Posts by asleif_dufansdottir

90

Spells, Wiccans, and Witchcraft

by SpunkyChick in

i just returned home from a nightmarish trip to chicago.

i came in peace, and was shit on by my aunts and a cousin.

what they did was unforgivable.

asleif_dufansdottir

but I have reservations about the Wiccan Rede.

Which Rede? Hey, you knew somebody had to ask.

Seriously, though, since it has implications for this thread, the most quoted section of the Rede says something like (variations abound)

"An it harm none, do what you will"

Ok, so far as it goes. Note, it does Not say you are not to harm anyone...what it says is, if it doesn't harm anyone, go ahead and do what you want to. The implication being (in my opinion), if it does harm someone (and how many of our actions do not directly or indirectly harm another being? Even driving a car pollutes and harms the environment), then use your best judgement and accept the consequences.

I don't consider myself technically Wiccan. I'm more of a non-denominational Pagan (animist and animatist) who uses a stripped-down form of Wiccan ritual structure.

To those who are reading along and scratching their heads...there are Witches, Wiccans, Pagans, Heathens and a variety of others of non-Abrahamic (Jew, Christian, Muslim) faiths. The last 3 mentioned are religious affiliations. The first is not necessarily.

90

Spells, Wiccans, and Witchcraft

by SpunkyChick in

i just returned home from a nightmarish trip to chicago.

i came in peace, and was shit on by my aunts and a cousin.

what they did was unforgivable.

asleif_dufansdottir

Freemasons

Not sure what you are referring to... Many of the older traditions' rituals have lots of masonic type stuff...because Gardner was a mason and that's where he learned to do rituals. Beyond that, no Wiccan or Pagan group with which I have been associated has any ties to Freemasons.

31

My family gave a great witness at my little sister's wedding...NOT!

by laylaluv in

jw
friends

i have been on this site many times and i didn't decide to post anything until this past weekend.

(july 18,19,&20) i wanted to share with all of you what happened this weekend.. i was my little sister's wedding.

the one who ran away from home at age 16 and the judge gave me custody.

asleif_dufansdottir

Think about the position all us "evil" DF/DA/Apostates put the society in. You know, we should really use this to better effect.

Most, if not all the people I personally saw "come into the truth" did so because of friendships or family relationships to JWs. I can't think of anyone I knew of who came thru the D-T-D work. So, the society should know that informal witnessing and relationships are its best bet to bring in new people.

The wedding could very well have been the thing to get the ball rolling with some of the non-JW friends and family, that would have led to a Bible study and them 'coming into the truth' (TM). Instead, because of the Society's new insistance and emphasis on shunning, everybody there had a front-row seat to one of the worst aspects of being a JW, and the amount of control they exert. I can't imagine that any of them will have a remotely positive view of the religion from now on, or express any interest whatsoever except "How on earth can you treat your family that way??" (not likely to lead to a Bible study, is it?)

"We" have them between a rock and a hard place. If JWs don't shun us, we could 'rub off' on them, causing people to 'leave the truth' (TM). If they do shun us, it's a horrible example to all who see it, causing people to 'not come into the truth' (TM) in the first place.

(Mr. Burns' voice, rubbing hands) "Yes, Ex-cellent"

90

Spells, Wiccans, and Witchcraft

by SpunkyChick in

i just returned home from a nightmarish trip to chicago.

i came in peace, and was shit on by my aunts and a cousin.

what they did was unforgivable.

asleif_dufansdottir

hmmm, it was a joke, but it's not at all crude. Not that I care what you find amusing, as I haven't really ever seen anything that tells me you have any sense of humor, especially about yourself.

You might be surprised if you actually knew me. Actually, most Witches/Wiccans/Pagans/Heathens of my acquaintance (not counting Santaria and Voudoun) are sick to death of people associating their religious beliefs and magical practices with animal sacrifice. Not only is the idea horrific to most of us (in the sense that we are pet lovers), but it just gets damned old when religious fundies and police departments and news stories have to suggest that every time some looney-tunes or hateful teenager kills a cat, it has something to do with us. People gutting and torturing cats is not funny (it's certainly in the news often enough). Associating the practice with people who find it horrifying, even in jest, is not funny either.

