In my time on the Internet and dealing with various email groups, I have found that there is a ton of information being disseminated. Looked at objectively, some of it is good, some is bad, but a lot of it seems to be coming from a paltry 20 total sources. Cunningham, Silver Ravenwolf, Buckland, The Witches’ Voice, and Mike Nichols seem to be the most prominent sources, although some information can be traced all the way back to AOL’s Pagan files and Athos’ Pagan Files, the latter which is now sadly gone from the web.

One of the top sources currently appears to be “Witchcraft, The Facts“. The Rev. Norm Vogel seems to feel that his work should be the primary source for what Witchcraft is and that his interpretation is the only interpretation. This despite the fact that this alleged seminal document is a scant one page that he wrote almost 5 years ago, judging by the copyright. Apparently there are many visitors who go to his site and praise him for his work, giving him ego strokes that he apparently must have. It only feeds his incorrect belief that he is correct and speaks for everyone.

Should anyone with any knowledge come to the site and try to offer a view that in any way contradicts the site, they are immediately attacked as idiots who don’t have Rev. Vogel’s alleged years of experience and therefore can’t possibly know anything. He will pull in groups of people who support him and keep attacking with aspersions and insults, as well as gross and disgusting suggestions. I have been a subject of these tactics.

This article will verify the facts and demonstrate the undeniable fallacies inherent in Rev. Vogel’s article. Anyone can come and read them if they choose to, so they can see for themselves that Wicca, Witchcraft and Paganism are not just what he espouses.

(Please note, this text is taken verbatim from the site Witchcraft the Facts. I also have the author’s permission to reprint it here.)

1. Witchcraft means “Craft of the Wise Ones” and is also known as the “Old Religion”. Its practices can be traced to Neolithic (“Stone Age”) cave paintings. In early times, the Witch was the local lawyer, psychiatrist, and doctor. The field of modern medicine can trace its origins to the herbal medicines of the Witch.

Witchcraft is a nature religion, not unlike the shamanism of the Native Americans. As the concepts of male and female exist through-out life — indeed, are necessary to create it — most Witches perceive Deity as male and female: the Goddess and the God. Like the concept of the Trinity, these aren’t “many” Gods; they are aspects of the ONE Creator.

The Goddess is seen as Mother Earth and Mother Nature, and is represented by the Moon. She is seen in the fertility of the plant, animal, and human kingdoms. Her power is at a peak in the “fertile half” of the year, from May until October.

The God is seen in the woodlands, the Sun, grain, & the hunt. Because most of the animals that prehistoric humans hunted had horns, He is usually depicted as the “Horned One”. His power is at a peak in the “dark half” of the year, from October to May.

Witchcraft has been called the Craft of the Wise, well only if you have never bothered to check with a dictionary at any rate. I quote from the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (unabridged) copyright 1993:

Witchcraft 1 a: an act or instance of employing sorcery esp. with malevolent intent: a magical rite or technique b: the exercise of supernatural powers: alleged intercourse with the devil or with a familiar 2: an irresistible influence or fascination; CHARM, ENCHANTMENT syn. see MAGIC

Please note, no place in the above dictionary quote does it mention “Craft” or “Wise Ones” or anything about a deity. The trend of equating modern Neopagan witchcraft with the poor and scattered remnants archeologists have been able to piece together started with Gerald Gardner. Since then there has been a popular movement to reclaim the word “witch” from those who have been charged with defilement of the word, i.e., the Christians and the Inquisition.

The tracing of Witchcraft to Neolithic times was a myth started by Dr. Margaret Murray, and perpetuated in current times by Raymond Buckland in his book “Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft“, Scott Cunningham and also Silver Ravenwolf. That Dr. Murray’s theories have been discredited by time and better archeology seems to be immaterial to many trying to reclaim “Witchcraft” from the current dictionary and encyclopedia definitions. Her thesis has been refuted by, among others, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York 1971) 514-16, Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons (London 1975) 107- 25, and most recently by Robin Briggs, Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft (New York 1996) 37f.

From the little we know, Gardner appears to have been trying to align his fledgling tradition into the definition of Witchcraft as it stood at the time he created Wicca. He intended for it to be acknowledged and seen as a magickal tradition, one that could possibly be seen as malevolent and dark.

I can only speculate regarding the motives behind Gardner’s act, but it would appear that he was trying to give Wicca a patina of legitimacy by linking it to ancient times. There was probably little chance that his newly created magickal tradition would be given serious consideration by the then current crop of magickal practitioners without this connection. So, one can assume (and several scholars, among them Isaac Bonewits, have) that this is what prompted the connection to the past, as well as his connection to Margaret Murray’s essay.

What does this have to do with Norm’s first point? Only that Witchcraft and Wicca are used interchangeably, applying statements that only apply to Wicca to all witchcraft, and vice-versa.

There are legitimate witchcraft practices. African Diaspora religions like Voodoo and Strega just to name a couple. There are also many magickal practices that have nothing to do with witchcraft, like OTO, The Golden Dawn, Alchemy and High Magick (out of the Key of Solomon). There are also heathen practices that are not witchcraft, and pagan practices as well, as seen in Druidism, Asatru, Theodic, Kemeticism, and Hellenism. Additionally, there are native practices that could be called Witchcraft, but which violently disassociate themselves with witchcraft as they see these practices as being evil and malevolent, i.e., Aboriginal Australian practices and Native American Medicine practices.

Yet the first statement would make one think that ALL these practices including such groups as Hindus, Buddhists and Shinto are parts of Witchcraft. It makes sweeping statements to include these practices, whether or not they actually fit specific religions.

Modern Witchcraft, which seems to be the point of this website’s so-called facts, as described in this document, is a purely modern construction and part of the Neo-Pagan pathways. This does not denigrate or deny its legitimacy, nor does it invalidate the practice. Far from it, I can honor and support those who only identify as a Witch, at least as long as they are not trying to make all-inclusive and sweeping statements equating witchcraft with all non-Abrahamic descended religions.

Witchcraft, first and foremost, is a craft. It is a set of skills that can be described as a magickal tradition. It does have some of its roots in the past, since herbalism and other “primitive” practices are incorporated into the body of work known as Witchcraft. That’s well and good, but that does not mean that Witchcraft is centuries old because it includes elements that are ancient. If that were so, the Empire State building, in fact any modern skyscraper, in New York City or any other city is ancient since its made up of the element Fe (iron) that was part of the ground for millennia and actually predates life on this planet.

The argument that flows out of attempting to disprove the ancientness of the Empire State building is the same argument that can be applied to disproving the ancientness of Witchcraft and Wicca. Namely when one alters something so much that it becomes an entirely new thing it can no longer be called by an ancient name. Iron is iron and steel, though it is made of iron, is steel. If either are used in a building, the building is still a modern construct.

Most of the legitimate witchcraft traditions that I mentioned earlier are not nature worshiping, per se, or Goddess and God worshiping religions. Voodoo worships spirits or Loa. Strega honors the Goddess Diana and the God Lucifer (here meant as the Son of the Morning), not some amorphous deity that is simply a compilation of all deities into one amorphous blob.

There are strong indications that Witchcraft is not connected to a religion, or even a set of religions at all. It is a skill set, as has been stated many times, many of which are incorporated into other aspects of life as well. Yes, Witchcraft has herbalism incorporated into the practice of Witchcraft. Part of the information discovered by herbalists over time was included in modern medicine, but more than that, Alchemy, The Age of Enlightenment and other scientific processes and discoveries were the actual precursors to modern medicine. It is possible to argue that surgery was part of the herb-wife’s knowledge (the ones who could have been accused as witches in the past) but the discovery of different blood types, how to do transfusions, eye surgery, mapping out the internal structure of the body, discovering tools to help like the X-ray and so on were done by scientists. They used painstaking trial and error and occasionally out and out guesses to base their search for knowledge on. People died to advance their knowledge.

If one reads and studies the journals of the medical profession at the turn of the 20th century, one begins to realize that while herb knowledge may have played a part in their work, it was a very small part. Those who used plants to cure illness were seen as idiots and mavericks and despised and reviled by their peers. The fever-reducing properties of Willow bark were known for centuries by herb-wives, but when a patient had a fever, the doctor usually bled them or gave them doses of opiates, not willow bark.

Truthfully it has only been in recent years that herbal remedies have been looked at as more than just pleasant granny tales.

“Lawyers and Judges”? This statement can be traced to Raymond Buckland, and possibly further back. There is NO credible evidence to either support or refute the idea that the local midwife, herb-witch or Goodwife was responsible for the direction of a community.

While this can be seen to exist in individual places around the world, normally in primitive aboriginal hunter and gatherer cultures in modern times, we cannot assume that this is the correct model for the far distant past. In a primitive society, where wisdom is revered and knowledge of the Gods is seen as a life path rather than held in contempt, a wise leader may consult with those who have memories of other times and other situations. But with the concept of laws and lawyers, most of this respect goes out the window in favor of writing judgments down and following legal precedents to the letter.

A quick look at modern American society will show the fallacy of this argument very quickly. Abigail Adams wrote strongly worded arguments to her husband that women should be given voting rights, for they bore the children and took care of most of the household (meaning they sewed, made herbal remedies and simples, fed livestock and so on) and were intelligent enough to make decisions on who should and should not speak for them in the various forms of government. John Adams rejected this argument completely and helped enact measures to make sure that only property owning white men had the right to vote. Going even further back into history, Lady Godiva (if legends are to be believed) had to humiliate herself to reduce the taxes her husband had levied on the city he was mayor of, and many other examples, some from as far back as the Sumerians and Macedonians. These women and wise people were not consulted in decisions of the rulers, the leaders. It cannot even be argued that Celtic society did this, as the King and Druid (Brehon) were the ones responsible for the laws and judgments.

It is only when one gets back to a tribal society that it can be shown to have happened, and even then it is only progressive and forward looking tribes that this consultation may have happened. Where women are seen as less than men, consultation with these “wise people” cannot occur. One confers with equals and superiors, not inferiors.

If we actually look at a religion that is matrilineal (meaning that inheritance and religious identity come from the female) we still don’t see this. Judaism has a matrilineal line, and the woman of the house is responsible for the household’s spiritual identity as well as the proper prayers and rites of the household. It could strongly be argued that in Judaism that the wife is the “wise woman” that we are referring to in the above passage, holder of the household, mother, priestess (in some lights), judge and lawyer, doctor and financial advisor. But in some traditions of Judaism, a rabbi who is touched by a woman who is not his wife is considered ritually unclean. Women are not allowed to study the Caballah, and are not allowed into the main part of the synagogues but must be confined behind screens, watching but not actively participating in the rites and rituals of their own religion.

I will grant that on a case-by-case basis, all that has been stated by Norm could happen, but the argument is back to the Empire State building again. One small component in a structure that cannot reasonably support it does not make the entire structure that thing.

In short, the first statement, if looked at with provable scientifically validated research on one’s side, does not stand up under its own weight. Witchcraft is NOT nature oriented, since many witches from the past could have cared less about the environment. Witchcraft is NOT centered around the Light-half and Dark-half of the year and is NOT centered on the worship of the God and Goddess. I will grant that WICCA contains all of these elements. Had Vogel said that, I would have few arguments with him and his site.

2. Witches don’t do evil. They believe in the Wiccan Rede, which is “If It Harms None, Do What You Will”. (In other words, “Do whatever you want; just as long as it doesn’t harm anyone — including yourself “). But, Witches DO believe that it is moral to defend yourself against evil or physical (or psychic) attack.

Most Witches also believe in the “Three-Fold Law”, which states that whatever you do — be it good or evil — comes back to you three times over, so (obviously) there is no incentive to do evil.

Here is where the blurring of the line between Witchcraft and Wicca is most evident. The Rede is a statement of WICCA. Not even all Wiccans subscribe to it. The Rede has been traced to one tradition of Wicca and didn’t appear until published in a print journal in the mid 1970′s ( The Wiccan Rede Project ) Gardner did not have it in his book of shadows (as seen in Aidan Kelly’s publication of it at http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/index.htm ).

In point of fact, there are witches that do evil. Remember, witchcraft is defined as being malevolent. Many who identify as witches use magick to gain things for themselves, without regard for whom may get hurt, retribution or anything else; for example, Satanic Witches do this very thing and believe they are fully justified by their religion in doing so.

Please notice that Mr. Vogel does not consider Satanic worshipers to be included as “witches”. Satanic witches consider themselves witches, there is even a whole book written by Anton LaVey about the Satanic Witch.

Please also note that in “Aradia, Gospel of the Witches” by Charles Leland, one of the seminal works of modern NeoPaganism, there is no mention of the concept of the Rede or Retribution or any other structure such as is pointed to in this “fact”.

In fact, “Aradia, Gospel of the Witches” specifically states that you must harm those who have harmed you. To quote:

And when a priest shall do you injury
By his benedictions, ye shall do to him
Double the harm, and do it in the name
Of me, Diana, Queen of witches all!

To me, that says it all right there, Witches harm, and have a mandate from the Goddess to do so.

3. Witches do NOT believe in or worship Satan, and do not perform any sort of human or animal sacrifices. Satan is a relatively new concept that originated with Christianity & Zoroastrianism. Witches put the responsibility for our own actions squarely on whom it belongs: ourselves. Witchcraft teaches us to be responsible people who take responsibility for our own actions.

When the Christian Church decided to obliterate religions that were a threat to its power (including Witchcraft), they decided that their “Satan” had horns and that Witches were actually worshipping the Devil. This became the death warrant for millions of innocent people.

While parts of the above statement are factual, it once again discounts segments of the very witchcraft groups he alleges he is including! In point of fact, some Satanists worship Satan. Satanists are witches by their own declaration and association, and they worship Satan. I mean, one can’t get clearer than that.

Rev. Vogel has stated that Satanists are not witches. It does not seem to matter to him that the people who practice this religion profess to be witches. However, I suspect that if a Roman Catholic Cardinal proposed a definition of Wicca and/or Witchcraft that did not include the “Reverend’s” personal beliefs, he would be highly indignant. In fact I suspect further that he would attempt to raise a howl heard round the world. Were he to modify his declaration that Satanists are not Witches to mean that they are not Wiccan, he would be correct. However, if Norm were to unbend enough to use the standard definition of witches as it appears in the dictionary and in history and practice, he would see that witches, do, in fact, worship Satan and his world would be in danger of ending.

I will grant you that Wiccans do not worship Satan (although if there are “Christian Wiccans” then there can certainly be “Satanic Wiccans” as well), and many Pagan paths also do not worship Satan.

As to the “relatively new concept” clause, I decided to check this statement out online. Taking it as fact, I checked on Zoroastrianism for their concept of good and evil. I referenced this page ( Tenets of Zoroastrianism ) and read that this concept dates from between 8000 and 1500 BCE. I have a serious problem calling a concept that has been around from 3500 to 10,000 years “recent”. That means that the “witchcraft” he is talking about is not older than this, but actually just being born, since it only is about 100 years or so old (dating back to Charles Leland).

I’ll agree that the modern, Western concept of Satan as his own entity may have been created within the last 700 years, which would make that aspect of a 10,000 year old concept “relatively new”. However, to be accurate with Norm’s belief, that would presuppose that Witchcraft is older than Christianity. Otherwise, how could a “relatively modern” religion like Christianity steal the God figure of the Witches to identify it as Satan? Now, while some references to witches DO appear in Roman documents and Greek documents, predating Christianity, once again we are back to The Empire State Building argument. Just because a word is ancient does not mean that anything that identifies with that word is ancient as well.

The second part of this “fact” is problematic. Modern research has revealed that “millions of innocent people” didn’t die in the “Burning Times”. That number was a guess by a scholar in the mid 1800′s and has since been debunked. While the true death toll is not known and probably can never be known, the current estimates range from 1500 to 150,000 over a 900-year period. This is gleaned from trial records, hysteria, journals, and city records over the period spanning from the 1100′s to present day. This number also includes victims like Tempest Smith who committed suicide because of persecution as a Wiccan at her school.

The critical thing to note about the persecution that many Wiccans and Witches point to as proof of their membership in a persecuted minority, is the fact the Inquisition, while horrendous, was not targeting witches. It was targeting heresy in the Roman Catholic Church. The charge of Witchcraft was a convenient blanket charge to begin the process of investigation. Those that pled guilty to the charge of Witchcraft within some Ecclesiastical courts were spared. The Protestants, particularly in Germany, were not as lenient.

