“POC and Q+T-centered:” new Methodist denomination takes intersectional to new levels

December 21, 2020December 29, 2020 Christine Hawes

“No one is shunned,” announced Rev. Alex Da Silva Souto, a queer native Brazilian Methodist pastor in Connecticut, about halfway through the first-ever Zoom service for LMX. They and Althea Spencer-Miller, a Drew University professor who studied in the West Indies and Jamaica, then began listing just some of the identities beyond LGBTQ+ that LMX is intended to reach. “Subalterns, outliers, speak!” Spencer-Miller said. “Wounded leaders,” said Da Silva Souto. “Mama bears… sis with an s, cis with a c … and if you have no idea what I’m talking…

Author and comic artist Huda Fahmy confronts Islamophobia with humor, wit

December 17, 2020January 5, 2021 Guest Writer

Life in America can be challenging when you wear a hijab. Huda Fahmy shares her experiences as an obviously Muslim woman in America with humor and wit in her book “Yes, I’m Hot in This.” This comic collection of her experiences reveals the Islamophobia and ignorance that Muslim-Americans have to deal with. One recurring theme in Fahmy’s book is dealing with people who react with instant negativity and hatred when they see a hijab. Her comics show her responding with poise and witty comebacks, but Fahmy said that it’s always…

Our ‘box full of darkness’ reminds us that after destruction comes rebirth

October 6, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

In the summer of 2018, I trained as a death midwife/doula and home funeral guide. In July 2019, a few months after my cat Henry died and I accompanied him through the process, I began working at a crematory for pets. I never would have thought of this profession for myself. But it has become clear, this is the career I am perhaps most suited for. Death can be sad and devastating, but it has taught me many things. Death can involve pain, suffering, violence and sorrow so profound it…

Finding balance can mean embracing the turbulence of transformation

September 7, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

Finding balance among our mental, emotional and spiritual parts is about transformation and turbulence.

August Tarotscope: Take a cue from MTV and the cards, and “get real,” for real

August 4, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

“It’s time to stop being polite and start getting real…. WITH OURSELVES.” You may recognize this as one of the many key slogans of MTV’s “The Real World”. It’s a phrase that resonates for a reason: because it’s time. Time to hear your own thoughts and connect with your whole, authentic self. Time to cut out external influences. Time to realize that we are all part of something larger than ourselves — and what is happening around each of us right now is bigger than any of us could have…

Embrace the transformative spirit of Lammas, the “ugly duckling” of pagan holidays

August 2, 2020August 8, 2020 Christine Hawes

With all the jokes about baking bread during the pandemic quarantine, you’d think a holiday named after bread would get a little more attention this year. But no. Lammas — “loaf mass” in old English — is still one of the lesser-known ancient holidays from pagan traditions. Happening this weekend, and honoring the harvest season, it is one of the major pagan festivals of the year, marking the end of summer and the coming autumn. Yet, it’s so under-appreciated that blogger Jason Mankey wrote a column titled “Why No One…

Love Letter to my Black Queer People

July 21, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

I see you. Every time I sit down to write this column, to put into words all the tender spots in my heart, I feel this extreme tiredness. The kind of tiredness that, even in 90-degree heat, sinks you right back under the covers. I keep thinking about all the eyes that will see it. All the non-Black hearts that will try to connect with the love I intend only to go to you, my Black queer people. All the non-Black minds that will dissect and analyze all the words…

From WTF to illumination: July Tarotscope for the Collective

July 6, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

WTF?? That’s the impetus for this month’s tarotscope. It conveys frustration, exhaustion, and exasperation. It’s a universal and collective WTF to this year, this country, this society. And it’s more of a statement than a question. The first six months of 2020 were a wake up call for many people. A lot of others chose to remain asleep, but that is a story for another day. Those of us who began to awake saw, for the first time, the mirage-like quality of our lives — something symbolized in the Castles…

Tarotscope: A Time of Unlearning (June 6-17)

June 17, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

As a heteronormative, cisgender, white woman of European and English descent, who has lived a life of privilege, I feel inappropriate when I say, “I am tired.” But I am. Many of us are. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Being tired is good. It means we are doing the Work. It means we are pulling our heads out of the sand. If you’re white, it hopefully means you are swallowing the pride that comes with the color of your skin. You’re starting the long and arduous process of dismantling, brick…

Tarotscope: Total Eclipse of the Heart (June 2-15)

June 2, 2020December 28, 2020 Guest Writer

The Cards: Queen of Cups, Five of Swords, Four of Coins The Deck: Spolia Tarot Just when we thought maybe things were chilling out. This tarotscope falls in alignment with the full moon in Sagittarius , AND lunar eclipse, this Friday, June 5. We have the potent vibes of the full moon, along with the special energy of eclipses. Eclipses upset the natural order of things. During a lunar eclipse, the shadow of the Earth falls across the face of the moon, bringing the unconscious to the surface. This can…