Transcript
Speaker: Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get a Loser We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So get in, witches, as we discuss common misconceptions in witchcraft.
Speaker: So you guys are watching baseball tonight? Mm -hmm. Okay. The Dodgers are in town, so. Oh, yeah. Whenever you first sent me like your like schedule for this weekend and like when you were available, I had no clue what you were talking about at first. And then it didn't register to me until like
Speaker: recently when you were sending me a text about how you guys were out late or something last night, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even realize that you were talking about baseball because I feel like I know nothing about sports in general.
Speaker: So I was like, what is she talking about, Dodgers? Yeah, I mean, you know, we grew up in California, so we love the Dodgers. So every time they come out to play the Cardinals, we'll go and watch the games and wear our Dodgers gear. But anytime they're not playing the Dodgers, we'll we'll root for the Cardinals. Oh, yeah. I like we were like checking into the stadium, you know, like going through the little metal detector and the lady was like, I think we've reached our limit for
Speaker: It was like this little old lady, she cracked me up.
Speaker: That's really cute. I will say like when it comes to the St. Louis Cardinals, like they do not play around. They really love that baseball team. I will say like I have never had so much fun than like when we go to a Cardinals game in Dodgers shirts or jerseys. Like their fans are the nicest fans I've ever. Yeah, it's great. We love it.
Speaker: I, you know, the whole time we were in St. Louis, I went to a singular game, one game. We go to so many. Yeah, we just never did. I don't know why. Like, it's like why I went to OU for four years, literally lived in the dorms and never went to a football game ever. Like why?
Speaker: I don't know. I could have gone to like so cheap season tickets to all the OU football games. Yes, I have so many friends that do that. And I'm like, whatever. And then I didn't even go to like my first like major like sporting event until we saw the Thunder play. And I was like, why have I never seen sports like this is fun. I don't even care for sports, but this is fun watching it live on the go.
Speaker: I don't like football, but we went back to California for New Year's because Anthony's cousin got him Rams tickets for Christmas. We went and did that for New Year's and I am not a football person at all. I hate it.
Speaker: But it was so much fun. Yeah, I definitely am more interested in going like I don't like watching it on TV because it gives me anxiety like because I'm that type of person like I will just even though I don't watch sports I will
Speaker: like just establish this very like strong tie on like whatever team I think is going to win. And then when they start doing bad, I just I can't even deal with it. And I have to just leave. So that was last night, the Dodgers were up four to zero, there wasn't a score in the game until like the
Speaker: I can't remember if it was the fourth or fifth inning. It was zero to zero like the entire time. And then the Dodgers got one run. And then in one inning, they got like, this is either three or four more. I can't remember. But either way, like it got to like they did their last batting. And then it was like, all right, let's go. Like we can just leave now at the bottom of the ninth because if the Cardinals come back and win, I don't want to be here to see it.
Speaker: Right. So we like got out of the stadium and we watched it in ballpark village on the big screens out there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do like ballpark village that it's so nice. And I'm just like, why did we not?
Speaker: do this before, because if you think about it, like where we lived in Illinois, we could have just taken the fucking Metro home. Like they do, um, they call it the red bird. There's a, you could do it from the mall before. And now it picks up over Creek, which is like right down the road, but you just park your car and get on the bus and it's $5 both ways. Yeah. And they drop you off at the stadium and then take you back to your car.
Speaker: There was no excuse. We were just boring. Did you ever go to a blues game? No, I've never been to a hockey game. Hockey is the best to go to live. It is so fucking fun. Yeah. Love hockey. I'll have to go. Is it like really cold in there? Like do you have to wear like sweaters and stuff? No. I mean, it's, I feel like it's comfortable. It's not like freezing. Okay. Yeah. I don't think that there's hockey here. Maybe there's on mainland though. Surely there is.
Speaker: Um, but we have gone to a basketball game here and it was fun. We saw, um, it was Korea versus the Philippines. Oh, I remember you talking about this. Yeah, it was, there was like no Filipinos on the Filipino team. We're all like American. Uh, I guess they didn't play to their strengths, right? Um, but they have like a Japanese team, like an Okinawan team here.
Speaker: And so we just haven't gone to see one of their games yet. But I know Mike really wants to because he really likes basketball. Eventually we will. It'll be fun. As long as you're live and you're not watching it on TV, it's usually fun. Yeah.
Speaker: It's a whole different environment than if you're trying to watch sports on TV. Yeah, it definitely is. And the food there is so good, too. I just love, even in America, the shitty stadium foods. Every time you go to a concert and stuff, it's always the same food.