Spain was the originator of the Inquisition and this needs to be put into a historical perspective. Ferdinand and Isabella had just reconquered Spain from the Moors. They, and more particularly Isabella, were deeply religious and felt the need to cleanse their country of the influence of the religiously tolerant “infidels”. From there, the hunt spread to Jews, Homosexuals, those with unconventional political beliefs, those who would not agree with the system (like many scientists), and others outside the norms of society. The Inquisition in Rome in 1600 burned Giordano Bruno, the scientific philosopher, to death for his apostasy and heretical views. These are the same targets of Hitler’s pogrom, of the Communists, in fact, the same minorities of humanity that have been stalked by those in power since the world started. Liberals, free thinkers, and humanitarians were specifically targeted for being the beatniks and hippies of their times. Although the charge of witchcraft may have been levied against them that did not make them witches.

It also fails to take into account the Christian belief that if you do not worship the Christian God, then you automatically worship Satan. To see this dogma in action, look at Jack Chick’s publications. In those little pamphlets everyone who is not Mr. (and I use the term lightly) Chick’s brand of Christian identified as Satan worshipers. Chick’s dogma says that anyone who worships strange gods, meaning any ancient deities, YHVH, Allah, Buddha and anyone following other teachers, has been deceived by Satan into falling away from God, and MUST be rescued. Many liberal ministers will agree that other religions have a lot to offer, but when it comes right down to brass tacks, they state that if you don’t worship God, Satan has deceived you. As a result, any non-Christian by definition must be a worshiper of Satan. Some, like Bill Schnoebelen, even go so far as to attempt to prove that ALL religions other than their narrow view of religion are created by Satan to make the elect fall away.

Sorry, Norm, but those who practice African Diaspora religions like Voodoo and several other versions of Pagan religions do have blood sacrifice, and in some cases, animal sacrifice. I hardly think they can be identified as off shoots of Christianity. The rites of animal sacrifice are rigidly defined. They have been handed down for generations in many cases and are designed to insure that the animal is honored, praised for its sacrifice, celebrated, and instead of the remains being disposed of like used toilet paper, it is consumed and celebrated during the consumption.

The comment about human sacrifice is specious and misleading. No modern religion I am aware of has been shown to practice any form of human sacrifice other than self-sacrifice through suicide.  Certainly the Buddhists of the past, the Branch Dividians and the “Heaven’s Gate” cult practiced this form of human sacrifice through suicide.  His statement tries to imply there is a group somewhere practicing “Ritual Satanic Human Sacrifice” on a regular basis, which has been repeatedly proven to be false. It is a straw man set up for the sole purpose of demonstrating to the credulous how evil “they” are, without ever stating who “they” are. For a good set of resources in debunking the straw man of “Ritual Satanic Abuse”, please see Diane Vera’s excellent website and the Satanic Ritual Abuse page.

Surprisingly, Norm does have a point regarding the responsibility clause. Wiccans, Witches and Pagans profess taking responsibility for our own actions, and don’t believe in a scapegoat/redeemer who will rescue us from the consequences of our actions. (As my wife is fond of saying, “You made the mess, you clean it up.”) We also don’t hold that we will get all our rewards after we die, we expect to have good things happen to us during this lifetime, as consequences of our actions. Well done there Norm.

4. The Pentagram (a five-pointed star in an upright, one-point-up position) is the symbol of our religion. The top point symbolizes Spirit (the Creator) being ‘above’, or ruling, the Four Elements of Life — Air, Fire, Water, & Earth — which are the four lower points.

The Circle, being without beginning or end, symbolizes the Deity. It is completely encompassing the Star within it (which represents the out-stretched human body, reaching out in search of its connection with Spirit). Together, they represent the Creator’s Protection & Wisdom.

Inverting the Pentagram, as is done by Satanists, symbolizes that the Elements (the “material world”) are superior to the Creator. Unfortunately, through misunderstandings that have been repeated by the media, the Pentagram — in whatever position — has become wrongly equated with Satanism. (Please note, though, that in England, there are several traditions that use the inverted pentagram as a symbol for a second degree — which obviously has nothing to do with Satanism).

Okay, while this is confusing, obfuscating and misleading, parts of it are accurate. But the question remains, which religion is he talking about when he states “our”? Witchcraft is a skill set, like being a carpenter. It is not a religion. I could claim that the cross is the religion of carpenters, but it would be inaccurate since carpentry is a skill, not a religion. (I know there was one carpenter that became closely associated with crosses, but that is not an automatic assumption that all carpenters worship crosses.)

It is the same situation here. Wicca’s symbol is the Pentagram. The symbology of that is also accurately described. But the inverted pentagram is the symbol of the Church of Satan, the Triskel the symbol of druidism and the hammer the symbol of Asatru. All of these religions (and yes, they are all religions) have different symbols as well as having witches in their ranks.

5. A male Witch is not a “Warlock”. This is a Scottish term, meaning “traitor”, or “oathbreaker”. (A male Witch is a “Witch”).

The actual etymology of “Warlock” is still the subject of heated debate. But the proper term for a male witch is “witch”, just as a female judge is “Judge”. But, and I say this to be totally accurate, there are those who identify themselves with witchcraft who prefer to be called warlocks. I know it seems like an uphill battle, one that is going to go nowhere fast, but that is what these people choose to be called. It is akin to Wiccans trying to rescue the term “witch”. The term witch has had specific meanings for hundreds of years, and so has Warlock. Attempting to sweep centuries of belief aside because a small group is trying to redefine it is silly. It is like trying to redefine the term “chartreuse” to mean “thick headed”. People are still going to mean the color when they say chartreuse. All the polite corrections in the world are not going to change anything nor will it do anything more than irritate people. Pick your battles and ask yourself this, “Do I need to be persecuted to make myself feel special?”

6. Witchcraft is a legal religion protected under the First and Fourteenth amendments. (See the US Army “Chaplain’s Guide to Ministering to Wiccans”. There are 2 references to this guide; please click on each number: 1 , 2 ) .

We are non-proselytizing; we don’t seek to convert anyone . We feel that all religions are equally valid, and that you should be free to choose the one with which you are most comfortable. No religion has the monopoly of God (despite what some may claim).

In our opinion, far too many religions place too much emphasis on the actual religion (or it’s leader), and seem to be worshipping that, instead of God. This, in our opinion, is wrong thinking.

As long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others, we all have a right to our own method of worshipping the Deity.

As much as it pains me to say this, President George W. Bush was actually right when he said, “Witchcraft is not a religion”. I know, I know, I fought against that so long myself, screaming about how he was wrong and so on. Forgive me. Witchcraft is NOT a religion; it is not protected by anything. WICCA is a religion, and THAT RELIGION is protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. And Wicca DOES NOT EQUAL Witchcraft.

Much of the rest of this is accurate, and I will get to my problems with this passage shortly. Wicca incorporates witchcraft into its structure, but Wicca is not Witchcraft. Wicca is a religion; Witchcraft is the skill of magick within Wicca. There are Wiccans who are not Witches, and there are many witches who are not Wiccan.

Ultimately, Norm has simply taken the “history” lesson out of Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft, added a few details he thought of on his own, and threw this essay up on the Internet. Given the state of research and knowledge 25 years ago when The Complete Book was first written, this was fine. We have now moved into a new millennium. New facts are being discovered constantly and things are changing. It is critical that anyone claiming leadership stay current with the latest facts and update their information accordingly. Our total body of knowledge has expanded, and neither Buckland nor Norm has changed to fit that new knowledge.

I would point out that this is exactly what the Catholic Church and many fundamental religious groups are infamous for doing. Their stone-set dogma insures their ears are ossified and incapable of learning anything that negates or conflicts with it.

Here is my problem with the passage, to refresh your memory Norm says, “In our opinion, far too many religions place too much emphasis on the actual religion.” My first problem is this; why is Norm speaking with the Royal “we”?  I feel this is just a tad bit arrogant.  And aren’t religions supposed to emphasize religion? If they don’t aren’t they just Rotary Clubs in disguise?

Seriously, I think I understand what he might have been trying to say here (that he objects to religions that place too much emphasis on the trappings of religion or the corporation of religion) but I am not sure he understands that what he said is not what he meant.

There is one basic flaw in this document that drove me to write this article. The continual confusion of Wicca for Witchcraft is wrong. Believe it or not, if Norm would replace every instance of Witchcraft with Wicca, then the majority of my objections with this document would disappear. There are still a few minor historical inaccuracies, but they are minor in comparison to the rest of the article. The continual Wicca/Witchcraft confusion turns what could have been a decent factual document that I could support into a statement of inaccuracy and irrelevance. In either case he needs an editor to clean it up.

Norm has been frequently charged with being “fluffy” in the past. I ask you the reader this, having read the original Norm and refutation in this article, can you doubt it?

A personal cause for my distaste is the specific manner in which the good Rev. handles those who have visited his site and offered corrections to his alleged facts.

My personal feeling is that a leader leads with passionate reason. A true leader does not throw a howling temper tantrum like an ill-bred two year old venting his spleen at being told he is wrong. Rev. Vogel attempts to use the tactics of an outraged water buffalo to humiliate and intimidate his critics into silence with slanderous personal attacks in his guest book. Not satisfied with this he insists on attacking their sites and their forums or guest books, going so far as to publish the source of his ire’s email address on various lists where his supporters lurk. This results in multiple emails from people who have been urged to spam the “heretic” who has displeased their leader. I wonder if his supporters realize they can be reported to their ISP’s for harassment and lose their service.

This kind of behavior simply leads to retaliation from the attacked and their supporters, a normal and very human behavior. I have never had a problem admitting when I have incorrect facts, in fact I ask that people with more knowledge provide me with background information so that my articles, essays and even rants are as accurate as possible. “Attack facts, not people” does not appear to be a lesson our subject has learned. If you wish to see proof of his behavior, please look at http://davensjournal.com/Norm.txt. I would suggest a quick look through his guest book but he has deleted all the inflammatory posts. Unfortunately for him, I saved all the relevant copies.

I’ll admit that there are a lot of reasons to despise Norm Vogel, but ultimately it is not worth it.

One last thing before I close this essay out, at the bottom of his page, Norm has put these statements:

IMPORTANT: Please note that info on the “Fact” & “FAQ” pages does NOT reflect the opinions of ALL Witches; however, it DOES reflect the vast majority. (So, please don’t send me any “bullshit letters” complaining that I’m “wrong” about anything! You are entitled to your perceptions of the Craft, as am I!). I respect YOURS; please respect MINE.

And, if you have a ‘bitch’ about my definitions of “Pagan”, “Witch”, “Wiccan”, I invite you to come up with one that EVERYONE will agree on — If you do, I WILL use it! This subject has been fought over for YEARS, and no one has (or, CAN, imho) come up with one!

Now, I’m going to respond to these statements.

His first paragraph is inaccurate. His page is titled “Witchcraft the Facts” which would seem to purport he is presenting actual facts that can be documented and pointed to by scholars from multiple disciplines. Oh, let me clarify, I mean scientific disciplines like archeology, linguistics, anthropology, ethnography, sociology, statistical analysis and theology, not just anyone’s current favorite Llewellyn author. Being able to bullshit with authority is still lying.

If the majority of witches are holders of the same opinion, then why do so many witches go to his site and try to correct his “facts”?

If these are truly the facts of Witchcraft, how can he then state that all this is the opinion of the majority of Witches. Well, which is it? Fact or opinion? Facts are facts, opinions are opinions and everyone has an opinion. There is only one set of facts. The fact states that what has been put up is not fact at all, but Norm’s personally held beliefs. If that’s the case, fine, well and good, more power to him. But presenting it as fact is just plain wrong.

He goes on to state that his opinion is his opinion and that he respects the opinions of others.  His behavior shows otherwise however, and by making blanket statements as he as done, he does not respect the beliefs and opinions of other religions either.  If he did then he would not dismiss Satanists as Witches so quickly.

In his second paragraph he challenges others to come up with definitions of Pagan, Witch and Wiccan. In the past, better, more accurate definitions have been presented to him. To date, he has not used any of those definitions.

Why? He demands that the definition be one that “everyone can agree on….”. This gives him the ability to say “I don’t believe that” and now “everyone” does not agree with the definitions. As a point of logic, there is absolutely no way to come up with a definition that EVERYBODY in the universe will agree to, the best that can be done is to come up with a definition that most will agree on. With 2,000 years, the Christians haven’t managed to define what is Christian either, cold consolation though that may be.

Here follows an agreed upon new definition of the words. One can hope that the good Rev. will find them acceptable.

Witch (Neopagan definition): A witch is one who practices one of a variety of form of magic derived from the folk practices of previous times. Most often this is denoted by herbalism, midwifery and divination with various tools, but can also include those who cast spells using the natural forces of nature. This differentiates them from Ceremonial Magicians.

Pagan (Neopagan definition): A person who is a member of any of several modern religions that are loosely based on some form of ancient religious practices or based on modern fictional works most often denoted by a polytheistic or duotheistic godhood, research into past practices and a lack of a “holy scripture” in the dogmatic sense. It can also be characterized by most often having been created within the last 100 years. It cannot be classed as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Hinduism or other mainstream religions.

Wiccan (Neopagan definition): A member of the religion of Wicca, as created by Gerald Gardner or any of its many subsequent spin-offs. Characterized by having a duotheistic deity structure, adherence to “The Wiccan Rede” and belief in “The Law of Returns” or a similar statement. Please note, Witches can be Wiccan, but not all Witches ARE Wiccan.

Originally posted 2010-12-11 19:15:42.

On the surface, this leg of the Witches Pyramid is probably the simplest on the surface since it’s doing the process that you have decided on. The decision to do the spell has been made, the caster’s Will is honed and ready to force the change, but now you get your tools out and start the chants to cast the spell. Sounds simple, right?

But there is much more than that to this aspect of magic. Daring to do a spell means you have a self confidence that says you have the divine right to impose your Will on the universe; that you have the right to actually make things happen simply because you want them to happen.

To my mind, that takes a special kind of arrogance. To say to the Universe and to whatever form of Deity you honor, “I know better than you do, and I am going to MAKE this action happen.” That sounds pretty severe and arrogant in my opinion.

It is saying that your life is not good enough. It is saying that you know how your life should be, in opposition to how it actually is, and it is saying that no matter what, you will use any methods, fair or foul, to force the outcome you wish.

It is daring the Universe to do its worst to you.

It is acceptance of not only the outcome, but also all the additional problems and unintended consequences of this spell.

Daring to do something can be a problem if you are going against the Powers that Be. If a deity has decided that the person you are trying to help is supposed to be sick at the same time you are trying to make them well, and you heal them anyhow, despite all the warnings and problems of that healing, there may be divine retribution. To Dare means you are willing and able to accept that and deal with it.

No matter what anyone says, there are Powers in the Universe that could be upset that you are doing this spell. Perhaps, it is because there will be unknown “butterfly effect” problems in another segment of creation. Maybe it is because there will be a power drain from something else that is needed and it may simply be that the desired outcome is supposed to be one that is out of reach. It is possible that binding you are doing is in opposition to the protection this God has promised to His follower.

Daring to do this spell anyhow sets you up to be in direct conflict with that Power. It means that there is the possibility that They will be upset with you and make your life “interesting” for a while as retribution and punishment.

Now, assuming that your Will and your Knowledge is up to snuff in this whole process, the Dare stage is when you actually start doing the spell. At this point, the recriminations and self examination should be done, the decision made and now you actually get out your Tools and start the spell. Just that act, should throw you into an altered state of consciousness. This is the physical stage.

If we relate these legs of the Pyramid to different sections of our being, then “To Know” is the mental preparation part, “To Will” is the spiritual part, and “To Dare” is the physical part of this entire process.

Remember when I was saying before about humanity being wish generators? Well, wishing for something is only part of the whole process. Wishing will only get you so far magickally, it’s the actual process of doing the spell that will achieve results.

But then there is still one part that needs to be addressed, and thankfully it is showing up in more and more teaching texts. Part of the “To Dare” process HAS to be actually doing the mundane things that will help the spell along.

In other words, if doing a spell for a job, Knowing what job you want is good, Willing that job into your life is another good part, Daring to actually do the spell is really good, but having the courage to go out and face rejection over and over is the most important part.

Daring must also encompass the mundane. It does take effort and courage to follow through on the mundane side of things, if only because we might fail.

In a post he made in his LiveJournal, Taylor Ellwood made the very interesting point that most people are conditioned to avoid failure at all costs. As part of that, we are also not trained to accept success, and current societal standards are doing no favor by encouraging a similar mindset of “it’s okay to fail” in the next generation.

