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FAQs & Newbie Orientation (Updated April 12!)

“What’s your position on magic?” I��m one of those “magic is 99.9% psychological and .1% ?????” people. (My own practice is based on a psychological paradigm.) I generally don’t mind when people believe in metaphysical stuff more than I do, though. I do mind when people push stuff that’s well known to be harmful or incorrect.

“I think you’re a fake wizard because you don’t believe in X thing.” Skill issue.

“I’m new to witchcraft, got any advice? Yup, over on this post!

“Why are you so critical of conspiracy theories?” Simply put, because conspiracy theories are tools of reactionary violence. Most conspiracy theories are derived from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a known hoax created to demonize Jews and blame them for the world’s problems while justifying a return to monarchy, early modern witch panic and blood libel, or The Two Babylons (a book that uses Bat Deduction to try and "prove” that the Catholic Church is secretly a Babylonian mystery religion). BTW, I recommend Justin Sledge’s video on the Satanic Panic.

“Is X spiritual person a conspiracy theorist?” See this post, Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags.

“What do you mean when you say ‘New Age’?” I specifically mean forms of spirituality that revolve around the idea that the Earth is about to enter an actual new age, commonly referred to as the Age of Aquarius, Fifth Density, or Fifth Round. That’s literally what the term “New Age” refers to.

“Why are you so critical of New Age and starseeds?” Short answer? It’s a belief system built on white colonialism, Orientalism, eugenics, hateful conspiracy theories. Always has been.

Longer answers: A brief introduction to New Age spirituality (and some of the things wrong with it) New Age beliefs that derive from racist pseudoscience A quick intro to starseeds Various ways the New Age movement is shitty The New Age concept of ascension - what is it? Why New Age is thinly-veiled antisemitism/nazism Why David Icke’s reptilian aliens are sparkling antisemitism Starseeds: Nazis in Space? (Not my article) What is the New Age to Alt Right pipeline, and how do you stay out of it? How the mythology of starseeds, indigo children, crystal children, rainbow children, etc. harms kids

I also recommend checking out the #new age to alt right pipeline and #spiritual eugenics tags.

Now, I don’t think everything associated with New Age is bad simply because it’s associated with New Age. Many practices are harmless in and of themselves - the problem is the conspiratorial, morally polarized framework they’re practiced in. For more info, see Some things associated with New Age that aren’t inherently bad.

”What do you think of reincarnation, in general?” I think it’s fine to believe in reincarnation so long as you don’t act like it gives you special knowledge or wisdom, or entitles you to tell other people what to do, or entitles you to appropriate and misrepresent other people’s cultures and spiritual traditions, or tie it in with a conspiracist worldview. (Starseeds do all of these.)

“What if I’m alienkin, or I believe my soul comes from another planet?” Nothing inherently wrong with that! The problem with the starseed movement is its politics - it’s founded on a bunch of racist, ableist, colonialist garbage. (It’s no coincidence that a number of starseeds are outright Nazis.)

“What if I want to call myself a starseed, though?” That’s like wanting to call yourself a Nazi. There is something deeply wrong with you. “Why are you so critical of ancient aliens?” See Spencer McDaniel’s excellent post.

“But aren’t starseeds part of ancient traditional beliefs?” Literally no one has been able to produce a single scrap of evidence that anything like the New Age concept of starseeds existed before the Victorian period. However, New Agers are well-known for bullshitting about the age and origins of their beliefs. If you’re going to assert that starseeds are genuinely part of some ancient tradition, you need to provide some real evidence.

“Do you think it’s wrong to believe in alien life?” No, I just think it’s important to be critical of what you believe about it, and why you believe it. If you believe in aliens, question your assumptions about them. What are you projecting onto them? Why are you projecting that? Is that projection a bit self-centered, whether positively or negatively?

“What do you think of Project Monarch/alter programming/trauma-based mind control? The alleged practice of putting people through brutal torture to create alters and functionally turn them into Manchurian agents is a far right conspiracy theory. Its mythology is constructed from old witch panic tropes and old antisemitic tropes, and there is not a shred of real evidence to support its actual existence. To learn more about how we know this, see my masterpost here.

