~~Abra Kadabra~~

A Blog of Magical Proportions. Join us as we discover the History of Magic and go over some of the common practices in use today (and why they are not historically accurate to anything).  Complete with a splash of nerd and fashion.  Probably.

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(via Many Moons a Go)

I wish more people actually understood astronomy.  Or, you know, science in general.

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this tweet is everything

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I wish we still did this.

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Human Decency and Religion

So, people who know me also know I like to get a little opinionated.  After days of constant bombardment on Facebook about how “God needs to come back to America” I posted a little quip about how being religious doesn’t make you a good person.  Not being a dick is what makes you a good person.

Now, one of the responses I got was that “It takes god shining in your life and heart to get to the point of not being a dick.”

Ok.  So.

First of all.  The person who replied was one of the people constantly posting how we need God in America, and is extremely Christian. The middle aged White Upper Middle Class version of Christian.  Anyone who knows me enough, or is literate enough to read my entire post, knows that I am not Christian.  Haven’t been since I was a wee teenager reading Sweep sitting under her Cedar tree wondering if she was adopted (I was not, if you’re interested in knowing).

This brings up a few issues.  First of all, this person should have known I was a pagan.  To then go forth and state that “it takes having god” to make you not-a-dick is therefore SUPER insulting.  I don’t “Have God,” does that make me a Dick?  Apparently so.

The second point comes to you in the form of statistics.  Only around 31% give or take of the world is Christian.  That’s right.  OF. THE. WORLD.  That’s the equivalent of sectioning off North America and maybe parts of South America and saying “only this bit is Christian.” 69% (yes, make your jokes, and then get serious again) of the world is something else.  This includes Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Shinto, Hindu, Pagan, the list goes on.  By this person’s logic ALL of these other people are dicks on the soul factor of not knowing God.

Which is a pretty dick thing to say.

Now, something some Christians will argue is that if you are a good person you ‘know god’ even if you don’t believe in him.  This, first of all, is extremely insulting and a super entitled thing to say.  No one one earth can KNOW what God is or is not.  For all we know, there could be no God at all and we all just turn into sweet skeletons when we die. To infer that all people are secretly worshiping God even if they don’t know it is also xenophobic.  It’s essentially saying all other religions are wrong, we are the only right.

Now, I’m not saying all Christians in America* are dicks.  But they do experience a certain level of privilege for just being Christian.  These people will never know how it feels to be fired from a job simply because they aren’t fellow Christians.  They will never get refused service for wearing religious head ware.  They will never be asked to remove their crosses because they are inappropriate accessories for work.  They will never have someone say their holy icons are Satanic.

So how do you be a good person?  Believe it or not, being a good person has absolutely nothing to do with your religious upbringing and all to do with how you treat others.  There’s a common phrase:  

“...If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”-Sirius Black, property of J.K. Rowling.

This phrase has been around a lot longer than Harry Potter, obviously, dating back to at least letters written in 1770.  Probably even before that.  It basically means if you want to really know how a man is on the inside-if he’s a good person-don’t look at how he treats people of his own social standing.  Look at how he treats people that are socially considered “below” him.  Animals, the poor and homeless, minorities.

Another version of this can be found in the so-called Golden Rule-treat others as you want to be treated.  Now, many people wrongly attribute this to the bible.  And it is in the bible, to an extent.  It is also found in various religious systems throughout the world-some of which are even older than Christianity itself!

So, next time you think America needs religion remember: More wars have been fought over religion and more people killed over it than for any other reason.  The only thing we need is Common Human Decency.

*I say Christians in America because Christianity here is quite different from Christianity in other parts of the world.  We are, actually, one of the few places in the world who view the Bible as literal and not figurative/metaphorical. 

[armouredsheep]

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Gwaine sure showed him.

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Gender Roles in Paganism (Particularly Wicca)

Get ready everybody, we’re about to talk about Gender Roles in Paganism and why they are shit!  Yay!

First of all, I would like to say that my background is in Eclectic Witchcraft with a historical flare and in Wicca.  Therefore, most of the things I will be talking about will be in regards to that background.

So, what the hell are gender roles and why do I care?  In short, gender roles are the ways in which people of various genders are supposed to act or ways they are not supposed to act.  For example, a common gender role stereotype is that Real Men Don’t Cry and that Women all Want Babies. You should care because it affects you!

But this is Magic, paganism, super cool stuff!  We don’t have things like gender roles!  We’re totally equal!

Here’s the thing.  When I was a wee baby coming into neopaganism for the first time I came through it by way of Wicca.  I like to call Wicca the stepping stone for neopaganism.  It tends to be one of the most media friendly versions of neopaganism you can find, and thanks to things like Charmed, most people at least know it exists.  Now, when I was but a wee fifteen year old girl angry at the world Wicca looked really cool.  Powerful women, gender equality, open mindedness.  It was everything I was looking for!  

Now that I’m older and more snarky I can look at Wicca and a lot of other neopagan groups with more scrutiny.  Yes, there is gender equality, but not in the way you’d want it or expect.  Gender roles for a lot of groups begin right in their cosmology.  Wicca in particular is guilty of this.  According to many Wiccan faiths, and some versions of Traditional or Eclectic Witchcraft, there are a “God” and a “Goddess.”  The universe was created by these two beings having intercourse with each other.  

From this comes the wheel of the year.  The wheel of the year teaches us that the Goddess has three forms-Maiden, Mother, Crone.  At  various points in the year the Goddess and the God interact and stuff happens-including they bang, the God dies, the Goddess gives birth to him, and they bang... again.  It’s somehow not incest because, idk, symbolism.

So, why should we care?  The main concern here is actually in the representation of the Goddess herself.  The way she is portrayed is always in relation to her male counterpart.  The Goddess is a Maiden, pure and virginal.  The Goddess is a Mother, heavy with child from her time with the God.  And, finally, the Goddess is a Crone, now infertile but wiser from her experiences as a mother.

There are several problems with this.  The first is that these sort of representations aren’t any different from any other mainstream religion where there is a focus on masculine deities.  The only difference is they wrap it up in prettier wrapping paper.  

The second is that it continues the gender dynamic that women are and will always be mothers.  This does not account for anyone who cannot have children, doesn’t desire children, who was not born into the gender they are now, or who does not conform to the stereotypical behaviors of their physical gender.  Of course this is problematic on many levels, the highest being that many neopagan groups can be extremely distrustful of anyone that is not Cis Gendered.  In fact, Z Budapest was well known for only allowing “real women” into Dianic Wicca, going as far as to claim that Transgender individuals are spies for men.  Which is insane and ridiculous.

But what about the men?  What about them.

Ok, Ok, yes.  This affects men too.  Men are saddled with the same gender biased women are subjected to in these cases.  The God is always portrayed as a virile, handsome man, strong and proud.  He’s the Hunter, God of the woods and of all things manly.  This encourages the gender roles men have long been stuck with since the patriarchal Christianity took root.

This goes even further.  Some covens refuse to include anyone who is not heterosexual as they do not fit into the ‘natural order’ of their religion.  Gay men have long since been shunned from many branches of Wicca in particular, going as far as to having to form their own traditions.

This is all utter garbage and unfair, obviously.  Unfortunately, until people stop buying into the “but we’re different!” claims of various groups nothing will ever change.  So, I encourage you to look at everything with a critical eye.  Don’t take their word for it.  Make them walk their talk and don’t take “Well, it’s the natural order of things” as a reasonable excuse to subjugate entire groups of people.

[the-glitter-witch]

If I could talk to Gerald Gardner today.  Pro-tip: He’d be Merlin.

[365daysofhorror]

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Story of my life.

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What is “Magick”and why is it spelt like that?

“Magick” has many definitions depending on what system you follow. A generally agreed upon definition in most circles is that Magick is the use of natural forces, or energies, to gain a desired outcome.  This is generally done through spell word, although some practitioners of Magick may also make poppets, infusions, and the like. 

So, why is it spelt with a K?  Back in the early 1900s Aleister Crowley popped the K at the end of it to distinguish it from common forms of stage magic.  No one wanted outsiders to think we sat around pulling rabbits out of hats, I guess.  This trend picked up with other neopagan communities, notably the Wiccan Community, which was led by Gerald Gardner, whom will be “discussed” (read: bitched about) in a future post.  It is interesting to note that Gardner and Crowley were, apparently, part of similar social circles.  I should have noted earlier, I like puns that aren’t funny.

I should add that I despise both of these people and refuse to add the K onto the end out of sheer spite.  Ok, that’s not entirely true.  There are many followers of pagan paths that do not add the K to the end of it for any number of reasons ranging from they find it pretentious to the fact that it’s just improper spelling.  Also, let’s be real people, magic has been around for long enough that it doesn’t need people adding K’s to it because they think they need to differentiate between the two.  

Another interesting tid bit: the only people that will ever know about the added K are other practitioners and people interested in magic, which makes it rather redundant, since those people already know you aren’t going to be throwing cards around and pulling doves out of your sleeves.

So, who practices magic?This is a very hard question to answer, actually.  Most people assume that all pagans practice magic of some sort, which isn’t true.  Many Wiccans, for example, do not practice any sort of magic at all, while others may practice various forms of it every day.  Some pagans claim that anyone who prays it using a sort of magic. 

What can magic do?And here comes the issue.  No one can really agree on what magic actually does.  To some people it’s simply a way to focus oneself on a desires outcome and encourage behaviors to achieve that outcome.  Sort of like leaving post-it-notes everywhere.  Other people think it can turn a clear day cloudy and rainy.  Others yet believe it can be used to bring forth elementals, spirits, creatures, demons, etc from one of a multitude of other planes for various reasons.  

What can’t magic do?Something that is generally agreed upon by most adult practitioners of magic is that no, you will not be able to shoot lightning bolts from your fingertips or literally turn something into a frog.  This isn’t a cartoon... Although that would be cool?

What do you call a practitioner of magic?This again various by what system of magic you go by.  Generally any Wiccan who practices magic calls themselves a “witch” regardless of gender.  Some people like to be called “magicians” others like to be called “priest” or “priestess.”Is Satan involved?

Most pagans don’t actually believe in Satan.  However, there could be Satanists who practice magic, but even to these people Satan is sometimes just a concept as opposed to an actual being.Annnnd that’s about all for today!  

I’ll be updating again in the near future.  If you have any questions you’d like answered feel free to hop over to the “Ask a Witch” section! <3