Tag Archives: interpersonal relationships

Religion, Witchcraft

Musings on “All the Magics”

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The other day I got thinking about the Myth of the Goddess as published in Gerald Gardner’s books, Witchcraft Today and the Meaning of Witchcraft.  I’m not an initiate of Gardnerian Wicca nor any of the traditions related to it. In fact, I prefer to call myself a Vanic witch in recognition of my close ties to Freyja and the fact that much of my spiritual and magical practice revolves around her. And yet, I love and identify with this particular piece of Gardner’s writing.  I think because while it is from another tradition, it resonates very well with my own path and spiritual views.

The part that I’ve really been focusing on and want to write about is the end of the myth, after the Goddess’s encounter with Death is complete and things have moved from narration to discourse:

For there are three great events in the life of man; Love, Death, and Resurrection in a new body; and Magic controls them all. For to fulfill love you must return again at the same time and place as the loved one, and you must remember and love them again. But to be reborn you must die, and be ready for a new body; and to die you must be born; and without love you may not be born. And these be all the Magics.

That closing sentence has always spoken to something deep in mind to me.  Birth, love, death, and rebirth. These things form a cycle which is governed by and defines all magic. To me this is an incredibly profound statement which I feel like I don’t fully understand and probably wouldn’t have to words to explain it if I did.

The paragraph reminds me of how I previously wrote about the fact that I serve a goddess who is life-affirming. But whereas I spent that post talking about celebrating life, reading the quoted paragraph makes me think about how devotion to Freyja is also about maintaining the cycles of life. We do that by living our lives and working our magic, remembering that those two things aren’t as separate as some people may think.  After all, to a witch, every act of will is an act of magic. So living life continues it on.

In the cycle described in the paragraph, love is also mentioned. The obvious face-value reading of the text suggests that it is primarily talking about romantic and sexual love.  But I don’t think that is a deep enough reading.  Other forms of love and relationships are also important to the continuance and abundance of life. No man is an island and neither is a couple.  Friends, family, mentors, helpers, and many other people in various roles are need in order for one to have a truly prosperous life. So we celebrate and work out our wills to strengthen our relationships with others in our communities.  Indeed, it’s how we build communities in the first place. Our communities themselves have lives, and we are a part of those greater organisms and its lifeblood.

I feel like there’s more there, but I can’t quite put my finger on it tonight.  Maybe another time.  In the meantime, may your life be blessed and a blessing to those who share it with you.

 

In and Around Rochester, Society

Two Morning Show Segments (and the Notions Behind Them) I Despise

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No GimmicksI’ve mentioned before that I tend to listen to the morning show on 98PXY during my five minute drive to work most mornings.  I’ve blogged about the sexism (and worse) that I’ve heard the hosts of the shows espouse.  Today, I want to talk about some of the regular segments that they do for the show and why they bother me.

The first is “War of the Roses,” which has disturbed me so much that I often will turn off the radio on the days that it airs if it comes on during my commute.  The basic notion is that someone call in to the show because zie suspects hir romantic partner of cheating on hir.  So to “help out,” one of the hosts calls the partner at hir office and tells them that they are eligible to have a free bouquet of red roses sent to any person of hir choosing.  The idea is that if the partner chooses to send the flowers to the original caller, the caller’s fears are (hypothetically) allayed.  If the partner chooses to send the flowers to someone else instead — which has been the case for all of the half dozen or so times I’ve listened to the segment — zie is deemed a cheater and the original caller — who is also on the line the entire time — confronts hir.  Usually some sort of fight ensues and “great drama” is achieved.

For the record, I threw up in my mouth a little typing “great drama.”  Even in the scare quotes.  Because it sickens me to think that we as a society (or at least the segment that listens to morning radio) apparently consider this something great to listen to.  I mean, thinking your partner might be cheating on you is serious business, not to mention actually having a cheating partner.  Having dated guys who proved themselves completely untrustworthy, I get that.  Which is why I find the whole idea of using some radio show stunt as a way to try to find out or confront a cheating partner so disconcerting.1  Truth be told, dealing with a cheating partner or even just a partner suspected of cheating is not easy and I don’t think there are any simple ways to deal with that.  That includes having radio hosts try trapping and catching your partner in the act and then confronting them on air.

The other segment that bothers me is called “Communicake.”  The idea behind this one is that the hosts invite someone to call in with a situation in which they need to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone or tell them something that isn’t easy.  The hosts then put the message — letting the caller choose the exact phrasing — on a cookie cake, drop it off outside the recipient’s front door over the weekend with a card inviting them to call the show Monday morning to talk it out.  The resulting conversation is then aired, of course.  I haven’t listened to this segment (especially the conversations after the cake is delivered) very often.  The handful of messages I’ve heard about include break-up messages and one person telling her neighbor that a rank odor is wafting from his apartment into hers.

Again, I find this weird and creepy.  First of all, I find the idea of relaying uncomfortable messages via a cake troubling and trivializing.  To me, it’s like saying, “I know this might be the start of a difficult conversation, so I’m going to start it as flippantly as possible,” which strikes me as counter-intuitive.  Then there’s just the fact that the conversation is then aired for the benefit of the show’s listeners.  Because if I’m talking about something that may be uncomfortable for me and/or the other person, I sure want to have hundreds of eavesdroppers listening in on it.

The thing I note is that both of these segments have a couple things in common:

  1. They both offer “easy solutions” to complicated and troubling issues.
  2. They both offer listeners a chance to be voyeuristic when it comes to other people’s interpersonal struggles.

Are either of these things that we as a society really want to encourage?

No, don’t answer that.  The answer is obvious.  And depressing.

1I admit though that I’m more disturbed by the shows hosts who would use people’s real relationship concerns for a few laughs or even just a spectacle to observe on their show.