The Grand Toad & Other False Idols: Egos in Witchcraft
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- Hey Witches,
Guess who's back..!
Witchcraft has an ego problem. How can we combat misinformation and protect ourselves before we get taken in by unhealthy egos?
Should we be more prepared to challenge cult of personalities? Do Witchernalities have a responsibility to re examination?
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your patience with this! Thank you for your encouragement, exceptionally kind comments and subtle support.
You're all super Witches, I was having a bit of a transition in life circumstances that lasted longer than I thought it would.
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so glad this video exists. i should be upfront (and also apologise in advance in case my autistic bluntness comes out too much in what follows) and say that i don't believe in witchcraft as anything other than a psychological tool, i don't believe in ANY form of magic including "energy". i'm adjacent to the neopagan and witchy community, as my personal beliefs fall under naturalistic paganism, specifically atheopaganism (a particular denomination). i like watching grimoire tours and altar tours and videos about practices people do because i can take inspiration from it - a sigil to "protect yourself from other people's negative energy" can be turned into a sigil to remind myself that other's negative thoughts and assumptions about me don't need to affect my self worth, or even via the open label placebo effect to make me FEEL protected. i believe people are truly having the experiences they claim to have, but i disagree with them about the cause.
given that, it bothers me a great deal to see people claiming they can heal someone's depression via waving their hands in front of a screen (as relaxing as those movements can be, admittedly!) - if you just pay them £50. to see people selling "charged" or "enchanted" items for a much higher price than those items would otherwise be worth, to see people talk about pineal gland calcification and the third eye (and then of course try to sell you courses on how to "decalcify" your pineal gland)... absolutely none of it has scientific basis. i don't understand why "people often find this practice relaxing", for example, or "this oil smells citrussy and that tends to help you focus" isn't enough. maybe that sounds mean - if you (general you) truly believe in evil spirits that need to be banished, then that's your business. but it's not verifiable, so it's dishonest imo to make people pay for that service or to scare them into paying for it. i truly have no issue with 90% of the witchy youtubers i watch, who say "i believe in x, here are my practices around it" - it's just when money is involved, or anything else that can bring harm to someone eg by messing with their mental health, that i have an issue with it.
and all it takes, really, is what you're talking about - the critical thinking. if you think critically and come to the conclusion that spirits exist and energy work is possible, then cool! but usually that critical thinking will then lead you to understand that most people who want you to pay a lot of money for it... probably aren't legit. belief in magic, like religion actually, is really really easy to take advantage of.
i think something i would add to your (very good) list of red flags is "if i flipped this around and make it about christianity, would it sound bad?" eg "your ancestors have a message for you, you need to pay me to understand it" -> "god gave me a message for you, but you need to give more to the church to prove you have the spiritual gifts to truly understand." "if you don't do protection magic every day then negative energy or evil spirits will harm you" -> "if you don't pray every day then satan can tempt you to sin" etc etc
Yay! You're back! You've been missed!
Aw thank you lovely!
We would love to work with you!
These sticky notes are giving me life
Oh I'm so glad you like them!
Your ego needs to be very strong to practise seriously. It will have to endure the challenges of potential inflation, and especially shadow possession, when working with others; especially if you have a lot of learning behind you. Strength of ego is needed to endure the expansive mental and psychic states that arise from doing the work, so you can come back centred and stable. The ego unit, personality / identity, is important for navigating the world, interacting with others, and our basic lived reality. It's not all of us or who we can be, but it has its job and its an important one. Being silly, daft, playful, mischevious, not taking your personal BS too seriously, keeps the ego working in a healthy way. My best teachers have been filled with laughter.
I so enjoyed every minute of this and you made me chuckle.
I've noticed "discernment" is an often banded about term. It's difficult enough for a more experienced witch to practice it let alone a newcomer who might lack the advantage of experience and is likely bombarded with sources of info.
As older practitioner, I do think we have have a responsibility- at least to encourage gnosis.
Perhaps it's a bit of an occupational hazard because magickal practitioners already have a more unconventional worldview in which they are open to ideas that are not acceptable to mainstream, making discernment even more problematic.
Summer x
Glad to make you laugh! Thank you for your lovely words! You make such great points, I think that's the challenge, and certainly something I've experienced of balancing discernment with diving into things like ritual mindsets or occult interactions. I think some folks can seek significance in these magical moments in the wider community rather than know that them experiencing them is enough which ends up with a paranormal pissing contest that often doesn't reflect the true extent of a person's practice.
Woohoo, you're back!
Aw thank you! This has made my day.
@@dothemagicalthing what can I say? You just really hit the spot when it comes to witchcraft and critical thinking 😊
Thanks again! Much appreciated.
I loved this Lee, so well said. Thank you!
Thank you my lovely. Really appreciate your comment!
Oh heeey Lee! Great to see ya! And excited to hear your thoughts on this topic
Thank you!! Yeah it's a tough topic sometimes because you get these pockets of toxic positivity that just perpetuate the problem of cult of personality or ego.
There was a section about book writing in this video that I'm a bit confused about. Were you saying Thorn Mooney shouldn't have written her book? Or were you just generally saying that some people shouldn't write books? Or did I just miss the point of that section? Academia is full of things we often say "shouldn't have been written" for various reasons, such as, content is hateful or exclusive, or repetitive or just not new information, or the information is just not true. There are plenty of books written that were intended for the bible that fit in all these categories, but didn't make it in. The Wendigoon channel has a whole video on those books. However that does not mean they should have not been written. I think sometimes we view as writing differently in the present than how we see writing from a historical perspective. If you feel that your opinion is repetitive, say it anyway. That's how we learn. It is up to the reader whether they find it useful. I'm not much than a high school graduate, but as higher education is too expensive I learn on my own. I think that publication companies have to do a better job at vetting their authors for sure, because hate should not be spread. But if and when it does, we use them examples of what not do. We have done that historically and I think that we forget that we are making history. So let's remember that witchcraft books are still a growing organism learning to climb its way into a mature adult version of witchy publications. Like you said we have to critique our behaviors, and in order to do that we have to have things to critique. I think part of this spiritual path is about allowing people to grow. That's just my note about academia. I hope that makes sense.
I was saying generally some folks shouldn't write books, or, to be fairer, perhaps should do a little self reflection before accepting a book deal. Followers do always equate to a good writer is essentially my point.
I enjoyed and recommend Thorn Mooney's Witch's Path.
@dothemagicalthing Okay, sometimes my brain does that thing where it reads or hears things but doesn't comprehend it. Thank you for the clarification. I've been loving your videos. ❤️
I'd like to say this as a person who was Coven trained back in the '00s. They were very upfront about: the type of training you could expect, other possible training they offered, types of rituals they did and what you were expected to do as a member. They were also very inclusive as a whole at least for the time period. That said - it still all fell apart in the end due to ego and lack of transparency in the upper echelon of leadership. Sad really.
My point - a Coven should be able to tell you the generalities of what you can expect without ever compromising "secrets" and you SHOULD totally feel comfortable. It's a big red flag otherwise.
Zero croaks😂