UPG isn’t a bad thing, Buuuuuuuuut

Okay, as promised here are my thoughts on UPG (unverified personal gnosis). Let’s start with defining this term. Put simply it’s personal experiences you base your understanding and practice on. Pretty straightforward, right? Oh, my sweet summer child!

Yes, it really is that straightforward, but as with pretty much anything involving humans, it gets messy really fast. Why? Again “humans”. If you know, you know. If you don’t, you will learn, probably the hard way.

Here is the thing: UPG SHOULD be part of any path, be it the religious practice of the group or the spirituality of the individual because it provides a personal connection to your path. Without that personal experience, your practices amount to going through the motions. Let that sink in and think about what that looks like because I guarantee you that you’ve seen it in the behaviour of others.

Okay, so what’s the problem? Where do I start?

1) UPG only matters to the person experiencing it. It doesn’t apply to anyone else’s practice or beliefs.

2) UPG is NEVER to be used as a weapon. I hate to break it to you (no, I don’t) but actual sources WILL trump your UPG in discussions about what a cultural practice did or didn’t involve. And this is why a lot of recons HATE UPG being brought up in discussions.

3) UPG isn’t an excuse to try and rewrite reality. If YOU see the Morrigan as a loving mother goddess (yes, another Wiccan Wade reference) more power to you. It doesn’t change how she was viewed, revered and written about in the primary sources we have about Her.

If these three things seem similar/connected to you, it’s because they are. Almost invariably you will see all three at work when someone brings their UPG to the table. So how do you avoid engaging in the above with your UPG? By keeping it to yourself or a the very least by being crystal clear that it IS your UPG and to be treated as such.

You absolutely can discuss your UPG. I’m not telling you that you have to hide your beliefs in the closet. But it requires effective communication, something that is usually absent on social media which is where most of the UPG drama is found.

Okay, let’s look at some examples of UPG. If you read the last post About Loki, you saw my UPG regarding Loki and His role. You want more examples? Okay, I had a friend who would get whisky for Thor and use that for offerings. Another friend would go on a rod-and-reel tuna fishing trip once a year as an act of devotion (it was meant to be dangerous so no modern tech beyond a GPS). Both examples were the result of the practitioner’s communication with their gods. What you UPG involves is entirely between you and Them. It can be a small thing that just adds flavour to your practice or a big thing with life-altering potential.

What I’m trying to get at is that UPG isn’t a bad thing as long as it’s kept in its appropriate place. Hell, I think you should explore and question your UPG regularly and absolutely question any UPG being touted as the-way-things-are by someone else. When you start taking ANYTHING regarding subjective experiences as a fact, that’s when it becomes a problem, not only for you but for those that you interact. Why would it impact on those you interact with? Well, there is no guarantee that it will, but what I’ve seen over and over again is that inflexible thinking goes hand-in-hand with insecurities and the need to get external validation. All this means that you will try to bring others into your UPG in an attempt to get them to agree with you and thus bolster your confidence in your UPG.

Now do you see why I say this straightforward idea gets messy?

If you have any questions about this or any of my musings, feel free to ask.

About Loki

Yeah, I know, I have posted in AGES. This is me trying to fix that. Fair warning, if the name of the blog wasn’t clue enough, I RAMBLE.

Recently there’s not an uptick in Rökkatru and Loki veneration. If you are in heathenism circles you know all the drama that goes along with it. If you don’t and are feeling masochistic, put “Rökkatru” in the search field of your preferred social media platform, make popcorn and settle in.

This blog post isn’t me passing judgment on anyone’s chosen path. Instead, I’m just going to talk about my dealings with Loki and my view on gods and venerated entities in general. So let’s get started.

First and foremost, I want to point out that YES, you can have dealings with gods without following/worshipping/venerating them. This is an important part of figuring out your path. You aren’t going to wake up one morning and just KNOW that you need to be working with X. Well, you might, but very rarely will it be anything other than your ego talking, not to mention subconscious influences from a variety of sources. But I’ll make a separate post about the searching process.

About Loki and his children (not to mention all the “dark” divinities out there) I trust Him and Them to be exactly what They are. What does that mean? Well, it means that They aren’t projections of MY wants and sensibilities. It means I recognize that They have Their own view of reality, of what “help” and “right and wrong” look like, which has nothing to do with my idea about such things.

