Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Wash once, rinse twice...

This is a very filtered post, only for Feri initiates, and certainly not all of them.

I just had the weirdest interaction with another Feri student/practitioner. He asked me to not "go public" with it, but dude... this is just too weird to pass up.

Last night on the Witch Eye list a certain someone who has been espousing the Tribal/Family model of Feri cryptically posted that someone very close to me was an example of someone not right for the tradition being officially a part of it. I racked my brains... Could they be talking about a student of mine? We were talking about charging money for classes, and the like, and I had mentioned having to let some students go because of their lack of work. Certainly I have a couple of students who I am currently "on the fence" about and waiting to see if I will let them go, or not, but I couldn't figure out who and so I asked them privately.

Well, I got the response today and it was... (drum roll, please)...  Chas! Apparently because Chas doesn't automatically equate the Feri priesthood with a family that means (according to this person) that Chas' initiation didn't "take". Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo-stick! I laughed out loud!

Chas is very reserved about whom he shares his most intimate insights on Feri with, so I can understand that this person might have no clue as to what Chas is really about... but it's extra weird because this person has never met Chas... And a little weirder because this person is not an initiate, although his wife is, but that's a whole other story.

I just shake my head. I know that Chas is a powerful Feri witch who has an amazing grasp of the Gods who speak to him directly. It's just weird to have my husband maligned in such a way, and then to hear that there's an entire group that apparently holds this idea to be true as well. **EDIT: In a suprising positive development I am now told that his group told him he was off base with his accusation. That's good news, right? ;)

I'm off to make Kala... not because I'm angry (I was briefly, but that moved through me) but more because I am sad; sad that this person's view of Feri is so limited that other ways of practicing/believing seem to threaten their practice, and that as such it translates into judgment, a distraction from the larger Work, I feel.

Instead of washing once, or twice, or even rinsing at all, I sometimes feel I'd rather just hold their heads under the water.

More Kala! :)

27 comments:

fattest said...

I'm finding it sad, and mildly amusing, to see non-initiates disputing people's initiations and such. Seems like Feri attracts more than its share of ego problems. I feel like every time I start moving back toward Feri, I see so much of this kind of crap. Perhaps it just triggers my own stuff -- my tendency to gossip and so forth. But ugh!

yezida said...

As I said to Chas: WTF??? I can't believe that someone who has never met him is saying this - and now to find out it isn't even an initiate! Sheesh.
To be cranky for a moment: this is one reason I hate those fucking lists and am not on them. I hear more shit come off of them, and end up having to field awkward questions from my students because of them. Grrr.
That said, I still love this Trad and the Work.

mrj15 said...

I am saddened by this too. Just when I start feeling positive about Feri and where it's going, the bullshit rears its ugly head. Having witnessed your quick wit first hand, I know there are a lot of things you could have said and didn't. I admire your restraint and will try to emulate it. Now if you will only get with the program and wash twice, rinse once. It's a canon of the faith!
Michele
I may have to come up with some lore on this. So it is written....

yezida said...

Duh. You said already it was the Witch Eye list.

yezida said...

And I guess you and I were dissed, too, eh Storm? Nice to hear. I love people who diss others behind their backs. Do you know what list this is on, anyway?
Good thing I am cheerful and in hotttttt company! Yow!
:kisses:

faerywolf said...

You know that's very sweet of you, but the super-secret correct method is to wash once and rinse twice. Perhaps you didn't get that lore, and as such I find your initiation suspect. ;)
I love you.

mrj15 said...

LOL! Sometimes when I see how some of my family behaves I think it is suspect too. Maybe I was adopted. That explains why I don't look like anybody else.
Michele

faerywolf said...

Yeah... you and I were dissed indirectly. We are the Feri Whores, apparently. I'm considering having t-shirts made.
Of course I can't stop thinking about the sacred prostitute in all of this. Sexy!!
Oh, and also how I was (privately) called a "Dictating Cunt" for suggesting that rudely yelling about the evils of charging money for Craft classes on that list was a tiresome discussion for me. I looked at the term in my inbox that morning and all I could think about was how it was another name for the clitoro-phallic God Herself! Yay!
I mirror that hotness right back at ya, baby! Thanks for being there.

faerywolf said...

You crack me the hell up!

faerywolf said...

Thank you. :) Truth be told I'm feeling the exact same way, but trying to hold mainly on to the amusing part. ;)
I love Feri and always will. Chas and I both strive to do what we think is best for the tradition and the community and so it's slightly deflating when something like this comes up. But I guess I need to remember that if it's not pissing someone off then it's not important work. Right? At least that's my mantra right about now...

yezida said...

