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Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times

July 2017 Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times

It is the day before Summer Solstice, and I’m writing July’s article.

Next month will bring Lammas! The year is going by so fast!

This month’s topic will be a very important one we talk about, but seldom sit in silence and meditate on. How Pagans get on with those who they cannot stand.

It all depends on both your tradition, and your personality.

My own, personal knee jerk reaction is to tell people off very harshly, and write them off for good if I really cannot endure them. This is because, like many, it takes a lot for me to get to that point. I have gotten a lot better at resisting doing this as I am middle aged, and have mellowed quite a bit. However, I still don’t judge, or criticize other people who still write people off when they feel they need to, and I understand there are times when this is absolutely the only option.

I will focus on the Wiccan Tenet of Tolerance for combatting this, and share some suggested spellwork when you have tried all you can, and the offending parties just have got to go!.

The Seven Tenets of Wicca

Different traditions will have different beliefs of what is right conduct. Some value the Rule of Three. Some don’t. Some have Thirteen Laws of the Witch. Others have a simple Seven Tenets.

These are:

  1. The Tenet of Balance
  2. The Tenet of Learning
  3. The Tenet of Harmony
  4. The Tenet of Humility
  5. The Tenet of Tolerance
  6. The Tenet of Trust
  7. The Tenet of Reincarnation

More than one Wiccan Tradition focuses on these. These are things that govern how one lives life, and how one interacts with others, as well as oneself.

While each Tenet can figure in to how we put up with other people we’d rather strangle, I will focus on The Tenet of Tolerance for today.

First and foremost, let me say that Tolerance is not necessarily acceptance. It can simply mean biting your tongue to put up with somebody. Notice acceptance is not a Tenet? We don’t have to agree with other people, or understand them to tolerate them. We just have to understand there are times we cannot control a situation, and we put up with it to get by.

Sometimes, we need to bite our tongues instead of expressing our true feelings, because either 1) nobody will listen, and it will be a waste of breath, or 2) there will be negative consequences. It is these times when I ask myself if the consequences will be worse for me than keeping my mouth shut. Most of the time, I find it is not worth it to even say anything, and just go do something that actually matters.

Coming from a family of women who ALWAYS spoke their mind, oftentimes without thinking before they spoke, it is easy for me to understand that sometimes less is more in regards to communicating. ?

Tolerance of that fact is the very most difficult part sometimes.

Also, it just doesn’t feel fair that sometimes other people who we feel are 100% wrong, are allowed to get by with something we feel unjust. Many magical practitioners will struggle more with these situations, because we know how to move energy, and believe we can influence everything. In these situations, my priest quotes the film, Little Big Man, and says “Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes, it doesn’t.” and life goes on.

We can either tolerate that the fact things are the way they are, or we can pull our hair out trying to influence things we are powerless to change.

The trick is knowing what we can change and what we can’t. The Xtians Serenity prayer comes in handy here.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. “

It’s short, sweet, and very wise.

Idle No More is a Native American organization , and one of their members coined a saying. “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”

This is equally wise.

WC Fields had another take on this topic. He said “If at first you don’t succeed, try , try again. Then quit. There’s no point being a damn fool about it.”

This statement contains great wisdom as well.

The trick is to know which applies to the scenario.

When it comes to tolerance of other people, you have to take your own personal capabilities into consideration. We all have a breaking point of what we can endure and what we cannot. Some people are not worth the air they breathe in regards to the contribution they make to our lives, while others are hurting nobody, they are jjust slightly annoying, and we can live with it.

Now, in public places, and at work, we really don’t have that big a choice. You bite your tongue, and get through the day until quitting time somedays. Just because you have bills to pay. You may work with somebody you just dislike on a personal level, but they do a good job, and your supervisor won’t give a crap if you dislike them. You keep your mouth shut, and your head down because you like the job, and you know your nemesis is not going anyplace either, unfortunately.

Or are they?

How much power, do you, as a witch have, to get rid of somebody your life would be more pleasant without?

Say Suzy Snotrag works in the next cubicle. She refuses to take a day off work, and drags upper resp, which she is constantly contracting from one of her half dozen crotch dumplings into work every two or three months. She has PERFECT attendance, which the boss loves, and you have a depressed immune system from a lifelong chronic condition. Upper resp hits you twice as hard as it does other people.

Suzy is the only person in the company who does this. She does an exemplary job save for being a disease factory, and you can’t get her fired because the boss thinks she is the second coming.

Time to get rid of Suzy using a little witchcraft.

Maybe you are not like me, and you don’t want to curse her away. Maybe you are all love and light, (yuck), and it would kill you if you ever hurt a fly. Maybe you don’t believe in influencing other people’s lives, because you feel it is against the natural order of things, and you are afraid you will rack up bad karma if you do anyways.

