STATEMENT ON DECOLONIZATION

The Coru Cathubodua Priesthood is an order dedicated to Sovereignty and Liberation for all. Our mandate is to fight injustice in the many ways it manifests. Settler-colonialism, along with the intertwined institutions of patriarchy, imperialism, and capitalism, is the primary driver of oppression in our past and present world.

As a priesthood made up of numerous individuals descended from the European diaspora, and as a tradition built on European spiritual traditions, we recognize our potential entanglement with white supremacy. We recognize the many ways our ancestors committed atrocities against Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island (North America), and elsewhere throughout the world. We also recognize that many of our ancestors were themselves colonized and displaced people whose cultures were crushed by earlier efforts of colonization. As a Celtic polytheist order based in the United States, it is our firm commitment to be in right-relationship with the Indigenous peoples whose land we occupy, and to be in right-relationship to the living Celtic cultures in which our tradition is rooted.

HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND DECOLONIZATION AND UNSETTLING?

Echoing the sentiments of numerous Indigenous groups, we recognize that decolonization is not achieved simply by adding a land acknowledgment to your public events or displaying messages of solidarity. These things are a good start, but we believe we must go beyond them. We believe in disrupting and unsettling the on-going settler-colonial paradigm, and that decolonization is a lifelong commitment which requires tangible action to improve the material conditions of those most affected by colonization. By doing so, we aim to dismantle the insidious systems of oppression we are surrounded by every day. We are committed to supporting those who seek justice and reparations, as well as working towards abolishment of the systems that perpetuate settler-colonialist oppression.

Decolonization takes many forms, and different groups from all corners of the world have engaged in it with a variety of strategies. It is not confined simply to issues of race or ethnicity. The systems of oppression depend on a culture of obedience and unquestioning conformity to a way of life cut off from the land, from our relations to all people and creatures, and from the divine spark within all things. We believe these systems of oppression will fall when we decolonize our minds, our relations, our means of subsistence, and when the land is returned to Indigenous management.

HOW WILL WE PUT ALL OF THIS INTO ACTION?

We the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood have committed ourselves to the following:

To look inward and uproot even the most subtle ways in which settler-colonialism operates in our daily lives.
To analyze and unlearn culturally-imposed assumptions of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, class, economic status, physical and mental ability, and religious privilege.
To ongoing quarterly study sessions to deepen our knowledge of decolonization, learning from organizations and individuals in communities affected by colonization.
To ally ourselves with Indigenous and Black-led movements to support their work, through mutual aid and fundraising, in response to the stated needs and guidance of the network in question.
To direct a certain portion of our labor, resources, and annual funds to a variety of causes to support those affected by colonization.

We encourage other groups, particularly within the neo-Pagan, European diasporic community to do the same.

GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS WE HAVE CONTRIBUTED RESOURCES, FUNDS, AND/OR LABOR TO IN THE PAST OR ON AN ANNUAL BASIS:

This statement is just the beginning, and will evolve as we listen, learn, and evolve. We recognize that communities are not monolithic, that relationships to and within individual organizations may be complex/complicated, and as a result we try to diversify our efforts.

Created May 2023

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