// Fresh Guts Flesh ࿔

Someone tries to dictate your beliefs and/or practice based on their personal experiences (aka UPG, or unverified personal gnosis).

They claim the gods will punish you if you don't go along with them.

They appeal to conspiracy theories to justify their beliefs. (See also Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags.)

They make big, dramatic predictions (like claiming aliens will arrive on a certain date, or that the ancient gods will return and overthrow the government soon).

They claim to have a big, important role in the grand cosmic drama (like claiming they're the Archangel Michael and they're going to fight Satan, which will lead to the fall of the government).

They are extremely opposed to skepticism, critical thinking, and/or academia. Not merely critical where it's actually appropriate, but treating it like it's all pure evil.

They encourage you to cut off people who don't believe or criticize what they teach.

They are absolutely certain they can use mystical means (like astrology or tarot) to determine whether someone is a good or bad person.

They are absolutely certain they can just sense whether someone is good or bad.

They are absolutely certain they can use mystical means to find out what another person is thinking or doing.

They claim you were connected to them in a past life.

When I first began interacting with witchcraft and paganism in the 2010s, I had very little discernment, and I believed everything I saw. I believed things people said on their blogs and microblogs. I believed random websites I saw. I believed people who said they had something to tell me from whoever/whatever.

I wish I had learned that I did not need to listen to everyone, and I seriously wish I had understood how to critically consume witchcraft and pagan content.

when it comes to educational posts, verbiage that implies the absolute necessity of something ("must", "have to", etc.) when that something is actually optional, can be harmful

there

i said it

and in case that was worded poorly, stop saying shit like "your tarot deck MUST choose YOU for the best outcomes" for example

if that's your personal opinion on how magic works for you then that's obviously fine but attempting to push those ideas onto people as if they are fact is not fine

all because you understand more doesnt mean you're above the human experience. you may have better nuance of the world around you, but you're still a HUMAN.

modern spirituality and modern astrology pisses me off. some of these people need to work through their egos and get off their high horse. because that's a one way trip to a some sort of superiority complex that none of us need right now. it's legit dangerous to think you're above everyone because you have a deeper understanding.

to protect yourself against this, i always found it better to acknowledge you're still a human. you're still a person-- a person with the ability of being ignorant and wrong.

My ancestors would have wanted pasteurization, vaccines, antibiotics, disinfectants, birth control, psychiatric medications, pain management, anesthesia. My ancestors would have wanted to be able to keep their loved ones around longer, and not lose them too early/too soon to childbirths, injuries, bacterial infections, mental illnesses, and diseases that are curable and/or preventable in our modern day life.