I say you need to witch up, and discard the combination Xtian /Hindu afterlife fears. Accept that good things happen for bad people, bad things happen to good people, and Suzy Snotrag has to go. Like, yesterday.

But I can’t dictate beliefs!

So, you tolerate Suzy’s constant “giving” of her personal bacteria that is delivered through the air you are forced to share with her.

Then comes the day you have used all your sick and vacation time, and you have none left. You have a few months until you will have accumulated more, and your best friend wins an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii for next month, where you have ALWAYS wanted to go. Since you have no vacation time left, you can’t go, and your best friend’s pinch faced sister -in -law goes along instead. ?

Suzy, on the other hand, has just gotten a perfect performance eval for her amazing attendance record, and you finally get good and mad, and decide it’s no more Miss Nice Witch. You pull out the black hat to show that germy bitch who she is dealing with!

The Working

Getting rid of people can be simple, or complicated, and can take longer, or a shorter period of time. It entails spellwork, and then waiting. Once you send the energy out to the Universe, it is in the hands of the powers that be. Sometimes, no matter how specific you are as to details, including timeframe, the gods work in their own ways, and on their own timeline.

Don’t let that deter you. Get started.

Here are a few different things you can try.

  1. Hotfoot powder– Your local metaphysical store likely has this, and if not, you can order it online. It is sprinkled either in the shoes of the person you want to get rid of, or where they will walk. You don’t have to say any special words, because the powder is specially charged with the intent that they leave. For good. If you decide to make your own, mix black pepper, salt, and red pepper, saturating it with your intent the whole time. Be careful to put it where only they will step. I was told by a very wise witch the rest can be vacuumed up. This has always worked for me. Just don’t let anybody see you doing so, and try to make sure the powder is not visable to them in any way, or else they might clean out their shoes or clean up the floor, thus spoiling the spell.
  2. Send them to Texas– Or wherever you like. This is done with a map, and a piece of paper with their name on it, and a pin. Start out by pinning them at their current location. Gradually move it, over the course of days, or weeks, to the place you want them to be instead. Talk to whatever is representing them each time you move it, telling them how much they want to move, and how much happier they will be at their new place. The best bet for a move location will be a location that you are aware will be very beneficial to them, but is far far away from where you are. Pick Suzy Snotrag’s hometown where all her family is. Convince her that she just can’t handle all those little hellions on her own, and they would all be better off in town with grandma and grandpa and all the uncles, aunties, nieces, and nephews. Or say she is not family oriented, but has her eye on a move up the corporate ladder at a location in a different state. “Bless “ her by wishing her the promotion. The buy her a nice big going away gift, charged with your energy that she STAY gone for good.
  3. Mail them away– Similar to sending them to Texas- only this time, you actually mail them to where you’d like them to go. Make a poppet of them. It can even be a copy of a photograph of them- or in Suzy Snotrag’s case, dig a snotty Kleenex out of her trash when nobody notices, and mail that away. Wear gloves if you are concerned about fingerprints- as a witch always covers his or her tracks, and type the address out so your handwriting cannot in any way be traced. Do not have a return address on the envelope, under any circumstances, because what you want is a magical one way ticket away. You do not want to create access to a path for them to come back. Mail the representation of Suzy to her mom’s house. Okay, maybe it is mean and gross to mail a snotty, used Kleenex to Suzy’s mom. Then mail a nice, neatly folded, clean kleenx, or if you like, a nice pretty handkerchief.

 

This is just three ways to get rid of somebody you have tolerated all you can, and you are “changing the things you cannot accept” and showing them the door out of your life.

Just remember not to “spell and tell”. If people get the gist you are doing magic on them, they will know the source of what is causing the change, and know who to focus on to dispel the magic. The more people you tell, the more chance it has of coming back to them. So don’t risk it.

Unfortunately, maybe Suzy Snotrag belongs right where she is, and your attempts at magic did not get her moved. Get yourself moved.

Go and talk to the boss and say how much you love your job, but your immune system is bad, and you need more vitamin D. Is there any way she can give you a cubicle nearer the sunlight when one opens up? No cubicles are near a window? Maybe you see a position open up in the department you are qualified for, where people are a long ways away from one another, and even farther from Suzy. Apply for a transfer there.

Suzy will be hacking, snotting, and salivating after the coveted position you transfer to, and there won’t be a thing she can do about it, no matter how many tissues she sneezes into. You will breathe easier, and be proud of yourself for either sending Suzy on her way, or making a way for you to hit the road, yourself, and without her, you live happily ever after!

The End!