Satan and His Big Ole Box

So recently I read a blog post written by a Gardnerian High Priestess out of NC titled “I Worship Satan and You Do, Too.” Did your Witchy senses just knee jerk too? I know mine did when I first saw the title. After all, it is and has been a basic mantra of the Craft that “We don’t believe in Satan.” Then I went and read it and ground up what was said so I could apply some critical analysis flying oinkment under the pointy hat (smirk). Cause critical thinking is an important life and Craft skill, but y’all knew that. Now go read said blog before continuing on if you want relevance.

I have to say the perspective given is not one I am familiar with, just not my accustomed to paradigm and whatnot. The whole only two boxes thing is just alien. The part that I have been mulling over is the obvious ineffectiveness that our rhetoric has not only had but the reason for it. Simply put, it doesn’t work because those with who would argue with us decrying us as Satanists see the substance of the mantra as irrelevant to what they are saying.

I found this amusing.

I won't lie, I spent a few minutes trying to come up a good and effective point to make. But I don’t think I am going to bother trying further. If someone truly needs to be educated then I will engage but I am not going to get into a conversation where either party assumes the wrongness of the other or I need to disprove our supposed wrongness. It is against my understanding of the Craft, as I talked about here, to decry someone’s beliefs, but that does not mean I have to entertain them either. This is not an either or kinda situation. I think instead I’m just gonna wish them a blessed day and go about practicing Witchcraft, worshiping my Gods and Goddesses, and otherwise being awesome (after all, Witches are awesome) regardless of whether anyone thinks I am sitting in Satan’s big ole box of damn near everything.

Boidh Se!

-SM

“Lost in a thicket bare-foot upon a thorned path.”

City of Spirits

Part of the reality of my adult life is moving a lot. Every two or three years my entire household is packed up and moved off to some place (in another state) in which I have never lived, where I don’t know anyone, and everything is started over. It is just the way of it. I am not complaining, as this was by my own choice of occupation, just stating the reality of the situation to give relevance.

From a personal practice stand point I have noticed something. Each move there is kind of a focus or theme to that phase of my Crafting. This should not be surprising to anyone that is involved in a magickal lifestyle. Life changes and with it so does our practice.

With my recent move, less than a year ago, I made the conscious effort upon moving here to engage the local spirits and various spirts of place actively. The last couple of moves this wasn’t something that was really needed as I was already familiar with the areas. So it has been about a decade since my moving has required this form of work. As such, I made a plan. Make note, good magick is planned magick. It doesn’t necessarily follow the plan but if the Witch is always scrambling in the last minute their results will reflect.

The plan was/is a simple one. I needed to meet the dead or ancestors of the people, I needed to meet the prominent Genii Loci, I needed to find the local Craft/and or magickal community, and I needed to make contact with and pay respects to the Patrons/Matrons; a basic and sensible plan from which to begin if I do say so myself.

To date, I have pretty much done everything on that list and let me tell you, it has shaken my practice up. For lack of a better way to explain it, this city is the Crossroads of Spirit work. Sure I have worked with a whole host of various beings, deities, ancestors, spirits, etc, before coming here. I’ve even successfully partnered in an exorcism. The thing is, this place, unlike any I have been to before, is not only saturated with various hosts and legions of spirits but is equally as active therein.

I can’t say as whether or not such is or will be the theme of this cycle of my practice but I will say that when I next leave here that my metaphorical spirit work muscles will have gotten some deep fiber focused training. The Witch in me loves it too.

This is the City of Spirits. This is the Crossroads where the Dirt meets the Stars and things go bump in the Night.

Boidh Se!

-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-foot upon a thorned path."