
We won what may prove to be the most important legal battle for
the future of Pagans in decades.<br />
We are active in our local community as an actual resource for
all.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And apparently we are not worthy... and transphobic...and
troublesome.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Now an online debate is raging about Pagan infrastructure in
multiple blogs all over the net. And once again, even though we are
literally the poster child for building such infrastructure we are
ignored.<br />
Let's get somethings clear here. If you are a solitary and do not
feel the need to support Pagan infrastructure, don't do it, problem
solved. If you are part of a small Wiccan style group and feel that
larger venues aren't for you, don't come. But I'd venture to guess
many of those in these camps would jump at the chance to visit an
ancient Pagan temple site. So the question must be asked, why do
they seem to often actively oppose building modern temples sites?
Because frankly from some of the comments on this debate I have been
reading, these folks are peeing themselves in fear of Pagan
infrastructure. Oh they want the conferences and large scale
conventions they have to lay out large sums of money to attend and
where they can lead or take part in endless “classes” and
workshops and meet the self appointed metaphysical celebrities. And
spend small fortunes on Pagan bling. But some other Pagan group
actually building something in the real world? The horror!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So what is the future of Paganism? Solos and tiny groups hiding
in the woodwork emerging only for expensive Pagan Parties and
endlessly ranting about their self importance online? Legally, it's
groups like us. Opps, sorry to piss in your cornflakes but our legal
battle was all about our “legitimacy” as a religion and that has
been established now beyond question by the highest court in New
York. But to win, we had to have dotted all the “i's” and
crossed all the “t's” legally which requires work and dedication.
We had to actually build something and actually do real world work.
And now in the legal world, we are Paganism like it or not as a
result.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Among modern Pagans there appears to be a huge dose of
church-o-phobia as a reaction to Christian models many fled from to
Paganism. But before the Christians was the Pagans with impressive
temples, public works, charity, did you forget that? When someone
calls me the new Pagan Pope I don't know whether to laugh or cry
because it is clear they didn't bother to spend even three minutes on
what we teach, that the Divine is within all of us and you don't need
a religious leader, you just need some education on contacting that
Divine part of yourself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So you wannabees out there who try to monopolize the Pagan
conversations, we are here, we planned for the future, we will
continue to work in the real world and in the end, we don't need you
to do so.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
You can be part of the future or you can continue to agonize over
your child molestors and sexual predators in your midsts. Your
choice, but we don't need your approval or acknowledgment. What have
you built? Who's lives have you changed for the better? What will
you be remembered for? These are the real questions because a
remainder of a campfire in the woods won't be there long after you
make it..... a Temple will endure. The Burning Times were possible because there were no longer Pagan
centres because of the church. Don't want to see them return? Then you
damn well better be part of building and defending Pagan
infrastructure. We build Temples.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-64655820612023993832015-01-16T11:42:00.000-05:002015-01-16T12:22:50.072-05:00How I Became the Pagan Pope and Other Tales From the Internut<style type="text/css">H3 { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }H3.western { font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; }H3.cjk { font-family: "Droid Sans Fallback"; }H3.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Hindi"; }P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style>
<br />
I would like to start by thanking a bunch of Atheist “Pagans”
for elevating me to the position of the Great Grand Poopbah of
Paganism. By reacting to one of my blog entries as a decree from on
high that is essentially what they claimed. Interesting. Let's
take a closer look at what they actually were doing. If you wish to
elevate your own position and you are in opposition to someone else's
position, it makes sense to elevate your opponent to make your own
position more important. That was one element of what is going down
in a backwater of Pagan blogs right now. By labeling the position of
another a decree from on high, you are also attempting to silence an
opposing position by attacking the very right to even hold that
opposing viewpoint, or in other words expressing an opinion contrary
to your own.<br />
<br />
I've been around Paganism a long long time but because I rarely
attend the “conferences” I wasn't particularly well known outside
of a smallish group of Pagans. Until our somewhat epic battle with
the Town of Catskill over basic religious equality, most Pagans never
heard of our tradition, the Cybeline Revival or the Maetreum of
Cybele. Hell, until we founded the Cybeline Revival, Cybele as a
Mother Goddess avatar had pretty much been erased by the Catholic
Church for 1600 years to the point neo-Pagan Goddess women had
forgotten Her as well and never included Her in the recital of
various Mother Goddess avatars.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 class="western">
“True Believer Pagans”</h3>
This was one of the first labels applied to me by the opening
salvo. Let's look at this one closer as well. First of all, yes, I
absolutely believe in the Great Mother Goddess, belief in Her is
literally the oldest religious practice in the world. So as far as
that goes it is accurate. But what about the word choice? Ah, now
that is a horse of a different colour you've heard tell about. Words
have literal meanings, that is what you find in dictionaries but they
also can carry emotional associations, especially in certain phrases.
