Wicca

peppermint
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Wicca

I know a girl who is Wiccan, this weird nature-based religion of witchcraft. I appreciate the cool folklore that's come out of it, but the fact that people participate in it today is just as creepy as people thinking a dead guy is going to come back and "save" everyone's "soul".

Anyway, I was reading this girl's online journal. She writes...

 

all space holds positive energy to some degree— and, like heat, the absence of this positive energy is like the cold, the negative. Cold is not its own energy, but the absence of heat. Before I start any formal ritual I cast a circle around me that represents a sacred space, separate from the muddle of whatever energy could be around me. Psychologically I am telling myself that this is a time for connecting with Spirit. And in my belief, the circle is a protective boundary where less-than-positive thoughts and energies cannot pass. Inside my circle exists only loving energy. The act of casting a circle begins with clearing the ground around me in a radius depending on how much space I think I will need to comfortably move around. The witches’ broom was in fact a tool for cleaning the ground at this point! I envision the sphere I will make, including what distractions there could be above me.
My next step is to close my eyes and breathe deeply for a moment.
Then the casting...

 

It's funny, because when people who believe in god hear about this they laugh and roll their eyes. Yet their beliefs aren't so far off the brink of insanity. I just find it hilarious (in a dark way) that people actually believe, in this country, day and age, in this bullshit. A lot of believers I have met are doe-eyed teenagers, understandably naive, who don't fit in with most kids (who happen to hold Christian and Jewish faiths), kids with intense imaginations who turn to "Wicca" so they can live in the fantasy novels they love so much. It creeps me out when people can't come back out of their fiction and live in the real world, which to me is perfectly fascinating and beautiful without believing "magical" crap.

They think that chanting and using symbols (such beliefs might make more sense in an isolated, tribal society) enables them to use "magic". All in all, it makes no sense, since the belief in magic is that some things can happen OUTSIDE of the laws of nature and they are a "nature" based religion.

It's not nearly as hysterical as Scientology, but I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned much here.

*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*

"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby


Loc
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I tried to get into

I tried to get into Wicca/witchcraft for awhile right after leaving christianity. I read quite a lot on it, and even got some practise spells. In the end I decided I wasn't inclined to learn a whole new religion, and alot of it seemed too complicated. Still, I agree that here at least, wicca is quite popular, particularly among teens/young adults.

Not all christians will dismiss it as silliness. Many,myself included at one stage, believe that although wicca markets a nature/fun theme, it is just a cover for darker aspects of witchcraft, including death spells,summoning demons, and communication with satan. To them, wicca is just as bad as outright satan worship.

In general, wiccans seem pretty harmless. Truth be told, I'd rather have them running around than christians.

 

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

dudeofthemoment wrote:
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.


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peppermint wrote:kids with

peppermint wrote:

kids with intense imaginations who turn to "Wicca" so they can live in the fantasy novels they love so much. It creeps me out when people can't come back out of their fiction and live in the real world, which to me is perfectly fascinating and beautiful without believing "magical" crap.

When I was in high school I really liked fantasy novels. I noticed a clear division between two kinds of fantasy novel readers: there are those who are grounded in reality and like imaginary things, and those who think the real world is full of magic and ghosts and all kinds of wacky things. The wacky things group would read those novels and think that some themes in them had real world counterparts. I had two of my friends try and convince me that ghosts were real and that a ghost haunted one of their house's. They read the same fantasy novels that I did, but for some reason I was able to keep the fantasy worlds and the real world separated in my head and they were not. One of those friends even joined some Wicca (I think they were Wicca) in a seance. I loved those novels, but I have trouble getting how some people think that the real world is anything like them.

That being said the Wiccans have never bothered me, come to my house and asked me to join their religion or in any way attempted to recruit me into their wacky religion. If only the Christians would show that same level of restraint around me.

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India


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I want Christians reading

I want Christians reading this to read, read and repeat until you get it. Magic is magic and the label you claim does not make you special or different.

As much as I loved my friend who was Wicca, and unfortunately died from cancer a couple years ago, I told her flat  out when she was healthy long before she knew she had cancer, that I found her claims to be lacking in credibility just as any other deity claim. Her favorite goddess was Isis and I did not mince words about her claims. SHE unlike many theists was mature enough to understand that I was separating her claims from her the person. I will greatly miss her as she was a very compassionate AND understanding person, and understood as well that blunt honesty does not equate to hate.

