I thought I'd thought I'd share this little essay I wrote recently as it is a very necessary and useful bit of information. I've been involved in magick, neo-paganism and the like for a few decades now, and these types are getting more and more brazen. I have several theories of why they view our communities (both online and meatspace) as "happy hunting grounds", but it boil down to this:
They presume that we have "no rules"; they imagine we have "no standards" and they mistakenly assume that "no one is watching". They couldn't be more wrong. Most of the paths, systems and mystery traditions gathered under the "pagan" umbrella label DO have ethical standards and expectations for how their adherents function; and we do police our own. It is not the free-for-all hippie-dippie lovefest the fluffy newage horde makes it out to be. Do not mistake healthy, open attitudes about sex, or different views on deity as being bereft of standards. And do not assume that just because someone says they are "pagan" or a "witch" or a "magician" that they are a decent person. Most are, but a few-- like those described in the essay below-- are vile and wouldn't know what real paganism or magick was if it ran over them with a steamroller, and have an agenda of getting something from you, rather than actually teaching you anything.
That said, we are still faced with many scumbags who are out to take what they can get from unsophisticated new pagans/occultists, and they especially prey on the new and the young.
We won't stand for it.
Yes, the language in here is rough, but this was written in response to a creepy wikkenhawk who gleefully is trawling for occult-flavoured sex on a newcomer’s forum populated with children under the age of 18, and posting his nude photos. Instead of simply admitting he made a mistake, he has gone on an angry rampage of self-justification. As any rational person knows, such justification is the hallmark of someone with an agenda, or the sign of someone who is mentally unstable. Any decent, rational person would have apologised and moved on.
This is cross-posted elsewhere.
**
Pagan predators and occult opportunists in our communities
Is anyone else grossed out (and occasionally deeply disturbed) by creepy fuckers claiming to be witches who are really just interested in getting laid? Or the typical armchair magician who puts on airs of Being Ever So Mystical, posing as a real occultist and claiming the only way to be an initiate is to suck his (tiny little) cock? What about the loudmouthed, self-appointed “Ladies” who get on a power trip and think that every one is in love with them? Yeah, you know the sort of people I am talking about.
We’ve all seen ‘em; at least those of us who’ve been around for a while. And of those of us who’ve been around for a while and who are actual initiates of traditions that have sexual components to them, we’ve developed a keen sense for being able to spot posers. We know the signs, the words, the catchphrases, the attitudes and all the little unconscious signals these arseholes shed like fleas off a dying dog. I will not explain all those “tells” here, it is more productive to watch these scumbags operate and warn their targets than to post the clues they send and blow their games. Just like any other sexual predator, if you give them an inkling that you are on to them, they flee underground for a bit, or change their name and approach.
Don’t get me wrong, I am no prude. I practice certain forms of sex magick and I am unabashedly open with my sexuality and my practices and my beliefs on these things. (In context; I certainly do not share them with children or people who don’t care to hear about them.) I have no problem with polyamory, bisexuality, homosexuality and certain ‘alternative” forms of sexuality. Some of them I even participate in. I have no issue with sex for the sake of sex, sex without love and good old-fashioned, anonymous quickies, as long as it is done safely (physically as well as magically “safe”.) I do draw the line at anything that compromises the will of those involved, particularly those who cannot give fully informed consent: animals, children under 18, the dead, the mentally or emotionally challenged, people under duress or times of extreme stress and most readers of $ilver Ravenwolf. (Yuck, I wouldn’t fuck those $RW reading sorts with someone else’s pussy!) I encourage sexual exploration between consenting adults, and feel that the institution of marriage as defined by the governments in the majority of US states and here in Australia is outmoded and in dire need of an overhaul. I think sexuality should be less repressed and the puritanical fear of body parts needs to be alleviated quicksmart.
But come on, using the occult and pagan communities to trawl for mystical-flavoured sex? Please. At least have the integrity to be honest about it. If you want to have a “spooky occult flavoured booty call” just bloody well say so. If you are an old fucker after hot young chicks but want no attachments, simply say so. Do you really think tricking others into touching your saggy bits is the right thing to do?