In any spell, simply beginning the process of the spell will open the door for failure. Failure will become an option. So one of the goals in any spellcasting process must be accepting that the spell might fail and striving to prevent that failure. Don’t go into the spell with the thought that it will fail, but accept that the “nature of the beast” is going to include the failure of the spell and then strive to overcome it.

Of course, the standard excuse is to blame other factors, for that failure. “The Stars weren’t right,” or “Goddess must have other plans for me,” or “It will happen eventually,” are all excuses that come very rapidly on the lips of those who try spells and fail.

But as one Doctor Who episode pointed out¹, what if we dream the impossible? What if, despite all things to the contrary, we actually make it and make our dreams come true?

No one is trained to that, but we are trained to fail. So Daring to be courageous, to actually do what we say we want, that is real magick. To think that it is possible to achieve what we want, to have what we dream about, that’s wonder.

This attitude is prevalent in most of modern Western Society. The very first word that most children learn to understand is “no”. From then on it is “don’t”, “can’t”, “no”, “Ain’t gonna happen” and more negative ascertations. Very few opportunities in our life teach us how to succeed and what to do when one achieves a goal.

It’s one reason that there are so many books and seminars that try to show people how to succeed. But I have rarely seen anything that shows you what to do when you do succeed.

Our culture is built on the supposition of failure, and thus to actually attempt something that is highly likely not to work is an incredible step of confidence. Actually taking the step to face that possible rejection for the bare slim chance that we could have a better life is truly Daring.

This is the core of “To Dare”. Taking that leap of faith, that step that may pay off and may not, even after been told all your life that you probably aren’t going to make anything of yourself. You must be ready to take that step despite the array of problems in your way, from the mundane to the deities themselves. To take that step, knowing that it may not pan out, but trusting yourself, your knowledge and your training to see it through anyhow.

Then you must have the confidence to follow through with the mundane work as well, to see the process through.

Then, add another layer, Daring to continue anyhow, even if the original spell didn’t work and do it again, despite disappointment in the past. Making sure that you do not, do not, do not quit; even when logic says “give up”, when reason says “enough already”, and when the universe orders you to cease, stubbornly going on is the essence of, the heart and soul of To Dare.

Originally posted 2009-11-10 02:54:34.

I recently watched the movie Phenomenon and came away very disturbed.

In case you haven’t seen it, don’t read the next six paragraphs. We hate it when someone ruins a movie by telling us what happened.

John Travolta plays a nice average man, nothing special, who lives in the small town he was born in. On the night of his birthday party, he is apparently struck by a blinding light and knocked to the ground.

By the next morning, he is displaying extraordinary abilities. Suddenly there is nothing he cannot know or do.

The townspeople, with three exceptions, the woman he loves, a wise old country doctor, and his best friend, begin to fear him. They cannot accept what is happening without explanations. They feel there must be some catch and they begin desperately searching for it. They also begin ostracizing this gentle man.

Aliens, the great modern bogey men, are invoked. When, it is discovered that George is dying of brain cancer, they begin to distrust all the good he has done. They look for hoaxes, mundane explanations, and the blue smoke and mirrors.

The doctor magnificently played by Robert Duvall, blows up at this denigration. He tells them how petty, mean, and small they are being. He rips away their hypocrisy in an impassioned speech, exposing the herd mentality responsible for condemning his son of the heart.

In the end, even though our hero is dead, his legacy does live on. The townspeople meet a year later to celebrate his life on the anniversary of his birth.

Sounds great doesn’t it? So why am I so unhappy? The fact that the townspeople could not accept the miracle of George while he was alive.

I started thinking (a dangerous pastime). Why do people need to defame others to feel good about themselves? What does that say about modern society? Most importantly, how can I, personally, “stop the madness” within my own small sphere of influence?

I started watching people around me interact. I saw couples, who allegedly love each other, the art of the put down, all in “good fun”. I watched children cut each other to shreds verbally, and they were “best friends”. I noticed parents who claimed to love their children but constantly called them “stupid”, “idiot”, “dummy”.

I listened to myself, and was appalled. I too am a perpetrator/victim of this syndrome. I had fallen into the trap of cutting down other instead of building them up. Worst of all, I cut myself down before anyone else can.

It’s hard to remember day to day simply to thank people. It is harder still to genuinely compliment them for what they do, how they look, or a good idea they have had.

We are not thought how to compliment others, nor are we taught to accept praise from others. I often feel uncomfortable, afraid I will sound phony and insincere when I genuinely wish to thank them.

Another concern is that the person I am complimenting will suspect my motives, that I will be seen as a rah-rah person, that I appear to not really care, or that I am just pretending when I am sincere. In some cases I might be seen as a company stooge.

So, I made an affirmation for myself. I won’t let fear stop me from complimenting others. I won’t let my need to fit in allow me to cut down others. I will genuinely thank people when they help me. I will come to “praise Caesar” not to rip him a new ***hole. “If you can’t say anything nice…”

How about you?

Theresa

Stars light your path.

Originally posted 2009-11-11 18:32:29.

This is a rebuttal article to Mike Nichols: A WITCH BY ANY OTHER NAME, and it is intended to spark discussion.

Well, there have been many who have said at various times that Wicca equals Witchcraft. While I’m not going to argue semantics, and while I can and do acknowledge that Wicca in the original Anglo-Saxon roots means “witch”, I don’t agree that Witchcraft is the semantic equivalent of Wicca anymore.

Here we have a religion that has built itself up around the word Wicca, sold books, developed a complex spiritual substance, Deity figures (some that don’t even appear in ancient mythologies), has developed dogma and cant in which certain things are of the Wicca and others are not and even developed a moralistic code which adherents must ascribe to (or at least give lip service to if they don’t buy the whole thing).

Those characteristics are qualities of a religion, one that has the possibility of developing and continuing for some time. Just about every major religion out there started like this and worked their way into some of the monoliths we know today.

There are many who are trying to claim that Witchcraft is a religion. That Witchcraft itself has a dogma and a cant, that it has deity figures and so on. I’m sorry I simply don’t see it.

Certainly the religion of Wicca has those things, but the craft of the witches, the skill-set in magick, herbalism, healing, midwifery, hexes and curses and so on, is not dependant on the religious structure one places it in.

For instance, while it was a good bonus in the original days of Wicca to have knowledge of the folk magick of the area, there were many who didn’t have much knowledge of herbs or “The Cunning Craft” (my term for cunningmen and cunningwomen) and Gardner was actively recruiting those kinds of people to be in his new covens ⁽¹⁾. This means that it is possible to have knowledge and practice a magickal system without the baggage of a religion attached to it.

Just a few people who were religious but who had knowledge of magick that was independent of that religion:

Alister Crowley
Elphas Levi
King Solomon
Any Rosicrucian or Mason

And this is just a short sample. While each of these people may have been people of faith who attended church (of whatever expression they chose), they didn’t necessarily have to have the religion to practice their magick. Crowley in particular had very few references to god or extra planar beings in his writings, and while Solomon’s Keys have a number of references to those beings, no where in the texts of the Greater Key of Solomon or the Lesser Key of Solomon or other books that go in the set does it state that you have to believe in those creatures or deity forms. In fact, if you believe Phil Hine (a Chaos Magician), he did the rites directly out of the Key of Solomon without ever coming close to believing the whole thing ⁽²⁾.

That proves that it’s possible to have a religion and a magickal craft that are separate instead of linking to each other all the time, as other magickal paths like Judaism and the Kaballah do.

Would it be possible for a Wiccan to practice the craft of witchcraft without the religion of Wicca? Would it be possible to do so the other way, to practice Wicca without the skill-set of Witchcraft?

I believe they are both possible.

I have known amazing magickians who had no religion and would be offended if you asked them to summon a deity to their magickal rite, just as I have know amazing spiritual people that would never think of practicing magick.

It comes down to the dichotomy of spirituality vs. magick. They are not the same and have never been the same. They do not equate to each other although there are those who combine them into a very interesting practice (like Vodoun and Santeria), which I really respect. But they are not necessarily dependant on each other.

What does this have to do with Wicca? There have been some who have suggested that ALL Wiccans are witches and vice versa. Well, this witch is a Wiccan as well, but that’s not true of all out there. The recent trend toward just spirituality is one indicator of Wicca not equaling witchcraft. More and more there are those who practice Wicca, with all the forms and rituals attendant of that practice, without the magickal element.

I blame this on the books coming out. Most of the Wicca 101 books out there on the market now teach the spirituality and moral structure of Wicca without going too far into the magickal aspects or the psychic aspects. Thus those who read those books believe that Wicca is a religion without magick and they feel that magick is out of place.

This creates several problems, unfortunately.

First, Wicca is about magick. One cannot experience the Mysteries without experiencing magick first. The root principles in magick unlock the doors that the Mysteries are behind. Without the experience of what it is like to have an ecstatic trance, you can’t tell when you are having an epiphany, and if you do experience it, more than likely it will scare the socks off you. In fact, I have heard a story about a “priestess” who stopped doing rituals with one other priestess conducting the ritual. When cornered as to why she suddenly stopped, she said that during the last ritual that she attended she had “felt something” and it scared her. It was my understanding that “feeling something” was the point of the ritual.

Second, Healing is magick. Most of the basic books talk about healing as an ability like singing or sculpting. It is such an ability where you have to have an inborn aptitude to use it, but that is only half the story. Without the knowledge that magick brings to the table, healing will be out of reach of most of the new generation of Wiccans because the discipline and energy control as well as the ability to visualize all contribute to hone the skill of healing.

Third, most of the texts about magick are dull and dry. They are speaking to the experienced magickians more often than not, without caring that there is a generation of Wiccans who will miss out on half their practice. So supplementing their reading of the 101 books with magickal texts will only serve to confuse.

Now that I have argued for why Wicca IS about witchcraft, I want to argue the other side for a bit.

Ordinarily, a priestess teaches Magick to a student outside of common classes. In most traditions that I have been told about, there is an “Outer Court” which discusses the religion of Wicca, the history, the way to practice and so on. Once a student graduates from that, they are brought to the coven as a group and they go through a “dedicant’s ceremony” allowing them more access to the group and group members as well as enlarging upon their basic knowledge. As far as I know, from there, they are assigned a mentor who talks about the deeper aspects of Wicca, like the spells and how to do them. The mentor supervises any rituals the dedicant undertakes and gives suggestions and help.

The books are like the “Outer court” information. With this scenario there is no mentor to guide, teach and supervise. Which means that when the person who has read the books passes along their knowledge of only what they have read, meaning that they are passing along the “outer court” material as all that Wicca is.

But the point here is that the teachings about magick ARE taught separately and the Outer Court material and you can have a whole tradition based around only the outer court material. Granted, it’s a stunted tradition, one without the richness that the magick brings into it, but it is still possible. And it is possible to grow into the magickal aspects with time and patience.

Then there is the nature of the magick itself. There is herbalism, hexmastery, divination and tarot, ESP and other psychic powers, elemental energy channeling, weather witching, talking to plants and animals, and all the other parts of magick that are out there. Each of these is a skill that is learned and practiced and honed through use, which are independent of a religion. You have Wiccan herbwitches, Christian herbwitches, Voodoo herbwitches, agnostic herbwitches, atheist herbwitches, all of who have the same knowledge and skills, each of them calling upon different deities (or not calling on deities at all) to do what they do. And each is equally effective in their practice as any other. So this is a skill that is independent of the religion professed.

And any of the above named skills are like that. You don’t have to believe in the Golden Rule to read a tarot card, or pray to Buddha or Shiva to have a dream of what will come tomorrow, nor do you have to call upon Diana to pick an herb that will cure a cough. You may certainly do so if it is what you want to do, but you do not HAVE to. Which makes these skills independent of the religion of Wicca.

Therefore, this trend to reclaim the word “witch” for the Wiccans, and some Wiccans claiming that unless you are Wiccan you cannot call yourself a witch is patently false. It is likely that Wiccans can be witches, and many witches are Wiccan. If a group chooses to call themselves witches and they happen to be Wiccan it does not follow that only Wiccans can call themselves witches. It does not even mean that all Wiccans must call themselves witches or that all Wiccans are witches.

To follow this reasoning, one must also believe that all Christians are carpenters, since some Christians are carpenters, and the head of their religion (Jesus) was himself a carpenter. The ridiculousness of this statement should be obvious as there are many carpenters who are not Christian, and many, many Christians are not carpenters but other professions.

Witchcraft is a skill set, learned and refined and honed as a profession; the religion should never enter into it.

(1) According to Isaac Bonewits in his book “Wicca; A Concise History”  <back>

(2) Taken from the context of “Some Observations from The Goetia Project” where he never states he believed in Judaism, but in which he recited the rituals verbatim to the Lesser Key of Solomon. The text of this essay is available at http://www.beyondweird.com/occult/aoev1.html on page 25. <back>

Originally posted 2011-02-22 21:03:13.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

This is the first time I’ve reviewed a program, much less one about Tarot. When I joined the American Tarot Association, I decided to really try to get my tarot certification and to start an online and phone based reading business. For that I needed something that would be really easy to use, easy to interpret and easy to install.

I think I got all that in this program.

Don’t fool yourself; it will take some time to get used to the interface and the controls. So plan on spending at least two days (like I did) learning how to do everything before using it for clients. But once you are past that initial learning stage, the program is really easy.

Before I begin, I want to state this: I encourage you all to buy the registered version. You can download and install the program, but until it is registered, you will get a nag screen when the program is opened, and some things have limited functionality (like only being able to use three decks). I found that there were a few more options available to me once it was registered, but if I hadn’t the money I would have been satisfied with the free version.

That said, I paid for a Single Machine License. It was the most inexpensive option for me, and since I only use one computer, it was a good choice. I can upgrade that later to the one user license which will let me use it on up to three machines, but that’s a purchase for the future.

The interface of the program is clean and uncluttered. There is a deck of cards, a “docking square” for the undelt deck if you want to get it out of the way, and the background. By default this comes as just a solid color, but you can put a tiled image in there if you wish to so you can have a “tarot table cover” if you want. That’s it. All the commands are accessed by right-clicking on the deck, which gives you the program, card and reading commands.

You can have an unlimited number of decks in the program in the registered version, and if you are like me, I tend to have about five or six I rotate through depending on my needs. Currently I have the “Housewives Tarot”, “The Robin Wood Tarot”, “The Celtic Tarot”, a rune deck and the Pagan Tarot. Other users are constantly developing and uploading their own decks, and with just a few clicks you can access those decks and any spreads they have developed.

When you click on the spreads, you get three by default. You will have to make your own or download others. You get a three card spread, a six card star and the Celtic Cross. These are good beginning tarot spreads, but if you are like me and have several other spreads, it may be worth a look on their P2P network to download some spreads.

I did note that while the unregistered version only allows you three decks, the top three alphabetically in the Windows list, you can have as many spreads as you want. To my mind, this is a good move by them so that they can encourage you to use their program.

I designed and uploaded my two unique spreads, and downloaded about ten others. I modified a couple for my own use (mostly by moving cards around so I can see them) and uploaded those modified spreads as well. I found that it was possible to see the spreads before you download them, which is perfect since I hate cluttering my PC with useless data. You can also go in and delete old decks and spreads that you don’t want anymore.

You can save readings for further interpretation later, and for emailing to clients. There is a screen capture option and a place where you can note the picture, doing a reading and sending it directly from your program to your client. My one word for that feature? Bonus.

You can toggle through the decks you have so you can get different nuances from different decks. You can compare the pictures of various decks to see which would be best. You can deal single cards in the middle of the reading if you want, and you can shuffle the deck while you have a spread out. There’s even a feature that will let you zoom in on a card so you can see the nuances of the artwork while reading.

While this is an excellent program, there are some problems.

First off, if you dock the cards in the docking square, there’s no way to access the program commands unless you undock the cards, then right-click. It’s a two step process and when you have a client on the phone, it may be a bit more time than you want to take. Since everything is off the right-click menu, including all the decks and spreads and how to deal the cards, it can be a bit of a pain to get it.

The next thing that is irritating is that you may have to tweak the spreads/cards extensively so you can use it. You get pop-up windows to display the card position and the card description if you want it, but not a lot of the spreads or decks out there have the descriptions in them. They may have the positions mapped out, but there is no guarantee that the author described it while making it. I had that problem with almost every deck I downloaded and almost all the spreads.