In Western Judeo-Christian world view, “true believer” is
emotionally tied to fairly radical fundamentalist religious thought,
very ridged and unyielding. Given this emotional loading it is not
particularly surprising a person pushing atheism would go there. It
carries a clear emotional context of belief the Mother Goddess is
sitting up there on the third cloud over from Yahweh. Now there are
plenty of Pagans who do in fact believe in the Goddesses and Gods in
this fashion as it is basic human nature to personalize complex
thoughts. As it happens, and as a mere fifteen minutes of reading
the material from the Maetreum's website would have revealed, this is
not how Cybelines view the Goddess. We see Her as eminent in all
things in the Universe and teach that She is already part of you so
you do not come to us for answers, but rather to learn how to connect
with the Goddess part of yourself. Consistent with this, I
personally, do not proclaim edicts from on high but make it clear if
you want my opinions on spiritual matters, I am more than happy to
share them but my opinions carry the same value as you paid for
them....... and I do not charge anything.<br />
<br />
So calling me a true believer Pagan was a duel edged deceptive
sword. First it was done within the context of atheism to view any
belief in the Divine as uneducated and unscientific as proclaimed by
Mr. Atheo-Pagan, take a very real shot at those Pagans who do believe
in personified Deities in that same light and then, having ridiculed
that position, place me within it. This is about as dishonest a
method of “debate” as it gets. To then go on and say I am the
one tearing Paganism apart by expressing an opinion they do not
approve of is just icing on the cake at that point.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 class="western">
What exactly is Atheism Then?</h3>
<br />
Apparently some of those declaring themselves Atheo or
Naturalistic Pagans do in fact believe in some sort of intelligent
Universe if I parse their writing correctly and that is the basis of
claiming membership in Paganism. To that I say fine, I have zero
problem with <span style="background: transparent;">that position but
what it is not is atheism</span> by any meaningful definition. You
believe in something, no matter how nebulous, that is greater than
yourself and you are not an atheist<span style="background: transparent;">,
though you may be agnostic</span>. <span style="background: transparent;">
If you don't believe in something greater than yourself, no matter
how nebulous, and you cannot call yourself a Pagan.</span> That is
what my position boils down to. Why does it matter? It matters
because the Maetreum just fought a long long legal battle to define
Paganism within the law as a legitimate religious path. Atheism is
the opposite of religion (I am not addressing radical atheists who
are so hardcore they look like a fundamentalist religion) Why am I
personally entitled to an opinion on this? I have occupied the
identity of Pagan for more than fifty years, long before those
attacking me have been on the planet, so yes, I get to maintain that
identity and it's meaning. And it is a damn broad identity already
covering Theists, Deists, polytheists and yes, even those like us
Cybeline who are essentially monotheists. I stood up and was one of
the few “out” Pagans back in the day when the police around the
US had “Occult Squads” and you actually would lose your job if
you were out at work. I reclaimed an ancient religious tradition,
did original historic research along with my sisters in the process.
We Cybelines fought a major legal battle on behalf of all Pagans. So
yes, I have the right to hold and express an opinion on Paganism
because frankly, I earned it.<br />
<br />
The various atheists blogging about my little old essay are
essentially saying they are entitled to express their opinions and I
am not. That is the essence of their position.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-32771993989887649152015-01-09T09:28:00.001-05:002015-01-09T09:34:15.429-05:00Why Your Magic Doesn't Work........You just got a book of spells and cannot wait to bend someone else to your desires. Carefully you get all the required ingredients and gather it all together and learn the proper words to say over them as you mix and blend and light the candles and then....<br />
<br />
Nothing.<br />
<br />
If you are today's neo-Pagan Crystal Liter, you try a couple of more times then go online and beg an answer from some other witch wannabe in a chat room. Maybe eventually you decide magic is bullshit or the witch you asked is bullshit and you start to badmouth her. “Why oh why won't it work for me?' you cry out. The reason is contained in that action.<br />
<br />
You left out the most important parts, will and intent because you don't have a freakin' clue what those two words actually mean. Ah, yet again we have failure to understand the actual meanings of words gumming up the works.<br />
Will and intent doesn't mean staring at something and popping veins in your forehead concentrating on it. It is a state of mind and one you probably have been taught from birth not to obtain.<br />
<br />
<b>For Magic to Work, You Must Live a Magical Life</b><br />
<br />
Will is not wishing. That is where we start. That dirty word faith comes into play but not in the fashion you probably think. Faith in yourself. In order to have faith in yourself you first have to keep your word, especially to yourself. Do not make commitments you cannot keep because doing so tells your subconscious you aren't serious. Do you joke about Pagan Standard Time when you cannot seem to show up anywhere on time? Every time you do that you send a message to the Universe and that part of you that is the Universe that you are not a serious person, that you lack willpower. How on earth can you expect to visualize something to make it manifest if you cannot meet a simple obligation to be somewhere when you say you will? Simple answer, you can't. Magic begins with self respect and empowerment and you have to do the work on that yourself.<br />
<br />
Most people attempt spellwork hoping stuff will magically appear, sorry it doesn't work that way. You wish for a pile of money (and we'll get into motives next) and it doesn't appear and you are pissed but someone told you of an opportunity for a great job and you blew it off because better the devil you know. The magic worked and you blew it because you were hung up on the Hollywood witch concept.<br />
And your motives sucked. You want a pile of money but never asked yourself why you want it. You need to take the next step and figure out the why because what you need probably isn't money which is basically just a concept, but something else entirely like a decent place to live and food and basic comforts. Because you were looking for a pile of money, you miss the opportunities for those essential things that presented themselves that Universe provided you. You have to grasp the opportunities. And to do that, you first have to just be able to see them.<br />
