Spoonie witch trying to not make discourse but still having an opinion
This is something I’ve heard about before, but I’ve never seen as much of it as in the last day, when I browsed @this-isnt-magic‘s blog. I’m not aware of the whole lifespan of the blog. I’ve read it used to have another blog before, that was far more rude and aggressive, but this one is a more chill, reasonable and educating version. I read through a lot of it. Agree with some of it, disagree with some of it.
What specially caught my attention because of how close to home it hits, it’s all the discourse around ‘spoonie magic’, ‘easy fluff magic’, magic for disabled practitioners, whatever you wish to call it. Some background about myself: I’m disabled. Used to be physically disabled, but after a lot of physical therapy, I’m doing better and maybe one day I’ll be normal. Then I’m mentally disabled. I have depression, anxiety, dissociate a lot and have memory issues. But with therapy and medication, I stopped being suicidal, and maybe soon or in a few years, I’ll be able to have a completely normal lifestyle. But even if my disability is temporal (or I hope so), I’m still disabled right now. And I don’t find the term ‘spoonie’ patronizing. I feel like the word describes exactly my situation -and it sounds cute-, so people educated about it can understand my struggles without me having to explain them extensively.
So apparently there’s two sides to this situation. One group of witches says witchcraft is inclusive and accessible to everyone. Intent is everything. Swirling around tea is witchcraft. Self care is witchcraft. And since everything comes from intent, it doesn’t matter if your body or mind can’t keep up with life, because those things don’t matter for witchcraft, and you can do it anyway.
In this side of the argument, apparently there are lots of people who aren’t bedridden or spoonies or anything, but want to be inclusive of those who are.
In the other side of the argument, witches are saying witchcraft is a craft, it involves hard work, and while it can be very satisfying, you still have to put a *lot* of effort into it.
This side of the argument surprisingly includes many disabled witches.
..................including myself.
Don’t get me wrong. I also swirl my tea with positive thoughts. I also breathe in health, breathe out pain. I also shower and ask Aphrodite to cleanse me. I also wish my friends to have a nice day and to get home safe, sending positive thoughts towards them so it’ll happen.
But for me, that’s not witchcraft. AND IT’S OKAY.
You can be a witch, or not, and still do every of those things. Because it’s okay to have a spiritually rich life. It’s okay, and actually useful to try to always think positive. I’ve seen christians blessing the food, asking for it to be nutritious and not make them ill, just the same way I ask Sejmet to help me through a depressive episode. You aren’t sitting down to cast spells or do fleshed out rituals, but that doesn’t make it wrong. If you like to live a spiritual life and it brings you results, you do you.
But witchcraft still requieres work, effort, and studying. I can’t make a house in the sims and say I built a house. I’m majoring in civil engineering so I can learn how to properly make a house (and lots of stuff but that’s another thing). I can’t stick a bunch of yarn balls to my body with scotch tape and say I knitted a sweater. I still have to put in the work, stitch by stitch.
Witchcraft is a craft, and there are several ways to go about it. They still require work. And I am disabled, but I’m still able to do it. Because of my disabilities, I wouldn’t be able to perform a ritual that required half an hour of dancing. But I can make a jar spell, sitting the whole time so my body won’t suffer. I may not be able to use certain herbs or drugs because of my medication and psychological issues. But I can alter my mental state through meditation if I’m having a good mental health day and don’t run the risk of dissociating.
If you’re disabled, just because people say witchcraft requires a hella lot of work, they aren’t kicking you out of the community. You know we’re fucking baddass. We just have to work extra hard, or find ways around it to accommodate it to ourselves, like we do in every other aspect of our life.
But believe me, you aren’t doing yourself a favor by stirring your coffee with good intentions and calling yourself a witch.
By all means, try modern paths of witchcraft. Hell, I’ve, myself, tried out emoji spells. But without the adequate mental state of mind, without the proper abstraction of ideas through symbols using emojis instead of drawing a sigil from scratch, without the push of the will, the manipulation of energy, the programming of the world around me, that spell would get me nowhere. It’d be just wishing for something really hard.
Live your spirituality. Take a shower and visualize yourself getting cleansed. That’s great for you. But study, investigate, practice, and craft. You’ll be amazed by the results.
Sorry, this was a very unorganized rant but I just wanted to get some things off my chest. Peace.
