I’d understand if I get skewered for this but people who don’t leave the witchcraft stuff behind when they grow up are on par with disney adults and hardcore weebs. I used to think I could gather chi to perform powerful attacks but if I still thought that, people would rightfully make fun of me.
This opinion is gender neutral but I’m always afraid to express it because it might come across as misogyny.
I think there’s a difference between “these rituals and metaphors help me deal with the struggles of the world” and “yo I totally hexed him that’s why he got the flu”.
The former is pretty harmless. Some people meditate. Some people lift weights. Some people draw cards from a deck and reflect on how they feel about getting The Tower when they asked about their boyfriend. It’s just a lens to focus your thoughts.
There is a difference for sure but meditation and exercise are not really comparable since there’s proven benefits, a closer comparison would be…religion. Consulting the deck is even sillier than praying because you get an “answer” every time which probably just reinforces your preexisting belief
Just something to think about: the next time you have a difficult task in front of you, ‘gather your chi’. Do the breathing, feel your chakras spinning up, visualize that white light flowing through your body. Direct your ‘chi’ towards the task, then open your eyes and go. See how you feel about what you did by the task’s end. Even better if the same task comes up and you don’t do this so you can compare notes.
This is kind of the level this stuff works on for sane esoteric practitoners. Are you actually conjuring up something mythical? No, not really - you’re psyching yourself up and/or shifting your focus using a psychological tool/metaphor. I personally find it hard to judge that too harshly - save that for folks doing the same thing for health problems without also doing evidence-based treatments.
That said, you’re entitled to your opinion. Just be kind to folks you think are dorks if they aren’t otherwise causing harm.
I’d understand if I get skewered for this but people who don’t leave the witchcraft stuff behind when they grow up are on par with disney adults and hardcore weebs. I used to think I could gather chi to perform powerful attacks but if I still thought that, people would rightfully make fun of me.
This opinion is gender neutral but I’m always afraid to express it because it might come across as misogyny.
I think there’s a difference between “these rituals and metaphors help me deal with the struggles of the world” and “yo I totally hexed him that’s why he got the flu”.
The former is pretty harmless. Some people meditate. Some people lift weights. Some people draw cards from a deck and reflect on how they feel about getting The Tower when they asked about their boyfriend. It’s just a lens to focus your thoughts.
There is a difference for sure but meditation and exercise are not really comparable since there’s proven benefits, a closer comparison would be…religion. Consulting the deck is even sillier than praying because you get an “answer” every time which probably just reinforces your preexisting belief
Just something to think about: the next time you have a difficult task in front of you, ‘gather your chi’. Do the breathing, feel your chakras spinning up, visualize that white light flowing through your body. Direct your ‘chi’ towards the task, then open your eyes and go. See how you feel about what you did by the task’s end. Even better if the same task comes up and you don’t do this so you can compare notes.
This is kind of the level this stuff works on for sane esoteric practitoners. Are you actually conjuring up something mythical? No, not really - you’re psyching yourself up and/or shifting your focus using a psychological tool/metaphor. I personally find it hard to judge that too harshly - save that for folks doing the same thing for health problems without also doing evidence-based treatments.
That said, you’re entitled to your opinion. Just be kind to folks you think are dorks if they aren’t otherwise causing harm.