<br />
And sometimes not getting what you wish for is the kindest thing the Universe can provide.<br />
<br />
I teach what I call the paradox of magical power. If you seek power, you will rarely get much, if you obtain power (through living a magical life where you can manifest into to world your “will”) you will rarely use it. (because you won't have to)<br />
Within that lesson is your answer but that's all you get from me for now.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-70506344396333906602015-01-08T11:26:00.001-05:002015-01-08T11:26:42.201-05:00Respect and Disrespect, Do Pagans Today Understand These Words?
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Respect: noun
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1. a particular, detail, or point
(usually preceded by in):
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
to differ in some respect.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
2. relation or reference:
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inquiries with respect to a route.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
3. esteem for or a sense of the worth
or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or
something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or
ability:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have great respect for her judgment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
4. deference to a right, privilege,
privileged position, or someone or something considered to have
certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy;
acknowledgment:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
respect for a suspect's right to
counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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Disrespect: noun
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1. lack of respect;
discourtesy; rudeness.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
verb (used with object)
</div>
<ol start="2">
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
to regard or treat without
respect;
regard or treat with contempt or rudeness.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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It is widely stated by many younger
Pagans that they do not have to respect Pagan Elders and then they turn
around and show disrespect believing that is the exact opposite when
it is not. Discourtesy, rudeness and contempt are a far cry from not
holding someone in esteem. To those who say they do not have to hold
me in respect, I say, fine but I do not have to put up or will put up
with out and out disrespect. Managing to survive X number of years
may not grant acknowledgment, but if in doing so you fought the good
fights, stood up for the rights of others, manifested into the real
world real changes and things of worth to many, that should be
respected if only out of proper acceptance or courtesy. It does not
matter if you agree with those accomplishments, simple common
courtesy dictates basic level respect.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ah, but we live in the internet age
where hiding behind a screen name every troll and his sister can
ignore a disagreement of principles and ideas and go straight to
character assassination, and his or her minions pile on gleefully
ignorant of actual facts. And we do indeed see this played out over
and over online.</div>
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<h2 class="western">
Straw Men and Women</h2>
<br /><br />
<br />
Because debating is a lost art in today's world as is teaching
logic and reasoning all too often the response to disagreement on
someone's position is to get up a totally made up profile of that
person and then attack that rather than debate the actual ideas and
concepts. This is what passes for debate these days and pretty much
assures that actual learning beyond what ever prejudices you
personally hold is rendered impossible. It is an extension of the
recent concept of egalitarianism taken to illogical extremes. No,
your uninformed, uneducated opinion is not equal to those of someone
who did the work to be informed and educated. Informed and educated
opinion can be wrong of course but if you believe it is then it your
responsibility to counter in an educated and informed fashion. That
is how things actually progress, learning takes place and progress is
made. Newsflash, if you launch into personal attacks unprovoked
because you disagree with a position they hold, you lost in the eyes
of anyone who isn't a like inclined idiot. You basically just
substituted bullying for discourse. You made sharing of viewpoints
and ideas impossible, you took away any opportunity to actually
change someone's mind or maybe work out a compromise position.<br />
And like it or not, sometimes wisdom does come with experience and
that deserves not to be disrespected, if not out and out respected.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<h3 class="western">
Sexism and Ageism as Disrespect
</h3>
<br /><br />
<br />
Crones used to be respected. Once a woman reached an age where
she no longer felt constrained to express herself freely because of
the jeopardy of losing a man no longer applied, she was considered a
Crone. If she spent a lifetime learning healing arts, herbalism and
midwifery she was considered an Esteemed Crone. Many Native
American tribes also recognized that she gained wisdom denied men by
virtue of thinking differently and having a high regard for the
welfare of future generations by virtue of raising them. With the
advent of the Abrahamic religions and a shift from matrilinear to
patrilinear descent these principles were ignored. Hey, if the world
is gonna end any day now, who gives a crap about future generations,
preserving the environment or women as anything other than property?<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
This sexism still runs rampant, yes, especially in Paganism. Let
some male “elder” get caught with computers full of child porn or
pushing sex with children as legitimate forms of education and scores
of Pagans rise up to debate it and agonize over the “good” they
did being thrown out with the bathwater but let a elder woman take a
position regarding the tradition she founded that empowered thousands
of women, say a Z. Budapest, that runs counter to some
neo-egalitarian idea that you can be whatever you declare yourself to
be, physical realities be damned, rights of physical female women to
restrict their religious practices to with other physically female
women, is oppression, and she is EVIL, everything she touches is
EVIL. Honey if that isn't a prime example of sexism, I have no idea
what would be. Yeah, profess belief in the Goddess and pull this
shit, did you just realize the Goddess isn't grandma with cookies?
