So I’ve seen the “blessed be” debate go back and forth and seen the various arguments for and against using it and the various debunkings of each side’s arguments back and forth as well, and if you’re really interested in recapping all that, go to pagansuncensored and check your sanity at the door. Anyway, with the fact being out there that while “blessed be” is used in a closed fertility ritual based on genitals, it’s also used in a much more general context completely separated from that and in the general public use it’s never meant to refer to that ritual, here are my difficulties with the term/greeting in a general context:
It’s often used for general interfaith pagan interactions and in that usage, it makes no sense to me because I can’t tell what you specifically mean by “blessed be.” Like if you mean “have a nice day” or “may your spirits keep you safe” or “see ya later” then just say that, because every time I hear it, I’m like “okay I work with a bunch of different demons and spirits and deities and you work with other entities so there are too many factors here.” And while I understand the idea that people just want me to “be blessed” in general, like, well what do you mean by that? Be luckier? Healthier? Happier? I’m a magic-user and I want specifics. If you say “just chill man, I’m just blessing you,” then you obviously don’t know me very well because I will analyze the shit out of anything no matter how benign and that’s just how my mind works.
The other way it is used is as a greeting/parting that’s coded to mean “hey we’re pagans/witches!!!!!” and like, I’m just not into it as a community bonding thing because I think we could do better tbh. So I’m really not going to return your bb but I will accept it knowing what you generally sorta kinda are getting at, while pining for more specifics and a better way of giving a witchy fistbump.
ANYWAY since I never know what anyone means with “blessed be” and since I am a word magician and am fine with arbitrarily imposing a meaning on the nonsensical or poorly defined, henceforth I will take every “blessed be” aimed at me to mean “blessed bee,” as in, you are blessing a random bee to keep it safe and happy. Bees need protection and I feel this is a good way.