There was one deck that I had to totally re-write, but when it’s a non-standard deck of runes, it can be forgiven.

I would wish the hotkeys for the spreads were easier to use. There’s a bunch of hotkeys for the program options, but I wish there was a “repeat” for laying out another spread on top of the spread that is out. Currently the program forces you to gather all the cards up, shuffle and then re-deal them.

Also, features for selecting a significator and/or a segment of cards from the deck are non-existent. I occasionally like to find the significator for the querent and look at the cards immediately around that card as another tool for them, but the program doesn’t allow for that. Similarly, you cannot look at the bottom card of the deck either. There also aren’t any options for “jump out” cards while shuffling.

It is possible to turn off all the reversals though, which I appreciate. The only problem is that if you turn it off for all decks, and have it turned on for one, then you toggle to another deck, that deck will have a lot of reversals in it. There’s no really easy way to change that.

Personally? I’m going to keep this program for some time. While it will never replace a face to face reading, it will do wonders for doing readings over the phone or over the Internet. I’m giving this program Four Stars out of Five, the best that I have seen yet.

Originally posted 2010-01-12 04:06:52.

More and more recently, there has come a term that is making more of the serious-minded Pagan sit up an take notice: Fluff Bunnies.

There are other names, Playgan, Wicabes, Wiclets, witchypooh, **New Term** Wictim (defined as a Wiccan Victim, or one of those who thinks the Inquisition is still going on) and so on, all of which do the same basic thing; All these names reveal a deep-seated dislike for those who take the religion of Wicca and Paganism less than seriously.

What are the symptoms of this dread condition, you may ask?

1) Aversion to research.

This is probably the most serious symptom. When this symptom manifests itself, the afflicted person tends to read something in a popular book, email list, newsgroup or website and take it as the literal truth, without checking facts. It’s worse when combined with blind trust of the so-called “elders” who have silly names like “High Lady Stuffandnonsense” or “Lady MoonroseHaven”. Their names literally sound like they came out of a Pagan Name Generator and are begging for ridicule.

Basically, Lady Stuffandnonsense decides to write an article about the healing qualities of Foxglove and throws down on the article all that she knows about the plant, without ever bothering to look anything up. Thus, you have an article that talks about the soporific qualities of Foxglove, how beautiful the flowers are, and how magically it can be used to help the person sleep. A tea may be included in the recipe to allow the person reading it to have a good night’s sleep.

Here’s the problem: Foxglove is a poison. It’s known as Digitalis, and is used in minute qualities as a way of preventing heart attacks. Does High Lady Stuffandnonsense know this? She may, but since she doesn’t write it down, the people reading this post don’t know it. Do they look up the facts on this plant? No, they trust the information Lady Stuffandnonsense has put down and would never dream of questioning it. What happens?

Someone who actually knows what Foxglove is who reads the same list, takes it upon themselves to correct many of the misconceptions and inaccurate statements in the article, including that it’s a poisonous substance and should only be used by someone who knows what they are doing. The other people who are reading this list, who have not seen this person post before, get upset at the supposed “attack” of the second poster upon Lady Stuffandnonsense and decide to make a few dozen (thousand) cutting remarks about the second poster.

Now, at this juncture, Lady Stuffandnonsense could dissolve the entire problem by checking with a few online pharmacopoeias or herbals, and discovering that the second poster is right, correcting her own facts and moving on. Is this what happens? No. That would require work.

It’s far easier for High Lady Stuffandnonsense to write another article making disparaging comments about the second poster, and to cite her years of knowledge that have been accumulated by her ancestors and how this is all out of her family’s hand written book of Shadows which has been passed down for the last 4 centuries to her. It’s easier to declare in sonorous tones that the second poster doesn’t have the background to know what Lady Stuffandnonsense is talking about and that the second poster is just WRONG.

All of which leads the Wiclets who look to Lady Stuffandnonsense for education to be encouraged in their attacks on the second poster. It does not matter that the second poster has a PhD in Herbalism and Pharmacology (and is a practicing pharmacist and homeopathic doctor), the second poster (obviously, according to the list) has absolutely no knowledge of what Lady Stuffandnonsense is talking about. (You may laugh, but this scenario actually happened at one point, and I’ve toned it down quite a bit.)

At which point our Doctor gets ticked off and tries in vain to educate these people before they overdose with Foxglove and kill someone. Which leads to an escalation of the resistance to that education, and so on, ad neausium.

If Lady Stuffandnonsense had looked a couple facts up before writing her article, had she looked the facts up after she wrote and posted her article, had she been mature and not had her ego invested in being right, all this could have been prevented. Nor is she alone in the blame, all those who decided that a correction of facts was an attack, because they refused to see that anyone else could offer anything of use to them are guilty of perpetuating this scenario too. Finally our Doctor who posted the correction is somewhat guilty, by answering the Wiclets who attacked her and her facts (although this is completely understandable, and laudable, in her attempt to not be witness to an accident waiting to happen.)

(A perfect example of this is the above section. In the first draft of this essay I had confused Datura, Foxglove and Henbane as the same plant. While all are poisonous, each is a separate species of plant. I posted this first section to a list I am on, and when I was corrected, I ADMITTED my mistake, looked up some facts, corrected it in this draft, and went on. No one got mad, no one got defensive, nor did anyone get their feelings hurt. Had I been a fluffy, I would have retreated into “I’m right and you are wrong….” and left a lot of sore feelings behind, perpetuated inaccurate info, and proved how immature I am.)

2) Blind faith in anything said by the “leader”.

One of the most juvenile and lemming-like qualities in Wiclets is this one. Be it Silver RavenWolf, Cunningham, Lady Stuffandnonsense, Lady Stuffandnonsense’s teacher from 30 years ago, a website or what have you, this is totally accepting whatever this person says as Gospel, the way it is, the TRUTH and nothing but the TRUTH, even when faced with multiple refutations of that truth by other sites. Here’s an example:

Lady Stuffandnonsense has a website in which she posts the information that during the Burning Times, 9 million women were burned at the stake for being witches. She advertises this site to everyone she knows, and to her list of Wiclets who don’t know any better. Lady Stuffandnonsense ignores the bare fact that 20 or 30 people, historians and scholars correct her “fact” and she never updates that site to reflect the more accurate numbers.

Lady Stuffandnonsense’s Wiclet followers go out and quote the 9 million number and get violently offended when anyone tries to correct it, or use logic to point out that 9 million women couldn’t have possibly died because there would be no Europe left had that happened, or that men were killed too and so on. Which leads us to Symptom…

3) Anger when a “Sacred Cow” is questioned.

Honestly, this one makes the least sense to me. Most mainstream western religions demand that you be obedient and not question what is told to you by the authorities in the Church. You must surrender your brain at the door. You are not allowed to ask “Why” thus and so is how we do things, nor are most dogmatic thoughts discussed or explained other than in the gathering of clergy. To the lay person, the worshiper, questions like “why do you use two hands to bless the bread” are not allowed, the answer is invariably “because”.

But one thing about Wicca is that it is not supposed to be mired in dogma or in pointless ritual. Practitioners are encouraged to ask questions and define things for themselves. They are supposed to think and ask and challenge and question. But it looks more and more Wiccabes are challenging the wrong things.

Certainly challenge the statement “we do this ritual this way because” with “why do you do it that way, why not this way?” But don’t automatically assume that because scourging appears in a ritual, and you think it’s too kinky that it’s wrong. Part of questioning the sacred cow is to accept that which you find strange.

Please note, I DID NOT say that you had to practice it. I understand that there are those out there who are horrified at the sight of blood, and therefore will never do a blood sacrifice or animal sacrifice. But just because you find that particular practice repellant does not mean that it should be discarded completely. There are good and strong reasons that one sacrifices blood or animals, and there are ways that it is done which make the process and the magick stronger. It is not done casually or callously; it is done at times of need. But you must be willing to say “Well, that’s for them. I understand why they are doing it, but it’s not for me” and allow them to practice it.

Let’s say for instance, you find out that a priestess in your community does hexes. This is contrary to your set of ethics and the Rede. Do not go around bashing said priestess and saying how bad she is, that she’s a member of a “left-handed path” and so on, but find out why she is doing those hexes and allow her to do them if they are her choice. After all, it’s HER karmatic burden she is raising; it’s HER that will be kicked in the teeth by Threefold Return, not you. No one appointed you as the moral guardian of the month, and because of that you have no right to say anything.

In fact, by taking it upon yourself to run around and correct everyone’s behavior, you are linking your karma to hers, and if SHE gets karmatcially kicked in the teeth, you will too. So the rule here is “live and let live”.

But in order to question intelligently, you should be familiar with why something exists in the first place. In order to question and possibly discard the scourging in a ritual, you have to understand why it’s there. Just saying, “no one is going to hit ME with a whip over a hundred times” is not enough, you have to understand what that whipping means in the context of the ritual, in the context of the religion and in the context of the symbols it represents. Without that understanding, how can you judge what should be there and what should be done away with? Saying it’s not for you is fine, but it may also be a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater if you discard it. You could be throwing out a critical component of the spirituality and part of the Mysteries you signed up to learn if you discard this.

Another major lack in fluffies is

4) Critical Thinking Skills. June 12, 2003

Let’s look at an example for a moment:

We will use for this example one of the greatest and most often cited “fact” of modern Wiccan/Pagan history; the 9 Million European Women Dead during the Burning Times. I have personally seen this figure quoted in numerous books, cited as “fact” on many pages, and found it being taught in classes on Wicca and Paganism. Most of those in the know, the ones who have done some research on the topic, have found that this is a complete fallacy. In the first draft of this document, I had a series of suppositions dealing with this “fact” but it seems that my assumptions made me talk out of my ass myself. So, I will defer to the experts in this field and send you all to these pages: Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt and The Burning Times Myth are two excellent articles debunking this particular myth. Please read both these articles before continuing with this article.

Done? Good. Now, given what you just read, does the “fact” of 9 million European women being murdered logically stand? I truly don’t think so.

What are scholars saying? That the actual death toll is between 40,000 and 60,000 with a POSSIBLE high of 100,000 ( Summerlands Remembrance ) but that’s it. In fact, as more accurate data is found, the death toll is going down. It’s approaching 20,000. ( Population sources for information on actual population totals during the time period we are talking about. )

But all of this assumes you don’t believe the 9 million estimate, it assumes you have enough thinking skills to actually try to think things through and find out for yourself what is true and what is not, especially when facts are concerned, and sources are NOT cited. This means that you have to have critical thinking skills and the ability to question what you have been told, and the tools necessary to find out the truth.

I did some web searches and found the above pages through those searches. The first one to find out population was done on Google with the key terms of “Estimated population Europe 1550″ and I got thousands of hits. The second of these was sufficient for my purposes, but I bet any of the others that showed population statistics would have done. The second search I did was for “Estimate death “burning times”" and I had over 200 hits. But I knew how to find the facts I wanted.

This is one of those skills that I see fewer and fewer people actually using. The Internet is one huge research library, and people don’t know how to use a search engine. It’s like looking in the index of a book in the library. One fluffy posted a question about some Gods and who they were, their myths, what they did and so on. Now, I was able to find all the information she wanted in about 10 minutes with Google, but could she be bothered to do that? Why not? This is part of basic fact-finding, a skill taught in EVERY school in America, and probably in the world. So why couldn’t she do this? IMO, one word sums it up, laziness. She simply did not want to do the 10 minutes of work associated with this to find out the answer to her question.

So, this needs to stop, along with not wanting to question “facts” especially when they are highly subjective facts.

Also, don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that the whole Inquisition and other witch frenzies was not a tragedy, it was. It was a horrible terror that should not have been stood for by the local people ( “They Came For Me” ) and should have been stopped if only out of enlightened self-interest. No, what I’m saying is that it’s high time Wiccans stop trying to be the most persecuted group in history. It’s almost like modern Wiccans are so insecure with their own belief that they have to have the most “ancestors” killed to feel special. Why can’t they feel special because of their religion? Know what? ALL my ancestors died, every one of them, a 100% mortality rate. But you don’t see me crying about how persecuted I am by time, do you? Stop inventing things to be martyrs for, there is more than enough serious problems to make you feel special.

5) Reality checks bouncing.

So, you think your HPS of this group is a 40th level Werewolf who if she bites someone will turn them into a werewolf, and you can’t wait for it to be your turn to be bitten? You need a serious mental checkup.

Let’s look at a few facts:

While it is true that legends of the Wolfman and Vampires appear in mythology, there is no evidence they actually exist. Porphyria, iron deficiency anemia, near death experiences, and some sick bastards are all sufficient to explain why someone who goes out only at night and drinks blood from raw or rare steaks. The rest can be explained as self-delusion. Kids with genetic deficiencies that make them grow all kinds of body hair ( Wolfman and Gendis ) are to be pitied, not emulated. But in the past, others could have had this rare genetic problem, and when superstition was rampant instead of scientific investigation, wolfman stories were probably invented to explain the “freaks”.

At which point, it was simply easier to go with the flow and become what everyone was saying they were. The stories and eyewitness accounts enter the public record and we have myths of someone with excessive body hair eating chickens by the moonlight.

Personally, if I were living in the 1400′s, had a genetic disorder that made my entire body sprout hair and keep growing it everywhere, I had been made fun of all my life because of this, I was considered a freak, I would be in hiding, only coming out at night, eating whatever food I could steal from farmhouses (most probably chickens) and attacking people I hated. Crud, my life is already in the toilet, why not add murder to it and get revenge on the people who have been tormenting me all my life?

The point here is that this was NOT romantic, it was NOT good, it was NOT a fun thing, it was a horrendous existence. If you have spent any time in school and had to deal with the herd mentality of the average 12 year old schoolchildren, you know how cruel they can be to those who are different. And they know about Porphyria, or they can be educated about it. How many movies have been made where the deaf person is abused and beat simply because they can’t hear; because they are different from everyone else? And THIS is the kind of existence you want to live?

And this is what you want? You want to be a werewolf? You think it’s glamorous? How many of those myths have the werewolf going insane and killing and killing until they are killed by the “normal” population? How many vampires do the humans hunt down once they are discovered?

How about this? Remember back in the 1968 when that teacher divided the class into the brown eyed students and the blue eyed students, and told the blue eyed students they were worthless, to prove that Racism is taught? (Reference)

Those kids were vicious to each other, mean, cruel, hateful and that kind of behavior would NEVER be tolerated in most schools now, but it still goes on now, with bullies and hatred. And you want this to happen to you? Are you out of your mind?

“Oh,” I hear you say, “that won’t happen to ME!” So why in the name of all that is holy are you going around bragging about being one? Going onto lists and saying “I’m a Toreador and a Vampire! Boy White Wolf Games got my clan right on!” Do you have to be SO SUPER special that you can’t just be a Wiccan/Pagan? That’s not enough for you? You have to be some sort of elite group within Wicca to make yourself feel special?

Let me clue you in for a moment: Even when you identify yourself as a Witch/Druid/Vampire who can go out in the Sunlight and not die, you still won’t feel special. You’ll still have to look around and find more things to identify with to make yourself feel good. All you will find is that most people will want to be FAR away from you, and those that DO want to be around you will only want to be there to feed your delusion that you are a vampire.

There is nothing wrong with taking a piece of truth you find in a game or in a myth and adding that to your spirituality. There are many who think Loki is Chaotic Neutral, and that use the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ™ alignment scale to rate people. Does that mean they thing that Paladins exist here and now, and that the planes are labeled as AD&D says they are? Probably not. It’s that the symbol of the alignment made sense to them, and they use it to represent how this person strikes them in a soul state. It’s an attempt to quantify with words something that is beyond description, nothing more.

So, if you are a fan of White Wolf, more power to you, you will find a lot of people who will be more than willing to talk to you endlessly about the games they had in the past. They will talk to you about how the energies of the Moon feel different during a Waxing Gibbous Moon than they do during the New Blood Moon. But when you call yourself a Wererider, expect to become persona non-gratta fairly fast. Wake up and smell reality. Or as I heard in one game when someone was getting too into their character “Get real, this is fantasy!”

6) “I am a Priest(ess) of the God(dess)! I know everything!!!”

This is one of those statements that make real practitioners cringe. Just because you have done some reading does not mean you know everything. It does not even mean that you know everything on a given subject; there is always more to learn.

Let’s take ONE area that the fluffies love to say they know everything on, the Runes.

