The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #61577   Message #994830
Posted By: GUEST,Bryn
01-Aug-03 - 04:46 AM
Thread Name: BS: Witches! Good and Bad?
Subject: RE: BS: Witches! Good and Bad?
More observations. Harpgirl, rare is the pagan who views what they do as 'bad' - and its hard to define. Is bad selfish? Peiple re selfish. Most pagans I know tend to try and act for the good of all where tey can and few managed it cos we're just as flawed as anyone else. That said, do know of some pagans who will happily admit to walking the darker paths. The thing is this - pagans don't see the dark half of the wheel - death, decay, destruction etc as inehrrently evil - they are necessary to life, we honour them and when needs be, we invoke them. Part of the problem with the questions you are asking is that they use terms that make no sense in the context. Pagans don't tend to describe themselves as good or bad (only the daft ones). If the question is 'are there pagans who use magic purely to be evil?' I think the answer is no, you don't get disney style villans, you do get self interested individuals whose motives might not be as pure as the driven snow, but that's people for you. I can tell you now that your chances of getting any Pagan to post specifically about their beleifs and practises are small, I know I have no intention of telling you what I do in that vein, and I would be very surprised if anyone else Pagan on this list would be inclined to go into detail - it's not ebcause we're necessarily doing anything you might find disturbing, it is mroe that these are private and intimate thnigs, not to be shared casually.

As for why we don't talk about the silly side of wicca - it goes like this. All the people who are serious about what they do, who study arcane knowledge and work hard at their rituals etc find that sort of thing deeply embarassing. All the people who like running round in public in robes, pretending to be Klingons, cursing Harry potter, wearing robes that look like dressing gowns and nighties, giving themselve insane titles etc have never considered the possibility that they might in fact be rather silly, so they don't tend to talk about it either. But if we want to name and shame, can I sugegst visiting the website of Kevin Carlyon, the living incarnation of 'the silly side of Wicca' - a websearch for his anme will provide.