Harassment Of Witches

All weekend long, I kept thinking to myself that I needed to write a blog post, so that it was ready to go out Monday morning. That never happened. I had plenty of time, but there were always other things to do, like play Space Engineers.

This morning, I got a text from a friend about the Witchcraft Academy Group Page on Facebook, that someone had posted a bunch of hate messages all over it. That’s interesting, because I thought you had to be a member of the group in order to post. Isn’t that the point of a group page? To give members a place to post things to each other? Apparently not.

Anyway, the offending post begins:

“Do You Know The Saviour,whatever Means The Gospel Of Truth Is Coming Accept It.
Hell Fire Is Real, Witchcraft E.T.C Is Satanic And Demonic And Do You All Know That It Can Take A Soul To Hell.The End Time Is Near And None Can Stop It,it's Real As The Signs Of The Times Are Everywhere.”

That’s a direct copy/paste. The errors are all theirs. The post actually isn’t that long, just over and over and over again. There were probably half a dozen posts, all saying the exact same thing. Everything happens for a reason. I have the topic of my weekly blog post. Better late than never.

Atmosphere of Harassment

These posts caused a bit of panic from a few members, who thought the page had been hacked. It also brought out the words “Hate Speech” as a way to describe the posts. I really dislike the term Hate Speech, because hate speech is anything you want it to be. It’s purely subjective.

As the owner of a website, with a link for people to contact me, I’m used to getting these sorts of messages. I won’t say it’s continuous, but it is constant. This is the first time I’ve had it happen on Facebook. I think this freaked a few people out, who aren’t used to it, but I understood it for what it was.

This guy (the Facebook profile says it’s a guy, anyway) has found God. Probably very recently, and wants to help everyone else find God as well.

How do I know this? Well, while I can’t say my observation is a certainty, I do remember how I felt, when I first found Wicca. I wanted to tell the world about it. This Path was perfect! It solved all the problems! Why hadn’t anyone else discovered this?

The truth is, I would have told anyone who would have listened, if Witchcraft had been a socially acceptable Spiritual Path back then. When I first started learning my Craft, it was very much still Underground. There was no Facebook, no YouTube. There was no Internet. There were no public figures openly stating they were Wiccan. None of that.

In fact, I was warned, heavily warned, that telling other people could actually put me in danger. After all, the Burning Times could happen again. So I said nothing about my discovery. Now imagine someone finding their True Path, or at least, what they believe to be their True Path, and it’s one of the three Dominant Religions on the planet. It’s socially acceptable to talk about in public.

That is what happened to the Witchcraft Academy Facebook page today. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not appreciate what was done, nor will I tolerate it. I deleted all but one of the posts, notified Facebook, and put the poster on Moderation, so he can’t post again without my explicit permission.

Free Speech vs. Hate Speech

As I said above, I don’t use the term Hate Speech. Hate Speech is literally anything you want it to be. According to legaldictionary.com, Hate Speech is, “Speech that is intended to offend, insult, intimidate, or threaten an individual or group based on a trait or attribute, such as sexual orientation, religion, color, gender, or disability.” It doesn’t say who determines the intent. That means that the person who hears or reads what was written or said, is the one who determines its intent.

So here’s the question. Was the post intended to offend? Since I’m very hard to offend, these posts didn’t offend me in any way. I was however upset that it was posted six times. Others who saw the posts though, were extremely bothered by it.

As I said, I’ve gotten emails like this before, so I guess I’m used to it. On Facebook, I get into political threads all the time. Most of my Facebook friends are on the Left side of the political spectrum, and I’m more central. They don’t like a lot of what I say on Facebook. Some have even replied with a single word to my posts, calling me an “Idiot”. Should I be offended?

What this tells me, is that they have no argument for my logical and thought out ideas, so they resort to name calling. Name calling didn’t hurt me as a kid, and it doesn’t hurt me now. I’ve also been online since the late 80’s (about the same time I became a Witch), so I know better than to take anything said online personally. Yet, if you look, you see people being hurt by “deplatforming” and other retributions perpetrated by various social media platforms, because someone else took offense, and didn’t like what the person said.

As a person who belongs to more than one “oppressed class” (yeah, I don’t believe in those either), I do find it offensive when Authority, be it Facebook, YouTube, Patreon, or the Government, steps in to quash a person’s ability to be heard, because someone else didn’t like what they had to say. That is called censorship.

