Break the Virus: Paganism Needs Magic
I believe the continuous drive to remove magic from Wicca and Paganism in general is one of the worst tendencies I have encountered. This is even more confusing when witchcraft is presented as devoid of magic. I have said something similar for 15 years, and will take it a step further and say something even more controversial here. Rituals for community building (as is “popular” right now), is mostly a bunch of bullshit. No punches pulled. If you have a guttural reaction to what I just said, realize that you are reacting to something that you identify with. I get it. Hear me out though. Read through the whole article. — via Andrieh Vitimus’s blog
Vitimus gets into the commodification of religion and ritual–how the opportunistic have been doing so with Christianity and with various pagan-related traditions–while “defanging” them of anything transformative, substantial, or subversive. After all, anything that might challenge your ego is bad for business and thus for getting your money and devotion while also disenchanting the world and those practices and religions that have sought to enchant the world again. I can imagine many folks buying into this strand of “faith” in some deranged attempt at finding “legitimacy” and “prestige” (often having class and fiscal aspects, I’d say) in the broader culture.