The Call of the Fox.

For those of you who've been following my artistic journey, you know about my Trickster series. Paintings featuring Loki, Raven, and Fox. Fox... He's shown up in both paintings so far. And, now he's started to take over my decorating. As you can see from above, my household altar - the one with the candles always lit and all the daily goings on happening - used to be a Fortuna altar. Then I was given an owl. And then I found another owl. And a jade frog happened. And after a trip to the Big Red Dot...Fox. Finally. Fox has made his way to my household altar.

And my feet. Yes, those are Fox socks. (You can get those, as well, at the Big Red Dot.)

"Papi... It's passed."

At 4:15 today, I was already exhausted. Since Sunday, I've worked almost 36 hours. I came home to nap, and that was about it. In fact, what I'm doing up at this late hour - almost 11:30pm at this writing - is beyond me. But, there's this thing that happened today...or...almost happened...or...is about to happen.

At 4:15 today, I was meeting with a guy who's going to be repairing my facility's air conditioner, and I was climbing ladders and peeking into air ducts, talking about filters and water intake and other stuff I am qualified approximately 0% to talk about. I was mentally thinking about the schedules I have to write and the three new people I'm going to hire. I was thinking about going home and taking a nap followed by dozing on the couch followed by sleep and more napping.

I was expecting my employees to come in and the night manager to take over and possibly considering pizza for dinner - because after working almost 40 hours in 3 days, fuck calories - but I wasn't even considering the possibility of 4:15pm.

At 4:15, I received a text message that read:

Papi... It's passed.

Blessed Samhain and Episode 83: Inciting A Hallowed Riot (2013)

Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween my dear Rioters! Today I will be spending time with friends and watching my favorite witchy movies! As is tradition here at Inciting A Riot, I've prepared a very special Halloween episode, filled with stories and music to get you in the Halloween mood. There are even a few original contributions by me!

I've included my new original short story, The Apprentice's First Spell, below for your reading pleasure. But, there are a few interesting witchy things from around the internet I thought you'd love.

Telling God Who's Boss

As many of you know, this past winter I experienced my own dark night of the soul. Thanks in part to being overly intellectual about my spiritual exploration, and going through one of the lower periods of the ebb and flow humans seem to have when surfing the tide of divine communion.
Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with Pagan author Dorothy Morrison, and she gave me this amazing 'Aha!' moment. It's been something I've mulled over ever since the conversation. Usually, what is on the podcast stays on the podcast, and what is on the blog is pretty exclusive to the blog. But, today, I felt a crossover was in order.

During our conversation, I asked Dorothy how she copes with those dark nights of the soul. She surprised me, because she admitted that even she - a person who makes a living from her spiritual teachings - goes through those periods of doubt, of feeling separated and unsure of the divine. You always think people you consider spiritual mentors have this perfectly seemless relationship with the divine, that they might just spend their days having tea with the Morrigan and shopping with Aphrodite.

What she told me, and I'm paraphrasing a bit here, is that if you feel disconnected from the divine, you need to stomp your feet and scream at the sky: GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN HERE AND PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

Episode 82: Inciting Dorothy Morrison's Riot

Episode 82 of Inciting A Riot: the Podcast is a just-in-time-for-Halloween interview with the incomparable Dorothy Morrison - Pagan author, head witch of Wicked Witch Studios, and true southern lady.

Topics discussed: Good Popes, Karma Cookies, Magic Kung-Fu, How to have an orgy, Derivative Pagan books, the Chicago Manual of Style is bullshit, Pity Pots, and Dorothy Morrison reveals a brand new spell to fix Congress!

Check her out at:

DorothyMorrison.com

https://www.facebook.com/WickedWitchStudios

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dorothy-Morrison/42414023364

*Swag Draw Reminder* Now through October 19 is the Samhain Swag Draw! Donate to support the Riot between now and October 19 and be entered to win one of 3 amazing prize packages. Full details, as well as links to all of our sponsors, can be found at:

http://www.incitingariot.com/2013/09/samhain-swag-draw-2013.html

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

Like the Riot at Facebook.com/IncitingARiotPodcast

Follow @IncitingARiot on Twitter

Announcements & Upcoming Events! (Dorothy Morrison, Hocus Pocus, & Hobby Lobby)

Rioters! Wanted to keep you all abreast (giggle) of a couple of upcoming events and then share an interesting news story with you lovely folks.

First things first. This is a good one. Drum roll, please...

DOROTHY MORRISON IS GOING TO BE ON INCITING A RIOT!

Tell Me of My Privilege

Late night catching up on Twitter brought me to this blog post by a woman named Trudy who goes by @TheTrudz on Twitter. The title of it is "All Whites Have White Privilege, Even If Oppressed For Other Facets Of Identity", and its theme seems to be making damn sure that...well...let me let @TheTrudz speak for herself...

