One thing that I hate is all of this new age hippie witch crap. You know what I mean: ‘I’m a good witch, not a bad witch.’ Get off your bleeding high horse, Glinda. I’ve flipped through dozens of peoples’ sites, and one thing all of these kitchen witches have in common is that they hated 'The Craft.' It wasn’t 'realistic,' or that it just 'PERPUATES THE NEGATIVITY THAT SURROUNDS WITCHES.' Spare me. I remember one comment about the scene where they perform glamours (you know, where their eyes change colour, and so does their hair) that it wasn’t 'real'-—that nobody can do that. I can change my eye colour. I can change my hair colour, but it has to grow in. Jerome Russel is easier.
'The Craft’ is a good movie. It’s fun. It's entertaining. They kill a rapist, and wear lots of eyeliner. Even those kaftan--wearing new agers should be happy, because it did illustrate the law of the three. The racist chick got nailed (became a real skinhead, Ha Ha), but the black girl was fine. Fairzula’s character killed two people and she went nuts. See, jolly happy working of that law.
Witches aren’t either good or bad. If y’all had done some RESEARCH, rather than going to the bookstore, and swallowing whole some schlock someone with a crystal ball and a Ouija board 'emoted,' you’d realize that witchcraft is actually a reactionary philosophy to both Christianity and to the male hierarchy. The witches in the burning times were midwives, spinsters, root doctors, etc. The ones in Salem were bored teenaged girls hanging out with a woman from the Caribbean, and eating hallucinogenic toast.
The whole idea behind witchcraft (I’m talking about earth-based forms, not the OTO, or any of the higher forms like Quaballah to clarify exactly what I’m addressing) is to gain power over people. All spells do that. Anyone who tells you differently is full of bat poop. What do they think a love spell is? It is a violation of someone else’s right to choose their own partner. Even protective spells are like that—so you can have the power to keep people away from your stuff and out of your personal space. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you have to realize they are still enforcing their will on the world.
A lot of these 'witches' I see now a days are bored housewives whose kids have grown up and out of the house, and are now following some pseudo-Celtism with a good dose of Eastern philosophy, and a bit of Native American shamanism. Great, colonialism at its best. Let me explain something. When one culture colonizes another they do one of four things: destroy it, segregate it, absorb it, or subvert it. The destroying is evident in the treatment of the US government upon the various tribes of Native Americans, or the displacement of the tribes in the Amazon rainforests.
Absorption and the segregation of cultures go hand in hand. The absorption can be seen in big cities where different cultures are still segregated. You know, “it’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” You can see this in the Caribbean—read Jamacia Kincaid’s “In a Small Place.” The culture is allowed to flourish within a strictly defined perimeter. Another aspect of the absorption can be seen in the medieval churches throughout Europe and Scandivnavia . Within these churches are carving s of Sheila-na-gigs, and other anicent fertility signs done on doorways. One-eyed Odin peers from a ballustrade. The ankh became the symbol for Christianity—-the 'Egyptian cross.' The major Christian holy days correspond to pagaen holy days. This however crosses the line between absorption and subversion.
Subversion is when portions of a culture are adopted leaving other parts behind. I can’t count how many white stoners I’ve met over the years who have said they are Rastafarians because they smoke pot also. These kids (they usually are, for some reason) don’t even know what the word 'ire' means or for what it stands. The same can be said for those who say doing peyote is part of their religious experience, and can’t even name the tribe(s) that actually do use it as such. If you don’t know, look it up. I’m certainly not going to enlighten you.
That’s the problem with 'New Age philosophy.' Some of the spells I’ve seen rip through a list spanning six or seven pantheons giving absolutely no respect to any of the Gods, just some sort of rote lip service. Does Kali really like being lumped together with Rhiannon, or is there some sort of metaphysical coffee bar I don’t know about where they all hang out drinking double lattes?
Yes, yes, there are similarities between various cultures. The Anicent Celts believed in reincarnation, as do the Hindus. The Mayans and the Egyptians both had cat Gods. Ancestors are important to various Asian paths, and to Santeria. I’ve heard people say that it’s all the same God anyway. It is not. Each culture stamps its own indelible mark upon its pantheon , and when the invading culture encounters the original culture, it mutates the Gods into something that uniquely belongs to the invaders. The initial framework may stay the same, but aspects of it are mutated. For example, Catholics and Pentacostals worship the same God, but in an entirely different manner. Neither would want to be confused with the other. All the similarities are just that--similarities. Just reading some list that read like a mythological Who’s Who is doing a disservice to you, the Gods, and the culture it springs from. In fact, it smacks of racism. I’m sure the shouts of 'not me' are just overwhelming right now, but think about it. I don’t want to hear any garbage about preserving the culture. You aren’t preserving the culture, you’re sugar coating aspects of it to make it more palatable to your own cultural aesthetic. All Gods are real to those who believe in them, and if you don’t believe that, you shouldn’t be sticking your nose in the kitchen. If all they are to you are names to generate some sort of mystical power, fine, go ahead. Don’t blame me if bad things happen to you.