That maybe this isn't the greatest position regarding the Goddess to
put yourself in?<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
And this all goes hand in glove with ageism usually expressed
with sexism. Say you have a choice, having broken your leg for
example, between having a medical doctor set the bone or a kid from
Burger King. Hard choice? The medical doctor learned how to set the
bone and is credentialed as someone who has that knowledge. When
someone who tells you their credentials in the form of years of
experience and battles fought and won do you dismiss that out of hand
because the kid from Burger King may have new ideas on setting bones?
Only if you are an idiot. And this, my darlings, is why you might
disagree with a learned elder but you do not disrespect them.. at
least if you are any kind of decent human being.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
Thus endeth the lesson......<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-32644062041912807072014-12-31T09:32:00.000-05:002014-12-31T09:52:23.219-05:00More on Manifesting Most Pagans will tell you they work in magic but when you look at how they live that would seem at odds with the claim. Often they are struggling just to get by, constantly online begging spells to fix this or that in their lives, living in the shadows afraid family and friends will discover they are Pagans.<br />
<br />
First understand this, a life devoid of challenges is devoid of learning. You cannot expect things to be handed to you on a platter because you are "magical" because the reality is you are not and no amount of witchcrap books, Pagan bling and teenaged spirited spell work is going to change that. Far too many become involved in Paganism seeking personal power over what they see lives of powerlessness.<br />
<br />
What is lacking is spirituality, working with the Divine principles of the Universe regardless of how you name that, working for goals beyond your own petty desires. When you set out to achieve (manifest) a large goal you should expect large challenges along that way, that is how the Universe works for if that was easy, everyone would be doing it and few actually are. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is not just a principle of physics, it is an expression of the old idea of standing in balance and moving the point of balance or restoring it will require work.<br />
<br />
Can you stand outside your own ego and see the world as a semi detached observer? Including your own life? Because if the answer is no, then you cannot work magic or manifest into the world. If hardship brings on choruses of "woe is me" or "life is unfair" you are failing to see you might have lessons to learn in this turn on the wheel you are refusing to learn. Instead of woe is me, look for the lesson.<br />
<br />
Change your goals and you change your life, that is magic. Work with the Universe instead of against it and maybe you can change at least part of the world. Strive for balance and see what you can actually manifest.<br />
<br />
Many people have told me how hard my own life has been but I do not see it that way. I strive for large goals and thus face large challenges but although I am poor by most people's standards, my life is rich by my own standards. My own work is far from done and no doubt I shall face many more challenges before it ends but it is a good life, largely other directed but provides me with what I need mainly as a side benefit of a goal to manifest into the world a place of healing, for those to learn and rebuild their lives and to demonstrate how to live in harmony with the Universe. Every time I faced major challenges along the way there has been no shortage of those telling me to give up, that what I was trying to do was impossible, that you cannot fight city hall. And yet here I am. Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-31808897980991247682014-12-24T08:50:00.001-05:002014-12-24T09:12:50.701-05:00The Challenge of Manifesting Your BeliefsWith more and more Pagans being solo these days and buying most of their Pagan bling online, the former gathering places of brick and mortar metaphysical bookstores are becoming fewer and fewer than in the past. Time for the new model to emerge of physical centres set up as central Temples and places to come to workshops and do research like the Maetreum and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Alexandrian-Library/140491612409" target="_blank">New Alexandrian Library </a>project in Delaware. Unlike the bookstores these places for practical reasons are in rural settings rather than the more urban former bookstores.<br />
<br />
Most forms of Paganism came from rural roots and it is time to return to those roots for so many reasons.<br />
<br />
Setting up such a project takes time, planning and a few very dedicated visionaries with charitable hearts. Pagan centres that failed in the past did so for fixed reasons, failure to pay as you go, ownership by individuals rather than non-profits, expecting to raise large overheads by community donations and overlooking that as Pagans, our efforts need to be as green as possible. They need to be as inclusive as possible of other Pagan paths and when combined with community housing they can provide a much improved standard of living for folks with limited means willing to work for the good of all. This is what Paganism looked like in the pre-Christian era and must look like again for the sake of the planet and each other.<br />
<br />
You start by incorporating as a religious non-profit and then applying for IRS 501(c)(3) status. You then locate property bearing in mind that if you incorporated you might be able to get the property donated for someone's tax write off. Don't try to make it all happen full blown out of the gate, be realistic and start small scale. Do look into tiny houses remembering that you can build them yourself. Don't be afraid to ask help from those who are doing already or even by lending a hand with projects already underway as a sort of mentor-ship.<br />
