“They Can’t Teach You Anything” (repost)

1/26/2006

One of the hallmarks of the effective traditional Wiccan High Priestess is her facility with self-aggrandizing at others’ expense. The more she does to make herself seem the repository of all witchly knowledge, while simultaneously casting aspersions on the abilities of those around her, the better a traditional High Priestess she is. Now, note that by “better,” I don’t mean “more magical,” or “more compassionate,” or “more effective ritualist,” or anything else of that sort; I mean “more thoroughly conditioned to behave badly,” or “more deeply programmed with methods of running down the competition to further the demands of her own ego.”

“They can’t teach you anything.” “She doesn’t know.” “You’re not ready.” “He doesn’t get it.” “That initiation didn’t take.” “They can’t, but I can.” “She won’t, but I will.” “He doesn’t, but I do.” And then the dog-and-pony show begins, there in the rarefied atmosphere of the ritual circle, where you’ve already been programmed to believe (oh, you want to believe!) that all actions really are being performed in perfect love and perfect trust, and because you’ve already been effectively conditioned in your muggle life to believe that there’s something inherently lacking in you, something that you must seek from without, something you can only get from a parent-figure, an authority-figure, an intermediary, a go-between, someone over you, you go along–because there’s something out there, the truth maybe, or something else, something you need and you’re certain this person (or some person, somewhere, someone who isn’t you) has it, and will dispense it in due time when you’ve proven yourself.

And it’s a lie.

The truth is this: the more posturing, the more self-aggrandisment, the bigger the show, the louder the boasts, the wilder the claims, the less they have to offer. To wildly paraphrase, wicca is the dung-heap, and they are the cocks who climb upon it to crow. Manipulatory antics, tactics of coercion and obfuscation in order to secure loyal sycophants, are employed by people who are themselves desperately lacking something; look inside and you’ll see a great gaping chasm that they can fill no other way. They behave so badly because the stakes, utlimately, are so small; it’s all smoke and mirrors with them, a fragile phantasm that would shred to vapor if examined too closely. And because it’s all they have, and to see that illusion shattered would be intolerable, they have a most profound vested interest in propping up that illusion and drawing as many others into the illusion with them as they can. And what is the illusion? That of control; of power; of sanctity and holiness and a direct connection to the numinous that is beyond that of Mere Mortals. To say that anyone can have that, that there is no part of me that is not of the gods, is an untenable position, because to a mind set into this programming there can be only one, like the Highlander, and they must be that One. If I have these great Powers, then you must be lesser; because if you were my equal, or gods-forbid-impossible my superior in any way, that would utterly destroy my self-concept. It must be a miserable way to live.

Which in no way excuses the bad behavior that comes of it. I’m not here to go into the potential reasons why people act this way, or to suggest courses of treatment; I’ll leave that to the professionals. I’m simply arguing in favor of other ways of being, ways that are perhaps healthier for all those involved. Refusing to be a part of the problem. Calling bullshit when you see it. Beating them at their own game by choosing not to play.

What, as a priestess, can I teach? That depends. I can facilitate guided meditations that can take you to various “places” that may, in turn, assist you in some way–if you’re up to doing the internal work that goes along with that. I can explain to you how I feel, or what I’m visualising, in a given situation, and I can provide you with examples, based on my experience and those others have shared with me, of what you might experience for yourself. I can impart factual knowledge of various historical, cultural, mythological, and other subjects. I can share philosophies with you. I can teach you the properties of various herbs and stones and such, and the folklore attendant upon them. I can teach you postures and breathing exercises from various cultural traditions, and explain to you as best I can how those things affect your physical body, thus impacting you on other levels. I can tell you stories, because sometimes the best place I can find for the truth is at the heart of a piece of “fiction.” Those things are valuable, and aren’t given lightly. Those things have to be enough. But from the standpoint of those whom I spoke of earlier, I really can’t “teach” you anything. Neither can they–but the carrot must be dangled, or else you’d resist the urging forward. You’d rightly dig in your heels and cry shenanigans on them. If I have anything I’d like to teach or impart, it’s the right and the need and the importance and the validity of that–of rising up and realizing what you are, and what you have, and what you don’t need from anyone else. The deceptions, inveigling and obfuscations cease to matter, because you realize there is nothing there for you–nothing you need, and nothing you want, because you had it all along and had only to figure out how to get at it. And that, my friends, is gnosis–satori–enlightenment. That is the key to the kingdom.

I won’t promise you mastery of the universe, or the gods’ cell phone numbers, or any other stupid shit that someone may hint at if you’ll only do as they say. There are no veils here, no smokescreens, no man-behind-the-curtain; it’s all WYSIWYG in my world. I don’t hold much with the mystic-woo-woo (which exists, it seems, only as a means to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate). Straightforwardness is the enemy of those with a control agenda to push. I accepted my enemy status on that count a long time ago.

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