Miss-Delectable
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Interview with Thor Halvorsen, Activist for the Rights of Deaf Pagans
I first met Thor (and yes, that's his birth name, folks) at the "Changing Times, Changing Worlds" conference this past November. He was teaching a fascinating class on ASL (American Sign Language) and Paganism and after meeting him earlier in the day and discussing his work and some of his ongoing community concerns, even I, in no possible way anything approaching a morning person, had to take his 8:30am class the following morning. It was an enlightening experience.
Part of reclaiming our sacred traditions means reclaiming language. Most of us are engaged in this process without even being consciously aware of it. Do you call yourself a "Witch," a "Heathen,' a Pagan?" Well, in doing so, you are reclaiming a sacred identity, using words that at one time were very much the religious equivalent of the 'N-word.' You are reclaiming concepts and practices long condemned not just to historical oblivion, but to excoriation. It is a radical act and by using these words we remind ourselves, every single time we consciously name and identify ourselves thusly, that we are in the process of restoring something sacred and essential; that our Gods and our ancestors and the traditions surrounding them have not been forgotten. It's a good and necessary starting point, but there is much more to work to be done.
There is a tradition within many schools of magic that teaches that to name something is to bring it into being and I think there is a great deal of wisdom in this, because the opposite is also true: if you don't have words by which to conceive, frame, and communicate an idea then how can you ever manifest it fully? One of the problems that we face as we work hard to restore our sacred traditions is the paucity of our language in framing concepts central to our practices and sometimes even the practices themselves. Many words (for instance the Norse word that encompasses the job we now call 'shaman') have been lost to history. Many other words now have radically different meanings, oftentimes negative ones. Sometimes words are too deeply connected to monotheism now to be easily repurposed (I have seen many a Pagan and Heathen struggle with the word 'prayer' because of this). Many of our ancestral cultures were predominantly oral and words referring to aspects of non-Christian sacred traditions were never recorded by the Christian scribes and monks who followed. History truly is written by the victors and the language they use shapes our later understanding. As I've said before, language has power. Language defines the way we think; it defines our worldview; it defines the way we relate to our world and everything in it. Take away our words, silence our voices, and we can all too easily be rendered powerless.
I also felt very disheartened with the whole "not of this world" attitude that prevailed in my birth religion. By that, I mean the apathy about what harm we as a society are doing to this world. It bothered me to see so many fundamentalists who gleefully get excited thinking the destruction of society points to Jesus' return when in reality, it's more like that destruction is only hastening our own demise. Furthermore, I've always felt very attached to nature, often playing in the forest across the street from where we lived, seeing the trees as being alive, having spirits, their branches "making faces" at me.
Having being visited by what I later can only describe as Odin, when I was four years old, I learned that there was more to existence than what I was being shown. I was about four and I woke up seeing an electric blue shape of a bird pecking at my left wrist. I woke up a little more and noticed I could see through it. I then felt/saw what I can only describe as a chuckle from a similarly-hued figure that was leaning on the dresser and had a much brighter right eye (but this light was more like a spark inside of a socket as opposed to the very sharp eye that was looking at me from the left eye). I basically grew scared and thrust the covers over my head. I felt something like a pat on the head (almost paternal) and then I noticed I had to use the restroom. So I peeked and the figure was gone. I had no idea who that figure was until I heard some of the old stories my Norwegian family members were telling about the Gods and Goddesses of Norse mythology.
Then having later met my Wiccan teacher, I discovered I liked what Wicca was about (such as self-responsibility, and respect for the world, and balance). I also liked the fact that I, for once, felt the spirituality of things and places, just like I did when I was a kid playing in the grass, having butterflies land on my open hand—which marveled my dad quite a bit; he still tells stories about that. I also felt more than ever that I was on the right path, with my heart directing me where to go. I've always felt that if a Goddess or God had a mission for you, She or He would make it known to you, yourself, first of all.
You know you are on the right path when communication happens, and you find all the skills you've picked up along the way are finally being utilized and expanded upon.
I think that communication you're talking about is the dearest, most precious part of any faith. It's what keeps it alive; what drives it. That's the fuel for the spiritual ardor that is so fundamental toward learning to love and serve the Gods well. Anyway, can you tell me a little bit about the work that you're doing now for Deaf Pagans and Heathens.
Right now I am working to establish both awareness and a working lexicon within the community, from the community itself; I'm working to formulate a working vernacular for Deaf Pagans that emphasizes and expresses the world-view of Pagans, and at the same time is both religiously and culturally relevant but also reflects the Deaf world view. I am also working to do work in the greater Pagan community to play a role, albeit a small one, in contributing to the present and future of Paganism, to leave it a little bit better than I found it.
Why is this work so crucial?
This work is crucial because to discuss other religious views outside of Christianity, and to cultivate an understanding of other religions from their perspective and to simply know about other religions, you need to be able to have a way to talk about them and also have means to describe concepts that are outside the experience of those coming from different religious backgrounds. You need a vernacular to build knowledge about other religions and the religious experience itself. From this education comes tolerance and the freedom to choose your own religious path.
If you don't want a given population to have other religions, you create an erasure effect, by not acknowledging the existence and validity of that religion in the language itself. If there is no concept or vocabulary for that religion, then well, it doesn't exist within conversations and eventually it doesn't even exist within the realm of thought itself! I cannot tell you how often I am asked how come ASL doesn't have signs for stuff relating to Paganism. I get asked this all the time by people who are even yet surprised that Deaf people have signs for sexuality and sexual concepts, but nothing about say Paganism, Buddhism, etc. To me, the situation is far from satisfactory. ASL is a valid, complete language, and the concepts can be signed via ASL, but congruency and representation of the concepts into the whole "consciousness" of the language is what is absent—the erasure and lack of awareness.
