While doing this search I stumbled upon this:
I traced the source on Twitter and read with interest some of the comments that had been generated when it was first posted. Possibly foolishly/naively I asked a question. What follows is the start of the communication but I have chosen to keep everything anonymous.
Me: "I identify as Two Spirit, i'm white European. This is my spiritual perspective rather than looking for a tag. Is this wrong?"
Original Poster Reply: "the poster clearly lays out that yes, it is wrong. It's part of reclamation of identity for Native people & undoing colonial gender"
Original Poster Reply: "& it's specifically for what the people in North America decided, which according to your bio, you're not even in"
Original Poster Reply: "are you seriously in London doing this? Colonizer legacy is strong"
Me: "thank you for your reply. We will have to agree to disagree. I use it so I am not bound by colonial gender forced on me"
Original Poster Reply: "you're white/European. You are colonial gender. White people don't need to continue to take/colonize EVERYTHING Natives have & make"
What then followed was a barrage of replies from other posters that I won't bother posting on here. I was accused of all sorts of things: symbolic violence through appropriation through to being disrespectful. The best one though was that I am plain ignorant for thinking that the term is out there for anyone to use and that if I use it after people tell me that I can't then I am a racist! WOW!
It was all quite a shock really. I hadn't expect that. Sadly Twitter isn't the place to have any sort of intelligent debate as 140 characters isn't enough to put a point across and it's a pain in the butt trying to chain together a string of replies to be eloquent. I chose to remain silent after that as it wasn't worth trying to make any sort of rational point. It was a shame really as I'd like to have had a sensible discussion.
So am I going to change my mind about referring to myself as Two Spirit? No I am not. The thing that was missing from all of this debate about "ownership" of two words was the spiritual aspect of the whole thing. None of these people know me. They made an instant judgement call based on prejudice and the right to be outraged and offended by something. They don't know me, my spirit or my heart and soul.
I had to do some soul searching myself. Was I doing the wrong thing? Answer: NO!
As this blog will hit Twitter and there is a chance that the main protagonists of the Twitstorm might see it I am going to give some clarity. I'll start with the fact that my accepting a Two Spirit nature was not down to looking for a cool new buzzword to use, it was a spiritual decision due to my work with the Dark Goddess and also in a Totem workshop at Artemis Gathering in August 2013. Full details of that little episode can be found here: http://ktglitz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/two-spirits-dark-goddess-and-butterfly.html
I've never looked back since then nor doubted who/what I am. I even did a talk on gender and Two Spirit at one of our moots. Everybody that I know has accepted my Two Spirit nature. This includes someone who has Native American family and roots. All of my recent readings have also validated all of this.
So what next. Simple really, as everything else had come from Spirit I chose to call on Spirit again for an answer. I used the Crystal Wind oracle cards and approached the Divine for the answer to a simple question, "Should I continue using the term Two Spirit?". Here are the cards I drew....
Past:
Present:
Future:
The meanings of these cards backed up everything that I have done so far and confirmed where I am headed. That was all that I needed to know.
There are a few proverbs that have sprung to mind through all of this:
- An angry word is like striking with a knife.
- Do not allow anger to poison you.
- Take care when you speak in judgment. Words are powerful weapons.
- The supreme law of the land is the Great Spirit's law, not man's law.
- What should it matter that one bowl is dark and the other pale, if each is of good design and serves it's purpose well?
- Do not judge your neighbour until you walk two moons in his moccasins.
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