Realignment, Revisions, Ranting

It’s hard putting yourself out there. Even when you’ve been doing magic for years, decades, centuries, eons. Being yourself while also trying to navigate the mores of social media is…a pain in the ass. It’s not all about the views or the likes, and it never has been. But it IS about building community and needing to be heard.

We’re not fans of ‘shouting into the void’. If we are talking, we hope you are listening, and we hope you have something to say back. That is, after all how conversations, community, and friendships form. We all have to somehow find balance with the-way-things-are-run and who we are, what we stand for, who we need to be.

All of which is our halfass excuse for some of the earliest posts on this blog. We’d like to be able to call this growth, but it’s not. That was softening and tempering; it was anxiety over alienating our audience at the expense of our own beliefs.

So, without further ado, we present Real Talk: Observations on Observations, revisited. #ranting

Because we are NOT okay with people bumbling along and following blindly like sheep. And we are damn well not okay with PAGANS disrespecting the seasons and the moon by deciding that mathing the godsdamned days is too fucking hard. You cannot wax poetic about the moon, then ignore her influence.

The solstices and equinoxes are different times and days every year, because they do not follow the obnoxious human-invented calendar. They are set in place by the moon, following her rule and whims. So, knowing this, why would you assume that the cross-quarter sabbats are fixed? It’s laziness. Someone decided that they didn’t want to do the work (probably based loosely on dates of local celebrations), it got stuck into calendars, and we all just went with it.

If you want to get together with friends on a saturday because it’s your only day off, no problem. But don’t call it a sabbat, or a solstice party, or whatever, because it’s fucking not. Nothing that is worth doing is meant to be easy. Paganism is not about shortcuts and quick fixes. And magic does not and will not conform to your convenience

4 thoughts on “Realignment, Revisions, Ranting”

  1. I guess it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If it’s ceremony and fellowship, I don’t see how it matters much whether it’s on the day or or a few days before/after. If I’m doing a spell that needs to be on the full moon I’ll probably put in the effort to do it on the full moon. But I’m also not interested in a rigid religion. Sabbat is about the intentionality put into the “get together” more so than the timing as far as I’m concerned. Also you’re of course welcome to write about whatever you want, but I’m curious if you see this blog heading in a direction of telling people what their practice should look like as a regular basis.

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    • We don’t want a rigid religion either. But we’re tired of people who are supposed to be connected to nature ignoring the most basic concepts. Sabbats are not about a party or get together. They’re about honoring our gods and traditions, even if that doesn’t come with a lot of fanfare. Suggesting sabbats are all about the “surface intention” is the very opposite of honoring their purpose. By all means, have your party and celebrate when you can, but insisting that it’s okay to ignore the fact that the true sabbats are slowly being erased from our culture is bullshit. The whole point is that there are pagans who DON’T EVEN KNOW THE REAL SABBAT DATES. Because we aren’t teaching it. We aren’t talking about it. And making excuses as to why is contributing to the problem. As far as “telling people what their practice should look like”? We feel that that has already happened. Does happen. Is happening on a daily basis, from every societal direction. How is suggesting that we stop blindly following an inaccurate and inconsequential calendar not fighting against that concept?

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      • People have different ways they honor gods, different gods they honor, or even stay away from gods altogether and still connect with nature. The sabbats were human set and not given by any deity. They are heavily based in one kind of Pagan tradition, which is fine if someone wants to follow that but it isn’t the only tradition or path one can follow. Swearing at people, pulling a “no true Scotsman” fallacy, etc. doesn’t seem like a suggestion of getting in tune with nature and looking beyond the calendar handed to you. It seems like a dogma at that point, which just isn’t the kind of blog I am interested in following. I appreciate the inspiration you’ve offered up until now and wish you all the best in redirecting your blog to what you want. But I’ll probably part ways and unsubscribe at this point.

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      • 1. Everything–i.e. sabbat–is older than most people think, and muddled by humans trying to rearrange and control nature. Our point is not to dictate how people practice, but to insist they be more mindful. We do not know how to explain this any clearer.

        2. “Swearing” and “swearing at people” are two very different things. While we did not intend (or perpetrate) offense in that manner, we also do not appreciate the attempted chastising.

        3. The internet is a free space. You are welcome, as always, to leave if you choose.

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