This is probably the biggest issue I’ve encountered among theists. It’s most prominent among Christians (“my god hates what I hate!”) simply because they are such a large and obnoxious group. That said, if you look, you always find the same with pagans. This has led to some amusing situations–looking at you, Wiccan Wade–as well as a LOT of chest pounding and putdowns because someone doesn’t work with/view the gods the same way they do. And the recent example among many MANY others is the Rökkatru situation.

So back to Loki. Remember how I said searching was an important part of establishing one’s path? Well, that’s what I did. I basically had an “open house” for the Norse gods (yes, yes, I was young and foolish) where I had a low-key Q&A as I wanted to get some input on a lot of contradicting ideas and claims, I’ve encountered in heathen space. Here is the takeaway from that experience: Humans understand human experiences; gods are not human.

This was something that got me thinking and looking at things anew. Unlike Christians, Heathens don’t treat their lore as the inspired word of the gods. It is generally recognized as a representation of the people and social concepts of the time. Recons hold to it because it gives a point of reference to work with and from. One could argue that recons are the scientists of the theistic spaces, dealing in what is verifiable and testable (yes, I’ll do a blog post on UPG) and that’s a GOOD thing. But it also means we are dealing with human ideas and human understanding. Not anything the gods have actually said/done. Mythology is STILL just mythology.

And for many, that’s as far as it goes. They are happy with that level of understanding and using it as the basis of their path. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem occurs when they or anyone else tries to use THEIR understanding/way of practice to dictate to others. And this includes how one can view and work with the gods/entities of myth.

I know I’ve used this example before and I will likely use it again. Many years ago I was a member of a weekly pagan gathering along with a friend of mine. The lady who ran that gathering had a partner who tended to be a passive-aggressive whiner. Now, when he tried his shit I would simply ignore him and carry on with my discussion. My friend how ever, would leave the room. Why? Because we had very different upbringings. Mine was based on critical thinking and a strong sense of self-worth. My friend experienced a lot of emotional abuse, which included passive-aggressive behaviour. She and I were viewing/experiencing the SAME person/situation, but our takeaway was very different. I saw the partner as childish but mostly harmless. She saw him as a potential abuser. The SAME person.

Do you see what I’m getting at? Perception is a dirty lens at the best of times. And it’s one that gets pointed at the gods. Being able to recognize that limitation gets us one step closer to an authentic relationship with the gods. In that vein, many see Loki as a troublemaker, a shit disturber and a traitor to the Aseir. Others see Him as the ostracized outsider, the one that suffered loss and abuse, the one that feels justified pain and rage and creates change (Ragnorok). I’m here to say that neither is wrong. He’s a GOD, He’s all that and more. So much more than human minds can comprehend. So let’s stop not only trying to pigeonhole Him but also stop telling others how they are allowed to see/work with Him.

Oh and for the record, I view Loki is an agent of chaos and as such his “help” can be exceedingly painful and not at all what I WANT, but what will help me get what I NEED. I should also point out that I’m a devotee of Freyja so my dealings with Him are in passing and very much at arms length, but also respectful.

Don’t mistake this as my saying that Rökkatru is harmless and innocent. Like with any other group of humans, you will have a gambit of personalities and motivations. And like with heathenism as a whole, you WILL get the racist asses and all the shit THEY try to stir. This where my rambling ends as I remind you that I’m firmly believe punching nazis is a civic duty.

The Student’s Responsibility

This is a subject that both comes up a lot and not nearly enough. Let me start by saying that unless people have gone to post-secondary education, they aren’t taught to learn. K – 12 or whatever your regional equivalent is–at least in so-called first-world countries–“teaches” what my mother called “gorge and barf” education. That is to say that you are fed information and regurgitate it on the tests given. those that can memorize and have good recall, excel. Those that don’t do poorly or outright fail. Neither group is taught HOW to learn.

Learning isn’t memorization. Memorization is one TOOL when it comes to learning but is not learning itself. The process of learning is an active one, not a passive one. It requires the engagement of the student, not only taking in information but questioning AND applying it. Trying it.