Speaker: Nice pizza. I am here for it. Give me some shitty nachos. I am here for it. And an overpriced like gin and tonic or Moscow mule or something because I don't drink beer. That is true. I was going to say the Cardinal Stadium has
Speaker: It's almost like a convenience store inside and it's just like craft beers and then like, they have like the regular shit too, but they have like an abundance of craft beers and ciders and salters and stuff. And then they also have a margarita bar. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, I got one last night. It was so good. Yeah. Love it. I mean, it's overpriced, obviously, because it's a stadium. Right. It's a stadium. It's like part of the experience. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: They won. We're going back today. Hoping they win again. Yes. They're going to win. Thursday. Friday. Thursday. Thursday. Today is Saturday. I don't know. They're playing like every day this week. It's weird. I would be so tired. Right? I don't know. So what are we talking about today? We're talking about misconceptions. I love this episode. I think this is an episode that like
Speaker: I mean, I guess we could have released something like this in the first season, but I think it's a good reminder to come back to this topic. Because I know we might have a lot of listeners who are just kind of interested in witchcraft or paganism, but they haven't really dipped their toes into it yet. So I think that this is an important episode to have.
Speaker: Yeah. And for our listeners that have been with us since episode one, or even if you're new and you jumped in and started with episode one and you've listened all the way through, some of the stuff that we're going to talk about today we've mentioned in other episodes.
Speaker: So it might not be new information, but it's like Sam said, it's important to like talk about it again and like really reiterate it that these are misconceptions. And sometimes people are going to say things like, oh, you can't buy your own tarot deck, which we're going to talk about. But
Speaker: you don't have to like, you could just be like, cool anyways, and then go buy your own terabec. Because some people are just ridiculous. Yeah. But with that, like this episode is meant to just shed light on some of those things that people say essentially to gatekeep things within the craft from new witches, or even from experienced witches looking to expand their practice.
Speaker: into something new. There's a difference between ignoring those that are gatekeeping parts of the craft and just outright appropriating something that is specific to a group or culture, so please make sure that you always do your research and don't appropriate from other cultures or groups of people, but also don't be naive when someone is attempting to gatekeep a non -protected or specified practice from you. Also, know the difference between cultural appropriation
Speaker: and cultural appreciation because those are two very different things. And if you want a full episode on it, do you remember what episode number that was? I know it's early in season one. I think it might be season or season one. I'm like over here like season two. I think it's episode two. I believe it's episode two. It was pretty early on, but we did a full deep dive into cultural appropriation and we talked about cultural appreciation.
Speaker: So go back and listen to that one if you need that kind of thing. So we're just going to dive in and start talking about them. The first one that I put on the list was covens. We covered this in episode seven, like the differences between practicing as a solitary witch versus practicing within a coven. But I think it's important just to reiterate here that you do not need a coven to practice witchcraft.
Speaker: And practicing as a solitary witch doesn't make you any less of a witch. Just as practicing with a coven doesn't make you any more of a witch. Do whatever feels right to you and don't let other people tell you like, oh, you don't have a coven? Well, you're not really a witch.
Speaker: Yeah, because people will try. And people will try and spread that. I've listened to podcasts where basically they've come out and said that. And I'm like, that's not true. That's not true at all. If you want to work with a coven, that is wonderful. More power to you. But that doesn't work for everybody.
Speaker: Yeah, no, everybody's practice is different. And some people, you know, you might thrive in a coven and a coven might be something that you need. But if you're good on your own, and you just want to do your own thing and do your own practice, and, you know, learn as you go kind of thing. That's cool, too. That that's how I practice. I don't I don't have a coven of Sam's like the only other well, I know two witches in my life. And my neighbors so like,
Speaker: You know, you don't have to have a coven to be a witch, but you can have one if you want one. Another one is that witches must be initiated. And this falls more in line with Wicca. So Wicca has an initiation process, but no one needs to initiate you to like, W a witch for your practice in like witchcraft. Like you don't have to be like, I knight you a witch, you know? Like, just if you exist, you're a witch. If you want to be a witch, you're a witch.
Speaker: And if someone tells you have to be initiated first, they probably watch the craft way too many times. It is a great movie. It is a great movie. And I know that like they.
Speaker: they did a lot of research and they like, I think they had even like some witches on set to kind of help them with some things, but obviously it's a movie and there's a lot of things in there that while some things are based in like truth, other things are completely fake and being initiated is not a thing.
