The Meaning of Witchcraft written by the author, founder and creator of Wicca and what is now dubbed the Gardnerian Tradition after its founder Gerald Gardner.
Though this book is dated and has many fictious historical references, this is a must read book for anyone wanting to follow the Wiccan path and more specifically Traditional Wicca in order to understand the mind set during the times of Wicca's beginnings.

It's a little difficult to explain.... I mean, I do like him.

And I don't disbelieve him the way that some people do, (although I won't try to explain all that now, like I tried to once), and some of the things that he's written are very valuable. {"You belonged to us in the past.... Come back to where you belong."} And other things are very average. {'Montague Summers? Aww, come off it, mate. Who would you rather believe-- a blood-thirsty maniac, or your creepy uncle?.... Not quite *avuncular*, though, not like that one chap.... *wierd laughter*'}

{I mean, sometimes 'avuncular' can be abbreviated as 'C.S.'.... although, obviously not in this case.... [Or maybe Liam Neeson.] *snickers* Although, really, some of it is just.... "Have you ever been to Svitzerland?" "No, but I have a friend who drives a Volvo." Oh, and I asked Matrix: Volvo is actually from Switzerland. (No, goddamnit, *Sweden*-- he said Sweden. And I used to be the guy who made fun of you in history class if you confused Belgium and Bulgaria; I'll admit Switzerland and Sweden are slightly more similar, but.... You bloody well know what I mean, right?) And he actually drives a Volvo himself, which I find to be *kinda funny*.... Very Edwardian, no? And maybe Cernunnos drives a Volvo too~ since Irish people are shit for cars, right. Crap. ^^}

[And, obviously, in Ireland, the sun only comes out if it's raining, you know, since the.... Celtic guys.... I don't know.]

[And remember, Gerry, the pre-Celtic gods of Ireland have been smashed into little pieces, and then ground up into even littler pieces and even into fine dust, because of the successive waves of invasions. And everyone else is stupid. And fake. *ditz accent* Like, oh my gawd, right? *different dialect* No, really, the Lord of the Gates of Death decided to nom on them. They were chewey.]

[*shakes head* Eff'ing Celtic Recons, and their stupid words, *and their stupid stories*.... *laughs* 'On three great ships they came', kai? Bai! ~ So saith the Goddess in her ditz aspect.]

[And, you know, if I told you that the fucking Syrians or whoever, "spread fire and destruction everywhere", when they came into Egypt, you'd chuck Flinders at me-- but if I said that that's what Caroline Wozniacki's people did, when they came into England.... Hate Danes much? *oh, snap* So just tell Idunna to get with Arianrhod in the kitchen. The sandwich stuff awaits.... And easy on Olaf the Oaf, eh? In 1880-- *In 1880-- when Chuck Flinders published 'Ancient Legends and Legendary Ancients*-- yeah, back then, Olaf the Oaf would have been the only person to have actually had any belief left in the Lady Freya.... Odin knows that the Flinders Petrie School of Archaeology would *not* have included that stuff *in curriculum snoborum*.... And, I mean, another example would obviously be the old lady's thing about "Providence" which Gerry records, since that's clearly very witchie.... As well as very hickish, and faintly disturbing....]

