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@warwind2381
The idea that the site has "spies" specifically is absurd. Spies imply a state of warfare, or imply that there is something hidden on this public site that would be worth the espionage.
We welcome anyone to this site who wishes to be here. People making accounts to cause trouble, mess up the chat, or generally be a nuisance aren't welcome. Religion isn't an issue unless a person whom enters decides to make it an issue.
While it is true that there will be the odd non pagan that feels it necessary to point out just how damned our souls are, by far it is the minority that do so.
Many of the spells that are "met with disbelief" are the ones that seem impossible, far fetched, or outright fake.
If a person posted "Today I turned into Godzilla and burned down Tokyo, here is the spell I used.." Would you believe them without attempting a rational exercise to determine how plausible the spell is? It was once a common held idea among occult practitioners to use common sense and logic to decide if something was within the realm of possibility, while nowadays it seems like blind faith and defence of blind faith is the norm.
Rational thought has been around for hundreds of years, and using rational thought and logic to debunk or sift through spells is encouraged, and not to be discouraged.
While it is true that self doubt can cause issues with your magical practices, it is a well practised and well learned mage/witch/whatever that can overcome it. Learning to use magic and interacting with the Self, it becomes necessary to understand your own mind and its ability to cause issues or boons.
If anyone cannot overcome their doubts, or fears, perhaps they aren't ready to be active spellcasters.
It also should be noted that magic is personally subjective, and the words of others Should be meaningless to you and your practice except to take in what is useful. If anything somebody said can dig at you, rile you up, or cause doubt.. perhaps your own beliefs aren't as solid as you want to think they are. Not calling you out in particular war, but that as a general statement of fact applying to anyone in the described situation.
We ought to be above it, we can be above it, we Are above it.
When it comes to magical beings/entities/creatures/gods/ect again it is subjective. One person's deity is another person's demon. One person's Right is another's Wrong. You will never have everyone agree, and as I mentioned prior it is unimportant that they do. It is infact a waste of time to Try to make them agree, and wasting the energy only accomplishes wasting the energy.
Many people here take umbrage at the concept that people blindly assume every magical being ever conceived by humanity exists, and beyond that.. Exists on This plane and can even mix into the human gene pool!
There are dozens of reasons why this line of reason is faulty, flawed, and downright painful. The most obvious reason is many of these beings are considered to be energy, not flesh. Energy cannot mate with flesh, cannot join as flesh, and cannot "hybridize" with flesh. Human is Human. Souls are souls, Humans are Souls with physical form, but they are Still Human while they keep the flesh they wear.
It isn't a poor idea to believe, or to believe in spirits or beings of non human origin. To blindly believe that all of humanity's ghosts and goblins, gods and demons, and all other stripes not only exist on this plane, but would Care about our existence enough to interact on a regular basis with us is downright arrogant. If one examines the way that some speak of spirits, you can all but Taste the arrogance and presumption in their words, even as they are blind to it. Gods are Gods for a reason.
Western medicine treats all those who do not display the mainstream belief, the current social Norm, to be insane. By definition insanity is deviation from the Norm, and since each Individual Deviates to a degree, by Definition Humanity is collectively Insane. There IS no real "normal" it is a lie that we tell each other to better ease social interaction, and a poor lie at that.
People who say they hear voices can be diagnosed as mentally ill. People who say they hear the voice of God can be diagnosed mentally ill, it is not pagan/non Christian Only. Any person of Any faith can be called insane. My personal opinion on insanity, is that many forms of it are caused by interaction between the spiritual self and mental self, conflicting interacting information between what we experience as life and what we experience being sent to our souls. I believe there are physical signs and chemicals that signify these, because As the changes happen at one level they happen on ALL levels. As above, so Below.
The benefit of the doubt is earned through rationally and logically explaining beliefs and reasons, Not through blind acceptance. Society can accept a madman who is rational, Crowley is an interesting example.
Flashy magic as you call it, seems to be undefined. Now I could say that projecting lightning from your hands a la star wars would fit what you call "flashy magic". In this example, there are means and lesser ways to project charged energy from ones hands, ie accumulating and manipulating static. Some people with awakened psychic talent cause electrical disturbances, radio static, and bulbs to explode. Their energy is in a frequency that is disharmonious with such things, and is therefore disruptive.
Is projecting actual lightning impossible? If you could, you would sear your flesh, and blacken your hands. Ones mind, body and soul have safeguards so we do not damage our containers, which is why if you hold your breath you pass out.. instead of asphyxiating.
Demons really have nothing to do with the rest of your argument, and bring up their existence does nothing to forward your point. If it doesn't add sensibly to your argument it becomes unnecessary filler.
Yes in many countries there are witch/ect killings. There are also honour killings, debt killings, mutilations, and attacks against other faiths, and attacks against women and children. Why do you presume to say that only Pagan lives have value? (I realise you Did Not implicitly state this, for sake of argument I am using it as an example)
Even before the witch burnings of the past, people would have issues with those they felt were capable of magic. In some countries, mexico being an example, there are "witch doctors" whom practice curses and black magic, that they willingly unleash against their neighbours. It becomes a case of a bad apple spoiling a barrel, and spreads fear. People react to things that cause them harm, and the cycle of witch/ect vs non is much older and more circular then you seem to realise. It's infact as old as human vs human, and to think of it in any less broad terms is folly.
Calling entire groups your enemy does nothing to the groups. It wastes your energy in grudges and hatred. What does it earn you? Do you feel at peace for hating them? Does it give you security to hate? How about happiness? I would bet the answer to all of those is no. The real enemies here are hate and fear. If neither side hated nor feared the other, what reason would there be for conflict? Religious differences? Without hate and fear, differences can be debated, respected, accepted, and even celebrated.
As long as humans keep their heads down in the mud, and stay more willing to be ignorant then enlightened, there will be people who hate. Hate out of fear, misguides senses of righteousness, or in reaction to having been treated. None are acceptable, and none are Right.
Every religious group has fundamentalist sects. They are the loudest and the most notorious. The ones that bay for blood, with zeal and frenzy, and truly only accomplish the feat of embarrassing their fellow man. Surely the Godhead weeps in shame at the way our souls behave.
It really does seem that you are too close to the issue to be objective. As having grown up in the bible belt, you have been discriminated against most of your life. That doesn't mean everyone, everywhere who is non pagan/ect is the same, nor does it mean that everyone who hates or commits heinous acts are doing it from faith. Faith is as much as an excuse to butcher ones fellow man as any, and is even more acceptable now because it is seen as justifiable. Justifiable arguments do not make right or moral.
Publicity allows hate to thrive. If everyone in the world ignored and forgot about people who spread hate, or even laughed at them, there would be less and less of them seen.
What it comes down to is posting in this manner, emotionally and unobjectivly makes you out to be as bad as you see "them" to be.
I hope you can understand that I am not "bashing", but being objective and clinical. If you choose to respond, it would be encouraging if you could do so in the same manner.
As for everyone else whom has posted. Disagreement is fine. Debate is encouraged, and argument is acceptable.
If you cannot do so logically and objectively or must resort to put downs, then you are really no better then the person whom is on the receiving end of your scorn.
Ideally we can all co-exist and debate without taking things personally. This world is Not Ideal.
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