Speaker: unless you're in like Weka or like if you're in like a specified there's like different types of like religion in witchcraft that initiation is part of their religion but that doesn't mean that every witch has to be initiated like yes unless you're part of that group or religion then it doesn't apply to you. If you want to practice witchcraft
Speaker: and you're not initiated, it's fine. Just do it. We don't gatekeep here. No. And then tarot decks. This is a big one that we have talked about multiple times because this is such a... You see this everywhere. You go on TikTok and you see people talking about it, YouTube, people talk about it, blogs. People will tell you. It's a common misconception here that you can't buy your own tarot deck.
Speaker: The gatekeeping belief is that you have to be gifted your decks and this is just absolutely not true. Like if someone gives you a deck, cool, but that's not, you don't have to have it gifted to you. You can buy your own decks and you should buy your own decks. Like spend some time looking through all the available Tarot decks and purchase what you feel drawn to or what kind of resonates with you because Tarot, again, this is a very like,
Speaker: personal practice. You have to build a relationship with your cards and you have to let your cards have some of your energy in order for your readings to come through appropriately. Being gifted a deck is cool and all, but you might not resonate with that gifted deck. You really should spend some time with some of these decks and figure out
Speaker: which one are you drawn to? Which one do you like? Which one is like appealing to you? So yeah, absolutely. And I will say like I've been gifted decks and I bought decks for myself and I am I don't even work with the decks that I've been gifted because I don't know I just I'm
Speaker: one of the even though they're cool decks like I have one of the medieval looking designs and it's beautiful and I love it yeah I just when I go to work with tarot and use it in divinatory practice I always go back to my like ride or die like the one that I got the first one I ever did that's just always what I go to
Speaker: And I think there's a lot of power, and we've mentioned this before on the podcast in season one, but there's so much power in going and being drawn to a deck, picking it up, feeling it out, and purchasing it. There's so much power in that.
Speaker: I actually, and I think I sent you pictures, I just got the prettiest deck I've ever seen. Yes, it is beautiful. It is so fucking beautiful. And like, I really like so it's a literary tarot deck. So the creator of this deck reached out to specific authors. And so she reached out to each of them and said, Hey, I want to do a tarot deck.
Speaker: I'm going to give you this card and I want you to like tie it to a book. And so like each author picked a book for each card of the like major arcana. Shut up. Is this from that starter? Like that startup that you finally got it. I didn't realize it was the same deck. Oh my God.
Speaker: I just assumed you got it in Hawaii. I didn't even realize. I didn't even find a witchy store over there. Of course. That's for sure. But I've heard a lot about some things, but nothing witchy. Yeah. But no, this was that literary tarot deck from the Kickstarter that Jen and I both have been waiting on forever. Yes. And the illustrations are so diverse and just beautiful and they're foiled. I love them. They are absolutely beautiful. I think we should... Pictures don't do them justice.
Speaker: Well, I'm sure they don't. I'm just like, yeah, even though I've never seen these in real life, I've just seen them on pictures, but just based on the pictures, they are gorgeous. You should put a couple pictures up. So glad it finally came. And just keeping in line with Tarot, something that I think
Speaker: is important to understand for anybody who is new to this way of life, is new to the practice, is new to anything witchy. There is this huge misconception that terror is evil too, and that's not true. You see terror being used a lot in media, and it's usually with an undercurrent of evil or something like horror, like satanic. Connect with the devil. It really is just awful, the way that they portray it in the media.
Speaker: The bottom line is Tarot is just a divinatory tool that reflects the space you are in right now. It can't open up portals or bring evil into your life. I know people who have psychic abilities or mediums that use it in being able to do a reading with somebody, but at the same time,
Speaker: they're not going to it's not gonna connect you with a spirit and like yeah it's just not gonna work like that so if you are new to this life and you've been kind of like iffy about tarot just know it's a tool that you can use it is not gonna connect you with something evil.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's not a tool that's using you. Because that's another thing you see sometimes too, like in horror movies and stuff with Tarot, it'll be like, they become possessed by the cards. It's so dumb. Yeah, that doesn't happen. No, no. Another one that we talk about all the freaking time, there's this misconception that you need to buy a bunch of tools and just a bunch of things to really practice magic. And that's wrong.
Speaker: Like completely wrong. All you need to practice magic is yourself. Should you want to add additional items to your practice? You totally can, but you don't have to. You don't have to do that to practice magic. You don't. No. You need yourself.