I first met Thor (and yes, that's his birth name, folks) at the "Changing Times, Changing Worlds" conference this past November. He was teaching a fascinating class on ASL (American Sign Language) and Paganism and after meeting him earlier in the day and discussing his work and some of his ongoing community concerns, even I, in no possible way anything approaching a morning person, had to take his 8:30am class the following morning. It was an enlightening experience.
Part of reclaiming our sacred traditions means reclaiming language. Most of us are engaged in this process without even being consciously aware of it. Do you call yourself a "Witch," a "Heathen,' a Pagan?" Well, in doing so, you are reclaiming a sacred identity, using words that at one time were very much the religious equivalent of the 'N-word.' You are reclaiming concepts and practices long condemned not just to historical oblivion, but to excoriation. It is a radical act and by using these words we remind ourselves, every single time we consciously name and identify ourselves thusly, that we are in the process of restoring something sacred and essential; that our Gods and our ancestors and the traditions surrounding them have not been forgotten. It's a good and necessary starting point, but there is much more to work to be done.
There is a tradition within many schools of magic that teaches that to name something is to bring it into being and I think there is a great deal of wisdom in this, because the opposite is also true: if you don't have words by which to conceive, frame, and communicate an idea then how can you ever manifest it fully? One of the problems that we face as we work hard to restore our sacred traditions is the paucity of our language in framing concepts central to our practices and sometimes even the practices themselves. Many words (for instance the Norse word that encompasses the job we now call 'shaman') have been lost to history. Many other words now have radically different meanings, oftentimes negative ones. Sometimes words are too deeply connected to monotheism now to be easily repurposed (I have seen many a Pagan and Heathen struggle with the word 'prayer' because of this). Many of our ancestral cultures were predominantly oral and words referring to aspects of non-Christian sacred traditions were never recorded by the Christian scribes and monks who followed. History truly is written by the victors and the language they use shapes our later understanding. As I've said before, language has power. Language defines the way we think; it defines our worldview; it defines the way we relate to our world and everything in it. Take away our words, silence our voices, and we can all too easily be rendered powerless.
I also felt very disheartened with the whole "not of this world" attitude that prevailed in my birth religion. By that, I mean the apathy about what harm we as a society are doing to this world. It bothered me to see so many fundamentalists who gleefully get excited thinking the destruction of society points to Jesus' return when in reality, it's more like that destruction is only hastening our own demise. Furthermore, I've always felt very attached to nature, often playing in the forest across the street from where we lived, seeing the trees as being alive, having spirits, their branches "making faces" at me.
Having being visited by what I later can only describe as Odin, when I was four years old, I learned that there was more to existence than what I was being shown. I was about four and I woke up seeing an electric blue shape of a bird pecking at my left wrist. I woke up a little more and noticed I could see through it. I then felt/saw what I can only describe as a chuckle from a similarly-hued figure that was leaning on the dresser and had a much brighter right eye (but this light was more like a spark inside of a socket as opposed to the very sharp eye that was looking at me from the left eye). I basically grew scared and thrust the covers over my head. I felt something like a pat on the head (almost paternal) and then I noticed I had to use the restroom. So I peeked and the figure was gone. I had no idea who that figure was until I heard some of the old stories my Norwegian family members were telling about the Gods and Goddesses of Norse mythology.
Then having later met my Wiccan teacher, I discovered I liked what Wicca was about (such as self-responsibility, and respect for the world, and balance). I also liked the fact that I, for once, felt the spirituality of things and places, just like I did when I was a kid playing in the grass, having butterflies land on my open hand—which marveled my dad quite a bit; he still tells stories about that. I also felt more than ever that I was on the right path, with my heart directing me where to go. I've always felt that if a Goddess or God had a mission for you, She or He would make it known to you, yourself, first of all.
You know you are on the right path when communication happens, and you find all the skills you've picked up along the way are finally being utilized and expanded upon.
I think that communication you're talking about is the dearest, most precious part of any faith. It's what keeps it alive; what drives it. That's the fuel for the spiritual ardor that is so fundamental toward learning to love and serve the Gods well. Anyway, can you tell me a little bit about the work that you're doing now for Deaf Pagans and Heathens.
Right now I am working to establish both awareness and a working lexicon within the community, from the community itself; I'm working to formulate a working vernacular for Deaf Pagans that emphasizes and expresses the world-view of Pagans, and at the same time is both religiously and culturally relevant but also reflects the Deaf world view. I am also working to do work in the greater Pagan community to play a role, albeit a small one, in contributing to the present and future of Paganism, to leave it a little bit better than I found it.
Why is this work so crucial?
This work is crucial because to discuss other religious views outside of Christianity, and to cultivate an understanding of other religions from their perspective and to simply know about other religions, you need to be able to have a way to talk about them and also have means to describe concepts that are outside the experience of those coming from different religious backgrounds. You need a vernacular to build knowledge about other religions and the religious experience itself. From this education comes tolerance and the freedom to choose your own religious path.
If you don't want a given population to have other religions, you create an erasure effect, by not acknowledging the existence and validity of that religion in the language itself. If there is no concept or vocabulary for that religion, then well, it doesn't exist within conversations and eventually it doesn't even exist within the realm of thought itself! I cannot tell you how often I am asked how come ASL doesn't have signs for stuff relating to Paganism. I get asked this all the time by people who are even yet surprised that Deaf people have signs for sexuality and sexual concepts, but nothing about say Paganism, Buddhism, etc. To me, the situation is far from satisfactory. ASL is a valid, complete language, and the concepts can be signed via ASL, but congruency and representation of the concepts into the whole "consciousness" of the language is what is absent—the erasure and lack of awareness.