White ppl who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, genderfluid, non-binary, trans, poor, fat, disabled = STILL have White privilege. Thus, they need to recognize the MASSIVE SPACE that White privilege, racism and White supremacy occupy globally. Whites oppressed on other axes who single out PoC as bigots on non-racial axes yet don't hold Whites accountable for shit = racist. Here's a clue as to how White privilege works even in the margins. Examine the life of a White trans man and a Black trans woman. Selah.

She then goes on to promote an essay regarding how white marginalized people get to be the spokesperson for their cause, because of all of their white privilege. Then, the rest of the 'storify' post seems to be focused on a conversation of poverty and recognizing the differences between class privilege and race privilege.

There are two issues that seem to be driving this article, a kind of thought process that I've seen time and time again on social media, socially-minded blogs, and every corner of the internet and cable TV. Issue one:

• Racism is bad. People that are white experience less racism in this country - mostly not at all, though that's not always true - and therefore need to be leaders when it comes to keeping racism in check and working towards eliminating it.

Let me say up front and immediately that I agree with this sentiment. It is everyone's responsibility to work towards ending racial inequality. As a former corrections officer, I am fully aware that, while white people commit more crime, we imprison more black and hispanic offenders. There is a huge racial disparity when it comes to the criminal justice system, social systems, welfare, and...well...just about most aspects of society. It's wrong, and it needs to end. And, in every way that I can, every chance I can, I personally attempt to take a stand against racial inequality.

Now that I've said that, I'd like to take a look at the second issue in this post and in posts like it, in the thought process like it. That brings us to the second issue:

• If you're white, it doesn't matter how marginalized you are, whether you were discriminated against for sexual orientation, gender identity, social standing, disability, or whatever...because at least you weren't both gay and black.

UPG & U: A Breakdown & Building Up of Unverified/Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis

©Sebastien Millon http://www.sebastienmillon.com

Recently, I released Episode 81: Inciting An Unverified Riot, discussing the issues of Unverified and Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis. In case you don't listen to the podcast, or simply want to comb through the article on your own free time with a cuppa, here it is in its full glory.

As a quick reminder: Inciting A Riot's yearly donation drive is in full effect. Please consider supporting Inciting A Riot: the blog and podcast with a donation of your choice. Donations of any amount from now through October 19, 2013 enter you into the Samhain Swag Draw. Lots of great prizes to be had! Click the link for full details, what you're supporting, and - more importantly - what you can win!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Episode 81: Inciting An Unverified Riot

Episode 81: Inciting An Unverified Riot

News: Trail Life USA, Voyager 1, Navy Shooting, Syria, Peeing in Shenzhen China, Jihawg Bullets, A magical coconut plays politics.

Music used in this show: Instead by Stacie Orrico & Citizen of the Planet by Alanis Morissette

WOTD: Tergiversation

Teach Me Tarot: Liz presents The Emperor

Sociology: Copyright infringement

Spirituality: Unverified/Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis

Contact info:

FireLyte@incitingariot.com

Twitter - @IncitingARiot 

Facebook.com/IncitingARiotPodcast

Liz@IncitingARiot.com

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Samhain Swag Draw 2013!

After much anticipation, I'm very happy to announce this year's Samhain Swag Draw! As you all know, it costs quite a bit of money to maintain the Riot. Once a year, just in time for Samhain, it comes time for Inciting A Riot to pay its bills. And, what bills are those?

• Podcast hosting fees for 2 shows - the Riot and Inciting A Brewhaha.
• Skype premium costs - for all those interviews you love, plus Teach Me Tarot with Liz.
• Software upgrades and site maintenance. 
• Web hosting/domain fees.
• Incidental costs.

Now, I happily pay these out of my own pocket throughout the year, but once a year I put it out there for you, the Rioters, to donate to cover some of these costs if you so choose. Inciting A Riot is a labor of love, which, granted, isn't labored on quite enough for my liking, but it's been regularly producing podcast content and blog articles for 4 years now. FOUR YEARS! Cannot believe it! 

And, because I'm a glutton for punishment, in 2014 I will be - in conjunction with Mnemosyne Mars of Pagan by Nature - launching a new project that will be of (I think) great benefit to the pagan online community as a whole. But, until all the details on that are ironed out, I'm going to stay mum. 

ALSO!!! Coming very, very soon, I'll be working to turn Project Pagan Enough into a real, true, honest to goodness Project. An academic study for the pagan community. In conjunction with a graduate program at the University of North Texas, we'll be studying the experience of pagans before and after their transition to becoming pagan. Again, more on that later. 

