Indivisible and the Woman’s March and Resist have great ideas about getting involved in local and national politics. Those of us who support human rights are getting out in the streets and making phone calls and writing emails and sending pink postcards to make our voices heard.

There’s a place in the resistance for magic too. We work to contain actions that threaten human rights. An example of this is the Bind Trump campaign which launched in February and continues each waning moon.

Some magical folk are uncomfortable with binding actions and that’s okay too. The Kitsap Women’s Huddle reminds each other to lead with love. We can take positive magical action by supporting actions which lead to a just and peaceful world.

One place to start is with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Whenever I think about making a statement of intent for the world in which I want to live, I think of this declaration. Why not use it?

In the affirmations below I have deleted phrases that refer to the declaration or the United Nations. Where I have added or changed wording to update the language these changes are marked in italics.

Magical Operation to Affirm Human Rights

This magical operation lasts for 29 days.

Preparing the Operation

1. Select a candle. It can be beeswax or parafin, scented or not, votive or taper, and any color. It should be a new candle though, not one you’ve used before. The most important attribute is that it makes you feel peaceful and happy.
2. Prepare the working space. Place the candle in a holder and put it on a small table. You can use a portable table and put it away each day when you’re done. You can set up a peace altar and add other images and objects if you wish. The most important thing is to have a space to put the candle and to be able to sit or stand with it for a few minutes each day.
3. Print or write out the affirmations.

Making the Affirmations

1. Take a few deep breaths. Clear your mind. Center yourself.
2. Light the candle.
3. Read the affirmation out loud. Read one a day in order from one to 29.
4. Say “So mote it be.”
5. Meditate for a moment. Think about what the world would be like if everyone honored the affirmation. Feel the peace and relief that would bring. If you would like to try manifestation by visualizing the result you can imagine a peaceful scene. I imagine a park near my house on a salt water bay where orca and even gray whales occasionally visit. The park has grassy fields and trees and flowers. There’s a playground where young children play and a ball park for older kids and adults and a walking track where people walk their dogs and seniors get their exercise. To me this park is heaven on earth.
6. Snuff the candle. Jot a note about the working. You can use a small notebook, a magical journal you are already keeping, or type up a quick note on a computer, whatever works. Be sure to put the date and time you made the affirmation. If you get curious later about the energies that were happening at that moment you can look up the phase of the moon, the planetary ruler of the day, and the planetary hour.

The Affirmations

I affirm that:

1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of fellowship.
2. Everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which they have had all the guarantees necessary for their defense.
    (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon their honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
    (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to theircountry.
14. (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
    (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality nor denied the right to change their nationality.
15. (1) Men and women and all people of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
    (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
    (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
16. (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
    (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their property.
17. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change their religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
18. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
19. 1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
    (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
20. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or
    through freely chosen representatives.
    (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their country.
    (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
21. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for theirdignity and the free development of their personality.
22. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
    (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
    (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for self and family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
    (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests.
23. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
24. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of self and family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control.
    (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
25. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
    (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the maintenance of peace.
    (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

26. (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
    (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which they are the author.
27. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which these rights and freedoms can be fully realized.
28. (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of their personality is possible.
    (2) In the exercise of their rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.