Just another chair in a nutshell, a very white privileged nutshell.
Modern Witchcraft, in a nutshell, is a very white privileged nutshell.
"Oh here we go again, is just that fucking crappy brujo again..." Some will say, but not for that reason I will stop writing it, someone, in the end, has to do it, because Brujeria and Witchcraft have historically been based on it, in movements that seek to empower the less privileged, the outsider, the rare, the misfits, the misunderstood, the powerless, the women who suffer the treatment of inequity, the members of the LGBTQIA group who are partially or completely discriminated from inside, the disabled person who seeks the power to change the course of things, the fortune teller and the yerbatero and the herbalist who live without privileges next to the river to attend to those who come to them, to those who, beyond their pronouns, feel excluded from the rest to everyone who for one reason or another are socially condemned while others who are more privileged seek to keep them in the shadows. out of fear of their power, out of fear of something they can't understand or tame.
This is what the witch movement has historically been about, quite the opposite of a popularity contest to venerate the one with the most followers, but rather an exhaustive search to understand the power in the hands of those less privileged.
Let's not forget that Pamela Colman Smith, who illustrated the famous Rider-Waite tarot deck, was a person, not exactly white, also, everyone gives it for granted, but we are talking about a woman, who was born in London and spent a valuable part of her life in Jamaica, a descendant of merchants and artists, surrounded by tales of colorful fairies and stories of fishermen and merchants who came from all over the globe to distribute spices and cloth, while his father changed jobs as an accountant and petty visionary for a railway construction company.
Pamela came from a humble family, which nevertheless made an effort to pay her the best academic studies in art and literature, allowing her to become the great artist that we know according to history, however, she was like many women of her time, overshadowed and undervalued for her work which gained much more value after her death.
Unlike other more well-known characters like Helena Blavatsky, who came from a much more privileged aristocratic family, or Scott Cunningham, Raven Grimassi, and many others who were born into a certain level of privilege - this has nothing to do with the value that we give to her published works - Pamela had to navigate the esoteric field by herself, and where she was not allowed to sit, many times she had to bring her own chair.
From the Times of Pamela to Modern Times of Modern Witchcraft
Regardless of the above, what happens when you try to bring your own chair and the table is just too crowded? What happens when every corner of the table is occupied and the apple of discord is right there in the middle? when you get close and everyone is fighting each other for the same apple, creating alliances between each other, and looking to take advantage of the newest at the table to get them to the apple?.
A lot to think about, right? Let's leave those questions as homework for later.
More importantly, what happens when you are "cordially invited" to sit in a different chair at each corner of the table, and then you discover that wherever you decide to sit, you will always be on the side of another privileged racist using you as bait? to bring more followers to his cult of personality?
What is more important to you then, to take your place as part of the cult (one of those four cults calling from every corner), or to get out of there after such a traumatic and horrible experience full of constant lies and threats and insults that simply lead you to not wanting to get closer? Maybe make your own table and sit down to eat alone? Maybe it is healthier to sit down to eat alone in a small corner, even without a table, maybe even without a chair, just by yourself in the corner eating an apple while devouring a good book and casting your spells alone while everyone else from outside is just busy saying "you are doing it wrong".
Yes, from your corner enclosed in your little circle you are going to feel isolated, but every time you see another novice approach any corner of the table, that table, that fortuneless table, you know what is going to happen, you know that the same thing is going to happen, so you just make a chair, you give it to the novices, so when they leave and you point in the direction to another corner you just say "hey, in that corner there is another space in which you can sit, and we can say hello from time to time".
When the entire "community" and the "leaders" of it are just a set of privileged racists covering each other's backs, using every new author, blogger, writer, and podcaster, as one more puppet in their collection, until a point of seeming somewhat almost fetishistic; everyone walks the puppet between them, they send it by mail, everyone takes a selfie with the poppet, everyone masturbates with the puppet and then sends it to the next one, at the end when everyone has used it, the last one throws the used puppet in the trash, and then the campaign begins via DM : "Oh, they are just too much trouble", "Oh, she's a narcissist and likes to play the victim", "Oh don't pay attention to him, he never was and never will be part of this community, so don't get too close very close to him."
When the whole of the so-called "community" is just a reflection of the systematic structured racism they are used to that simply seeks to keep privilege and money within the same group.
Are you racist and have you been accused of it? Produce a podcast for a person of color.
Coming Back
Build another table? Create another community? Is it really worth the effort? For what purpose other than wanting to lead, what happens when you have not the slightest interest in leading something when all your life the call of witchcraft has been subject to something bigger than you, and you understand it, and then you just don't want to be a leader, you just want to be part of something bigger.
You are not looking to arrive and find the table ready for you either, even with all the communities, you want to be part of the process and grow with the group, share all the responsibilities and learn in the process, learn to guide the process to make it even easier for those who are to come after you.
That's why it's easier to build the chair and point the direction, "hey, here's a chair for you, I saw what happened to you, there's a little corner for you, see you on the road."