Speaker: Many of the tools used by witches can be found in nature, in your pantry, in your garden, or just items that you already have in your own home. We tell you this all the time on the podcast. If spending money on things is in your budget or something that you want to do, that's perfectly fine, but don't let someone else tell you that you're less of a witch. If you don't spend a bunch of money on tools, crystals, tarot decks, et cetera, or like spend money on the aesthetic of something, like, no, you don't need that. You need yourself.
Speaker: If you want to add anything else, you totally can. But you can also go outside and get a stick or a rock or a little jar of dirt. When you put your pantry, get some bay leaves or whatever. There are so many things that you probably already have in your home that you can use as tools. You don't have to go buy fancy things. But if you want to, you can. You don't have to.
Speaker: Another thing too is you'll see some witchy shops, which I'm all about. People need to get their money right, but you'll see them. They'll sell these same spices that you can get from your pantry at a market price in some of these occult shops because they want your money. Again, if you want to really support this small business and you're like, I'm going to get these cinnamon sticks here, whatever, do you?
Speaker: but you don't need to buy anything from a specific witchy brand or shop or anything like that. Do what works best for you. The only thing I'll say there is if you are working
Speaker: with herbs in a medicinal sense, you just want to make sure that they are organic because you don't want a bunch of pesticides in your medicine. But you don't have to go to an herbal shop to buy them. You can get organic herbs at the grocery store. So don't buy into the, it's more expensive so it's better. That's not necessarily true.
Speaker: And also use what you have. If you can't afford to buy something, try growing it. Sometimes, you know, that's pretty cheap. You could just put it in the dirt that's already in your backyard and stuff's gonna grow. Yeah. And then you can harvest it and dry it yourself. And then that also I feel like adds to your like witchiness for that practice because you're connecting with like
Speaker: your land and the plants and you're you know you're seeing it from step one all the way through to like your finished product so you're getting a little extra out of that too so you don't have to like spend all this money to do it yeah and i think you know this kind of leans into another misconception is that in order to be a witch you have to practice every day
Speaker: This is a huge, huge, huge misconception. Your practice is going to wax and wane just like the moon and that is okay. That doesn't mean that you're any less of a witch or any less of a pagan if you're not practicing every day or if you're not putting out water every new moon for manifestation purposes.
Speaker: No, like I will say too, and this is something like we're going to have a whole episode in the future on, I didn't even talk to you about this. I'm just like, we're going to do a whole episode about this. I'm sure it's fine. I'm like burnout and like, you know, things like that. But one of the things that, you know, for me I will say is
Speaker: There have been times where I haven't wanted to touch anything for months and that's okay. Just because you don't want to do any sort of spell work or anything like that doesn't make you any less of a witch. Just because you need a break doesn't make you any less of a witch.
Speaker: I think it's important to remember that we're like we're human beings. We're not robots. We're not a machine that's going to like operate at the same rate every day. We have to sometimes like give ourselves space and, you know, give ourselves a break and let our minds like calm down from the day to day. Like we live in a crazy world right now. There's a lot going on. So if you wake up and you're like, I feel like crap today, I'm not mentally here. I don't really want to do anything magical. That doesn't make you less of a witch. That means that you're like,
Speaker: More aware of yourself and in tune with yourself and you understand that you need to step away for a minute and that's okay Yeah, and that's like powerful in and of itself like being able to see that and yourself to know I need to take a break I need to take a step back. Yeah, it's important
Speaker: Next, we're going to talk about a little like just a little bit, not a deep dive, but a little bit into some of the witchcraft and religion misconceptions. And the first one I have on the list is Wicca. The misconception is that all witches are Wiccan, which we know is not true. But this may be something confusing for those that are just coming into the craft. And this is something that I actually experienced recently in a conversation with my sister -in -law.
Speaker: who has been a little like craft curious lately and she like she was telling me oh you know like i started looking into wicca and i just like i asked her you know like is there a reason wicca or you know is it something that like you were drawn to and she was just under the impression that she needed to first learn about wiccan in order to learn about witchcraft because that's what she was told by a wiccan friend
Speaker: And I was like, no. You can practice witchcraft, yes, but not all witches are wicked and you don't have to do that. That's really frustrating that there are people out there that insist that you have to believe a specific way.
Speaker: Yeah, it really just ties back into like some of the because a lot of people will find this alternative lifestyle, which I don't think there's anything alternative about our lifestyle, but they will find like this lifestyle because they felt oppressed in their previous religious beliefs and then you come into this lifestyle and someone's telling you have to do this first.
