[HPFGU-OTChatter] And you wonder why the Magic World keeps itself secret.

[Iggy McSnurd]

> {Anne}
> 
> Okay, that's just wierd, even for one of 'my' kind....
> 
> Heh, maybe she's just an untapped pyrokenetic (no demons required for
> that)....weird crap involving water used to happen to me all the time
when
> I was really upset--the most notable time being when the entire bottom
>fell out of the water heater in my friends/roomates house one night
while I >was mooning around the house bewailing getting betrayed and
abandoned by my >love interest (yes, yes, cue the violins...:P).
> 
> Pipes have also burst under the sink before when I'm really going--
> although I'm sure that there's some sort of explaination for it all
that I >haven't thought of ye, and that had nothing to do with my
'traumatic' >emotional episodes of the timet...^^;

Iggy here:

I've had some similar "interesting" things happen for me.  Déjà vu is a
regular thing for me, I used to be able to predict earthquakes with
uncanny accuracy, I've known things about people who were a few thousand
miles away while talking to them on the phone and had no way of knowing,
I've been able to "impulse contact" people telepathically (that's when
it's not direct words, rather it's more of a notion that pops into their
head), and have been able to receive and project emotions.  (Thank you
to my higher Powers for good shielding.)

The strangest ones for me involved some kind of unfocused telekinetic
effect.  (I really suppose I should train it more so I can actively
control it...)  I was at an old friend's house and we were pretending to
fence.  I lunged in with a heart strike, and she actually felt a sharp
pain slide through her chest just as the sword blade would have.
Another time I was at work and I pretended to slash at a thick glass
tubing (being carried by one of the maintenance guys) with a katana, and
the tube shattered/exploded completely along its entire length before it
ever dropped to the floor.  That's aside from things like faucets
turning on, things falling, and other minor stuff.  (I'm a strong
believer that some "poltergeist" activity is just untapped and
uncontrolled telekinetic potential.)

> {Anne}
> 
> What scares me is that the Italians beleived it enough to fall back to
old
> ways of dealing with it (almost--at least they didn't try and lynch
mob
> the
> poor lady). What scares me more though is that some extremist groups
in
> American still think it's okay (and god's law) to hunt down a 'witch'
and
> make thier lives miserable--right up to 'stoning' them even. A few
have
> even
> been flipped out enough in the past to try and get stomning laws
passed.
> (Now that's just insane).

Iggy here:

Fortunately I have just enough Christianity incorporated into my form of
Paganism that I don't think the last one would be as much of an issue
for me.  (Not to mention more than enough knowledge of "acceptable"
faiths to either convince them that I'm simply a non-traditional
Christian, or that I have some home of "redemption."  Uh huh... right...
like God would pick a self-righteous, judgmental, hypocritic, violent,
narrow-minded bigot as his choice of "savior" for others.  I think those
people need to take a *much* closer look at the Bible/Torah/Koran and
consider what... or *who* in their religion... is influencing their
actions and thoughts.)


> {Anne}
>  
> Being pagan/witch myself, I have to say that I agree announcing my
beleif
> system is often suicidal--I;ve known friends to loose thier kids to
child
> services because some misguided monotheist reported the raising thier
> children in teh same path as abusive....people getting fired (or
pressured
> socially by co-workers), when thier beliefs are discovered, houses
getting
> vadalized....we even had the cops called on us once for doing ritual
in
> the back yard...and...get this...not only were we quiet AND clothed
(so we
> wouldn't disturb or scare the neighbors), the yard was surrounded by a
> high fence and shrubbery--making it impossible to see
anything...unless, >of course, you got right up to the fence and looked
through the cracks. >(IE: Someone was tryong REALLY hard to find some
way of getting us in >trouble).

Iggy here:

I've actually lost a couple of jobs because my manager found out that
I'm a Pagan and not only didn't understand what it means (the most
common reaction I get it "Oh, so you're a Satanist?"  Especially since I
always get 10/31 and 11/01 off from work... fortunately, I am willing to
work a full shift on... ohhh... Easter...) and are close-minded enough
to not be willing to even *try* to understand.

The fun part is I'm a Pagan who married into a family of Southern
Baptists.  *grin* Fortunately they're not fanatical about it, and as
long as we don't discuss our beliefs that often, they're cool with it.
(I tend to enjoy seeing if people can look at their religion from
another perspective.  I don't try to get them to agree with it, just
consider another perspective for a moment or see that it isn't
necessarily "wrong", just a different way of looking at it.)

> {Anne}
>  
> What was funny is that we invited the officers to watch once they;d
showed
> up to see what the 'disturbance' was. And they did. We enver got
bothered
> by
> them again...^^;
> 

Iggy here:

Might I ask where you're from?  Personally, I grew up in Santa Cruz,
California, and moved to Northern Alabama almost 4 years ago.  (I live
in an apartment complex here, and our landlord is a devout member of the
Christian - Church of the God of Prophecy, so I don't really have any
place I can do ritual.  *sigh* I can't wait until we can buy our own
house and plot of land.)

Funny thing is, I ended up with a number of Pagans in Santa Cruz who
claimed I wasn't a "True Pagan" because I'm not Wiccan, and I don't
follow the "accepted" forms of ritual and life.  (My ritual usually has
a consistency of elements, but is "freeform" and what I do during a
given ritual depends on what feels right when I'm doing it.  For one
thing, I never planned to do "Blood and Fire" magic the one ritual I
used it in, but I knew it was needed when I was doing ritual.  Turned
out quite well, of you ask me.)

It's interesting to consider that bigotry and prejudice (often reverse
prejudice) also exists in groups that complain about being persecuted.
(I won't go more into that, since I've already posted a *long* essay on
the nature of prejudice.  You can find it in the archives if you're
interested... I don't know the message number off the top of my head
though, sorry. Back in the first week or so of December we also had a
thread titled "RE: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Religious Freedom...Was Re: Faith
Education" that you might find interesting.)


Iggy McSnurd