First question: Which Runes? Elder Futhark? Younger Futhark? Anglo-Saxon? Seax-Wica (as invented by Buckland)? Which rune set are you talking about when you say you know everything? Each of the above sets of runes is VERY different from the others, and each of them have nuances that don’t appear in others. It’s like working with alphabets, there is English, Finnish, Dutch, Cyrillic, Spanish, German and Chinese. You can’t substitute one set of alphabets for another without some work.

But let’s stipulate that you are working with the Elder Futhark Runes. Which interpretation are you using? Blum’s, Peschel’s (the set I use actually), the Icelandic rune poem, the Norwegian rune poem or the Old English rune poem? If you know everything about the runes, you should know what I’m talking about here. If you don’t you need to do some more studying.

What? You are using your own interpretation, based on what the Gods told you they meant? Well WHY didn’t you say so? That’s fine, but don’t claim that YOUR interpretation of the runes is what everyone knows, because it’s not. Blum has a set of interpretations, Peschel has a different interpretation, and both of them are based on the Germanic rune poems, of which there are three different sets, all meaning different things. And that is just one set of runes, there are about 20 different runic alphabets out there that can be used for divination, the most common alternate being the Ogham of the Druids. But saying that you got inspired to write your own set of runes and interpret them THIS way will get you looked at as an honest person rather than some damned fluffy by most people in the communities you want to interact with.

And by being a Priest/ess you have to have a Church or Coven.  But what is wrong with being a worshiper? Nothing. Most people I know of simply like to go to the rituals, sing the songs, do the drumming, chant the chants, and don’t care about being the leader of a ritual. They will gladly say that they are a worshiper, not a priest. But you get on some lists, and the fluffies come out of the woodwork to say that EVERYONE is a priest or priestess and that you can’t avoid it.

Let me suggest this: While they may be right that everyone is a priest(ess) for themselves, meaning they don’t need an intercessor between them and the Gods, there is nothing wrong with allowing the leadership roles to fall upon those who actually want to do the job and who are good at it. You don’t have to be a priest or priestess of the Gods if you don’t feel the call in your heart, because it’s a long hard road. If you only feel like doing the worship parts and praying to the Gods when you are alone, guess what? You can do that.

But for some reason, fluffies seem to think that just because you are Wiccan, and Cunningham said you could initiate yourself, that you are automatically a priestess and MUST have a coven and lead them all. Well, if that were the case, the Christian religion would be made up of nothing but priests and priestesses. They pray, they do the celebrations, they go to church, but they have not dedicated their lives to service of others and leading groups of worshipers in ritual. They don’t have the specialized knowledge that has been the hallmark of the Clergy. Your Prest/ess has that specialized knowledge. If you feel compelled to find that knowledge out and tread the path of becoming Wiccan Clergy, more power to you, you will find a lot of helping hands. If you only want to celebrate and worship, more power to you as well. But don’t think that just because you have been initiated into Wicca (ie baptized into the Christian Church) that you are automatically clergy and have to be an asshole about it.

I had been practicing for four years before I ever thought about calling myself a “priest”. I had earned the title many times over, but someone else called me a Priest before I would ever think about calling myself that.

7) An aversion to introspection.

A while ago, I did a series of articles on various things, one of which was “The Path of the Magickian“. It lays out the path a practitioner of magick treads in their journey. One of the recurring themes of that article, and a critical component of anyone’s spirituality, was introspection.

Don’t know what that is? Let me explain.

Introspection is “looking within”. In an INspection, you look at things, adding “intro” means within. So, you look within your mind, your soul, your body and find out what is right, wrong, in need of correcting at a future time, and what can be put on hold indefinitely. You look and find why you are pissed off when your sister takes the attention at Christmas, you look and find out why you are tired at the end of the day, you look and find out why that song on the radio made you cry. You find these things out so you can apply them in your life. Want to be helpless every time “The Leader of the Band” comes on the radio? Then find out why it makes you bawl your eyes out. I know why it affects me, and how to keep it from affecting me to the point of having an accident. But I would not have know that or how to “fix” it if I didn’t go looking for the cause and how to fix it.

Want to know why you don’t have a lover in your life yet? Look at past relationships and pay attention to what you were doing. Remember that when so-and-so grabbed the brush out of your had that you flew into a rage is not enough, why did you fly into that rage? Is it because they were rude, is it because you were not done yet, or was it because you were afraid they would hit you with it like your mommy did?  Are you insecure about your looks and brushing your hair is a way to delay looking in the mirror and dealing with how ugly you are?  Or is it that he simply wanted to talk to you and you thought that his doing that was incredibly rude?  As GI Joe said at the end of every episode “Knowing is half the battle”.

Guess what…. When you know, you can say to your next lover, “Don’t grab the brush out of my hand, my mother used to do that just before she smacked me with it for being bad, and it brings up a LOT of bad memories for me” or that you need to work on your temper or your beauty self image issues.  Thus, you can break out of one cycle of behavior through knowing WHY you reacted the way you did.  Ninety percent of the time, without breaking out of those cycles, you can’t advance spiritually.

Not wanting to mess up.

This is probably the most insidious fluffy behavior there is, the desire not to screw up. Conversely it’s the easiest to correct.

You are asked to do something for your leader. Because you don’t want to mess up and you want to be looked upon as trustworthy and capable, you decide to do it and you jump in with both feet. It does not matter that this is not something you are actually knowledgeable in, and that you are incapable of doing this, you want to impress her and your mates, so you do it. You do this without help, you mess up, mess up and mess up, and pretty soon you are in over your head.

Want to know a secret? No one is going to look down on you if you say “no”. No one is going to assume you are a bad person if you don’t put the incense on the altar because you are afraid of fire. No one is going to look at you with distain because you can’t play a note of your guitar despite 5 years of lessons, and if they do, who needs them? I’m afraid of clowns, terribly afraid of them, so don’t ask me to participate in the local Pagan Carnival, because I will probably snap and beat a few clowns up.

Does this make me less of a Priest? No. It means that I’m mature enough to accept that I can’t stand clowns and that I don’t want to be associated with them at all. My wife is afraid of balloons, so both of us working at one of these carnivals is REALLY a bad idea. But if I were not honest with myself and those in the community, if I were fluffy, I would keep this a secret and not reveal it to anyone, with possibly disastrous results. All because I don’t want to be seen as weak.

It’s not that important. It makes me human. I have a flaw, so we deal with it, move on and work around it. I’m a person, not a saint or a paragon. Be honest with yourself and others and don’t try to take on things you are not suited to.

(The following two pieces were suggested by Chris Cottrell on a.r.w.m. Many thanks to him.)

9) Wonderland syndrome

Wicca is nice, Wicca is kind, all elements that may be considered “dark” like death, cycles of nature, decomposition, male dolphins raping female dolphins and sometimes attacking humans in a sexual way, whales beaching themselves deliberately because they are suicidal and on and on and on are ignored because they are bad. Part of this syndrome is that if anyone does anything that could be considered “dark”, such as casting a spell to give what someone has coming to them, they are IMMEDIATELY considered a “Left Handed Pather” and are thus beyond contempt. It doesn’t matter that Silver Ravenwolf herself practices Dutch Hexamastery, that Buckland says that hexes are sometimes good things, or that most HP/Ss in practicing covens say “can’t hex, can’t heal” and advise everyone to be familiar with ALL aspects of Magick, oh no, that is entirely ignored.

Added to that, Unicorns, Dragons and Fairies are routinely put into the practice and spirituality of one who is a true fluffbunny. Yes, each of these creatures can be benevolent and kind, but Unicorns have a limit to their patience and sometimes will gore you just to get rid of you. Dragons consider most humans no better than lice and the Fairies of pre-Victorian practice stole babies out of their cribs because they could, leaving a “changeling” that would sicken and die within weeks. Cats were reputed to steal the breath of children while they slept, leading to SIDS, Brownies would wreck a house where proper “tribute” was not left on the doorstep, and gnomes in the garden demanded fresh milk daily or they would keep the plants stunted, starving the owners of the garden.

Then there are the truly evil fairies, like the Red Caps, who dipped their hats in fresh human blood to make them red and to gain power, incidentally killing the person in question.

Most fluffies exhibiting the Wonderland Syndrome feel blood sacrifice is one of the worst things from the “dark side of Wicca” that one could mention. It is irrelevant that menstrual blood is a critical component for things like “Witches’ Bottles” and so on, or that blood appears in various forms in spells from the Middle Ages, or that there are many good articles out there dealing with modern Blood Sacrifice (by going to donate blood), or that they are in the middle of ritual and feel an overwhelming urge to cut their hand with their athame, oh no, that is BAD and of the Dark Powers (never specifying just WHICH dark powers).

See, Wicca is of light and love and life and lollypops and fluff and cotton candy…. They completely ignore that the Moon has a Dark Phase too.

10) Lack of effective practice.

Gods help them if they actually cast a spell that WORKS. They will totally freak out, every time. Fluffy sits down and does a spell to bring money into their life. Suddenly they get an unlooked-for bonus at work, which precisely covers their needs. There are one of several things that usually happen to the Fluff bunny at this point.

a) They go into Wizard mode, and everything requires a spell. Their Magick WORKS, by the Goddess, and so they need Magick for EVERY problem and situation they come upon. Therefore, to get a promotion or a new house or gain money for the bills, all they need to do is cast a spell. They feel that because they deserve whatever and that they did the spell, that it will fall into their laps, even if they can’t articulate that this is how they feel. And because they did the spell, they don’t have to do any more work to make their desire come to pass. After all, they did the spell, right? Please note, this is USUALLY only a problem with the very young fluffies, although it can (and does) occur in any age group.

b) They go into fear-factor mode. Magick WORKS…. Therefore, all those evil people out there, the LHPers, they can do Magick and harm them and they can’t do anything because they can’t harm others because of the rede and their priestess said that they couldn’t because….. Suddenly life turns serious and ANYONE can be a magickal master out to get them. They are constantly being attacked by these enemies, and therefore that must be PROOF of how special they are, since the powers of darkness want to keep them down (and not so incidentally playing up to the Victim Attitude and making them feel even more special).

c) Gunslinger syndrome. “I’m so powerful and good that everyone is out to get me and prove how powerful they are, but they are never as powerful as me….” Come on, you have met these people before. They are the ones who are always shielding others because they are under constant psychic attack or their spells are so wonderful that it draws all kinds of evil creatures to them…. These people are the perpetual martyr.

Now, what do these people have in common? Usually their lives are a complete shambles and they can’t magick their way into a headache, much less anything else. These are the ones who have no significant other, despite the tons of love spells they cast, they are the ones who go around and tell everyone else how weak their shields are and how to fix them, despite being in a sacred place that has generations of protections on it (the magickal equivalent of a nuclear blast shelter) which they can’t sense if their lives depended on it, or they complain and moan about how everything that is wrong in their life is due entirely to spells and attacks from those who are jealous of their power. Every problem has a supernatural explanation and they do rituals for the littlest things, probably hoping they will luck into a working spell again out of sheer repetition.

It is my opinion that fluffies exhibiting this symptom are the most irritating.

Update June 4, 2004 I have seen reports that have been shared with me from various people which perfectly describe this syndrome.  I was told of a priestess of a coven who went to an open ritual with another group.  They had the ritual together and later the HPS refused to go to and participate with the first HPS again.  When pressed for an answer as to why not, she stated that during the Circle, she “felt something” and attributed this to “dark powers”.  HELLO! The point of ritual is to evoke and invoke those same forces, to “feel something” during the ritual.  If you don’t feel something during a ritual, you are DOING IT WRONG.  But the fluffy HPS was scared because the ritual actually worked, which points to her rituals never having worked in the past.

11) Lack of respect for other religions.

Pulling the “Totems” from Native American spirituality, mixing it with Quetzocoattal, adding in Finnish runes, using the didgeridoo of the Native Australians (especially if female) and then dissing the Koran as a hate book is one example. There are many others. These are the people who will gladly pull from any tradition and practice, even mutually antagonistic ones, without regard for propriety or cultural taboos. They are the ones who will walk up to a Native American Medicine Man, and call him a witch to his face  and think that this is a high honor. (Okay, I’ll give it to you since this is a little obscure. To the Native American mindset, to my understanding, a Witch is one that causes harm and kills by Medicine techniques. Doing this would be equivalent to walking into a meeting of the NAACP and calling everyone there a “nigger” because it’s what the homies call themselves. It shows a fundamental lack of respect.)

Does this lack of respect actually matter to the average fluffy suffering from this symptom? Not in the least. She won’t understand why the Medicine Man won’t talk to her anymore. She doesn’t understand why no one will teach her how to play a didgeridoo, and why people laugh at her when she proudly claims that her Goddess is Kali and that her God is Gilgamesh (she heard the name in Star Trek and liked it).

Never once does it cross her mind that there may be taboos that don’t allow for a woman to play an instrument meant EXCLUSIVELY for men, or that her Goddess is a killer, no matter how many flowers she puts on her, or that totem animals are friends and companions and reminders, not deities. None of this seems to matter. If talked to about it, she will pass it off as being Eclectic, which is a good thing, right? I mean, let’s forget that the Romans came in and killed the Celts, conquered them and that the Roman legionnaires called upon Mars to help them do it, and let’s forget that the Celtic Goddess of War was called upon to help the Celts defend themselves, let’s put Mars and the Morrigon into the same ritual, they are both deities of War, right? Let’s forget that Loki is a god that caused the Midgard serpent, and that the same serpent causes Thor’s death in Ragnarók let’s put them together in the same ceremony to promote peace on Earth since they USED to be friends.

This attribute pairs nicely with the lack of research.

(Update August 14, 2004:

11a) Monopolytheism

Recently a visitor to my site offered this suggestion for an addition to this article.  So thanks to Wilhelm Barlow for this suggestion.  Drop him a line if you have strong thoughts on this, he wants your feedback.

I add his suggestion to the above part because these are the same basic thing, lack of respect.  In monopolytheism, All Gods are facets of ONE God.  This means that Thor, Odin, Mars, The Morrighan, Lugh, Satan, Lucifer, YHVH are all just facets of some uber-god out there, therefore since Thor really does equate to Eris and Discordia, it doesn’t matter what name we call Them, the proper deity will respond.

Once upon a time, I actually believed this.  It can be seen in some of my writings from about 4 years ago.  I don’t believe it now, precisely, but there are parts of this that still make sense.  I wrote a whole article on this topic, so take a look at that for now.

I feel this trend springs from a couple of sources.  First is a fear that Wicca/Paganism is wrong, and not wanting to piss the Christian God off.  So if these pagan deities you have been worshiping for the last 8 years are only aspects of God, then all is good and right.  Sorry, but it just doesn’t work that way.

The other source is one of the main works that were used when Wicca was first starting out, The White Goddess by Robert Graves.   Had Mr. Graves actually known what he was talking about, things may have been good, but since he was a poet who was trying to prove Margaret Murray’s theories he squished all goddesses into one goddess by some of the wildest twists of logic and by grasping at some of the thinnest of straws.

But unfortunately, for many years this was the gold standard.  Everyone related their gods to the One God, and this “Mystery” deepened.  Deities lost their names because the name wasn’t necessary.

And now when many in the Pagan communities (both online and off) are trying to rediscover the power of a deity as them self, with their own personality, flaws, wants, needs, desires, power and passion, many are sanctimoniously telling those who are doing this that they are wrong.

If you are too scared to move past Christianity and get over the concept of “One God”, then I have no problem with that.  But there is no call to say that my practice is wrong.  At that point, it’s one-true-wayism and hypocrisy.  More than anything else, monopolytheism is trying to be MONOPOLYtheism, and trying to take over from all other forms of practice.  Leave those of us who are trying to develop something meaningful alone and practice your way.

(And thanks to Lord Kern The God of Corn and Magazine Subscriptions for this next one:)

12) An inability to take constructive criticism constructively.

They always take it personal. Any criticism is a bad thing. You are surfing the Internet, find a fluffy page, see the HUGE factual errors about 9 million dying in the Burning Times, send a polite e-mail to the website owner in question suggesting that they may want to check out THIS LIST of 50 pages from reputable people who have come up with about 50,000 victims, and you get a nasty gram back. Come on, this has happened to YOU surely.

It always confuses the living daylights out of me since the initial e-mail was polite to the point of being subservient and servile, but because I dared criticize their page, I MUST be one of those oppressors who can’t stand that she’s putting up the truth on her page. Her Priestess said that 9 million died and logic no longer enters the picture.

