This might seem like I'm slamming my compatriots. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read all the way through to the end before you make your conclusions.
It's Thanksgiving. The Mirror has been up exactly eight months, acquired over 19000 unique visitors (the hit counter only counts the main page; most of my hits come from remote linkage), my lady and I have bought a house in the Michigan countryside and at the end of the year I will be all moved in and assembling my band. Yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for my parents, without whose help I couldn't get the house; I'm thankful for Ana, without whom...shit...I might not even be alive today; I'm thankful for Sara, my friend on those cold winter days in Hagerstown when Ana was at school; I'm thankful for Ana's grandmother, who was instrumental in helping us get off our feet; I'm grateful for Daven for pointing out my fluff at an all-time high and basically saving me from making countless fluffy mistakes; I'm grateful to each and every one of the 109 members of our message board for making it a nexus of intelligent thoughts and a cornucopia of useful information and ridiculous quizzes to waste your life away; I'm thankful for Rhea and FCP, whom have given me pretty much every lesson in group dynamics I need should I ever decide to found a coven and/or religious sect; I am grateful to every friend and foe I make because of this site, for it is you who propel myself and my message into the throes of the very Wannabe Wiccan community my message is targeted at. I am thankful for Friday, being my 21st birthday, that I will no longer be treated like a minor because, well, I won't be a minor anymore. Yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for.
But I am sick. Early this past Tuesday evening, I got an abcess in one of my teeth, and my whole cheek is swollen like I'm dipping snuff or something. I went to work despite it, and totally drained myself of energy. Having spent yesterday almost completely unconscious (to the point where once Ana had to take my pulse to make sure I wasn't dead...LOL), I awake today to a lot of empathy from fans, but no one offering to do any magic to help me out.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have a lot of time or resources myself, especially to expend upon a stranger on the Internet I've never met in real life. But one of the things I hear the most whilst bouncing through the fluff on various message boards and chats and IRL discussions with the pagan group is that "good witches only use their magic for healing".
Well, this is a load of bullshit. Not to be megalomaniacal, but the Mirror and I have a LOT of fans. I have a LOT of close friends. And the only person who did any sort of healing ritual that I know of is Ana, and I only know this because I interrupted her. Because you know what? Pagans are people too. They have their own jobs, their own families, and their own problems to deal with. Who knows how many people have come to my site, sick and ailing, and I never knew it, or even if I knew it I hadn't done a ritual to help them. I certainly don't. Because I have my own life.
So what I'm thankful for most this Thanksgiving of 2003 is self-righteous little bitches for me to laugh at. Yes, these same wannabe-wiccan NWO-book-addicts who purport this myth and LIE that all witches do is go around like a throng of pentacled gypsies healing people like Benny Hinn's televangelist faith-healing parade. This is a bullshit lie, and anyone who tries to pass this off as truth needs to back the truck up and desist immediately. I am utterly sick and tired (and today, literally sick and tired) of people who claim to be healers when really, they're just ordinary people like you and me who have to look out for number one.
Some may counter that as worshippers of Nature, we Neopagans ought to emulate Nature. After all, She gave us medicinal plants and the mindpower to turn them into healing medicines. While this is true, Nature also gave us two legs to go out and find those plants, and two hands to pick them with. See, Nature isn't going to baby us and coddle us and egg us on. No, Nature wants only the strongest to survive, and Her wrath shows no mercy to any. No, only the strong survive, and the strong survive by sticking to their own guns.
The socialist ideal that everyone helps everyone else seems to plague the predominantly left/liberal Wickin World. Yes, politics and religion meet again. The reason it's only an ideal is that in order for socialism to truly work, EVERYONE must participate. Those who do not participate destroy the concept. And there's always gonna be a couple of self-serving assholes (hi!) who simply aren't able or can't afford (hi!) or don't feel like bending over backwards to help everyone else. Therefore, the socialist ideal will never work.
I didn't write this rant to guilt-trip my friends and fans into performing healing rituals on me. In fact, I ask that you DON'T. All this abcess needs is some TLC and an antibiotic (for which I'm going to the doctor tomorrow), and lots of rest and fluids, and I'll be fine. I wrote this piece to ask people to be honest. Yes, be honest. You aren't Benny Hinn, you don't run around healing people in the name of Jesus or Hecaté or Dipscuzzlebucket. You're a person. Chances are, you have a job. Chances are, you even have a family. Most definitely, you've got problems of your own. I don't fault people for this. What I fault people for is pretending they're something they're not. You're not the village doctor (unless you are), and even if you are the village doctor you are probably using modern medicines to cure ailments like tooth abcesses instead of having people drink mandrake tea at 3 AM every night...
In fact, if you're one of these chumps who claims to use your magic only to heal people, or claims to have no problems in your own life, I ask that you cure yourself by drinking mandrake tea at 3 AM every night. Please, drink some, and drink some more.
Wannabes make me sick. But, I give thanks for them because they give me someone to point and laugh at.
If you got here through a link, click here.