Category: rants

I’m beginning to feel more than a little frustrated really at reading some of the pagan groups as of late.    They all seem to be of one coven:    Copy/Pasters of the Unimaginative, Uninformed Fae of the Great Beyond. Yeah, can smell all that glitter from here.

In truth, it’s frustrating, both to the authors themselves and to others who want accurate information.   The lines are blurred as to what will and will not go when it comes to posting, even though there are documents detailing such..many aren’t aware or get confused as to what they should do.   So my thought is that its better to err on the side of caution and assume everything is protected, and source it back with links.  Much less headache that way.  But people being people, are invariably lazy  or need that ego boost of “look what I found/know” and copy everything they can put their little mouse on.  Sometimes they even have the audacity to post it as their own works.  And yet, if you were to ask if they would consider stealing in the mundane, you would get a resounding “NO”! The problem is that for many, they do not feel as if they are stealing, because “hey if it’s on the net, it must be free right?” I know that in a secular world, people sit up right quick when their works are compromised by theft, but in the pagan realm it seems like that people think that if it’s out there, then share away.  I’m not sure why they feel so, other than the thinking that we are mostly outside the box from the start so no need to stick to what is the norm for most people.  I don’t know if it’s because I’ve suddenly taken a good look at what is going on, talking with those who write and are working to change this , or that it’s taking off on a life on its own.  It just seems like something new every day.  Some new site, group, page, whatever,that is just full of unsourced material.  It makes my head hurt to think about it really.  I cannot even begin to think about how those who write for a living must feel when they see their work splashed all over without even a credit given.

I don’t even have any answers for this mess either.  The logical one would be to read up on copyright laws and keep informed as to what one can share legally, or just give a summation and link back to the author.  As for those who still belong to the coven of copy/paste…a word of advice….STOP!  It doesn’t make you look smarter, give you any street cred should your deceit be found out(and it will because unlike some school of thought, the pagan world isn’t as large as it once was)…and it can cause you great legal issues should you not do the right thing.

DEUCES

I’ve been trying to behave this week.   I’ve not done  not a lot of ranting, kept the blood pressure in its proper sphere, and just watched the discussions as they move past.  I’ve even posted on a few…just enough to keep me awake and involved, not enough to have a relapse.  But one has caught my attention, that has always been one of my pet peeves, so I am going to stroke it today.

Why is it that one  thinks they  can assume a “familial” connection to someone,  and call them “brother” or “sister” from the outset?   It happens quite often, especially online. Too often I see people who come into groups, chat or otherwise and when they address others, it is as “sister” or “brother”.  I have major issues with this.  Let me see if I can count down the ways that it bothers me: First, I have a biological sister..one is enough.  Second, this word implies a familial connection, closer sometimes than blood kin. I have people like this in my life and I cherish them…but they were chosen with care, NOT on a whim.  Third, it implies that we are like-minded individuals holding the same beliefs and practices. While we may have  some similarities, since I am not in a traditional coven setting, this would be highly unlikely.  Fourth, it smacks of a pretentious hypocrisy that assumes quite a bit about our “relationship”….news flash!  We DO NOT have one! Especially if you have just now arrived in said group, we have never spoken, and do not interact outside of one thread.  There is no soul connection, nothing spiritual between us, nada, nothing zip!

Maybe I have this peeve as a holdover from a christian view on life? I did walk that way once until I began seeking things for myself and stopped trying to fit in with society’s view of what I should be.  People in a secular faith frequently call each other sister/brother because they ARE in a like minded setting, connected to one another in their beliefs.  It is another extension of setting themselves apart from those who walk differently, or “worse” don’t believe at all.  So perhaps in thinking on my issue with this, it stems from some of this.