So now witchcraft is a science?

(can't clear formatting) Depends on what you call "witchcraft"...You'd have got burned at the stake 400 years ago for flicking a Bic lighter. Or giving a woman herbs to keep her from conceiving.

Is, "and that is all that is necessary" your way of telling me to shut the fuck up about it?

Not really. It's just that one of the things I like least about this board is the inability for a group of people to carry on a conversation without people who disagree with the concept (ghosts, witchcraft, whatever) making the original conversation almost impossible to carry on. If people want to discuss pros and cons of things, would it be too much to ask to start a seperate thread and make a quick note to that effect on the original? All I meant was, it works for me and I don't have the time or energy or inclination to debate its merits.

90

Spells, Wiccans, and Witchcraft

by SpunkyChick in

i just returned home from a nightmarish trip to chicago.

i came in peace, and was shit on by my aunts and a cousin.

what they did was unforgivable.

asleif_dufansdottir

If the deep religious doodoo works it's voodoo foryoo, then good onya, I'm just glad not to need it.

Don't make the mistake of thinking we are all 'blind believers' in superstitious mumbo-jumbo. People who are deeper into theoretical physics than I, believe that all matter is energy, and that it is possible for energy to affect other energy. Perhaps it works, perhaps it only works on a psychological level. I don't bother to invest much energy in defending my spiritual practice, which is a very agnostic form of paganism. It improves the quality of my life, and that is all that is necessary.

The person who started this thread asked a question, the content of which I answered as briefly as possible while being thorough. I doubt it is necessary to turn the thread into the pros and cons of wicca, witchcraft and other types of 'spellwork.'

See I can pet a beautiful kitty and not think, geepers Bob, I bet the Lord would like this one for a sacrifice .

Even as a rather crude joke, I find that not amusing on so many levels.

90

Spells, Wiccans, and Witchcraft

by SpunkyChick in

i just returned home from a nightmarish trip to chicago.

i came in peace, and was shit on by my aunts and a cousin.

what they did was unforgivable.

asleif_dufansdottir

Or something bad will happen to them without any spell or curse? Just curious how you'd view that...

My personal take on this, is that the biggest "curse" that people like that can have is just being themselves. Negative nasty people fill their lives with negative, nasty energy. If you 'curse' them, there is a chance you will be involving them in your lives even more. Most I know believe curses bind the curser and the cursee somehow. Better to get farther away than closer. You can't fling tar and feathers without some of it getting stuck on you.

The most I have done is do rituals, etc, designed to "reflect" their nastiness back onto them, and not affect you (use mirrors and teflon ). Make up your own (such things are best when they work with your own ideas)...the best "spells" or "workings" or whatever you refer to them as, use signals to your own subconscious rather than 'recipes' out of a book that mean something to someone else. Visualize your home as having a "mirrored bubble" around it, that will allow only pleasant things in and reflect nasty thoughts etc back at the sender. Do fun and inventive things in a ritual. You'll feel better. If you have to be around them again (may I suggest a motel for next time?), do a ritual where you use some sort of reflective jewelry or something, to do the same thing. (edited to add...and then wear the jewelry the whole time you are in their company)

I have, in extreme circumstances, asked the "powers that be" (PTB) to turn their attention to people who have really done awful things and should be punished (one pagan group I know did a ritual in which they "shined a light" on an unknown murderer to try to bring them to justice...it was really recent so the case is still ongoing). There are goddesses who specialize in retribution, you know. For instance, the Hindu goddess Kali has a reputation for seriously disliking men who abuse women. The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet (the lioness) is another protector/destroyer. But I wouldn't in a million years mess with them over something as minor (even tho annoying) as your family pissing you off. Things like that must be handled very carefully and delicately.

If they upset you and anger you so much, why focus on them even more? Point karma, or the PTB, or "the universe" in their direction and wipe your hands of it. Certainly the best outcome for you would be not having them affect your life anymore. Which reminds me...when you do a ritual, you then have to 'act in accord'...so women who do rituals to remove abusive men from their lives and then turn around and let them back in their house, for example, are not likely to achieve great success in their ritual.

