~~~Bloggers Note: Yet again, Kirt highlights a problem we all too often seen in the forums and even more sadly, in real life practice. The problem is one of cutesy fantasies or Hollywood misconceptions intersecting with real magickal practices in ways that can prove dangerous to snowflake practitioners and fluffy bunnies.
For some reason a great many of the interesting and helpful posts in the groups I visit seem to come from the same handful of people, one of whom is Kirt. He offers real life experience and common sense knowledge in easy to understand language to further the knowledge of newbies and others. He is not a part of Sacred Hands Coven and I have never been graced to meet him IRL, but from what I have read of his posts, he strikes me as one of those guys you want to hang out with in a coffee shop all night talking over life, the universe and everything! Thanks for permission to post, Kirt!~~~ ***Only a handful of slight corrections, to spelling, or punctuation for when the spirit and passion overtook his typing. All the intelligence and spirit is his own.
Long rant from dealing with stupid people. If you need a “trigger” warning, pull up your big boy panties and grow the fuck up. There’s your warning.
Apparently, I have to add “fluffy bunny trigger warning” because some people find it impossible to see the word trigger without thinking PTSD, [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] then, suddenly assume they know what the post is about.
I’m sorry to tell you this little fluffy bunny but you are a human being. We all want to be special, we all want to be more than we are, and we all hope that the magic in us somehow sets us apart from everyone else. The reality is a few steps to the side of that, sadly.
Magic is a force of creation and destruction, it permeates through everything, and nearly everyone uses it, or can learn to use it, to some extent. Being able to use magic does not automatically make you an Archon of the divine. In this life, in the here and now, you are a human being, whatever you may have been in the past is just that, in the past. While you are ultimately the culmination of your experiences, each new life is a new beginning, a fresh start to learn new things. All the respect, admiration, and abilities from the past still need to be earned. The path to your gifts may not be as hard but it must still be walked. When a god or goddess calls you their son or daughter, realize that that is an affectation, like priest or priestess, and not a sign of actual familial connection. You are physical they are not. Even if said deity influenced your parents to create you, you are still the product of your human parents and not half god or goddess. A god cannot reincarnate backward into flesh that is not how it works and a deity is too evolved, it would need to break shards of itself apart into new souls, that still doesn’t make those new souls… that deity. Connected to it, sure, but no longer a part of the whole.
While I’m on the subject of deity, quit whitewashing them to try to make them more PC [politically correct] and user friendly. Some of them, simply are not friendly, nor should they ever be. Even the most benign face of the Morrigan will not hesitate to gut you like a trout if you piss her off, she is the ultimate battle bitch no matter which face she shows, sweet and cuddly mother she will never be, nor should she be. The darker gods are dark for a reason and need to stay that way. We need that energy; it would be like trying to turn Cernunnos into a kind father figure. True, he may have his moments of that, but at his core he is a god of primal maleness. Sex, ego, and power are his weapons of choice and he is good at them. Not every deity is a harmonious balance of masculine and feminine. Trying to make magic more PC is just completely ridiculous and downright disrespectful to the beings we pay homage to.
There is too much ignorance going around. People calling on gods with no idea who they are calling or how to properly summon, calling gods of different pantheons without checking to see if they can get along with each other first. Younglings constantly wanting to be spoon-fed the answers without using their brains to look shit up. Magic always has a cost, it may not seem like it sometimes but there will always be a price to pay, and part of that price is that you put some honest effort into your spell work. Magic won’t work for you if you just can’t be bothered to put any energy onto it.
Clarifying comments and original text found: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MPWNF/permalink/10155327282571466/
Sacred Hands Coven 
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Thank you for the kind words. The layout of our blog is one of the free layouts offered by WordPress. We did create some of the graphics and photos, others are via the artists and photographers to whom they are attributed. As for the text of this particular post, it is from an amazing young man, to whom it is also attributed.
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Snowflakes, right! LMAO
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Well, he calls it like he sees it 😉
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I’m of two minds. I like the article, it’s definitely the feelings of many of us who have learned through study and practice when approached by those who want the ‘easy path’. And knowing your deities and understanding the truth of their aspects is a big big deal when calling on them. I agree you can’t simply will one into what you wish. And the idea that you can simply bend whatever you like to your will because Paganism is so open sort of defeats the idea of having a set of truths. While individuals may disagree on some things, having some truths that are just that is what allows us all to be working together.
At the same time, the fact that the author makes light of the idea of trigger warnings bothers me. The intention here is derivative obviously and while it may be a term over used, a learned individual such as the author should be able to come to better terms with the term. It is used for those who truly need it. Not to warn against something that might hurt some one’s feelings but to actually prepare one for something which may indeed trigger an emotional response or memory they would rather not endure. I assume frustration is really the reasoning behind the snarky use of this as well as the snowflake term. But the reality is that those terms both are being bantered around in this and they make the author sound just as uninformed as those he rails against.
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Jax, all excellent points well made. I think the problem with your understanding his reasoning here comes from the fact that the “trigger” section was added to his original post after the fact. It came in response to a woman in the forum who read the first few lines of the original post and flipped out in the comments section. Her going on a rant about her personal triggers, and hurt feelings, which had absolutely nothing to do with the actual body of the post, and the ensuing drama when she refused to actually read the text of the post, itself, was an exercise in outrageous farce.
In reading this post from the point of someone who was not privy to the entire line of comments her pointless and emotional outburst caused, I can see the points you make quite clearly. Furthermore, I agree that others may well see the same. I, also, agree that the phrases of “triggering” and “snowflakes” are certainly overused in society currently, and perhaps Kirt could have chosen better descriptive phrases. I think a great deal of the phrasing he chose was subjective to the groups we are in, though the points he intended were in need of attention. In the groups we belong to, which due to size (+25K at any given time) we have problems with people joining who are seeking instant wisdom and spells given out like candy at Samhaine. His presentation of facts in the articles were very relevant and even time sensitive due to the conversations that continually come up in these large groups where actual practitioners, newbies, wannabes, and even haters mingle.
I apologize for the offense given by the phrasing, and if you use Facebook, I will happily point you to the group and original article, so you may read the entire thread for yourself. It will show her initial trolling reaction and her comments which have nothing to do with the actual point behind Kirt’s post. The thread, including his explanation of the addition of the part that may be taken offensively, the blistering replies, including my own, to the woman who started the problems initially. After reading the entire thread, you may, or may not, agree with Kirt’s amended post, which I added here.
Thank you for taking the time to post your feelings and perceptions here and allowing me to address them. I hope it helps you, and those who follow, to understand that no offense was intended by his wording.
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Oh, how I agree. Thanks for this insight. And although it was meant to be serious, it struck me as hilarious that I’ve been preaching the same thing for years. My favorite is still, “I think I’m a witch and want to study runes. How can I do this?” I want to scream into the computer, you pay for Google. Use it. But I rant. (Still laughing.) Seeing Morrigan as a cuddler…..ROFLMAO
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I know just what you mean, Pat. There are far too many newbies and wannabes who expect the experienced ones on various paths to simply give them all the knowledge they want to have instead of seeking out the knowledge, studying, and learning for themselves. Little do they realize that even if we were to do that for them, it would not be a kindness, but a curse, because they would be untrained and unready to meet the needs of the rituals, spells, etc. Granted, I do give info away here, but certainly not anything that will bring someone to harm unless they et stupid and start trying to summon or order around entities. I have stressed they need to build relationships with anyone they work with or they have no reason or rights to call on anyone, at all.
I have an special fondness and affinity for Ma’at, Herne, Asherah, and The Morrigan, as well as a few other entities whom I feel it necessary to approach with caution-tinged awe at times. When Kirt makes a point, he makes it with flair and the mental image of a cuddly Morrigan is rather horrifying if you ask me! 😉
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