[~ I mean, and if you want the five (or ten) minute history lesson, as far as the floundering of paganism is concerned-- like the decline of France from 1804 to 1940: we used to be so cool-- the more it was this sort of Southern European, sophisticated, initiatory, philosophical, upper-class mystery religion, in broad strokes, I mean, that was one sort of thing-- I mean, you can almost date the death of that, the earlier, more upper-class casualties, because it was mostly a case of the fish rotting from the head, broadly speaking-- I mean, you give that kind of Julian the Apostate paganism a few years after its 'Philippi', to suffocate, basically, and then a hundred years after that, that demographic will be the most solidly Church-y.... And, really, a lot of the Plato crap helped make Christ and his scumbags the heroes they are today, so sometimes it *really* is a matter of the fish rotting from the head, as they say in Russia.... The farther North you go, the later the conversion dates get, basically, and, although most of them are far fewer than 2,000 years ago, many are somewhat more than 1,000 years, although occasionally less.... the thing dated itself, of course, being the conversion of the king, which always came first, and, after that, basically a sort of class war, almost, such as might make Marxists smile, were they even vaguely interested to hear.... I never really read much of Gerry's friend Margaret, but the line that stayed with me was "it is contrary to all experience that a cult should die out and leave no trace immediately on the introduction of a new religion". And, yeah, the more Southern and sophisticated and upper-class and philosophical, the sooner it went away-- basically only four or five centuries out from the incident in Palestine, it went cold.... whereas in the North, some of the local kings were still in business until about 1000.... Somewhat later in Lithuania, I guess, since for some reason I guess that there have only ever been pagans in the Baltic States.... And, incidentally, no one had even heard about the incident in Palestine in Mexico until about 1500, and obviously some Spanish people went there.... But, anyway. So, yeah. But, basically, the more Northern and hickish and pleb-y, the more it tended to occasionally reveal itself and basically just slink around or whatever in the hollow hills until shockingly late dates, such as that one hears in the fiction of C.S. Lewis of the Antagonist Uncle weird-ing out about "the last folk with fairy blood" or whatever it was, and all sorts examples of weird hickish old stuff, just sorta being there at weirdly not-old dates, early 20th century, even, and well into the age of railroads generally.... Stories about peasants in the really hickish interior part of Sweden drifting around the corn-fields, (in 1880!), muttering something odd about Freya and leaving behind runic graffiti and such sort of impossibilities.... {~*And then, you know, there's all the pagan folk metal from 2009 or something, and which would not have even vaguely existed before the 80s at the outside-- there was no Viking music before the 80s.... But, you know....~*}.... Just sort of.... almost grating sort of a thing, like someone who announces that they're going for a walk, and is still collecting little trinkets to take with them on a walk fifteen or twenty minutes or an hour or two later.... The farther from the court of Constantine or the Anglican citadel of Oxford-- we can only guess about Oxford*shire*.... The more it just sorta stayed there a bit, and just sorta.... loitered. "No loitering". That's the best sort of word I can think of-- something like that, I guess you get it. The longer it stayed around, the more it was more or less like that creepy old lady that Jane talks to in "The L-Shaped Room", (1960!), the sort of crazy old crank-- only temporarily exterminated by Cromwell and such-- who just sorta settled to the bottom of a society that wasn't very cool about the whole thing.... But, Shire folk are clever, as my friend John once told me.... But as for why there are no witchcraft documents as old as the fucking Shakespeare folios, well, I'm not sure that I can really explain that without losing my temper....~]

[~And that's basically the story of the English witches-- loitering under the "No Loitering" sign, (arms folded across the chest, one leg kicked around the other, looking the other way.... and yet, somehow, never boasting, and never drawing attention, and never knowing anything suspicious when asked....), maybe not knowing how to read, but knowing what it says.... And, sometimes, as much as a mighty king and righteous laws might have eased their burdens-- and I suppose that 1750 may well have been less horrific than 1650-- but, still.... sometimes my friend Tully and I have very little to teach that man, about the nature of the gods.... "Once a witch, always a witch", right?~]

[~ And, of course, then something started to happen around 1911 or so-- and not really before-- of which Arthur Edward was basically the first, and, in my opinion, perhaps the best to date, as well....~]

[~~ And I seem to be turning into Tacitus, at any rate.... ("All this is unauthenticated, and I shall leave it open....")

Beer Mug Viking: What brings you here, friend, so far from your own land? It must be hard to be away from your own.... Brutus: "Constraint gives scant choice; a naked man is chilled by the frost." Beer Mug Viking: Oh, so you know the runes! *hiccup* Me, I never learned the runes. *falls over* Cicero: *after pause* Yes, we are just hiding up here, way up North, deep in the mountains.... Brutus: Shup up, Cicero. Cicero: Nonsense, I'm telling a story. *does a voice* "Tyr is a one-handed god; often has the smith to blow." You know, I'm giving a little speech about that one on Wednesday; it's almost a sermon.... Brutus: I don't care; I'm not coming to it. Cicero: .... And so I was talking to old Rufus and Rufio, and I told them, "Don't tell me that Brutus isn't a Norse nobleman! He is as fine a.... Brutus: I said shut up, so why aren't you listening? I don't care; I'm tired. Cicero: *pauses* I'm sorry; I didn't mean to mock you, Junius. Brutus: Think nothing of it, Tully.

