One of the things that has been on my mind lately is the
idea of spiritual freedom.
And indeed it is this idea that led me to the concept of
“embrace the woo-woo.”
It was triggered by a story I heard from a friend. Wendy is a spiritual medium, and a very good
one. Her connection to Spirit is very
pure and refined and her reading for me a few weeks ago has made a big
difference in my own gifts.
Wendy was doing regular readings at a spa near her
home. She has known the owners for years
and has been doing this for some time.
That is, until one of the patrons of the spa—an influential Christian
pastor in an evangelical church—threatened to ruin the business if they didn’t
rid themselves of this woman who was clearly doing the Devil’s work. The owners caved and asked my friend to
kindly stop her practice—which was the sole means of income for this single
mother.
I was outraged. First
of all, this kind of ignorance of spirituality that does not follow an
organized institutionalized form of religion as being “of the Devil” is a
dangerous superstition directly out of the Dark Ages. It is right up there with the idea that women
are the source of original sin and are therefore evil and inferior.
And second, no other practitioner of a “recognized” religion
could be forced out of work based solely on their religious convictions. It is clearly a case of discrimination. And a virulent one at that.
The United
States is supposed to be a nation of
religious freedom—but it seems that it is only a nation of religious freedom
for those who belong to organized religions like Christianity or Judaism. Buddhism is recognized. Native American religions had to fight for
recognition not too many years ago.
Jainism and the Ba’hai faith are viewed with little suspicion. Current prejudice against Moslems is at the
very least protected under the law, but the prejudice against sole
practitioners of direct experiential spirituality is rampant and
tolerated. In fact, New Agers, Wiccans,
Druids, shamanic practitioners and others are often mocked, derided, and
scorned.
Express a belief in reincarnation at the office, or admit to
the checkout girl at the grocery store that you practice astrology, and you
will be given the cold shoulder, subjected to eye-rolling and whispers behind
hands to co-workers. Freak. Nut.
What, you believe in all that woo-woo stuff?
So, following the example of the homosexual community in the
1970s and 80s who embraced the derisive epithet “gay” and made it their banner,
I openly declare that I now embrace the woo-woo.
It is time for those of us in the New Age community (we
could use a better term than New Age—a more inclusive term) to stand up for our
spiritual freedom, and demand the same respect for our beliefs and our rights
to dignity as anyone else. I exhort all
persons who follow a personal and direct spiritual relationship to the Divine
to consider that they must begin to stand up for their rights. (One friend called it coming out of the broom
closet.)
Embrace the woo-woo!
(If you want to tell the world that you are in favor of
personal spiritual freedom, T-shirts are available at this link: http://woo-woo.propellshops.com).
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