Subtle Vengeance

Time to clean out my old drafts! I typed most of this post way back in December. Still relevant. I held back posting it because I wasn’t sure if I really had a message or if I was meandering about the topic. Note to self: turn on safesearch when looking for “overweight wiccans.”

As a son of Sekhmet, people often ask me if I’m going to curse them with Her divine wrath for pissing me off. Okay, that’s a lie. Nobody has asked me that yet. Nobody ever asks me the cool questions. But it’s a great lead-in to what I’m going to talk about.

Now, it’s important to note that not all Pagans do metaphysical work (aka “magic,” or “magick” if you’re a pretentious twat). Likewise, not all metaphysical practitioners (hereafter referred to as “witches”) are necessarily Pagan. I have met Agnostics, Atheists and even a devout Christian who not only believed in but actively practiced metaphysics. In fact, the Christian was the first one who actually identified my, ah, tendency toward psychic vampirism. (More on that later maybe. I’m going was talking about psy-vamps on PCP in February.)

So, I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, and I’ll tell you how I became comfortable with the idea of the left-hand path.

So I can never resist a Fresh Prince reference. Man, best opening theme ever, amirite?

Definitions time! Okay, so in Paganism you often hear the term “Left-Hand Path.” It’s mostly defined as “not the right hand path.” What the heck does that mean?

Think about a Wiccan. One who meets the stereotype, one who gives other Wiccans – and all Pagans – a bad name. Synonymous with “Hippie,” this is someone who preaches endlessly – and boringly – about how the Earth is filled with the Light of the Goddess, and everything is Love and Magick is Everywhere. This is the person who takes the prime directive of Wicca to heart (“Harm None”) and totally forgets about the other 95% of the dogma.

That is the Right-Hand Path, defined. It is an imbalanced extreme, embracing the fuzzy euphoria of the “Witchcraft 101″ metaphysical connection and totally ignoring the fact that the universe thrives on Balance, not on White Light. In Pagan circles, this douchebag would be called a “White Lighter,” or more commonly a “Fuzzy Bunny.” Of course, this is the extreme, but you get the idea.

Not pictured: balance, shame, the gang of normal-looking pagans facepalming.

Incidentally, this concept can be applied to almost any group. I’m looking at you, furries.

The Left-Hard Path is sort of the opposite. Left-handers believe they are the most important thing to their own world. They believe that you must earn the love of others, and until you prove otherwise you’re just another asshole. If you read my earlier post about Satanists, we’re on the same page, since Satanism is the most famous left-hand group – although definitely not the only one. There’s also the Temple of Set – good folks, very up-front and serious about what they do – and I’m told a lot of Asatru (Norse) practitioners fall under this category as well.

Most importantly, a left-hander believes that while two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right, one wrong never makes a right.  One wrong makes a wrong. If you push them, they will push back.

As Shylock said, “And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”

Man, I wish someone would call MY writing "moft excellent."

The thing is, I come from a pretty fluffy background myself. I was raised a brimstone-free Christian. From there I wandered through noncommittal Agnosticism, and eventually settled on Wicca – of the bunny variety, I’m shamed to say. And the worst part is, that’s not even what Wicca is about. Wicca is a religion of Love, yes, but also one of Balance. It is Light and Shadow. “Harm None” means don’t go out and maliciously attack someone. It does not mean you play Gandhi and just lie back and take it. A Wiccan – a smart one, who knows what they’re talking about – will take your punch, stand back up, crack his knuckles and lay you out. I could rant for hours about the irreparable damage the Bunnies do to the public perception of Pagans. For reference: don’t you hate it when some uninformed hick who’s never even read the Bible starts telling you that God loves or hates this or that? Same damn thing.

So I’m listening to a podcast wherein a couple Satanists are talking about LHP and what it means to them. And I’m thinking, “holy shit. This all makes a ton of sense.” Right up to the “I will never bow to any God or make offerings to appease one. Screw that. I’ll take what power I can get, but I’ll take it on my terms.” that’s the only thing I can’t reconcile. As was previously stated in my posts about my own faith, I believe I owe much of my life to the guidance and subtle influence of Sekhmet. I believe that Her power is far greater than any I could hope to wield, and I believe that She must be appeased before my own wants can be pursued.

But the rest of it, well, it all just makes sense. Think of it this way: living in faith entails trying to live as your Deity would, were they you. The Christians are experts at this. “What Would Jesus Do?” This is the ultimate guiding principle to quick decision-making for a Christian. Try to be as much like Jesus as you can. And I’m down with that! Jesus rocks! He was an awesome guy, hella wise, and if you have the strength to do it, living as he lived is a really admirable goal. Heck, even if you’re not a Christian, you can still assume there was a guy named Jesus who lived 2000 years ago and laid down some seriously good knowledge. I’ma stop talking about Christianity because you know what? I’m not ashamed to say I have not read the entire Bible. I tried a couple times. Ran out of steam before the good parts.

See, you have to read past a few boring lineages to get to all the titties.

So What Would Sekhmet do? Well, that should be obvious by now. Sekhmet turns the other cheek, but only so she can put her entire torso into her backhand. Sekhmet stands and watches over Her children as a lioness watches over her cubs, and when those cubs are threatened or harmed, She comes down on the wrong-doer with the vengeance of a God.

As a person who has been co-dependently protecting loved ones all my life, this makes a ton of sense. It’s actually a pretty easy system to live by. See, this is why I’ve felt so right about my religion: because every new thing I learn just seems to click in perfectly with how I’ve always felt anyway.

So gone by the wayside is my old ideal of passive resistance and throwing myself on the grenade to save my friends. Now, I’ll throw that grenade right back, along with one or two of my own. From here out, when someone screws me over, I will do my damnedest to make them wish they hadn’t.  No, this doesn’t mean physical violence – I’m far too small and breakable for that. But a clever man need never resort to violence.

We’ll just see.

1. gualetar says:

   March 22, 2010 at 01:45

   The subject is fully clear but why does the text lack clarity? But in general your blog is great.