The sad fact is that the pagan and magick communities are targeted by opportunistic scumbags and predators because these communities are incorrectly viewed as having no rules, having no standards and having no one “policing” them. Boy, are these cretins ever wrong! Most systems of paganism and neo-paganism and magick do have well-developed system of ethics and tenets and practices—it isn’t “anything goes”. Most of them have very high standards, for instance, in the better magick orders and the valid mystery traditions, one must be a “proper person (to borrow a term) and this is determined after a very lengthy, extensive and thorough screening process. And as for policing? We police our own. If a predator or opportunist or general fuckwit comes in, the word goes out… and you’d be surprised at just how wide-spread that word can be.
So how do you tell if someone is an opportunistic assclown, out to get into your knickers? Two dead giveaways are:
1) The “poor me” ploy. The “I’m ever so misunderstood, pity me” gambit. It’s an oldie. Sexual predators use this one, sometimes posing as an injured person or as a person who has lost a cute little doggie in order to seem “harmless”. If you see someone on message boards claiming how they are ever so put upon and no one understand them and that they are misunderstood because they are such lofty, sexually aware witches or magicians, run away.
2) The “Christians are bad, mmmkay” tactic. Anytime they start in with how Christians are persecuting them and how they and other pagans are morally superior and how Christians have infiltrated everything, that is a sign of someone who has a very muddy, flawed thought process, and who really doesn’t understand magick or paganism at all. (Here’s a clue: bashing Christianity does not make you pagan, normally it means you are a pissed off ex-Christian. You haven’t embraced paganism; you merely grabbed a convenient, misunderstood label to rally against your former path.)
Trust me on this. Real sex magick practitioners don’t advertise in forums with kids, they don’t use tactics common to sexual predators and they are generally well-rounded and well-informed people. As I said, there are other tells and signs, but I don’t want to tip my hand to the perverts we are watching.
Love is the law, love under will.
SunVenus (Rachael M. Roth)
©2008 Rachael M. Roth. All Rights Reserved. You may not re-use, re-post or share this essay without the express written consent of the author. If you wish to show it to someone, please give them the link to this page.
They presume that we have "no rules"; they imagine we have "no standards" and they mistakenly assume that "no one is watching". They couldn't be more wrong. Most of the paths, systems and mystery traditions gathered under the "pagan" umbrella label DO have ethical standards and expectations for how their adherents function; and we do police our own. It is not the free-for-all hippie-dippie lovefest the fluffy newage horde makes it out to be. Do not mistake healthy, open attitudes about sex, or different views on deity as being bereft of standards. And do not assume that just because someone says they are "pagan" or a "witch" or a "magician" that they are a decent person. Most are, but a few-- like those described in the essay below-- are vile and wouldn't know what real paganism or magick was if it ran over them with a steamroller, and have an agenda of getting something from you, rather than actually teaching you anything.
That said, we are still faced with many scumbags who are out to take what they can get from unsophisticated new pagans/occultists, and they especially prey on the new and the young.
We won't stand for it.
Yes, the language in here is rough, but this was written in response to a creepy wikkenhawk who gleefully is trawling for occult-flavoured sex on a newcomer’s forum populated with children under the age of 18, and posting his nude photos. Instead of simply admitting he made a mistake, he has gone on an angry rampage of self-justification. As any rational person knows, such justification is the hallmark of someone with an agenda, or the sign of someone who is mentally unstable. Any decent, rational person would have apologised and moved on.
This is cross-posted elsewhere.
**
Pagan predators and occult opportunists in our communities
Is anyone else grossed out (and occasionally deeply disturbed) by creepy fuckers claiming to be witches who are really just interested in getting laid? Or the typical armchair magician who puts on airs of Being Ever So Mystical, posing as a real occultist and claiming the only way to be an initiate is to suck his (tiny little) cock? What about the loudmouthed, self-appointed “Ladies” who get on a power trip and think that every one is in love with them? Yeah, you know the sort of people I am talking about.