And God help you if you are actually making fun of them on another site to blow off steam. I’m a member of a group who posts different pagan sites on a list for members to rate as to the quality of the writing, their knowledge of Paganism and Judeo-Christianity and how verifiable their facts are, as well as website design. Admittedly, many of the sites that are reviewed are fluffy and some are really ragged on, but to be fair the good sites, no matter how bad the beliefs expressed, are usually rated highly.

But when the fluffy under examination finds out their site is a “bad” one, they join up, review their OWN site, and rate it highly (duh) and then get 20-50 of their close friends to do the same thing, and call us meanies all the time, telling us how we are wrong, bad, evil, LHPers, idiots, one-true-wayish, how we are misogynistic, repressive, hidebound and so on till we just want to strangle them all. The owner of the site that does this has shared a few of the more choice e-mails and they are frightening in their fluffiishness. Point out ONE error and the world ends.

But it’s not just constructive criticism that is taken so wrongly (thanks Noddy for this), it’s ANY comment that can be seen as critical. For instance, try this test.

• Join a list or just a public chat.
• Wait for someone to ask a question like “I don’t like kids. Does this affect my relationship with the Goddess?”
• Let the fluffies have their say.
• Take a position counter to what they took (like saying “Not at all. The Goddess understands that there are some who don’t feel the call to be mothers and fathers. Good for you that you know this, instead of being a bad parent.”)
• Watch the list go ape-shit all over you. (have an asbestos suit handy)
• Get stock in the manufacturers of Fire-Extinguishers (you will be rich)

The flame war will be unlike anything you have ever seen. You will witness 60 year old people turning into bratty 5 year olds before your very eyes, you will see your words twisted like a Chinese metal puzzle, you will witness group attacks that make the Nazi Panzer blitz vs. the Polish Calvary (still on horseback and wielding sabers) look fair in comparison. You will be called all kinds of insulting names, your sexuality will be questioned, you will be told that you are NOT really ________ because how could say something like that and be that cruel.

You will hear from the pro-lifers (yes, Wicca has them too. [sigh] ) who will tell you that you support ripping children out of the womb in late pregnancy abortions and that you have no clue what the Rede is about. You will be favorably compared with those evil LHPers and ignored.

Mind you this will probably happen in just a few minutes if you are in a chatroom, and you will have no chance to defend yourself. If it’s an e-mail list, you will have it happen in about a day’s span, and it will be a recurring topic for about a week, even when the list-owner declares it too hot a topic to deal with.

And trust me, this is a MILD example. I have had this happen to me personally, and despite clarification after clarification, restating the original premise, restating my position, they STILL take it incorrectly and in the worst possible way.

What’s all this mean when you put it together? Hopefully if you recognize yourself in these words, you can take steps to begin to correct these problems. Correcting them will eventually lead to your loss of “fluffbunny” status. People will actually start wanting to be around you when you approach and you will honestly have something to say. Who knows what may happen at that point.

Other Resources:

This is the section where I send you out to other articles/essays that are about Fluffy-Bunnyism.  If you were offended by the above essay, you will want to read these resources to get a second opinion of your fluffy status.  All these are important for diagnosing this condition.

• Am I Fluffy

• Why Wiccans Suck

• Wicca For the Rest of Us

• The Fluffy Test

• Standard Fluffy Statements

Update May 5, 2003: I never thought I would have to do this, but apparently there are some out there who are trying to “reclaim” the term “fluffbunny” from us “evil people who think that we should all walk around with hexes in our hands, ready to throw them.” (This was a direct quote, BTW.)

THE TERM FLUFFBUNNY IS AN INSULT YOU {too stupid to know when you are being insulted} FLUFFERS This is not a term to wear with pride, it is something to be ashamed of. It means that you are head-in-the-clouds that you can’t see when someone is kicking your shins, or ridiculing you. As proved by the movement to “reclaim” this term.

This has been a term of derision for a while now, it generated from the “oh so cutsie” bunnies that are sold every year at Easter, and then who are abandoned every year at 4th of July when they are not cute anymore, but no one has the guts to slaughter them for the pot. It came from the trend of little girls (and some fully grown girls) to collect all that is stuffed like the Unicorns, Dwaggons, horsies, teddy bears, kitties, dollies and anything that has plush inside it. I first heard this term while playing D&D, and it was in regards to those who were too stupid to come in out of the rain.

Life is not lollypops and rainbows. Walk down an alley with those hundred dollar bills in your pocket and see if your “the Universe is a Friendly Place” philosophy will keep the muggers from eating you alive. I’ll stand back here with my karate and gun and not walk down the alley in the first place.

I know many people who are “Sweetness ‘n Light ©” people. They are wonderful people and they brighten up those around them. It’s good to have them around to make one feel better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a sunny disposition or having a positive outlook on life. In fact, one of those with a sunny disposition was molested as a little girl, and still recovering, the other just recently went through a BAD domestic dispute and subsequent divorce. These experiences did not embitter them, it made their bright nature even brighter. This is wonderful and completely right.

No, this essay is directed toward those individuals who have to ask permission from a list of strangers to do a spell to call the police on an abusive husband simply because it’s a BAD thing to do, and it could come back and hurt them….

Take off the blinders and the rose-colored glasses! Wake up. Be realistic and understand that the Universe tends toward Chaos, not chocolate and lollypops. There are thousands of sayings that prove this to you, but sitting around and hoping that the perfect job/lover/friend/situation will drop in your lap will not bring them to you. The Universe is a Universe of Survival of the Fittest. If you don’t drop the “innocent” act and wake up and get a little selfish, you will wind up sucking hind teat and probably never advance past the state you are in currently.

There is a whole movement out there that is perfect for your philosophy, it’s called New Age. Go join that. And if you won’t wake up, join the New Agers, at least be courteous enough not to spread your disease among the next generations of Wiccans, Druids, Asatru and Magickians. Some of us are actually trying to protect ourselves and gain a few things from this world.

AHA! I just came up with the perfect visual to show you all how you are acting. Think back to the movie of the Decade…. Labyrinth. I know you all saw it, so remember the movie. Take as long as you need. Okay, now that you have remembered the sweetness ‘n light © of that movie, think back to when Sarah first meets Hoggle. What is he doing? Killing fairies. BAD Hoggle!!! But when Sarah picks one up and tries to make it well, because she’s so beautiful and wonderful, she gets bitten for her trouble. Seems Hoggle knows several things that Sarah could stand to learn after all. You are Sarah, those who are non-fluffies around you are Hoggle. We actually understand that sometimes it’s necessary to destroy the wonderful and beautiful because they are a danger.

I tell you something, had Odysseus’ ship been packed with fluff-bunnies, Penelope would have married another man. As it is, I’m glad there was one non-fluffer on board to kill those sweet-sounding ladies. (For those of you who missed this referent, read some mythology, specifically, “The Odyssey” by Homer. In there, there are mermaids who delight in luring ships onto their rocks, destroying them and eating the drowned sailors. They did this by singing to them in a beautiful tone.)

Dear Mr. Daven,

I read the title to your article and decided that what was needed was a recipe for creating a fluff bunny. I found this one in the Wendy Zephyr Guide to Genuine Real Magic ™ and post it under the assumption that all persons viewing are familiar with Fair Use provisions of the U.S. & international copyright laws.

Now, making a fluff-bunny is very similar to making a golem (that’s as in artificial man, not as in LOTR). The one major difference is that, while a golem should be firm, solid, and of exceptional strength, a fluff-bunny should be soft, furry, and have bunny ears.

Therefore, one starts with different initial materials. I began with a small green & white stuffed bunny such as are sold in Easter Baskets. Shape and consistency are good, but the fur on such a creature is not sufficiently fluffy. Thus one must either perform a hair-growing spell or leave the bunny under the bed for six months to accumulate fluff. I used the Handy-Dandy Wendy Zephyr Hair-Growing spell (which worked fine on the bunny but failed to put a single additional hair on my balding father’s head; he says it did cause him to grow more hair from his ears, which he did not find desirable).

Then a resizing spell must be in order — a fluff bunny should be expanded to the size of a small human; I recommend somewhere in the 4 foot 8 to 5 foot 8 range, depending on the sex of the bunny. Don’t make males too small, as short males tend to be feisty instead of fluffy. Females are probably preferred, at least in terms of rabbit dispositions.

Now that your bunny is of the proper size, sex, and fuzziness, you need only bring it to life. Some folks recommend use of the Come Alive powder from the Wizard of Oz books; I used a conversion spell similar to the one I used to turn our ottoman into a big guinea pig.

My venture was a tremendous success, though I will note that said fluff bunny’s initial behavior was complete out-of-control. In the first 24 hours of its existence it managed to scare the daylights out of my mother, to consume a truly outrageous number of carrots, and to corner the manager of our local bookstore and spend three hours telling him why he needs to stock more Llewellyn publications.

It then disappeared into a mall, where I last spotted it gazing at cheap crystal ornaments and jewelry. Once I recover it, I will undertake some training regimen.

But anyhow, that is how you make a Fluff Bunny.

BB,
Wendy Zephyr

Originally posted 2009-10-26 13:57:07.

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I know I’ve spoken at length about going out and finding the idiots in Paganism and Wicca, and exposing them for the idiots they are.  But now I want to talk about the other side of that for a while.

While I have been out of the hunting business for a while now, there are those I’m friends with who are still out there in the communities, looking and reporting on trends in the groups of the new seekers, and the responses that the older and more experienced generations are having toward them.

This is where the downside of the hunting comes in.  There is a HUGE temptation to slather ALL new people with the same “bunny brush”.  To label the sincere and genuine seeker with the “fluffbunny” title, which makes it impossible for them to thereafter find real help in their spiritual journey.

So I want to talk about this trap in this essay.

Always remember the golden rule of bunnyhunting:  “THE NEW ARE NOT ALL BUNNIES.”  Certainly the possibility is there for the new seeker, the person who found Wicca and Paganism last week to be a bunny.  The “One book and I’m a witch!” crowd is one that we always have to be on the look out for, since they can do so much damage if left without those who are concerned with keep facts out there.  They tend to be the worst when taking something they read out of context, and without subjective verification (through research in the case of facts, through meditation and experimentation in the case of non scientific items) and repeat it ad neausium to anyone who will hear.  I could go on for days on all of those, but the two most common I will give here as examples; “Wicca goes unbroken back to prehistoric mankind” and “All witches are Wiccan because they have to be.”

Anyone who has been around the block a few times just let out a huge groan of frustration, and believe me I feel your pain.  I have spent probably a year or so (if you put all the scattered bits together) of my life trying to purge only one of those from the collective Wiccan mind.

But does the repeating of one of these rotten chestnuts automatically warrant a sign of “FLUFFBUNNY” to be on the speaker?

I am telling you now, it does not.

Just having read that in one of the many MANY bad volumes of Wicca instructional manuals and classes does not mean the person in question is someone who is an idiot and fluff.  Remember, a fluffbunny has a very specific definition and set of behaviors.  It is someone who is unrepentantly ignorant, willfully turning aside from and denying anything that makes their little mental universe change.  When they (metaphorically) stick their fingers in their ears and begin making random noises to drown out your information, and go blithely out and teach this “fact”, which can be refuted about two dozen ways, to anyone who will listen, from the new student to the fundamentalist Christian, then it’s a pretty safe bet that they are a fluff.

But someone who is asking for references and help finding information, is, by that definition, NOT a fluffbunny.  They are someone who is asking for a starting place.

Yes, you may feel that it is your duty to follow in the steps of Elfwreck and try to drive them away from our faith, and that is your choice.  But don’t do it thinking that you are keeping a fluff from being created.  It is shutting down a seeker from finding a pathway, finding information.

I’ll admit that this is a judgment call.  It’s a hard call in most cases, trying to figure out if this is the first symptom of someone who just wants to fling poo all over Wicca and Paganism, or if this person is sincere in their quest for knowledge.  Thankfully it’s something you can take to your Gods, to your Teachers, to those who are allies and your own mind and conscience as to if you are going to help or not.

And, by all the Gods living and dead, it’s so tempting to to just ignore the request and go your merry way, but I want you to remember something…. you started out in the same place at one time.  You too were lost and overwhelmed with a lack of resources and a lot of people who were talking in circles around your understanding.  So, now that I reminded you about this, what would you tell yourself in that long ago time when you desperately wanted what you now have?

If you had the chance to go back in time, as you are now, what would you say to yourself back then to encourage them to investigate and what hints would you drop?

Why not do that now.  It doesn’t have to be blatantly obvious, but it shouldn’t be a Chinese Puzzle Box either.  Understand and sculpt the lesson to the student, give hints and give tools to find more.  Feed the hunger to know, instead of stomping on the embers.

Remember, the seeker now, will be the teacher of your grandchildren.

Okay, we have heard the pleas from others for Pagan Unity. We have heard the litany against that idea, mostly because it will take away our individuality. Nowhere can I find a list of why we should, other than the articles asking for that unity in tones like unto Oliver Twist asking for more food.

So, let me see if I can make a few points that are relevant but not the same old litany.

And understand something before replying and giving me an earful, I am against total Unity. I think that putting all Pagan and NeoPagan faiths into a blender and hitting “frappe” is the wrong thing to do. I think that if this were to happen that an essential part of Paganism would be lost, the ability to choose. Many of us came to NeoPaganism or Paganism or Reconstructionism or whatever because of the general sameness of the mainstream religions out there. The basic credos were the same; they only fiddled with the details (like whether or not a skirt should be worn by women or if pants were acceptable).

I have spent my time defending the “no Unity” side of things, but in an attempt to understand the OTHER side of the argument, I started thinking and playing Devil’s Advocate in my head. And I almost convinced myself that it’s important to have unity on some level. Which for me is astounding.

Okay, to list my reasons in favor of Unity:

Without Unity, it is very easy for other organizations and businesses and governments to discriminate against us.

This point, in my opinion, is actually the most dangerous. How many of you who are reading this have looked at the situation happening with the Pagan Headstone Campaign and the problems with Sgt. Patrick Stewart and getting the Pentacle on his memorial plaque? How many of you have heard about The Church of Iron Oak’s problem with worshiping out of their home and the resulting legal fight they were going through? How many of you when you read these went “that’s a damned shame”? What about the problems with Tempest Smith?

How about the unpublished casual discrimination of others? Surely you have faced this in your time. Kids running away from you because you are out in your community, eggs on your car, loss of a job, a campaign to drive you out of a job or home. It’s never about the religion, but it all started when you were outed as a witch or Pagan.

How about comments by those in the Government that Pagans don’t have any charity in them? Or that “witchcraft isn’t really a religion”? Or those who serve in the Armed Forces can’t worship their own gods (to the point of legislation being passed against that)?

Do you think that these would have occurred had Paganism been seen in the same light as the Christian Coalition? How about if we were as big as the Southern Baptist Convention? Or maybe the national Jewish organization? Or if we were as large a block of people as the Muslims?

Understand my point here; with numbers comes power. Anytime there is a group of people, normally the discrimination against people who are members of that organization disappears. That’s what makes Unions so strong, and can you honestly think of someone being blatantly discriminatory or even subtly discriminatory against someone who is a member of the NAACP? Can you picture an official of the government saying, “I don’t think black people deserve to have government help.” Why is this do you think?

It’s because those kinds of organizations and groups have power in sheer numbers of people. The individual who is a member of that group isn’t powerful on their own, but adding 20 million people to that one person, and pressure can be brought to bear that staggers the imagination. I’m not just talking political either. Legally everyone donating a dollar to that group can pay for several lawyers to sue the backsides off an official who said that. Heck, a bribe to that official’s boss would take care of the problem too.

Would a business try to pressure a black lady out of her job because she’s black? Would there be an attempt to sexually harass a woman in the same job? Why is this do you think?

Like the large warehouse chains, numbers bring benefits. Lots of people in a group, the more power they have if only because they are in that group together. Buying several palates of sausage gets a heck of a discount for that store, which means more profits. The 13-person coven won’t be much of a force to the local Police, but the Covenant of the Goddess might be.

Without Unity, we are looked upon as having no faith.

Unfortunately, part of the problem we face as Pagans and minority religions is that people don’t understand our beliefs. They will credit Hindus and Muslims with having faith in a deity they don’t understand, but when you say in court that you are Asatru, the court will dismiss that out of hand because of absolutely no understanding of what Asatru is. When it’s clarified that Asatru is a Pagan faith, generally you will get lumped in with the Atheists and the credit goes WAAAAY down at that point.

