Latest / Follow the Leighder / Combat Coven: Spiritual Diversity in the Military | Angela Naomi & Shae Diehl

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Combat Coven: Spiritual Diversity in the Military | Angela Naomi & Shae Diehl · Follow the Leighder

• Leigh/@followtheleighder: Well, howdy folks and welcome back to another episode of Follow the Leighder. I'm your host, Leigh Larson. And boy, are you guys gonna like this one today. brought in two amazing veteran women with me today. We have Angela Naomi and Shae Diehl. Welcome, Angela, Shae, welcome. Angela N.: Thanks for having us. I'm excited. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Absolutely. Shae Diehl: Very glad to be here. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Folks, Shae and Angela served in the Navy. They have a mix of active and reserve time. Different roles, different ranks. ⁓ where they came together, it was on admins on Facebook page group Combat Coven. ⁓ Y'all know I love talking about religion and military and politics around here. And ⁓ the is a really unique situation in that it's a multi-faith environment and it's secular. but it's also the least human place to work. It is, you are a tool of the US military. so expressions of faith are just, they're tricky and they've always been tricky in the US military when you look at US military history. So today I wanna talk about Combat Coven coven and I wanna start with you Angela. What is Combat Coven Where did the idea come ⁓ And ⁓ who's a part of it? Angela N.: Okay, so funny enough, it came about because there is another military group as there's multiple ones all over Facebook. you know, in one of the groups, a young lady had asked, you know, hey, does anybody do a tarot reading? So there were some people commenting like, ⁓ I can refer you to so-and-so, whatever. But then it just started this influx of the... Christian women in the group. And this group is all military. There's no spouses. So active duty, veterans, reserves, national guard, you name it. And it just turned into ugliness in the comments that was so anti getting a tarot reading. The admin of the group had to jump in and settle it down. I'm in there just like battling people left and right. And then I was like, you want to something? Forget it. We're going to make our own group. And you know, I got a strong background in digital marketing. So I went and through this group together, it didn't even have a name at first. And it was honestly like a religious underground railroad. We were just smuggling people right on out that group and telling them, on over here. And ⁓ so then we got together some of the first people in the group. And as a matter of fact, the admin team, we have people who are of various non Abrahamic faith religions who were all just like, hey, we'll help get it together. And then we voted on a name and Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: Combat Coven kind of fit because we wanted to keep that military vibe going, but also wanted a community that was for everybody. Leigh/@followtheleighder: ⁓ what about you? What drew you to the group? ⁓ Shae Diehl: So I was actually in that initial thread. I had just started my non Abrahamic religion journey. Let's see, this went down what, 2020? So I had just started maybe 2018, 2019, somewhere in there. was... Around the time that we had just my husband and I have made our first big move ⁓ Since I had left the military and I remember reading through some of these thinking like there is a lot of misunderstanding a lot of misinformation about what other religions do and Honestly, like how similar they can be to modern Christianity And so, you know Angela and I would text back and forth like what is happening? Hey, what do you practice? Well, I practice is this and so like she and I kind of hit it off really well and really quickly and I mean as she said the rest of it was I would say like a good 90 % her idea I was just there to like super cheerlead like yes let's do this this is a great idea and you know the rest as they say is history. Leigh/@followtheleighder: And how many people are part of it now? Angela N.: We are at, we're actually close to 500, which is amazing. Your post brought in probably a good like maybe 10 to 15. And then that's when I realized how many people we had built prior to like putting it on threads under your post. So that's pretty darn good considering we don't yell and scream, ⁓ we have this group. We're just kind of quiet. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Well, and I think a lot of people are... Is the group currently, ⁓ Shae, is it open to military spouse and family or is it just service member? Shae Diehl: As of right now, it is just for service members. I think there is an obvious need for some, like a place for people who are not practicing modern Christianity or religions that aren't widely practiced in the military. There has been a real need for some kind of community to establish camaraderie in the other section. Leigh/@followtheleighder: And I think that's, I think it's completely fine to have separate spaces and have to joint spaces too. And I was going to talk about that because the fact that it's only service members does kind of add that sense of bond of like, we are all struggling under, or finding our way or whatever that looks like. Particularly because as I mentioned, like the military is a very cold. Shae Diehl: you Leigh/@followtheleighder: place. Like it wants you to be a machine, clock in, clock out, get out. ⁓ then you're doing your, the whole job is there's a lot of ethical things we have to wrestle with. And whether it's who we bomb or who we go to war with or what we do, ⁓ there's just... So it's fascinating to me how challenging or how many challenges the chaplains or military has made in general to ⁓ stifle non Abrahamic faiths when overwhelmingly even civilian life, ⁓ most, it's something like a good 40 % don't identify with a specific religion anymore. So when you have your Combat Coven coven and this goes back to Angela, you brought up tarot ⁓ Do y'all do any sort of tarot readings or have y'all kind of talk about what the conversations look like over there? Angela N.: So initially a lot of people were just able to breathe, know, just like, and able to just introduce themselves and their practices. And I remember there was one young lady who she, she's from West Africa and she is from a country that is like the home of Voodoo. And so for her to be in the group and feel like, wow, I don't have to hide. you know, my faith, my religion, I don't have to hide what my country is known for. And it's like, girl, you ain't got to hide here. Come on out. You know? So a lot of those initial conversations were just, you know, getting to know you, that kind of thing. And then the first thing that I started making clear is that some of these practices are closed. So, you know, watch how you talk in the group. ⁓ Just be mindful that some things are just, we might have to take you privately and talk to you instead of posting in the group. Shae Diehl: You Angela N.: ⁓ The next thing that I started doing and that started doing this recently is helping people understand how to modify their practice for if you're in the barracks or you're on a ship or maybe you're deployed somewhere where you can't have open flame to do candle work or maybe you can't lug