What do you think of Wicca?

[*Deidre*]

I just read a bit about it. Ugh, why did you have to show that to me? Just more mystical ideas to ponder. 

I've read before, can't remember where, a scientist's quote ''the universe is mysterious enough without inventing mysteries.'' Hmmm...

[The Grand Nudger]

It has the benefit of being steeped in western mythology, rather than n. european.

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I have a suggestion, btw..one you;ve probably heard.  Keep a magical journal of whatever spells you do.  ASddityionally (if you don;t already) keep a separate regular journal.  I still cant stress enough that magic isn;t likely to provide validation to you that your hearts in the right place (or, if you prefer..that you may find it too suspiciously willing to do so)..as an example you mentioned...but you can go meta on that shit and you might notice patterns of convergence or divergence between the contents of both journals.  You may even notice a cycle.

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I did something similar once.  I kept a list of ritual behaviors (I even enlisted some friends to help me identify the ones I missed)..and I kept a sort of free form train of consciousness journal.

What I found was that my intentional ritual behaviors were a reliable expression of whatever story I wanted to tell about myself at the time, whereas the ones I needed others help to notice were more indicative of where I was, who I was.

Much in the same way that a crook who goes to confession imagines himself to be a good person, the ritual reenforces that appraisal..but the pattern of engaging in that ritual expresses a deep seated suspicion and doubt about ones self in precisely the same regard.

[*Deidre*]

That’s a good idea, K. Maybe I’ll try that. :-)

[robvalue]

A "spell" could easily have a placebo effect, if you think it's actually doing something. That'd the trade-off for being a sceptic, I guess.

It's never going to do anything besides that placebo effect of course, including whatever demands on reality the spell entails. But I could see how going through the motions of casting a spell you know isn't real could provide a novel framework for learning about yourself in unusual ways, maybe. I've learnt things about myself by indulging in fantasy before, without having to believe any of it is real.

[The Grand Nudger]

One has to wonder why the body of spellcasters in the world aren;t particularly self enlightened people, at this point.  They;ve been up to it for tens of thousands of years.  The thing with ritual is that its an intentional behavior.  A psychologist would tell us that ritual is an attempt to minimize or smooth over anxiety.  

The tricky part, though, is knowing whether that anxiety actually has anything to do with the intentional contents of the ritual, and whether that ritual actually does address whatever the anxiety is, even subconsciously.  A person who continues to engage in ritual behaviors doesn;t seem to have overcome the anxiety..or they would no longer feel any compulsion to the ritual..and a person who believes that the ritual has done something that it has not has done nothing to allay that anxiety in the first place.  

In the most extreme cases of positivist ritual..the sum total of the effect of the ritual(s) is that a person thinks they;ve turned their life around or they feel good about x..but in reality they continue to engage in their self destructive behaviors and their life is falling apart around them.  Think of the people who fill their trailers with jesus candles and pray every day to win the lotto and that their kid gets that sweet promotion.  The ritual provides them with a good feeling about how things are improving, and looking up, and about to change any day and reenforces their idea that they;re on the right track......but, a trailer full of jesus candles and praying for financial success strongly suggests otherwise.  Theres a natural defense mechanism when someone suggests that maybe they should do some actual work towards any of their goals ala "how do you know this wont work, how do you know my prayers wont be answered, some of my prayers have been answered, I have faith"...but what is that beyond the compulsivity defending itself to the detriment of it;s possessor?  

In short, ritual is a signal of distress, not the solution to it - though it can defer it. A spell is an elaborate theatrical construct that manifests that distress... but rather than seeking or providing resolution.. seeks comfort by validation through folklore and compulsive behaviors. This applies to rituals as simple as leaving a cup of water in front of a pile of stones all the way up to a catholic mass.

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Heres a fun one.

 We examined whether ritualized behavior will manifest spontaneously as a dominant behavioral strategy in anxiogenic situations. Manipulating anxiety, we used motion-capture technology to quantify various characteristics of hand movements. We found that induced anxiety led to an increase in repetitiveness and rigidity, but not redundancy. However, examination of both psychological and physiological pathways revealed that repetitiveness and rigidity were predicted by an increase in heart rate, while self-perceived anxiety was a marginally significant predictor of redundancy. We suggest that these findings are in accordance with an entropy model of uncertainty, in which anxiety motivates organisms to return to familiar low-entropy states in order to regain a sense of control.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26096971

[*Deidre*]

Okay, soooo I joined this forum I’ve been following. It’s not a large forum but I want to ask questions etc so I received a pm from a member who I guess does aura readings? And she seriously nailed my aura lol So what do you make of that? I haven’t shared much of anything since I just joined.

I don’t believe in psychics or mediums, but she didn’t present herself that way.

[The Grand Nudger]

She nailed your aura...what does that even mean, and how would you know if she did? Additionally, how did she accomplish this feat of remote viewing?

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For extra fun, what board..I could go take a look at what you;ve shared and do a little warm read myself, or warm read her through the pm she sent you, lol. 

[*Deidre*]

Lol!! I know. I thought it was kinda cool but then I thought about it and in the pm section is a warning by the admin of the site to “not share any personal info with any members. There are members who try to sell their “services” so beware.”

Beware of snake oil sales people.... ^_^

I haven’t replied to her. And there’s a guy who pm’d me who also wants to teach me his way. Lol As open minded as I am, these pm’s are weird to me.

[The Grand Nudger]

Reminds me of eddie izzards bit on the C of E.  "Do come in, you;re the only one today!".

[*Deidre*]

haha ^^

Time to celebrate summer solstice, y'all.

Finally home from work, and going to spend some time outside. Not sure if I'll do any pagan rituals, I've looked some up to do that could be fun, but just celebrating nature might be enough.