Dear Mercury Retrograde,

UNCLE!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Episode 45: Inciting A Buddhist Riot

Episode 45 of Inciting A Riot: the Podcast finds us taking a good long look at the next religion in our series: Buddhism. We’ll be looking at what it is, what it isn’t, and exactly why a prince would want to go live under a tree for a month.

News: DADT repeal, Clay Duke school board shooting, Tax Compromise, Mark Zuckerberg is on a magazine, and something that happened on this solstice that hasn’t happened since Velma was born. (1638)

WOTD: Congratulations

Gripe Department: Charities that don’t want to give money unless you jump through hoops.

Spirituality: Intro to Buddhism.

It’s a short show this time around, because we’re gearing up for the big Yulemas show on Dec. 24/25! Submit your favorite carols, stories, lore, etc. to IncitingARiotPodcast@gmail.com. Also, you can record and send along your own stories or poems for inclusion in the show! I’d love to hear what the Rioters can come up with!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Home Page: http://www.IncitingARiot.com
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A Blessed Solstice and Happy Yuletide to you all!

As I put the final touches on the next episode of Inciting A Riot - to be out by lunchtime today - I wanted to take a moment to wish you all the merriest of holiday seasons. Since we're pagans in a Christo-centric world, today sort of starts a week of merriment and festivity. Or, at least, around here it does.

On Yule, Partner and I exchange one present, and I do a little blessing. However, this Yuletide is marked by a Full Moon, which is a fairly rare occurrence. Even more rare, however, is the lunar eclipse happening at the same time, which hasn't happened since 1638. (The combination of Yule/Winter Solstice & Lunar Eclipse.) It's just an auspicious time when you think about it. Full moon that won't be seen due to eclipse on the Solstice.

Fun.

I'll also be doing a little Yule ritual. You know...lighting some candles. Saying my blessings and giving my offerings. Every year I have this idea that I'm going to be off work and get to do a big Yule celebration, and every year that doesn't happen. So, while it might be a little sacrilegious, Yule and Christmas get combined into some sort of Yulemas. At least in the sense of getting to fully include all the holiday treats and ceremony that I would normally like to do.

What are your traditions? How will YOU celebrate? Remember to send me your favorite stories, carols, poems, words, lore, traditions, etc. to IncitingARiotPodcast@gmail.com before Friday evening! That's when I'll be recording the holiday show!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Design My Holiday Show!

Quick, Rioters! Put your Speedos and Santa Hats on and get me a little holiday help!

With Yule just three days away and Christmas just a week away, it's time for all your favorite podcasts to put out their holiday shows. So, while I am in a mad dash to wrap up the promised Buddhism episode, I thought we would do something fun - and a little less Riotous than usual.

Instead of a usual show full of news and me griping and some words you probably have never heard of, we're going to have a rich show chock full of your favorite stories, poems, and songs. BUT!! In order for this to go off without a hitch, and in order for it to be fairly easy for me to get completed and out by next weekend, I need your help.

So, submit your favorite Yule/Christmas/Winter Solstice/Icy Holiday Of Choice poems, carols, songs, stories, lore, words, etc. to IncitingARiotPodcast@gmail.com. Also - and I'm talking to you Witchy Godmother, especially - if you are a writer and you'd like to submit your own story, feel free! I can already tell you that I'm writing a special story just for the occasion, and I've already selected 3 of the songs. But there's still a lot to choose! I need between 5 and 8 stories - depending on length - to choose from, as well as lots of songs, some poems, lore, and a whole lot more! If you have any holiday themed or spiritual words you'd like me to research, send those in as well!

So get those emails in soon! Help me design my holiday show!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Updates & Gripes & News...Oh poo

With a new job comes an overload of new responsibilities. Thus, I have not blogged. Typically I wouldn't feel bad about this, but I actually wanted to blog. About several things. Well, I suppose you'll just have to wait for the podcast. (Which is still being developed... Needless to say, Buddhism is extensive.)

That being said, let's discuss a few things.