Speaker: No. If someone tells you, like, you're less of a witch because you're not Wiccan, or you have to learn about Wicca first before you can become a witch, no. No. No. Like, you can be Wiccan and be a witch, but not all witches practice Wicca.
Speaker: Yeah and if you want to practice Wicca and you want to be initiated in the coven and do all that that's awesome like we will support you 100 % but you don't have to go that route and that's okay. Wicca is just like a religion in of witchcraft and while someone who might be Wiccan can practice like
Speaker: green witchcraft, kitchen witchery, animism, etc. There is still a lot of fluidity in everything when it comes to witchcraft and paganism. And I feel like some people can't wrap their head around the fact that paganism and witchcraft can be fluid and without clear boundaries. And this is just another example of mainstream beliefs like Christianity, where different denominations are highly organized and categorized.
Speaker: not everything has to fit into a nice neat category and paganism and witchcraft are like the perfect example of this and as long as you aren't practicing anything that belongs to a closed practice there's flexibility to believe and practice in any way that you want but it makes it difficult like when you have people who aren't super knowledgeable in paganism and witchcraft
Speaker: when they want you to clearly define it. And they, it's like they're expecting you to define it for everybody who practices this. And that's something that I struggle with. Like, because I don't, I mean, I can only tell you how I practice and what this means to me. That doesn't mean this is going to be the same definition for somebody else. Yeah. Well, and you know that I went through this not that long ago over my fucking Facebook, like I had made a post and,
Speaker: someone that I know, someone's wife, who I don't really know her. I grew up with the husband. And so because he was married, I was friends with his wife. Like she added me on Facebook kind of thing. And she like came at me about something I posted. And I was like, I mean, that's cool. I'm not Christian.
Speaker: were pagan and then she like started freaking out about paganism and like it was this whole big to do and back and forth, you got involved. Like, yeah, they just don't understand that like paganism, people can say, Oh, I'm pagan and not have like, like a set, like this is exactly what I believe in what I do. And like a lot of times people that fall under this umbrella term are just people that like,
Speaker: Like paganism is basically not Christian. It's like, you don't fit the Christian religion, so you fall under here kind of thing. And like, most of us just like being out in nature and like having our hands and not going to church, like doing what we want to do kind of thing. There's not like a straight definition to like how they practice or, you know, everybody does their own thing. It's very different, so.
Speaker: Next, I have Satanism. And this is just another misconception that comes from outside of the craft. But just in case we have any listeners from the outside, witches don't practice Satanism. Satan is a Christian construct. And fun fact, actual Satanists don't even believe in or worship Satan. You can be a witch and a Satanist, but again, not all witches are Satanists.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. That is like the biggest misconception I feel like because people just assume like, Oh, you're a witch. Then that means you believe in Satan. Like, and it's like, do you realize that like Christians, you guys believe in Satan. You created Satan. You created Satan. Not us. Not us. Like, yeah.
Speaker: It's just ridiculous. It's dumb. Yeah. And then a huge misconception that I feel like even sometimes pagans just in themselves or witches or whoever, I've seen a lot of people believe this is that all pagans practice witchcraft. That is not true. And you're no less of a pagan if you don't practice witchcraft.
Speaker: It's just ridiculous. Not everybody who is pagan is going to practice witchcraft. It's not mutually exclusive. And sometimes people are pagan and practice witchcraft and they don't even know that they do that because, hi, I did that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, the way I look at it, because I've had to basically define this for multiple people and clarify things. People get so bogged down when you talk about spellwork and witchcraft. And spellwork is much like prayer. For many people who pray to whatever deity they believe in,
Speaker: You're putting out intentions or asking for protection, help, advice, love, whatever it is you need or want in your life, or to give thanks for the things that you have in the life that you live. But in spell work, that's much of the same. But instead of relying on a deity, you're manifesting it yourself with your own energy, using ingredients to help make your manifestation stronger. And a lot of witches who do work with deities
Speaker: will incorporate deities into their work through veneration work or by asking for their aid or advisor guidance. So if you think about it, like spellwork and prayer are, I mean, it's like two different words for similar things. And when you explain it like that, people are like, oh, well, that's not that scary. And I'm like, yeah, there's nothing to fear about this. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and like when you talk about spell work and prayer, I've never really looked into it. Like I had to read the Bible when I was a little kid because I was in a
Speaker: you know, my mom was super religious and she made us do that kind of stuff. And I know I've read some of the book of Psalms, but I know a lot of people talk about how they use the book of Psalms, like Christian witches, use the book of Psalms as a spell book. Like, apparently, I, again, I haven't been to it as an adult. Yeah, I've come across a lot of content creators that talk about this. And I've
Speaker: Like again, I haven't gone back to the Bible at all as an adult. I don't know that I ever will, but a lot of Christian practicing witches use that particular book of the Bible as a spell book. Wow. Yeah. Interesting. I don't know. I might go back and read just that book to see like how they're interpreting that. I don't like remember that from a, I was a kid, you know, like I wouldn't have like picked up on that or remembered it, but
Speaker: I think the only part of that part of the Bible that I even remember or could know about is that love is patient, love is kind thing. Isn't that in Psalms or something? I don't know. I don't know. It's in a walk to remember. I think it's in Psalms. Oh my God. You can't be wrong. But I just know it's in the Bible somewhere. Yeah.
