SageWoman Blogs

Every cell in our beautiful and amazing bodies contains the whirling wisdom of the universe. This is the journey of one witch remembering that, and celebrating the sacred and divine in beings of all genders and manifestations.

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form

It's Not About Them, It's About Us

A few shots of whiskey in, an old friend I hadn’t seen in awhile and I decided to do a tarot reading on the upcoming US presidential election.  We are both a bit obsessed, checking FiveThirtyEight (the website that focuses on opinion poll analysis) regularly (and I confess in my case sometimes multiple times a day).  She has also been doing multiple divinations using I Ching and Runes.  As is often the case with divination she never got conclusive answers much to her consternation. 

 

I pulled out my Ted Andrews “The Animal-Wise Tarot” and handed her the cards.  The first card, the situation, was The Chariot, in this deck a powerful horse moving through a field.  We laughed, yes, we were sure this election was indeed a horse race, the two front runners neck in neck and a couple others a distant third and fourth.  Just like people who’d bet the rent, we desperately needed our horse to win.  

 

The second card, what crosses us for good or bad, was Death, a rattle snake curled up and rattling in warning.  If you’ve ever been on, or seen a horse encounter a rattle snake in full rattle, you know that all bets are off, and whether you can stay in the saddle or not, it is no longer about the race.  At that we looked at each other and laughed at ourselves.  When Death shows up in a reading, especially this version imaged by Rattle Snake, it’s not about someone dying, it’s about change and healing.  Many of us in the United States have been obsessing over the horse race, but it’s not about the horse race, it’s not about one of them winning and fixing or destroying everything, it’s about the much larger work of healing and transforming.  It’s not about them, it’s about all of us.

 

The next card, the basis of the situation, was The World, symbolized by the turtle.  I couldn’t help but think about the fact that Turtle Island is the english language translation of the terms used by many native tribes to reference North America.  The World, Turtle, in this deck, reminds us that “…just as the turtle cannot separate itself from the shell; neither can we separate ourselves from what we do on Earth.”  It’s not about them, a win or lose by any of the candidates will not fix things.  It’s about us, about how we heal and transform our society for the good of our World.

 

Many of us face economic struggle, or are descendants or those who did.  Because of that, many of us believe there should be laws and regulations making sure people of all genders are paid a living wage and have health care.  Many of us believe in a balance of personal responsibility in the context of a larger social safety net.  But despite personal or family experience, many of us seem to believe it’s everyone for themselves, or at least every family or small demographic for themselves.  How can we heal that division and transform our society for the good of our World?

 

Many of us are immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants, who made the hard choice of leaving homelands because of war or lack of work.  Many of us have compassion for current immigrants who are desperate to feed their families or escape from violence.  But many of us seem to have forgotten our own immigrant stories and feel only fear of the current waves of humans fleeing devastating conflict and economic hardship.  How can we heal those divisions and transform our society for the good of our World?

 

Many of us are strong in our spiritual and religious beliefs, or are descendants of folk who were, and came to this country to escape religious persecution.  Many of us respect and celebrate with people of all faiths who long for that same freedom.  But many of us seem to feel only fear of those whose spiritual and religious beliefs are different from our own. How can we heal that division and transform our society for the good of our World?

 

Many of us are seeing images of people of color shot by individual law enforcement agents.  Those events bring many of us into the streets to protest a larger problem of institutionalized and systemic racism.  But those events also make many of us shake our heads and tell our friends that “those people need to behave.”  How can we heal that division and transform our society for the good of our World?

 

Many of us have been impacted by increasingly severe weather patterns and climate change, and seen the water, air, or land around us damaged by fossil fuel extraction and consumption.  Many of us see this as a danger to our homes, our farm lands, our sacred and ancestral lands, and the Earth itself, and are taking a stand in places like Standing Rock North Dakota.  But many of us depend on short term fossil fuel related jobs to feed our families.  How can we heal that division and transform our society for the good of our World?

 

All of us know that what once was, no longer is, and that change is already upon us.  Many of us see the change as a beginning in addressing our long history and legacy of social problems, but many of us see the change as creating the problems.  How can we heal that division and transform our society for the good of our World?

  

No, it’s not about them, it’s about us and we are a people divided. How can we heal and transform that?  How can we see each other, hear each other, treat each other with understanding, compassion, and respect?  How can we find common ground and work together on solutions?  We have been obsessing over the horse race, but it’s not about the horse race, it’s not about one of them winning and fixing or destroying everything, it’s about the much larger work of us healing and transforming our society for the good of our World.  It’s not about them, it’s about us.

Last modified on
Lizann Bassham was both an active Reclaiming Witch and an Ordained Christian Minister in the United Church of Christ. She served as Campus Pastor at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley working with a multi-faith student community. She was a columnist for SageWoman magazine, a novelist, playwright, and musician. Once, quite by accident, she won a salsa dance contest in East L.A. Lizann died on May 27, 2018.

Comments

  • Elizabeth Creely
    Elizabeth Creely Monday, 26 September 2016

    I have said to many of my friends and family who worry (rightfully) about Trump that, even if he loses, the people that voted for him will still be around. And many of us have relationships with them.
    So what do we do with that?

  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham Monday, 26 September 2016

    yep - that's the crux of it Elizabeth

  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven Monday, 26 September 2016

    I have a neighbor with a great big Trump sign in their yard. (Previously they had "impeach Obama" hand-made stickers on their car for, like, five years after the election in 2008.

    Guess what? They are good people; one of the folks on our block I'd turn to first in case of genuine emergency. (Hopefully, they feel the same about me.) While I despise Trump et al, I laughingly suggested we all get together after the election. "Everyone," I posited, exposing my "Team Hillary" affiliation, "will want to have a drink. Some because our candidate lost, and some because our candidate won." Haven't closed the deal on that idea, but it was sincerely meant.

    What "the horserace" exposes is the differences between us, which is important. What it hides is our underlying humanity. I suspect that, whomever wins, there will be a lot of healing to do and *that* is our work going forward.

  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham Monday, 26 September 2016

    Love that story Anne.

  • Please login first in order for you to submit comments

Additional information