1. Christmas charities can just suck on it. Ok... Not all the charities. But, have you heard about charities or businesses that say something like, "For every item you send in/purchase, we will donate [X amount of money] to [this charity] up to 1 million dollars." What I want to know is if the spirit of giving is so damn important to these charities, and they're already prepared to spend $1 million on a charity, THEN WHY DON'T THEY JUST DONATE THAT AMOUNT TO THE CHARITY AND BE DONE WITH IT!? Doesn't it sort of make businesses look like a big bunch of greedy douchebags? The one that pisses me off the most is that Yoplait yogurt Lids for the Cure crap. They say they're prepared to donate up to $1 million to Susan G. Koman for the Cure, and all you have to do to help is mail in all the pink lids to the yogurt you eat. But...what if not enough lids are donated? Say only $250,000 worth of lids are sent in? Is Yoplait really going to deny a reputable cancer charity $750,000 because not enough lids were sent in? I mean... I just don't understand it. It's a little too 'Look at us! We want to give huge sums of money to nice sounding charities so you'll buy our crap. But, also, please ignore if we don't actually give that full amount, because we like our money and want to keep it,' for me. 
2. As of today the House voted 250-175 to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. However, this means the Senate must also vote for repeal. Incidentally, Harry Reid - Senate Majority Leader - forced a vote on DADT earlier this month to no avail. Also, this is the second time this year that the House has voted for repeal with the Senate not following suit. You know how I hate reporting news that's not resolved yet, but there it is. So, basically we're back to waiting to see what's going to happen in the Senate. It should go without saying that I encourage every Rioter out there to write, call, tweet, email, or otherwise contact your Senator and plead with them to vote for equality.
3. Don't hate me, but I got all of my Christmas presents purchased last Friday and everything was shipped out yesterday. Well, go ahead and hate me. I'm now done with the Christmas stress. 
4. Another minor gripe: I'm unbelievably tired of listening to pagan podcasts that have basically devolved from coherent discussion on life, paganism, and all things in between into paranoid rants about 'the majority.' Whatever the majority is doing - shopping, voting, listening to a certain kind of music, still not having a clue what paganism is, etc. - MUST be evil. It's all a conspiracy. They ARE all out to get you. Pardon my non-French, but JEEZUS H. CHRIST! Cut it the fuck out! I listen to your show, because I like your point of view on life, paganism, and everything in between. NOT because you're waxing incessantly about this week's topic of how the government, big business, insurance companies, or the music industry is all out to get us. Being pagan does not automatically make you paranoid. If you're going to complain, please back up your gripes with real evidence and a possible solution to said issue. Not just, "Oh, well I pontificated this BS this morning while I was on the toilet and thought I'd share it with all of you." So, just a note to some of you podkin out there...I've unsubscribed. 

And that about covers this mini edition of updates in pretty much every category of the Riot. We've touched on the news, sociology, the gripe department, and I mentioned the word Buddhism so that takes care of spirituality. Yep, all wrapped up in a neat little package.

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Cutting away the death

When the winter comes and freezing temperatures are the norm and snow is either blanketing the ground or a breath away...it is time to bring my potted plants in for the season. For the first year I can remember, nearly all of my plants are alive. (I cannot, for the life of me, keep a Basil plant alive.) But, that's not what I thought when I'd first brought the plants indoors.

I thought that, not only had the basil died, but the mint and oregano had died, too. The pots were full of brown, dead limbs, and the few spots of green were quickly fading. I was sure that I was going to spend my winter with my cactus, my rosemary, my sage (that seems like it wants to die every other day and then springs back to life), my lavender, and my little chamomile plant that died but had suddenly sprung back a few weeks ago.

These limbs, though, this pile of twigs and dead leaves that were shedding all over my floor...these made me a bit upset. I had devoted time to these plants. Didn't they know? Didn't they know how much I wanted them to live and grow and enrich my life as I took care of them? Couldn't I do something right?

It's not that I made some huge deal over the dead plants. I'd gotten used to killing them. In fact, I keep a store of pots in my garage that start off full of green, growing things in the spring and end up empty and back on the shelf by sometime mid-fall. Something came over me this time. They weren't dead, or, at least, I wasn't accepting it.

