Beyond The Wand

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Wickedly Witchy Audio or Text Survey Part… Sec is too lazy to number these again…

asksecularwitch:

Secular Witch: As always, this is specifically a wickedly witchy survey, meaning it’s for witches. But if you aren’t a witch, and you’d totes love to do it. Feel free. Also, feel free to adjust things around to make it a better question. But seriously, don’t lose my header or you’ll drop ten thousand dimes this year and the next. No one likes their money running out of their pockets.
Prompt: How you would respond to this….
1. “But where did the rule, harm none, go?”
Down the terlet, where it belongs.
The rede was a bit of advice created by an adherent of a specific religion.  I don’t follow that religion, so I don’t see any particular need to follow the Rede.  Personally, I feel Wheaton’s Law - “Don’t Be A Dick” - works just as well.
2. “My, my, .. you must be new here if you think curses are real.”
Dunning-Kruger effect, much?
Yeh, uh, you agree that magic does stuff, right?  And that stuff can be good or bad?  And that a curse is basically bad stuff?
3. “You’re just wearing that outfit because you want to pretend to be a witch. Real witches don’t need you demonizing them.” 
No, I’m wearing this outfit because I’m Iron Man.
I dunno, no non-snarky answer to that because I don’t actually dress “oddly.”
4. “You must have only just started practicing because I’ve been doing this, this way for years.”
Naw man, I just found this way that works and didn’t see any reason to change it.
5. “Spells are only powerful if you make them yourself.”
I expect you have empirical data to back that up.
6. “All you need to do to learn how to be a witch is read a book.”
You can learn scads from reading, but you’re not likely to find everything you need in one book, especially since many books are just awful.
7. “Who is your matron deity, again?”
Deadpool.
I don’t have one, thanks for asking.
8. “You can’t worship a cartoon or a celebrity, I mean, oh my (pagan) gods, they aren’t gods.”
Oh yes I can and there ain’t nuttin’ you girls can do about it.
9. “Oh I know about the fact the burning times weren’t like that at all, but you can’t say there weren’t some witches being burned at the stake - like in Massachusetts.”
Oh yes I can.  Nobody was burned in Salem.  Furthermore, the religious beliefs that people claim were persecuted back in the day did not exist at that point, period.
10. “Wait, you do cast a circle, right?”
Only when I feel it’s necessary.  Which I don’t recall when the last time even was…
11. “My religion, where we worship nature and love everyone, came totally before Christianity. I mean, obviously it’s better.”
Are you implying that older = better?  Because then I’ll happily trade you a 486 for your shiny new lappy.
12. “Pagans aren’t devil worshipers. *eye roll*”
While most pagans do not worship the devil, you can’t overlook those who worship Satan in one form or another.  Granted, no, you don’t really find people who worship the horned pitchfork-wielding boogeyman guy…
13. ‘Um, the real magick is over here.’
DAMMIT REAL MAGIC I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT.
14. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. There isn’t a way someone can target you with an item that you used - years ago.”
…That you know of.
15. “What do you mean that I should stop posting these images to facebook, but they are lovely and have glittery fonts and tell meaningful things like about how we aren’t satanists. duh.”
No amount of glitter can make inaccurate information okay.
Bonusssssssss: “Homg, I am so sorry, I forgot you weren’t out of the broom closet with your parents or your grand parents or all of your cousins and the rest of your family. Whoops! But they’re family they have to love you.”

Oh heheheheh, they do, but sometimes their form of love isn’t exactly nice or fair.

(Post reblogged from asksecularwitch)
(Link reblogged from )
(Link reblogged from )

I don’t have elders to respect.

asksecularwitch:

First, let me be clear as to what I’m specifically addressing. There’s this notion in some of the pagan communities that there is exists these “elders” and sometimes they are literally just people of a certain age, sometimes it’s people of a certain skill, sometimes it’s tradition specific, and other times it’s just who got published by a publishing company. No one really wants to hammer down what makes an elder an elder because that would mean actually telling people that they aren’t elders.

Which, guess what, you’re not my elder. If you are older than me, okay - good for you. There’s a lot more people older and younger than me and a lot of people the same age as me all over the planet. It’s nothing special to have grown to a certain age. It’s what you have done with that age that’s the most important and what you’ve had to live through in order to get too that age. Why should I respect you any more than a 15 year old who has gone through triple bi-pass surgery and cancer survival when you’ve just sat at home for the last 50 years eating corn?

Which, guess what you’re not my elder. If you have a certain skill, then that’s fantastic. You know what, everyone has certain skills. CrookedCrown has more experience with dolls than I do. WitchyWays is more badass than I am. Having a skill or skills does not make me automatically subservient to you. If I want to learn that skill from you, then yes, that changes the dynamic. But otherwise? You’re just another person. 

Which, guess what you’re not my elder. If you’re in a particular tradition, and I am not in that tradition, you are not my elder. You are an elder of your tradition. That does not make you my elder. I am in no tradition. I made my practice by myself. If someone were practicing what I practice, basically because I trained them, then I would be the elder. Does that mean I am your elder now? Because I am an elder of this tradition? No. Same. Fucking. Principle.

Which, guess what, you’re not my elder. You published something? Great. Nice. Awesome. Why does that make you my elder? (PSST It doesn’t.) It’s like you telling me that you sold a piece of fruit and that makes you my elder. Selling a product does not automatically make you my elder. If it did, then damn I’d have a lot of fucking elders and so would you.