Someone in a group setting says that they see this as a term of endearment.  Really?  I am used to hearing all sorts of such endearments living here in the south, from “Hon, Honey, Sweet Pea, Sweetie, Dear, Darlin’, but the sister/brother thing is usually a secular one and not done for the masses, so am just not a fan. I’ll choose my own familial connections thanks.  I’ll  make my own connections to souls that I consider closer than family, love and most importantly…RESPECT for their views, their humor, their knowledge.  They and ONLY they would be the ones I’d ever address with a familial term, but none of us are prone to doing so because we just aren’t in that type of mindset.  We know the value of one another without making a show out of the connection.   That type of connection is not an act friends, nor does it need shouted from the rooftops making everyone aware of said link.  To do otherwise just cheapens it in the eyes of others and with that said….just this once, I’ll give a shout out to tribe, even though they know the emotional ties… I am grateful for each and one of you, and if I ever forget to tell you(not that will happen anytime soon), I love and respect you all.  Ok, enough sappy shit and back to the usual channel of snark 😉

DEUCES

Sometimes there are things that make one just want to shake your head.  It’s either mind blowing in its whatthefucktiveness, or in  its stupidity.  Sometimes its a little of both.
The other day I was reading on a group of christian wiccans.  Yeah, oxymoronic is my thought as well, but they seem to think they can make it work.  I don’t see how because christianity is monotheistic, and wiccans allow for god and goddess , so would violate the doctrine and dogma of the christian faith as it is practiced now.  So how people can justify walking both sides of the street I have no clue.  It doesn’t make sense to me and seems fluffilicious at best.
So today’s absurdity is some man-child in a pagan group with real issues.   He first was upset because a friend thinks he is bi-sexual and had given him a hard time for it.  Seriously?  What does it matter if she decides to comment on your sexuality? Would being Bi be the worst thing that could happen to you? Are you a closet homosexual and afraid to come out?  No shame in that..happens to a lot of people. But unfortunately said man-child whined about his friend’s observation.  He also apparently got pretty angry about it because his next post was about wanting a “death spell”.  Now after group owner had asked for a “kindler, gentler” type of pagan(good luck with that one among those who know their shit and are tired of fluff), said man-child posts this nonsense in a group that for the most part speaks with knowledge and in a no holds barred kind of tone.    Yeah, this post went on a downward spiral almost from the get, with many of us upbraiding his stupidity.  His response?  He told someone to “go to Hades”!  Really.  I don’t know exactly what path this man-child walks, although he has mentioned a war-god, although I think that has to be based on his RP game playing, and not in the mundane.  So since he obviously did not mean it to reference the lord of the dead and netherworld of Greek reference, I took it mean the locale.  Makes me want to roll my eyes, since it is a christian construct, not one that pagans believe in (unless one counts those aforementioned christian wiccans I guess).  It all boils down to that this is a kid, who thinks its cool to be a playgan and incorporate RP games into ones path as if they are real.  Workings to harm others are not for the faint of heart, nor are they to be entered into on a whim or just because you are mad at someone that will blow over by the end of the day.  My suggestion?  Grow the hell up and act like the adult you are pretending to be.  I know you are young, but seriously, to walk among adults, speak on adult topics and be taken seriously on your path, then stop acting like an ass cricket and start learning some real knowledge (other than the WB that came with your video game).
It’s crazy really that no matter how many times you see things like this it makes you feel like doing a double take.  How  some people are able to operate in the mundane is beyond my realm of thought.  They seem to  go from pillar to post and find every piece of flufftastic garbage they can stuff in their little knapsack.  Seriously people…grow the hell up!  You make the toddlers look extremely intelligent compared to the shit that comes out of your mouths.  It really won’t cause you irreparable damage to open a book, study some history or speak with knowledgeable people.  It might even do you some good.  At least you won’t look so absurd to others when you do speak.  And that is always a bonus.

I’ve been looking today online(FB where else would I be?), and of course as is usual, there comes to everyone’s attention of someone lifting whole blogs by someone else with no accreditation back to the author, but instead is posted without link back and as an original work.
Stop…THIEF!!! Yes you are. A Thief!
Anytime you post something and do not give proper credit, it is plagiarism…To claim it as your own, or even if you received it from everyone else, is wrong.  You have deprived others of knowing the original author and gaining insight from their perspectives and knowledge.  You have robbed them of all the energy and work they put into their work.  Shame on you!  There is nothing lower than a thief and a liar.  Yes..you are that as well.You do not give proper credit telling everyone about who you lifted the work in question from(in this case someone’s blog I enjoy reading very much), instead either slapping your own name to it or not naming an author at all.

