Status Updates From Rebel Witch

I know some reviewers don't take kindly to the informal language (and it is kind of weird being called a poptart by a book instead of by someone through a camera, into a YouTube video preserved for as long as the servers are up), but I'm also getting my ass kicked by an older how-to/101 book that's absolutely OBSESSED with respectability politics and I know Maddox doesn't play like that, so I feel better already

As comparative theology, I find this fascinating. The whole book is, "you could do this, or you could do this that way, or you can skip this, whatever works for you, whatever you feel comfortable with." versus every organized religion I've ever worked for/with/within, which has been "You must do it this way," or, at bestm "you should do it this way."

"LInear time is a struggle for me." Me too, Kelly-Ann. Me too.

I need to binge this book, take notes, annotate, then go back and reread sections slowly. It's a reference book, and that's how I need to approach reference books going forward.

Here's what I'm taking from this so far: witchcraft is like vision boarding. You find symbols that have meaning for you, make you think about what you want. You get the crystal that means love or a photo of the vacation you want to take or the action figure that represents the person you want to be. And through magic, psychology, whatever, it's in front of you, you about it, you find the path to make it happen.

I'm finding many parallels to my creative career in here, i.e., people will tell you there's a right way and a wrong way, judge you and give you grief, insist you're being foolish and wasting your time. Conformity is enforced by people who have power, so they can consolidate and keep that power, and in any context, religious, political, business, empowering yourself upsets them.

TLDR (so far) Don't let other people tell you what to believe. If it doesn't feel right, it ain't right.

So Tolkien thought machines were separating our connections to nature and community, way back when he was writing LOTR. He also had a lot to say about myths being real to the people who believed them, and the importance and power of ritual. He was a devout Catholic, but he had his own approach to that. Which brings me here, to what's basically a practical comparative religion book.