Anonymous asked: Before you defend males being witches I think you need to step back and realize why people are hesitant about involving males in witchcraft. Historically males were the ones burning and murdering females for witchcraft. It's no coincidence why women are more strongly associated with life/death, magic, etc. It's not transphobic to say this and that men deserve no acceptance in something women were persecuted (and in some areas still are). Women own witchcraft.
I’m sorry if you thought you’d be informing me of something I had no clue of, but earnestly this whole “Women own witchcraft” is the very most idiotic, Euro centric argument I have ever heard in Witch Discourse.
You need to get off your racist, sexist high horse right this instant.
I’ve done research and experienced witchcraft in my own culture and have knowledge of the witch hunts of the 1600s. It’s not a case of “The evil males murdering women!!!” It was a case of both women and men who used their religion to murder people horrifically and senselessly out of ignorance and fear. Both genders were the perpetrators and victims, both genders were the victims. Some women are more in tune to their spirituality and open to witchcraft due to the way western culture has brought women and men act. In other cultures, men are more likely to be spiritual leaders, or it may be perfectly egalitarian.
Saying that women own witchcraft because men in their culture fucked shit up for witches is essentially saying that atheists and pagans alone own witchcraft because Christians fucked shit up for witches.
Saying that women own witchcraft is like saying that poc own witchcraft because of imperialism’s damage to poc’s culture.
Saying that women own witchcraft is like saying that only people born to witch families own witchcraft.
Inherently, all people, males included, have the same amount of spiritual potential and energy. The way some people’s witchcraft works is recognizing that we are all witches, we are all beings with energies and spirituality and we choose to develop and partake in our own. Blocking off half the population for crimes they did not commit is disgusting.
Not to mention how GODDAMN RACIST THIS IS!
I come from Miami, and in Miami I’ve experienced a lot of the Santeria culture. Here, people mostly talk about it when there’s dead chickens washing up on shores after sacrifices or when dead animals are dropped off in bags at the courthouse, and I’m going to assume that you think witchcraft is revamped spells from the 1600s where animal bones are cutely replaced with some other herb followed by crystals sitting on the shelf.
However..
Santería is a culture of witches. Santería is very valid witchcraft, it is sometimes bloody and not cute and not adapted to Western Culture but that is the goddamn point. There are males that practice witchcraft in this culture, in fact leaders of all genders.
Native Indigenous culture have had Shamanism and related spiritualistic religions, there are so many tribes where witchcraft comes in the forms of women, men and non binary people such as the complex Two Spirit identity doing rituals, sacrifices, meditations… witchcraft is the practice of magick, and guess who practices magick?
These babies! See the things in grey! Those are called non western civilizations! Theses are places where thousands of individual communities exist, all with their own religions and native cultures! And most of them have all practiced some form of magick! Both men and women and non binary people!
If you’re a crystal witch, male or female or nonbinary Shamans probably made or sold you your crystals. Your lore could be from a Jewish Rabbi, of Jewish Mysticism. Or the Muslim intertwining of pagan and occultism. Or it could be the literal God Of Witchcraft, Thoth, in Egyptian culture. It could be an Alchemist, such as Gilles de Rais or Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, all males murdered for their practicing witchcraft. The masks and skulls bought may very well be from Ghana tribes that were used as Talismans, or certain artifacts and rituals may come from Benin, West African tribes and communities.
You do not, never have, never will own witchcraft. No one ever will. And if you think men should be excluded, then only female, magick inherited African tribes victim to imperialism should own witchcraft.
Thank you for reading, and fuck Euro Centric supremacy.
By the gods, this the best take down of the “males can’t be witches” argument I’ve ever seen.
Since once in a blue moon I actually discover a decent rule for adulting, and since I know I have followers a few years younger than me who are just entering the workforce, I want to tell you about a very important phrase.
“I won’t be available.”
Imagine you’re at work and your boss asks you to come in on Saturday. Saturday is usually your day off–coming in Saturdays is not an obligation to keep your job. Maybe you were going to watch a movie with a friend, or maybe you were just going to lie in bed and eat ice cream for eight hours, but either way you really, really don’t want to give up your day off.
If you consider yourself a millennial you’ve probably been raised to believe you need to justify not being constantly at work. And if you’re a gen-Z kid you’re likely getting the same toxic messages that we did. So in a situation like that, you might be inclined to do one of three things:
Tell your boss you’d rather not give up your day off. Cave when they pressure you to come in anyway, since you’re not doing anything important.
Tell your boss you’d rather not give up your day off. Over-apologize and worry that you looked bad/unprofessional.
Lie and say you’ve got a doctor’s appointment or some other activity that feels like an adequate justification for not working.
The fact is, it doesn’t matter to your boss whether you’re having open heart surgery or watching anime in your underwear on Saturday. The only thing that affects them is the fact that you won’t be at work. So telling them why you won’t be at work only gives them reason to try and pressure you to come in anyway.
If you say “I won’t be available,” giving no further information, you’d be surprised how often that’s enough. Be polite and sympathetic in your tone, maybe even say “sorry, but I won’t be available.” But don’t make an excuse. If your boss is a professional individual, they’ll accept that as a ‘no’ and try to find someone else.
But bosses aren’t always professional. Sometimes they’re whiny little tyrants. So, what if they pressure you further? The answer is–politely and sympathetically give them no further information.
“Are you sure you’re not available?” “Sorry, but yes.”
“Why won’t you be available?” “I have a prior commitment.” (Which you do, even if it’s only to yourself.)
“What’s your prior commitment?” “Sorry, but that’s kind of personal.”
“Can you reschedule it?” “I’m afraid not. Maybe someone else can come in?”
If you don’t give them anything to work with, they can’t pressure you into going beyond your obligations as an employee. And when they realize that, they’ll also realize they have to find someone else to come in and move on.