<br />
There is built in resistance from some in the Pagan communities, ignore that and understand the greater Pagan communities probably will not provide much in the way of donations.<br />
<br />
Paganism is at a crossroads right now and the choices are into the shadows once again and eventual erasure or standing proud and doing and manifesting your beliefs into the real world. The choice is yours but those of us manifesting are going on with or without you.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-14057265017256566222014-12-16T10:24:00.002-05:002015-01-08T18:55:04.766-05:00Naturalistic Pagan is an OxymoronI tend to avoid the Pathos Pagan blog because it feels like worthless ramblings so much of the time but recently a blog entry there crossed my news-feed titled <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/allergicpagan/2014/12/12/the-first-commandment-of-paganism-thou-shalt-not-judge-and-why-this-is-a-problem/" target="_blank">“Thou Shalt Not Judge” (and why this is a problem)</a>" written by John Halstead, who styles himself the Allergic Pagan and includes this definition of naturalistic Pagan in his article:<br />
<br />
"As the term is used here, Naturalistic Pagans includes Humanistic Pagans, Atheistic Pagans, Atheopagans, and other non-theistic Pagans."<br />
<br />
The article is all about questioning the validity of the experiences of other Pagans. The problem he fails to grasp is that a non-theistic Pagan is not a Pagan at all but an atheist, a perfectly good word that does not attempt to appropriate an umbrella term for various RELIGIONS and fits him to a "T".<br />
<br />
Frankly, as a life long practising Pagan in her mid sixties (meaning I have been a Pagan almost as long as Wicca has been a religion) I am fed up with those who are clearly self declared atheists claiming membership as Pagans when they are nothing of the sort. Words matter, their definitions matter. Halstead bemoans trouble communicating with Pagans while failing to see he isn't even using the same damn language making actual communication impossible.<br />
<br />
It's bad enough that John and Jane Q. Public confuses Wicca and Paganism as being the same when Wicca is a mere subset of Paganism and a Gardner come lately one at that, but trying to include atheism under the same umbrella stretches the cloth way the hell past the breaking point. You want to hang with Pagans because we can be a fun free-wheeling group, fine but if you are an atheist, you are NOT a Pagan yourself. If your motive is playing with religious trappings without actually believing, go join the UUs, they actually have a place for you to do that.<br />
<br />
Lately a lot of so called Pagans have tried to define Paganism. They need to consult historians. Pagan used to mean country dwellers until the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. It was Emperor Julian who redefined the word to capital P Pagan to mean those devotees of the non Abrahamic religions, the operative word here being religions. Julian was an initiate of the Cybeline religion who also wrote several important works on Cybele, Magna Mater, the Great Mother. We Cybelines thus have a greater claim to title "Pagan" than most neo-Pagans can claim.<br />
<br />
And we modern Cybelines call foul and say enough is enough. Stop appropriating our identity.<br />
<br />
Postscript: John apparently has momma issues he is trying to work out through me. He mined my mostly friends only Facebook account, spammed the hell out of this entry with nonsense and in general is displaying what I call Mysogynistic Deranged Male Syndrome which you normally only see in 18-24 year old males living in their momma's basement Nice job giving this lunatic a blog Patheos. His fear of an empowered Crone is beyond evident.<br />
<br />
I had to place comments on this blog on full moderation.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-90122915633567554332014-11-24T13:05:00.001-05:002014-12-16T10:32:40.981-05:00The Maetreum Wins Largest Legal Battle in Paganism in Decades, Pagan leadership yawns......I probably will start writing a lot more now that my cyber-stalker lost in court. That would be the lawyer representing the town of Catskill who has put everything I write or wrote under a microscope looking for anything that could be twisted and used against us in court for more than seven years now. In the end the best he could come up with was a single phrase that was totally accurate that someone setting up a charitable housing project should check and see if they are eligible for a property tax exemption in their state.<br />
<br />
I will start off by pointing out we got a LOT of grassroots support from Pagans as individuals but almost nada from Pagan organizations that purport to exist to help Pagans in the situation we were in. And unlike the majority of Pagan groups, we dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's legally and thus should have been bulletproof.<br />
<br />
When the Wild Hunt first covered our story, comments were made we were unworthy because we were a tranny religion, by the last couple of months of the case, a whisper campaign had been started that we were transphobes. That seems typical of online Paganism these days. To the best of my knowledge and Google searches, the only Pagan blog that covered our victory was the Wild Hunt... the only one other than a brief shout-out from <a href="http://wiccanwoman.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/top-new-york-court-backs-the-maetreum/">WiccanWoman</a>, but we got coverage in the Washington Post, the Albany Times Union, both the local papers and our case is considered historic in property tax law circles. During the case we were featured in the New York Times and Forbes magazine. So why is that?<br />
