(If someone would kindly teach me the Super Sekrit method of doing an LJ "behind the cut" thing, I would happily do it and be appropriately grateful, as would my readers.)
I am tired of having to tell people, "This might not be your path."
I am really tired of having to tell people, "No. Really. It's not your Path."
I am tired of dealing with the emotional and psychic fallout of that.
Feri is not for everyone. So what? Why demand that it should be? It isn't!
Should everyone be a doctor? Should we all be parents? Should everyone wear spandex?
Absolutely not. And we are Grateful when people are self aware enough not to do what they shouldn't--like practice medicine, have children or squeeze 175 pounds of flesh into spandex pants. GRATEFUL I TELL YOU!
I am done with the projections which fly at me from people's personal demons and complexes.
Not being Feri is not a rejection of you as a person. It is not a judgement of you as an individual. It is not a determination of your failure as a spiritual seeker. In fact, knowing what we are Not is a really excellent and huge step toward finding out what we Are!
I do not have blond hair. I am not genetically thin or tall. I do not have blue eyes.
I am a short, thick, graying brunette with brown eyes.
These are facts. They are not judgements unless I place judgement upon them.
If I dye my hair, wear blue contacts and squish my body into a size eight and high heels--it doesn't change the reality. It doesn't change what is True.
Demanding other people agree I am a 5'6' size eight, blue-eyed blond knock-out doesn't change what is True. It makes me-- and the people who agree to entertain my fantasties-- liars.
I am finished with being perceived as heartless because I won't lie. I am through being named controlling, mean-spirited and manipulative because I require the same things of my students which were required of me as a student of a closed, vowed, magical WitchCraft Tradition.
Tell your English professor he is mean for requiring you to hand in your final exam.
Quit music lessons and then complain that the instructor didn't beg you to stay on.
Tell the board of examiners that they are just being controlling for requiring you to meet the same standards everyone else has to meet to be qualified to practice Law.
Please, invite your Doctor to come to the workshop you are holding on how to perform surgery. When she asks "What qualifications do you have to teach that," simply answer, "I read some books and websites, subscribe to the Journal of Medicine and went to a medical conference." Be sure to mention how you can't understand how your workshop could possibly harm anyone. When she mentions licensing, proper education and the Hippocratic oath, be sure to scoff and say, "Oh! That's so old fashioned! And, besides, it shouldn't apply to me because I'm so special and so much more evolved than the entire medical community." When she tries to convince you not to run the workshop, tell her how manipulative she is being. Don't forget to use specialized language like power-over, authenticity and free-will to try to shame her into seeing she is an oppressor who has bought into the patriarchal hegemony.
When you are brought before the Judge for driving under the influence, without a license in an uninsured vehicle, tell the Court how mean-spirited they are. Be sure to announce, for the record, that you are fully aware that the Court System is imposing upon your Free Will. Screw all the people you could have harmed, your Free Will is so much more imporant than their lives and loved ones.
When someone tells you that you might not be fully understanding the spiritual principles of Free Will, Authentic Power and BlackHearted Innocence but and are using them to justify personal gain and deny responsibility, don't thank that person for being frank. Crucify them for it in all the private and public places you visit.
Look.
I think we ALL have a Path and a Purpose.
I think we should all find it and be Proud.
I think we should all Walk our own Paths with Power and Passion.
I would be Thrilled to help you find your Path and Purpose. In fact, I would much rather do that than try to train you as a Witch when you are better suited to Sufism or the UU Church or teaching preschoolers or running a bordelo!
I don't want to have to tell you that I think you are on the wrong path. I want to help you find your True Path.
When you sign up (or attempt to) for Feri Training and I have to tell you it's the wrong path, then I have to deal with not only the personal fallout between us, but the fallout from everyone you decide to tell what a terrible, mean-spirited, controlling, manipulative freak I am.
I know it's hard to understand, but if we are all connected, I want you to be happy and successful! I want us to get along. I'd rather meet you for coffee and have interesting conversations about humanity and spirituality and their intesections, about music and sex and cooking and raising kids . . . than have you ask me to train you as a Witch. I'd much rather help you find and set about living your Purpose and Passion than to have you try to squeeze yourself into the one that is mine. Not because I don't want to share the one that is mine out of stinginess. But, because this one may be too tight in some places and too loose in others; the sleeves might be too short and the hem might trip you up and make you fall. I want to see you in the Purpose that fits you perfectly! I want to see you walking up your Path like a Queen on a runway--with your head held high, and a killer swish in your stride!
I want us to celebrate one another, not destroy each other. Because that destructive thing --whether the destruction of a personal relationship or someone's reputation or livelihood--really is old fashioned, manipulative, mean-spirited and limiting of that precious commodity--Free Will.
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