I Have Some Reservations
From the pages of Scary Mommy, where ladies of a progressive bent share their fever dreams,
Could Witchcraft Make You A Better Parent? Real Witches Say ‘Yes’
I suspect the word real is creaking under the strain there. Other creaking may occur during our travels. Still, the author of the piece, Annie Midori Atherton, is keen to entice us with the prospect of paranormal parenting:
As a new mom fumbling through the daily grind of work, caregiving, and what little social life I can manage to eke in, I often find myself wondering how other parents pull it off… Some days I’m so worn down… that I feel I’d need to summon supernatural energy to thrive — rather than just survive.
And so, obviously,
For a growing number of people — including many mothers — witchcraft doesn’t begin or end with Halloween. According to one scholar, the number of Americans who identify with Wicca or paganism has risen from less than 200,000 twenty ago to nearly two million today.
Uncorrected narcissism, or fears of being an uninteresting person, or both, will do that, I suppose.
The scholar in question, linked to in the piece, is a Women’s Studies denizen who tells us that “much of the recent growth [in pretending to be a witch] is coming from young women,” a truly startling insight. However, we learn, from lesser authorities, that witches “can identify as male, female, or non-binary.” So, there’s that. And we’re told that these pretentious young women, or pretentiously ungendered beings, these would-be witches, may also engage in astrology and socially-distanced bonfires. Harry Potter and Twilight are mentioned too, adding further heft to the deep rumblings on offer.
Says Ms Atherton,
I realised that not only do modern witches abound, but many of them are also parents, which got me wondering… might they have some sage wisdom on childrearing?
Beats poking dog shit with a stick, I guess.
To find out, I turned to the moms who identify as witches to hear how practising magic helps them raise their children and feel fulfilled and powerful in the process… Here’s how they do it.
At which point, we’re ushered towards the “sage wisdom” of Ms Mya Spalter, author of Enchantments: A Modern Witch’s Guide To Self-Possession, and a self-described “hot but approachable tour guide” to all things mysterious and occult. Ms Spalter, “a practising witch herself,” shares her “magical knowledge,” whereby the inadequate are invited to “build rituals around your intuition” and to “harness the power of crystals.” Her contribution to the topic of better parenting is summarised as “embrace your power.”
Quality stuff.
Our excavation of uncanny knowledge continues with input from Treva Van Cleave, a mother and, er, witch, who can, we’re assured, call upon her ancestors by fondling her late grandmother’s necklace. Strange “emanations” are mentioned. Which is exactly what you need when getting children ready for school or loading the washing machine.
Bethany McCarter, who was raised by a witch and identifies as one herself, said she teaches her children to trust their gut when it comes to sensing auras.
Yes, I know. The creaking can get a bit much. Just try to ignore it. Alas, Ms McCarter’s expertise in sorcery and aura-sensing is somewhat elusive, indeed seemingly non-existent; but she does offer more practical advice – say, the best shoes to wear when visiting Disney World.
Upping the intersectional game somewhat, Kathleen Richardson informs us that she bonds with her daughter and can “manifest healing and abundance” via “Hoodoo, a form of African-American folk magic (also referred to as Conjure or Rootwork).” These magical feats are, we’re told, pointedly, “not a religion, but the spiritual and supernatural tradition birthed in American slave plantations.”
Ooh. Bonus points. I think we have a winner.
Update, via the comments:
Regarding those “fears of being an uninteresting person,” mentioned above, Daniel Ream adds,
The best summary I heard in my 1990s college days (the first wave of this stuff) was “she’s trying so hard not to be ordinary.”
I suppose it’s not entirely surprising that a 20th-century recreational pseudo-religion, an ill-defined, means-anything-you-want spirituality, propagated by a retired civil servant and aimed at people who find other religions unfashionable, should be popular among the woke demographic.
Still, the overlap of wokeness and woo is worth noting.
Beats poking dog shit with a stick, I guess.
LOL. *looks for stick*
“LOL. *looks for stick*
PING. *Uses button* 😉
Readers are reminded that this isn’t our first visit to the world of woke woo.
