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violently offended when anyone tries to correct it, or use logic to point out that 9 million
women couldn't have possibly died because there would be no Europe left had that
happened, or that men were killed too and so on. Which leads us to Symptom...
3) Anger when a "Sacred Cow" is questioned.
Honestly, this one makes the least sense to me. Most mainstream western religions
demand that you be obedient and not question what is told to you by the authorities in the
Church. You must surrender your brain at the door. You are not allowed to ask "Why"
thus and so is how we do things, nor are most dogmatic thoughts discussed or explained
other than in the gathering of clergy. To the lay person, the worshiper, questions like
"why do you use two hands to bless the bread" are not allowed, the answer is invariably
"because".
But one thing about Wicca is that it is not supposed to be mired in dogma or in pointless
ritual. Practitioners are encouraged to ask questions and define things for themselves.
They are supposed to think and ask and challenge and question. But it looks more and
more Wiccabes are challenging the wrong things.
Certainly challenge the statement "we do this ritual this way because" with "why do you
do it that way, why not this way?" But don't automatically assume that because scourging
appears in a ritual, and you think it's too kinky that it's wrong. Part of questioning the
sacred cow is to accept that which you find strange.
Please note, I DID NOT say that you had to practice it. I understand that there are those
out there who are horrified at the sight of blood, and therefore will never do a blood
sacrifice or animal sacrifice. But just because you find that particular practice repellant
does not mean that it should be discarded completely. There are good and strong reasons
that one sacrifices blood or animals, and there are ways that it is done which make the
process and the magick stronger. It is not done casually or callously; it is done at times of
need. But you must be willing to say "Well, that's for them. I understand why they are
doing it, but it's not for me" and allow them to practice it.
Let's say for instance, you find out that a priestess in your community does hexes. This is
contrary to your set of ethics and the Rede. Do not go around bashing said priestess and
saying how bad she is, that she's a member of a "left-handed path" and so on, but find out
why she is doing those hexes and allow her to do them if they are her choice. After all,
it's HER karmatic burden she is raising; it's HER that will be kicked in the teeth by
Threefold Return, not you. No one appointed you as the moral guardian of the month,
and because of that you have no right to say anything.
In fact, by taking it upon yourself to run around and correct everyone's behavior, you are
linking your karma to hers, and if SHE gets karmatcially kicked in the teeth, you will too.
So the rule here is "live and let live".
But in order to question intelligently, you should be familiar with why something exists
in the first place. In order to question and possibly discard the scourging in a ritual, you
have to understand why it's there. Just saying, "no one is going to hit ME with a whip
over a hundred times" is not enough, you have to understand what that whipping means
in the context of the ritual, in the context of the religion and in the context of the symbols
it represents. Without that understanding, how can you judge what should be there and
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