This is where the student’s responsibility to comes in: it’s up to the student to ENGAGE with the teacher AND the information. It’s something that’s very foreign to many because it is not fostered in public schools–or private ones for that matter–or is even outright punished. Instead, students are expected to shut up and listen.

When you approach a witch about teaching you, the first thing *I* as a teacher will be looking for is what you’ve already done and what questions you have as a result. Talk to me about eh books your read. What did you think of them? Were there things you agreed with? Disagreed with? What about experiences in pagan settings? Public rituals?

As a teacher, I WANT to see curiosity and a working mind processing and questioning rather than blindly accepting. I want to see a student take the ideas presented and TEST them, to see if they work for them. If they don’t work, then it’s up to the student to come back and initiate a discussion.

If this all sounds like a lot of work for the student…GOOD. It IS a lot of work. Learning is neither easy nor fast. It’s time-consuming, annoying and often daunting as you will run into a lot of intellectual dead-ends.

Can I teach someone the basics of witchcraft in a few weeks? Yes. But the learning process WILL be lifelong if you are actually learning since every time you figure something out, more questions and ideas will come up. So dig in, buckle down and make it happen! Oh and talk to your teachers, let them know how you learn best and what is helpful for you.

Cultural appropriation is absolutely a thing…except when it’s not.

Recently I’ve seen a lot of cultural appropriation rants.  On both sides.  I dutifully read them, think about the points being made and then get very annoyed.  With both those saying it’s bad and everyone needs to stop as well as those claiming cultural appropriation doesn’t actually exist.  And I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly has been bugging me.

Here is what I’ve come up with.

Cultural appropriation IS a thing.  It IS bad.  And it DOES have to stop.  Especially in paganism.

But not every case of someone using an idea from a culture other than the one that they grew up with is a case of cultural appropriation.  If it was, there wouldn’t be any recons in North America, for example.  Only those born and raised in Greece could be Hellenics and only those born and raised in Egypt could be Kemic, if you followed that extreme line of thinking regarding cultural appropriation.  And I don’t see that as being the case.

So the wailing over people “stealing” holidays doesn’t sit well with me.  It smacks of xenophobic elitism.  And that’s just a small step to racism in my book. Not a good way to go.

But I also loath the ones claiming that cultural appropriation doesn’t happen.  Of course it does! I’ve seen it, and it’s IS a bad thing because it disrespects cultures and the people therein.

The point of all this rambling is that, as I see it, BOTH sides are missing the point. A lot of what is called “cultural appropriation” may have an element of it (dressing up as Baron Samedi for Halloween or have a lawn decoration that reads ” Día de Muertos”) this is a small thing compared to the other issues involved.

What are those issues?  I’m glad you asked.

1) Lazy eclecticism.  People treating ideas as their own person cafeteria items.  In lazy eclecticism, the only reason needed for someone to incorporate something is “it’s so cool!”

There is no effort at understanding the reasons a given thing is done or the many levels of meaning it has.  It’s just about getting that “cool factor” in.  And the lazy eclectic will cast it aside as soon as they are bored of it.

The underlying intellectual issues here are horrific in their own right without getting into anything approaching cultural appropriation.

2) Crappy communication efforts.  Communication is about making your wants, needs and ideas understandable to others.  Sadly, many these days seem to think that the best way to communicate complex ideas is to boil them down to the lowest common denominator.  So something being “like” something else is good enough.  “What’s Día de Muertos?”  “Oh, it’s like a Spanish Halloween”.

Yeah, excuse me while I beat my head against the wall. Again.

And like with the first one, it’s the underlying intellectual issues–specifically a lack of critical thinking skills–that are the real problem.

Okay, so now that I’ve been able to explain what is bugging me, let’s talk about what cultural appropriation IS.  I have a far more specific understanding of it than seems popular today.  And fair warning, if I see anyone doing the following I will cheerfully rip them a new one.

Cultural appropriation takes one of two forms.

1) Claiming to be part of a culture that you aren’t actually part of.  And no, reading a book and talking to a few folks from said culture does NOT count.  Having ancestors from said culture hundreds of years ago, when you were not raised in that culture yourself, does not count.

