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Pagan Community Notes: Week of May 10, 2021

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Emory oak grove at Oak Flat, AZ – Image credit: Copyright © 2020 Elias Butler Photography All Rights Reserved – CC-BY-SA-4.0

WASHINGTON – House Resolution, 1884, the Save Oak Flat Act introduced in March by Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-NM) to the House of Representatives has been passed by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee. H.R. 1884 would repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and prevent the transfer of Oak Flats to Rio Tinto mining subsidiary, Resolution Copper.

Oak Flat or Chi’chil Bildagoteel, (the land’s indigenous name) is considered sacred ancestral land to the Apache and a number of other tribes in the region. It is also a major recreation area and draws visitors from all around the world, particularly climbers.

Opposition to the land swap deal by Indigenous peoples in the region has the support of a diverse number of groups–the National Congress of American Indians, environmental groups, religious liberty scholars,  and the Poor People’s Campaign.

H.R. 1884 now moves to the House floor and if passed by a simple majority vote, would go on to the Senate and would be assigned to committee before it would be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.

Senator, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a similar resolution in March, S.R. 915, which was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Should both pieces of legislation be passed in their respective houses, they would be amended or combined to produce one article that once passed by both houses would land on the president’s desk for signing into law.

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Seal of the United States Department of the Interior

TWH – Last Wednesday marked the annual commemoration of awareness of violence against Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Newly confirmed Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland, the first Native American to lead the agency, attended a ceremony with other government officials in Washington to focused on Indigenous families who have lost relatives and those who have been victims of violence.

A red shawl that bore the names of missing and murdered Indigenous women was part of the memorial ceremony. Haaland later displayed the shawl in her office as a symbol of those missing Indigenous people, and a reminder of the ongoing crisis.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities, but the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis is one that Native communities have faced since the dawn of colonization,” Haaland said as she joined the ceremony virtually. “For too long, this issue has been swept under the rug with the lack of urgency, attention and funding.”

The actual numbers of murdered and missing are unclear since they are often not well-documented, or go unreported. Homicide rates among the populations of Indigenous women are some of the highest in the nation, along with those of non-Hispanic Black women.

In addition to the assaults on Indigenous women, Indigenous cultural and heritage sites have also recently been the target of vandalism in at least two separate cases.

The Bureau of Land Management issued a statement last month on the defacement and vandalization of “Birthing Rock” and its ancient petroglyphs:

Birthing Rock, a prominent rock imagery site along Kane Creek Road in the Moab Field Office, was recently vandalized. The BLM strongly condemns vandalism of cultural resources and is working with professional conservators to remove the offensive graffiti. To prevent further damage, please do not attempt to clean or remove the graffiti.

The BLM is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the vandalism. If you have any information concerning this vandalism, please contact BLM Law Enforcement at 435-259-2131 or 800-722-3998. You can remain anonymous.

It is up to all of us to protect public lands for future generations to learn from and enjoy. The BLM encourages everyone who visits public lands to practice Leave No Trace principles and visit with respect.

Earlier in April the more than 1,000-year-old Native American rock carvings at Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Track Rock Gap area in northern Georgia were reported as having been defaced.

While authorities were uncertain as to exactly when the vandalism and defacement occurred, the damage was reported as being irreparable. The site is considered one of the most significant rock art sites in the southeastern U.S. Such sites are protected under Archaeological Resources Protection Act and acts that cause damage to sites is considered a crime and punishable under the law.

The U.S. Forest Service continues to investigate when the damage was done and who might be responsible.


Crossings of the Veil

Image courtesy of Peg Aloi (photographer unknown)

Harold Fritz Jung – October 31 1952 ~ May 4, 2021

By all accounts, Fritz Jung lived an extraordinary life. He was well-respected and beloved within the Pagan community and contributed in a way that many may aspire to but few actually achieve.

His father was a pilot in the Air Force and Jung’s early life included a lot of moving as a result. Eventually, he settled in Boston where he worked for the Wurlitzer music store.

 

He met his wife, Wren Walker in Salem, Massachusetts when they both worked for Laurie Cabot in the 1990s, and it was love at first sight.