Melanie Marquis, who wrote Witchy Mama: Magickal Traditions, Motherly Insights & Sacred Knowledge, says that at least once a day, she stands outside in the sun to feel the power of the sunlight flowing through her.
Ah. Not a British witch, obviously.
Beats poking dog shit with a stick, I guess.
That is funny though.
PING
“Uncorrected narcissism, or fears of being an uninteresting person, or both…”
Indeed, embrace, as the kids say, the power of “and”.
Regardless, that is the nut of the matter for these nitwits, the “trans”, drag queens, antifa, the _____________ (fill in the blank) Rebellion dickweeds, and the similar lot.
Being, unaccomplished, untalented, uneducated, and frequently unclean, it is all play acting to substitute for a total lack of personality.
PING. *Uses button* 😉
PING
Bless you, sirs. Should your 8-year-old nephew be showing you his drawings of aircraft, may you actually know some facts about what turns out to be his favourite one, resulting in rapt attention and treasured status as Uncle Who Knows Cool Things.
“Uncorrected narcissism, or fears of being an uninteresting person, or both…”
Indeed, embrace, as the kids say, the power of “and”.
Regardless, that is the nut of the matter for these nitwits, the “trans”, drag queens, antifa, the _____________ (fill in the blank) Rebellion dickweeds, and the similar lot.
Being, unaccomplished, untalented, uneducated, and frequently unclean, it is all play acting to substitute for a total lack of personality.
It ain’t me, what ever Typepad thought they fixed is banjaxed, the think kept going into vapor lock and spitting out error messages.
And I’m sure all of them “Trust the Science ™” whenever the Left wants to don the white coat of sacred authority.
Do you think one of those Scary Mommy Witches has put a curse on David’s Typepad? That would explain the duplicated messages.
Previously, in the Guardian, Can pot make you a better parent?
Strange “emanations” are mentioned. Which is exactly what you need when getting children ready for school or loading the washing machine.
Snort!
what ever Typepad thought they fixed is banjaxed,
Don’t get me started. I’m attempting to remain calm and above it all.
“Can blinding yourself in one eye make you a better parent?”
50 yrs ago I hung out with hippies who believed all sorts of woo. All very well when you are 20 and stoned and have no job, not so effective if you are 50. Children are prone to magical thinking and have trouble telling fantasy from reality. It behooves an adult to move past that stage. Evidently, many choose to remain children. More fun I guess.
Uncorrected narcissism, or fears of being an uninteresting person, or both, will do that, I suppose.
Has anybody told them that it makes them less interesting? Except to other narcissists and dingleberries?
what ever Typepad thought they fixed is banjaxed
It’s like that TV series that took a nosedive in season 3; all the talented people who originally made it good got bored and moved on, leaving the incompetent to fly it into the ground.
Wow. Sorry for the duplicates. What a mess.
From my understanding, the stuff these witches claim to be able to do focuses on getting stuff, their feelings of being powerful (unverified), and harming others (hexes). There is no advice in the witchcraft lexicon about raising kids or helping others in general. You can neglect you kids and still feel “powerful”.
what ever Typepad thought they fixed is banjaxed
Definitely an intermittent problem: Everything can be fine for a half hour, and then the problem returns:
Sometimes the problem is in refreshing the page.
Sometimes the problem is when posting a comment.
Should I look up one of my old neopagan acquaintances to request some healing energies? 😀
Considering the all-pervading woo that has infested western and particularly US culture those 2 million Wiccans aren’t exactly setting the political world alight although I strongly suspect a fair number are hiding in plain sight.
What news from the near future oh mighty eagle?
Beats poking dog shit with a stick, I guess.
Brought back some memories…
Brought back some memories…
[ Peers over spectacles. ]
[ Moves complimentary peanuts to other end of bar. ]
It’s like that TV series that took a nosedive in season 3; all the talented people who originally made it good got bored and moved on, leaving the incompetent to fly it into the ground.
