Pride Month can be kind of a weird time for a lot of us. While we’re obviously not gonna pass up an excuse to party in the name of queer visibility, the presence of oppressive corporate giants dressed up in rainbows for the month is a disturbing commodification of queer culture and grief. Here in Boston, some boneheads are already trying to counter with a “Straight Pride” parade as if we live in a post-hetero dystopia where straight people are harassed simply for existing.
A lot of us are fucking tired. And sad.
So this is a spell to honor that grief and the queer folx we’ve lost. It’s a prayer asking for their protection as we carry on their work. And it’s an invocation to call our energy back to what Pride is all about: queer love, in all its forms. (And rioting, can't forget that!)
Make a shrine to queerness.
Include pictures or other icons of LGBTQ+ ancestors & elders who have passed on. These can be people you know personally, or figures you admire (Marsha P Johnson & Sylvia Rivera should definitely be included for Pride celebrations). Arrange them so they surround pictures or icons of your living LGBTQ+ friends and family.
Add an 8-color rainbow flag or a picture of one. Gilbert Baker, the creator of the eight-color Pride flag, assigned these meanings to each of the stripes:
Pink: Sex/love
Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: Sunlight
Green: Nature
Turquoise: Magic/Art
Indigo: Serenity
Violet: Spirit
Light a candle (if you can't you can use carnelian, or a picture of a flame) and ground yourself. Envision a giant protective bubble surrounding your space, sparkling with every color of the rainbow. In this bubble you are safe and warm, you are supported. The ancestors are here with you.
Focus on each ancestor in turn and thank them for their work, especially their sacrifices. Thank them for their visibility. Take your time doing this, and really talk specifics; they deserve to be honored for paving the way. If you’re able to make offerings to them (things like flowers or libations), now is the time.
Hold the rainbow flag as you ask the ancestors to bless your LGBTQ+ family and friends with the color of each stripe:
Bless them with the pink blush of queer love, with endless pleasure.
Bless them with the red fire of a long, fulfilling life free from violence.
Bless them with the orange glow of healing, for wounds both physical and psychic.
Bless them with yellow sunshine to illuminate the unhidden beauty of their queerness.
Bless them with the green vibrance of Earth, whose natural order knows no binary.
Bless them with the turquoise veil of magick and art, as the queer (especially QTPOC) community has always driven culture.
Bless them with the indigo cloud of serenity, that they may lay down the burden of being misgendered, outed, closeted, targeted.
Bless them with the violet cloak of Spirit, that they may walk through this world guided and protected by queer ancestors and angels.
Sit for a moment in this space, try to feel the colors of the flag rippling all around you, and around your loved ones. Stay as long as you can.
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Paige Curtin is HausWitch's Shop Manager, bath witch, and blue-haired angel. You can find her at the shop, posting at @witchthevote, or baking too many cookies.
