Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
The White, the Red, and the Black
Gods, flippin' America.
I hate that, in America's hyper-racialized mindscape, colors become shorthand for people.
I hate that—so hyper-racialized is that mindscape—to the American ear, the racialized meanings can tend to become the primary meanings of color words: that, even when used to describe color, and no more, such words tend to take on racialized implications.
Ye gods. Is there no way out?
So entrenched has such usage become that I recently heard a local heathen elder advise against using the term “wight” in public without qualification—land-wight, tree-wight—lest someone should mishear racial implications.
(The term “wight”—literally a “being”—refers to the other, non-human, peoples of the land. Some speak of “land-spirits” and the like, but personally I prefer "wight" because it doesn't specify kind of being—personally, I don't believe in spirits—only that they are.)
And yet. And yet.
Last night, the ancient language of the rite of Imbolc opened up before me with a possibility of hope for a greater enrichment.
Knock, knock, knock.
Rise to your feet, open your eyes, and let the Black Brigid come in.
Come in, come in, Black Brigid: welcome, and a thousand times welcome.
Knock, knock, knock.
Rise to your feet, open your eyes, and let the Red Brigid come in.
Come in, come in, Red Brigid: welcome, and a thousand times welcome.
Knock, knock, knock.
Rise to your feet, open your eyes, and let the White Brigid come in.
Come in, come in, White Brigid: welcome, and a thousand times welcome.
Indeed, we are the witches.
We turn all things to our own ends.
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Asatru and Heathen people from the US started avoiding the term "wight" after an international incident in which a famous author, who should have known better because words are her business, almost got kicked out of the Thing in Iceland. My fellow Americans: the term wight as a translation for vaette is jargon. It's not standard English. Only American Asatruars and Tolkien fans know this word. It is not taught as textbook English to foreigners in other countries. You cannot use this word around people whose native language is not English. If you need to say vaette, say vaette.