Control What You Can

As Witches, we know that the only thing under our own direct control, is ourselves. That was one of the first lessons I learned as a Witch. People are going to say things we don’t like. These posts on the Witchcraft Academy Facebook page are an example.

I can’t control what this person believes, or what they post. They have the right to say whatever they want, wherever they choose. I can, and did control their ability to post on our Facebook page without my consent. I also reported the posts to Facebook, because it is unacceptable for someone who isn’t a member of the group, to come into our space, and lecture on things they know nothing about.

I don’t have to like what a person says, or thinks, but I must acknowledge their right to say it. I don’t have to listen to it. This person came into a space I created, so I have every right to throw them out. This won’t stop them from saying the same thing in other places, but I don’t have to listen. I have that right.

I can only control what I do. I can only control how I react. So many of my friends on Facebook, and people around the country, feel like they have the right to silence anyone who says anything they don’t agree with. They don’t. They do however have the right to walk away.

We are Witches. The same rules that give us the freedom to be Witches, learn Witchcraft, and gather together, are the very same rules that allow others to say things we don’t like. When you chose to be a Witch, you chose the hard path. You chose to think before you act. You chose to be responsible for your actions. You chose to always do the right thing.

When in doubt, follow the Rede.

The Rede says, “An’ it harm none, do what you will”. It’s a simple rule that covers any situation. You are free to do anything you want, as long as no one gets harmed. How do you know if someone will be harmed? Simple. Think through what you want to do, and ask yourself, will this directly harm anyone? If the answer is no, feel free to continue. If the answer is yes, you will want to rethink your plans, and see if there’s a way to remove the harm.

This is how most people look at the Rede. What I’ve never seen anyone do, is look at it from the other side. Everyone else is also free to do whatever they like, so long as they do not harm me. Do words harm me? When I was five, they did. As an adult, I am exposed to much more harmful things than words. Ideas may incite harm, but they, in and of themselves are not harmful.

Was this post harmful? To the extent that it caused people to be frightened, I would say it was. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really harmful. It caused a little anxiety, but nothing more.

Since the Facebook page for Witchcraft Academy was set up, and is administered by me, I have a responsibility for its wellbeing. That means removing unacceptable posts when required. Those posts can be by people outside the group, like this one, or from people who belong to the group, posting inappropriate things.

I am not worried about people who post how I must find God and Save my soul. They are harmless, for the most part. There’s an old axiom that you can’t kill an idea. It’s when they pass laws, and/or force me to follow their beliefs, whatever they are, that they cause harm.

This one guy is nothing more than a nuance. He doesn’t upset me, because I also understand the Threefold Law. Whatever you put out, returns to you with three times the power. It doesn’t matter if it’s a zealous Christian posting on my page, or a political extremist, getting someone banned because they don’t like the ideas a person expressed.

Be aware, but react thoughtfully.

The world is full of bad people. Those people are going to find ways to do what they chose to do, no matter what rules are put against them. It doesn’t matter if the person posts crap online, or shoots a bunch of unarmed people at worship. If they are intent on it, they will do it. I should also point out that the same is also true for a person who works for good.

We all get back, whatever we put out into the Universe. That energy either helps us attain our goals, or drags us further back. Most of us are held in place, because we do less than positive things without ever thinking about it. Being negative, leads to more negativity in your life. The opposite is also true, but because most of us react poorly when things don’t go our way. Sometimes you have to dig yourself out of the hole of negativity, before you can see all the positive in your life.

The person who posted on the Facebook page this morning, thought they were doing something positive, and beneficial. They were trying to Save our Souls, and in their belief system, there is nothing more Holy. The fact that we have no desire to be Saved, isn’t a condition positive act.

Our reaction to what he’s done, will determine what energy we put out into the Universe, and therefore, what the Universe will bring back to us. This isn’t about ‘Turning the other cheek’, it’s about learning to react thoughtfully. That requires thinking about how to react, before you react. That’s not easy, especially when your emotions are involved.

This entire blog post isn’t about what happened on Facebook today. It’s about understanding the Universe, and your place in it. It’s about thinking before you act. It’s about changing a perceived negative, into a positive.

Most of the energy we put out, comes from the way we react to others. If your first inclination is to get mad, what kind of energy are you going to put out? If that’s the energy you’re putting out, what should you expect to get back? If you’re always mad or upset or angry at the things that “happen” to you, what kind of energy are you sending off to the Universe?

What is your returning energy going to look like?