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

[Littledragon]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

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".

Hehe... My favorite is Charmed ones who have seen every episode and think that is how a witch should behave.

Here is a site that describes the bunnies:
http://wicca.timerift.net/fluffy.shtml

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Littledragon

Hehe... My favorite is Charmed ones who have seen every episode and think that is how a witch should behave.

Here is a site that describes the bunnies:
http://wicca.timerift.net/fluffy.shtml

One of the best Pagan sites on the web, imo =D

[bflydad]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

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.

At the same time, there are people who identify themseleves as Jewish-Wiccans and Christian-Wiccans, so I think if you are willing to hyphenate, you can combine multiple belief systems.

For myself, I may "appropriate" a god or goddess from another pantheon for a while to try to learn a specific lesson(s) that I think he/she is best to teach me. Right now, I am trying to learn better from Pan how to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life . I don't know if that would be considered appropriating or not. One could see Pan as the young king/ Green Man around the Ostara/ Beltane time period but it is easier for me to visualize the aspects I am trying to embody by thinking about Pan. Does that make any sense?

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by bflydad

At the same time, there are people who identify themseleves as Jewish-Wiccans and Christian-Wiccans, so I think if you are willing to hyphenate, you can combine multiple belief systems.

For myself, I may "appropriate" a god or goddess from another pantheon for a while to try to learn a specific lesson(s) that I think he/she is best to teach me. Right now, I am trying to learn better from Pan how to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life . I don't know if that would be considered appropriating or not. One could see Pan as the young king/ Green Man around the Ostara/ Beltane time period but it is easier for me to visualize the aspects I am trying to embody by thinking about Pan. Does that make any sense?

But, most of the time those combined traditions are also taking God, Jesus, Mary etc out of their original context and into a Wiccan one.
I also think that modern Wicca encourages using Deities as tools, like a correspondence list. Not saying that's what you're doing, but its not an uncommon thing.

[bflydad]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

But, most of the time those combined traditions are also taking God, Jesus, Mary etc out of their original context and into a Wiccan one.
I also think that modern Wicca encourages using Deities as tools, like a correspondence list. Not saying that's what you're doing, but its not an uncommon thing.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what do you mean by correspondence list?

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by bflydad

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what do you mean by correspondence list?

Like, use a green candle for money spells, a rose quartz for love spells, and call on Bast to find your lost cat.
As in, calling on a specific god for a specific spell, as if they were tools, rather than gods.

[Scarlett Wampus]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

Like, use a green candle for money spells, a rose quartz for love spells, and call on Bast to find your lost cat.
As in, calling on a specific god for a specific spell, as if they were tools, rather than gods.

In some respects I think they are called upon as tools and not just by Wiccans. After all, people typically call for the help of a deity if they can't do something themselves. Some would suggest that's partly why humans began to worship deities in the first place.

Magical thinking like "green candle + Aphrodite invocation = new lover" might seem superficial and out of context of how such a goddess was worshipped in ancient Greece, but not that much.

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Wampus

In some respects I think they are called upon as tools and not just by Wiccans. After all, people typically call for the help of a deity if they can't do something themselves. Some would suggest that's partly why humans began to worship deities in the first place.

Magical thinking like "green candle + Aphrodite invocation = new lover" might seem superficial and out of context of how such a goddess was worshipped in ancient Greece, but not that much.

But doing that on a constant basis and not trying to form some sort of relationship with any Deity is, to me, superficial, and misses the point all-together.

[MaddLlama]

Anyhow, back to the original topic, I think one of the problems that the widespread "anti-fluffy" attitude has is that all newcomers are automatically slapped with the fluffy label, and some just don't deserve to be. I would limit the fluffy label to those, new or old, who are simply willfully ignorant, and most newcomers aren't. They just don't know, because they're new. They ask questions and make observations and get treated like crap by some people because of this attitude of "I can't be associated with anything fluffy". This is of course not to mention the special breed of Pagan who believes anything or anyone that is Wiccan must be a fluffybunny, or even the Recons who think they're the only intelligent Pagans. And frankly I find that insulting.

My point is that Pagans throw around the Fluffy label like rice at a wedding, and it in turn hurts and discourages the newcomers. In my observation, for a path that supposedly values tolerance we have a funny way of showing it.