Normally, when I post on this site, I talk squarely about things like rituals and working on various projects. One of my favorites being crafting myths. The thing about my work is that nothing really exists in a vacuum. As appealing as it may be at times to simply withdraw into a world of studies and pretend not to notice the world… It isn’t something that most people can do. It certainly wouldn’t be right if I did.
I don’t have to say much about the truth that the world is plagued with all manner of terrible things: environmental destruction, the renewed threat of fascism, racism, war, misogyny, LGBTQIA+ phobias, exploitation of working people, for profit prisons, and that is only scraping the tip of the iceberg. Those directly affected by those things know it far better than I do. Though I know the working class exploitation part well. It isn’t possible to cover all of the ills of the world, and I’m certainly not the best person to do it. However, as I am part of the world, it behooves me to say something. What I will say is this: We have a moral, human, and yes religious duty to speak up!
We have a duty to extend hospitality to those who enter our lands seeking refuge. Putting people seeking asylum in concentration camps, like the US government has done to folks fleeing violence in Latin America is not hospitable. We bring shame to Gaulish peoples that were said to feed guests before even asking a single question! To think that instead we are separating families and caging children? Now, you might say “I am not doing this!”, and that is probably true. However, if you aren’t at least speaking against it, are you not complicit?
We have a duty to stand with marginalized people in our societies. Failure to do so means the community withers away to nothing. Without the community, there is no society. A strong community was what allowed societies to survive in the past, and it holds true now. That means when fellow members of our community are targeted disproportionately by people who are given guns and playing judge, jury, and executioner – often against unarmed or legally armed people – based on the color of their skin, we have a duty to stand with them and affirm that their lives matter!
We have a duty to respect the rights of people who aren’t harming others. Without the ability of folks to express who they are, society stagnates and creates misery, violence, and unjustified fear. Chaos. That means we are honor bound to stand in support of who consenting people choose to be with, regardless of gender. It means that when a person tells you what gender they are, that is what it is. It is our duty to respect that.
We have a duty, especially as Galatîs (and human beings in general) to resist imperialism. This was something that the Gauls literally did. That means when corporations want to build pipelines on the sacred lands of a people, or a telescope on a sacred mountain after the people rejected it, it is our duty to stand with them! It means checking our own behaviors, and doing our part not to contribute to a legacy of unimaginable suffering of indigenous peoples.
We have a duty to protect our communities from those who intend to do harm and sew strife, and suffering in our communities. Such as fascist presidents giving the green light to arson in the Amazon. That means doing our part to defend our communities from fascists, racists, imperialism, and all of the other hatreds that sew chaos. It means calling these people out. Some of the previous things I have stated were more America-centric, but others are things that apply pretty much anywhere in the world.
Those of you who are familiar with my work know that I’m deeply involved in Taranis cult. When we look at the wheel He holds, what does it mean? It means He wields the order of the cosmos. What is order? Something decided for us by the rich and powerful? Or something we decide for ourselves? Something that grows from safe communities, where the rights of good people are respected.
Conversely, His enemies are beings of chaos. Many figured and serpentine enemies that threaten the cosmos. Why are they His enemies? It is simple — they withhold from the people what they need to survive and grow, or they seek to destroy the world and make it uninhabitable. Does that sound familiar? Does it remind you of capitalist robber barons? The same who hoard the world’s wealth so that millions, billions go hungry, and without the bare minimum necessities to live? The same who are destroying the plant, who have brought us to the brink of climate disaster?
This is not coincidence. Hatred for those who deprive others isn’t new. Our ancestors were far from perfect, and sometimes became the things that they hated. Many people today do this as well. This is why the worst offenders often make so many excuses. They know they are in the wrong. But we can learn from the wrongs of our ancestors just as we can learn right from them. We can set out to be the example of a world that puts people before profit, love before hate, and true, real order, over the illusory one in which we were given.
However to do this, it starts by speaking out against the wrongs in our world. It starts by not being silent. Ne gallomos-nîs butâ tausos. (We cannot be silent.)
(Special thanks to Mârovailis Caitâtis for reminding me of the analogy of the enemy of Taranis.)
Bessus Nouiogalation 