John Beckett is offering an online course, Unpacking Your Religious Baggage So You Can Live a Magical Life.
Continue readingchanging tradition
Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson
Just got an update from Gillian Jenkinson:
Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army BBC2 27 July and 3 August 9pm
I had the privilege of being filmed delivering Post-Cult Counselling in a Recovery Workshop for a documentary “Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army” with four amazing survivors. This was filmed at my house in the Hope Valley by a wonderful team who have been very professional and supportive in every way throughout this process.
The two-part documentary includes a history of JA and archive material, interviews and the Recovery Workshop and is being screened on Sunday 27th July and 3rd August at 9pm on BBC 2. It will be on BBC iPlayer from 27th July.
There will also be a podcast (which I am not involved with) which will be very interesting as it will address legal issues around cults/coercive control amongst many other things.
High control covens
There’s a new article from Storm Faerywolf on The Wild Hunt today talking about the warning signs of high control groups and covens.
Members of these damaged covens are often instructed not to socialize with others outside the group, or lineage, or are otherwise told certain individuals to avoid. Information is often restricted; leadership oftentimes telling congregants that certain books or materials are forbidden, especially those that challenge the teachings or politics of group leadership.
I’ve written similar articles and lists before too.
And my book Changing Paths is about how to extricate yourself from high control groups and find a healthy group or tradition.
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.
Not long after he left, he discovered witchcraft, as well as a loving relationship and a community of Pagans and witches and occultists.
This joyous and life-affirming book is the account of his journey from fear and despair to the joy of living as his authentic self, as a gay man and as a witch.
Continue readingThe 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.
Continue readingJust 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 of orange energy around an evangelical campground.
Continue readingA 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:
Continue readingThis 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 curious about witchcraft and alternative spirituality. It is also great for those seeking a way in to witchcraft, especially so if they are coming to this path from another faith. It focuses on joy, enchantment and freedom, to leave any reader feeling uplifted and inspired.
Roots and wings
Changing Paths Challenge day 13: Roots and wings
Today’s prompt is a reference to Carolyn McDade’s classic song, Spirit of Life, which contains the line “roots hold me close, wings set me free”.
My family roots are in nonconformist churches but there’s also a strong tradition of loving Nature. My Mum loved Nature and so did her Mum. I feel very strongly rooted in the chalk and flint hills of Hampshire and Sussex in England.
Continue readingChange
Changing Paths challenge day 7: Change
Most people do not cope well with change, especially if it involves loss or destruction of their former way of life. It is hard for people with privilege to imagine losing more than one person in your family or friends group at a time: imagine losing all of them at once, and your home as well, your entire way of life, and the destruction of your environment. That’s what is happening in G a z a, but also to Sudan and the Congo, the eastern part of Ukraine, uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, Indigenous African communities displaced by greenwashing conservation (see @survivalinternational), and more.
Continue readingReblog: Why I like being a Pagan
There was some part of me that almost craved a sense of wonder and magic — something existing just beyond the humdrum of everyday life — all my life. I remember being a kid and imagining that I could feel the flow of magical energy all around me.
Why I like being a Pagan: Exploring a journal prompt from Chapter 8 of “Changing Paths”
Changing Paths 