RE: What do you think of Wicca?
June 20, 2018 at 10:22 pm
(This post was last modified: June 20, 2018 at 10:23 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
We all think we do, but we also have gaping blindspots..and those blindspots are exploited by purveyors of paperbacks and supernatural paraphernalia. Theres simply nothing about a magic spell that would suggest that it;s a good tool for self discovery other than what you find in those paperbacks, and a great body of information to the contrary...and it doesn;t really matter whether a person is a materialist or not on that count. Even presuming theres some other x...magic spells still are exactly what they are.
What about the non cynical reasons that people might offer such a testimonial, though..right? Well..consider the arc of most people who dabble in wicca or witchcraft. They come for the spells, stay for the less horrid philosophy, and then gradually peter out..either returning to their original faith traditions and offering some of the most amusingly lurid testimonials of witchcraft anyone might ever read...or reaching a religious vacuum (or worse, atheism). Heres something where I think that we could both defer to your very personal knowledge of having left a faith. Recall the twilight between your being a catholic and recognizing that you no longer were. Probably wasn;t an on then off thing. There was almost certainly a gradual pull back from both the institution and the practices..some bits lasting longer than others. In the same vein, there are probably plenty of things you told yourself and others as to why you stuck with this or that bit that you;ve now left....and within that set, you can probably identify some things that weren;t really doing what you thought they were or said they were or believed they were or were told they would, at the time.
Witchcraft is in that set of things, for very nearly everyone whos ever been involved in wicca. First it;s magic spells. Then it's a ritual focus, then it;s a sort of self discovery tool. A gradual softening and evolution of a conceptual stance. The thing is..it never delivers any of those goods, and why would it? It;s not therapy. Its not a treatise on the human psyche backed by thousands of human lifetimes of clinical trials and critical analysis. It;s folklore. In the most generous assessment, and within the context of self discovery..it;s a conceptual prop. Something that stands between us and the discovery we seek, and intentionally so, but could achieve by more direct means. It often serves the purpose of reenforcing a feedback loop..and while that may have a use in operant conditioning (the likely purpose of the development of all human ritual since behavioral modernity)....it;s the very opposite of what it is you indicated you sought in it;s practice.
Eyes wide open, right?
What about the non cynical reasons that people might offer such a testimonial, though..right? Well..consider the arc of most people who dabble in wicca or witchcraft. They come for the spells, stay for the less horrid philosophy, and then gradually peter out..either returning to their original faith traditions and offering some of the most amusingly lurid testimonials of witchcraft anyone might ever read...or reaching a religious vacuum (or worse, atheism). Heres something where I think that we could both defer to your very personal knowledge of having left a faith. Recall the twilight between your being a catholic and recognizing that you no longer were. Probably wasn;t an on then off thing. There was almost certainly a gradual pull back from both the institution and the practices..some bits lasting longer than others. In the same vein, there are probably plenty of things you told yourself and others as to why you stuck with this or that bit that you;ve now left....and within that set, you can probably identify some things that weren;t really doing what you thought they were or said they were or believed they were or were told they would, at the time.
Witchcraft is in that set of things, for very nearly everyone whos ever been involved in wicca. First it;s magic spells. Then it's a ritual focus, then it;s a sort of self discovery tool. A gradual softening and evolution of a conceptual stance. The thing is..it never delivers any of those goods, and why would it? It;s not therapy. Its not a treatise on the human psyche backed by thousands of human lifetimes of clinical trials and critical analysis. It;s folklore. In the most generous assessment, and within the context of self discovery..it;s a conceptual prop. Something that stands between us and the discovery we seek, and intentionally so, but could achieve by more direct means. It often serves the purpose of reenforcing a feedback loop..and while that may have a use in operant conditioning (the likely purpose of the development of all human ritual since behavioral modernity)....it;s the very opposite of what it is you indicated you sought in it;s practice.
Eyes wide open, right?
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