THE GENDERQUEER TREE OF LIFE

DYNAMIC POLARITIES AND 
NON-BINARY ASPECTS OF

AGENDA

▸ Why

▸ Genderqueer Definitions

▸ Introduction to Qabala

▸ Polarity

▸ Gender and the Tree

▸ What does this mean

▸ Creating Your Own Tree

▸ Q&A

WHY THIS?YOU MAY BE ASKING YOURSELF…

2017LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY

http://bit.ly/qabala-rituals

WHY THIS?YOU MAY BE ASKING YOURSELF…

INDIVIDUALS ARE OFTEN DRAWN TO MAGIC WHEN WE ARE ARE TIRED OF BEING DAMPENED, DIMMED, OR DIMINISHED. WHEN WE ARE EMOTIONALLY IMPOVERISHED AND SPIRITUALLY ENSLAVED OUR INHERENT SELF-WORTH GROWS A SKELETAL STRUCTURE AND VOLCANIC FEROCITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN FREEDOM, JUSTICE, AND EQUITY ARE MOST CHALLENGED AND RESTRICTED…AT ALL LEVELS, A WORKER OF MAGIC SHOULD AIM AT THE LARGER PICTURE OF REDUCING THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF EGREGIOUS INIQUITY.

-Orion Foxwood, “Queer-Fire Witchery: The Rainbow-Flame that Melts the Soul-Cage; The Emerging Fluidity of Consciousness,” 


from “Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries”

INCLUSION INVITES PEOPLE INTO SPACES THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN CREATED, AND ENCOURAGING THEM TO FIND A PLACE WITHIN AN EXISTING STRUCTURE. ...WE MUST BECOME CO-CONSPIRATORS RATHER THAN ALLIES, AND SEEK TO CO-CREATE SPACES THAT ARE RADICALLY DIFFERENT AND TRANSFORMATIVE.

-Susan Harper, PhD: “For Thou Art Goddess: Creating Affirmative Goddess Community,” referencing Lasara Firefox Allen’s “Jailbreaking the Goddess”

in “Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries”

WHAT IS “GENDERQUEER”?

▸ Genderqueer is an umbrella term with a similar meaning to non-binary. It can be used to describe any gender identities other than man and woman, thus outside of the gender binary. Genderqueer identities can include one or more of the following:

▸ Both man and woman

▸ Neither man nor woman (genderless, agender, Neutrois)

▸ Moving between genders (gender fluid)

▸ Third gender or other-gender

▸ Those who do not or cannot place a name to their gender

▸ Having an overlap of, or blurred lines between, gender identity and sexual orientation

Source: http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/Genderqueer

OTHER, RELATED IDENTITIES

▸ Gender Fluid: Describes a gender which varies over time. A gender fluid person may at any time identify as male, female, neutrois, or any other non-binary identity, or some combination of identities.

▸ Bigender: Describes a person who experiences exactly two gender identities, either simultaneously or varying between the two. (For more than two, “Multigender” may be used.)

▸ Transgender/Trans: Describes a person whose internal experience of gender does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.

▸ Intersex: Describes a person with sex characteristics, e.g. sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, and/or chromosome patterns, that do not fit the typical definition of male or female.

▸ Non-Binary: Any gender identity that does not fit the binary of woman/man.

▸ Two-Spirit: Describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups.

Source: http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/

AS I AM SURE ANY CAT OWNER WILL BE ABLE TO TELL YOU, SOMEONE ELSE PUTTING YOU IN A BOX IS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM GETTING INTO A BOX YOURSELF.

-bisexualbaker on Tumblr

MAGIC AND QUEERNESS ARE SIMILAR IN THE WAY OF BEING ELUSIVE TO NAME, TO SPECIFY. WHAT WE NEED TO WELCOME IN OUR LIVES OF QUEERNESS AND MAGIC IS THE UNSETTLING RESTLESSNESS OF THE POTENTIALITIES OF THOSE IDENTIFICATIONS.

-Yin Q, “Blood, Body, Birth, and Emptiness: Queer Magic in My Life and Work” in “Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries”

TREE OF LIFELET’S TALK ABOUT THE

+ -

POLARITY CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS ANY DIFFERENCE IN POSITION, ALIGNMENT, STATE OF BEING, OR ATTRIBUTE THAT CAUSES, DIRECTS, CATALYZES, OR ENCOURAGES THE FLOW, PRODUCTION, OR EXPRESSION OF ENERGY.

Ivo Dominguez, Jr., “Redefining and Repurposing Polarity” in “Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries”

WHAT ABOUT NON-BINARY OR RELATIVE POLARITIES?

POLARITY CAN ALSO BE AN ENTANGLED STATE, OF MUTUAL INTERACTION, OF RELATIONSHIP, BETWEEN FORCES AND/OR FORMS THAT SHARE ESSENTIAL NATURES, THEMATIC RESONANCE, OR PRIMAL ATTRACTION.

Ivo Dominguez, Jr., “Redefining and Repurposing Polarity” in “Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries”

“Queer theory is about breaking down...binaries, which oversimplify the world into everything being this or that.”

-"Queer: A Graphic History”

AztiluthBriahYetzirahAssiah

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WHAT’S YOUR POINT, ANNIE?

THINKING IN BINARIES = USEFUL… BUT ONLY TO A POINT

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Art by Megan Willis

FURTHER READING▸ Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries ed. Lee Harrington

▸ Queer: A Graphic History by Dr. Meg John Barker

▸ The Witches Qabala by Ellen Cannon Reed

▸ The Kabbalah Tree: A Journey of Balance & Growth by Rachel Pollack

▸ The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune

▸ The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo Duquette

▸ A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by Gareth Knight

▸ Tarot and the Tree of Life: Finding Everyday Wisdom in the Minor Arcana by Isabel Radow Kliegman

▸ 2017 Qabala Ritual series: http://bit.ly/qabala-rituals

▸ This presentation: http://bit.ly/genderqueer-qabala

QUESTIONS?

Annie Lynsen • alynsen@gmail.com • @heyluckyannie

mailto:alynsen@gmail.com