Some great media coverage

[jinkun2702]

I don't know about you guys, but every time something comes on the news about witches or paganism, it always seems to take a turn for the worst. At least that's how it is around here, in NJ. Local news involving pagans usually paints us all under a bad light and the term "Satanist" seems to be synonymous with "Witch", at least for the sake of the

Comments

[brock_tn]

Do you know anyone who directly associates witchcraft with satanic practices?

I dunno, in my time I've probably met seveal thousand people, all devout Christians, who consider anything related to witchcraft in any degree to be of Satanic origin.

Of course, I've been living in the heart of the Bible Belt for damned near forty years.

How do you feel about this sort of thing hitting headlines?

I'm largely indifferent to it.

Do you think witchcraft will ever get to clear its name despite such negative coverage?

Not as long as there are people who believe in the literal truth of the Christian Scriptures.

[woolysw]

Do you know anyone who directly associates witchcraft with satanic practices?
Most of the Abrahamic fundamentalists and other ignorant peoples.

How do you feel about this sort of thing hitting headlines?
Bored, mostly. A bit miffed, perhaps - why do I never get invited on cool dates like that?

Do you think witchcraft will ever get to clear its name despite such negative coverage?
There will always be idiots willing to make such accusations against 'others' and there will always be idiots willing to believe them. Look, for example, at the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (over 100 years old) and blood libel (since the 12th century). So no, I don't believe we'll ever eliminate stupidity.

I only listened to a part of the video; I don't necessarily view it as accurate and researched enough to merit positing on nonfluffypagans; I hold the bar quite a bit higher here than, say, on pagan.

[jinkun2702]

It wasn't a "resource" video. Instead, it was someone's opinion of what witchcraft was.

[mokosh_perun]

Sorry he lost me when he said "Greetings, my name is Blaze."

[jinkun2702]

I don't know if it's his circle name, but it's his youtube user name. A lot of people like to keep a sense of anonymity on the internet and refer to themselves by their username, not their birth name.

In regards to it being his circle name (at least as far as I've been taught) people use it to refer to themselves not only in circle but whenever they want to retain some sort of anonymity. There's a place in NY called the "temple of astral light." Those who visit mostly speak with their "circle" names or "coven" names...whatever people choose to refer to those as. I went to Salem, Massachusetts for a high school trip on Halloween. Everyone referred to each other by their circle name during the Samhein celebrations but the next day I found the same people working at a supermarket or as bus drivers...and they used their birth names. I guess they wanted to keep it hush hush that they attended those sorts of celebrations? In short, it's not just a circle thing. At least not that I've seen.

[ianphanes]

Ian Phanes is my outer Craft name, which I use as my public pagan identity. It prevents people being able to look me up at the University I work at and make me deal with pagan stuff at work. I prefer to keep my two "jobs" separate. My inner Craft name, on the other hand...

[deadteddybear15]

....I think I know that guy.

I was surprised to see this at the top of my friends' page, since Christine O'Donnell's "I'm not a witch, I'm you" campaign is kind of old news. And then I looked at your date and it's set at 9-20-2010. So now I'm wondering if something is wrong with my LJ account....

Do you know anyone who directly associates witchcraft with satanic practices?
My entire family does. It makes it difficult for me to practice sometimes because I spend a lot of time acting for them. But if I didn't act, it would make my life that much more difficult. Fortunately, I have wonderful friends and a wonderful husband (and in-laws!) who understand and let me be who and what I am without judgment.

How do you feel about this sort of thing hitting headlines?
Usually how it goes is that it upsets me a little, but then I get over it. Witchcraft gets negative coverage because people are so ignorant. I just remind myself that I'm smarter than they are and I feel better. =P

Do you think witchcraft will ever get to clear its name

[jinkun2702]

No I think it just got accepted now? I posted this the day I saw it on the yahoo homepage and I facepalmed at it. I'm so sorry about your family. I wish everyone could be openminded and accept the religious/spiritual beliefs of others. My entire family is pagan except for my Roman Catholic German grandma...who is surprisingly lax about the whole thing.

[deadteddybear15]

Ohh, OK. I forgot that posts on this community are moderated. =)

It would be nice, but c'est la vie, I suppose. It'll be way more complicated when my husband and I try having children. I can't figure out how to raise pagan kids without their grandparents finding out. Kids say the darnedest things. =P At what age did you start learning about your parents beliefs? Was secrecy an issue with your family?

[jinkun2702]

Let's see. My mom never discussed religion with me and my dad just acted like he had none. Dad left early on in my life so it was just mom and her side of the family that raised me. My grandma was very much so Roman Catholic and she made it known. I was baptized, went to Catholic school, did my communion and confirmation... but I'd always get beaten in school for asking the "weird questions" about the bible. There were just some things that didn't fit

[karmaschild]

So, true story time... I first became aware of witchcraft in high school. Looking for more info (and honestly, I was looking to feel special and unique and amazing in anything), I ended up following around a group of looney toons who, among other things, upon exiting the theater after seeing The Craft on opening day held a long, amazed, and totally unironic conversation about how 'real' and 'accurate' the movie's portrayal of witchcraft had been. I was embarrassed to be seen with them after that.

My point? Who doesn't pal around with wankers in high school? To hold someone accountable in their adult life for some goofy kids stuff* they dabbled in during their high school years is ridiculous. Unless it was violent or somehow harmful to others, who cares? People will get worked up over the most absurd things.

What do you guys think about this? Do you know anyone who directly associates witchcraft with satanic practices?Off hand, I can't think of anyone who had expressed the witchcraft=satanism opinion to me, although I currently live

[jinkun2702]

I didn't encounter that crowd until college. Once I went to college I met this one girl who dressed all in black, wore black lipstick and had a giant pentacle around her neck. Her voice was monotone and she wrote poetry for her troubled soul. Her room had an altar which was covered in animal blood and even a few animal skulls that she'd "collected herself". No, not as in "found something dead and buried it to later unearth and bleach the skulls." She claimed she was a Wiccan. I found Silver Ravenwolf books proudly displayed on her bookshelf and her BoS was full of love spells designed to force people to love her. We had a movie night and we asked her to bring her favorite movie, you know, to include her. She brought "The Craft."

[karmaschild]

So THAT'S where she went, after high school! ;)

I am ashamed to say I had my own collection of SRW books. It was right about the same time I knew those Craft kids. I read some really, fantastically bad books in my desperation!

(I unashamedly love 'Practical Magic', though. I know it's complete garbage, but it amuses me so and Stockard Channing is fantastic!)

[jinkun2702]

"So THAT's where she went, after high school! ;)"

I laughed so hard! And I'll admit it, I'm a closet "Practical Magic" lover as well. I'm a fan of Kidman/Bullock's acting...but really, I'm in it for the aunts. Without the added eccentricity of the clothes and the witch hair, those aunts act exactly like mine. I think I also like it because it shows a happier side of magic (at least at the beginning/end) as opposed to the dark, gloomy, and 'evil' side that is often portrayed in movies.