So if Christians think we are out to oppress them, they are sadly mistaken and are letting their atheiaphobia needlessly get to them.

I can be friends and love people who make claims I find to be absurd. I cannot bring myself to be dishonest with my friends. If you make a claim I find to be absurd, it doesn't mean I hate you, it merely means I find your claim to be absurd and I will be glad to back up why I say that.

CHRISTIANS ESPECIALLY, READ READ AND RE READ.......Big Foot, rabbits feet,  Thor, Isis, Elohim, Jesus and Islam, are nothing but fictional claims that people desperately want to believe because it makes them feel good. I do not hate all people who believe absurd things just as I would hope that theists would not hate all atheists because they don't agree.

Wicca is merely another flavor of superstition and is as useful as a baseball player wearing his lucky socks. I didn't have to sugar coat my view to my friend, and she never took it personally. She had lots of positive traits and I loved her and still remember her for those positive traits. But that does not mean I should walk on eggshells to placate someone's emotions.

DON'T TAKE OUR BLASPHEMY PERSONALLY, if you have a claim to make, the best thing anyone can do when posting here is to make the attempt to back up what you claim. If you cant, we won't hate you, we simply will not buy what you claim.

 

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog


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I'd be always careful before

I'd be always careful before saying what is a crap and what not. Of course they don't know exactly what they're doing, but It would be naive to think that all these rituals doesn't do anything with the people involved. Even Christians feel their Holy spirit and can open themselves to the speaking in tongues. So Wiccans surely have their fair share of fun too. It would be quite dull to just stand in a circle and feel nothing, but this isn't usually the case.
Whatever kind of stuff like that, when practiced for a couple of days, changes a consciousness. Then whatever is wrong with you, any guilt, swallowed offenses, childhood or relationship traumas, psychosomatic diseases and so on, it all goes on the surface and demands attention.
It is an automatic self-healing introspective process. Whoever organizes a sessions with chanting, meditation, playing on some exotic instruments, hikes on a spiritually meaningful places in nature, and so on, may suddenly see, that the place became to look like a madhouse. Inexperienced organizer may be scared by that. But it's basically a natural healing process and with some supervision and experiences it is acceptable for people to search for such a kind for activity, if they want to help themselves.
Of course, there may be a mental disease ready to pop up, and when Wiccan or any such kids has no idea what they're really doing and it's really bad, well, we see it in the news next evening. One would say, that a meditation or a fun in a nature and a magical circle is harmless, but you never know what psychosomatic trigger is hidden in there.

Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.


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Two things I've observed

Two things I've observed about Wiccans:

1) They get just as mad or madder than Christians when you attack their religion, which probably has something to do with the next thing...

2) About 90% of the Wiccans I've met were either really obese women or really scrawny, geeky guys who wanted an excuse to have orgies.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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I've seen some pretty hot

I've seen some pretty hot women who were wiccan.


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Quote:I've seen some pretty

Quote:
I've seen some pretty hot women who were wiccan.

I suppose maybe there are hot women who want an excuse for an orgy...

In all fairness, I should mention that I do live in the deep south, and 60 percent of everybody is at least mildly obese, so you have to take everything within context.   Having said that, I have it on reliable information that it's the same way in the upper midwest.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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Loc
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Interestingly, the only

Interestingly, the only wiccan I've ever known was a christian. That is, she was mainly a christian who dabbled in wicca on the side. And no, she didn't seem to realise that was likely to severly piss off yawweh if he exists.

As a christian she allegedly came under frequent demonic attack,to the point where they physically manifested and almost killed her. So she used wicca to summon protective spirits against the demon. I pointed out that according to her brand of christianity, she was using satan's demons as protection against satan's demon. She didn't seem to see the irony.

Off topic:Check your pm's peppermint

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

dudeofthemoment wrote:
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.


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Hambydammit wrote:2) About

Hambydammit wrote:

2) About 90% of the Wiccans I've met were either really obese women or really scrawny, geeky guys who wanted an excuse to have orgies.

for the record, it's the same here in VA - although i suppose technically we're still in the South.