What counts is a) being born and raised in said culture b) being adopted and raised in said culture c) marrying into said culture and living the cultural practices as your daily life (and this still isn’t over night).  There are probably other variations, but you get the idea.

2) Claiming that your eclectic hodge-podge practices are ancient unaltered cultural practices from a culture that you are not part of and clearly don’t know fuck all about.

DON’T DO IT! IT FUCKING SUCKS AND PISSES PEOPLE OFF.

So yes.  Cultural appropriation is absolutely a thing…except when it’s not.  And when it’s not, calling it cultural appropriation is badly missing the other, bigger issues involved…as well as engaging in that annoying “boil ideas down to the lowest common denominator” thing.  Issues that absolutely need to be addressed for what they are if we’re to get people to stop the shitty behavior.

God of I don’t know you but…..

It comes up at least once a week.  Someone wants to know what god is the best to pray to for help with…..whatever.  And invariably they will get a laundry list of names and attributes.

“Oh Aphrodite will help you with your love life problems!”

“Tyr is tops for getting justice!”

“Macha is the one that will make your curse kick ass!”

And I’ll be sitting there, grinding my teeth and reaching for the aspirin.  Thee are a couple of reasons for that.  The first being that such descriptions of any give god or goddess is beyond superficial   If you think they are only good for calling on for X reason you’re selling them short in a VERY big way.  The second is this idea that you should go and bug a given god/dess because they are known for whatever you’re having issues with; that they are there fro YOUR convenience.

When someone asks me which god is best for __________ that answer is always the same: the one you have an established relationship with.  That’s it.  No laundry lists.  No going to the library.  No mining of “cool” cultures.  The most important thing when dealing with the gods is respect.  And since it would be beyond the pale to walk up to a random stranger at the bus stop and demand they help you with something, why the hell would you do that to a god?

So what if Freyr isn’t known for “justice”?  He’s a god.  He’s much more then one or two attributes AND He might decide to “introduce” you to another being (god or something else) that could help you better them He can.

Having taken the time to establish a relationship with a given god is absolutely key, regardless of what your “issues” are.  Also remember that a healthy relationship is NOT based on the idea of what the person/entity/god can do for you.

Social Darwinism

Karma isn’t part of my path.  So when someone trots out “You’d better not _____ because Karma’s a bitch” the only thing I’m in danger of serious muscle strain from all the ensuing eye rolling.

But this leads to the question of what DO I believe in?  Wyrd and Oorlog.  Do I think they apply to everyone?  Um…sorta?  Wyrd and Oorlog are the way I relate the concepts they represent   Other people call it different things and probably even understand it differently.  Amazingly enough I’m okay with that.

There is ONE thing I think affects all people everyone where regardless of belief, culture or whatever: Social Darwinism.  So what is that?  I’m glad you asked.

Social Darwinism is the logical result of living in a social situation.  To explain how it works I’ll give you two examples for the same situation.

Kevin is a nice guy.  He helps out with fundraising for the local library.  He hosts block bbqs and invites the neighbours, their kids AND their pets.  If he sees someone struggling with an arm load of groceries he’s right there to take one the bags and help the person out.  He’s a nice guy.  So when his house burns down and he loses everything, do you think the community will pull together to help him out?

Fred is a jerk.  He cut down his neighbour’s tree that was obstructing his view.  He puts out poison for the rats and squirrels, and if the local pets get into it oh well.  He always has a nasty comment and personal attack for everyone he meets.  Fred is a jerk.  So when his house burns down and he loses everything, do you think the community will pull together to help him out?

The big thing to remember here is it’s NOT about tit for tat.  Doing good will not not necessarily result in good will in measure with what you put out, but it will incline people to help you in the future if you’ve helped them in the past.  All those people MIGHT help you or scorn you are a number of the variables in your situation   Social Darwinism is based on how you effect those variables   Do you give yourself the best chance possible?  Or do you get in your own way?

And yes, I do think it’s universal unless your a hermit in a cave some where with no social contact.  It’s just part of living in a social group.  After all, everyone has to sleep sometime.

