Can you tell us about your efforts to bring Pagan terminology to ASL vocabulary? What could the Pagan community do to help or aid you?
First of all, I would like to spend a bit of time clarifying a few things about American Sign Language… also known as ASL.
First of all, ASL is a language… it’s not merely a communication system. It’s not English spoken on the hands. It has its own grammar and syntax. Like any language, it takes time, practice, and commitment to learn. Don’t think you can just take up a class and in a few hours learn how to wave your hands about gracefully. There’s a lot more to it than that.
There’s no such thing as “Pagan Sign Language.” Deaf Pagans in the United States do not use Pagan Sign Language, they use ASL. They develop signs for Pagan vocabulary based upon ASL concepts, but we don’t use a whole different sign system. For example, the sign I use for Pagan is based upon the ASL sign for “religion”, but I use a P handshape… thus representing the idea of Paganism as a religion in its own right. Developing Pagan signs is not easy, because we don’t really have an established Deaf Pagan Community that can come together regularly to discuss and develop such signs. An interesting comment was left to one of my posts at Deaf Pagan Crossroads by a Deaf (and Pagan-friendly) reader:
“In my search for deaf pagan resources, it’s been a frustration to see that most of the inquiries I see on the net aren’t necessarily for Deaf Pagan teachers or resources, but inquiries about signs…
I’ve just finished reading an article by MJ Bienvenu (a well known Deaf leader and college professor) in which she says English words that are jargony eventually find their way into ASL after signers find ways to use them (evolution of language at its best!)
The constant inquiries I see about ASL signs for words like “solstice” tell me that there are people who are needing to sign these words to other people, whether in conversation or ritual. But that we haven’t found this ASL resource tells me we’re not being public enough – at least, public in a way that pagan terminology can be owned and disseminated by Deaf Pagans.”
I think this pretty much sums it up. We’re not public enough, and we’re not community enough that we have reached that point where Pagan terminology – or signs, as the case might be – can be owned and disseminated by Deaf Pagans. And until that happens, I’m not sure how successful any kind of widespread attempt to develop a Pagan ASL Vocabulary is going to be. Certainly I have developed a vocabulary of signs that I use for conversation or ritual. But that doesn’t mean that every Deaf Pagan out there uses these same signs. Truthfully, I would love to get together with other Deaf Pagans and/or ASL-fluent individuals to discuss and brainstorm such signs. While I have had a few such conversations over the years, they have been few and far between, simply because such opportunities just don’t pop up in my life very often. I’m hoping that my upcoming move out to the West Coast will give me more opportunities to meet other ASL-fluent Pagan and Pagan-friendly individuals so we can truly begin to explore this whole idea more seriously. I get a lot of emails and a lot of comments from people who want to learn Pagan signs. I am thinking of creating a video blog (“vlog”)that I can then post at Deaf Pagan Crossroads in which I share some of the signs that I myself use, and hopefully be able to use the internet as a medium for further discussion on this topic, and invite others to share signs that they use and discuss how we can in fact develop, own, and disseminate such a vocabulary.
At the same time, I am curious as to why some of these individuals want to learn such signs. It’s one thing if you’re Deaf yourself, or an interpreter/fairly skilled signer and you have a need/desire for such knowledge in order to accurately convey Pagan concepts in ASL; hopefully to a Deaf individual. It’s a whole different ballgame if you simply want to “learn some Pagan signs because I think it would be really cool; a way to open up my spirituality more and put me in a meditative state of mind; and so I can sign an invocation at our next ritual.” That’s all nice, and certainly these are all ways that sign language can be utilized by the Pagan Community… but we need to stop and think for a moment – Is this really being respectful of ASL and the Deaf Community that utilizes this language on a regular basis?
Frankly, I would be more impressed with an individual who learned how to sign “Hello, my name is Raven and I would like to buy you a cup of coffee and practice my limited signing skills” than I would someone who can show me how to sign “Pagan,” “Witch,” “Goddess,” “Spirit,” “Merry Meet,” and/or “Blessed Be.”
I think one important thing that the Pagan Community can do is to become more knowledgeable about American Sign Language, and more knowledgeable about the Deaf Community itself. There’s lot of good websites out there for learning more…one place to start is the National Association of the Deaf at www.nad.org
I encourage any and all Pagans with a genuine interest in learning American Sign Language and the Deaf Community to get out there and interact with Deaf people…that’s really the best way to develop a level of fluency with the language, and to really understand how the Deaf Community functions.
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
Some one like me would be happy to share you the American Sign Language, Deaf Community and learn more about the true religion. Since I am Deaf/Hearing Impaired and knowledge National Association of the Deaf through from National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York.
While I thank you for the offer, I see from your website that you are promoting the Christian religion as the “true religion.”
While I respect your beliefs, I don’t respect your coming to this site with what appears to be an attempt to “convert” us poor wayward heathens to the right path.
There is no one path to the Spirit, and there is no one religion that is right for everyone. Religion and Spirituality is not a dressing room where “one size fits all.”
