49 replies to this topic

[anasuya]

I noticed that. I went looking too, hoping to read something interesting. Darnit!

BB, Ana

[natas]

yeah I had lots of info but was closed by rockhauler and it had lots of info about Satanism.

[shellas13]

Honestly, I don't think that a little blood (with proper health certification)is gonna harm anyone and, from what I've read so far in this thread, is actually considered quite powerful in doing rituals/magick. Personally, I've never done it, but it's merely because the chance never presented itself. I had a great time discussing with Ana the ways to introduce such a controversial subject in her coven, lol, and indeed, the idea intrigued me to no end. Blood, I've always seen, is the lifeforce of a person, and so it would just be natural to see it as a means of power...and yeah, same goes for menstration! Once I get over the dreaded PMS stage, I've always felt more connected to the earth, and am very very psychic at that time. But yeah, I'm all for it, once it passes some draconian health tests! ;D

[Ectoplazzum]

As far as it being against Wiccan tradition, it's not.  This is something that has been decided by what some Pagans/Witches refer to as "Fluffy Bunnies", the ones who are trying desperately to convince the world that witchcraft is not a bad thing.  What they don't realize is that truly, witchcraft is NOT a bad thing, and to deliberately mislead people into thinking that it's made up of nothing but a bunch of girl scouts who never do anything wrong is, IMO, doing a big disservice to everyone.

It would be far more honest to just admit that yes, some people and/or sects do use it in spellwork, but that you (generic you) find it distasteful and don't do it, rather than incorrectly speaking for a whole path and saying that it isn't done.

Elle

[anasuya]

AWOMAN! Well said. I always cringe when I hear people say that blood is not allowed at all in any Wiccan rituals or bad things will happen.

BB, Ana

[Ectoplazzum]

Quote

AWOMAN! Well said. I always cringe when I hear people say that blood is not allowed at all in any Wiccan rituals or bad things will happen.

BB, Ana

Thank you, Ana.  

See, this is my biggest gripe against so-called Wiccan authors like Silver Ravenwolf, D.J. Conway, and some of the others in the Llewellyn gang.  They have bastardized Wicca so badly in order to make it palatable to the parents of teens so the kids will be allowed to buy their books, that they are printing information that is patently false.  Silver RavenWolf has even gone so far as to take parts of Christianity and "Wiccanize" them so that parents will think that Wicca and witchcraft are all just one big happy fluffy game, and it's totally ridiculous.  I call those who read her books and proclaim themselves to be Wiccan "McWiccans", because she makes it sound like all you have to do is what she says, slap on a pentagram, dress like a goth, and voila! you're a Wiccan.  She disgusts me.

Elle

[anasuya]

I don't have a problem with her books, exactly... she does bring up some valid points... but she leaves out an equally large number of valid points, if not more so. McWiccans!LMAO. Now that is just too rich. I'm gonna have to write that one down. Silver Ravenwolf definitely equals fluff-bunny Wicca to me. She'd scoff at the idea of doing anything dark.

Ana

[Vampchick21]

I've been iffy about the Llewellyn Press ever since I picked up a book on Celtic Magic, only to open it, and find in the introduction the statement that the peoples we now refer to as the Celtic Tribes came from Atlantis!  Thank the Gods I was reasonably familar as a layperson in the history and archaeology of the Celtic tribes else I'd be spouting garbage about Atlantian Celts!

[anasuya]

Are you serious? Sheesh. Thank the goddess I stopped reading Llewellyn publications a long time ago.

Ana

[Vampchick21]

Yeah, I had picked it up in the hopes that I could find some good inspiration for my own rituals and spellwork, since we have little to no real idea of what they did (most of what has come down to us is in the form of myths written down by Christian Monks), and I think that it varied from region to region and time period to time period.  Imagine my disgust!  I couldn't even finish the intro!  It's now sitting somewhere in my house, collecting dust since I'm incapable of getting rid of books

[Ectoplazzum]

Quote

I've been iffy about the Llewellyn Press ever since I picked up a book on Celtic Magic, only to open it, and find in the introduction the statement that the peoples we now refer to as the Celtic Tribes came from Atlantis!  Thank the Gods I was reasonably familar as a layperson in the history and archaeology of the Celtic tribes else I'd be spouting garbage about Atlantian Celts!

This sounds typical of Llewellyn.  They're not so much concerned with accuracy as they are with pandering to the faddish masses.  The only thing they publish that I buy is their yearly publication "The Witches Almanac" and all I do with it is tear out the calendar that has all the different holidays and moon phases on it to use for reference throughout the year.  Since I don't have a parakeet cage to line, the rest of it goes in the trash since the little stories in it are about as useful as nipples on a boar hog.   :

Elle

[anasuya]

They have the Witches Calendar which is a date book that I absolutely love. Aside from some outstanding art and a few poetic pieces, there really isn't anything that is fadish about it, and it comes equipped with all the moon phases and such. It's quite handy actually. But, instead of spending the 25.00 on it, I just print a calendar offline. lol

Ana

[shellas13]

Y'know, due to the still unenlightened and dark undertones of preceived pagan practices, I can understand why a lot of books have been fluffy-bunnied downed and altho I agree that Silver Ravenwolf and that others have streamlined out a lot of the TRUE or real aspects of the religion, I'd still purchase some of them just because they DO offer a lot of good points and teachings. I don't think that I would have been as readily able to accept paganism if it weren't for the fact that those books were youth/novice friendly because I was very young and very Christian when I first started off, lol. Of course now that I'm older and (somewhat) more wiser, lol, I'm inclined to check out more 'heavy' books dealing with Witchcraft, but I don't knock what is already out there simply because IMO there are people that need to be gradually introduced to this oftentimes misunderstood religion. Of course I don't go for BLATANTLY silly or off the wall yammerings, lol, but I've always enjoyed Scott Cunningham's works and find his books to be very interesting and well worth the read. They also just make great reference books for when I'm researching for my next trashy romance novels too! ;D

[anasuya]

lol @ Shellas. I agree that if you don't have someone trustworthy whom to turn to while young and studying witchcraft, these books DO serve a purpose. I mean, you have to start SOMEwhere.

Ana

[aloha_spirit]

Back in hannah-buttah days, I had some "blood brothers" (not to mention sisters).  We followed the most basic ritual - everyone made a small cut in their hand and we shook hands, mixing our blood.  The only significance I took from the experience was that we would do anything to help the friend, even if it meant shedding our blood.

As a Christian, I see mention of blood a lot in the Scriptures.  The most powerful passages talk of our garments being washed white in the blood of the Lamb.  In the sacrament, we partake of bread and water in remembrance of the body and blood of Christ - but they are merely emblems.

Hawaiians believe that mana is stored in the physical body of a being.  When a powerful chief would die, his children would often drink his blood, eat his flesh, and store his bones in their hut.  This was the fate of Captain Cook - the locals killed him and ate him to obtain his mana.

Today there is an understandable concern about microbes in blood.  We understand that by introducing A+ blood into someone with B+ blood, there will be complications (the two types of blood will fight it out).

I can understand using blood in rituals, but I will never drink someone else's life force (I am not opposed to blood transfusions performed in sanitary conditions).