YouTube Treasures: El Chacal - Shangó

On My Etsy Shop: Chango

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Chango Art Prints $15. Chango is a god of thunder, and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Chango was envied for his vast magical powers, but was feared because whenever he spoke, fire would shoot forth from out of his mouth. Chango is a son of Yemaya, queen of all the oceans and the mother goddess of the Orishas. He was known to have had three wives: Oya, who fearlessly stole the secrets of Chango's magic in an attempt to save him from his enemies; Oshun, the beautiful river goddess of love, who is his favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who desperately tried to win his affections by offering her own ear for him to eat.

On My Etsy Shop: Cernunnos

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Cernunnos Art Prints $15. Cernunnos is the “Horned One”, a Celtic god associated with sexuality, fertility, the hunt, and the underworld. He was worshiped as the “lord of wild things” by the iron age Celts all across Europe as late as the first century, but his worship began centuries before that. Cernunnos is nearly always portrayed with animals, in particular the stag. He alternates with the goddess of the moon in ruling over life and death, continuing the cycle of death, rebirth and reincarnation.

YouTube Treasures: Nostalgia Cubana: "La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre y Su Historia"

On My Etsy Shop: La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre Art Prints $20. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, also known as Our Lady of Charity, is the patroness of Cuba. Her story began around 1608, when two brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, along with their slave, Juan Moreno, set out to the Bay of Nipe for salt. Salt was needed for the preservation of the meat at the Barajagua slaughter house, which supplied the inhabitants and workers of Santiago del Prado, now known as El Cobre. While out in the bay, a terrible storm arose, rocking their tiny boat violently with its waves. The three men prayed desperately to the Virgin Mary for her protection and deliverance. The skies suddenly cleared as if in response, and the great storm was gone. In the distance, the men saw a strange object floating in the water. They rowed towards it as the now gentle waves began to bring it closer. At first they mistook it for a bird, but it was, in actuality, a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus and a golden cross in her hand. The statue was fastened to a board with an inscription saying, "Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad" or "I am the Virgin of Charity." The statue was dressed in real cloth, had real hair and the skin tone of a multi-ethnic woman. Much to their surprise, the statue had remained completely dry while afloat in the water.

On My Etsy Shop: St. Brigid of Ireland

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 St. Brigid of Ireland Art Prints $20. In Celtic religion and Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid is the daughter of the Dagda (the "All-father") and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann (a race of people thought to derive from the pre-Christian deities of Ireland). Brighid was once the divine patroness of poetry, smithing, medicine, arts and crafts, cattle and other livestock, and was associated with fire and the coming of spring. During the Middle Ages, she was syncretized with a Christian saint, and became St. Brigid of Kildare or Ireland, who is one of Ireland's patron saints along with St. Patrick and St. Columba.

On My Etsy Shop: Brides of Adam

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Brides of Adam Art Prints $20. According to legend, Lilith was Adam's first wife, created at the same time and from the same earth as he was. She would, however, eventually abandon both her marriage and husband after refusing to become subservient to him. Eve was then created from Adam's rib to be both his new wife and companion, but unfortunately, she succumbs to the Serpent's temptation and eats the forbidden fruit from off the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve shares the fruit with her husband, and as a result, the first humans are cursed and expelled from the Garden of Eden by God forever for their disobedience.

On My Etsy Shop: Bast

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Bast Art Prints $20. Bast was the Egyptian goddess of cats, of the rising sun, of enlightenment and of truth, of the household, of civilization and the arts, of creation, of sex and physical pleasures, of lesbians, of fertility and birth, of bountiful positive energy, of the moon and often associated with the enlightened Maiden of the Triple Goddess.

On My Etsy Shop: Athena

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Athena Art Prints $20 (only 1 left). Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, the arts and defensive war.

On My Etsy Shop: Abundantia

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Abundantia Art Prints $20. Abundantia was the Roman goddess of success, prosperity, abundance, and good fortune.

Thoughts

I confess that I've always viewed the world with a certain blind optimism. I want to see the good in people. I believe its there even in the worst of us. Sometimes though we turn away from it in our lives for reasons that later seem illogical or frivolous, and in those moments we become unrecognizable.

One of the hardest things for me has always been making my voice heard. For so very much of my life, I have just wanted to be left alone, to be "off to the side", unseen, or just make it through another day unharassed. Because of it, my inner circle has always been made of just a very precious few. But silence isn't safety, it's complicity.

There is a cancer rising in our country, and everyday I feel a little bit more of my optimism die. We are becoming unrecognizable. Hate cannot be given a place at the table. Fear cannot be given a place at the table. We will always have our differences in thought, politics, and religion, but our humanity should be constant regardless.

We cannot continue to make "the other" out of each other. We cannot continue to spew indignation then follow it with inaction. Our compassion is never a weakness. Our empathy is never a weakness, but we must do so much more than just be a voice of kindness. We must be its hand. We must be its shield. I want to see the good in people again.