Superstitions -- Debunked

[Kitsune]

So, I was listening to a Podcast yesterday at work, when something the woman said nearly set me to uncontrollable laughter and falling to the floor.

She was doing a show on Pagan Urban Myth debunking... not stuff like "do you worship Satan?" but stuff that actual pagans believe and then spread around as truth like "Gerald Gardener learned Wicca at his grandmothers knee, and had been pagan since birth. The 'clutterbuck' story was just a cover".

The one that had me laughing in incredulity was "Pagans believe that when they die they go to the Summerlands... Unless they were wicked and evil, in which case, they fear they'll go to the Winterlands!"



Okay, so perhaps it's not that funny, but I thought it was fricken' hilarious, and desperately wanted to know what guilty Christian 'almost-convert' to Paganism thought that one up.

What's the funniest "Pagan Urban Myth" you've ever heard?

[Crazy Healer Lady]

What's the funniest "Pagan Urban Myth" you've ever heard?

A few, actually.

That we are all polytheistic, or godless, or dualtheistic (new word?), or we worship the devil, etc etc.

Specifically toward Shamanism, the stupidest (and funniest, in a way, not sure if it is funny haha, depends on how funny it is when my beliefs are completely misrepresented in a way that can cause harm to people) myth is that Shamans collect spirits like Pokemon, a belief propagated by sources such as the "Oh So Wise" Shaman King manga/anime, and some spiritual teachers, or (now this one is funny) that it's all about the mind-altering plants, when in reality the most powerful and insightful Shamans teach that you should achieve that ability without substances, not because the substances are bad, but because the mind is capable of them and it takes a lot of work to get that far.

Or, you know, that if you wear a Celtic knot, you're Pagan or that if you wear a Brigit's Cross, you're Christian.

[Kystar]

The only one I got on a regular basis was from a coworker who would go to show me holiday decorations (Primarily Christmas), then go "OH, but you don't decorate for the holidays, do you? B/c you're pagan?"

And she did this repetitively, despite my historical explanations of the different pagan decorations being absconded by the Christians when they put their holy days near ours to boost membership drives. I think her brain shut off when I explained that certain pagan practices predated Christian practices...b/c she couldn't fathom it or something. Dunno. Does she not get the B.C. and A.D. year classification system?

[white_harmony]

I still get a cackle out of the finger pointing and shocked expressions on some people's faces when they start on the "OMG You wear a pentagram (notice they NEVER call it a pentacle) ... You worship the devil!!" I don't know why, but 9 times out of 10, that comment will make me laugh like a lunatic lol.

Not a pagan superstition ... But this made me Arcanum and I went down to a different suburb for some furniture shopping earlier in the year, and while we were there, we did the grocery shopping. This particular area was a muslim based community, and quite busy, so there were a heck of a lot of people in the grocer that day. Anyways, I had Arcanum on trolley duty while I was up ahead finding items and trying to find a path through trolleys, but Arcanum said this is what happened. Because it is a large muslim community down at Calamvale (the suburb we went to) and so many of them shop at the centre we were at .... I think it sometimes irks a few others, especially those who listen to too much propaganda nonsense on tv and believe it all. Anyways, the women down there all wear their traditional headdress, and this one little boy, maybe about 4 or so, pointed at one of the women in traditional dress and said to his mother "Look mummy, she has terrorist eyes doesn't she?!" And the mother turned around and said "Yes honey, that's right she does". I was like ... OMG? Racist much? Because seriously ... Why take it out on one poor woman doing her grocery shopping that some people who just happen to follow the same faith as her has done terrible things ... That doesn't make her a terrorist just cause they are. It's like saying all Aussies are backpacker killers cause so many of them have been killed out west in Australia (by Australians I might add >.<). Anyways, that's my rant for today lol. Time to go and move more of my things into my garage ... Oh joy! ..... lol

[Dark Waters]

I hear the "worship the devil" one a lot. Then like seeing the shock on their faces when I tell them you have to be a Christian to worship the Devil.

ie the modern concept of Devil/Satan is from Christian Mythos, therefore to believe in him you must be a Christian. The Devil isn't in Pagan Mythos.
I do make allowances that the Jewish and Muslims have their version of him. But they also balk when I point out that Judeaism, Christianity and Islam are all decended from the same religious base and therefore all actually worship the same god.

From the other side of the farm are those that watched too much Charmed and Buffy growing up. Their ideas of what witches are and can do can be just as laughable.

[Hytegia]

Oi:
Baby-eating (-maybe with Ketchup. OMG JK JK JK)

Animal-killing (sounds more like a sociopathic child to me)

Demon worshiper (I took a laugh when someone called me that. And I asked them "if I worship Demons, how can I send them away?" I'm being more open in my beliefs around school recently.)

Anti-Christian (honestly, it's a common Pagan/Wiccan tradition to simply not give two *censory!* about what other people believe t the extent of not offending them)

Beastiality (now... where did this one come from?)

We control the World (um... If I controled the world I would have probably blew it up a long time ago. Lol!)

And, if you just watch ONE shockawenow video on YouTube you can see where they're getting their quote-mined phrases of infinite stupidity and grandeur in a Holy War to keep us from eating their babies and having sex with their pets.
O.o

[Kitsune]

Yes, but most of those are inaccuracies proposed by others about us... Not by Pagans, who are perhaps more uninformed than they should be.

I'm talking about the superstitions or myths that we perpetuate.

For example, if another Pagan was touting as fact that the Fey were from Mars, this would be a Pagan superstition, since it would obviously need to be debunked and it was being told as truth by another Pagan.

Or my example of the "Winterlands"... this may be a huge inaccuracy, but by some Pagans, it was being touted as fact. We've all heard the inaccuracies others tell about us, I was more wondering what we tout about ourselves that some may not have heard.

[Hytegia]

TECHNICALLY it could be argued in some contorted Norse mythos that if you live an evil life that Freyja won't even take yout Spirit and you'll be sent to the Winterlands (in the Norse Mythos, the Giants roam the Planes of Ice and Snow. Or, for the sake of the argument, the WinterLands).

the problem with debunking Myths about Paganism is that some diluted and offbrand types of Paganism perpetuate these Myths as truth because... Well, they believe it is! It should be accounted that Pagans are a broader spectrum than simply Wiccans. Wiccans are refined and more central in their approach of beliefs compared to the broad spectrum of Pagan beliefs. O.o

So, be careful! those Myths may not be myths to some people!