<br />
Neo-Paganism has never known how to view us. We are essentially mono-theistic in a community of many gods. Unlike the apparent fashion in Paganism, we actually believe in the Goddess and live that way day to day. We are actual scholars. A typical weekend gathering at the Maetreum would do an academic conference proud with spirited exchanges of ideas on pretty much any topic you care to name but especially on history and theology. We do real world charitable work, more than 35 women have been supported fully living at the Maetreum while they got their lives back in order over the past decade. Our rituals are fairly simple other than the solar holidays but they include round table discussions of theology as part of them. We don't cast circles except specifically for protection because we view the entire world as sacred space. We worship in an actual Temple we built ourselves. We own real property and try to set an living example of living lighter on the earth with wind and solar power generation, our flock of chickens, gardens etc. We are involved in our community instead of cowering in fear in a broom closet. <br />
<br />
We don't do the Pagan conference circuit, sell witchcrap courses or self promote relentlessly. Before our case, most Pagans never even heard of us. Apparently this makes us dangereous to some Big Nose Pagans and Big Nose Pagan wannabees. Relax BNP's, other than I will be calling out some of you for actually working against us during the case, we have no designs on neo-Paganism because we are the real deal..... Pagans with a legitimate history and without a neo tacked on the front.<br />
<br />
One new group mentions us on their webpage as a reason to donate to them but they didn't raise a penny for us. The founder goes on and on about accountability in Pagan leadership while quoting a known liar, blowhard, writer of soft Pagan porn and self promoter running around giving Pagan leadership workshops while her only credentials of Pagan leadership is giving her workshops. They just had a pay for online Pagan Activism conference but no Cybeline was even invited to participate let alone lead a discussion despite the HUGE victory we just won.<br />
<br />
We are different. We are going back to doing our work for the Goddess and our community, we won't be a huge presence at your Pagan get togethers. But if you are an adult who understands the value of freewheeling debate, free exchange of ideas and discussions, drop by sometime, join the conversation and have a cup or two or three of coffee or tea on us. The last Pagan Emperor of Rome and devotee of Cybele, Julian, charged Pagans to "Be thou the one" referring to doing public works and charity and thus providing a living example to the rest of the world. We live by this at the Maetreum. We challenge other Pagans to follow our example and be thou the one by coming out of their broom closets and being open and active members of their local communities.<br />
<br />
We have proved that if you fight the good fight for the right reason you can prevail regardless of the odds.<br />
<br />
"Be thou the one and renew the light" -- Rev. Mother Cathryn-<br />
<br />
<br />Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-4039017885086972962014-09-18T07:49:00.003-04:002014-09-18T08:57:05.061-04:00Ageism and Pagan Elder Abuse, Part 2"Hi, I'm Morning Raven Fluff and I've decided to be one of your priestesses, here is a list of the things you have to change for me."<br />
<br />
I hope this sounds as ludicrous to your ears as it does to mine but it reflects the attitude more and more younger Pagans seem to approach established groups with. What the hell is going on here?<br />
<br />
What's going on is a generation of over protected, everyone gets a trophy just for showing up, "you're special" even if you never actually did anythings have entered Paganism and Feminism and the world in general. The dominant attitude is "my totally uneducated opinion is equal to your educated and experienced knowledge base". This is accompanied with "more victim than thou" and what I started calling years ago, the Oppression Olympics. <br />
<br />
You really don't have to look very far in Pagan discussion groups to run across multiple "so and so isn't an elder in MY tradition so I won't listen to anything they have to say" Their tradition often is a tradition of one. In a time where the internet makes connections easy that used to be almost impossible, when Pagan groups should be flourishing with ever expanding numbers, they are dying on the vine and unsupported by groups set up to actually support them but apparently actually set up to support someone's ego and pocketbook.<br />
<br />
If this continues you can kiss Paganism goodbye along with the environment, women's rights hard fought for and won by those awful second wave feminists and we have already lost most of our civil rights in Amerika where standing up for them is now considered terrorism.<br />
<br />
And it is ageism.<br />
<br />
Most Pagan traditions trace some of their sources to societies where the elders were respected and cherished but today elders are dottering old fools with dinosaur ideas and I've personally been told, "I cannot wait until you die and take your ideas with you." Because a couple of elder men have been exposed as sex perverts recently within Paganism, all elders and in particular elder women are under some form of attack in some twisted return to the Crone as the evil Halloween witch.. in Paganism! Wannabe Big Nose Pagans are writing blogs with titles implying all elders are essentially bullies and abusive. Saying no to these idiots is considered abusive as is refusing to accommodate their every whim.<br />
<br />