But, is it still worth the effort to build the chairs? If in the end, no one is coming to be part of the process, all those who come are not doing so to help empower others, and in the process find power in themselves, find a beautiful purpose in humble service to the goddess and the gods. Everyone sees the "community" from the outside and believes that what they see on Instagram is the community.
Created by whites... For whites. You are just a moral decoration.
They, the novices come to believe that the community is just constant expensive events to which the less privileged people and people with disabilities do not have access, which is quite ironic considering that witchcraft has always been on the side of these, of those who are the less fortunate, they are the ones who have historically carried the weight of occult witchcraft in their hands (women, bipoc, trans, etc...) and have been brutally murdered for it (by white men).
Events led and created by white men under an argument of "everyone is welcome here", are always the same argument, but really the only representation of individuals of color or trans people or non-binary people, are the presenters and nobody else. Created by entitled whites for whites with money and time to attend, those who enjoy privilege, add some color, for moral decoration, and the whites will come. Isn't that how fundraising dinners work? You invite a diverse group of artists for "a good cause," the others pay an expensive admission ticket to a gala to rub shoulders with diplomats and brag about how good they think they are at donating a bit of their time to this cause, and they end up hosting a $60k gala where each ticket for the 200 guests costs about $2.5k to end up raising about $10k.
Sorry, and the less privileged? And the trans people and people of color who don't enjoy the same privilege because their jobs don't pay them enough? Aren't they just the ones you seek to empower? Aren't they like, your most loyal followers stupidly seeking your attention?
"Oh here we go again, is just that fucking crappy brujo again..." Some will say, but not for that reason I will stop writing it, someone, in the end, has to do it, because Brujeria and Witchcraft have historically been based on it, in movements that seek to empower the less privileged, the outsider, the rare, the misfits, the misunderstood, the powerless, the women who suffer the treatment of inequity, the members of the LGBTQIA group who are partially or completely discriminated from inside, the disabled person who seeks the power to change the course of things, the fortune teller and the yerbatero and the herbalist who live without privileges next to the river to attend to those who come to them, to those who, beyond their pronouns, feel excluded from the rest to everyone who for one reason or another are socially condemned while others who are more privileged seek to keep them in the shadows. out of fear of their power, out of fear of something they can't understand or tame.
This is what the witch movement has historically been about, quite the opposite of a popularity contest to venerate the one with the most followers, but rather an exhaustive search to understand the power in the hands of those less privileged.
Let's not forget that Pamela Colman Smith, who illustrated the famous Rider-Waite tarot deck, was a person, not exactly white, also, everyone gives it for granted, but we are talking about a woman, who was born in London and spent a valuable part of her life in Jamaica, a descendant of merchants and artists, surrounded by tales of colorful fairies and stories of fishermen and merchants who came from all over the globe to distribute spices and cloth, while his father changed jobs as an accountant and petty visionary for a railway construction company.
Pamela came from a humble family, which nevertheless made an effort to pay her the best academic studies in art and literature, allowing her to become the great artist that we know according to history, however, she was like many women of her time, overshadowed and undervalued for her work which gained much more value after her death.
Unlike other more well-known characters like Helena Blavatsky, who came from a much more privileged aristocratic family, or Scott Cunningham, Raven Grimassi, and many others who were born into a certain level of privilege - this has nothing to do with the value that we give to her published works - Pamela had to navigate the esoteric field by herself, and where she was not allowed to sit, many times she had to bring her own chair.
From the Times of Pamela to Modern Times of Modern Witchcraft
Regardless of the above, what happens when you try to bring your own chair and the table is just too crowded? What happens when every corner of the table is occupied and the apple of discord is right there in the middle? when you get close and everyone is fighting each other for the same apple, creating alliances between each other, and looking to take advantage of the newest at the table to get them to the apple?.
A lot to think about, right? Let's leave those questions as homework for later.
More importantly, what happens when you are "cordially invited" to sit in a different chair at each corner of the table, and then you discover that wherever you decide to sit, you will always be on the side of another privileged racist using you as bait? to bring more followers to his cult of personality?
What is more important to you then, to take your place as part of the cult (one of those four cults calling from every corner), or to get out of there after such a traumatic and horrible experience full of constant lies and threats and insults that simply lead you to not wanting to get closer? Maybe make your own table and sit down to eat alone? Maybe it is healthier to sit down to eat alone in a small corner, even without a table, maybe even without a chair, just by yourself in the corner eating an apple while devouring a good book and casting your spells alone while everyone else from outside is just busy saying "you are doing it wrong".
Yes, from your corner enclosed in your little circle you are going to feel isolated, but every time you see another novice approach any corner of the table, that table, that fortuneless table, you know what is going to happen, you know that the same thing is going to happen, so you just make a chair, you give it to the novices, so when they leave and you point in the direction to another corner you just say "hey, in that corner there is another space in which you can sit, and we can say hello from time to time".