Cicero: *after pause* "Roads are long, and oceans far and wide." Brutus: *sighs, but keeps staring straight ahead* They are, Cicero. They are.

But anyway, I suppose that I ought to read Raymond Buckland instead; at least he was an American, you know.~~]

["Actually, I think that this is more a Tinker than a Gypsy custom." Aye, a tinker and a knacker. Och, aye.

"We are tinkers, son. This is our custom." "Dad, I want some food." "Good. Have some fish." "Dad, this needs to defrost before we can eat it." "Indeed. That is our custom. As free tinkers, such is our right." "Okay, dad."]

[Or, as Morpheus once said, "There is a difference between walking the path.... and killing people on it." "You mean that we should go film another action sequence." "Indeed."]

["Which was never conquered by the Romans or by the Saxons." Oh, *good*, that means that there the ancient ways were never much disturbed by the power of Rome, then. *rolls eyes* And would you *shut up* about Robert Graves? Juno's mercy, why not just tell me about eff'in Suetonius. *British ditz girl accent* Do ya mind?]

[~* And "Frey" means "Lord" and "Freya" means "Lady", remember?.... Odin knows that I didn't learn that from Gerry.... And it's nothing against Thor and the Asatru, but Freyr and Freya and Vanatru is the old troth too.... I mean, not that it wouldn't be fun to learn Old West Frisian to research Germanic customs and sacral kingship like the, Theodist, guys.... but all I know is the song, "Theodish Belief", and a bit about "Forn Sed", old customs, in the broadest sense.... And sometimes with a bit of help from Amadeus and Waldteufel, if you want to know the truth.... LOL.... 'The luck of the tribe!' God, I love weird shit.... But my dance instructor tells me that tap dance is way too much for me to start with, and that I better begin with Zumba, LOL.... ~*}

["....fills the part of a *psychopompos*..." *rolls eyes* Stop trying to explain Hermes to me, Gerry. You're embarrassing yourself.]

[OK, man, I get it. "That he dies, he who dares disobey, when this new king imposes the eastern way." Next topic. "Oh, now we're going to talk about the re-zoning laws." *rolls eyes* And *then*? "The Wild Hunt." You want to go hunting? ~ *blank stare*]

[*snarls* *Your* socialist shitheads got people killed on May Day, *Gerry*. How dare you. How dare you.]

[*sighs* And, let's try to get a grip about something. Pagan graffiti on the face of Christ's (European-- in the America of 1870, things were not quite so exciting) Church aside.... let's try to get a grip, okay? The Church burned alot of witches. The Church made observing the rites in the normal ways in the normal places beyond the pale of impossibility. The Church caused a fuck of a lot of grief for anyone even vaguely sympathetic to the witch's cult, the old ways, the rites, and the state of mind that produced the fairy tales, generally. Glossing over all that in an effort to be snide and superior, and to win points against G.K. Chesterton in some wierdo's game.... Don't wish that it was worse. The Burning Times were bad enough; they were pretty bad. So.... grow up. Okay.]

[And let's say that my uncle-- my actual uncle, my mother's brother-- gives my mom the bloody wafer, (host, is it? *dramatic* 'The Host'! by....), as some sort of an odd thing, since, after all, he was only in the church for *social* reasons, you see.... But, so what. Does Aphrodite do somersaults over this? I think that we are setting the bar for pagan triumph rather low, if you see what I mean, and it's scarcely a sign of healthy self-confidence, no matter how much prattling there may be about it....]

[*compares some class of Platonic bullshitting to witchcraft*

What, do you think that I just got off the boat? My family has been in this country for over a hundred years, you know....

*compares medieval ~puritanical~ heretics to witches*

Insults fail me.

*The Inquisition is evil!*

I'm a witch, Gerry; I get it!]

["Uncommonly ugly"? It's *lurid*! It's Crowley-esque *trash*-- that's what is is!]

[And do you know what's the funniest thing that he says about that guy-- and he says some odd stuff in passing-- but it's that Crowley's mum, the hellfire Christian chick, the one who radicalized him, basically, right-- she was a *Dissenter*. I mean, really, if you think that the religion laid down by the Crown is "a particularly violent form of Devil worship", then I think that we can safely classify that as dissent.... Yeah, she knew that the system was out to get her. ^^]

[*reads about the tabloid witches* You know, my grandpa used to like to read *The New York Post*, and now I can see why, because this *is* kinda fun. And I don't know why Gerry is getting all rationalist-y and weird about stories of voodoo in Britain. Erzulie's in the hood; what's so weird about that?]

