To Aislinn and Tom
Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 7:11 am
I've run into recaps of a weird Tumblr/Internet Pagan debacle on YouTube, commonly referred to as "Boneghazi". As cringe as it sounds, it's actually fairly serious.
You've got this group of LGBTQ witches, most of them post moodboards and Instagram-worthy altar pics, all of them resolutely set in the tamer ends of the modern Neo-Pagan practice. They had a clause warning members about appropriative practices, so none of their members felt comfortable using rituals from Vodun, Voodoo or Santeria. The problem is, one of their members was actually trying to work on her hexes; for which she claimed she needed human bones...
Now, you're in Post-Katrina New Orleans. How do you get bones without desecrating a grave? Rich people almost consistently use crypts in and around NOLA, urns hold up better against floods if they're above ground. Historically, most of the below-ground cemetaries were reserved for the poorer stretches of the community. It being the South, Black communities quickly come to mind. Unfortunately, harsh rains, damp soil and cheap graves make for a grim mix, making it possible for someone to more or less fish human remains out of the ground. That one member had offered to sell some of the remains she'd "save" or "recycle", essentially asking for coverage enough for shipping fees. The issue was touchy enough for the Facebook community to disintegrate, for Tumblr callout posts to be created, and, naturally, for someone to eventually call the fucking cops, as they should've been in the first place.
So, my question to you is this: did Tom or you ever have to seek legal advice, before attempting a hex or a spell of some kind? I know he's more of a full-fledged warlock and you still have training in other disciplines, but the business of consorting with demons and some angels in the more John Milton sense of the concept has to come with a few legal or ethical chestnuts, right?
You've got this group of LGBTQ witches, most of them post moodboards and Instagram-worthy altar pics, all of them resolutely set in the tamer ends of the modern Neo-Pagan practice. They had a clause warning members about appropriative practices, so none of their members felt comfortable using rituals from Vodun, Voodoo or Santeria. The problem is, one of their members was actually trying to work on her hexes; for which she claimed she needed human bones...
Now, you're in Post-Katrina New Orleans. How do you get bones without desecrating a grave? Rich people almost consistently use crypts in and around NOLA, urns hold up better against floods if they're above ground. Historically, most of the below-ground cemetaries were reserved for the poorer stretches of the community. It being the South, Black communities quickly come to mind. Unfortunately, harsh rains, damp soil and cheap graves make for a grim mix, making it possible for someone to more or less fish human remains out of the ground. That one member had offered to sell some of the remains she'd "save" or "recycle", essentially asking for coverage enough for shipping fees. The issue was touchy enough for the Facebook community to disintegrate, for Tumblr callout posts to be created, and, naturally, for someone to eventually call the fucking cops, as they should've been in the first place.
So, my question to you is this: did Tom or you ever have to seek legal advice, before attempting a hex or a spell of some kind? I know he's more of a full-fledged warlock and you still have training in other disciplines, but the business of consorting with demons and some angels in the more John Milton sense of the concept has to come with a few legal or ethical chestnuts, right?