Look Nov. 4 is now here, I have been sick of this election but now it is over, and all I have to say is go vote for a change. I’m talking about voting if you never have, voting as if your life change change by it, vote because you still have rights. There are no reasons not to, I am going and I plan on having my ds and zune with me as a preemptive strike for the hours wait (I have also set up a Twitter account: http://twitter.com/maguslod so you can enjoy my pain as well). So though I have always stayed way from saying who to vote for every year this time I am.
If you want your rights to matter, if you want the net to be free, if you understand we are on the wrong path, then vote for someone who is just too awesome. Barack Obama.
It was a normal morning in the court yard at my old high school; I was hanging with my friends before class as usual. I then said something…
“Death from above.”
My friends asked me what I meant.
“No, today I feel there will be death from above.”
They just let it off as Magus being, well, Magus. First period went by fine, and moved into the second.
An announcement came over the PA.
“A plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center. You can turn to channel 23 to see the news.”
Our teacher walked over and clicked on the TV, and we all saw the smoke as it bellowed from the first tower. We watched “live” as the second plane hit, and then found out about the Pentagon.
With that, I remembered the words I uttered only two hours before.
“Death from above.”
Classes continued on, and I moved to third period (my gifted class, holding just ten people, of which one was my girlfriend at the time, and two others were good friends of mine). While in class, we continued watching the news, wondering if we were going to get killed. Yes, that is what was going through our minds. No, we were not in Washington, nor New York, but across the street from a major theme park. No, not that one, the other one.
Well, things got better; we had to evacuate out to the fields that were around the school. Oh, it was not because of the terrorism. Rather it was a bomb they had found, which later turned out to be a coke can wrapped in tinfoil.
So, in the blazing sun, we were without information about what was going on. The deans, being the nice people that they were, were enforcing the rule of “no cell phones” by grabbing each one they saw out, which the students were using to contact their parents. I happened to have a cd player with
a radio, so I was yelling to everyone around me what was going on. Understand that, at the time, we had no idea what was happening; anywhere could be a target. That is what I was yelling to them. Left, right, up, down, everywhere was a target.
Finally, the day ended, and with that ending of the day soon came the end to our freedoms, with the passing of the Patriot Act.
Both sides are going to use this day to say how they are more patriotic then their opponent. How can they protect us from more terror while creating it?
In the end, the most patriotic people are the ones who have lost their lives for this great nation, and the world. So, how about we have a moment to remember them, and not tarnish their memories.
-Magus-
“No philosophy or political party has a monopoly on patriotism.”
“What makes America great has never been its perfection, but the belief that it can be made better…. [W]e can be governed by laws, not men, …we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; …we could be free to say what we want and assemble with whomever we want, and worship as we please; … we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams, with the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs.”
“Patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map, or a certain kind of people…. It’s also loyalty to America’s ideals…. It is the application of these ideals that separates us from… Zimbabwe… Burma…. or Iraq….”
“Patriotism can never be defined as loyalty to any particular leader, or government, or policy. As Mark Twain… once wrote, ‘patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.’ That’s what patriotism is. That’s what patriotism is.”
“When our laws, when our leaders, or our government are out of alignment with those ideals, then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expressions of patriotism.”
“Recognizing a wrong being committed in this country’s name, insisting that we deliver on the promise of our Constitution, these are the acts of patriots, men and women who are defending what is best in America, and we should never forget that, especially when we disagree with them, especially when they make us uncomfortable with their words. That’s part of the American tradition. That’s part of why we are proud to be Americans.”
“It is our responsibility as Americans and as parents to instill that history in our children, both at home and at school. The loss of quality civic education from so many of our classrooms has left too many Americans without the most basic knowledge of who our forefathers are or what they did, or the significance of the founding documents that bear their names. Too many children are ignorant of the sheer effort, the risks and sacrifices made by previous generations to ensure that this country survived war and depression through the great struggles of civil and social, and workers’ rights. it is up to us then, too teach them. It is up to us to teach them that even though we have faced great challenges and made our share of mistakes, we have always been able to come together to make this country stronger, and more prosperous, and more united, and more just. And sometimes to teach them that America has been a force for good in the world, and that other nations and other peoples have looked to us as the last best hope on earth.”
That’s what patriotism is. That’s what patriotism is.
Here at CroneSeraphim we strive to bring civil rights news items to your attention that might not be covered by main stream media. But anyone who has read our “about us” page or our bios knows that we are not just pundits, we are Pagan pundits. One of our main goals is to share with other Wiccans and Pagans some of the magickal practices we have found useful to positively affect our world.
The main political problem that seems to be on everyone’s mind right now is the Presidential election, particularly the heavily contested democratic primary. However, the spell I suggest here will work equally well for the general election, once the democratic nominee has been selected. It is not meant to take the place of active participation in the mundane political process, but rather to provide a spiritual supplement that will boost the effectiveness of those efforts, as well as provide a psychological boost to help keep you fighting for what you believe.
I’m going to assume that the majority of you reading this have not only made up your minds who you support in the democratic primary, but are either strongly in favor of one candidate or strongly opposed to the other (particularly if you are planning to vote for John McCain in the general election). There has been a lot of bad press directed at all three candidates, but particularly at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The following is a spell from the hoodoo tradition, designed to send negativity back whence it came while positively supporting your candidate.