"You must change your tradition to fit my desires" Or what?, you won't join? "Your opinions are oppressing me" So wipe the dust from your feet and move on darling. "Your tone is angry" Really? I was trying to have a discussion with you thinking you were an adult capable of a spirited debate. "You are difficult to work with" Because I didn't give you a trophy for showing up or tell you your opinions were brilliant when they weren't? <br />
<br />
I ain't your grandmother without opinions who just sticks around to hand you a cookie. I am a woman who fought more damn battles in a long lifetime than you can imagine and stood up for mine and your rights. I've been kicked and beaten and even raped more times than you can imagine. This is why I don't run around taking your money to teach you in some Pagan festival workshop or online scam school. You want to learn from me, you come to me and I share freely. That's what I do.<br />
<br />
If it hadn't been for our legal battle for equal rights under the law and our need to raise each year twice than our operating costs for legal fees, you probably would not have heard of us at the Maetreum because we know what we offer is not for the masses who want quick answers without work. We don't give answers, we just help you find them but if you are not willing to do the work, we have nothing to offer you. We don't need you, you need us. We do the work of taking in women in need and helping them get back on their feet without preaching or requiring they join us and have been doing so for over a decade. We never asked the greater Pagan community for money to do this. We do it because it is the right thing to do. <br />
<br />
If this youth culture crap continues in Paganism of all places, you will all wind up sitting under a tree alone gazing into your smart phone instead of your navel. It makes me want to cry.....and feel I wasted a lifetime fighting for rights and equality and respect for women when it wasn't valued enough to just keep the victories won in the past. <br />
<br />
But for now, I'm still here and I still share freely with those who actually want to learn something and expand their horizons and get in touch with the Divine within themselves but I am getting old and won't be here forever....... You cannot make someone respect you but you sure as hell can demand they not disrespect you.<br />
<br />
You are throwing away the greatest treasure of all with your ageism, the access to the wisdom that sometimes (not always) comes with age and experience.<br />
<br />Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9152735487772301613.post-90000500270438564942014-09-17T15:21:00.001-04:002015-11-19T17:50:44.315-05:00Ageism and Pagan Elder Abuse Part 1Elder abuse is usually associated with caretakers abusing the elderly in nursing homes but it actually goes much deeper and further than that. When you are older but fail to be the grandma with cookies type of older woman you will experience ageism big time.<br />
<br />
Normally I don't like airing our dirty laundry here at the Maetreum but we recently had a multi level example of both ageism and elder abuse happen here starring that crusty old crone, yours truly.<br />
<br />
We had a priestess who's involvement in the Cybeline Revival went back to it's near beginnings but who only actually showed up or participated every couple of years or so. Up until a couple of years ago, she did keep in fairly regular touch by phone but that suddenly came to a halt about 2 and an half years ago until this spring when she descended on us full force telling everyone here I needed more looking after. I didn't think much of it at the time but then the return in June put everything in an entire new light.<br />
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She and her daughter and partner are living in an older home they just moved into to "help" an older gentleman who's family allegedly was not looking after. This is the second time she has moved into a property to "help" someone and took it over. He has family, but she somehow arranged power of attorney for his healthcare and finances. Recently he was moved into a retirement home but they are still living in his house. Now understand that this sort of house stealing is becoming more and
more common and the law hasn't really caught up with it. Essentially it
is a type of con aimed at elderly home owners. Her own mother has early stage Alzheimer's, something I noticed several years ago on the last whirlwind visit with mom in toe. She took over all her mothers affairs as well and cleaned her out. To make a long story short, she's figured out the jig is up on the free housing and planned to move here and take over. Moving here would not have been a problem but I told her that her mom could not be part of the package as we simply are not equipped to deal with an Alzheimer's patient. <br />
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When I did that, it hit the fan. She was already telling me my advisor, a woman I literally trust more than anyone else on the planet, had an agenda and I shouldn't trust her. She'd had a facebook account for ages but never used it at all. Suddenly she is friending everyone associated with us. At this time a younger Pagan woman who was to start her novitiate training with me was moving into the Maetreum with her multiple partners. Our novitiate was zeroed in on. Then she started telling everyone associated with us that I was showing signs of early dementia, naturally with nothing to back that up because their isn't anything to back it up. She started working the younger women against the older ones, pushing for major changes in everything about the house. Not directly, but through the younger women. My advisor actually overheard her doing this.<br />
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The tactic switched to early signs of dementia to full blown very quickly and the rest of the priestesshood realized we had to do something quickly because we'd been down this road years before.<br />
