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[noweyesee]

Meritocracy and Contemporary Witchcraft

-> What is Meritocracy

From the dictionary:

‘Government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability.’

Meritocracy is a political system in which power is vested in people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or social class.

This is an important word to keep in mind - specially in more contemporary contexts of Witchcraft. Like in governments, the idea that there are no other influencing factors that account for one’s talent, effort or achievement is botched - furthermore, the extremely social and cultural indicator of what is merit wise also comes into play.

Transfer those factoids into Witchcraft and you have a very present discussion of hierarchy and idealization over the practitioners - creating, in a subtle or unsubtle way, depending on the community, a vertical view of the practitioners skills, abilities and what they practice.

An example of this is that in some circles kitchen craft (such as spell jars, teas and mixes) can be seen as inferior to curses or deity work. More in depth and vertically, recently there have been discussions of deity workers that feel less for not being God spouses and so on.

These examples show that there is an innate view of hierarchy and merit inside the community, and as such I felt the need to talk about diversity, from the “mundane” view of Psychology and its effectivity in Witchcraft.

->Types of intelligence and Types of Witches

In 1983, Gardner developed his theory of Multiple Intelligences - this theory expands the concept that there is a perfect and specific mold needed to be considered “smart” , and as such acknowledges that each individual has (either through nurture or nature) an affinity for different types of actions, practices, and knowledge.

The number of intelligenes known vary, there are models with 8 or 12 types, but the most known ones are:

Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”)

Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)

Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”)

Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)

Musical intelligence (“music smart”)

Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)

Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)

Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)

When filling what part of the brain is used and what affinity an individual has, we can find a similar concept in the infamous Types of Witche, that are too many and too diverse to accurately list.

This concept has been the cause of some headaches for new and more experienced practitioners alike, why?

-> Because, there is a certain moment where rotulation stops being helpful in finding a community and related content and starts being limiting. Just like the intelligence types, rarely an individual will solely have one affinity, and as such, why limit their experience and essence in a word when the World can be broader and more colorful than that.

-> Innate vs Acquired and Nurture vs Nature

Here we find an age-old discussion - the Innate that accounts for subjectivity, past lives and geniosity versus what is learned through interaction, acquired knowledge, culture and effort.

The point is, all individuals have something that is inherited (genetics, past lives, talent) and things we acquire - both come together, and as such, it is difficult to separate what makes someone skilled in their craft.

For example, there can be an innate practitioner that has some strong talents, but has decided to never breach witchcraft nor deepen it versus a practitioner that had almost no inherited craft related things, but spent years of their life studying and practicing.

Which one has the most merit?

If you answered none, you’re correct - both decided to follow different paths, and as such, comparing such subjective experiences and choices is unfair and almost inhumane. There can be admiration, but one shouldn’t place an hierarchical view based on effort when one hasn’t lived what the other has.

-> Conclusion: Agency over your own narrative

As you can see, the topics approached were quite open, with the intent to offer some insight and luckily bring a more diverse point of view of your practice as well as of others.

The point here is that, at the end (and Fate notwithstanding) we all have an Agency of our own narrative. Be it to improve innate elements or breach new ones - Witchcraft offers us that breath of fresh air that can be directioned wherever we want to, and as such, limitations, comparatives and the such serve only as obstacles to ourselves as well as taint our view of others.

Be curious, be cautious and be respectful.