Positively gleeful!
I read in a 'zine that we don't initiate because initiates won't pay to come to workshops! Hahahaha!!!!
Can we put rhinestones and studs on the Feri Whore t-shirts? Can we?
Come to think of it... we also need God Herself t-shirts.
OK. I will stop now, brother mine. And I do still love this Trad.

fattest said...

I think for me the important thing right now is just to develop my own practice, one that's really integrated into my life. Somehow my social role in Feri really distracted me from that. The trap of the disputes and the drama. Not to mention the bad taste.

fattest said...

Oh, I love you, my sacred whores!

fattest said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
And here I thought we didn't initiate because it's so much fun to watch people getting their panties in a bunch about initiation! Ooo, watch the little witchlets spin!

veedub said...

tribal-schmibal
ooh! ooh! i want a "feri whore" tee-shirt with rhinestones!!!
except i don't charge money for teaching, so mine'll just have to say something like "feri slut"...'cause i'm easy lke that.
but i still want rhinestones.
...and considering the source, i have great suspicion of anyone who holds the teacher's methods against the student.

elorie said...

I just posted something to that list about the Feri Virtue of Autonomy and how not respecting each other's autonomy and integrity has been a lot more damaging to the trad than charging money could ever be....
Y'all gotta read it. I think I'll post it to my LJ as well....:D

127fascination said...

PS.
Wash Twice, Rinse Once.

127fascination said...

I can not believe some of the shit they say in Berkeley. I would love to ignore it to diminish its power, but when they say these things on student lists its bad for the tradition and I am grateful that so many have called them on their bullshit. Talk about initiation "not taking" ??? I wonder if they ever do the mirror exercise??
Anaar wants a Sacred Whore T-shirt :)

heartssdesire said...

Dude... what is all this washing and rinsing once and twice?
I know: it must be some kind of uber-inner-secret-Feri-lore. Only for the elite. You guys are holding out on me so I'll pay you for it. I knew it! Damn Feri whores.

faerywolf said...

What??? You didn't get this essestial Feri lore???
Well, I *might* be persuaded to give it to you... if the price is right. ;)
Actually, it came from a dream that Michele had while at Feri Camp that related to the little "Feri Wars" that seem to crop up now and then. Parhaps I can get her to tell you about the details of it. It tickled us in its absurdity (sort of like the absurdity of most of these squabbles, actually) and so we're using it as a sort of humor-based spell against all the stupid community crap. :)

heartssdesire said...

Isn't that kind of like a college freshman telling a professor that they faked their dissertation and so their PhD isn't valid? Without having read the dissertation, mind you.
Well, I always say that it's useful to listen to people talk about other people, because they will tell you volumes about themselves.
My conclusion: see icon.

faerywolf said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
That's extra funny! What 'zine was it?
And I happen to know that initiates *will* pay for our workshops. 'Cause we're that cool. ;)
I am seriously considering the shirts, mind you... it tickles me probably more than it should.

yezida said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
"Subvert" is a Feri 'zine by Elfwreck and crew. There is a "satirical" portion called "Name That Feri" with different "types" including Ecstatic Feri, Loremaster Feri, Activist Feri, Discordian Feri and...
Spiritual Toolkit Feri:
"Claims that Feri is not really a religion, but a set of tools for our own personal and divine evolution into being Fully Human. Has contempt for the idea that a witch should personally know and trust hir students. Hands out Iron Pentacle worksheets, three souls meditation guides, and research project outlines about the lemniscate gods, often at a claimed-to-be-quite-reasonable fee. Rarely initiates anyone, because initiates won't pay for workshops"
Obviously pointed toward me, but I'm sure you are included, my dear!

faerywolf said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
Oh, that figures. It's her husband that was starting all the recent trouble anyway.
It's funny... because they seem *really* invested in dividing the tradition along their particular understandings of it and never seem to understand that in doing so they are embodying a type of fundamentalism that is really impossible to have in Feri. Of course, they are loathe to hear that...
Oh well... I much prefer the company I am currently in. :)

heartssdesire said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
Jeezus. Um, does this sound familiar or what?
You know, in mulling this over today, it strikes me as incredibly ironic that the POV that focuses on Feri as a big kinship/family thing would drive somebody to make judgements from a distance and call into question the kinship status of a member of that exact same family who they've never met, for not conferring automatic kinship status on anybody that's initiated... Pot, meet kettle! Is it just me or does that seem like some rich, thick, dripping irony right there?
Anyway. The thing is that I feel like a tide is turning and the more of us reach out to each other and make connections the harder it will get for fundamentalism to divide us. I think Feri recently grew out of the stage in which that tactic could do it much harm.

yezida said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
"Anyway. The thing is that I feel like a tide is turning and the more of us reach out to each other and make connections the harder it will get for fundamentalism to divide us. I think Feri recently grew out of the stage in which that tactic could do it much harm."
Agreed.

faerywolf said...

Re: Positively gleeful!
Amen, sister!