thorn sigil.png

Magic is real. Justice is worth fighting for.

T. Thorn Coyle

Newsletter

Essays/Stories/News

Search

Oct 17, 2018

Be Brave: Though it Will Not Save the World

There are long arcs of evolution, the rise and fall of empires and species, the birthing and dying of stars. We cannot know the larger cycles. Our bravery will not save this world. We cannot save this world. Nonetheless, we must –– it is imperative–– find our way in this world. We must find a way ––our way–– to contribute. To do less than this is to court devolution or despair. Bravery just might help us save each other. One day at a time. In my theology, there is multiplicit

Nothing in Capitalism is Clean: On Making Art in Empire

Sep 15, 2018

Nothing in Capitalism is Clean: On Making Art in Empire

*** “Under capitalism we are all for sale, and most labor is grossly underpaid.” –– Maggie Mayhem Nothing in this world is clean. Everything supports, depends on, tears down, or eats something else. Sometimes these cycles feel useful and nourishing, like soldier fly larvae in their wriggling, pale masses, slowly eating compost scraps, and making soil. Other times? The cycles feel as if the jaws of death have us in their crushing grip and we can no longer breathe. *** When I w

Dec 31, 2017

Don’t Give Up on Love

One thing 2017 taught me was this: Don’t give up on love. 2017 was a hard year. A bewildering year. It was a year when chaos took the reins. And chaos, when linked to evil, is a terrifying thing. “Give us the corrosive systems we know and understand!” many of us cried. “Give us back evil that is neutral. Evil that counts numbers. Evil that obeys the rule of law.” That’s not what we got in 2017. Instead, we got systems that cracked and groaned in the midst of a new maelstrom.

Reparations Are Not Enough: Thoughts on Inequity and Justice

Jul 23, 2017

Reparations Are Not Enough: Thoughts on Inequity and Justice

“The top 10% of families own 75.3% of the nation’s wealth. The bottom half of families own 1.1% of it. The families squished in between those two groups own 24.6% of the national wealth.” – Matt Bruenig The need for reparations for African and Native Americans is real. It is also not enough. Reparations are a stop gap. A token of good faith and intention. A necessary step in the direction of a society that has a chance to rebuild itself toward equity and justice. This topic i

Until There is Justice: Thoughts on Community

Nov 10, 2015

Until There is Justice: Thoughts on Community

“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” – Dorothy Day“You can care about people you’ve never even met.” – Killer Mike There are many debates in many….I’ll call them groups… regarding whether or not we can use the word community to describe that grouping. These days, many affiliations and associations are breaking themselves apart from the general and attempting to figure out how to cluster

A Love to End All Wars: On Race & Religion

Jan 23, 2015

A Love to End All Wars: On Race & Religion

Last night, arriving home after doing my civic duty at a public hearing regarding fourteen activists facing a $70,000 fine for chaining themselves to our local transit system on Black Friday, a friend pointed me to a piece that, among many other things, said that one should not ask Pagan organizations to take stands on racial justice, as it is just a “cause du jour.” I decided to respond this morning and thought the points I made might be good for many of us to think on and

Sep 25, 2013

We Can Build Hope

Edit, October 1st: Last night, the US government shut down, stalled in negotiations by a small minority. This is affecting aid to women with infants and small children, veterans, and a whole host of others. Mutual Aid has always been important, but is becoming more and more so every day. In my mind, we must find better ways to care for each other, and take our power back. I wrote this last week, on September 25th: “Every single person in the world should have food, shelter,

Aug 29, 2013

Some Days Love Looks Like Anger

Some days, love looks and feels a lot like anger. Yesterday evening, I arrived at the rally in a downtown plaza in Oakland, California and said hello to a few friends. Oakland is a marvelous place, filled with art and music, a lake with Canada geese and night herons, and boats that skull across the waters. Oakland is also a place where young people are killed on what sometimes feels like a daily basis. I greeted the parents of a young man who was killed a year ago last May. W

Aug 28, 2013

Choosing a Dream of Love

This was written on the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the day of Dr. King’s “Dream” speech. Martin Luther King’s dream was not just about harmony among various people. It was a dream of justice. A dream of equity. A dream of everyone having a job. A dream of an end to war. King’s dream was a vision of love in action. We still don’t have justice, equity, jobs, or an end to war. Racism, injustice, oppression, transphobia, torture, economic

Jul 14, 2013

Confronting Racism is Spiritual Work

“Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” – Mary “Mother” Jones I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I’m sure it was more than Trayvon Martin’s parents got. I’m sure it is more than the parents of young black or brown children got. I’m not here to talk about the trial. Many others are doing that. I’m not here to talk about stand your ground laws. Many others are doing that. I want to talk about the fact that white people have got to get ourselves together an