"But isn’t there a bunch of evidence?” ‘Fraid not. All of it’s either fabricated (EG, the aforementioned Protocols), taken out of context (EG, the Dendera “light”), extremely subjective (EG, someone’s mystical experience), based on absurd standards of what constitutes "evidence” (being a depressed teen who liked heavy metal and D&D was taken as a sure sign being involved in a satanic cult in the 80’s and 90’s), or produced through flawed methods (EG, so-called recovered memory therapy), or questioning vulnerable people until the interviewers or psychologists finally got what they wanted to hear. (If you want to get an idea of just how much of a mess this was, and just how unethical and irresponsible things could get, I recommend checking out the You’re Wrong About podcast’s episodes on Michelle Remembers.)

“Wait, do you have actual evidence that false memories exist?” Yep, you only have to peek in on the starseeds to see hundreds of 'em. See my posts hypnosis is unreliable for memory recovery, and this is one way we know and false past life memories among the starseed movement. You might also take a look at Abducted by Susan A. Clancy. Also read my post here’s the trouble with hypnotic regression for an explanation of why it’s so easy to generate false memories.

“What’s your problem with the Law of Assumption?” See this post and this post. See also: The prosperity gospel, explained: Why Joel Osteen believes that prayer can make you rich. (The Law of Assumption is closely related to prosperity gospel.) Why you should know about the New Thought movement (another closely related movement) “If the Law of Assumption is fake, what about the success stories?” “This Law of Assumption practitioner posted photos, doesn’t that prove something?” Was Neville Goddard really trustworthy? No, modern witchcraft and the Law of Assumption are not “the same.” Quick rundown on my actual positions re: the Law of Assumption & reality shifting right now

“I know someone who’s fallen into some dangerous beliefs, how can I help them? Check out my #deradicalization tag! (If you want to share this info with someone who isn’t on Tumblr, use this link instead!)

"I’m trying to get out of a shitty situation, what can I do?” See my post, “I’m in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?”

“Why haven’t you posted anything about X? Probably for one of the following reasons:

My primary focus is right wing conspiracy theories, and the beliefs/narratives that surround them.

I am a forgetful fuck; things can slip my mind indefinitely.

I literally do not know enough on this topic to say anything meaningful on it at this time.

I have simply never heard of X.

I literally did (maybe even post about it semi-regularly), but you missed it.

Please understand that researching conspiracy theories takes a lot of time and can be pretty draining. There’s an immense amount of media to go through, and that media is often some of the most hateful shit you’ll ever find. Sometimes I need days to decompress from it.

“Do you recommend any resources?” Yup, over here!

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Occult Anatomy, ca. 1900

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im so much less into myths than most people who are into ethnography. they feel pretty insignificant to me, except insofar as they directly inscribe worldview. like theyre not interesting at all as stories, theyre only interesting insofar as they describe how they imagine the world to be physically structured, things like that. but people LOVE myths. pretty boring

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i love the late-stage facebook algorithm. Show me more reels of tiktoks of youtube video conspiracy theories.

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i know most people following me dont care about the weather, but i really need to share this because im genuinely gonna throw the fuck up dying of laughter over whoever runs this national weather service account on twitter fighting for their lives

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One of the themes for Secret Knots comics this year was the fake conspiracy around Shakespeare’s authorship. It inspired this comic about my own made up bard, Capelo, but also led me to research the wacky stories of those who dug graves, invented code-cracking machines and overall got obsessed with finding proof of different, hidden authors behind the plays. Among them, I was fascinated by the search of Delia Bacon, so I made this comic that I shared on Patreon at the time, and which I’m sharing it with you now, as a sort of yearly recap. Here’s the story of Delia Bacon.

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does anyone have the mythopoetic worldview gf post?

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did u know that not only can non-mormons not enter the temple but not even all mormons can enter the temple:

Those who enter the temple must be worthy, which means that they keep the commandments and are prepared to make and keep sacred temple covenants. In two interviews—one with a member of a bishopric or a branch president and another with a member of a stake presidency or a mission president—Church members certify their worthiness to enter the temple. In these interviews, the priesthood leader asks about the individual’s personal conduct and worthiness. Those who are worthy receive a temple recommend, which allows them to enter the temple.

so dickish. like. obviously its fine to have a special little area where only special guys can enter. but the WHOLE TEMPLE. cmon. let me in ur building

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Human Design is a pseudoscientific new age practice, described as a holistic self-knowledge system. It combines astrology, the Chinese I Ching, Judaic Kabbalah, Vedic philosophy and modern physics.

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if you are not in the conceptual spiral of insight, imagination, and initiative, you are not serious

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Ringmakers Of Saturn By Norman R. Bergrun

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trick or treat!!

Robert Fludd, Utriusque Cosmi Maioris Scilicet et Minoris Metaphysica, 1619