Radical Gnomery
I am Pan Golin, a Radical Gnome.
Maybe the only Radical Gnome. But a Radical Gnome nonetheless.
In 1979, a call was circulated for A Spiritual Conference for Radical Fairies, and self-identified Radical Faeries have been gathering in all their glittery fabulousness to romp naked in the woods ever since.
This is not a Spiritual Conference for Radical Gnomes. There are things I like and things that trouble me about Radical Faerie community, and starting a new movement is likely to result in emulating the things I am challenged by without any of the lovely qualities I admire. Instead I offer meditation about what it means to me to be a Radical Gnome, a self-identity I have come to over the last few months as a resolution of my complicated feelings about my own relationship with the Radical Faeries.
As a Radical Gnome I declare that I am radical, I am fae, I love and support my Radical Faerie kyn, but I am not a Radical Faerie.
Faeness comes of many kinds—the fire of passion and sometimes of rage, the air of mirth and sometimes unreliability, the water of nurturing and sometimes of sorrow. And the earth—the earth of our bodies, the practical side of our natures, that in us which builds home and tends gardens. That earth in us that can make us slow thinkers, slow to act, and slow to change; that practicality that can make us intolerant or stubborn; but that deep heart that makes us loyal to a fault to that which we most prize. The Radical Faerie community I have seen and loved loves and sees the fire, air, and water of us most, and most of the beloved Radical Faeries I have known have reflected the qualities of fire, air, and water. I think I am more strongly aligned with earth, and that there isn’t a lot of room for the earth qualities in me in Radical Faerie community.
There is a subset of Radical Faeries who see the definition of Radical Faerie as very narrow—encompassing only male-assigned-at-birth gay men. I disagree, and my disagreement is supported by most of the Radical Faeries I know personally. But it’s never my intention to cause pain and conflict in a community just by including myself in it. As a queer transgender man and the only Radical Gnome I know, I declare that Radical Gnomery excludes no one on the basis of gender or sexuality. Transmasculine, transfeminine, genderqueer, and even heterosexual Radical Gnomes are all well within the realm of possibility.
So what makes me a Radical Gnome?
It’s not just that I like Radical Faeries but don’t feel myself to be one. A gnome is a creature of the elemental earth, and a manifestation of the intelligence of the Earth itself. Radical means “of the root”—having to do with the source of reality. Here it also means authentic and unfeigned, and for me, that has to do with my queerness of sex and gender, my own particular way of relating to others, and my allegiance to radical principles of deep ecology and ecocentrism.
Here are some principles that I think shape my Radical Gnomery. I will call them geasa; they are rules that become known in the breaking and the consequences thereof.
- Do Not Change Your Shape to Fit Another’s Garment.
- Do Not Suffocate Your Heart in Armor.
- Honor Death and Life.
- Learn and Live Your Ecological Niche.
- Do the Work that is Before You.
- Offer Your Perfection and Your Flaws on the Same Altar.
- Always Be Reverent.
- Receive the Wisdom of Earth, the Body, and the Animal Self.
- Love. First, Last, and Always: Love.
As I’m writing in this blog I’ll elaborate on, maybe even modify, these geasa; studying them will be a lifelong process but one that might benefit from the insight of others on a similar path of self-knowing.
Do you feel called by the name Radical Gnome?
If so, you need not be anyone other than who you are, or follow any rules other than those you have made for yourself. My geasa are not yours; you have your own. You may be anyone—the Earth calls whom it calls. This is a gnomic door that is open to all…but there is no house around it. By stepping through the door and wearing the name Radical Gnome, you make a pact between yourself and the Earth, no one else. You join a community of your selves and the Divine as you understand it. The door leads nowhere except where you already are. I do not swear that there will never be a gathering of Radical Gnomes, but we are not a community. I find community where I am, among people who are both like and unlike me, and I imagine so do you.