Suffice to say, there are some really special things that are about to happen with the Riot. Not to mention upcoming interviews with your favorite Big Name Pagans (Dorothy Morrison & Christopher Penczak, anyone?), much, much more Teach Me Tarot, all your favorite Riots, and even more conversations between myself and Velma over at Inciting A Brewhaha. 

Naturally, I would never expect you to just give over your hard earned money without there being something in it for you. That's where the Swag Draw comes in! 

My Chicago Pagan Pride Weekend Photo Album

What? Oh, that's just me and Velma with Selena Fox. I'm a Big Name Pagan now, didn't you know?

My good friend Velma Nightshade came up from lands to the south to join me for a weekend of frivolity, witchery, and CRAFTERY! We spent the day before pride doing one of our favorite activities: Witchy Shop Hopping around Chicago!

Below is my album from that experience. There will be a better report of my favorite shops and where you can buy their goodies later, but for now...

LOOK! PRETTY PICTURES!

Media Roundup: Music Video Edition *Updated!*

This has been a stressful week for a lot of people. What better way to de-stress and get your weekend off to a great start than with some fun, funky music videos from around the web!

Feel free to share your favorites in the comments below!

Pagans, Copyright Infringement, and Social Media

Protecting one's copyright online is a murky, icky topic that ends up, invariably, in people either getting really angry and storming off or throwing their hands in the air in an 'it is what it is' gesture. I've been discussing the notion of copyright and social media for the last few days, both on the blog and on social media, and I'd like to share with you a few different ways to understand this issue.

I first started becoming a bit confused about copyright and social media in April of 2012, when I saw a meme that looked something like this:

Except, it wasn't in color, and it was cropped into a square. A black and white, square version of the above was being passed around Facebook and Twitter like it was the best thing ever. It had some ridiculous phrase on it that was meant to be a joke about riding on brooms while drunk, which wasn't all that funny. But, I remember everyone asking, "Wow! Beautiful picture! Where did it come from?" The picture was accompanied by a little caption that read 'Artist Unknown'. And, that led me to think, Really? The artist is unknown, huh?

So, I opened Google Images and dragged and dropped the image into the search bar (did you know you can do that now?) and, oddly enough, this mysterious artist's name popped up immediately.

The name of the artist is Svetlana Belyaeva, a photographer who can be contacted through their website. This entire process took me, as you can see by the screenshot, less than a second. The Google Image search is a nearly instantaneous process. See image. Click + hold. Drag + Drop. Discover artist's name.

Which, naturally, since it is such a quick and easy process has led to my increasing confusion and frustration regarding the lack of artist attribution across social media. But, let me digress for a moment and define some terms:

Facebook Pages and Artistic Attribution

From time to time, a conversation arises on social media that I find important enough to bring to the blog. Today, I present to you a conversation regarding appropriating artist's work for the purposes of gaining more web traffic. Several websites and social media pages - pagan geared and not - have been turning artist's work into memes used to gain more followers and web traffic, without giving attribution in any way to the original creator.

I invite you to take part in the conversation both here on the blog and through social media.

 

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Post by Fire-Lyte Rioter.

 

Inciting A Riot's 2013 Swag Draw! Seeking Sponsors!

It's that time of year again, Rioters! Time to pay the bills and plan for the new year. The Riot has been going strong this year of our Lord 2013, and for that strength we must pay. But, first, we must have a swag draw!

Every year, the Riot has a wonderful array of prizes that await those of you generous Rioters who keep the pitchforks sharp, the torches lit, and do the little things...like pay Podbean for a year of hosting 2 different shows, along with various fees, costs, and things incidental to running this show.

This year promises to be much, much bigger. There are HUGE things in the work for the coming season, but they require even more moolah than in years past. So, I'm hoping to make this year's swag draw much, much bigger!

Here goes...

If you are an artist, a musician, an author, or producer of anything tangible, I'm here to ask if you'd like to sponsor this year's swag draw. I've already got some great products from authors like Kelley Armstrong and Rob Kroese, there will be items from Torch & Paintbrush, and our sponsors will get in on the action as well. But, I'm hoping to make this year's THANK YOU presents to three lucky donors even bigger.

So, if you'd like to sponsor the swag draw, here are the details:

• There are 3 prizes. 1 grand prize with lots of insanely awesome goodies that will go to one lucky donor. 2 runner-up prizes that are also very awesome. 
• We need books, artwork, gift certificates to your online store, CDs, and more to fill these boxes full!
• The swag draw will run through the first week of October this year so that the donor gifts can arrive in time for Halloween/Samhain.

Please email FireLyte@IncitingARiot.com for any and all swag draw sponsorship entries. I'd prefer you not use social media or the comments section of this blog post to inquire or offer sponsorship.

Thank you all again!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte