Most FB Support Pagan/Witch Groups Are Vile Swamps of Dysfunction

Blessings Darlings!

I enjoy discussing religion, politics, magic, gardening, prepping, cooking, food, science, and a whole lot of other stuff.  And if there is a topic, there are probably hundreds of Facebook groups for that.  Some of those groups are good, and promote great discussions, and everyone learns new things and grows.  But those groups are really bloody rare.

They seem especially rare for Pagan and Witch topics.  Discussion and citing sources and backing up claims of history and, OMGs, asking for success stats with a magical technique! are almost universally frowned upon.  Instead of having groups aiding in folks maturing,David Wolfe getting a real education (David Wolf and Natural News, etc, being considered really fucking BAD sources of info), aiding folks in setting goals and holding them accountable for taking (or not taking) actions towards those goals, the bulk of the groups are termed 'support groups'.

In these groups, every claim, every fleeting thought ever random dream or day dream, is unquestioning accepted as capital T Truth.  David Wolfe and his ilk are believed.  Alistair Crowley's spirit IS living tn the tree in front of your house.  Disagreeng or challenging things that are not factual (like, history or chemistry) is called 'being negative' or 'being argumentative' or 'attacking'.

And both plagiarism and down right piracy of the work of others Pagans and witches is allowed, hell, in some it's even encouraged.  Certainly those who speak against the practice (yup, like Yours Truly) get booted from the group by folks who misquote the laws about those topics to cover their pasty white plagiarizing asses. 

Instead of promoting growth and maturing of the people in those groups, they are enabling disconnect from the world that they need to be living and doing magic in.  Dismissing science, the herbal concoctions some folks prescribe are risks to life and health.  By pretending to be sharing information but hiding the source of it, the leaders of those groups are controlling the people in the group and hoarding information, so that the members can't vet the sources and read more by those that are generally considered to be actually good. 

Such groups are made by admins who pretend that their members will gain strength by being kept in a play pen and spoon fed their entire lives.  Now, as above so below, right?  If you take a 30 year old adult, limit them to a 'safe' playpen, spoon feed them random pureed and always pre-cooked food ... what efect is that going to have on the human body?  Confine it, deny it raw food, exercise, the cleansing effect of sunlight (hush, Amorella, we know YOU don't need sunlight, but you work nights), and fresh air, 

The result isn't going to be pretty.  And certainly not strong and healthy.

Are there good FB pagan and/or witch groups?  Yes.  They are rare.  The Morrigan's Cave group is very different than the Answering Her Call....the lore of the Morrigan group.  You will have to join many and dump virtually all of them, to find great groups. 

It's worth the effort to be an actualized adult rather than a controlled child.

Frondly, Fern

Pagan Conferences

Blessings Darlings!

Let me state this, again, up front:  If Z Budapest trashed "Niggers" and "Kikes" as she does "trannies" - do you really think she'd be invited to any conferences? If she banned Jewitches, and said "Kikes are just animals in human clothes, so they can't come to my rituals. Oh, that's hurtful? They still aren't coming, but I'm sorry THE TRUTH hurts" ....

Anyway ...

I'm now going to talk about what the roles of Pagan Conferences are or should be in the US.


I'm not talking about conferences by any one particular religious group for its members or people who want to participate in that particular religion.  I'm talking about a conference open to everyone in the Pagan community who can and will pay the admission price.  Many of them will come from far away, many won't be affiliated with a local pagan group or local pagan community.  Those that come who are involved in a local group aren't at the conference to learn more about their home group even if members ARE giving classes - they can get those at home, after all.  They traveled to the conference to get stuff that is NOT available at home.


Let's look at the "about" statements of several conferences/festivals on my side of the country:


"The Sacred Space Conference is a place and time of respectful sharing and thoughtful learning among the many rich and varied traditions, beliefs, paths and organizations found in the DC/Baltimore metropolitan region, the surrounding Mid-Atlantic area, and the world.  It is our hope that through this conference we will increase understanding and religious tolerance between the many traditions within the esoteric community, as well as within the public at large."

"Between The Worlds is an interfaith esoteric conference sponsored by the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a Wiccan non-profit religious organization. This conference is an opportunity to experience learning and rituals from a wide range of esoteric Paths."

"The Free Spirit Alliance is a spiritual networking organization serving the Pagan and Pantheist religious communities. Founded in 1985, our focus is and has been on presenting national, regional, and local events where people from all backgrounds can learn and share ideas. "


Learning and sharing, among a wide-range of folks.   Nothing less than that.  

Learning. Sharing.  Being exposed to the thoughts and rituals of many different groups.   Rituals to experience how those groups worship and work with energy.

That's what I say Pagan Conferences are for.

That said .....

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AND THERE ARE SOMETHINGS THAT PAGAN CONFERENCES ARE NOT (IMNHO)

None of those descriptions have anything about deliberately life changing rituals.  No promises of healing. No offer of spiritual breakthroughs.  


NOTHING THAT IS GOING TO SHATTER THE LIFE YOU LEFT.

I really worry for folks who seek spiritual breakthroughs at Pagan conferences, especially those who go back to being without group and community back home.  

Because 'breaking' and 'breaking through' is relatively easy.  Putting things back together in a new order - that is hard.  And is best done with the support of groups and community, not alone.  


Non-magical example:  I lived in the middle of Illinois for years.  One local therapist loved to help women separate out all their different parts.  Like ... dissociation/multiple personalities.  She honestly felt that doing this lead women to emotional breakthroughs.  But she never put them back into a cohesive whole.  Breaking the old without putting a new framework in place - simple destruction - left a trail of less functional, more broken, individuals.

Magical breakthroughs are very similar.  Looking at the coven I'm now in .... The coven was created (at the auspicious time) and we all became members.  And even that energy - no initiations, no elevations, just forming a coven and becoming members! - manifested in chaos in members lives.  Divorces and marital issues, unemployment and financial problems, internal communication issues, etc.  

Or even an encounter with the sweet, healing Goddess Bridget as Crone - where She announced She was going to work me over like she works a sword on Her forge - left me physically ill for months. Worked over, indeed!


Change SOUNDS great.  Change INVOLVES chaos.  We had each other, the group, the tradition and it's other members/HPs/HPSSs/Elders to rely on, and it was still chaotic.  


An actual spiritual breakthrough, at a conference, away from home, and you have to deal with travel after it ... and then being alone to deal with the chaos if you aren't part of a group.

And it doesn't matter if the breakthrough is 'healing'.  Healing is equally chaotic, especially if you are healing from long-standing issues.  You've build structure in your life around being broken.  Yes, you've shattered the Tower.  But you are now in mid-air, with debris around you and on every place you would land. NOW the real work starts.  And the ritual leader/healer doesn't stay in your life.  You are on your own.  Who is back home to even talk with about what is good to keep and what must be junked in your life?  Who can see magically what is going on that you might not be aware of, now brought to the surface?   


Because healing one area is going to bring up other areas that need healing, or areas you overcompensated in.  There will be fallout.  It was be ... yes ... chaos.


And if you do not have group/community back home, you will be alone.  With new chaos. 

Which is why life changing rituals, healings, etc, are to be done in your area, with people who are going to be around afterwards finishing the job - helping you clear up the chaos.

Let me summarize:

Pagan conferences are for sharing.
Pagan conferences are not for breakthroughs unless you seek a break-down.

Frondly, Fern 





 

Working It

Blessings, Darlings!

Now comes the nitty-gritty of working the 'no more accumulation' challenge. Working the stuff I've not sufficiently worked before.

I'm starting with a Ivo Dominguez, Jr.'s book "Spirit Speak: Knowing and Understanding Spirit Guides, Ancestors, Ghosts...".  Wisely, he has his main preparations work chapter early in the book, so you can start work right away before you're too tempted to do anything else!  But, as in all good books - there are so many exercises!  The Emerald Heart (to be one only once every week or so), chakra exercises, and such that can be done daily.  And stuff that is best to work to memorize - chakras and their locations and associations, etc. 

How long will it take for me to really have worked these things?

I'm figuring a month for daily workings, hopefully only two weeks to memorize associations.  But doing the Emerald Heart (which I will NOT be posting - it would not only be another 'info dump' into your overcrowded piles, but would also tend to deprive an author another eventual sale) once every week or so means that mastery of that is going to take .... well into reading another book!  And this is even with me  having been exposed to all of this before, since I've been attending Ivo's workshops for well over a decade, been attending Assembly of the Sacred Wheel events for a decade, and been a MEMBER of the Assembly for over 5 years.

If I was re-working Ivo's "Castings" book, and giving each of the 6 castings alone a month of practice each (and those aren't the only things to practice in the book) it would take me half a year to work it. 

Clearly, really working the books/etc. that we Pagans accumulate would slow down our Pagan reading ... and slow our accumulation!  Not the best thing for our already under royaltied Pagan Authors, but a better thing for the spiritual/magical growth of our community.

So, while slowing our reading of Pagan books, what do we do with that reading time freed up, even after we add working?

Read deep background books/magazines!

Deep background includes at least popular publications on science, history, primary sources (well, okay, translated) of paleopagan mythos, following the daily national/world news, etc.  Most of these are at your library, BTW - you can read 'em without buying them!  Don't have time to read every story on the cover of the NYT? Read the front page of USA Today! 

Anyway - so far today (1 pm yesterday  now, I'm playing catch-up on blogging) I've read a few chapters, done two exercises, and did some note-taking to help me memorize associations.  And this while sitting in the food court of a grocery store as a friend does tarot readings at another table, kids are loud healthy kids, the PA system makes announcements, and there are general 'busy grocery store' noises going on.  I'll save the Emerald Heart for when I DO have quiet space!

But I DO give thanks for the distractions - for if I can hone my focus under these circumstances, then I should be able to have really great focus in rituals/magical situations where I have built a better/quieter/less distracting more focused environment.

I give Thanks!

Frondly, Fern