Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

[dragonyphoenix]

So my aunt posted this with the Wiccan Rede below it. I don’t know what to think of it so I’m sharing it here. Any thoughts?

I'm not fond of some of the posts someone has been posting, making fun of Christmas practices and/or Christians (but really showing her arrogance and that she believes she's more intelligent than the rest of us), but I bit my tongue until now. I don't want to be mean, I want her to THINK about how her posts must affect her family, because if she gave it any thought at all she wouldn't have posted most of it. We're all entitled to our own beliefs, and no one should be making fun of another's beliefs.

“Ever mind the Rule of Three
Three Times what thou givest returns to thee
This lesson well, thou must learn
Thee only gets what thou dost earn!”

Since I’m the only non-Christian in the family, this is directed at me although she doesn’t name me directly.

So, what have I posted this month?
44 non-holiday
25 holiday related but I can’t see how they’d be offensive (although possibly I’m wrong. Maybe she found the cthulhu tree offensive)
28 holiday songs
11 solstice / yule
1 Kwanzaa

Out of 128 posts, I’m guessing these 9 are offensive (except for the one she did comment on). What might she see as offensive (I’m guessing since she didn’t specify) and why I posted them:

1. Song “The Christians and the Pagans”. Yes, she’s right. This song does (lightly) bash Christians and I’m not thrilled with it for that, but I do find the family getting along despite their differences to be moving. Also I have friends who I know love the song.


2. An image of Santa and snowman lawn ornaments behind a wire fence which talks about the war on Christmas and internment camps. I do not see this as a Christian vs. Pagan image. Some people think there’s a “war on Christmas”. Because I completely disagree, I think the image is funny.


3. Santa and a demon (krampus) sitting close together and the words “Sometimes I fight my demons; sometimes we snuggle.” Krampus is traditional at Christmas in Europe. What I was thinking as I posted it was Pema Chodron talking about sharing a cookie (or cake) with your demons.


4. Accurate nativity play depicting real birth issues. Aunt Alice did comment on this that she found it offensive. It was late. I don’t recall why I posted it.


5. Linus (from the Peanuts) talking on the Pagan origins of the holiday. Okay, I guess I can see this one. I posted it because I have friends who’d enjoy it.


6. Comparing St. Nicholas to a Klingon (and they do look a lot alike). It’s geeky. I liked it.


7. Witches caroling and a family being afraid of them. The depiction of the witches and dragon is cute.


8. There was a fourth wiseman who was turned away for bringing fruitcake. Funny.


9. “We worship nature. Don’t laugh, we can prove it exists.” This was the furthest back. I didn’t even recall it until I went through my December posts. But it does seem sort of true to me. If that’s me thinking I’m more intelligent, then mea culpa.

Comments

[the-emu.livejournal.com]

Everyone here is being so kind and generous.

I have zero tolerance for people who think that other people have no right to notice or enjoy or comment on the foibles of their religion, just because that person wants to live in an actively thought-free bubble.

Yes, everyone's entitled to their own beliefs, but no, everyone is not entitled to turn other people's brains off.

If she's trying to make you feel bad for not living your life tiptoeing around her sacred cows, she's a deeply selfish and entitled person, and you should roll your eyes and ignore her the same way one ignores grandma's racist tirades. ('Cos it's pointless trying to teach manners to elder members of one's family.)

*And* if she's being offended by your videos, it's because she's actively choosing to watch them. I don't have time to watch videos, so I haven't clicked on them, so I have no idea what the content of them is.

Also, that passive aggressive 'I'm talking about someone here, but I won't say who it is, so everyone reading this can scour their memories to see if they've wronged me' shit is intolerable from anyone over the age of thirteen.

You are 100% fine, dragonyphoenix, and I'm sorry she's made you feel awkward.


But but but, I wanted to throw this out there as a possibility:
When she says 'how her posts must affect her family', are you sure she's talking about your family and hence you? Might she be talking about someone *else* making posts, which might upset *her* family, with whom your aunt empathises? That would still tick me off for the rest of these reasons, but at least then it wouldn't be a passive aggressive attack on you.

8^-

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I actually did skip a Facebook share because I thought it might upset her, but I've also deliberately posted stuff I figured might bother her. Happily a lot of my anger dropped away last night so I can get back to being myself and not be driven by someone else's anger.

Yeah, I have a number of friends who post pictures I don't like. Facebook allows me to hide them so I don't have to see them again.

Since she had commented on a vid I'd shared, I do believe she's speaking about me. She definitely gets along better with my sister than with me. I think they're closer in personality. I'm more like my Dad who does have a superiority thing going. I think my aunt it working with old data. She lived with us when I was in high-school but we've hardly seen each other in decades.

I also think she's playing out a family dysfunction. She sent me a generous check for Christmas. My mother used to do the same thing: buy me bunch of gifts and then treat me like crap. I don't know what that's about but it's not about me.

[the-emu.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. I was worried that my harshness on your relative might be out of line.

As I've aged, I've definitely found it easier and more effective to respond to this kind of thing with a shrug and a reminder to myself that they're old and crazy, and can't be fixed.

8^-

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

they're old and crazy, and can't be fixed. Yeah, we did that with my Grandpa. One time he said "he's nice for a black man" and we all just glanced at each other and let it slide.