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Took a sightseeing trip to Salem, MA yesterday to check out whatever historical shit they had about the witch trials. Was given a short tour of the witch village, and was informed that paganism is the fastest growing religion in the country. Of course, this claim is easy to make if there are very few to start with, which I'm certain is the case. But just out of curiosity, does anyone here practice either Wicca or paganism? (Pic wytches don't count!) I don't subscribe to either, primarily because I don't know enough about them. But it'd be easier for me to convert to paganism than return to Christianity based on what little I do know.
Anyone wanna start a coven?
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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Smackie, Salem rules. I love that place.
My ex wife the exhibitionist used to be a practitioner of Wicca. I grew up with a lot of those types....
Btw, cool new sig...
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Didn't we know? Didn't we feel it?
Time, it seemed to stop outside our window...As we ran down the freeway, to be free.....of everthing...
[This message has been edited by Van [down by the river] (edited January 25, 2002).]
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
My ex wife the exhibitionist
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
It's settled then. She's coming to the Troll Stop.
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Cafeteria isn't that difficult to spell.
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I'm not a Pagan. I'm Catholic.
But ... is there really a difference?
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It's not like you to be so stupid ... Try harder next time.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
Smackie, Salem rules. I love that place.
My ex wife the exhibitionist used to be a practitioner of Wicca. I grew up with a lot of those types....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I dug it too, but didn't get to stay too long. It was great wx for wandering through the old graveyard though; overcast, light rain, very witchy.
So the ex was a Wiccan, huh? That's not why she's the ex now, is it?
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
Btw, cool new sig...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My son was watching TV last week while I was here on the 'puter, and Spongebob Squarepants was on the tube. Some character in the 'toon spouted off with that line, and, no shit, I let loose with an audible BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! 'Bout a minute later it became my new sig.
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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The only thing sillier than Christianity, is the occult.
But rack any vunerable, nubile college wiccan hotties who spoon horse, wear plaid skirts, and expolre sexual deviance to, "escape the shackles of a patriarchal society". Color me, Grand Schlong Warlock.
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"I kinda thought winning wasnt important."
"ME winning isnt..YOU do."
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I know how to run a Ditch Witch...does that count...???
L8.
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Smackie, no, the reason she's an ex now is she was psychotic. She was a victim of child abuse who happened to also have an inordinately high IQ, which is never a serene combination. Combine that with the fact that she was a hot blooded Sicilian who grew up in a family divided between Wicca and Jehovah's Witnesses and......
Can you say "combustible personality"?
Also, to answer Py's concerns, last I heard she'd become a screaming militant feminist who moved to San Francisco and who'd also somehow shot up to a very angry and Patriarchal Society hating 200 lbs!! http://www.hostboard.com/forums/
And yeah, coming from California, Salem's cemetery is a bit.....different. First off, some of those fuckers are from 500 years ago! And everybody seems to have died at about 12 years of age....
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Didn't we know? Didn't we feel it?
Time, it seemed to stop outside our window...As we ran down the freeway, to be free.....of everthing...
[This message has been edited by Van [down by the river] (edited January 25, 2002).]
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
First off, some of those fuckers are from 500 years ago! And everybody seems to have died at about 12 years of age....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Childbirth is a bitch at that age.
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Personal experience?
Sorry. I had to ask.
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It's not like you to be so stupid ... Try harder next time.
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I got a friend in that wicca shit...isn't that like worship of the earth or som shit??
He never did buy into God..."If God was a loving God, he would not let bad things happen to people.." BS.
I'm a christian, not a good one, but one nevertheless....my life is hard, probly cause I make it hard.
more............
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kiss my ass
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OmegaVerb:
Personal experience?
Sorry. I had to ask.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
WOW!!!!!
And no, OV, there's very little if any difference between Catholicism and Paganism.
Now, R.C., does Wicca really count as being the occult? Wicca doesn't even believe in heaven and hell, God and Satan, etc...
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Didn't we know? Didn't we feel it?
Time, it seemed to stop outside our window...As we ran down the freeway, to be free.....of everthing...
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
Salem's cemetery is a bit.....different. First off, some of those fuckers are from 500 years ago! And everybody seems to have died at about 12 years of age....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Just the males. Some of the women didn't go down for dirt naps until they were in their 80s.
While we were wandering around the cemetary, a pigeon dropped dead out of the sky and landed near us. Twilight Zone material.
What piqued my interest about the witch trials was a book by Robin Cook I read a couple years ago called Acceptable Risk. The first chapter takes place in Salem in 1692, the year of the trials. Cook places the blame for the hysteria on bad rye. Rye was a grain that was mainly eaten by the working class and the poor, and it was typically stored in earthen bins down in the cellar. Rye is sometimes infected by an ergot fungus, from which is derived LSD. Cook surmises that moldy grain was used to bake bread, which was then eaten by the unsuspecting lasses, who basically started trippin'. The seizures, hallucinations, and other symptoms of the ergotic experience were attributed to them being witches, and many were tortured, imprisoned, and had all their possessions seized by local authorities, with twenty people being executed. (One, Giles Corey, accused his wife of being a witch, and when he refused to provide an answer as to whether he himself was one, was pressed to death over the course of three days with heavy stones.) It wasn't until the introduction of "spectral evidence," or evidence without solid proof, was no longer allowed in court that the witch hangings ceased. The dude who conducted the tour verified that the ergot explanation is indeed the most popular one currently making the rounds to try to explain the hysteria of 1692.
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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So how do you explain the McMartin Preschool witchhunt and the hypnotic regression court shit of the late 80s?
It's about people being people, being actors, being evil, being vengeful, being attention seeking, being unable to defend themselves properly against mob mentality.