The major restaurant chain that I last worked for contracting in the IT domain is experiencing quite the challenge right now. The IT team was a very close-knit group of X-ers and millennials. Mostly solid people who spent considerable off-work time together. When a friend I used to work with at another company contacted me because he saw I was LinkedIn to one of their new employees coming from this company it raised an eyebrow with me. The more leader/father-figure/decision maker guy left, a sure to be lifer in my observation, sounded like trouble in paradise. Yesterday I got a call from the other contractor there that I had worked with. The remaining staff of that subsystem is quitting. Management is in a panic. They moved an architect into a manager/lead position and are desperately trying to convince the last guy with broad knowledge of the system to stay by offering him an architect position. Which I really don’t see being a good fit, plus that guy has a serious health concern such that he needs to *lessen* stress in his life. The real genesis of this shift was the covid panic and the damage it has done in so many ways. I’m thinking of shorting the company…
Damn typepad timeout… I just refreshed damn you…
desperately trying to convince the last guy with broad knowledge of the system to stay
Hahaha. The demo LOOKS GREAT! so management buys it not knowing how many workarounds are needed to get it to function sort of properly.
Eventually the ugly truth hits the fan.
Beats poking dog shit with a stick, I guess.
That was random (and funny).
It’s like that TV series that took a nosedive in season 3
That’s about half of them, isn’t it?
That was random (and funny).
I was trying to think of an activity that would be comparably enticing.
she teaches her children to trust their gut when it comes to sensing auras.
I have a similar ability. I call it bullshit detection.
.
I see I’m going to be spending my remaining decades deleting duplicate comments.
Pass me that stick.
A fun obscure fact: although it’s drifted more into DIY these days, the original Wicca as described by Gerald Gardner as authentic pre-Christian British folk magic is just bog-standard Aleister Crowley O.T.O./Golden Dawn “ceremonial magick” with the serial numbers filed off. (Aleister Crowley is famous for saying “if I had to do it all over again, I’d have made it a religion”, and Gardner met with Crowley repeatedly in Crowley’s twilight years).
fears of being an uninteresting person
The best summary I heard in my 1990s college days (the first wave of this stuff) was “she’s trying so hard not to be ordinary.”
It’s like that TV series that took a nosedive in season 3
Before streaming, most TV made money in the syndication market rather than first run (The post TOS Star Trek shows, for instance, lost money every episode; they were kept afloat by the syndication revenues). You need three seasons worth of episodes to syndicate, so contracts are almost always for three years. If a show becomes profitable enough in those three seasons to be worth extending, there’s often a drop in quality as the showrunner(s) and writers have moved on to other jobs.
The other sign of impending crapitude is when one or more of the main actors starts getting listed as an executive producer in the credits. This means they’re plowing money into the show and will use that influence to bend the show to their own agenda.
The demo LOOKS GREAT! so management buys it not knowing how many workarounds are needed to get it to function sort of properly
Back in the days of software that came on CDs that you had to actually install, a co-worker was doing a demo of the new UI for our app. Since it was just as UI mockup in VB, it didn’t actually do anything, and clicking on any of the [ OK ] buttons just instantly popped up a box that said “The operation has been performed.”
The marketing people in the UI demo saw this and starting raving about the performance improvements over the current version and how this was going to sell hundreds of units. Took my friend half an hour to explain it to them. References to Western movies and Miami Vice were involved.
I can’t speak for the American contingent, but those sort of of groups in the UK tend very much towards being sex cults.
Ping!
the original Wicca as described by Gerald Gardner as authentic pre-Christian British folk magic is just bog-standard Aleister Crowley O.T.O./Golden Dawn “ceremonial magick” with the serial numbers filed off. (Aleister Crowley is famous for saying “if I had to do it all over again, I’d have made it a religion”, and Gardner met with Crowley repeatedly in Crowley’s twilight years).
The Wiccans I used to know effortlessly shifted from “It’s authentic pre-Christian magic/religion and how dare you claim that it’s a recent invention” to “It doesn’t matter that it’s a recent invention and we never claimed otherwise”. Rather like the Marxists I used to know shifted from to “that’s not real socialism” when they could no longer deny the ugly reality of the Russian, Chinese, and Cuban regimes. How much respect must one give to people so addicted to dishonesty?
I can’t speak for the American contingent, but those sort of of groups in the UK tend very much towards being sex cults.