Jun 20, 2013

A Solstice Prayer: Let us Shine Light

Let us shine light upon injustice.Let us shine light upon grief.Let us shine light upon suffering.Let us shine light upon hatred.Let us shine light upon oppression.Let us shine light upon fear. Let us awaken! Let us rise! Let us quicken into power! Let us become brilliant to each other! Let us love. This longest day may we know our beauty. May we honor one another. May we bless this earth. May we shine! All things on earth require the light of the sun. Even those things that

Comfort the Afflicted, Afflict the Comfortable

Jan 7, 2013

Comfort the Afflicted, Afflict the Comfortable

. Recently I posted these words: “It is good to recall that ‘comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable’ often needs to include myself/ourselves. We learn and grow more that way.” They were written in response to a conversation I was having on Twitter. I was trying to explain how our comfort level sometimes needs to be challenged, our assumptions need to be startled, and our privilege questioned. Sometimes that means we walk away from a conversation – hopefully temporaril

Thanksgiving: I Will Not Look Away

Nov 21, 2012

Thanksgiving: I Will Not Look Away

. While cleaning tables, I saw you in the corner, gesticulating gently, communicating with beings that I could not see. We spoke later, laughing over the purple boa feathers molted on the floor, left by the strange bird of a volunteer. You were lucid. Friendly. Yet moments before, you were in a sideways world, slipped through a tear in the fabric of reality. What did you see? While waiting for the bus, I saw you, with your folding shopping cart, looking for the light to chang

We All Weather These Storms

Nov 4, 2012

We All Weather These Storms

. please donate to help Occupy Sandy via PayPal to solarcrosstemple@gmail.com . “There is Magic in helping others that creates a ripple effect. Each act of service creating ever wider circles of acts of service and compassion. One small act each day is all it takes to change our world.” – Peter Dybing We all weather these storms. Right now, Peter Dybing is helping to move trees from roads so rescue vehicles can get resources to trapped people. Right now, the people of Occupy

Heartbreak, Grief, Anger: One Pagan View of Justice

Oct 3, 2012

Heartbreak, Grief, Anger: One Pagan View of Justice

. The above was my status report upon leaving Oakland City Hall yesterday evening. Having been denied entry through the massive doors of the city council hall, some of us sat down on the hard marble floor at the base of the grand stairs, and at the feet of the police designed to keep us away from the rest of the crowd. We sat to meditate and pray. Up above us, people chanted and shouted, shaking the space with raised voices, piercing whistles, and sheer presence. Occasionally

On Justice: Why I Might Get Arrested Tuesday Evening

Sep 17, 2012

On Justice: Why I Might Get Arrested Tuesday Evening

. “…until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained and there can never be lasting peace upon earth.” – Helen Keller “Justice is what love looks like in public.” – Cornel West She stood in front of a group of 50 or 60 people in a church hall and she wept. He was a light in this world, she said. He was shot and killed, defenseless, in the night. “What demands will be made on Tues

Ai Weiwei, Alan Blueford, and Us

Aug 8, 2012

Ai Weiwei, Alan Blueford, and Us

“Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.” – Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei Last week, I went to see “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” a powerful film that made me feel like I did at age sixteen: troubled and inspired. Ai Weiwei is an internationally acclaimed artist who was disappeared by the Chinese government for almost three months last year. Upon his release, he was fined 2.4 million dollars in taxes. He just lost this case, but will continue to fight, despite having been detained and not

A World Split Open: Love and Justice

May 17, 2012

A World Split Open: Love and Justice

. “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” – Muriel Rukeyser. Speaking the truth always has the power to split things open. Hearing truth spoken this week opened my heart… I’m going to talk about social trouble in this entry. And an Oakland city council chamber. And a San Francisco soup kitchen. And experiences that many of you may never encounter. But all of this is germane to our lives. Why? Because we all have our own expe

Religious Justice?

Jun 2, 2011

Religious Justice?

Thomas Jefferson asked: “Shall we suffer a Pagan to deal with us and not suffer him to pray to his god? … It is the refusing toleration to those of different opinion which has produced all the bustles and wars on account of religion.” Apparently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals disagrees with U.S. founder and President Jefferson. By denying paid chaplaincy positions for anyone who is not Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, or Native American, the California Department of C

By Sun and Earth: Theologies of Justice

Mar 24, 2011

By Sun and Earth: Theologies of Justice

Four Hammers by Kat Lunoe This is long, folks, and likely needs to be longer. Hopefully it is the start of a larger conversation: I’ve been circling around to this topic for the last couple of months, and am writing today on the anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, killed for living his religious convictions. A fair amount of my social justice and activist work has been done around radical Catholics. Strange, isn’t it, for a public Pagan to have at ti