Looking at your site, I see many inaccuracies about  paganism as a whole, pictures belonging to others, even works from Silver Ravenwolf(seriously?), so I’m guessing you have either not heard of the copyright infringement laws or care less.  A friend suggested that maybe you weren’t aware of them.  Ignorance of the law is not a defense(try it sometime in the mundane and see how far you get).

Maybe you think “well it’s a big pagan world so who is going to know where it came from”?  Wrong on all counts.  The pagan world is shrinking friend.  Check the friend lists on any given person you run into contact with.  See the mutual friends?  Well those friends have friends who have friends and so on, so eventually you begin to hear “It’s a small world after all” run through your head(my apologies to those who will have that looping through your head for a bit).  They in turn will notify everyone they see about your rip off and soon you will be right in the middle of one of the biggest pagan witchfuckings you would ever hope to experience, albeit from the opposite point of view you might have hoped for.

My suggestion, go back and offer apologies to those you stole from, post one on your page as well as your site, then go into each and everything you posted and credit where it came from.  If it was given to you, say so and tell whom….and then ask if someone knows where it originated.  Cultivate some ethics, and see how far you get in opening some of the doors you hang outside of, with your tongue hanging out hoping for some crumb from those you admire.  It’s worth a shot at gaining some respect, and might save you from the ass kicking you surely have coming your way.

DEUCES

So I’ve been frequenting some of the pagan groups on FB.  Sometimes its informative, humorous, and interesting.  Other times it makes one want to stop and with  mouth agape yell WTF!!!!!!  such has been past couple days.  One member comes in with the intent to jump things off with her sanctimonious shit and make a statement that does provoke conversation and yet has a tendency to piss people off.  So the conversation centered around people joining groups and not posting when this individual makes the statement that people wont post if they are called names and put down, because their feelings are sensitive.  Oh whah!!! Are you not adult enough to man up and state your case?  If not, then how can you possibly claim to follow a spiritual path that is outside the societal “norms” ?  I agree that calling someone a name for making a statement can be a bullying tactic from those who will not listen to other’s point of view, but demanding that one give a source for the statement given (even UPG is a source ) is not a bad thing.  For one, it pushes people to look things up , expand their views and perhaps learn something new?  Too often I find that people walk around and will slap any label that strikes their fancy on themselves without any idea what that entails.  I find that irresponsible.  This is about your spiritual self.  why would you not take the time to learn something about it historically?  Any path can stand to have that happen…from the secular ones to those we scrabble together on our own.  If we claim to add some celtic into our path, don’t you think we should learn more about who they were?  Not just give lip service to their deities.  As for the one who is all about the “harm none” aspect.  Just how much harm does she feel people do to themselves without adding some honesty to that path?  They delude themselves into thinking they are being “mystical” when in reality they are lying to themselves.  If you cannot be honest with yourself, then who can? The asscrickets who wander around without a clue have plenty of fluff to read and buy from.  There are many unethical who walk around and will lead many sheeple into the abyss of which sometimes they may never get out of.  They will stay mired down in all the shit that has been tossed their way by others who should know better but care less..Now if that isn’t going against their own “harm none” I don’t know what is!  If you are going to lean a bit and share some insight with someone else. my personal opinion is that one should at least be factual about it.  If its UPG, say so..tell them, “well this is what I did and what I used, and what happened…now you may get different results, but you can try it and see what happens.”  How hard is that?  If you insist on going first this way then that, and you’re fine with it, then by all means do so.  Just don’t expect those who work at their spiritual self on a daily basis to hold your hand and feed  you, because we don’t have the time, the patience nor the inclination to do it all for you.  Grow a pair baby and be prepared to walk that path like a boss!