Not sure about the prevalence of cults with cult leaders, but there is lots of promiscuity, I know that. And sex is a big part of their rituals. And I heard of one woman who got herpes from a man with whom she had ritual sex–supposedly the ritual merely required that he place his penis against her pubes, but that was enough to give her the virus. And most of the pagans living in one house all had to go to the free STD clinic when one woman gave them all a bacterial STD.
The best summary I heard in my 1990s college days (the first wave of this stuff) was “she’s trying so hard not to be ordinary.”
That, as they say.
Ping!
Bless you, madam. May every day be a good hair day.
Must be the season of the witch.
The marketing people in the UI demo saw this and starting raving about the performance improvements over the current version and how this was going to sell hundreds of units. Took my friend half an hour to explain it to them. References to Western movies and Miami Vice were involved.
Heh. In the early days of Java I was developing a UI for a transaction state monitoring system, something similar to Amazon’s AWS. Buttons to boot/restart/shutdown/etc. servers with a simple listbox showing each server’s state. As this was in development, my fall through state, if none of the predetermined “It will ALWAYS BE ONE OF THESE STATES, STOP ASKING WHAT IF!” states were returned was displayed as “The truth is out there…” This state was only reached in my own testing of the most extreme situations and I fully intended to replace it with whatever the human factors guy, who was real busy at the time and wanted more time to think about it…and partly because “IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN”, eventually officially sanctioned something. I somewhat bemusingly anticipated a similar somewhat creatively PR issued from the integration or system test team should they encounter it before I heard back from HF. One day, weeks later, while pounding away at my keyboard working some totally different project, my lead whispers over my shoulder “The truth is out there… WTF is that?” Turned out that unbeknownst to me, marketing or someone customer facing had gotten hold of a not-quite-approved demo and that message, which apparently never came up in testing, appeared. There was some discussion as to whose fault that was.
OT – Today In Racism™: airplane seats.
Bewitched was, apparently, a documentary.
Making me wonder about I Dream of Jeannie and Mr. Ed.
marketing or someone customer facing had gotten hold of a not-quite-approved demo
My favourite war story along those lines was the time the sales team sold a huge corporate license bundle for a product that didn’t exist.
For a growing number of people — including many mothers — witchcraft doesn’t begin or end with Halloween.
Translation:
For a growing number of people = = = “course requirements now include public display of witch acceptance.”
I suspect the word real is creaking under the strain there.
Some days it seems like half the world is doing some kind of cosplay…
I was hoping for some substitutiary locomotion.
Alas, no.
*shrug*
I know (used to date) an interesting lady. She is a gypsy/Roma, grew up in the ME, and follows their spiritual line, which is a flavor of paganism she just refers to as being a witch. This isn’t the neo magick-with-a-K Wicca, but the older stuff. She speaks 10 languages, 8 fluently, has multiple college degrees, and in no way advertises or proselytizes outside her circle of friends. Her version of “magic” and her attitude toward it reminds me very much of the Christian view toward prayer.
I take full responsibility for our breakup…totally my bad. She is one of the smartest, most sophisticated and worldly thinkers I ever met, and I will likely try to marry her if the opportunity ever presents itself again.
All that to say…not all witches fit the caricature that many slap on them. And their beliefs vary as much as those within any other religion. I’ve met more flaky Christians than pagans, though flakiness seems the prevalent type of everyday pagan…probably because today nobody knows much about it outside of Samhain/Halloween.
I do have the distinction of likely being the only one here who has received a gift for Yule, and put a candle in each window for Imbolc. So I’ve got that going for me.
In other news.
I do have the distinction of likely being the only one here who has received a gift for Yule,
I used to get stuff for Yule all the time. I finally tracked him down and had him do a change of address. ;-p
I was hoping for some substitutiary locomotion
What movie is that from?
Musk wants to get rid of 75% of twitter employees, I can’t imagine why.
What movie is that from?
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
What movie is that from?
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Oh noes. My first double post. Ever.
Typepad continues to offer interesting challenges.
Even nuns watch porn, Pope says, warning of risks
from the BBC
How does he know?
