I keep hearing about various small churches trying to cast out demons of homosexuality from young men, or various religious leaders trying to pray sin and/or demons out of certain cities, and I reflect on the number of people (pagan and non-pagan) who have tried to convince me that their story about either witnessing possession or being possessed was fact.
Honestly, I doubt if even 1 in 100 of those stories have any truth to them. Not because I'm a skeptic about mystical occurrences, but because I just don't think any evil spiritual entity has anything to gain from possessing a teenager or making more people in San Francisco gay than other places. Probably because I just don't believe in the Christian right's view about demons. Sure, there are some less-than-friendly spiritual entities out there - you can't really get away with believing in the good ones without accepting the bad ones as real too, but you also can't tell me that throwing a glass of ice water in a possessed person's face will end it and not expect me to scoff.
I've seen trance possession as part of my spiritual practice, and if you haven't then there's really no explaining it. But ice water won't end it, honest.
I think a lot of the people who claim someone or someplace is demonically influenced just don't want to admit that reality is what it is, so they have to blame the parts they don't like on some cosmic boogeyman. And as for the people faking being possessed? They're just looking for attention, they're bored, and they feel like that may be the only way they can get away with using really foul language.
So, my magical friends, the next time someone starts pretending to be possessed by demons, here are your tests:
#1 - throw a glass of ice water in their face and see if they snap out of it
#2 - if #1 fails, pour a second glass of ice water down the back of their pants
#3 - if #2 fails, that's when you very quietly try the smudge. Anything beyond this, hopefully you've got something in your BoS to deal with the situation.
I've never seen #1 fail.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
On "reclaiming" words
To anyone who's been paying attention to news in paganism lately, you're going to rightly assume that this train of thought is inspired by Christian Day's public use of the word warlock to describe himself, in an attempt to reclaim the word.
My own research agrees with his, that the word really does not mean "oathbreaker", and that the Llewellyn books are mistaken. Personally, when I hear "warlock" I think of Uncle Arthur from Bewitched, so it always makes me smile.
But back to my real point, does "word reclaiming" ever actually really work? I know there are some women who feel they've reclaimed the "B" word as a show of their strength, but while that may be great for them I think for the rest of us we generally think "unpleasant person" about that word. While we in the pagan community are pretty comfortable with the word "witch", do any of us check in with our non-pagan friends/family to hear *their* reaction to the word?
I thought we'd reclaimed "witch" ages ago, but was surprised to learn recently that my non-pagan friends still think of "witch" negatively, unless they're thinking Harry Potter, Bewitched, or Charmed. There are always going to be the folks who like the word because they think we have "ooky powers and stuff" (quoting an old friend), but lots of folks still have a fear reaction to the word, or at the very least discomfort.
I am by no means intending a criticism of anyone, but I'm wondering how many of us are a little deluded about how much reclaiming words really works?
My own research agrees with his, that the word really does not mean "oathbreaker", and that the Llewellyn books are mistaken. Personally, when I hear "warlock" I think of Uncle Arthur from Bewitched, so it always makes me smile.
But back to my real point, does "word reclaiming" ever actually really work? I know there are some women who feel they've reclaimed the "B" word as a show of their strength, but while that may be great for them I think for the rest of us we generally think "unpleasant person" about that word. While we in the pagan community are pretty comfortable with the word "witch", do any of us check in with our non-pagan friends/family to hear *their* reaction to the word?
I thought we'd reclaimed "witch" ages ago, but was surprised to learn recently that my non-pagan friends still think of "witch" negatively, unless they're thinking Harry Potter, Bewitched, or Charmed. There are always going to be the folks who like the word because they think we have "ooky powers and stuff" (quoting an old friend), but lots of folks still have a fear reaction to the word, or at the very least discomfort.
I am by no means intending a criticism of anyone, but I'm wondering how many of us are a little deluded about how much reclaiming words really works?
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Blog Launch
Yes, I'm dual-blogging. One for food, one for discussions of the esoteric and energetic work/healing/study/experiments/theory as well as the occasional book review related to the same subject.
Currently reading a book on my Nook with a title I can't recall that has to do with the mitochondria being the physical expression of the feminine divine, and the impact nourishing it has on our health, mental acuity, and slowing the aging process. Not that I'm too terribly worried about aging, but I do find the whole concept intriguing. If we could expand the well-being of our internal systems and sharpen our intellect, what impact does that have on our magic? I'll follow-up tonight with the title/author info on the book, but I just wanted to get this blog created. For now, off to work!
Currently reading a book on my Nook with a title I can't recall that has to do with the mitochondria being the physical expression of the feminine divine, and the impact nourishing it has on our health, mental acuity, and slowing the aging process. Not that I'm too terribly worried about aging, but I do find the whole concept intriguing. If we could expand the well-being of our internal systems and sharpen our intellect, what impact does that have on our magic? I'll follow-up tonight with the title/author info on the book, but I just wanted to get this blog created. For now, off to work!
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