Why New-Ages Fails

 

This blog entry came about because of an annoying new-ager on a facebook group. The person didn’t like the fact that I had issues with the blog it posted and decided to get all sanctimonious about it, claiming I hadn’t read the blog. I did. But now I’m going to do one better. I will very publicly de-construct it and explain WHY it’s a harmful load of crap.

 

The blog can be found here: http://awakeningfromduality777.blogspot.ca/2012/11/law-of-attraction-part-2-of-2-alchemize.html

“One thing you need to accept starting this very second is that “everything happens for a reason”, and that there is always a divine purpose for everything that we go through during life, including negative experiences.”

No, I really don’t. At all. Because to do that means I’m absolutely powerless and the rest of the blog is meaningless, since now one is in control of their own lives.

Once you do that, you will be able to let go of the past, by feeling joy, and thankfulness to the experience, as you will no longer hold any resentment or guilt about the past.

This is so unbelievably shallow that I had to read it three times to make sure it really did just say that. Why is it a bad thing? In itself it isn’t. The problem is that there is nothing about LEARNING from the experience. You’re just supposed to be grateful for the experience. Well no, that’s not quiet true. In the line before the quote you’re supposed to be learning the lesson of looking for the good inside the bad. Yes, this me rolling my eyes.

“to give you a way out of  the limited mind, and help you unlock your  hidden potential to become limitless. “

Except, dear blogger, that you already put a HUGE limit on everything with the first line of your blog.

“No matter what you have experienced, today you are a much better person in life because of it.”

Shall we tell that to those that lost their life savings because of embezzling? What about the child that is beaten by their father for just existing? Should we tell that to the woman with renal failure who knows her time is limited?

Besides the obvious problem that it belittles the suffering of others, this kind of idea is dangerous, because it plays the blame game. If you aren’t grateful then you aren’t spiritually mature or some other nonsense, usually meaning you are LESSER then the speaker. I’ve seen so many people us such ideas to claim to be more “enlightened” then others and to look down on those not as “enlightened” as they. It’s sickening.

Now the whole idea of the “mind hack” is fine for the most part, it’s been used in modern psychotherapy for decades. The thing is that it doesn’t go into what you’re supposed to accomplish other then being “grateful”. This is a huge problem. Working on one’s issues (and we all have many of them) isn’t easy. It is in fact very time consuming. The reason it’s time consuming is because it takes a lot of time and focus to unravel the many issues that are invariably intertwined. Am I grateful AFTER doing the work? Sure! But this is a by-product, not the goal. The GOAL is to work on making myself into a holistic being.

“With understanding comes compassion, with compassion comes unconditional love, and with unconditional love… comes surrender.”

Really not. Compassion is great. But it’s not always appropriate. And unconditionally love doesn’t exist. Sorry, but it doesn’t. Not as the new-age types would have us believe at any rate. Unconditional love is love with no strings, no restrictions.

A mother has unconditional love for her child, right? Maybe when they are infants, but as the child grows, expectations are placed on them as part of being in a social setting. When those expectations are not met (or exceeded) this can place a strain on love, some times to the breaking point. And its the same with every other kind of relationship.

Why can these bonds be strained? It usually comes down to trust issues, such as trust being betrayed. No amount of love will change such a betrayal. And continuing to trust is just plain stupid. The whole surrender thing? That’s just out of the blue and rather useless.

Apparently, according to the next line, we’re supposed to be surrendering to ourselves. This is a nice warm fuzzy but it’s not practical if the person doesn’t know their own mind and reason for feeling a given way.

“I am sure you have heard of the fallen angels, such as the character “Lucifer”.  While the character itself is most likely a fiction, (I never met him, nor do I fear any entity outside of myself.) knowing that I am part of the divine; if I met him today, I would kindly offer him a cup of tea instead of showing any fear that would give away my own power.  “

Uh-huh. Never mind that the idea of being fearful of “Lucifer” is based on Christian teachings and thinking. If one doesn’t subscribe to such ideology.

“A vampire cannot enter into your house, unless you yourself invite it, not to mention there are many vampire beings that “exist” just to suck up your energy.  “

a) oh look, MORE preconceived notions based on (a fictional) ideology.

b) so called psychic or energy “vampires” don’t need to be invited anywhere. They come and go as they please.

c) I’m not even going to touch the whole Lucifer = Ego that is in the part following the above quote because again, it’s based on an ideology that is only applicable in a specific frame of reference. As I don’t ascribe to such it’s meaningless to me.