Speaker: So I think like what's important though to take away from here specifically is that you can fall under the umbrella term pagan and you can follow your own pagan beliefs without practicing witchcraft. Because again, not all pagans practice witchcraft.
Speaker: So not necessarily a religion based, but the idea that we're talking about here also kind of encapsulates the belief that all witches are evil and practice either black or dark magic. While some witches may fall in line with that belief, not all witches do bad things with magic.
Speaker: There's also a belief that there are good witches and bad witches, which sure that could be true, but evil is equated to black magic and then the pure or the good would be equated to white magic. The like quote -unquote black magic historically was assigned to practices like Hoodoo, Voodoo, Palomayambe, Santeria, etc. And these are all practices from different like POC cultures. And I came across this article
Speaker: and the person in there was talking about this division of like black magic and white magic and it's going to be in our show notes so if you want to read the whole thing it was a great article but he says that actually I don't know if this is a man or a woman and I know I'm going to butcher their name too.
Speaker: This person said that the division of magic into like quote unquote black or quote unquote white has racist undertones. So like it was used as a way to just be racist to people of colors, cultures, and their practices. Their name, I don't know how to say it, so I know I'm butchering it, but it's Ma -we -ya -kai -el -jama -bo -mani.
Speaker: maybe something like that. But I just really liked the quote and I loved the article and all that it talked about, but obviously we're not doing an episode on like their full topic. So I just wanted to put that little piece in there. Yeah. But spoiler alert, we're going to have a whole episode coming up soon related to this topic. Yes. So if you're interested,
Speaker: Check out that article. I've already saved the article for that topic too. Yes. If you're interested, you know, look at that article and then also listen to episode 65. So coming your way in a few weeks.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's a very important thing to point out because there's that huge misconception too that spell casting just in general as well, or just witches are trying to hex you. That's what it is. This is made popular by mainstream media and people being fearful of what they don't understand, AKA Christians, VCU.
Speaker: people being ignorant on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, which we've talked about this before too, but there was a whole period in time in witchcraft, like in the last couple of years where everyone was hexing everyone and the moon and the president and events and like, it was just a bunch of dumb people doing dumb things that makes this kind of stuff like, this is why we have to talk about misconceptions. Exactly.
Speaker: You know, for most of us, the majority of people who practice witchcraft and do spell work, we don't want to hurt anyone. Like, that's not why we do this. Witchcraft does not equal hexing. And if you are new here and you're interested in witchcraft and paganism but haven't really dipped your toes in because this is something you've been led to believe,
Speaker: Just know it's not true. For instance, for me personally, I can barely remember to set out my moon water. I don't have the energy or the time to hex people.
Speaker: I mean, you know, like Tiffany mentioned, I mean, there are absolutely practitioners out there who dabble in baneful magic and many people who believe that you can't have the light without the dark, but just know you don't have to practice baneful magic. You don't have to sign yourself those terms of like a good witch or a bad witch or white magic versus dark magic. Just practice how you want to practice. Just live your life. It's ridiculous. And don't be racist. How about that?
Speaker: That's another thing too. But I found this interview, so this witch named Star Ravenhawk, she's from the Wiccan family temple in Manhattan. She was interviewed by a New York based news station
Speaker: Called pix 11. I believe that's how you say it. I couldn't figure out like if the pix was short for something I don't know He said that when people watch any movie, they know it's not real but for whatever reason when they watch movies about witchcraft They believe that it's real and so anything negative in movies and in media They just assume that it's real because it's about a witch but it's like okay, but you're also watching like what is that one movie where it's like a
Speaker: guy like built the ark or whatever like moses but it was like set in present day you know what i'm talking about Noah's ark oh that's no
Speaker: like Moses. I don't know anything about Christian like stuff. I feel like I'm really sorry. But no, there's like a movie. Like it was like, was it God almighty or something? Oh, you know what I'm talking about? Even almighty. Like they'll, they'll watch that and they'll be like, Oh yeah, this is, this is a work of fiction. You know what I mean? Like this isn't real, but it's based on like Christian things like this happened.
