I've made my share of pointed remarks about "fluff bunnies," those would-be pagans and magical practitioners whose lack of critical thought, research, and gravitas has made them the butt of numerous witticisms online and in print.
But to-day I realized two things:
1) "Fluff Bunny" has lost its cool. Yes, for those of us who've been doing this for a couple decades, it was great while it lasted. You could say "fluff bunny" to the right people and they would know exactly what you meant. It might even have been the first time they heard the term, and you would get the added cool of being the one to introduce the phrase to them.
But by now, the epithet has reached that lamentable point where even the fluff bunnies are calling people fluff bunnies. Beacuse even if you are yourself fluffy, it has become chic to be able to denigrate a segment of the pagan/magical population by implying that they lack your knowledge and sincerity.
And fluff bunnies cannot resist chic. Which brings me to...
2) The fuckers are just not going away. For every barbed diatribe whose laudable goal is to rekindle--or maintain--proper respect for our traditions and rites, a hundred silly bullshit books and websites manifest out of...well, whatever level of Hell fluff bunnies hail from.
This seems to be promulgated by, among other things, a mysterious, pernicious attitude hidden deeply within the persons involved. It's as if the moment people break out of their little limited viewpoints and into a bigger world, some part of them decides that rather than rise to the occasion and try to learn something about that world (which would require work, like rethinking one's ideas), they'd rather laugh at it. They decide, on some level, that everything is inherently bullshit.
This can have very real negative consequences for serious practitioners when trying to preserve the dignity our rites deserve. The most infuriating part is that these same fluff bunnies wouldn't dream of showing the same disrespect toward the rites of faiths they have supposedly disavowed. I recall one Yuletide seven or eight years ago when my roommmates, who supposedly respected my beliefs, asked whether it was ok if they moved some furniture in while I was performing the faining. I had already arranged with them the time and place I was going to perform the faining beforehand and I said, quite simply, no. The arrangements were made specifically so that there would be no disturbance and no outsiders present. They reacted as though I was somehow being completely unreasonable, whereupon I became fairly animated and told them what for. "Would you walk into a Catholic Church during Midnight Mass lugging big things around getting in the priest's way? Here, let's bowl over a couple altar boys while we're at it! After all, it won't make a difference, right? Hur hur!"
This monologue did nothing to enhance my popularity, and the offending parties maintained their idea that I was somehow being difficult and that it shouldn't really matter, but I got my way.
A similar thing happened to me just today. I've got two altars set up in my working room--which is my personal working room, a fact known to all. In walks a friend--one who is supposedly sympathetic to my more esoteric endeavors--and while we are speaking, she walks over to one of the altars, picks up a small pair of scissors (a symbol of the being for whom the altar was set up) from the offering dish and starts scratching the back of her neck with it! I rebuked her immediately and in no uncertain terms, and she behaved as though, again, I was somehow being completely unreasonable. Excuse me, who the fuck walks up to an altar (and yes, she knew damn well that it is an altar--the novena candles are still lit) and takes things off it, first of all, and second of all uses them for whatever the first stupid thing is that comes to mind?
She protested, first that it was "just a pair of scissors" (!), and secondly that it didn't matter because "Halloween is over." Well, anyone for going over to St. Michael's and taking the chalice off the altar? How about using it as a back scratcher? After all, it's just a cup, and Mass is over! Long and short of it was, she yelled at me to go away (excuse me? We're in my house, in my working room!), called me some choice names which I won't print, and stormed out. Of course I expect an apology in due time, but my life right now is difficult enough without asking for more miracles.
In the minds of these beings, nothing is sacred anymore. Even the things that are sacred aren't sacred.
Unless it's other peoples' sacred stuff. Heaven forbid they should disrespect that!
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