73

Question for elders or ex elders

by northern girl in

jw
friends

could anyone tell me what the policy is when a dfed person wants reinstatement?

are they questioned about their behavior while dfed or does that have any relevance since they were outside wts policy during that time?.

northern girl.. .

asleif_dufansdottir

the society is the representative of god so in fact through them He has df'd me.

What basis do you have to accept this as an actual fact? If this was true you would be right to go back. I have not found it to be true. In fact, I'm really sure it's not true.

Matter of fact, I'm not so sure you have proved it to yourself beyond 'my mom was a JW and I've been told if I want to see her again I have to do what they say'.

Before your meeting with the elders, when you are still 'free' to look into such things, I strongly suggest you deeply research the society's involvement with the UN, whether or not the society has actively covered up known pedophiles in the org, and anything else you can find, to see if the society can be believed when it says something.

I've found that it can't. If the society can't be believed, then you can go back and suffer for what you've done and be the best JW the world has ever known, and it won't matter, because there won't be any paradise earth and you won't see your mom again anyway.

Sorry if that sounds cruel, but it's true. If the society has lied, you're basing your life on a false promise.

33

Am I Considered a FEMINIST? Is That a BAD Thing?

by teenyuck in

jw
friends

i have been *accused* of being a feminist.

i use caps, because this term has been used in a derogatory manner when used in reference to things i have posted.

the online merriam webster dictionary defines feminism as: .

asleif_dufansdottir

In practical terms its goal was highjacked by a more anti male militiant group.

You know, I don't ever hear feminists actually being "anti male militants", and I know a lot of them. The only ones I hear saying feminism is about being an anti-male militant, is guys like Rush Limbaugh, who want to demonize feminism and feminists. Actually, hearing people who don't like feminism talk about what a feminist 'is', is alot like hearing JWs talk about what "apostates" are, how they act, and what they think.

Its goal, as I have explained to my 18 year old daughter, has more to do with disenpowering man than actually helping women. Ladies.... feminism, as it stands now, is not designed to make you happy!

Excuse me, but I find it rather, um, interesting that a man thinks he knows more about what feminism really is and what its goals are, than women who are feminists. That's like me telling you that you're wrong about what it's like to be a teenage boy.

A happy woman is a lousy feminist.

In my experience this is incorrect.

Even if a woman is happy with her personal treatment by the men in her life (more power to those men), she may espouse "feminist" causes like birth control education, stopping child prostitution in the third world, and female genital mutilation. She may also work on feminist issues like equal treatment under the law (on average, a man who has a record of wife abuse and eventually kills her, serves less jail time than a woman who, after suffering years of [documented] spousal abuse, kills her abusive husband).

I know many women who have been unhappy (with very good reason) with their treatment by some men, who are feminist. They don't blame all men for the actions of a few.

I even have known a couple of women (only a couple) who actually do hate men. Without exception, they were women who have undergone horrific long-term abuse as children and adults, and have seen male authority figures refuse to help, and other men either refuse to help or just not care...thinking it's "not that big a deal" or "you're overreacting." If every man in a woman's life has either abused her or didn't care, it's no wonder she thinks all men are scum.

33

Am I Considered a FEMINIST? Is That a BAD Thing?

by teenyuck in

jw
friends

i have been *accused* of being a feminist.

i use caps, because this term has been used in a derogatory manner when used in reference to things i have posted.

the online merriam webster dictionary defines feminism as: .

asleif_dufansdottir

Maybe we should ask people...what makes a "radical" feminist?

33

Am I Considered a FEMINIST? Is That a BAD Thing?

by teenyuck in

jw
friends

i have been *accused* of being a feminist.

i use caps, because this term has been used in a derogatory manner when used in reference to things i have posted.

the online merriam webster dictionary defines feminism as: .

asleif_dufansdottir

"I have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." -Rebecca West

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

Some men on this board obviously still accept the WT dictum that being called a feminist is an insult. I don't.