DEUCES

Sometimes I wished I believed in Karma.  the kind that comes around and kicks someone in the teeth for the stupid shit they do and say. I believe in a cause and effect..what you do and say has ramifications, which is totally different(kind of semantic, but it works for me).  So what’s got me to this point?  Hell this week has been….well more hellacious than usual.  I got into it with my boss on Monday who implied that I don’t know how to do my job since someone whined about my handing their work back to be repaired.  Yeah, pissed me off to no end..but if there is such a thing as “karma”, then she’ll get it eventually, amiright? So today, no run ins with the boss(he has conspicuously stayed out of my little corner of the world), a friend suggests that the look on my face reminded him that I might get physical if he did not remove himself….~shrugs~ but a woman became ill today. She was in tears holding her head, little disoriented…cause for concern.  Now I know she is a little off(hell who is “normal” anyways)…but some of the women around her began laughing at the symptoms she displayed after she left to seek medical attention.   Nobody knew if she had a migraine, stroke or something else major, but these women laughed.  N These same women sit daily and have preached about god, invited people to revival, some even sing in church, and yet…they showed no compassion for someone .  Not one  What kind of faith is that?  It’s all lip service as far as I can see.  Not one of them got up and offered to comfort this woman, offer to pray for her(although they are big on openly praying in church).  They talk a good game, but then again, they are just as likely to talk about others behind their backs.  I expect it of them because I know them, know their lives, and know how imperfect it is, even though they will not admit it.  Mine isn’t either, but I don’t walk around speaking shit and expecting people to swallow it.  But these “christian” ladies are not the only ones to do this.I often hear those on pagan paths(and lets not go into that definition tonight..ya’ll are smart enough to know it, and if you don’t remember..back up a blog or two and read it again, or just forget it cause you may never truly understand it).  Now about those pagans…there are those who want to “heal the earth”, save the trees/wolves/animals, etc..whatever.  All beautiful ideas of wanting to take care of the earth.  One thought.  IF when one “heals” the earth..what do you do with the energy you remove..you know when one heals, you have to banish the negative and clear things out in order to place healing energies there.  so what ya’ll going to do with the negative?  Ground? Wait…did you not just put that back where you were putting the healing? total upset of balance in my opinion, because Gaia has been taking care of herself for a damn long time without our help.  she rearranges things as she needs to even if we do not understand the basis of her doing so.  Think of it pretty much like you clear junk out of your house and rearrange the furniture.  There may be casualties, and that is regretful, but seriously, she has things to do.  If man in his “wisdom” would stop trying to fix shit, she might not have to go back and redo it.  Why not start in your own back yard?  There are things you can do to live greener.  There are people who can use your help.  Why the need to do this on a “grand” scale?  for the attention?  Fuck that!  Be a human being for Elphalba’s sake!  Live that path you walk instead of giving it lip service.  Connect to it spiritually instead of using it as a label.  If you are going to keep on doing the same thing day in and day out, then expect those same results…Say!  Ya’ll might want to check with a psychologist cause I’ve heard that is the legal definition of crazy.  Just don’t expect me to keep listening because at this moment, I am so NOT hearing you.

 

DEUCES

I’ve run across another group page of pagans.  I use that term loosely because they obviously are one due to the fact they don’t follow any Abrahamic faith, but they aren’t like any of those I know who follow a serious path.  The “group”/page is full of those who claim to be persecuted by christians and other faiths because they are pagan.  It’s an old tune that gets played quite a bit by those who have little knowledge of how things really work.  They are the ones who shout from the rooftops that they are “pagan”, wear all the pretentious pentacles and purchase all the tools and books that people are willing to sell them.  Leaves me shaking my head. Why?  You may ask.  First let me begin by saying that in some places, I have no doubt that ignorance rears its ugly head and people are harassed  for not walking a more socially acceptable path.  But on a wide scale platform?  No.  I live in  a small southern town and if asked will tell people that I am pagan(although there are damn few of us around in this area), and while some have made silly statements about going to hell(I work there..not afraid of it), for the most part, I am not persecuted.  So back to this little group.  I read first one post, considered as a “pagan creed”.  I will tell you that pagan is an umbrella term and unless one has a definite path, how one “creed” can cover us all, I have no idea.  So here is this thing:
I am a Pagan, spoken against by Jews, Christians, Muslims and Scientist alike.