your crystals with you. that kind of thing happens. ⁓ I know I have done a couple of times I've just done like a general reading for the group. ⁓ Shane has done like ⁓ candle vigils for people and things of that nature. So one thing that I'm going to start doing more and more is more education and more resources. And then also again, teaching people that you don't have to have all of this elaborate stuff to get things done. know, honestly, our ancestors, doesn't matter how your ancestors got here. What's here on this land known as United States is not the same as what's in Africa or what's in Europe. So your ancestors had to modify and we have to do the same thing because you might not be in a space where you can get what you need. So right now it's kind of, it's educational, but it's still, you know, people come in there and talk about their paranormal experiences or they say they need something cleaned or, you know, something's off and we'll handle it. Leigh/@followtheleighder: That's awesome. That is. Shae Diehl: You mean to tell me I need a safety tag to charge my crystals? Sorry. Angela N.: Exactly, you know? Leigh/@followtheleighder: And I'm sure there are some of the listeners that are just like, there's no way, we got hippie crystal folks in the military. I'm like, oh yeah, do you know the kind of questions and things we're dealing with? Just keep us sane and let us do our jobs, right? That's the heart of it. But that's it, I really, I wanna come back to the point of respect for the practices, because they are sacred and... Angela N.: What? Shae Diehl: you Leigh/@followtheleighder: And of course, if someone is particularly really interested, they can find a book and go down that rabbit hole. But it does get very harmful to conduct spiritual conversations in groups like that for exactly that reason. You have people that are just naive and excited and can cause harm. Yeah. ⁓ Shae Diehl: Yes. That is a really great way to put it, actually. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Well talk about Shae, how has faith or if you can, how has your faith played a role in your military service and post-military service? Shae Diehl: So I actually grew up in the Methodist Church. I actually was born on reservation land in Oklahoma. So I'm a Cherokee citizen. you know, growing up in the Methodist Church, I like it was fine. I grew up in the church in like the late 90s and 2000s, where you have like a resurgence of the satanic panic and you have everyone flocking their children back to churches again. but, you know, I never really felt. profound movement there. And so when I get to my 20s and then I joined the Navy, I tried several different religions through bootcamp, which is one of the things that I did really appreciate about bootcamp is that I was able to explore other religions and see how they practiced and kind of see if something called to me more so than Christianity. ⁓ I thought Buddhism was actually fascinating and I loved learning about ⁓ Buddhism when I was in bootcamp. And then I went through my military service. I wasn't religious really at all while I was on active duty. And so I get out of active duty service around 2016 and I tried going back to a Methodist church in San Diego and everyone was nice. But again, it it felt hollow to me. And so I was like, okay, well, I don't think that this is it for me anymore. Like, I do know that there has to be something more than just Earth and like, that's it. Like, there has to be something more. I just don't know what it is. And so we moved to Texas, actually, and I started looking into all of the other religions. I started hanging out with a lot of army people in South Texas, and they would say things like, till Valhalla. I didn't know what that meant and so I was searching like okay, does that mean and that leads you down this rabbit hole of Norse pagan mythology and then from there you kind of well at least I did I ended up kind of just Bebopping around to different gods and goddesses trying to see if any of them really struck to me I ended up more recently like the last three or four years. I've been more into Just really grounding myself to the earth and being respectful to the earth And if I can't figure out what's beyond let me at least be locked into the present here And so that's how I ended up doing a lot more earth worship. I started an actual garden everywhere I've lived and That has helped me grow so much spiritually It helps me to have more patience with my children and just with life in general and being a military spouse like life gets so inundated with chaos and for years and years I was like, there's got to be somebody out there that I can relate my chaos to. And I actually did a tarot reading, I think it was back in July or August, and all signs led to the goddess, Eris, who was the goddess of chaos and managing the world around you, regardless of the chaos. so more recently, I've started working with her and I have noticed a change in my life in that I'm able to be more flexible and not necessarily trying to control the chaos but grow with the chaos. And I think that is something that a lot of people can relate to, especially in regards to military life. ⁓ But that's been very helpful for me doing the tarot readings, candles, meditation. ⁓ think that I've grown so much as a person just by following my own path instead of strictly adhering to what I was told in my childhood. Leigh/@followtheleighder: and you can't get much more simple and direct than working with the earth. Like it's right there. It's our home. I wanna ask Angela the same question, but Shae real quick though, brought up a reservation in Oklahoma and that you're Methodist. Where are you from in Oklahoma City? Shae Diehl: Right, yeah. Absolutely. So I grew up in a very, very, very small town called Wagner, Oklahoma. ⁓ It kind of sits on the like part of the town lives or lives, geez, part of the town is on the Cherokee Nation reservation and part of it is not. ⁓ And so growing up, I was extremely aware of a lot of the ideas and beliefs of the Cherokee Nation. So it's not too dissimilar to Christianity in that the Cherokee nation believe that there is a creator, but the creator is neither male nor female. We do strongly adhere to acceptance of what most native cultures will refer to as two-spirited people, which is our LGBTQ plus community. And more recently, the Cherokee nation has started to really grow in their acceptance of the Freedmen, the Cherokee Nation Freedmen who were formerly African-American slaves who became Cherokee Nation citizens. And I think, you know, seeing the tribe being able to be the example of all of that acceptance really gave me such a foundation for who I am as a person that Modern Christianity didn't super fit with me, I think, because too often we hear the stories over and over again of, you can't be homosexual and be a Christian, or you can't do this and be Christian, you can't do that and be Christian. But Cherokee Nation is kind of like, I mean, that's not what we think. know, acceptance and love and respect is available to all. Angela N.: Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Thank you for the clarity. have a background with Oklahoma and ⁓ Methodism and an indigenous, one of my best friends from seminary is an indigenous Methodist pastor. And he talks about that too, blending it, not blend, just, it's a lot to unpack, you know, to like, and deconstruct and, and. Shae Diehl: it is. Leigh/@followtheleighder: It's a very challenging position to be in, it's also like you just get to think, you also have the burden, but you also get the honor of being able to see things in different perspectives that I really think is gonna save us in the next few years, y'all. Like we're gonna have to come up for air, like every now and then and see things at a high view. Shae Diehl: you Mm-hmm. Angela N.: And... ⁓ Shae Diehl: yes. Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: So Angela, tell me about, what about your faith journey? Before, during, and after service? Angela N.: So before, now I will say, unlike Shae, I was older when I joined the military. I joined when I was 30. That was in 2014. So prior to all of this, know, my, it's actually kind of funny. My grandfather is a, you know, he was a Baptist preacher in the Tidewater area of Virginia. He's very, very well known, Dr. Anderson. And he also would guest teach at Old Dominion University. come in and teach theology and all this stuff. So I grew up as a little kid, literally under the table, you know, drawing or reading the encyclopedia that had Yiddish in the front of it. And I'm, you know, learning Yiddish on my own he's writing sermons and, has all of these other preachers at the house. And then, ⁓ he ordained my father as a Baptist minister. So I grew up for a little bit of time ⁓ the Baptist church and my dad's army, he's an army ranger ⁓ ⁓ special operations, lot of Combat Coven. And we end up, of course, if you're doing that, you're going to end up in Fayetteville, North Carolina at Fort Bragg. So we start going to the AME Zion Church, which is the African Methodist Episcopal Zion. There's also an AME, but really they're just cousins who had a beef way, back in the day. one was AME and then they branched off to AME Zion, whatever. So we were at the AME Zion Church. And whenever I would visit my aunt and uncle where I'm going to a Kojic, which is the church of God in Christ. they are, they got a lot of energy at the Kojic church. They like to run around the church, hoot and holler. And, you know, so I was always heavily in church, but I just didn't get it. I was like, why am I not behaving like my other kids? I wasn't even looking at the adults. I'm looking at my peers who were really into it and just enjoying it. I like the choir. I love to sing. ⁓ They forgot to baptize me, so I didn't even get baptized. And then one morning it was like, my mom just stopped waking us up for church. I still to this day, I've never asked her, I don't really care. Cause I was just like, well, good, I don't have to pretend anymore. And then I went off to college and my aunt and uncle's church is in the town of what's college in. And so I would sometimes go with them, but they were just so, they were just so strict. The coach at church can have like a lot of rules. And I liked, I liked the way things flowed, but I didn't like the rules. So I kind of was just like, I'm not going to go, but I've always been gifted. I've always been able to have prophetic dreams. I've always known that something was going to happen before it would happen. My sister even picked up on this when we were kids and would tell my mom, Angie knows, Angie knows something's going to happen because we were at school and she said the boy was going to fall off the monkey bars. The boy wasn't even on the monkey bars yet. And I said, that boy is going to fall. It climbs up and next thing you know, kaboom, he just fell. And I was like, okay, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. I was one of those kids. And whenever my dad would take us to Walden bookstore, I would always like grab a witchcraft book. This is like a middle school. I'd grab the witchcraft book and stick it in front of another book. And I'm reading that. And you know, my friend's neighbor, his mom's a witch. And that was a term that, you know, we used then. And he knew how to read auras and he would read our auras and he would start teaching us stuff. so I started learning from him. And then fast forward as the years went on, I was just like paying attention to things culturally and historically, mainly looking at my family. And the one question I asked myself, said, self, yes, where's your family church? On both sides of the family, we have, we can trace back on my dad's side of the family. We could trace back in North Carolina to the 1800s. We have no family church and we traced back to the same area. Where's the church? Where most people can, if you trace that far back, you have a family church. We don't have that in our family. Church is still kind of new, yet I come from people who can see the dead. people who know how to make medicine, who know how to ⁓ speak life into you and all of these other things. And so I was just like, well, you want to know something? I'm gonna get on this thing called the internet and I'm gonna figure it out. So in short, you know, the more I just grew in the practice, that is when I never had the term, who do? I didn't have the term, but I had all the other language because we are part Gullah Geechee and we had all of these elements, but never had the term who do? and fast forward even more. And I just got deeper into the practice and was like, I feel comfortable here. I feel very comfortable on Hoodoo. And then I chuckle because the founder of the Church of God in Christ, somebody probably gonna get mad at me, but I'm saying it anyways, Bishop Mason was a root worker. And most of the churches have his photo and they crop him from about maybe like from the upper rib cage up. It's, you know, well, more like down, it's cropped. You can't see the full table. The full picture, He has all his root work and stuff there. And it's very well documented. I've even come across through social media, people whose great grandparents knew him and would host him when he would travel. And they're like, yeah, he was a root worker. So the church of God in Christ, said, now wonder it felt comfortable. And the only thing I didn't like was the rules and the Jesus kind of aspect to it, but they know how to conjure and move up in that church. I, you know, I like it. And it's because who do hides in the black church. because of how the invisible institution from slavery hides. And, you know, being in the military, get to bootcamp, I was like, I want to get out the compartment. So somebody else was going to earth-centered services and I was just going to go to Baptist and just like masquerade as a Baptist. I know how to do that. And so they're like, hey, come with me. Let's just go to earth services. Cause we knew each other from MEPs when we processed in. So I started going to earth-centered services just to get out the compartment. It felt very comfortable. And then I continued just to learn and learn and get deeper. And then during the pandemic, my goodness gracious, I'm not sure how it started floating around the command that I was the person to talk to for certain things, but I had people coming to me how to stay grounded. I had somebody come with a situation I had to do a reading and a ritual for, and it worked out just fine. Don't mess up my people's and that kind of thing. And I've just grown even more to the point now that You know, and also I will say I hid in the service the way, you