How BDSM, Unitarian Universalism, and Norse Paganism all fit into The Queen's life

Horrible winter-like weather in April meant the Internet wasn't working for me to get on my creator on Tuesday; thankfully it is this (4/6) morning so I put up part 1 and am scheduling part 2. It's *late to go up* because I wanted to give the posts from roughly 10am EST to 10am EST.

Sadly, Leather & Grace UUs for BDSM Awareness is no longer an active group- I'm still active on its Facebook page however. But here is the Leather Pride flag, on which a L&G symbol was made, combined with the Chalice image from Unitarian Universalism. Feel free to contact me if you're interested on FB: https://www.facebook.com/leatherandgrace/

The runes- one of the best known things from the Norse Pagan belief.

If you haven't read part 1 yet, please read it here before continuing on with The Queen's thoughts. :)

The Queen continues with his thoughts from yesterday about how the seemingly disparate pieces of belief in his life (Unitarian Universalism, Norse Paganism, BDSM) work in his life. Yes, he was wordy- hasn't Vala joked about that sometime? :D- so I had to break it in two.

The Queen's thoughts- part 2

I want to tell you the 1st UU principle now: "We agree to promote and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all people." First off, there is nothing in Norse Paganism that contradicts that principle. Not in my understanding of Norse Paganism, least-wise. On the surface of BDSM, and in practice for some, it would seem that Dominants and submissives are in an unequal power dynamic, the way I understand dominance and submissive it that it is matching pieces of a whole- Tommy is not a lesser person because he submits to me. UU as a religious movement is very concerned about justice and equality- it is even in our 2nd principle. However, like I said earlier, about false equalities. It is so easy for us to go through the intellectual motions theorizing how "equality" will look in real life. Too often this ignores the complexities of justice- each person brings multiple pieces of identity and in our culture, these pieces can limit and expand a person's possibilities in a myriad of ways that can limit their ability to gain justice. In this I think on the Norse God Tiwaz (Tyr, if you are using the more common Scandinavian name), who while war-like is also concerned with justice. For instance, the unfortunate fact is that Vala does not remember enough details to have any of her rapists prosecuted and opening the can of worms that would be pursing her father for her molestation would do her more harm than it would benefit her if I helped her to pursue legal justice for the times her ability to consent to sexual activity has been ignored or compromised. I have offered affection, BDSM, sex, love, spirituality to her; these things have helped her to heal emotionally, spiritually from those experiences. Of course, more than just her ability to remember, our legal justice system in the US is not constructed in such a way that a woman with a past containing details like hers can expect to gain justice against a rapist; her own history would most likely be used against her by the attackers' attorneys. What is justice can be hard to name though. I guess that is part of why I feel so drawn to Tiwaz and his stories. Of course, he is best known for placing his hand in Fenris wolf's mouth while the other gods were binding him in the chain Gleipnir, as a faith offering to Fenris. When the wolf sensed the trap, he took Tiwaz's hand. And finally, the many values important to Norse Paganism, (like honor, oath, commitment, courage) are well woven within the 7 principles. It is only the surface that they might look different.

I want to summarize my thoughts on war in this paragraph. This is one of those contentions that have long plagued UUs. As has been seen at general assemblies (the national denomination meeting), there is quite a divide between the hard-line pacifist camp and those who decry the lack of recognition of veterans, regardless of what war they fought in. I am somewhere in the middle. I do not think all wars are necessary and our leaders could stand to conduct warfare in much more honest fashions. I think often there are ways to avoid warfare that should be utilized; I was fascinated by Joelle's teaching that WWII might have been avoided if the European countries listened to Woodrow Wilson's "14 points plan" rather than passing the punitive Treaty of Versailles. But that is neither here nor there. Again looking to the example of Tiwaz, there are multiple ways of reaching justice and it is not always by utilizing weapons. I like to imagine if I had lived in pre-Christian Europe that I would have valued guarding my family, home, property over raiding, although I would have enjoyed raiding as times. Because defending the defenseless is important too. Many of my slaves have needed defense from someone, something. Tommy, from his dad; Abrecan, from himself and homelessness; Prisca, from her unwise decisions; Vala, from her parents and fundamentalist Christianity. In bringing them into my family, I acted the warrior protecting them from those who wished to hurt them. Of course there are situations with some of them where Norse Paganism, within those specific pre-Christian cultures, would have supported physical violence to protect my family; our legal system discourages that. Better or worse, that is debatable. But I can imagine, remember, if many IFs had been different, if only I had punched Tommy's dad and taken him out of that abuse when we were thirteen. We also have the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The very fact of who I am, a cisgender male who loves people not just the opposite gender from my own, means that I could not openly, proudly serve the United States in the armed forces. I would not shirk that duty to serve, if it was not for that.

But then there is the question of serving (not just in a BDSM fashion, or not even, as the case here.) By bringing these nineteen people into my family, I care for them, protect them, make it so they are not a drain on the society by collecting Welfare or other governmental helps. To me, I am serving my Gods, serving my beliefs, the principles as Unitarian Universalist by protecting those precious beings whom I love, who are my family.

Joelle here- So I thought only one thing to update, not 2. But when The Queen was writing this the first time, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was still the legal mandate in the US armed forces, so as an openly bisexual man, The Queen couldn't have served in the armed forces.

Now the second update- as pertains to The Queen's many storylines in my Vala's Story-verse: he's since come out as a BDSM switch. Right now I'm in the midst of rewriting/republishing "Out of the Night: Book One" and "Gates of the Garden: Book Two," but I'm hoping to finally get through the publishing of all 9 planned "Vala's Story" books and get into the spin-offs (one of which showcases The Queen coming to terms with his BDSM orientation.)