“Re-direct your thoughts”

Other then the silliness about “manifestation” this is just a sensible way of living consciously. And yes that IS a good thing. The idea that it’s some new-age secret is ridiculous. And again, it’s increasingly superficial with no explanation of how to use the technique to “manifest” whatever it is one is supposed to be manifesting.

By the way, there are REASONS for having negative thoughts. Ignore those negative thoughts is also ignoring those reasons. And that’s not healthy at all.

“Placing the blame on others is creating a victim. You need to accept responsibility for your own actions, by being honest and true to yourself.”

I agree with this, as far as it goes. Realisticly, though, it doesn’t go very far. While we are in charge of our own choices and actions, we are NOT in charge of anyone else’s. You can’t do anything about the guy that decided to run the red light and plow into your car. You can’t do anything about the bus that broke down so you were late for an appointment. There are any number of things that are NOT in our control. Claiming power over things not within our control is not only futile, it’s setting yourself up for a lot disappointment as well as guilt, neither of which is in any way useful. If anything, it’s detrimental to the idea that one should become conscious of their own ideas and how it effects their reality.

 

So, there we go. I have indeed read the article dear spammer on facebook.

Teaching the Teacher

It’s been one of those days when random events spark a memory and get me thinking.  In this case it was dealing with a very defensive someone that couldn’t handle being questioned.  And this led to my remembering something that happened YEARS ago at the dojo.

My Sensei (at the time) was working with a new student who had no training in our art (Ninjutsu) but was black belt in Judo.  Now my Sensei only had a passing acquaintance with Judo himself.  So when he put the new student in a lock and the new student got out of it with a Judo technique, Sensei stopped the spar and asked for the student to teach HIM.

Another time Sensei was telling the students that it’s important to pay attention and learn even from the white belts (beginner rank) because they have their own life experience which is likely different from our own.  He then continued to point out that “sensei” means “one who has gone before” and as such that title can and should be transferred depending on who has experience in a given subject.  He pointed out that if he wanted to learn engineering then Peter would be his Sensei.  Or if he wanted to learn to ride a horse then I would be his Sensei.  The reason he mentioned this is to try and prevent people from getting stuck on the idea that he (and teachers in general) were infallible and to hopefully have us learn from ALL available sources.

It’s a wonderful way of looking at the idea of teacher and student.  I think the world would be a better place if more people thought this way.

Question of the Day

Just something that has me wondering.

If people can’t handle the “negativity” (re: being disagreed with) on a discussion group how the heck do they survive LIFE, never mind actually walking a pagan path?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  Walking a spiritual path is NOT for teh faint of heart.  But over and over I see people claiming to be knowledgeable and powerful in one breath then whining about being quesitoned in the next.  And of course the accusation of negativity (or worse) comes out.

One of those things that makes you go Hmmmmmm.

The Thinning of the Veil

It’s that time of year ago.  Halloween is just around the corner and people are talking about how the Veil between the worlds is thinner this time of the year.  They will carry on at length about it, telling stories about meeting ghosts and ancestors.  And I roll my eyes.

The idea that Fall is when the Veil thins is not new, but having age to it just means people have been making this silly claim for a long time.  Why do I call it a silly claim?  Because it is.  It’s based on the idea that the “other side” “other worlds” “ether realm” or whatever else they want to call it are somehow separate from our day to day world.  It’s not.

While I most definitely do believe there are differnt realms, they all over lap.  No, that’s the wrong term.  They all inhabit the same space to one degree or another.  Seeing it (or not) depends on the perception of the individual.  The thing about perception is that it’s extremely suggestable.  So if people expect to see ghost this time of year but no other, guess what, that’s what happens.

The human mind is very adept at ignoring that which doesn’t fit into the expectations of the person.  Ghosts, ancestors and a host of other being are around us all the time, but we ignore it because seeing them in June isn’t socially acceptable, but seeing them in October is.

Just something to think about the next time someone starts carrying on about the “thinning of the veil”.