How does he know?
Well Catholics do do that confession thing. Though AIUI he’s supposed to keep those confessions under his big Pope hat.
he’s supposed to keep those confessions under his big Pope hat
I’m surprised he’d have time to be listening to all those nuns, I’d think confessing the College of Cardinals would keep him busy enough. Maybe the omniscient Big Guy tipped him off.
I take full responsibility for our breakup…totally my bad. She is one of the smartest, most sophisticated and worldly thinkers I ever met, and I will likely try to marry her if the opportunity ever presents itself again.
I hope she sees this, bro.
Typepad continues to offer interesting challenges.
During the last 24 hours I went on an emotional journey, from aggravation and exasperation, and Shouting At The Internet, to resignation, acceptance, and an eerie calm.
And in other, other news:
So there’s that.
“she’s trying so hard not to be ordinary.”
Some days it seems like half the world is doing some kind of cosplay…
I suppose it’s not entirely surprising that a 20th-century recreational pseudo-religion, an ill-defined, means-anything-you-want spirituality, propagated by a retired civil servant and aimed at people who find other religions unfashionable, should be popular among the woke demographic.
Still, the overlap of wokeness and woo is worth noting.
What movie is that from?
I see some of our regulars have been culturally starved.
Aw, I used to be in that Wiccan thing when I was much younger, and then I grew up. Actually, it is amazing how much in-fighting there was among Pagans about who was “authentic” and who wasn’t.
By and large, it was all White women wanting to form covens with themselves as the high priestess, a witchy Mean Girls, if you will. Claiming that them lighting a candle was far more “spiritual” than the grandmother in your local Catholic church doing the same – chances are the difference being that the Wiccan was doing it for her own “empowerment” while Grandma was doing it to offer prayer for a wayward child or grandchild. Narcissism indeed.
As with so many other things Terry Pratchett got his witches right.
By and large, it was all White women wanting to form covens with themselves as the high priestess, a witchy Mean Girls, if you will.
You can imagine my surprise.
I see some of our regulars have been culturally starved.
It’s a good film. I dug it out for my kids and they loved it.
It’s a good film.
I’m not sure I’d go that far. But it’s the only film I can think of that has flying brooms, neighing cartoon seahorses and Nazi stormtroopers.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
I see some of our regulars have been culturally starved.
The title is familiar, as if I once did know the story, but I don’t remember anything at all. Probably because I was too old when the movie came out to want to see it, and encountered the book at such a young age that it’s all lost in the mists of time.
Similar situation regarding other children’s stories: I don’t remember the plots of Dr. Doolittle, Stuart Little, The Borrowers, The Wind in the Willows, etc. (Hence my question in a previous thread about the name of the series in which every story ends “Now if Mister A doesn’t do silly thing B so that the C goes all silly thing D, So-and-so will tell you another story”. I recall a sixties writer using that construction in a few of his more whimsical essays.)
I’m not sure I’d go that far.
Well it’s no Murder She Wrote that’s for sure. :-p
Site has been down a long time. I tried posting this hours ago. This is the first time it worked.
First time for me, too.
[ Picks lock on drinks cabinet. ]
This calls for a celebration.
This calls for a celebration.
There’s a false back on the cabinet. That’s where the good stuff is kept.
chances are the difference being that the Wiccan was doing it for her own “empowerment” while Grandma was doing it to offer prayer for a wayward child or grandchild. Narcissism indeed.
Aside from the silliness and narcissism, I had a moral objection to all that casting of spells on people. There is a huge moral difference between praying for the recovery of a sick child and casting a spell to make someone fall in love with you or to make someone hire you. (I did not believe their spells had any power over others, but that did not negate the immorality.)
pst314: yep. It is a conceit that they can have all sorts of power, when in fact not only does reality not work that way but they are fairly powerless people.
First thing to mind on seeing the headline was what Granny Weatherwax would think of this. Not much, I imagine.
Is there still a booby-trap in that cabinet?
Is there still a booby-trap in that cabinet?
Seems sexist and unnecessarily dangerous to the lady regulars.