know, it's kind of like ironic that I'm in a practice that hid a lot and in the service I hid. Even if they came around for Ash Wednesday, I don't, whatever, put some ashes on my forehead. Cool. I don't need a witch hunt to begin. So while I was in, I was just always low key. But if somebody needed something or they asked something, I got you. Don't worry about it. And then, so I got out of the Navy in 2021. And I go straight into working on sets because actually I'm an actress. And so I go into working on sets, on being crew and whatnot. then, when was that? 2024, I go to New York and that's when I meet my padrino who is a practitioner of 21 divisions, which is Dominican Voodoo. So I have done all the steps towards things and that's an interesting process. So I do have my eleke, which are the beads that I wear. And those are, yeah, you can buy them off Amazon. It don't mean anything, but they're usually, you know, strung together by the padrino or the madrina, which is the godfather or the godmother. And then there is a full ceremony. So I have been through my full ceremony to receive my eleke and also ⁓ through that. And then the next steps, if the orisha are ready to talk, the orisha will let you know which one is your mother or your father. And it was kind of a tussle between Yamaya and Oya and it's Yamaya won that tussle. it's Yamaya is my main Orisha. So I'm a daughter of Yamaya and also kind of like a little niece of Oya. She was the other one. And that's a big commitment, you know, to make. So I am fully immersed in the practice where you couldn't get me back to Christianity because honestly they never had me. They, I never went to the altar to accept Christ. I was never baptized. And the deeper I got in this practice and the more I learned about my family history, said, I think my ancestors probably just had enough of, don't come from church. Then all of a sudden, you modern people got into church and forgot we have such a strong legacy and history that I don't come from church people. So I've kind of like, back to my roots. I'm the only one in the family that does this. Not the only gifted one though. Leigh/@followtheleighder: And I think about that. I mean, you've talked about ceremony and going through proper processes, which happen in faiths for Albert. But one of the things that I go back to with Earthbound faiths is that you don't need a book. You don't need a fancy chapel. You don't have to have all these certain, like, there is such a ⁓ heavy level of social, is a heavy level of social control. ⁓ Angela N.: Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: as you point out with the Abrahamic faiths, that like a child can go out and begin to learn and be in a relationship with the world around them to learn their ancestors, to learn their spirits. And it's the story of really like us, your family, ancestors and going back. It's not a random person in the Middle East that 2000 years ago and... I think there's like something so natural about what you're talking about. Have you seen or actually let's let's Let's reword this question. This past year has been wild. ⁓ For the country, for the world, just a lot going on. ⁓ As practitioners, ⁓ Angela, I know that you just talked, so I'll start with Shae. What have you been feeling or hearing? Like, what is coming up for you as a practitioner? ⁓ Really, it can be specifically about the military and Hegseth, or it can be larger. But how have you... ⁓ been sensing, feeling. Shae Diehl: Um, personally I've been feeling very heavy. like there's so much that I feel not, I don't want to say responsible for. I didn't vote for this. Um, but there's a lot that I feel like I can still do. There's a lot that I feel like I'm not doing enough. to make a better impact on things that are going on. And a lot of that is, it's honestly, it's personal and I know that I do it to myself. It's, I can't do as much as I would want to as far as like policy goes. I've got two children. I'm a stay at home mother to the two of them. My husband's still active duty. And so it's nine times out of 10. It's just me and the kids and I can't exactly bring them to a protest with me, especially not with the way protests tend to go. That's not someplace that I'm going to bring my children to. But what I can do is what we had, what I had just talked about in that I found a deity to work with to help me kind of put words and emotions into the chaos that I'm observing and find ways that I can be helpful and be beneficial. I can do things like ⁓ protection spells, can do things like freezer spells, and those are small little things that can actually have a, that I have found have a very profound impact. ⁓ I'm not too proud to say that I have put hexes and curses on people who I think deeply deserve it, who I think are deeply evil people. ⁓ And that's not to say that I don't trust the universe or the deities to do their work. This is just my way of being specific and asking them to, can you just like get this right here, specifically this for this reason. And I will say the times that I've had to do that have felt... to me out of complete necessity. And I have noticed that there has been at least some edge taken off to most of the bigger aspects of things, if that makes any sense. And if for no other reason than to give me some semblance of a feeling of control, like I can't go out and go knock on Pete Hegseth's door and say, hey, could you stop sucking a little bit? I can't do that. But what I can do is light several candles, light some incense, and I can do some white sage every now and again when I feel like the energy in my house is just too heavy. Because like I said, I do have two kids that I need to care for and their energy is also important to me too. So I have to do what I can to not only protect myself and my husband and fellow service members, but the responsibility that I have to two small humans who just live their lives on goldfish and chicken nuggets. but their innocence deserves to be preserved too. And so within the scope of things of doing what I can with what I've got, more like what Angela said, know, sometimes you don't always have the space to haul in your crystals or to bring, to do candle magic, but you do what you can with what you have. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Thank you so much for that. And Angela, back to you. How have you been navigating this past year specifically? ⁓ My goodness, do we have a dark energy coming through, specifically with Pete Hegseth and his emphasis on a very specific type of Christian theology that a lot of Christians themselves are not happy with. I can only imagine that, Angela, you've gone through the ceremonies. Shae Diehl: You know. Leigh/@followtheleighder: You're a practitioner. How do you, how do you as a leader and practitioner see the past year spiritually? Angela N.: it's actually, I hate to say it's funny, but it's one of those type things, you know, being a black woman, we're kind of like, we've seen this before. Y'all, everybody else is just catching up. You know, we have, it's usually my people getting the bombs dropped. Some people are like, can't believe we're bombed. We have bombed, ⁓ the move movement, the, black wall street, Rosewood. I mean, they've had massacres and bombs. So some of this stuff for my people and like in the African traditional religions, we're kind of