There are no excuses. They're responsible for their own actions.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by IBystander:
There are no excuses. They're responsible for their own actions.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Did I or anyone else claim they weren't? There's a difference between an explanation and an excuse. Life becomes more meaningful once you figure this out.
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
Now, R.C., does Wicca really count as being the occult? Wicca doesn't even believe in heaven and hell, God and Satan, etc...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
No, but loping around with the Blue Oyster Clit symbol tatooed on your back does. Lets not go into my (uh, "brother's") high school indescretions here though. As far as Wicca, or any other earthy, new age faith goes, I still classify it as nonsense. It may be romantic & intriguing nonsense. But nonsense nonetheless. Seems to me all the dateless, sowed-out scags from High School who couldnt get even the stoniest stoner to mount them in the restroom at the football game, surprisingly all chose Wicca as their philosophy/faith of choice.
C'mon dude. You and I both know that this world is built on logic, science and political power. If there is any spiritual hay to be made in this universe, its in artistic self-expression, nature & sex. 3 things, that most religions try to quash, control or mitigate for their own purposes.
I call bullshit.
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"I kinda thought winning wasnt important."
"ME winning isnt..YOU do."
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Smackie Chan:
Did I or anyone else claim they weren't?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Your tourguide, through his 'most popular explanation for' tripe, for one.
There's a difference between an explanation and an excuse.
When that 'explanation' is used to explain away bad behavior, evil behavior -- then you are excusing.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by R.C. Collins:
As far as Wicca, or any other earthy, new age faith goes, I still classify it as nonsense.
It may be nonsense, but Wicca is hardly New Age. It's the oldest religion in the western world, far surpassing Christianity.
It may be romantic & intriguing nonsense. But nonsense nonetheless. Seems to me all the dateless, sowed-out scags from High School who couldnt get even the stoniest stoner to mount them in the restroom at the football game, surprisingly all chose Wicca as their philosophy/faith of choice.
Hey NOW!!! I was fucking a Wiccan in high school, and she was hot!! ~looks into the proverbial mirror R.C. is holding before me, tying to decide whether or not maybe I was a total fucktard in high school and never realized it!~ At the very least, I certainly wasn't any type of stoner, much less the "stoniest" of stoners! Bwaaaaahahaaaaaaa!! Wiccans, with Jeff Spicolli!
C'mon dude. You and I both know that this world is built on logic, science and political power. If there is any spiritual hay to be made in this universe, its in artistic self-expression, nature & sex. 3 things, that most religions try to quash, control or mitigate for their own purposes.
I call bullshit.
Dude, I'm an avowed agnostic. I'm not saying I buy the shit...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Also, of course Smackie was highly intrigued by any explanation of Salem that included possible LSD like effects and their inclusion into the story! Heh he....
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Didn't we know? Didn't we feel it?
Time, it seemed to stop outside our window...As we ran down the freeway, to be free.....of everthing...
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Van [down by the river]:
It may be nonsense, but Wicca is hardly New Age. It's the oldest religion in the western world, far surpassing Christianity.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Wicca is new; let's not get carried away, here.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by IBystander:
When that 'explanation' is used to explain away bad behavior, evil behavior -- then you are excusing.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Don't be a tard.
When a criminal confesses, what is generally the first question the cops ask him? Typically, it's "Why did you do it?" After the explanation is given, do the cops let him go? Nope, 'cuz what was given was an explanation, not an excuse. Theorizing about explanations helps determine motives. People do things for reasons, good and bad. A reason is NOT a synonym for an excuse. Nobody, including my pagan tour guide, was trying to absolve anyone of responsibility for the acts committed then.
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Hey pal...you just blow in from Stupidtown?
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Damn. Cant cut & paste your quotes inside of quotes. Oh well.
Didnt mean to offend your Wiccan sensibilities Van. http://www.hostboard.com/forums/ I know theres hot Wiccan chix out there(reference my 1st response to this thread). But even if Wicca is more dated than Christianity; since when is some template indoctrination for political expediency & placating the populace, a standard of comparison for any faith? Christians are nothing more than a more politically-pragmatic sect of Judiasm. At least the Old Testament is fairly empirical and exciting in a literary sense. Although anyone who actually attempts to uphold it as a legitimate document of history, can expect to get knocked down by the gaels of laughter coming from my humanist cakehole. When Christianity hits its 10,000th birthday, then we'll talk.
Wish I knew what H.S you went to Van. Was it in Sac? IF so, I could probably make fun of you relentlessly. I went to Oak Ridge for a year. My ony NoCal skwelin, thankfully. http://www.hostboard.com/forums/
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"I kinda thought winning wasnt important."
"ME winning isnt..YOU do."
[This message has been edited by R.C. Collins (edited January 25, 2002).]
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Van, I think you're confusing Wicca with similar types of spiritual fraud that go back to the dawn of man.
As long as man has been able to contemplate matters spiritual, there have been vultures who prey on their fears, and snake oil salesmen to prey on their hopes; both using "smysterious" hokum pokum to scare or beguile their rubes.
99.999% of religions are nothing but profit-making or power-grabbing scams.
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The most offensive words in the english language: Osama bin Laden, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney...
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IB, Inky, what are you talking about? Wicca goes back to the Druids, and beyond. It's not new. Variants of it are thousands of years old.
What other ongoing western religion is older?
R.C., you're preaching to the choir with your anti-religion blasts, both pagan and Christian. I went to a Catholic high school (Notre Dame H.S. in SoCal) so I'm well versed in what you're saying, and I agree with you. Well, mostly. I'm not atheist, I'm agnostic, like I said.
I know what I don't believe more than I know what I do believe.
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Didn't we know? Didn't we feel it?
Time, it seemed to stop outside our window...As we ran down the freeway, to be free.....of everthing...
[This message has been edited by Van [down by the river] (edited January 27, 2002).]
