Supergirl

I can be seduced by an intelligent man...... hehe, but in my case they are not very common (with my radar I attract morons)

I am pagan, and I have to say that people with too active imaginations regarding the occult pisses me off too.

What I've noticed is that most pagans are just rejects from xianity, and can not let go of the bible. They just put spells in it instead of scripture.

There is The Threefold Law - For everything you do, it will return three times. The morons take it as a rule to live by!!! Causing them to live in fear.

Heleilu

The post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy keeps the occult alive and well. My friend became a Wiccan recently, and believes that a spell she performed a few times recently causes ex-boyfriends to wreck their cars. Of course, they are all teenage boys and presumably reckless, but it was definitely the spell.

Strawberry

Seems to be the same for attracting men, unfortunately...where did you say you live, again?

Infidelettante

I've come back to this thread several times and I have told
myself "just leave it alone boy, move on." Now I feel like I
might be able to help you understand.

I've studied Wicca off and on for a number of years. I have
been a Pagan for 15 years. I have an altar in my bedroom
and keep candles and insence going most of the time. I have
a circle of stones in my back yard for those really big rituals
or for when I just want to stand under a full moon and let
the wonder of it all sink in for a while. I'm 52. I'm not a kid.
I cast spells, do magic and preform rituals, some of them
in the back yard and some of them naked. I love to watch the
moon go through its' phases and follow the days as they
wheel through the year. You want to know why a 52 year old
white guy in the Deep South would do something like this?

Because I can touch the deepest part of what makes us
human this way. We aren't all logic and reason. In fact I
don't think logic and reason have a lot to do with religion and
the sooner all the theists and atheists figure that out the
sooner they can stop all this debate and get on with their
lives.

We evolved under the moon and the stars and in the dark of
night and to think that just because we can break it down and

name the bits and put it all back together again that we really
understand it is wrong. Deep in that brain of yours is left a
thing that craves the experiance of wild nights around the
bonfire. It wants to run again as the stag and wear the horns
once more. It wants to lay down its' life to raise the crops
to harvest. It wants you to look up at the stars and the face of
Luna and say "thank you" and mean it.

Do you really think that 10,000 years of civilization have washed
you clean of the wild. You no longer pray over the small sprigs
that could be wheat if the rains would only come. But you
should. There is that place that tells you should. Do you think
that just because we have the Weather Channel you no longer
have to listen?

You thinkers will have taken the poetry out of life if you aren't
careful. It sometimes takes a month or more for me to design
and perform a ritual. Some are done several times. Some even
have to be undone. It can be alot of work. And there is not one
tiny bit of logic to it. I avoid logic like the plaque. Reason has
no place. Cause and effect don't work. But I tell you this, when
I stand in that circle I stand in the center of creation and I can
call to it and it answers. No it isn't logical and it isn't reasonable
but I would never give up that experiance for anything

And the strange part is when you get right down
to it I'm an atheist. That's the kicker. Lighten up man. Not all
us occultists are nuts you know.

JT

Strawberry

Just because we don't do rituals, etc. doesn't mean no one here thinks that the natural universe is incredible. I don't think that anything "out there" created the world; there's enough evidence kicking around for me to believe that this all happened by natural processes. I still think it's pretty cool, though. Now, I really hate bonfires, but I'm pyrophobic, so that's a different story.

Waxing poetic is all well and good, but IMHO trying to make everyone who's posted before you on the thread sound like a know-it-all academic who's missing the point kind of dismisses the entire point that they were trying to make. I think their point is that a person can enjoy nature without having to feel that there's some greater presence or purpose. It's pretty wonderful even without dancing around that big ol' bonfire or inhaling clouds of incense.

Infidelettante

Strawberry, I didn't mean to offend but if you will notice I
replied to only one post not to everyone on the thread.

I don't think the post is particularly poetic, but thanks.

I wanted to say that every now and then it does the mind
good to put aside logic and reason.

And while I'm here let's cover "everyone who's posted before"
me.

happyboy
"nonsense...intelectualy insulting"

Feather
"primitive, unthinking brutes"

Bersec
"intelectualy lazy...simplistic"

AdamWho
"boring, painful lives"

Demosthenes
"classic example of how people can sabotage their reasoning
skills."

Jamie_L
"perfect for lazy people"

Supergirl
"the morons"

Well, you can really dish it out against the occultists can't ya.
God forbid I should make you sound like know-it-alls.

JT

Strawberry

Hmm...I'd beg to differ on that one, I guess.

Sorry you feel so outnumbered and abused. However, since this is a secular board, I imagine you'll find a fair amount of that here. It's kind of our place to let our hair down, so to speak, so a lot of venting goes on. Things that quietly irk us in real life turn into major flame-war threads here, largely because there's a degree of anonymity that lets us state controversial opinions without much fear of tangible consequences. Hopefully if you met any of us face-to-face we'd be nicer.

AdamWho

JTVrocher

I would like to remind you that my statement "boing and painful lives" is not just about people who believe in the occult, but rather a statement about human nature in general.

Ensign Steve

I think I can't let go of that kind of stuff, because it is the dogma I was raised with. My mom always called herself an atheist, and it wasn't until I got all educated and skeptical that I realized how superstitous she is! And there are things I have been raised with that I know have no proper place in the world of reason, but I don't let them go. I still knock on wood if I am afraid I may have tempted fate. I still throw spilled salt over my shoulder. I didn't even know what these rituals were based upon. I never questioned them, until my Catholic friend asked me if I was a witch when I tossed some salt. I laughed and laughed, but now I know where he was coming from. I know that tossing salt and knocking would could not possibly affect anything, but I still do it. I think I'm working with a modified Pascal's wager, here. What is the cost if I do it? Half a second of my life? What is the cost if I don't do it? I could wreck my car, or break my leg! The risk far outweighs the cost. It's lame, I know, but I do it.

As far as incense, I like the smell. I like the way it makes my house smell, like my house is wearing perfume.

Candles, I like the mood they set. Sometimes electric bulbs are too harsh, but darkness is too dark. I can't live my entire life by the glow of the TV.

Solstice? Any excuse to party, in my book! My b-day is on 6/24, anyway, so I always try to find a really good hedonistic solistice party to go to. I'm not religious, but I still celebrate Christmas. Why not Solstice, too?

Plus sometimes the occult is just more fun. I went to a haunted-house themed event on the Queen Mary (big ship in Long Beach) and my friend said it is an especially neat place to go on Halloween because the ship is actually haunted. Haha, yeah, right, but it still adds to the thrill! That ship is spooky! My mom thought our house was haunted for a year, until we figured out the logical explanation for the voices coming from the attic. For that year I thought my mom was so lame, but when I found out the mundane explanation, I was still disappointed. The mystery was gone.

When my mom starts having OCD attacks, I tell her she's acting like a virgo. When I have PMS attacks, she tells me I'm acting like a cancer.

Phew! Long story short, the occult is FUN! Personally, the way I use it is harmless. I never take it seriously.

*shrug*

Jen

Infidelettante

Thank you Strawberry. I'm quite sure all-or most- of you are
very nice in person as am I. In any event I intend to be
here a long time. Consequences be damned.

As to some aspects of life being best approched outside
the intellectual gymnasium of logic I will stand by that.

JT