like, we've been trying to tell you all this, but then on the flip side of that, because you know, there's still that energetic stuff. Those of us, and it's specifically speaking of myself, you know, because I did not, I did not get into Christianity as, you know, Lord, we lift your name on high. I want to be your follower. I got into it studying because my grandfather was very big on you need to learn. And so, And one point in my life, I did go down the rabbit holes of learning Christianity. And I will say that nothing, and I call him the secretary of cocktails, there is nothing in his Christian theology that I've not heard before. When you actually get out of the churches that are, know, wear your jeans, come as you are, know, we're woohoo, light show churches, we're going to bring a camel in here. When you get away from them and you go back to these churches that... When them ships came over, what those people were practicing, what they were believing and what it started to develop as. This is what they believe. And I think what's so jarring and also causing this almost cognitive dissonance and shaking a lot of people awake now is you, it's one thing to hear every Sunday morning that in order to usher in the second coming of Christ and you know, to bring revelations into fire next time that you have to have what's going on there. It's one thing to hear that from the pulpit and then go right into a song and then, you know, go eat some, some lunch afterwards versus You're sitting here watching the death, doom and destruction on television and you're wondering how could they do that? And then you pause for a moment and go, well, dad gone, I grew up in a church that preached this. Yeah. And some of those people took that and ran with it and they brought it into institutions like the military. So what I have been telling people is first and foremost, you got to remember that You know, again, there's power in the tongue, life and death in the tongue. And you have to remember that just as powerful as whoever you are praying to is, so is whoever they're praying to. There are schools of thought within Christianity and people who've left Christianity that the God of the Old Testament is a God of war. Okay. So if they are praying to a God of war, what you think is fixing to happen? They're going to win that war. There are practices till this day. I will say that plenty of African traditional religions still practice blood sacrifice. You're going to grab a chicken, you're going to grab, you know, whatever. And not people being clear, not people, but definitely a chicken, a pigeon is going to happen. A goat, a pig, and the blood sacrifices needed for things that are stronger. And so when I see this stuff from a spiritual lens and not coming from a military eyeball lens, what I see from a spiritual lens is they are their blood sacrificing to the God they believe in. And that's a lot to fight spiritually. So like how Shae was saying, I can't save the world spiritually, but what I can do is say, you need to turn that TV off and let me teach you how to ground yourself. You need to protect your energy because even through a television, that energy can come through. Some of these people who are sitting in these seats, running their mouths, saying whatever, whatever, they believe it. They're bringing that energy into your house. So turn off the news, turn it off. Be careful of certain people on social media who are doing nothing but stirring the pot. They're stirring that energy and definitely heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy on the protection work because those who are still active duty, they're not going to be able to say, don't feel like going to Iran today. I don't want to go to Iran. I don't want to go over there. I don't want to go to, I don't want to go there. I don't want to go to Jordan. I don't want to go to Israel. They can't say that. Shae Diehl: Okay. Angela N.: So what they need to understand, and we'll be posting more about this in the group, is how to protect yourself spiritually when you don't have a choice but to go over there. And how to understand spiritually that love and light, that works. I will say, I am not a new age practitioner. It ain't much love and light over here. I don't do all that, ⁓ my gosh, love, light, peace. No, you want to battle? I got plenty of spirits we call on for battle. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: we have no problem. Again, we did not get out of slavery because we decided to just go, let us, let us free. You know, we fought, you know, we fought Nat Turner did not, you know, snap his fingers three times and say, I wish, wish me luck. Let's go. There were rituals done for that slave rebellion when, ⁓ Toussaint L'Eleveur, you know, went through Haiti, believe that. yeah, Toussaint for that revolution in Haiti, there was rituals done. There was blood that was shed. So Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: I'm making it clear I'm not a love and light practitioner. am a, if you want to battle, if you want to bring the smoke, then we gonna conjure and we gonna bring the smoke too. But we're also gonna bring a lot of protection because we're not gonna have a lot of casualties over on my team. If you come for me and mine, you are not gonna have a good day. We're gonna have a good day. So protection work is, it's big. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't see this coming. I saw it coming. Then I was like, Get ready, hold onto your butts and spiritually cover yourself because it's like that TV show, American Gods, the new gods are in our hands on our cell phone. And that can impact you in a way that you will never believe. So that's why we have to remember, stay away from people who are stirring the pot. It is A-okay to just watch puppy dog and cat videos all day. It's fine. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: It's fine. You don't have to stay in the know because some of this is spiritually above some practitioners pay grades. And it's, ⁓ it's some heavy stuff spiritually. So I say mainly protect yourself because when I tell you these people are serving a God that is not trying to, you know, come as you are, your jeans to church and hold, let's hold hands. They not serving a God like that. Not at all. So protect yourselves. Leigh/@followtheleighder: ⁓ like you said, they're, they, ⁓ yeah, well I was just thinking about how that's exactly they're praying to an Old Testament God of war. I can, ⁓ the term death cult has been floating around. I've seen online to describe Christian nationalists. Can either one of you describe or define what death cult means for the audience? Angela N.: I being here today. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: The way I see that, I will tell you this, the way I see death cult with Christian nationalists is that when you look at the Bible, there's a lot of death up in there. There's a lot of people who did not mind dying for, ⁓ they didn't mind dying for it. You know, they didn't mind dying for their beliefs. There's a lot of war that's in there. And I do feel that when you get looped up in Christian nationalism specifically, you start losing the joy. you really, really start losing that joy and you start turning it into, you know, pick up the bloodstained banner. You know, I grew up one in churches that used to say that pick up the bloodstained banner. any man come after me, let him deny himself, pick up, let's march, march, march. I'm a soldier in the army of Lord. You know, if you get too lost in that, you know, sometimes I liken it to what I see sometimes in the military out of the special forces community that when they get too deep and they forget, You're not always at battle and you're not always at war. Put the gun down. Put the gun down. And so I think when people get up into that Christian nationalism, even if it's not a physical death of them ushering us into things that we're seeing right now, it's also just a spiritual death and the death of, in my opinion, the healthy family unit starts to die. I have so many friends that I've known growing up who are now comfortable breaking away from what they were raised in and speaking out about it and talking about it and I'm realizing that They don't even talk to their family members anymore because the family members, you know, they're these strict evangelicals and Christian nationalists and it's just The it's that kind of death too. And then I look at it as a country as a whole You're killing a beautiful country, you know This is, first of all, we're huge. It's a massive chunk of land, still smaller than other nations, you know, but it's a place where you can come here and be nothing and become something. And that something doesn't matter if you are, you know, going into the entertainment industry or you go into politics or you invent something or you become a doctor or a teacher, you can become something here. And I feel like we're just, we're losing the things that We're losing the, and it breaks my heart because we're losing the things that make that song, you know, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of green. We're losing what made that song so beautiful. And that's what I hear death cult. see physical death, spiritual death, and the death of a nation that actually could have beautiful railroads and trees and gardens and technology and all that stuff, killing it. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Yeah. It's a great point. had a conversation with someone today. was like, it's so wild to vote for the conditions that a lot of these Christian nationalists did. Then from those conditions, you now need Jesus to come save you. And I was like, or you could just vote towards a society where Jesus could come back and high five everyone. Why do we need Jesus to save? What if he came back and was like, hey? Shae Diehl: Yeah. Angela N.: Yes. Shae Diehl: What a world. Angela N.: Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Like, look at these well-funded schools and hospitals and public lands and... Your women are okay, your children are okay, the immigrants okay, like the strangers, everyone is okay. That's what I wanted. Angela N.: Mm-hmm. Shae Diehl: You guys actually did what I told you to do. Good job! Angela N.: That's what saying! Shae Diehl: You guys put all this into healthcare and now everyone is well? Leigh/@followtheleighder: They're doing ceremonies at national and state parks with women and children. like, yes, ⁓ but Angela N.: Yeah. was great. Leigh/@followtheleighder: I know that we're kind of getting towards the end. I wanted to ask about some things that we hadn't covered quite yet, and that was specifically on ⁓ astrology or numerology. that come up in Combat Coven coven ⁓ or are there people that lean that way in your Combat Coven coven group? Angela N.: Go ahead, Shae, you've seen some people go. ⁓ Shae Diehl: Yeah, I've seen a lot of people come in and out and I've seen a lot of people say, guys, don't forget to put your moon water out. ⁓ But no, there's a lot of people that say, you know, we've got the new moon coming up. We've got, and I'll be honest, I am not super proficient in astrology or numerology, but I have seen... ⁓ some posts here and there where people say, well, if you're wanting to learn more about either of these branches, you know, here's a good link to follow. I've seen some people say, we're coming into a Virgo moon and I'm really just throwing words out there. Please take what I'm about to say with like a grain of sand, but like we're coming into a Virgo moon and an Aries sun. And I do love that they're just so open in the group about all of these things and Angela N.: Thank you. Shae Diehl: willing to share about it. And because I'm interested in it, ⁓ it's not something that I've specifically come across. I've dabbled a little bit more in numerology as far as like the tarot cards come into play for what I've been doing. But again, I am by no means an expert in either of those. Leigh/@followtheleighder: it's a, I've just been, there were just, you'll, I'll be scrolling and there's a few numerologists, healers, like, and I'm like, you're on something, like that you are tapped in. And then there's other people that I'm like scrolling and I'm like. Shae Diehl: Yes. ⁓ Leigh/@followtheleighder: Yeah, maybe, but like that could happen. like, it's really, it's, and it's cool kind of like what you ladies are doing and other folks is like, you are claiming a space. Like you're like, nope, actually we do deserve to be here and we're gonna, we're gonna make this a safe community. ⁓ Because F all that, like you said, the destruction, the death cult people are just like, I'm out. And I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years you continue to see more people come your way. And ⁓ Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: leave Abrahamic faith just because look how messy it's gotten just in last few days. ⁓ you know, maybe if you just put your moon water out or if you just like, garden more and you weren't in the place of destruction. ⁓ Angela N.: No. Shae Diehl: you Leigh/@followtheleighder: and in a place of creation, then maybe we could have something a bit more beautiful. And that's why I was drawn to speaking with y'all because y'all are creators, y'all are life bringers and not love and light in a soft way. I know you said that Angie, but in like the way of moving and shifting energy. And I really want to thank y'all for that. It's very important. Angela N.: Right. What you hear? Shae Diehl: Are we allowed to swear on your podcast? Okay, I wanted to ask before I said it, but I like to think of it as a do no harm, but take no shit. Leigh/@followtheleighder: ⁓ yeah. Yes. Angela N.: I was probably better this way. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And see, I bring in the words of ⁓ Erykah Badu, that this tea and this incense can turn into a Colt 45 and a Newport. it's like, we can, and it's like that, no harm, you know, whatever, but hey, we got you. yeah. And I'm looking forward to seeing the group grow. I truly am. I, Leigh/@followtheleighder: Yeah. pretty good. ⁓ Angela N.: would like to see, cause as far as I know, and nobody has told me otherwise, but the Navy took away the earth centered services at bootcamp. And I'm still trying to figure out what do we need to do to bring it back? And I have my suspicions on why you took it away. Cause when I was there in 2014, we started very small. Then by the halfway point of bootcamp, it was, it were just all crammed into earth centered services. It grew. Shae Diehl: dead. Angela N.: And it wasn't growing just because people want to get out the compartment because we're in there lighting candles and chanting. So something was happening that was bringing people there. And maybe it's because it's just a different kind of way of handling things. I don't know, but I would like to see that come back because that's not fair to exclude us. Shae Diehl: Yeah. Yeah. So from what I know about... Leigh/@followtheleighder: ⁓ no, an alt? Angela N.: Mm-hmm. Shae Diehl: The policy aspect of things. So another part of my background, I've worked for the last, often on the last, I'd say 10 years I've been in politics. I've worked in Congress and I've worked for the Biden administration before my sabbatical, as you could say. And so I think what is going to end up happening is it does not, I don't think this is going to take an act of Congress. Would an act of Congress be helpful? Absolutely. But I think this is going to come down to a DOD rule change. And I think that's what happened is you saw either a department the Navy or Department of Defense rule change to remove that service. And I think it's just going to come down to getting someone in there that is going to agree that this space is beneficial for service members and here's how we can run it. ⁓ As far as like allocating resources to religions in the military, I think that law already exists. It's just going to come down to whoever is in that seat to say, okay, well, this is how we kickstart it back to life. So I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, unfortunately. Leigh/@followtheleighder: No, and I'll tell you from the military chaplains I've talked to, you're right, definitely streamlining, Hexess said he's streamlining faith codes down from 200, which was what the DoD recognized, I think in 2017, it was like 221, to 34. So, I mean, that's like... I'm gonna tell you, it's gonna be the faith that will be recognized where we Republican voting faiths, how about that? Like is what I heard. And people are real upset. Something else that is both concerning and good, however you wanna take it, as I... Shae Diehl: Jeez. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Working with the Quaker House out of North Carolina, the Quaker House, because they're pacifists, they do, they consciously object, but they also help with conscious objection from the military. And they were talking about how it's just been like a record high year of people trying, like people that were already in and trying to get out now and can I consciously, and they said, It used to be kind of like your ease, your low ease, but it's it's ease. then ⁓ officers can resign, they have a different process, but he said officers won't call for ⁓ exit or discharge paperwork because they don't need to, but they'll call for moral injury resources. so ⁓ interesting to see like, whether it's like women coming to something like Combat Coven coven or getting more in touch with their earthbound faiths or... men just recognizing you know what I think this thing is dangerous I don't think this is what I signed up for ⁓ it'll be interesting ⁓ in the next few years to see how it shapes but in the meantime like you said now you have the most loyal who are there in a death cult in the military with the flag with God and they're dangerous and Angela N.: Very much so. Leigh/@followtheleighder: very dangerous and I'm thank you. I feel like y'all get it. Like, I'm like, I'm like, you understand, like these are very dangerous people and they're like, oh, he's just a drunk. He's and I'm like, no. Shae Diehl: you Angela N.: We get it! Shae Diehl: think he is educated enough to know exactly what he's doing. Angela N.: Yeah. Leigh/@followtheleighder: ⁓ and you want to talk about you? I'm so glad you brought up the chaos because I wrote my master's thesis and then I'm writing a book on this, but he showed up to Princeton and firmly was like, I'm here to be an agent of chaos. I'm going to revive Christianity on campus. He started a little men's Christian group called the God Squad, took over the conservative newspaper that was on the college newspaper and I don't even want to go down to rabbit, but he studied it. This is what he prays. This is his ⁓ and it's hard to get to people to see that. So thank you for knowing how deep this goes and recognizing and acknowledging it for me. I feel validated. For the past few days, I've been like, no, this guy's crazy. And they're like, no, no he is. Angela N.: He's crazy. Shae Diehl: Yeah, I think it's absurd to say that you're bringing back Christianity to college campuses when it never left. It's been there the whole time, sir. Angela N.: Never left. Leigh/@followtheleighder: No, never let. Angela N.: And especially in the Bible Belt, again, like I said, you're from Oklahoma, I'm from North Carolina. We gonna do church. Even if you don't do church, you will do church. Shae Diehl: ⁓ yes. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Alright, well, wow, we have covered so much today. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. ⁓ Either one of you, ⁓ what's the best way to get involved with ComBack Coven and are you all doing any sort of live or meetups at current? Angela N.: We don't have anything like that, but the best thing is just jump in the Facebook group, just search Combat Coven club and it pops up. ⁓ One thing that I'm going to be doing more ⁓ is again, the teaching style because it's been, it's been a word spoken to me that is just ⁓ I am a teacher. I mean, and that doesn't mean back in the classroom, even though I was never in, I was a dance and acting teacher. I can't run from teaching. It's in ⁓ and it's, you know, I'm Shae Diehl: and Mm-hmm. Angela N.: Challenging myself to go ahead and just show people they have these gifts. You can learn to do this ⁓ Don't worry that somebody else can conjure up something and you don't don't worry if you don't do what I do That's fine. But let me teach you what you can do mainly again to protect yourself to reconnect with your ancestors to Just reconnect culturally is something that I say to I call them mama Europe's children as we say We're mama Africa's children mama Europe's children always remember have to remind them They beat the Christianity out of your ancestors. It's just they beat y'all so long ago that you don't even remember, because it's barely in the history books. There is no way that a faith that comes out of Central Asia and out of parts of East Africa makes its way to Europe without death, doom, destruction, bloodshed. So if you know you're Italian, you know you're Irish, you know you're Swedish, you know what you know, why don't you find out what was being practiced there? Leigh/@followtheleighder: Right? Angela N.: before they came and beat the living daylight out of your ancient ancestors and converted them so long ago. And that's what I encourage them to do because I'm like, there's some beautiful, and I guess the proper word is indigenous Europeans, like before Christianity came to Europe, there's some amazing things that I've even been learning about where I'm like, yo, if y'all don't reclaim your shit, get your stuff back, reclaim it, get it back. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: Especially the Italians and Irish, they got a lot of beautiful things. And the Eastern Europeans, get your stuff back. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Absolutely, I about a few months ago, I live in Montana. I'm from Texas, so totally familiar with the South and the Bible Belt. But now up here in Montana, I really have been engaging a lot more with indigenous women's history and Western women's history, just like out here in the West and frontier women's history, I think is a proper term. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: But I, and my mom works in Women's Health and we've had lots of long conversations about the European, the rural European settlers that came over made it out here. They didn't want the New Yorks, they didn't want the Bostons, they wanted to keep going. And so how you have the stomping out of the indigenous practices and motherhood and child rearing and family. But then, I mean up until the 14, 1500s, since 14 and between that, ⁓ duos. I mean you went to school to be a duo or a midwife or ⁓ so many different ways that motherhood and And so I try to like tell folks that too. I'm like, y'all that Europe, that what you were saying, mama Europe, she was harmed too. Like this whole blending of whiteness, like you have forgotten your own culture and Swedish, Scandinavian. have a lot of that here and it always winds up. So I like start with that. I'm like, here's what indigenous women might've done. Here's what a lot of the European settlers to Montana would have done. And then here's how the all male, all white, all Christian American Medical Association came and wrecked all of that for all of us. Angela N.: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Leigh/@followtheleighder: and then people are like, yeah. I'm like... Angela N.: Yes. And they did it. And it was done down south too with that with the grannies, know, wipe out the granny. So, know, Combat Coven coven is going to be that place where you can learn, but also understand that you're okay to still be in the ⁓ and conjure on the side, do what you got to do. And what I would love to see it grow to is that again, the military, that's a big bear to ⁓ Shae Diehl: Yo. Mm-hmm. Angela N.: tell you the truth, sometimes I'm not too interested in fighting a big bear. I'm more interested in like, you want to be a big mean bear over there, go over there. Why don't we set you up someplace? Again, like I'm very familiar with Fort Bragg. So it's kind of like, all right, if Fort Bragg doesn't put something on the base for you, guess what? Go out in town in Fayetteville. You want to have just a meetup of all the pagans and all the hoodoos and the voodoo's and y'all go to main event. You know, that's like a little hangout spot. They're just over by the mall. You want to go. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Angela N.: play some games and talk and hang out and have your community, go ahead. If you want to be able to, you want to, would love to see it become a place where you can network with one another, where even it gets to the point of, Hey, I just moved into my new house and I'm at, you know, I'm at Fort Sam Houston. We got our new home. Can somebody come bless it? And you, somebody's going to come through and come Combat Coven coven who's in that area and do what they ⁓ from a distance. I've helped cleanse somebody's ⁓ So it would be nice to grow it to the point where no matter where you're stationed, you can look in the Combat Coven coven and say, can you bless my house or my wife's just had a baby or I've just had a ⁓ And can you come over and do the ceremony, the ritual or whatever. So that's what I'd love to see happen. Shae Diehl: Thank Leigh/@followtheleighder: Yeah, that is so special. ⁓ that is what I wish for you guys ⁓ you to find the people that ⁓ looking for you. ⁓ it's going to be a very strong and supportive community that you've built through Combat Coven. ⁓ is there, know that Angela gave her last little spiel. Do you have anything to say before we wrap up? Any last words? ⁓ Angela N.: Accepted. You see what the great you want us Shae Diehl: Yeah, whatever you want to see in the group, please come. We are accepting to all walks of life. You don't have to be active duty today. You can have been a veteran. You can be just starting off, or you could be well into practitioner. We're open to everybody and for the most, like every time someone posts something new that no one's really heard much about, I've not seen anyone really be... hateful or even push back against it. A lot of people are like, ⁓ that's really interesting. It's interesting how you do that. Can you tell me more about it? And I know that I have even gone to Angela when I wanted to buy brick dust from New Orleans when I was there. called, I texted you and I was like, Hey, am I allowed to do this? Is this part of the closer? Cause like, I want to be respectful as well. Angela N.: You're so good! Shae Diehl: And she was so kind and so helpful with the whole, and she gave me the entire breakdown of it. And I think that's one of the favorite things that I love about Angela as a person, but also about the group is that, hey, I have this question. know that Sage is becoming a lot more protected. Am I still okay to use it? And there are plenty of people outside of myself that are more than willing to provide these answers and to help people grow and learn where they're at. Angela N.: Mm-hmm. Shae Diehl: We're all really cool over here. Sometimes we make cookies. Angela N.: Even when I got to get on some of y'all in that group, I do it in a very motherly loving way of saying, as we see, you the saying goes, you're gonna find out the fat meat greasy. And I'm trying to help you understand the fat meat greasy without you finding out fat meat greasy, okay? So there's some people I've had to, don't you do that, reel it back in, don't do that. You know, I've had to tell people there are certain gods and goddesses Shae Diehl: Yes. ⁓ you do. Angela N.: you do not need to conjure up and work with because their temples are still standing till this day. Did you make them an offering before you asked them for something? You did not. And that's why you had all that chaos happen. Now go apologize. apologize. You know, go tell that goddess whose temple is still standing in Greece right now. You are sorry for asking without giving. Shae Diehl: Mm-hmm. Yes. ⁓ Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Now go apologize. Sorry, it's not funny, but it's funny. Angela N.: So, know, it's a learning group, but also it's a group like Shae was saying, we are here to even with environmental things to understand where, hey, we don't want to over harvest something, but here's the alternative. You know, we want to be mindful of those things too. Shae Diehl: Yes. Leigh/@followtheleighder: Absolutely. Well, you all have been fantastic guests. I really am excited for this one. ⁓ listeners, I hope that you all liked this podcast and chat too, because Angela and Shae of Combat Coven, military veterans, badass women, thank you. Thank you for being here. Angela N.: And thanks for having us. This was awesome. Shae Diehl: Yes. Thank you so much for having us. This was so, this was incredible. What an opportunity. Leigh/@followtheleighder: That's it, right? ⁓ For sure. Alrighty folks, well, make sure you tell me in the comments, what'd think? You know, did you learn a lot? Are you interested in something that one of the ladies brought up today? Let me know. Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe. You know the drill. Other than that, I'll see y'all next time on Follow the Leighder. Bye.