I know that was his point…however, I really didn’t feel like railing against him on that point–which would be honestly rather counterproductive here–and instead tried to share why other Wiccans might be upset at that behavior.
I know there was already a thread on whether magic was “real” or not. It got pretty ugly, I think…sorta like to avoid a repeat of that . If he thinks it looks stupid, I’m not going to be able to change his mind, and, frankly, I’m not willing to lose any sleep trying to do so. Live and let live and all that. As long as he doesn’t smash my candlesticks (My dad, 11th grade), he can think whatever he wants.
However, in the off-chance that he had a different question, I wanted to try to answer it. I’m just optimistic that way :).
Hmm. I try not to let the “fashionista Wiccans” bother me a whole bunch. I know the ones you mean, though. They get into it for the eyeliner and big chunky silver jewelry and goth-type clothes, and show up at the local shop asking for a spell to change their appearance. Secretly, they think “Charmed” is a documentary.
There I am in the next aisle, wearing sweat pants and no makeup, buying essential oils so I can make a new batch of scented bath salts, and all I can think is “If I could change my appearance that way, would I have left the house looking like this? Moron.”
The trend-followers never last long, though. A few will show up for the Samhain circle, but when nobody actually levitates, they go elsewhere. Perhaps next week they’ll become Buddhists, if inner peace is the next big thing. On the other hand, perhaps they will learn and stay. Or learn and take the experience elsewhere. With any spiritual practice, or non-theistic personal growth for that matter, you can’t judge the book by its cover. It is the contents that matter. And those who work on the cover alone are doing themselves a grave disservice.
My only real problem with the poseurs is that they are often the ones making the wildest public claims and getting media attention, and it makes the religion overall look even nuttier than we are. (I personally am quite enough of a kook without the extra PR.)
Imagine that the general public learned about the Straight Dope Message Board via a press release from Wildest Bill. It’s about the same, Invisible Pink Unicorn help us all.
So this whole thing is a True Scotsman? These so-called posers are claiming that they have faith, beleive all the right things, observe ll the right rituals and you’re saying they aren’t faithful enough, don’t beleive all the right things/believe some of the wrong things, observe the wrong rituals and give all you True Wiccans[sup]TM[/sup] a bad name.
And this is different from a Catholic critiscising an Anglican how.
Not exactly. A lot of them claim they have mystic secret powers, and go out of their way to be “interesting” and attract attention. It makes it hard for the serious Wiccans to be taken seriously - you yourself are having a hard time with it, no? And note the dismissive comments from MGibson and bizzwire earlier in this thread.
Completely anecdotal example: I was at a festival with the press in attendance, and who was dying to be interviewed? The girl in black velvet and stockings with garter belt (at noon on Saturday), wearing more makeup than Tammy Faye, and with pointed earpieces and vampire fangs. (Dunno why she thinks witches have pointed teeth. Didn’t ask.) She was wetting her pants getting the reporter and photographer to notice her.
She looked like a Vulcan porn star, only not in a good way. She might be a lovely person and deeply spiritual, but you could just see the photographer thinking “Great! She looks like a real nutcase!” Yep, the picture made the paper. The large portion of attendees in jeans and t-shirts did not. And the Wiccan = deluded freak image went forth once more.
Granted, the media shoulders a large portion of blame here. But I do sometimes wish they had a little less inside help.
The difference is that the poseurs don’t believe. It seems to me that the point that people keep missing in this thread is that the criticism is not of people who do things in a different way or people who are in the process of learning how to do it right – it’s the people who don’t have any intention of really practising the faith, of really learning. They want the name, but they don’t want to earn it. If we’re going to get into comparisons to Christianity, think of poseur Wiccans as those Gentiles that Jesus refers to when he tells his followers not to pray out in the streets for everyone to hear, but to go into a little room and to pray quietly (Matthew 6:5). Those people who are out in the streets aren’t really faithful, they just want everyone to think they are. Poseur Christians, if you will (I know Jesus was referring to the Gentiles in this passage, but you get the idea).
matt_mcl, I wish I could claim credit for coming up with that word (“wannablessedbe”). At the least I can claim credit for spreading it around! ;D You’re quite welcome for its use. Thanks Ethilrist for posting the full quote; I did mention that I got it from “Buffy” but I couldn’t remember anything about the context of the word.
But to me, it sounds as if a protection spell is no different than say, praying to the Patron Saint of Traveling, before going on a vacation. It sounds quite a LOT like prayer, or saying the rosary.
(Although New Age and crystals kind of make me wary-crystals to me are pretty-but I don’t believe they have “healing powers”…)
I only have one crystal, on a necklace I own. It’s pointy, so sometimes I poke Mr. Seawitch with it when he’s teasing me. Pretty effective as a Sacred Anti-Teasing Talisman, but I could replace it with a pointy stick.
‘I am not a wizard. I am not a vampire. I do not drink blood, worship Satan or kill animals or people.’
Is that all clear, clear as in ‘crystal’? As in ‘of course not!’? As in ‘Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not go on Ricki Lake and brag about drinking blood?’ Cool. Let’s proceed as if this kind of nonsense was unnecessary.
If it’s not clear, throw this book and all others like it in the nearest garbage can and go seek mental help. Don’t make your mental illness other peoples’ problem.
Thank you."
It should be noted that the word wizard is used to refer to the classic Dungeons&Dragons wizard.
As luck would have it, the percentage of black t-shirts in my wardrobe has grown rather large. I didn’t do it on purpose, but that’s the way it is. Combine this with my black hooded trenchcoat, and a pallor caused by spending 23 hours a day on this computer, and I fear that people will mistake me for a PW. Possibly even a group of PW’s. I can see it now
“One of us! Kewl! Wanna go put a curse on my ex-boyfriend?”
“If you empty-headed, wannablessedbe, wastes of space do not go away I will kill you.”
“Yeah? With what? You’re not carrying candles or a knife or nothing. How’re you gonna use your magic?”
“Did I say anything about magic?”(cracks knuckles and flexes hands.)
That and since I usually wait 'til night to go buy groceries, I worry that my neighbors think that I think I'm a vampire.
Monty- Good point, although it seems to me that so many Wiccans are railing against it that it would almost be pointless for a Fundie to throw in some more. I don’t object immediately one hundred percent to the idea of a kit, but that particular one is such a piece of shit. That, coupled with the crass commercialization of the faith, makes me really loathe it.
And the comparison of the Crafties to the biblical people who fast and then proclaim their fasting, or pray loudly in the streets while they have no faith is a pretty darn good one. Saff, you said it better than I could.
Someone in the SCA wrote up what calls “Silverwing’s Laws.” It’s a collection of semi-humorous, semi-serious aphorisms about live in the SCA, like “The number of sauces at the feast is directly proportional to the length of your dags times the cost of the material.”
You just reminded me of:
The media will always interview the worst-dressed person at the event. If they can’t find the worst-dressed person, they will interview the least-dressed person.
I was honestly worried that that comparison wouldn’t work well. Glad it worked for someone. ::warm fuzzies::