But, in the same situation, if you say, “I’m a member of the Christian Fellowship of the Gate of Heaven”, no matter how out there and minority that church is, the bare word of “Christian” automatically gives a respect that is hard to gain otherwise. Replace “Christian” with “Jewish” or “Hebrew” or “Muslim” or “Islam” or “Buddhist” and you get the same effect.

This is because these groups have LARGE groups that protect their interests. The general populace knows that even if they don’t understand the actual workings of those groups, they are religious groups that deserve respect. The Jews have been around for some time, so too have the Hindus and the Muslims, but the Nation of Islam is a recent organization. Did that stop people from thinking that Muhammad Ali was a man of no faith? Or that Malcolm X was not a servant of his deity?

The fact of the matter is that in our society the appearance of being a person of faith is more important than exactly WHAT faith or if it’s truly practiced. When being picked for Jury Duty, if you say that you don’t have any Church activities, you are more likely to be passed over than picked. Lack of faith = lack of morals in many people’s eyes. It doesn’t matter that humanism is a valid and true moral structure, it’s the appearance that is important.

Who are the ones yelling the loudest on topics like abortion, prayer in schools, gay marriage and many other hot topic issues recently? “People of faith”. Would America elect an Agnostic or an Atheist to a high office? Probably not. Why not? Because an Atheist has no morals. Just ask anyone. (That is only an example.)

Without Unity, any political credit we would have is lost.

To go along with the previous point I made, political clout is becoming more and more important.

Pagans as a group are some of the most politically active people I know, and that’s a very good thing. There are any number of issues that we need to sound out on, from headstones on graves to charity to Welfare and Social Security and abortion and gay rights. It’s wonderful when I see the local Wiccans getting together to raise money for the local candidate and to make their wishes known to those same Senators and Representatives once they are in office.

But I have heard this time and again: “How many votes can you bring me?”

No one stops to consider that all those single votes add up. The Democrat who is trying to displace the seated Republican will not stop to consider that the Wiccans and the Pagans who are supporting him number in the thousands in the state, they will just see that this coven donated $100 dollars for a group of 5. They will go “Five votes? That’s nothing.” and they dismiss the concerns that coven brings to his attention.

I have had this happen with me in my local races many times. I happen to be in Tennessee, where Senator Bill Frist is from. I don’t like him, I don’t care for his politics, I know he doesn’t pay attention to anything I say as a constituent. But if I were able to go to him with “I am a member of the Brotherhood of Pagan Faiths, and we represent 50,000 votes in the state of Tennessee and we have a concern…” he would sit up and listen to our concerns and us. But getting 50,000 individual letters, each representing a vote, even if they are on the same topic and each say something to the effect of “my vote is on the line depending on your behavior” means nothing. But to have an entire block of people saying with one voice that THIS is an item of concern, well, those are what lobbyists are for. That’s a Special Interest group, and they can have a lot of clout in the Beltway in Washington, even in local elections and state elections. And that means that the issues we hold dear can be aired and actually considered.

But this won’t happen without some sort of unity on some level.

Without Unity, the idiots that appear in the media are the only people that we will be associated with.

It doesn’t matter how many of us get up and say “Kevin Carolyn does not represent Wicca, Witchcraft, Paganism, Druidism or any other faith. He’s a nutter and an idiot.” no one is going to believe us. Why? Because invariably the person with the microphone is the one getting the attention, and the media pays attention to those with repeated press conferences.

It doesn’t matter that they treat him as an idiot and make fun of him, by the simple fact that he’s on TV and in the newspapers; he’s got some sort of clout with the populace at large. Fifty of us can get up and say he’s no kind of Priest, and more than likely not one of those letters or statements will be printed, and thus they will never get to the populace’s attention.

The net effect? Witchcraft becomes represented by those same nutters. The Media in general is after the attention of the populace, in the form of ratings and circulation. King Kevin sells papers. Our decrying his actions does not. That is, as long as each of us is speaking for themselves.

But, put the spokesman of the Brotherhood of Pagan Faiths up front at a microphone, and now we have a media showcase. Those press releases start carrying weight and the letter to the editor saying that this person is a dipshit and insane, well, those take on a whole new dimension of importance, if only because that represents another 1000 copies of their newspaper sold to members who do scrap booking.

With unity, we have the implied backing to be able to speak authoritatively as a representative of a large group of people and be believed. You don’t see Jerry Fallwell standing front and center and saying he’s the leader of all Christians in England or Europe because every Christian organization out there would be publishing letters saying that he’s a nut and that he does not represent anyone, most especially them, within minutes of him being quoted as saying that. Heck, the Pope could arguably claim that he is the head of all Christianity, but he won’t because of all those little groups who have power and members who would jump up and say “NOT US!!!”

Then there are interfaith relations. One thing that I have heard is that there was a distinct lack of response from the Pagans when Pope John Paul II apologized to the world for the crimes of the Catholic Church over the centuries. Everyone who has been injured by the Catholic Church sounded off, but not the Pagans, not the Witches, not the Wiccans. Why was that?

Who could the media contact for a quote? They could have contacted some of the Big Name Pagans, the ones who wrote books and such, and they did. But that only gets one person’s opinion. Much better to have a contact in a Pagan Group to get a quote and sound byte.

Individuals can get with Native American groups and try to foster interfaith unity, but those groups know very well that one person representing a coven and not a large group is not going to be very effective in promoting an association between them, because ultimately that one person has no power. They can’t negotiate with that High Priestess to have Native ceremonies and rituals (see cultural appropriation) removed from the liturgy of the Wiccans, since that High Priestess only represents herself and her coven. And this is ironic considering that the American Government went through this same problem attempting to negotiate with the Natives themselves.

So those who want to have that interfaith discourse will look in the papers to try to find someone who represents more than one or a handful of Pagans. And what are they likely to find? The “King of all Witches” standing there, with no letters or articles from the rest of us saying that he’s a nut. So now, King Kevin is the defacto representative for all of us, by default.

Without Unity, the truly dangerous members of our community will be free to do their damage in many places.

Does anyone remember that predator from about 10 years ago who said he would initiate any girl from 10 to 18 with a sexual rite and she could go on and initiate any others? Remember the fallout from that? There were all kinds of groups up in arms who were all working at cross-purposes to try to lure him out to help the police catch him.

Did he ever get caught?

Does anyone remember a man in Texas who was abusing his children by sticking 6 year olds out in the woods overnight with only a knife “to teach them survival skills”? Has anyone been able to stop Son_of_Art or Mark Ventimiglia?

Why not?

Frankly I would be surprised if those reading this were familiar with all these situations. One was local to the Southeast region of the United States, another was local to one metropolitan area, and two others are on the Internet. And I’m sure that every city could tell me stories of those who claimed to be Wiccan or a Witch, abused their power and their influence and hurt people severely and moved to another city, just to repeat the cycle over again.

How did this happen? Why didn’t those who were hurt do anything?

Frankly, who could they go to to tell their story of woe and abuse? There is no group who they can say, “this person hurt us and raped us (either literally or figuratively). They left when we drove him out, but this is who he is, this is how he operates and this is what he did. We got justice, but we don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” Even if such a thing was done, and the groups of the new city could be found, those same leaders wouldn’t listen to the information. Most of them would be going “That was there, this is here.” Some would simply wonder what axe the people warning have to grind and probably treat that information as nothing.

Occasionally there are calls for a “Council of Elders” to keep information like this, so that true predators can’t harm others, but invariably those get shot down with “how do we police it” and a litany of abuses. An organization that was nationwide would avoid a lot of that.

Please understand something with this article, I’m not saying we should unify and lose our individual identity in the Pan-Pagan group of ‘Love Trust and Peace’ like some ask. I have stated time and again that it is possible for there to be a limited group, brought into existence to do specific things, and I believe that in this case it is very possible and workable.

The problem is you. It is changing your mind and convincing you, the reader, that this is a good idea. I can say it is a good thing all my life. I can invest time and energy in setting this up, but until you decide that you will support this and will work to be a part of it, then nothing will happen. CoG started that way, the ADF started that way. There are groups out there who are more than just a few dozen people, and it can be done to take the next step WITHOUT losing our individual Ways.

All it takes is a lifetime of dedication and commitment.

I’m ready, are you?

It has come to my attention that this is simply a call for a Political Action Committee.  Well, if that’s it, then so be it.  I think this is a necessary step, and one that we desperately need to do in order to make sure that we are represented and that our voices are heard in the Government.  We may be a legal religion, but we are still ignored.

Originally posted 2009-11-11 22:25:45.

Or:
How the Mormons measure up on The Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame

I wrote this article mostly to purge many feelings out of my heart.  ALL of this is based on my personal experiences with the Mormons.  Some are based on many stories of things that happened to others in the church, and they are not isolated incidents either.  If I used someone else’s experience as the basis of making my judgment, it was because there were many who had either identical or very similar experiences.  All of these accusations are documentable, but most can be found on Richard Packham’s Home Page or Recovery from Mormonism – The Mormon Church.

I have to explain about this chart.  The scale is from 1 to 10, with 1 being low to little, and 10 being extremely to total.  The number of the question and a short explanation comes first, then the next paragraph is my score and the reason I scored it as I do.  If you have any questions on this, or need further references, I ask you to contact me.

Reviewing the Mormons (with commentary)

Internal Control: Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members.

9. The Mormon Church has, through subtle techniques almost total dominion over the lives of the members, all their waking hours are either spent providing for the family through a job and a one-income (father) or in various church duties assigned to the members with no chance of opting out of these duties. These duties are given to them by the leaders of the local church, and it is a “Calling by God” so the member MUST be capable of doing this, they wouldn’t be asked to do it otherwise.

External Control: Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior.

9. The Mormon Church has many members in political seats. At this point, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma and many other western states have a majority of the State political offices being filled by Mormons, and many more members from those same states serving as representatives on the National Level in Congress or as political appointees. The Mormon Church claims a membership fo 11 Million Members, giving a significant voting block. Topics are assigned as talks around election time as member speeches in the main worship service that are hot-button political topics, with the slant of the talk being what the church authorities want the members to vote as. IE, in a campaign with candidates who are pro-Choice, there will be a series of talks given by the leaders in conferences that are pro-Life, and the same topic will be “assigned” as topics to member given speeches for any activity, which run 6 days a week.

Wisdom/Knowledge Claimed by leader(s); amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations; number and degree of unverified and/or unverifiable credentials claimed.

10 The Church claims that the President of the Church is a Prophet of God, infallible when he states something, unless he states something wrong, in which case he’s not being the Prophet, but just being a man. The entire body of the First Presidency (main administrative body in SLC who oversee the day to day operation worldwide) are “inspired” by God in the littlest decisions, and the regional leaders are similarly inspired when they make decisions, on down to the Father of the home being inspired by god when he punishes the children and wife for some infraction.

Wisdom/Knowledge Credited to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations made by leader(s); amount of hostility by members towards internal or external critics and/or towards verification efforts.

9 Being inspired by God makes them infallible and the members constantly reinforce themselves with declarations of how holy the leadership is, how they are Inspired, and how they are very wise. The common adage is “When the Brethren (First Leadership) decide, the thinking is done.” Meaning that the decision is not open for debate again, until they change their mind. Anyone criticizing the Church is ganged up on by members. Overwhelming pressure is put on former members to return to the fold by everyone around them until they have some sort of reaction, either by rejoining or breaking down. Immense sums of money are spent trying to validate ANY portion of the Book of Mormon by the Mormons, but anyone using current fact to refute claims are called “Enemies of God, apostates, liars, deceived by Satan, and their works are explained away.” Each member is trained to be a Mormon Apologist, dismissing or explaining glaring errors in Mormon theology, holy writ and history.

Dogma: Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility or “fundamentalism;” hostility towards relativism and situationalism.

9 Centuries old concepts are still being taught as current or holy writ, and not open to change unless the current head of the church changes it. He is the only one who can make changes to any of the dogma in the Mormon Church. For instance, the Temple rite from 1860 or so had a concept of Blood Oaths, meaning violation of these oaths was punishable by death. This was still taught as what God wanted as recently as 1970. The current head of the Church recently removed those oaths sometime after 1970. Segregation and the inferiority of the descendants of the African Slaves was still taught as recently as 1980, and is still quietly taught, out of hearing of the Black membership.

Recruiting: Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing; requirement for all members to bring in new ones.

10 Mormon Missionaries. ‘Nuff said.

Front Groups: Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group, especially when connections are hidden.

NA Not known. Officially the Church does not own companies, but the records are kept so secret that no one can trace the ownership records of various industries and businesses. It is know that many LARGE companies are owned by Mormon members, such as the Marriott, Wal-Mart, and many others.

Wealth: Amount of money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members’ donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary members.

10 There is a MANDATORY tithe of 10% GROSS income levied on all members. Psychological pressure is exerted and the real pressure of loss of friendships and “blessings” and talks with the presidency (local) if this tithe is not met. Records are kept of these monies, and all funds are sent to the HQ in Salt Lake, who supposedly disburse this money as needed to the various groups, but any money for local issues like new church buildings are demanded as further offerings from the members, and there is a fast fund. Once a month, the members fast for 24-48 hours. That money, which should buy food, is sent to the Church as a “Fasting Offering”. This means that something like $15,000,000,000 (yes, that’s BILLION) dollars are collected by the Church annually (figuring a middle income family of $30,000 per year and counting 5 million families out of the 11 million members figure) just in tithes. An estimated $100 million is spent in building temples and maintaining various church activities (all local clergy are not paid, they do it as a volunteer), but that is all. While no obvious difference exists between members and the First Presidency’s lifestyles, questions into this is not encouraged by anyone.

Sexual Manipulation of members by leader(s) of non-tantric groups; amount of control exercised over sexuality of members in terms of sexual orientation, behavior, and/or choice of partners.

10 One of the basic tenets of Mormonism is Chastity until marriage. The spoken and taught canard is that if a girl is not a virgin when she marries, she may as well be dead. No exception is made for a girl who is raped either, and there are many cases of suicide by rape victims in the Mormon Church. Males are publicly exhorted to chastity, but if they have sex prior to marriage, depending on the “faith” of the person and their family (read how much the church needs these people and how much money is donated to the Church), it is either overlooked and dismissed or they are castigated as the females are.

Sexual Favoritism: Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s) of non-tantric groups.

1 This is covered by (9) above. If a girl has ANY sexual relations, she is damned to hell and no “decent” male will have her, she may as well be dead because her family will disown her as well.

Censorship: Amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s).

10 Investigation into the history of the Church is STRONGLY discouraged if the person is using non-church sources, meaning any quality scholarly work. All approved histories are written, edited and published by the Church, and sold in the Church Stores or from Church Catalogs. Multiple magazines are written and published by the Church and all members are almost required to have subscriptions, to the point of multiple subscriptions of the same material coming to the same address and family. Anyone who publicly puts down the Mormon Church are vilified (such as the Tanners) and dismissed as “Enemies of God”.

Isolation: Amount of effort to keep members from communicating with non-members, including family, friends and lovers.

7 While communication with non-members is encouraged in order to convert the “hetathen”, along with family, self-censorship is encouraged and desired in regards to any anti-Mormon material that they encounter. Quite a lot of communication with other members is encouraged, mostly because you are too busy to cultivate interests outside the Church. There is no time to encounter much information from outside the Church.

Dropout Control: Intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts.

9 Ex-members who leave are still considered members unless they actively take steps to remove their name from the rolls of the Church, which means that they are contacted and harrassed by local leaders to come back to Church and Missionaries. To get your name removed from the rolls of the Church requires a month long process, and in some cases requires a several year long process which many are not willing to go through, simply because it’s complex. Members in good standing are encouraged to “fellowship” previous members back into the fold, although this ultimately is subject to those political pressures and local conditions. Even death does not keep you safe, as they have an active program to baptize the dead by proxy to make them members of the Church and “save” them.

Violence: Amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s).

5 While active pogroms are not condoned nor are they started by Church leaders, if something happens to non-members by members actions, and it looks to be a scandal to the Church, it is covered up, or the offending members are cut loose and disavowed by the Church. There has been little test of this in the last 50 years or so, but it was the case back when the Church was in it’s infancy.

Paranoia: Amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; exaggeration of perceived power of opponents; prevalence of conspiracy theories.