#savetheboobies
[ Resists temptation to post photos of blue-footed boobies. ]
Seems sexist and unnecessarily dangerous to the lady regulars.
Straight-up aimed at the henchlesbians, who are all over the licker, er liquor when it’s not being watched.
Is there still a booby-trap in that cabinet?
Well if necessary I do know the combination to the lock on the medicine cabinet. But it will cost you.
pst314: yep. It is a conceit that they can have all sorts of power, when in fact not only does reality not work that way but they are fairly powerless people.
The lust for power is the most dangerous of sins.
“she’s trying so hard not to be ordinary.”
It would be better to try to be normal.
My wife reads a website called ecosophia.net, which is run by a druid with some sense. His definition of magic is far different from the New Age crystal set, and he opposes casting curses because of the rebound effect on the caster. He’s a prolific writer and doing a series on little-known aspects of magic in America. This post on Johnny Appleseed will give you an idea.
he opposes casting curses because of the rebound effect on the caster.
My pagan acquaintances often asserted the existence of a “rebound effect”, and used that to bolster their claims that they never cast curses upon people. But I did not believe them because they had also spoken occasionally about love spells and spells to get someone hired (which amounts to a spell upon the person making hiring decisions and/or a curse upon the competing job candidates.) In the end, I concluded that the “rebound effect” was nothing more than rhetoric to crafted to deflect criticism of neo-pagans/wiccans/whatever, and to help them think of themselves as exalted beings.
Urgent question on behalf of David: What are the best alternatives to Typepad?
Evidently, as you and I have just been able to post, it appears maybe to be fixed, even though the 28 October post appears to be terminally FUBAR.
Not fully fixed: I can only comment on this post. I cannot comment on the most recent post (possibly because it has more than 100 comments–display of the page hangs up on the 100th comment.)
Typepad really FUBARed the dog.
I cannot comment on the most recent post (possibly because it has more than 100 comments…
Simple experiment, let’s run this one up to 100 and see it it hangs as well, if not it might indicate something FUBAR in something someone posted past 100.
After this only 13 left to go – your turn…
My browser won’t display the bottom of the page on the most recent post, so no comment box. My ancient waterfox browser at home displayed the start of a new post not a multiple of Japanese loos, but something about “The link above is cour” and still no comment box. None of the sidebar content appears in the most recent post, but it does here, and on the main page. OK – hitting Post and may the Force be with me.
None of the sidebar content appears in the most recent post…
Ditto on three different browsers,
Simple experiment, let’s run this one up to 100…
Let’s not. Only post comments that are useful or interesting.
Let’s not. Only post comments that are useful or interesting.
It will get there anyway, and if this one gets past 100, that would indicate to Gospodin Thompson that there is something banjaxed on the other thread.
possibly because it has more than 100 comments–display of the page hangs up on the 100th comment
Well that explains why my own long dormant blog on Typepad was now mostly functional.
It will get there anyway, and if this one gets past 100, that would indicate to Gospodin Thompson that there is something banjaxed on the other thread.
I don’t think it would tell David anything he doesn’t already know. Leave it to the folks at Typepad to fix all their bugs.
In the meantime, we can safely add maybe 8 more comments to this post, and maybe 58 to the post before this one, before breaking that 100-comment limit.
Why do I feel like I’m in the middle of psyop?
While comments are now posting at first click the page is having an extended conversation with the server when you click the refresh button. So there’s still stuff going on that probably shouldn’t be.
Leave it to the folks at Typepad to fix all their bugs.
Yes, but that may not extend to their deleting multiple posts, or an individual post with something that is offending the system.
While this gets sorted, some amusement; Today In Racism™: wypipo going to see the new wakanda movie.
I suspect that David is not going to bother deleting duplicate comments until Typepad is working properly again. Which I think would be a prudent and sanity-preserving course.
Today In Racism™: wypipo going to see the new wakanda movie.
Tomorrow in Racism™: wypipo not going to see the new wakanda movie.
Because if the movie doesn’t make enough profit, it’ll be the fault of raciss wypipo not spending enough money on it.
You are also a racist if you don’t help Doaa heal from racial trauma.