With kitchen shears and an hour of pruning back tough limbs and carefully maneuvering around green spots, I was able to cut away the dead, twisted limbs. The parts that were gone and were not coming back. I had a trash bag full of sticky, crisp, sweet smelling mint husks and twisty oregano twigs. I scooped away the fallen leaves and other dead muck that had fallen to the soil...and I found them. Little dots of green. Little dots of fresh, new life.

I know this is sappy, and it's an obvious metaphor, but I truly feel that I'm one of those little dots. Maybe several. It's been a long summer. It's been hot and sweaty and nerve-wracking and upsetting, but I've been able to cut away a good bit of filth and realize what is dead and needs to be gotten rid of. It's been just a few days, but with oxygen and water and unobstructed light those little plants have shot up and are as green and verdant as ever.

I hope I thrive as well.

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

How to say anything to anybody.

In the online pagan mediasphere of podcasters and bloggers, I've sort of become known as that guy who will say exactly what is on my mind with an unapologetic attitude. At the 2010 Pagan Podkin Supermoot, the one thing I was told over and over again by those present was that I was a lot more fun and friendly in person than they expected. (Apparently, everyone thinks I'm an asshole or something.)

That's fine... I suppose it's not the image I wanted to cultivate, but it is what it is. Honesty is something that is important to me. For too many years I was dishonest about too many things: my sexuality, the way people made me feel, the way I felt about other people and situations, and on and on. In the southern US, and especially in east Texas Southern Baptist mentality, one is expected to memorize the three R's: Repress, Repress, Repress. Bottle up all those silly emotions and ideas of individuality and difference and blend.

By the time I was 18, it was clear that this mode of communication - or non-communication, rather - had taken its toll on my psyche.

After a few years in therapy, far too much casual sex, and working through my self-image issues, I finally came to a place where I felt good about myself. Good enough to not let people walk over me. I also came to a place of honesty in my life - there's that H word again.

Recently I was asked how it is that I'm able to say the things I say without crying afterwards. How am I this 'brave'? I don't think of it as bravery at all. I also don't just say things to hear myself talk. I am me. If I wanted to hear me spout off at the mouth I could do that quite easily without all the podcasting accoutrements. So, then, why...or how, rather, do I say the things I say?

Here's a quick tip, a mini-lesson in speaking your mind:

1. Decide if the thing you want to say needs to be said. Now, I'm talking 'need' here. Not 'want' level speech. We're all adults. We should know the difference between the things we want (like a shiny new iPad) and the things we need (groceries and a roof over our heads). The same thing applies to speaking your mind. Did you ever see that movie Ever After? Anjelica Huston's character has a wonderful line that says, "Don't speak unless you can improve the silence." Well, it's sort of true when it comes to sticky situations that merit a speaking of one's mind. Decide what needs to be said and stick to that and only that. Don't over-editorialize; don't interject too much personal opinion into the matter. Just say what needs to be said.
2. Decide if saying something will improve the situation. Sure, something might need to be said, but will you accomplish anything by saying it? If I'm a messy housekeeper and you, as my friend, tell me I need to clean my house, I might be inclined to let that thought go right out the other ear. Is the listener willing to listen and to truly internalize what you're telling them? If you're going to say something potentially blunt and pointed, make sure it's not going to fall on deaf ears.
3. Decide if you will feel worse for not saying something. If you're going to keep beating yourself up about it, then it might be imperative to your psychological health to get what needs to be said off your chest. 

Now, remember, you might want to tell your boss off or curse out your neighbor because of their rude behavior, but that might not be what needs to happen. Assess the situation and make a good, informed, balanced, and karmically sound decision. 

Any more questions or advice, send your emails in or leave a comment!

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

When did you choose to be straight?

Rioters, you are an absolutely fabulous group of individuals. Rioter AbbyD sent me a link to the following video. I'm not really sure I need to editorialize this. I would, however, love your feedback about the video. Do you think it makes a valid point, or is it an example of 'gotcha' questioning - where there's no right/good answer? I could argue both points, but as this is an emotional issue for me...I think I'll save it until I hear from you.

Enjoy!

Oh, and just for a little bit of fun, there's a second video that was under the 'Related Videos' section of this clip on YouTube. I found it hilarious - and cute - and thus included it.

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte