Storms Don’t Give a Shit, but People Should

Before Haiyan/Yolanda decided to gate crash what would have been a gentle exit from the monsoon season, I had been planning to write about a tonne of other things:

• Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s newest devotional to Hera and Iuno Done!
• The God Graveyard Done! Well, sort of.
• What went on during the Days of Remembrance Done!
• Traditional harvest festivals and why it makes perfect sense to move their dates around
• How I’m fascinated by Samhain but can’t honestly celebrate it
• Polytheism Without Borders
• Land-wight etiquette in my neighbourhood
• That some people think I’ve got too many gods and festivals
• A call to formal priesthood
• My thoughts on the nature of the Gods and syncretism
• My ten thousand other promises to follow up on pictures of religious events I’ve attended this year!

Don’t worry(?), I’m still going to write about these things (Gods help me), but they’ll each have to wait a little longer until things get better around here.

Viviane Crowley, Peter Dybing, and The Wild Hunt were able to cover the issue and I’m really thankful that they did. I’m sure the whole world knows about it already, but getting the information across the greater Pagan community is a great help. (Interestingly, if it weren’t for Viviane and Jason, I would never had known of Pagan Federation International Philippines. My world just got a little smaller.)

If you know or are one of the brave men and women who have flown from overseas to come and help, please note that the devastation and desperation extends beyond Tacloban City:

All the help that’s been pouring in from around the world has been most uplifting–and we couldn’t thank you enough–but there’s still a lot of work to be done. If you’re in the position to help, please consider donating any amount to any of the humanitarian organisations you trust. Did you know that $5 can buy 16 pounds of rice or 10 cans of sardines or 21 litres of water? Don’t think any amount is too little.

May the spirits of the earth and our ancestors get us through and take us forward.