 

I had a wiccan spell book of some sort once and i have to say the recipe for almond cookies was absolutely delicious!  i also had a wiccan roommate for all of two weeks before she falsely accused my friend of assault.  she was so excited when she found out i was an atheist - she used to tell me how happy she was that she could be paired with someone who could respect her beliefs.  i was like wtf?  i'm the last god damn person in the world who will respect that crap.


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Quote:As a christian she

Quote:
As a christian she allegedly came under frequent demonic attack,to the point where they physically manifested and almost killed her. So she used wicca to summon protective spirits against the demon. I pointed out that according to her brand of christianity, she was using satan's demons as protection against satan's demon. She didn't seem to see the irony.

Loc, I mean this in the nicest sort of way, but do you know any girls who aren't schizophrenic or bipolar?  I'm beginning to think the best thing you could do for yourself would be to move somewhere.  Anywhere.  The last three girls you've mentioned on the boards were insane.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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Loc
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Hambydammit wrote:Loc, I

Hambydammit wrote:

Loc, I mean this in the nicest sort of way, but do you know any girls who aren't schizophrenic or bipolar?  I'm beginning to think the best thing you could do for yourself would be to move somewhere.  Anywhere.  The last three girls you've mentioned on the boards were insane.

Alas, I don't think I know any girls who don't fall somewhere between fundie and rabid fundie. At least not in good looking ones. There seems to be an inverse relationship around here-the prettier the girl the better the chance she is the craziest fundie you've ever met.

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

dudeofthemoment wrote:
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.


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 I actually have a whole

 I actually have a whole lot less respect for most Wiccans than I do for most Christians.  Christians rarely have a choice in their indoctrination and I can appreciate how difficult it must be to break away from things that got programmed into your poor little head when you were three or four years old, especially when your entire family and most of your country has been similarly programmed.  But almost nobody gets raised Wiccan in western culture.  They pick it up when they're adults or well on the way to being adults.  They initially pick it up to piss off their parents or shock their high school teachers or some other worthless bullshit.  They're dumb as a pile of boards.

"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell


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Quote:They're dumb as a pile

Quote:
They're dumb as a pile of boards.

Then again, who gets to have orgies all the time...

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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Ones I met weren't into

Ones I met weren't into orgies, either.


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Then, truly, there is no

Then, truly, there is no excuse.


DamnDirtyApe
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Hambydammit

Hambydammit wrote:

Quote:
They're dumb as a pile of boards.

Then again, who gets to have orgies all the time...

 

With other Wiccans.  They get to have orgies all the time with other Wiccans.  Not with coked up strippers, not with sorority girls, not even with a reasonably attractive set of conjoined twins at the circus.  Wiccans.  

"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell


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I have seen plenty of

I have seen plenty of females wiccans that I'd fuck in a New York second.


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Just because people realize

Just because people realize that the religion they have grown up with is bunk doesn't mean that want to let go of that feeling of being better than every heathen they see on the street.  Wicca is just another way to lay claim to the superiority argument that people like in religion - "I have this knowledge that you don't.  I am special and I am better than you."  

 

"I am that I am." - Proof that the writers of the bible were beyond stoned.


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MattShizzle wrote:Ones I met

MattShizzle wrote:

Ones I met weren't into orgies, either.

Hoped thay danced naked around a bonfire during the fall equinox at least. If you don't do at least one I hear they take your magic wand away.

"Always seek out the truth, but avoid at all costs those that claim to have found it" ANONYMOUS


Hambydammit
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Quote:With other Wiccans.

Quote:
With other Wiccans.  They get to have orgies all the time with other Wiccans.  Not with coked up strippers, not with sorority girls, not even with a reasonably attractive set of conjoined twins at the circus.  Wiccans.

You make a very strong point.  As it turns out, I'm formulating a scale incorporating the correlation of three variables:

1) The amount of alcohol imbibed

2) The relative attractiveness of the imbiber's hand and a bottle of Jergen's.

3) The relative attractiveness of a Wiccan orgy.

According to early predictions, the point at which (2) crosses below (3) is also the point at which alcohol poisoning becomes a serious concern.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
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