We’ve all seen ‘em; at least those of us who’ve been around for a while. And of those of us who’ve been around for a while and who are actual initiates of traditions that have sexual components to them, we’ve developed a keen sense for being able to spot posers. We know the signs, the words, the catchphrases, the attitudes and all the little unconscious signals these arseholes shed like fleas off a dying dog. I will not explain all those “tells” here, it is more productive to watch these scumbags operate and warn their targets than to post the clues they send and blow their games. Just like any other sexual predator, if you give them an inkling that you are on to them, they flee underground for a bit, or change their name and approach.
Don’t get me wrong, I am no prude. I practice certain forms of sex magick and I am unabashedly open with my sexuality and my practices and my beliefs on these things. (In context; I certainly do not share them with children or people who don’t care to hear about them.) I have no problem with polyamory, bisexuality, homosexuality and certain ‘alternative” forms of sexuality. Some of them I even participate in. I have no issue with sex for the sake of sex, sex without love and good old-fashioned, anonymous quickies, as long as it is done safely (physically as well as magically “safe”.) I do draw the line at anything that compromises the will of those involved, particularly those who cannot give fully informed consent: animals, children under 18, the dead, the mentally or emotionally challenged, people under duress or times of extreme stress and most readers of $ilver Ravenwolf. (Yuck, I wouldn’t fuck those $RW reading sorts with someone else’s pussy!) I encourage sexual exploration between consenting adults, and feel that the institution of marriage as defined by the governments in the majority of US states and here in Australia is outmoded and in dire need of an overhaul. I think sexuality should be less repressed and the puritanical fear of body parts needs to be alleviated quicksmart.
But come on, using the occult and pagan communities to trawl for mystical-flavoured sex? Please. At least have the integrity to be honest about it. If you want to have a “spooky occult flavoured booty call” just bloody well say so. If you are an old fucker after hot young chicks but want no attachments, simply say so. Do you really think tricking others into touching your saggy bits is the right thing to do?
The sad fact is that the pagan and magick communities are targeted by opportunistic scumbags and predators because these communities are incorrectly viewed as having no rules, having no standards and having no one “policing” them. Boy, are these cretins ever wrong! Most systems of paganism and neo-paganism and magick do have well-developed system of ethics and tenets and practices—it isn’t “anything goes”. Most of them have very high standards, for instance, in the better magick orders and the valid mystery traditions, one must be a “proper person (to borrow a term) and this is determined after a very lengthy, extensive and thorough screening process. And as for policing? We police our own. If a predator or opportunist or general fuckwit comes in, the word goes out… and you’d be surprised at just how wide-spread that word can be.
So how do you tell if someone is an opportunistic assclown, out to get into your knickers? Two dead giveaways are:
1) The “poor me” ploy. The “I’m ever so misunderstood, pity me” gambit. It’s an oldie. Sexual predators use this one, sometimes posing as an injured person or as a person who has lost a cute little doggie in order to seem “harmless”. If you see someone on message boards claiming how they are ever so put upon and no one understand them and that they are misunderstood because they are such lofty, sexually aware witches or magicians, run away.
2) The “Christians are bad, mmmkay” tactic. Anytime they start in with how Christians are persecuting them and how they and other pagans are morally superior and how Christians have infiltrated everything, that is a sign of someone who has a very muddy, flawed thought process, and who really doesn’t understand magick or paganism at all. (Here’s a clue: bashing Christianity does not make you pagan, normally it means you are a pissed off ex-Christian. You haven’t embraced paganism; you merely grabbed a convenient, misunderstood label to rally against your former path.)
Trust me on this. Real sex magick practitioners don’t advertise in forums with kids, they don’t use tactics common to sexual predators and they are generally well-rounded and well-informed people. As I said, there are other tells and signs, but I don’t want to tip my hand to the perverts we are watching.
Love is the law, love under will.
SunVenus (Rachael M. Roth)
©2008 Rachael M. Roth. All Rights Reserved. You may not re-use, re-post or share this essay without the express written consent of the author. If you wish to show it to someone, please give them the link to this page.