8 Those who point out inconsistencies in the Doctrine and who truly question beliefs and search for fulfillment are enemies and trying to bring the Church down. A member in good standing who looks for validation of their beliefs from non-Mormon sources and starts questioning is labeled a traitor and reviled, to the point of sometimes driving people from the Church. Those who question, either within or without the church are not “real Christians” and are trying to bring the Church down. The only reason this score is not higher is because other than being labeled as traitors, nothing is done to them.

Grimness: Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).

9 You rarely hear a Mormon Joke. Either from members or from non-members. If a jokes starts, it is treated as though it were a crime by that person by the Mormon Leadership.

Surrender of Will: Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).

10 Literally all things good come from the Church, to leave the Church is to be a sinner and apostate and to have license to do anything one one wants and to have no morals or conscience. If the Church Leadership decides something, the thinking has been done as far as the Church is concerned as a whole. To disagree with the leadership is to sin. “Follow the Brethren” is the watch phrase. One is encouraged to tell everything to the Church leaders, and they will make decisions for you and your life, despite it not being their life. You are expected to still live with the consequences of those decisions, and the Church takes no responsibility. When going through the “Temple Endowments”, you literally pledge, by binding oaths for those who believe them, everything in your life to the Church, all your money, all your support, all that you have and own and possess, and your family with you.  The Church used this once to raise money to defeat a measure in California supporting Gay Rights.

Hypocrisy: amount of approval for actions which the group officially considers immoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate the group’s declared principles for political, psychological, social, economic, military, or other gain.

10 Approval by cover-up. Putting a convicted pedophile in charge of the Primary class (all the children under the age of 10) and then telling the children and their parents that it never happened, that they are lying or making things up and allowing the pedophile to remain in charge is hypocritical, especially when the leadership rails against those who are pedophiles. Approving of young males going out and screwing non-member girls to gain experience, while convincing young ladies who have been raped that they are better off dead and then sanctimoniously stating that every child should be chaste (to the point of masturbation=murder and is a mortal sin) is hypocritical.

For more information, check these links out:

• Reason Filling in the missing pieces of the Mormon History Puzzle.
• Recovery from Mormonism – The Mormon Church
• Richard Packham’s Home Page
• Utah Lighthouse Ministry
• Yahoogroups: ExMormon

Originally posted 2009-11-11 19:43:00.

From time to time the topic of Pagans and Sacrifice comes up in various forums online. Unfortunately, the majority of people (including pagans) who talk about Sacrifice don’t seem to understand about sacrifice. Most think of sacrifice (in the connotation of Pagan religions) as dealing with human sacrifice or animal sacrifice. While those are ancient practices and valid forms of sacrifice, they are not all that is.

First we need to understand the definition of sacrifice. Sacrifice means simply “to make sacred”. It is from the Latin root and in modern times it is defined as giving up something of value to gain something you wish.

Pretty cut and dried, but when it is translated into Pagan Religion, all anyone can see is things like the Wicker Men of legend, bog drownings, burning bodies and cattle dropping dead.

Because of this persistent vision of what sacrifice is, the act of sacrificing something to the Gods has a VERY bad reputation.

But let’s think about this for a few moments. Sacrifice does not have to be bad, since it’s done all the time by most Pagans.

Ever think of the act of consecration? Cleansing it and going over it with the salted water and so on or whatever ritual you do to make that item sacred sacrifices it to the Gods. You just gave something to Them. Granted you still get to USE it in your rituals, but taking that special goblet that your grandparents drank their wedding toast out of and consecrating it to use in ritual has taken it from the realm of the mundane and special into the realm of the sacred. So that sacrifices it.

You have, in effect, given it to the Gods.

You can do this with any object; a knife, a harp, a person, a steer, a mouse, an owl, a candle, a poppet, a stuffed animal or anything else. Heck, you can even take food, already prepared and cooked food and sacrifice it to the Gods.

Time is another sacrificial object. Most people don’t realize that it can be sacrificed until someone points it out to them blatantly like this, but time, effort and energy can all be sacrificed. It takes time to do something, to make something, to create something of your own. That is a sacrificial act. Creating candles and dedicating them to the Gods is sacrificing them to those Gods, even if you go out and use them to burn on the altar or to light up the chapel or circle.

Creating a poem is a sacrifice. I wrote an article on Lugh and on Tailtu at one point and sacrificed them to them during a ritual to get a new job. It’s perfectly valid to do so and a good and original sacrifice as well. It represented my willingness to sacrifice something that I spent time creating for Them.

In my opinion these original sacrifices are worth more than all the gold and food in the world. They show that one was thinking and that you actually took the tastes of the deity you are sacrificing to into consideration. If it were up to me, I would be more inclined to look favorably upon someone who was sacrificing something that was original than something that everyone gave.

In some cultures and deity sets, the more valuable a sacrifice is to the giver, the more acceptable it is to the Gods in question. One story I remember hearing as I grew up is of a ritual where the Gods would bless this town with health, wealth and prosperity if a sacrifice made to them was valuable enough. The Gods favor would be shown by the bell in the main cathedral ringing with no hand touching it. There had been ten years straight of famine so it was very important that this ritual come about and please the Gods. So the entire town gathered to make their sacrifices to the Gods, and as time passed things became more and more worrisome. Hundreds of people paraded past the altar and made their sacrifice with no result. From the poor to the rich, each gave what they considered to be a proper sacrifice to the Gods, but nothing happened. Finally the King himself knelt before the altar and placed his crown on the altar, sacrificing it to the Gods. Still no bells. The people were crushingly depressed. Finally, the last person to make an offering was this little beggar boy. He approached the altar with a silver coin he had begged from passers by. With this coin he could eat for a month. He placed it on the altar and when he moved away, the bells rang out for hours. The Gods were pleased with the monumental size of the sacrifice the beggar gave.

The beggar boy had given his entire worldly goods and in the process directly harmed himself to please the Gods, so his town could prosper. It showed a willingness to give that is the core of sacrifice.

The ritual of Cakes and Ale is a sacrificial ritual. Yes, it is also a ritual of Thanksgiving, one of sharing the bounty of the Earth with the Gods, but it is a Sacrificial rite.

Most people have this idea that sacrifice has to involve a living thing. But what about burning herbs in honor of the Gods? Is that a sacrifice? I say it is.

You worked to find those herbs. You dried them, and now you are giving them to the Gods in a ritual of honor. It takes energy and time to do all that, plus the herb you grew/found is now not usable by you for any reason. It is therefore a sacrifice. It may look like it is not since the Gods grew the plant and all you did was harvest it, but you fussed over it too. Even if you wild-crafted the herb (meaning you went and searched for it in the wild), you still had to do the work to find the herb if nothing else.

This point I have spent many hours in debate with the Gods about. It basically comes down to this; if you feel the Gods would enjoy something, if it is something you enjoy or that is valuable to you, then sacrifice it to Them.

I didn’t believe this, so I tried it once. I baked a loaf of bread for the Dagda for a spell I needed to come to pass. He loves bread and porridge, and I thought it was appropriate since it was something that looked to me as though it would be of little importance. I mean, bread is bread.

My wife and I made a big deal of it, grinding the meal (we added oats to the bread), pounding and rolling it out, braiding it and putting it in the oven. And I offered it to Him. He was very pleased and even more so when I gave it all to the Birds who would be hungry for it. But it was such a little thing and it gave so much joy to many people around us. And the Gods were pleased.

Which brings up the point of what about the Voodoo custom of bringing cakes and alcohol to celebrations and giving them to the spirits? Well, understand that I’m not a practitioner of Voodoo, but I have learned (despite everything) from some of the specials on voodoo on channels like Discovery. What I remember one mambo saying about that was that the loa eat the spirit or the essence of the food offerings, leaving the physical behind. It is only natural at that point for the celebrants to have that to share in the bounty with the loa. It’s like a partnership where one animal eats only the forequarters, and another eats only the hindquarters. It makes sense for them to hunt together at that point so there is no waste.

Now, what I have talked about are the other forms of sacrifice. Your time, your energy, items you made, your attention, spells, poems, service and so on can all be sacrificed to the Gods. Let’s grasp the nettle here and talk about Human, Animal and Blood sacrifice.

Any discussion of these three topics needs to start with the disclaimer of these are special case sacrifices, and the people participating in them HAVE to know what they are doing. Those who have no clue are letting themselves in for a world of hurt and are going to spoil what is a sacred rite.

Here’s the point of these sacrifices; there should be no pain. The goal of these sacrifices is the energy bleed off.

When a life ends, there is a rush of energy that is released by that death. This is true for ANY living thing, plant, animal, human or whatever. It happens when a bacteria dies (but it’s so miniscule that most people don’t sense it). This life energy is exactly like the “Force” of Star Wars fame, and it can be channeled into the same purposes. That energy is simply lost when something dies, but those that know what they are doing can gather that energy and force it into spells or into other uses to boost it. BUT pain and anger and hatred and fear “taints” that energy. Just like using a paint stick that has mixed red paint to mix white paint without cleaning it first will result in a bucket full of pink paint, so too will fear and anger make this energy useless.

Blood sacrifice is exactly that, spilling your blood and offering that to the Gods. For some there is a mystic use for blood. Like Lugh (the Celtic God) had to store his spear (which had a flaming head) in a bucket of puppy blood to keep it from burning down everything from an unquenchable fire. For others, there is no greater essence of life than blood. Plus, it is nutritional all on it’s own. You can eat blood and live off it. Granted it’s very hard to do so and you will get sick, but what do you think Blood Sausage is? It’s mostly cooked blood.

But those that have been analyzing the attraction of Vampires have done a better job than I could do in telling you about the mystic use of blood. It is a primordial substance and an essential one. Because of CENTURIES of association with life, spilling blood voluntarily becomes a huge sacrifice for others.

Now, I’m not saying that every deity out there will enjoy a sacrifice of blood. Far from that, most will be repelled. However, there are some that do demand blood sacrifice and have demanded it in the past, therefore sacrificing blood to them will help your cause with that deity. Should you do this lightly? Not at all. It should be done only when there is little else that can be done and when there is great need.

Are there other solutions besides just letting it drip out of your hand/arm? Certainly. One of the most original blood sacrifices is dealt with in this article.

As to animal sacrifice. This one is a lot more problematic. There are traditions out there who practice it currently as part of their holy rites. There are some versions of Santeria, Voodoo and some pagan beliefs that do so as well. In EVERY case, the animal is treated with respect and honor. It is fed the best of the best, it is praised and sung to and the death it experiences is quick and painless. Great care is taken to ensure that the animal does not suffer during the actual sacrificial process. For the object of the sacrifice to suffer and to have a torturous experience is a terrible omen and will destroy the sanctity of the rite like nothing else will.

This is not about pain. This is about an offering to the Gods. The best animal in the herd is offered to the Gods, the energy is taken to fuel the ritual or spell the animal was sacrificed for, the soul of that animal is sent to the Gods for THEIR feast, and the flesh of that animal is eaten in a mirror feast among the practitioners. It’s not discarded or thrown into the ditch as some believe (that is an act of sacrilege and wasteful. Why praise and take care of the animal, thanking it for sacrificing itself and then throw it aside casually like day old bread?) but it is eaten and partaken of in a sacred rite. It also occurs to me that this act can have the same effect as other eating rituals.  Eating the heart of a deer one has hunted and killed ritualistically takes the power of the deer into oneself.  Ritually eating the body of a sacrificed animal takes the purity and those blessings of the Gods into oneself.

Human sacrifice is a different order of magnitude. Let me state that this is NOT practiced by any sect or religion that I know of currently. It may be done illegally, but if it is, the participants would be charged with murder under most laws of Western Nations. However, it was a valid form of worship back in the day.

Basically it’s the same as animal sacrifice with two differences: The first was that the sacrifice went to plead the case of those committing the sacrifice directly to the Gods themselves and second, the flesh was (normally) not eaten afterward. I say “normally” because some cannibal tribes probably did eat it.

Once again the sacrifice themselves was the best of the best, someone who was pampered and praised and made to feel special, then they were killed in a ritual that did the least amount of pain to them. When the soul got to the afterlife, they were normally under orders by the priests to plead whatever case they had to the Gods directly. This showed the Gods that the situation was very serious and that immediate help was needed. I mean, if you are willing to give up your life to talk to the Gods about a problem the tribe is having….

One special note on Human sacrifice; the people who were the sacrifices were volunteers. It may have been a case of “I can sacrifice you in a ritual, or we can starve/torture you to death, but either way you are going to die” kind of a choice, but they could trade a potentially painful death for one that would allow you to die at peace. But they were volunteers.

There are some who may still practice this, but it is not a matter of someone else doing it to them, but more along the lines of self-sacrifice in the form of suicide. Groups like the Heaven’s Gate cult can be seen as practicing self-sacrifice to bring about a specific end. It is simultaneously a form of protest and channeling their lives into a greater goal. Buddhists used to do this all the time.

Some notes on sacrifice: There are those who believe that sacrifice, especially willing human sacrifice, has the power to change the world. Not the extreme cults either, but Judeo-Christianity believes this. Let’s look at the biggest sacrifice in history, Jesus’ crucifixion. According to the belief of the followers of Christ, his sacrifice saved the entire world, past, present and future from the fires of Hell so long as they believe that he sacrificed himself for their sins. And that is a hugely powerful magickal act.

Scapegoating has been known for centuries by many peoples. It is basically a cleansing ritual in which the purest animal in the village is ritually “loaded down” with all the evilness, pettiness and sins of the people of the village, then it’s sacrificed to the Gods. That takes all the sins of that village to the Gods and the people are clean again. This allows for closure on many things that could fester and get worse and worse over time for those people.

And if you look at it, the sacrifice of Jesus was just another form of scapegoating. Ritually cleansing the whole planet so long as they buy into the ritual in the first place.

Now, all that said, I know of very few groups who still practice Blood or Animal sacrifice and I know of no groups who actively practice Human sacrifice. But this is not to say that those who do are wrong. It is saying that their practices are not my practices and may not be YOUR practices. It makes them different, not wrong.

If you think of it, there are mainstream practices of Animal sacrifice all the time. Kosher law (in which the blood is removed and the rabbi checks to make sure the animal is clean) is a sacrifice of a kind, and saying prayers before dining CERTAINLY is an animal sacrifice. In case you don’t get it, the animal is killed and made into hamburger patties. Then you bless and thank the animal for sharing its body with you. That is one definition of a sacrifice, since the food is now blessed and sacred. This happens every day. So don’t jump to conclusions too quickly about the need or evils of sacrifice. And this holds true for any meal you eat, it was a living thing that has given its life for you and you have thanked it, therefore it is now a sacrifice.

I mean, if you base an entire religion around a human sacrifice, it can’t be THAT bad, can it?

Let me add a personal observation here.  Sacrifice is not bad.  It simply is.  Animal sacrifice may not have any place in Wiccan practices, but that does not mean it is not a valid form of worship for others.  Human sacrifice isn’t bad either, so long as it is not done casually and care is taken for the person to be sacrificed, but unfortunately most law enforcement agencies aren’t going to see it that way.  Thankfully this is not that big of a problem, no matter what the fanatics try to convince you of otherwise.

Update March 3, 2006

I was contacted by a lady who read this article and had some things to add to it.  I’ll share her comments with you here:

By Cassi Dixon

Thoughts on Sacrifice, in specific animal sacrifice:

Animal sacrifice in which the animal is eaten afterwards also serves the purpose of connecting the participants with the cycle of life/death.  In industrial society most people get their meat prepackaged and are very removed from the actual process of animal husbandry and slaughter.  There’s little relationship between the cellophane wrapped bundles in the store and the animal that gave up its life to bring you dinner.  Most people have no idea of their place in the lifecycle because they have no relationship to their food.

You cannot have an functional acknowledgment of the cyclic nature of life without seeing yourself in that lifecycle.  Animal sacrifice serves to drive home “something dies, you eat – you die, something else eats”.  This of course has even broader implications for most practitioners of Pagan religions because our gods are not only gods of life, but gods of death as well.  In many cases our gods have even died in order to keep the lifecycle moving.  Bringing our awareness to our place in the divine order brings us into unity with the Divine itself.  Sacrifice not only makes the food sacred and consecrated to the Gods, it makes the person who consumes the food sacred as well.

You can do this of course with plant products, but most people are not capable of easily making the leap that plants are also alive until we kill them for food.  Many sacred stories and practices were created in the past to try to illustrate the point to us, the God of the grain dies at harvest time and is consumed by the followers in a ritual manner, but even in modern day Paganism such practices and stories are rarely observed.

Sounds good to me.  I wish I had thought of this.

Originally posted 2009-12-24 03:02:58.