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Review: An Apostate’s Guide to Witchcraft
Once upon a time, Christendom labelled the Emperor Julian “the Apostate” because he reverted to Paganism. Nowadays, the title is applied to people who leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Moss Matthey left the JWs in order to live his truth as a gay man—as many others have left high control religious groups for the same reason.…
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Conversion therapy survivors flag
I’ve just seen this announcement from the Conversion Therapy Survivors Network on Facebook: The votes are in! Hunter Moore‘s design will now become the FIRST-ever Conversion Therapy Survivor Flag! Grey: Represents PTSD and memory loss.Pink: Symbolizes sexual abuse and marginalization.Blue: Stands for domestic violence.Triangle: Inspired by the progress pride flag, it represents survivors overcoming these…
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The sunk cost fallacy
One of the reasons that people tend to stay in toxic relationships and religions, persist with failing projects, and even watch terrible movies all the way to the end, is the sunk cost fallacy.
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Deconstruction story: Richard Swan
A friend shared a Facebook post by Richard Swan (in the fun group Dull Men’s Club) today, talking about how vanishingly few people are tone deaf, and most people can sing. I take the view that singing is an outpouring of the soul and one of the cruellest things a person can do is to…
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Repost: Approaching groups
When approaching groups to work with, check that they are an ethical group. This is a list created by Phil Hine.
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Dealing with door knockers
My best ever riposte to some doorstep evangelists was when they asked me “who do you believe is the ruler of this Earth?” And I replied “I don’t believe the Earth can be ruled, I believe that she’s a goddess in her own right”. The doorstep evangelists practically ran away down the front path. The…
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Just visiting
I’ve often referenced these posts by Annika Mongan, which present a fascinating account of what’s happening energetically at evangelical churches, and at Pagan gatherings. I also got independent confirmation of this by speaking to another Wiccan who sees energy as colours (I experience it as changes in temperature) who confirmed that she saw a lot…
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A healing journey
A new book from Moss Matthey, An apostate’s guide to witchcraft: finding freedom through magic, explores his personal journey from fundamentalist Christianity to witchcraft. Moss writes: This book is about my journey from a fundamentalist Christian cult to the joyous and freeing world of Witchcraft. Blending my personal experience with gentle exercises, this book is for anyone who is…
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A disturbing history
This is a very disturbing read about institutional abuse by crypto Nazis and very conservative Catholics in Austria in the late 1940s to the late 1980s. Very similar to the treatment of Indigenous children in residential schools, and of Irish single mothers in Magdalen Laundries. What does this kind of history tell us? That “respectable”…
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Other blogging challenge posts
Two other people participated in the Changing Paths blogging challenge 2024: Jarred the Wyrd-worker and The River Crow. Kudos to Jarred for keeping it up for the whole month and continuing to write blogposts in response to the prompts at the end of the chapters in Changing Paths. And The River Crow wrote some beautiful…
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The future
Changing Paths challenge day 30: the future The future that I want to live in is one in which everyone is equal and we are in partnership with Nature and the land, like the utopian visions in these books: Always Coming Home by Ursula K Le Guin, The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk, and News…
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Inspirations
Changing Paths challenge day 29: inspirations Many writers worry about being inspired by other writers, in case inspiration comes off as plagiarism. But true inspiration is not plagiarism, it just references its source and then does something completely different.
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People I admire
Changing Paths challenge day 28. People I admire. (This is by no means a complete list of people I admire. Some of the people I admire are not famous but have spent a lifetime doing a thing in an admirable way.)
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Movies and TV
Changing Paths challenge day 27: movies and TV. Movies and TV that changed my mind / blew my mind.
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Colours
Changing Paths Challenge day 26: colours For today’s challenge, I’ve pulled up my article about the colours of Paganism from my blog, Dowsing for Divinity. Green is the colour everyone immediately associates with Paganism. It is the colour of nature, of trees, and all growing things. It is associated with the Green Man, a symbol…
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Books
Changing Paths challenge day 25: books 📚 I love reading books. I love writing books. I love talking about books. I love having a to-be-read pile. I love rereading books that I have enjoyed. A book is a little world and its characters are mirrors you can hold up, and try identifying with them to…
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Music
Changing Paths challenge day 24: Music I love music, especially any piece where the artist really put their soul into it. This is often the case with the music of oppressed, displaced, and marginalized peoples. I have very diverse tastes in music but some of my favourite genres are Cajun, klezmer, zydeco, blues, baroque, medieval…
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Festivals
Changing Paths challenge day 23: Festivals I love Pagan festivals and I am very glad that there’s one every six weeks or so, as it takes the pressure off of Yule. If you only celebrate Yule and Easter (and Thanksgiving in North America), there’s so much pressure to get it right and have a good…
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Double standards
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Ways of talking about faith
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Tenth anniversary edition of All acts
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Meditation is powerful
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DARVO
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Do you fear death?
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Discerning good theology
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Red flags
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Rapping about the rapture
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Unpacking religious baggage
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Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson
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Debunking clobber verses
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Pagan Roots — available now
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