The notion comes from a sense of elitism - of getting privilege - of getting by with shit. I am not an elder. I should not receive the passing glance and I don’t. And that’s good. :)

I have so many (non-pagan) relatives who are like this; they think they deserve unquestioning respect because they’re older than me; never mind that they have entirely different life experiences.  Grah.

(Post reblogged from )

shivian:

WitchTip: many myths say Light is birthed from the dark abyss of chaos (the initial void) not killed by it. 

THISx1000000

(Post reblogged from shivian)

ALERT: Wiccan Community Network

tinypagan:

(Wish it hadn’t come to this, but…)

All my friends on Tumblr: please do not support the Wiccan Community Network (http://wiccancommnetwork.tumblr.com). I recently attempted to find out about their claimed 501(c)3 status and paperwork and they responded by claiming my asking about it was harassment and that they did not need to provide their paperwork to the public (they claim it is being filed right now but also stated they will not share it at all). This makes me highly suspicious, as do a few other things concerning this ‘non-profit’.

The person running this group charges $100 for their first degree teaching. Sadly, this is actually a cheaper price than many online classes. I have not seen how they teach (whether through Skype, email, another method…) and their syllabus seems like a typical one from neoWiccan 101 texts. None of that is alarming, as I’ve seen similar acts across the web. However, due to what I have read from their site, it seems that the group may be copying material from the Sacred Mists College (which has it’s own issues) without permission. This is, obviously, problematic.

The leader also claims to have been ordained by Janette Farrar and Gavin Bone. I would like verification of that ordination, as well as verification that they completed the study of three degrees from the Sacred Mists College. Until those are provided I am going to assume, because of the behavior of this group, that they don’t exist.

Perhaps the biggest issue to me, though, is that this group seems to have sprung up from out of nowhere. That’s fine, groups start and die and start, but it makes me very wary, and I caution everyone else to be wary too. If the network had simply said the money went to a personal account I would not have bothered, but they then claimed that they were a non-profit and became hostile when I asked them to provide proof of that. That is seriously problematic.

Until paperwork and verification is provided, please either hound this group or boycott them. We need some accountability in the larger Pagan umbrella community.

(Post reblogged from )

witchyways:

*coughcough*

ahem

yes, that sounds like a much better plan. If anyone ever decides to work something like that up and wants a bit of collaboration, lemme know. I don’t do that type of work right now, so I wouldn’t know what to do, but I’m good at helping :P

Oh yeah, I’m definitely wanting to do this.  Not sure about how much help I’d need at this point, though, since right now it’d mostly be… well, character development.  XP

(Source: paganthings)

(Post reblogged from )

witchyways:

beyond-the-wand:

In my experience, I’ve noticed that ciswomen tend to gravitate more to the sparkle-and-froofroo and happy-fluffy-airy-fairy side, whereas cismen seem more interested in the SRS BSNS aspect.  I mean, even though chaos magic technically has all kinds of fun and even silly possibilities, most of the people who follow it, who are mostly dudes, seem to tend to whittle it all down to sigils (which does not appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities or playful philosophy), and I ain’t seen NOBODY interested in creating a godform whose primary function is to look after the marginalized.  (Because the people who would need it most tend not to be chaos magicians.)

That last one, it really should be done.

I kind of freaking love that idea. 

Oh yes, it would probably be much more time-efficient than poring over old lore and modern experiences trying to determine how much of a certain trickster’s rap sheet is legit and whether or not he’s the man for the job or whether he’s just biding his time waiting to fuck up your shit.

(Source: paganthings)

(Post reblogged from )

witchyways:

paganthings:

I have this incredible bias where I don’t take pagan men as seriously as I take pagan women.

I don’t know why.

I just don’t.

I always feel like they think they are better than me, and immediately discount them.

It’s probably going to be problematic sometime…

I mean, many prove me wrong and we become bros, but most of the time [especially with ones I meet online] they come off as pretentious and holier-than-though to me and I just don’t like them.  It can be a problem.

I find myself doing the same thing sometimes, it’s an issue, I admit, but I have noticed that many cis men tend to go for the more “serious” types of paganism/magic, such as ceremonial magic, chaos magic that deals a lot with physics and psychology, and hardcore reconstructionism. I think it’s the notion that men are more “logical” and therefore must find a path that’s “above” all the woowoo. I have been mansplained to like 12 fucking times on Paganspace (ok, I left 2 years ago, but still). Only mansplained 2-3 times on Tumblr, all of those by a reconstructionist heathen…..so that was a ramble, take from it what you will…

In my experience, I’ve noticed that ciswomen tend to gravitate more to the sparkle-and-froofroo and happy-fluffy-airy-fairy side, whereas cismen seem more interested in the SRS BSNS aspect.  I mean, even though chaos magic technically has all kinds of fun and even silly possibilities, most of the people who follow it, who are mostly dudes, seem to tend to whittle it all down to sigils (which does not appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities or playful philosophy), and I ain’t seen NOBODY interested in creating a godform whose primary function is to look after the marginalized.  (Because the people who would need it most tend not to be chaos magicians.)

That last one, it really should be done.

(Post reblogged from )

LIKE WHOA!

THAR BE PEOPLE WITH PAGAN AND WITCHCRAFT-RELATED INTEREST TAGS ON OMEGLE NOW!

I am so happy.  :’D

-does the happy dance-