The “true religion” is the one that feels right to that individual. In the same way that Christianity is the true religion for you, Paganism is the true religion for me and for Ocean. Judaism may be the true religion for some, Islam the true religion for others.
If you wish to offer your services to teach individuals ASL, that is fine – but I would suggest you keep your religious beliefs to yourself, and focus solely on language instruction.
Blessings to you.
Hawk
I am sorry to have you think my reply was to attempt here. To remind you, I wasn’t here to attempt to destroy but to offering the true kindness knowledge I have. Since I have used America Sign Language (ASL) ability and this web-page have several different so-called religions statement posted here and I can’t see why I can’t volunteer to post statement here as well.
Not sure where you have the mind about or claiming that I have promoting a “Christian religion” or as the “true religion” website from. I would advise you to review that website again and see what exactly the kind of website you have visited in a honest way.
I also would also advise you to review the definition of religions, since religions mean of how a person or group would practices the good duties to care and help one another and to stay pure and who not to polluted fault by the worldly way but the heavenly way. Not every words in the dictionary can be true defining to trust.
merry meet
I am a student interpreter and a pagan,
i am interested in you would convey some of the ideas that we have in ASL, i would like to invite the Ddeaf-pagans to our Beltane events but i am not sure i could interpret correctly or with the limited knowledge that i have to convey the messages correctly when we have the rituals
so any feedback on that would be greatly appreciated.
BB
Zen
Greetings, Zen ~
I began to type up a response for you…and then I realized as it got a bit lengthy that perhaps it would better serve as the makings of yet a new post here at the Crossroads.
So I’m not ignoring you by any means…I’m just trying to determine the best way to address your question, especially since it is one that I do get asked fairly often.
Keep checking back – I hope to have it up within the next few weeks! (I have a number of different projects on my plate right now, so I can’t give an accurate estimate on how soon I can get such a post written and put up…)
Hello, Ocean! My name’s Myrkr, and I’ve recently begun reading your blog. I have a student in a class I take, Speech, who is dDeaf (though not Pagan; he’s Sikh!), I’ve watched Celebrity Apprentice and became very aware of the actress Marlee Matlin, recently heard of Sean Forbes, and discovered that one of my nieces is learning ASL. All of this has led me to determine I’m stupid for not learning ASL earlier, and I’m looking to learn ASL!
Furthermore, as a Pagan – though not a Wiccan – I think it would be wonderful if signs did exist for “Wiccan”, “Pagan”, so on and so forth in ASL. However, I also agree with your comment that people who may use these terms for the sake of novelty are being rather rude to the Deaf community.
I plan to continue to read your blog and look forward to seeing more posts by you! Also, do you know of any particularly good online resources I could use in order to learn ASL? I’m aware this will be a longtime dedication and probably not the most easy, but after dealing with my ignorant Speech teacher and seeing how she reacted towards my classmate, I think it’s well worth the effort, if only to converse and not express my own religious beliefs.
Hope things are going wonderfully for you. All the power in the world to you, Ocean!
~M
PS: I’ve added your blog to my blogroll. If this isn’t okay, let me know and I’ll remove it.
Yes, it is perfectly fine to add my blog to your blogroll.
I don’t advise learning ASL from an on-line site – this language is different from others and does not lend itself well to solitary learning the way spoken languages do. It’s not the type of language that you can pick up easily from reading a book or looking at internet sites. ASL is a manual-visual language and the linguistic/grammatical rules are different. Learning such rules properly is best done in an interactive manner with other individuals – so that you can observe one another (just as you would in a true ASL conversation) and develop your expressive and receptive skills.
Yes, there are some resources out there, and there are also some pretty good videos. These can be a tool for studying, but they don’t take the place of a good class with a qualified instructor. I always encourage anyone interested in learning ASL to take an actual class, and to get involved with the Deaf Community. The immersion process really is the best for this language – you can get better feedback that way. Many beginning students will often make errors which usually relate to one of the major components of signing – handshape, movement, location, or direction. The best way to correct such errors is with observation and feedback.
You can supplement your classroom instruction by watching sign language videos – there are plenty of them on YouTube, and your library may have actual videos for learning ASL. You might want to contact your local colleges and tech schools to see if they offer classes, or check out an agency which provides services for the Deaf Community. Most states do have a state Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing that might be able to refer you to a local resource, and might have a lending library with videos, etc.
Good luck with your studies!
I think often students are searching for signs for things like pagan, witch, solstice etc, is because while learning we come across a plethora of Christian signs (my teacher taught me that ‘bless you’ like when someone sneezes was a cross across your chest, how.. uncomfortable.) Jewish signs, even Muslim signs; but nothing for Pagans. I asked my teacher in class about it and she was only able to offer a blank look. And full dictionaries online don’t offer much help either, thus looking for specific signs. (which btw, is how I found this site. Looking up “ASL pagan??”)
Even if i don’t use them in conversation, I’d like to at least know they exist, which they sort of don’t. =/