Speaker: There's a like, they have a life size arc built. I forget where. Bill Nye went to it. It was really funny. He like trashed everything. He was like, so science it. And they're like, sir. Yeah.
Speaker: Right. Right. But what I mean is like, you know, they can watch movies or even like, for instance, I guess, like another movie, maybe that was a bad example, but like a Constantine or whatever. Yeah. Watch that and they'll be like, OK, yeah, this is a work of fiction. Like it might be, you know, based on something that was in the Bible, but it's fiction. But then anything that they watch on TV about witchcraft, like the watch Sabrina the Teenage Wish and be like, oh, this must be real. Satan, Satanists, all of them. And I'm like,
Speaker: This is not even the same thing, but whatever. I actually just experienced this with the new, what is it called, the Sanderson Sisters.
Speaker: What the hell was the name of that movie? Hocus Pocus. Hocus Pocus. Brainfire right there. When the new Hocus Pocus came out, there was a lady that actually got interviewed on the news where Christians were saying that if they let their children watch Hocus Pocus, witchcraft was actually coming through their TV. People gave this woman a platform. They had her on the news. She was speaking in all these interviews about how
Speaker: that Christians just couldn't believe that we were allowing this to happen in America. And I'm just like, stop it. Stop it. Do you think like,
Speaker: Do you watch like, this is happening? Do you watch The Walking Dead or you know, like all of these like cheesy over the top crazy movies? Do you watch them and you're like, it's gonna come through the TV? Why is witchcraft different? It's people are fucking insane. That's why. Yes. Yes. drives me crazy.
Speaker: Another one that I wanted to put in this section, like while it's not a religion, I think it's also important to note that not all herbalists are witches. Like when I first started practicing herbalism through the Academy, I was immediately accused of witchcraft by a Christian person that I know for herbalism for urban medicine. And I was like, cool, that's not even no, like,
Speaker: You're calling me out on this, but this isn't the thing you should be calling me out on. Right. If only you knew. Jokes on them. It wasn't the herbalism that made me a witch. But I do use it in my practice. But do you think every person who has a farm then is a witch too? Right.
Speaker: No, Sam, that's like you eat that. That's sustenance. Okay. But herbs, we don't want to see some food. Yeah. How dare you. I put this one in quotes like that. You don't look like a witch.
Speaker: Like, witches are just regular people. We dress however we want to dress in our everyday lives. We don't have uniforms. We don't wear capes and, like, pointy hats. And while black is featured heavily in my personal wardrobe, like, wearing black is also not required. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, people, I feel, like, are shocked sometimes, too. Like, whenever they get to know you on a personal level and they find out how you believe and stuff, and they're like, oh, I never would have thought. And it's like, why wouldn't you have?
Speaker: I never like I never see somebody and I'm like, where's your broom? Yeah, you don't look like a Christian. What? What does that even mean? Oh, so dumb. Another big one too is like only women can practice witchcraft, which wrong, which is a gender neutral term.
Speaker: Like, do we need to say more on that? No, but I will. I'm just kidding. No, but seriously, my father was the first person I ever knew who practiced, and chances are there's someone out there, maybe even a male, that you know who also practices, even if it's on the deal. And I will say sometimes, men
Speaker: who practice will refer to themselves as like mages or wizards over like witch, but not all. A lot of like male practitioners call themselves a witch. So yeah, because like you said, like it's a gender neutral term. And often times too, like wizards and mages, like they
Speaker: they make people think of like they have different connotations to them. If you think about them in your mind and they'll be like, oh, well, like Dungeons and Dragons or something like that. Like they can get you're like out there, like LARPing or something, which is cool too. Like I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with LARPing, but they, people get a different misconception in their head whenever you say something like that.
Speaker: Well, it's also like the whole like you see sometimes like magic will be spelled with a K and it's like people trying to like differentiate like stage magic from witchcraft essentially. Same thing.
Speaker: So another area I wanted to cover was stereotypes. This is another quote that I found in one of the articles I came across that I liked, but this one is by Sophie St. Thomas. And she says, witches have been paying the price for enjoying life, be it dancing naked or wearing lipstick for far too long, which I just loved the quote. And it fits a lot of the stereotypes that we have talked about before and some of the ones that I'm going to talk about now.