I am of the First Religion to grace the Earth, long before the idea of the “One True God” ever tainted it.

I am of the religion that does not call to kill others but simply to live and let live.

I am the worshiper of Ra and Isis and Hecate and Hades and a long list of others.

I am of the true religion of peace who would not kill you simply because you worship another god.

I am a Pagan.

I CALL BULLSHIT!!! While there are a few of those in the first group in this statement that might speak out against those who of us who do not follow a more secular faith, there are many who have a live and let live attitude to us…sort of like “let god sort it out” kind of thing.    The second statement is almost accurate.  If one considers pagans as anything not Abrahamic, then yes, pagans existed long before Christ ever came onto the scene.  Gods/goddesses existed and ritualistic beliefs were held.  The third statement is patently false because pagans killed others.  Plain and simple  history tells us of those of other faiths being killed simply because of that faith.  Christians were killed, People of other nations were killed..all because they were different.  Fourth statement is true, as far as that there is a long list of deities that some incorporate into their path.  Some just choose to work with them, others worship them and claim them as protectors. Last statement is again Bullshit.  Same as the third one..we know that pagans killed others because of their faith.  Carthaginians killed others who were not of their faith, hell they even killed their children to offer to the gods without a whimper, so don’t tell me that pagans are all this love and light bullshit.  Read some damn history!

Apparently I am not the only one to comment about the “us vs them”  mentality, because they again posted a long post decrying the bullying of those who don’t understand.  That they were not espousing “hate” but posting a positive pagan statement.  They equate it with racism that if a black person said something, and a white person said the same..it would be construed as racist on the part of the white person.  ~cough~ excuse me while I gag on the bullshit in that statement.  Apparently according to the writer of the statements, its perfectly okay to abuse, revile, and otherwise puke on other faiths because according to him,  “paganism  is a true religion of peace”.~HEADDESK~ First, as I think I’ve explained before….Pagan covers a lot of ground.  ANY faith that is not of the Abrahamic ones are considered pagan, because they don’t follow christ.  Paganism is NOT a religion.  And I think I have stated above that a majority of those that followed what was/is considered  a pagan path are/were anything but peace loving.  He then goes off on a tangent of how King Josiah from the Bible killed pagans  and destroyed temples.  Well, obviously there were things done, but it was definitely a two-way street on that one.  He tries to use this as a basis for wiccans/pagans(yeah he differentiates) not being taken seriously.  Really.  Can you tell me why there are many in the pagan community who are highly respected even by those not of a pagan persuasion?  I guess its because they let themselves be bullied?  There is a difference in standing up for ones self and being an asshat, especially if one is not going to take the time to learn some damn history.  Respect for others as human beings goes a long way, no matter what path you’re on.  It’s those similar in nature of those of this particular page/group that give others a bad name.  it makes people want to lump us all into the same pile of shit, and I have to tell ya’ll..it ain’t happening to this witch.  I will continue to speak out for those who need a little back up, no matter what they believe.  I will also call out those who continue to spread their brand of bullshit that wants to tar us all with the same brush.
So for the idiots(yeah I’m name calling because their ignorance warrants it)….crack open a damn history book.  Specifically read about the Gauls, the Romans and the Greeks…can toss in some of the Egyptian as well…all those deities you mentioned..they all have a real affinity for persecuting and killing those who did not believe as they did and sacrificed them to their gods.  And stop spouting as truth, stupid asinine statements about paganism being a religion of peace…it’s not a religion, never was….EVER. Get it right or just better yet(and I personally prefer this one) STFU!!!!!!