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Unlike many other Pagan traditions, we have a blueprint for dealing with conflict and running and living as a community. This document has been online since 2004. The last time we had an attempted schismatic takeover of the property (it's always about our property) it was slightly modified to empower an individual Battakes (Rev. Mother of a specific Phrygianum or convent if you will) to simply expel a priestess working to undermine her. It has further safeguards against just a personality conflict. Under our rules I could have just done this but I did not. Instead the priestesses who were aware of the situation, all but two living outside the US, conferred and collectively and unanimously decided to tell her she was no longer a priestess and must leave immediately. We knew there would be blowback from this. The rouge priestess was informed she needed to meet with me and my heir for a discussion. That's where it hit the fan big time. <br />
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Apparently she started texting everyone in the house that she was being set up by demented old me and calling for an intervention to prevent the meeting. We have very specific rules for calling a house meeting and this violated most of them.<br />
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She did not show up from her RV until she had it all in place unknown to my successor and myself who walked into an ambush. When I saw what was happening, I announced this was a priestess only matter and I was speaking as the Battakes. Not only was I ignored but the novitiate announced she was mediating this and I was physically prevented from leaving the room. It was two against seven... and clear the agenda was me. No personal boundary of mine was left intact or respected. Yes, I yelled but I never threatened even verbally while I had been forcibly stopped from leaving myself by a large younger male we were letting stay with us.<br />
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The offending priestess left but not without arranging considerable chaos in her wake in the form of half the downstairs of our home turned upside down and pretty much unusable. The Noviciate decided I had somehow "triggered her" by yelling and she and her partners decided not to move in and break all the promises they had been making. Ok, bad situation but resolving itself except they left all their things filling the rest of the downstairs and two bedrooms and the main hallway for six weeks not to mention a dead car in our driveway at a time we were having a battle with the local code office.<br />
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The former noviciate was left an open door to come back. She was in charge of the Albany summer Pagan event and I was supposed to be "honoured" as a crone at that event. I told her under the circumstances that I considered that inappropriate and I would not be even attending absent an apology for basically total disrespect of the priestesshood and myself in our own home when we were trying to deal with a very difficult situation under our rules and blocked by her, not a priestess, from doing so. We recognized she was suckered into it by an expert con artist and cut a LOT of slack for her because of that.<br />
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Still with me? This is where it gets interesting. Apparently I have become a Name Pagan due to our multiple year battle with the town of Catskill and apparently that has made other Name Pagans nervous despite the fact I don't do the festival circuit or hold court like many of them do. Frankly, I've been far too busy keeping our place going and fighting bigotry to even think about it. Our former Noviciate does do the circuit and likes to schmooze with the Big Nose Pagans and the BNP wannabes. I have been trashed to pretty much all of them at this point as an abusive and angry bitch. All at a time that three separate legal actions with Catskill have been coming to a head and thus cutting off support we badly needed to raise the needed legal fees.<br />
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One of the wannabe BNPs is a woman who runs around the community giving "leadership" workshops even though she has never, to the best of my knowledge, ever actually led anything other than a workshop. She also makes her living writing soft Pagan porn. Almost exactly a year ago the Albany Pagan group had her come do a workshop and it was done here at the Maetreum for free. We hostessed the workshop and put this woman up for the night and fed her. That night she and I sat down to have a chat and were quickly interrupted by a vandal throwing rocks through our windows and screaming anti Pagan and anti LGBT slurs and then threatening to come back with an AK 47 and shoot us up. The cops did show but did not even bother to do a proper interview with us. That was the sum of my contact with this wannabe with a couple of very brief FB encounters afterwards. After being contacted by our former Noviciate, suddenly we were being accused of being transphobic and our wannabe <a href="https://shaunaaura.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/pagan-elders-and-abusive-dynamics/" target="_blank">blogged</a> about what a terrible leader and abusive angry person I am being extremely careful not to mention my name but giving more than enough details about the Maetreum and myself that no one familiar with any of this would not know exactly who was being talked about. I was linked to the recent paedophile and the Frosts. Also to Z Budapest.<br />
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I am writing this because I am seeing evidence my experience is not an isolated one and my next blog entry will deal with the widespread in general disrespect of older women in particular in the Pagan community.Rev. Cathryn Platinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858403773715566065noreply@blogger.com3