Anti-Fluffybunny-ism (hell, pagans, worship, Wicca, paganism)

[michel]

Originally Posted by Mike182

ok, the Fluffy bunnies are the ones who pick up any old book on Wicca or witchcraft, and think that after reading it, they can start doing spells straight away without learning any respect for the craft, or having any grounding in basic energy works or meditation and visualisation.

the scratchy badgers are the ones who have been involved in the craft for a long time, have read almost every book, tried almost every style of practice, and as such have an arrogant opinion of themselves being better at being a Pagan than others.

Is there then a description for the "middle of the road" (knowledgable but not arrogant) pagans?

[Mike182]

Originally Posted by michel

Is there then a description for the "middle of the road" (knowledgable but not arrogant) pagans?

not really... i guess you would just call them realistic

[Storm]

Originally Posted by Mike182

ok, the Fluffy bunnies are the ones who pick up any old book on Wicca or witchcraft, and think that after reading it, they can start doing spells straight away without learning any respect for the craft, or having any grounding in basic energy works or meditation and visualisation.

Oh, you mean playgans!

I always thought "fluffy bunnies" were the ones who didn't acknowledge the "dark side" and thought anyone who worked with it - even in a balanced practice - was a bad person.

But I haven't been neopagan for quite a while, and didn't have much of a community when I was.

[Gentoo]

The definition of fluffy bunny changes depending on who you're talking to.

[BFD_Zayl]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

The definition of fluffy bunny changes depending on who you're talking to.

if you wanna meet a big group of fluffies, try the Alder or Nelda groups on AOL, they often meet in a "wicca chat" chat room three times a week at 10:00 est in the "life" section, member created section...ehhh...anyways...they are usually nice, polite, and they talk about food alot, in fact, 80% of the time its all they talk about. now i've been their friend for awhile, but last night wen they stopped talking about food long enough, someone brought up the topic of necromancy (not me, surprisingly) ...dead silencehit the room, then someone said "is that even real?" and then another person got a definition "they are an assortment of graverobbers, necrophiliacs, corpse violaters, and they make the spirits of the dead bend to their will"
now it was my turn to be dumbstruck. i said "excuse me?" and people pretty much ignored me, then i got mad, and made it known. when someone said "whats wrong" i just said "oh nothing, i guess i'm just a grave robbing necrophiliac who makes dead people submit to his will" now, this got a good reaction, an apology or two, and they fell quiet, allowing me to give my definition, now, i thought that this would be the end of it and everything was rectified and we could move on...nope! such was not the case. i got reactions such as "all that icky energy" and "gross" and "why would someone do that? its wrong" and other such things, after an akward silence they resumed talking about food, making the occasional toungue in cheek insult at my expense. so, fluffy bunnies can be anyone, i guess a very general term would be someone who shows extreme ignorance to everything except their own path, and even their own version of it, i've seen the Neldas clash with other wiccans, just because of a slight difference in creed, the normal wiccans see no point in fighting, say goodbye to those who were nice to them, then leave...so...yeah, thats what a fluffy is in my eyes. its not that their uneducated, they just do not wish to learn. theres a difference between not knowing and not wanting to know.

[Mike182]

Originally Posted by Storm

Oh, you mean playgans!

I always thought "fluffy bunnies" were the ones who didn't acknowledge the "dark side" and thought anyone who worked with it - even in a balanced practice - was a bad person.

But I haven't been neopagan for quite a while, and didn't have much of a community when I was.

i hadn't even thought about looking at the light and dark forms of Paganism when defining a fluffy... well, that throws a spanner in my works...

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Mike182

how do you mean by unauthentic worship?

I mean that Wicca has its own structure, concepts and rituals for practice and worship that doesn't leave a whole lot of room to implement "historic" ways of worshipping one's chosen patron. I'm not saying that Wiccans are apathetic to history, but there's only so much Celtic cultural practice you can stuff into Wicca before it ceases being Wicca, and only so much Wicca you can stuff into Celtic Gods before they cease being....Celtic. Like, the Wiccan framework defines the Goddess as the "Maiden Mother Crone" archetype, but not all Godesses of myth work that way. How much Wiccan tradition can you take out for the sake of history and authenticity before it's just not Wicca anymore.

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Mike182

i hadn't even thought about looking at the light and dark forms of Paganism when defining a fluffy... well, that throws a spanner in my works...

The definition of fluffy is very inclusive these days. Though, now it's so inclusive people have started coming up with labels for sub-sets of fluffys. Like, the people who are new and think they know everything, or tell you they can shoot flames from their eyes are the "playgans", and the ones who believe only in the light and happy sides of Wicca are the "white-lighters".

Personally I have more of an issue with the Pagans and Wiccans, new or old, who just aren't interested in learning. There are quite a number of people who want it handed to them on a silver platter, and I think that's what bothers most people. But at the same time, there's no reason to be nasty. The white light and rainbows types don't really bother me. They tend to be on the younger side, and don't really get that dark side yet. Like it says in my sig: "Is e ‘n t-ionnsachadh òg an t-ionnsachadh bòidheach", which is Gaelic for "The learning of youth is the pretty learning".