Speaker: Again, some of this is not going to be new information if you've been listening to us since episode one. We've talked about a lot of these things, but it's important to keep talking about them and reiterating them and bringing light to the fact that these are stereotypes and they're not real and they shouldn't be believed as real. Some of them are crazy.
Speaker: Hollywood, which we did an entire episode in season one, another early on episode on witchcraft in the media. But Hollywood and just the media overall have painted a picture of what a witch looks like and what they act like. And we hope that everyone listening already knows that this is trash. But again, just in case we have those outside of the craft listening to this episode, it's worth noting, witches marks are not a thing. This was a way to prove, quote unquote, prove
Speaker: that a person was a witch during witch hunts and trials. And these marks were usually just like normal marks that a human has, like a freckle or a mole or a blemish or a scar or an injury or we talked about in like one of our early episodes, the missing limb. There was like a lady missing a leg and they were like, she's a witch. And they hung her because she was poor and didn't have a leg.
Speaker: But this mark was also sometimes referred to as an additional nipple, which is always hilarious to me when they talk about the witch's third nipple. But the belief was that a witch had an additional nipple that was used to feed a witch's familiar or where the devil drank from as a way to bind the witch to him.
Speaker: like literally just rolling my eyes at this point because it's so stupid. I love this. I also have to interject real fast because anybody who's a fan of Harry Styles knows that he has a third nipple. So I didn't know that. Maybe he's also a witch. We need his friends with Stevie Nicks, so it's probably not that far of a stretch, but I doubt that he is
Speaker: having the devil drink from him, from his third nibble. His third nibble. Who knows though, maybe. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker: And the other one is like long pointy noses. Hollywood has like portrayed witches like, I don't know, since the beginning of time, since the beginning of Hollywood as having like long pointy noses with like warts on them and that's how you know they're a witch. And like one of my favorites for this example is Monty Python where they're like, she's a witch, look at her nose. And then she's like, they put this nose on me. And then you could see the rope tying it to her head. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, we did put it on her. She turned me into a newt. I love that scene. It's so funny. Green Skin is another one. And I'm not sure about you, but I've not seen like a single person walking around with just naturally green skin. So dumb. But again, this is like Wizard of Oz and there's a whole like,
Speaker: racial connotation to how the Wizard of Oz portrayed witches and it was like a slight at the Jewish community. So if you're interested in that, we did talk about that a little bit in the media and witchcraft episode. I would also look into it. There's a whole lot of information on that. So a lot of that, again, was just anti -Semitic and a way to hurt the Jewish community.
Speaker: Yeah, which is really sad. It's something I didn't know about because I used to, whenever I was a kid, that was one of my favorite movies was Wizard of Oz. And it's just sad to know how hurtful just these stereotypes can be to especially communities of color. And it's frustrating. Well, and being an adult and seeing all the stuff about that movie in general,
Speaker: person that played the witch, the like the paint actually like made her
Speaker: sick. Yeah. Like the same thing with the 10 man because they painted him with some like poisonous silver paint and he was like sick every day like Yeah, and I think a lion too. There was something going on with his costume. Somebody like hung themselves on set like everything about this entire movie that we all loved as children. It's dark, so dark and so sad. And I think too like people say like this is like totally off topic.
Speaker: But I think like I remember reading something that people think that this is when Judy Garland basically kind of completely lost her marbles with this movie because she was treated so poorly. They kept telling her how fat she was. And so like the director only had her drinking like black coffee and smoking cigarettes. Like that's all she could do. And it's so sad.
Speaker: I think I read somewhere too that like, cause she was super young. Yeah. And I think they were like, I read some article that said something like they were supplying with her, like alcohol and like drugs and stuff. And she ended up like, I don't know if she went to rehab, but like she got pretty bad during the filming of the wizard. Just so sad. Yeah. Such a good movie, but it is a really good movie. Um, but it is terrible. Yeah.
Speaker: But also, I guess just to wrap up, these are some misconceptions of witchcraft. We kind of went off topic again. Don't believe them. And if you have any questions about anything that we discussed or you want to talk about it, more hit us up, because we're always here to talk about things like this. Or if somebody tells you something, we'd love to know what other misconceptions are that are out there that maybe we haven't heard before. Yes. So tell us, and then we can laugh about it together.
Speaker: Yeah, you talk about it on the podcast again. Yeah. I don't know if you heard, but.
Speaker: That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five -star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
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