When the entire "community" and the "leaders" of it are just a set of privileged racists covering each other's backs, using every new author, blogger, writer, and podcaster, as one more puppet in their collection, until a point of seeming somewhat almost fetishistic; everyone walks the puppet between them, they send it by mail, everyone takes a selfie with the poppet, everyone masturbates with the puppet and then sends it to the next one, at the end when everyone has used it, the last one throws the used puppet in the trash, and then the campaign begins via DM : "Oh, they are just too much trouble", "Oh, she's a narcissist and likes to play the victim", "Oh don't pay attention to him, he never was and never will be part of this community, so don't get too close very close to him."
When the whole of the so-called "community" is just a reflection of the systematic structured racism they are used to that simply seeks to keep privilege and money within the same group.
Are you racist and have you been accused of it? Produce a podcast for a person of color.
Are you transphobic and have you been accused of it for your comments? Invite a trans/non-binary person to your events.
Are you part of a Nazi or white supremacist group and more than a dozen people already know? Add #BlackLivesMatter to your profile, how is anyone going to discuss your intentions?
Have you been publicly accused of being a narcissist and an abusive sociopath who constantly offends others with your comments? Make a podcast about positivity and a positive mental attitude.
They have accused you of being a highly toxic person and nobody wants to invite you to their events anymore? Create your own, lead your little cult of personality and accuse everyone else of being just too toxic to you, you can even make up a title like a doctor or a naturopath and claim to be descended from "true witches" of some European tradition that only you know and only you follow (how convenient!).
Coming Back
Build another table? Create another community? Is it really worth the effort? For what purpose other than wanting to lead, what happens when you have not the slightest interest in leading something when all your life the call of witchcraft has been subject to something bigger than you, and you understand it, and then you just don't want to be a leader, you just want to be part of something bigger.
You are not looking to arrive and find the table ready for you either, even with all the communities, you want to be part of the process and grow with the group, share all the responsibilities and learn in the process, learn to guide the process to make it even easier for those who are to come after you.
That's why it's easier to build the chair and point the direction, "hey, here's a chair for you, I saw what happened to you, there's a little corner for you, see you on the road."
But, is it still worth the effort to build the chairs? If in the end, no one is coming to be part of the process, all those who come are not doing so to help empower others, and in the process find power in themselves, find a beautiful purpose in humble service to the goddess and the gods. Everyone sees the "community" from the outside and believes that what they see on Instagram is the community.
Created by whites... For whites. You are just a moral decoration.
They, the novices come to believe that the community is just constant expensive events to which the less privileged people and people with disabilities do not have access, which is quite ironic considering that witchcraft has always been on the side of these, of those who are the less fortunate, they are the ones who have historically carried the weight of occult witchcraft in their hands (women, bipoc, trans, etc...) and have been brutally murdered for it (by white men).
Events led and created by white men under an argument of "everyone is welcome here", are always the same argument, but really the only representation of individuals of color or trans people or non-binary people, are the presenters and nobody else. Created by entitled whites for whites with money and time to attend, those who enjoy privilege, add some color, for moral decoration, and the whites will come. Isn't that how fundraising dinners work? You invite a diverse group of artists for "a good cause," the others pay an expensive admission ticket to a gala to rub shoulders with diplomats and brag about how good they think they are at donating a bit of their time to this cause, and they end up hosting a $60k gala where each ticket for the 200 guests costs about $2.5k to end up raising about $10k.
Sorry, and the less privileged? And the trans people and people of color who don't enjoy the same privilege because their jobs don't pay them enough? Aren't they just the ones you seek to empower? Aren't they like, your most loyal followers stupidly seeking your attention?
That is why they all come to the same table because they all believe that they are going to be part of the change for the good of a community, when the truth is that you only come to be used as a lamb on the altar of their vanity, as a sacrifice to honor their own idiosyncrasy, you are just one more mask in their pale masquerade to pose in the photo, and in the end, you will end up in a large and wide dump full of other puppets used to the point of losing their colors.
Of course, you don't realize that this garbage can is surely bigger than the table and that the puppets are more than the nine aristocratic rats sitting around it.
Don't forget that Goddess Lakshmi emerges from a lotus in the middle of a rotting pit to cleanse and purify the world, she emerges from filth and disease, not from privilege and treasures, but from stagnant water. She, Lakshmi, a goddess, also from those who, despite being many, are socially considered a "minority".
Of course, you don't realize that this garbage can is surely bigger than the table and that the puppets are more than the nine aristocratic rats sitting around it.
Don't forget that Goddess Lakshmi emerges from a lotus in the middle of a rotting pit to cleanse and purify the world, she emerges from filth and disease, not from privilege and treasures, but from stagnant water. She, Lakshmi, a goddess, also from those who, despite being many, are socially considered a "minority".
Contact Me:
You Can Support Me (and my boring posts, lol) by buying my books:
The Magical Art Of Crafting Charm Bags (Witchcraft)
Manifestation Magic (Money Magic)
Ye Olde Yule Lore: Four tales from cold winter nights. (LGBTQ + Neo-Folklore)
Flowers from the River: A Moon Story (Folklore + Fery Tales)
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