Jung and Walker had both worked on developing a website for Cabot’s The Witches’ League for Public Awareness, an organization created to end prejudice and bigotry against Witches and Witchcraft, especially in the media. In 1996, they amicably parted ways with Cabot.

Together in 1997, Jung and Walker launched the website “The Witches’ Voice,” which they soon after converted to a non-profit organization. The Witches’ Voice or “Witch Vox” as it would commonly come to be known due to its web address, became one of the single most impactful and influential tools on the internet for Pagans.

Jung and Walker’s creation pioneered cyberspace for Witches, Pagans, and Heathens to network, connect and share, and locate resources within the broader Pagan community around the globe. The rise of mainstream social media platforms led to a major reduction in traffic and interactions on Witch Vox and the site closed down at the end of 2019.

After his retirement from Dean Guitars in Florida where he worked doing database and tech design, he and Walker relocated to New Hampshire in 2019.

Jung had a great love for music, was an accomplished musician and a talented recording engineer himself.  In 1996 he released the CD, “Celtic Feast of the Dead,” which he and Walker collaborated on. After his retirement and return to New England, he reconnected with musician friends and helped create a band they named “The Blackbirds.”

He was also an avid collector of rare music videos with a collection that spanned vintage reel to reel footage, VHS tapes, and digital recordings. Retirement and the move to New Hampshire in 2019 allowed him both time and space to set up his own home recording studio and provided more space for the guitars he had begun collecting.

Jung was noted for his generosity, kindness, optimism, love for cats, as well as the humor and love with which he embraced life. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Wren, and one brother.

A memorial page on Facebook Remembering Fritz Jung has been set up and his friends are encouraged to leave remembrances.

What is remembered, lives!

In other news:

    • A parts of a fossilized skeleton discovered in 2004 on Awaji Island that was brought to the attention of researchers by amateur fossil collector Shingo Kishimoto who was collecting smaller fossils. The dinosaur fossil was embedded in a level of rock and soil that dates back about 72 million years ago or to the Cretaceous period. The Museum of Nature and Human Activities launched a survey that identified the mandible Kishimoto had spotted, plus parts of the dinosaur’s tail and other sections of its body. This new genus of the herbivorous dinosaur Hadrosauridae was named, Yamatosaurus izanagii which refers to the myth, that Awaji island was the firstborn of the Shinto gods Izanagi and Izanami. Yamatosaurus izanagii is estimated to have weighed between four and five tons and stood between 23 and 26 feet in height. This marks the is the ninth dinosaur to be found and named in Japan. Awaji Island is also home to the anime theme park, Nijigen no Mori, which features an enormous, life-sized Godzilla.

    • Five new trolls, (yes you read that right, trolls!) will be a feature of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens “Guardians of Seeds” exhibit. The giant sculptures created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo will be placed throughout the wooded areas for visitors to discover. The trolls are constructed from “discarded shipping pallets from a hardware store, scraps from a nearby lumber yard and debris from fallen trees” to highlight the message of “reduce and reuse.” Each of the five trolls represents a different aspect of growth: the roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and finally flowers. Dambo sculptures in the Maine park range in size of anywhere from 15 to 30 feet, with some as equally wide. His sculptures can be found all around the world.


    Positively Noteworthy

    Underwater ruins of the Roman city of Baia in Italy roughly 150 miles south of Rome, near Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. Efforts have been underway for the last 30 years by the Underwater Department of Cultural Heritage to preserve the remnants of the city, which slowly sank beneath the sea after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.


    Tarot of the week by Star Bustamonte

    Deck: Tarot of Pagan Cats, by Magdelina Messina, artwork by Lola Airaghi, published by Lo Scarabeo.

    Card: Ace of Swords

    This week could offer opportunities for a shift in thinking, seeing things in a new way, and a fresh approach to problem-solving. Conversely, refusal to consider and embrace new ideas may result in being entrenched in a rut and unable to move forward.

     

    Decks generously provided by Asheville Pagan Supply.

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