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Touch starvation and the coronavirus

Update: I wrote this on 3/9/2020, in the back of my mind deeply troubled about a few things. These things still trouble me.

One is racism and subsequent scapegoating and avoidance of Chinese people (and people of color of many ethnicities who may be misperceived as Chinese). Another is the cultural memory of the AIDS crisis and people dying with few willing to even hold their hands to comfort them, and the continuance of stigmas against HIV+ people even today. It’s different. I know it’s different. But I don’t like people being treated as walking contaminants, and marginalized communities are most targeted for this.

That said, today (3/17/2020), I feel it’s important to mention I don’t really know what to think now about COVID-19, which has now become an official pandemic. The idea that deliberate “social distancing” will “flatten the curve,” reduce the strain on overwhelmed healthcare systems, and therefore save lives seems reasonable, even though this explanatory model assumes a 100% contagion rate which isn’t true to life. Slowing the exponential spread nonetheless makes sense to me. My state currently recommends canceling gatherings of 50+ people.

Ultimately, I didn’t have enough information when I wrote this post, and I still don’t. Were my words and actions excessively risky for a larger collective of people? Were my words and actions compassionate and reasonable? I just don’t know. Things are changing every day. Take everything I write with a grain of salt.

Update (4/13/2020): And here we are. Things are different now. I’m leaving this post up for history and accountability, but protecting the lives of the most vulnerable people clearly needs to be a priority right now.

Some people don’t like to be touched for any number of reasons, and that’s fine. A lot of people are wary about touching other people right now because of COVID-19, and that’s fine too.

I’m not going to touch someone who doesn’t want to be touched, and some days I don’t feel huggy either. But I want to talk about fear-based messages, the biological human need for touch, and my own intentional choice to continue affectionate, non-sexual touch with consenting people.

Yesterday, I encountered a lonely, isolated, older woman.

Call for Submissions: The Troth’s Loki Devotional

Editor contact for questions/comments:
Bat Collazo
batcollazo@gmail.com

At Trothmoot 2019, a plan began to form for a Troth-published Loki devotional book, featuring writing and art from a wide variety of Troth members. We are now seeking submissions for this yet-to-be-named book. If you’d be interested in contributing, please see below!

SEEKING:

• Poetry
• Short stories expanding upon lore or creating new modern myths
• Short play scripts
• Rituals for Loki, or Loki in relation to his family
• Original spells tailored to call on Loki
• Song lyrics and/or full sheet music
• Personal essays about your worship of Loki or experiences
• Analysis of Loki’s roles in lore or modern Heathenry, especially as applicable to modern practice (we already have lore summaries covered – we’re looking for perspectives that offer interpretation and make new connections)
• 2D artwork or photos of 3D artwork (make sure all image submissions would look good printed in black and white, are at least 300 DPI, and are PNG or TIFF format)

Aeva-Otr, or: how to learn about unknown deities

A practical and experiential guide to learning more about a spiritual entity in Heathenry once the lore runs dry.

At Trothmoot 2019, I attended a Myth Embodiment workshop lead by Cara Freyasdaughter, who explains the concept here. Using improvisational acting (and occasionally some mild, casual hints of channeling), we retold the story of Thrymskvida, one of my favorites in the lore. It was tons of fun, hilarious, and thought-provoking. Participants were asked not to act as their patron deities, in order to branch out and experience different perspectives, as well as to avoid any accidental deeper channeling. This was meant to be an engaging psychological exercise to explore the lore, not a possessory rite.

Since that left my desired role (predictably, Loki) off the table, I volunteered for the role of Thrym’s unnamed sister. She will be the focus and example deity for this piece.

Possession: Loki

This is a personal narrative of my experience with Loki during a possessory rite at Trothmoot 2019. I hope to publish a collaborative writeup of the event as a whole soon, but this part demands to be written first. I also encountered Odin: that post is forthcoming.

One of Trothmoot’s major themes for me was accepting emotional vulnerability. Posting this publicly  without intellectualizing my irrational, emotional, romantic, mystical experience is one more step in that direction. So here we go.

Possible trigger warning for brief mentions of past trauma.