this could perhaps be better for the bitch board, but i would actually like to discuss this situation...

i have been fascinated by occult matters since i was knee high to a grasshoppper, but never felt a need to differentiate it by colors, right hand/ left hand path, dark, light or any of the other...stereotypes that seem to predominate the world of witches and their ilk...it seems everyone has some puffed up, glamorized title for simply being...in tune with other aspects of existence...

it used to be simple...christians were good, magicians were evil...but now it seems everyone is out to justify their natures in some nice neat box...if this was indeed the case my title would go something like this...

a dark, hedge, folk, kitchen, green witch that follows the left hand path seeking it through the embodiment of many gods and goddesses predominatly of the keltic patheon and specializing in demonology and sex...or some mumbo jumbo like that...*catches breath* give me a few moments, i'm sure i could come up with some other titles i've heard at some point by some person who read some books and now thinks they are something...special.

why are practicioners so eager to categorize, box, limit magick and themselves into some nice, neat little package?

i understand differentiating between various paths....ceremonial, chaos, satanism etc...but why the need for further divisision by assessing some as dark, while others are white, and one way is left hand and another way is right handed?

isn't it all magick?

sometimes i'm concerned with referring to myself as a witch...it seems people always expect more than just a girl that can manipulate naturally occuring forces...eagerly anticipating some title of grandeur...why seperate magick from human nature...after all, isn't that what it comes down to...a humans nature?

Simple in my mind. The reason for all the classifications is that everyone wants to feel special. Any practitioner knows everyone is able to use such energies with a little practice. So many people wish to be classified as a certain thing but at the same time seperate from it. The classifications of right hand or left hand black or white is in essence a nessecity even if they trully dont exist. Nessecary because while the magik its self has no true positive negative or nuetral polarity its uses do. I dont give a damn what anyone says for every single belief wether it be good or bad it HAS to have its polar opposite in the same belief system. Take christianity for example, devil worshipers ARE christians. How so? Same god, same devil equals same religion PERIOD. This is a technical classification based on LINGUISTICS. While I myself dont classify myself as anything other then a pagan (which anyone with any brains about what a pagan is knows that is a VERY broad description) I cant totaly be annoyed with anyone seeking more descriptive names for themselves. It really is something that kind of helps others to identify and comprehind each other with fewer drawn out explanations.

Why don't you just ignore them?

because some people do have a significant amount of occult based information i don't know...wonderfully enough they do not claim to colorize or limit their interests...i just have to deal with those who are...hung up on glamorization.

why do you feel the need to defend christianity from those who say things that may not be quite true by your observations of the religion...why not ignore them?

Cause I like people to know the truth (my version of it, anyway). The truth shall set you free....I just wanna make the world a better place.

I also like voicing my opinions, bouncing them off others and hearing theirs.

sounds good, the truth is that the color concept beyond black and white magick never applied until recent times...

Most people get into the occult in the first place because of a need to 'belong'.
You can't feel you really belong to something until you can tell others, therefore it needs a name.

People do eventually grow up

Personally, I know I don't fit into any category, this was difficult when I felt I needed to belong but now I'm quite happy blurring the pigeon holes

Idiots need to pigeon hole and stereotype everything, the fact that you can't be pigeon holed proves that you're not an idiot.

Remember if it wasn't for idiots, the rest of us wouldn't feel so content with life. just thank your lucky stars/angels/spirits/gods/faeries/forces/demons (see what I did there ) that you're not one of them

That's great, not that I asked.

We define groups to seperate ourselves from others. The most fundamental flaw in human nature is thus uncovered... You have a fine insight Jordyn.

but obviously cared enough to reply...do you really think you're the only one here to voice opinions? i gave mine dealing with the "truth" you were babbling about and how it pertains to magick...technically you didn't answer what i asked either...so i guess we're even.

humanity has never been a strong point for me...

*Tilts head to one side* I am amazed no one has brought to light the fact that it is also a habit of society, generally known as specialization, or to me....hubris.
People dont actually have to have a skill to think they have specialized... its just one of thoise things... just think if I threw a ball in the air once a day for a year and I could call myself a ball-thrower and be correct... stupid isn't it.

No, I just try not to preach mine.

If you can't even detach yourself from your art you will never escape the trap of reality. But then again not everyone is ready to make their escape. Feeling irritation is a sign of attachement to the worthlessness of life forms outside your own. You are the center of your universe. This should be obvious to those who aren't ignorant.

classification is needed by the weak-minded who know not their own abilities. you do and believe what is natural to you, nuf said.

On your first point I don't agree, Hexass. We all go through a learning experience in which classification is not necessary but helps. On your second point however I agree.

Then humans are essentially not free?

Humans are the product* of a series of near-random, almost inconcievibly complicated chaotic cycles orchestrated by a set of blind, mindlessly mechanistic Gods who care nothing for the universe and whose laws* are the expressions of the mystical energy that makes up the universe.

* see - Gravity, time, evolution, planetary rotation, solar furnaces, black holes, radioactivity, and just about every other natural phenomenon you can think of, plus the ones humans don't know about yet.

* - Just like everything else in the universes, known and unknown.

I win.

You win a prize allright. Honorary shithead of the hour - Guy_person.
I've allways know humans aren't free. I never contested that point. However, there is one aspect that the Gods do not control. Sentient life forms can chose which cycles to be a part of and which not to be a part of, and thus may move up or down the long ladder of evolution, though the specific aspects that evolve are still very much under control by the Gods.