[~ And, you know, in one of Phillip Pullman's novels-- and he was another solid Anglican, you know, always in favor of the Established Church, probs because of all that sacral kingship that floats around in the air down in Dover and out in Devon, and from the West Country to East Anglia, and from the heaths and moors of the Midlands, all the way down to Chelsea, and not to mention in Liverpool, or wherever it is that the English Keatings are from-- he basically said that the Brits were haters because they let the Gypsies kill each other so.... I don't know. Maybe instead of getting Police Chief Swan to read the riot act, (or the food-money jar appropriations bill), we could just get him to explain the Fraudulent Mediums Act, or something.... Hmm, 1951, interesting-- The Fraudulent Mediums Act, Marilyn Monroe in "Let's Make It Legal", "The Catcher in the Rye" is published.... oh, and Churchill got to be PM again; I didn't realize that that happened.... I thought that all that he did in the 50s was write books.... And, you know, he probably could have really bonded with Gerry over their shared scorn for those awful Celt-killing Saxon invaders, and such.... (Dude, 'on three great ships they came', and it was *awesome*-- it was righteous! *Christopher Columbus with speedboats* 'Andiamo, andiamo!' That's right-- Saksenland! Ruh!.... hahaha.... "We owe London to Rome"-- no, man! We owe London to the divine brothers, Odin and Wodan.... "Bound for fame, on three great ships they came.... Foes forlorn, a sacred myth was born, wrought a new age' *dons sunglasses* *becomes Dutch* 'Ruhhh!.... hahaha').... Oh, okay, "The Birth of Britain" wasn't published until 1956, so he would have been out of office, that makes some sense, then.... But, anyway, as far as the 17th century is concerned, the world was different back then, America basically didn't even exist, so, really, it's amazing that the British weren't reduced to the level of self-cannibalism, eating their fingers and toes and stuff.... You have to put it all back in perspective, you know.... ~]

[~ "Righteous laws I vow, for the sake of all our kind.".... "See the storm rise across the sea, raider's curse come to harry our shores, they will not see the English flee. Rise the greats, you are duty-bound, Grand defender-- the bane of the Danes!, spread the tidings of Etheldune...." *satisfied sigh* I am so much better at life than Eckhart Tolle.... "Jack is Back!" woot woot, alwight. Saksenland! Roi.... hahaha.... *makes gang sign for 'cell phone'* Peace out, dudes-- Walhalla Wacht. ~]

[And his attempt at writing fiction-- the novel, which he excerpts-- sure sounds like a laughable failure.... Just like his public relations campaign, and much of his other stuff-- oh no! The Church doesn't approve of my work! Fail. Gerald Gardner, (public relations).... Fail.... And, c'mon, Gerry, you know that Kate Middleton is a witch; let's talk about it together over a few beers at the next football party.... *throws up hands* Oh no, I want to kill all of my friends with witchcraft! *laughs* Oh, good-- no more friends. *wipes brow in relief* *laughs*]

[And obviously Grimm's Fairy Tales have nothing to do with the Craft (!) because the Grimm brothers were German, which is, of course, some class of place outside of Ireland and Britain, (and Egypt either), and anyway, didn't we fight a war against some sort of German. ("(The name) 'Albert' is too Germanic.") But, of course, professors with a German education are, somehow, more trustworthy than Germanic folklorists.... Okay, Gerry. Sure. Sure. I mean, if you can't trace the lines between Grimm's Fairy Tales, Disney princesses, and the cult and devotion of the witches, then, I don't know what to tell you. (Although spelling it out like that is maybe a little foolish, considering that some people might want to Montague Summers that statement.... But, I don't know. Worse not saying it almost, considering that way more people, maybe, would want to crucify the princesses, since they represent.... "traditional"! Oooh! Tradition! The Church! Somebody, grab a pitchfork! Find George Orwell!) Seriously, though, I wouldn't know what to do with you. (I might recommend the book that Montague Summers wrote about Jane Austen (!)-- since that would be a good, fine waste of time, right....) I mean, I honestly can't understand the-- is "neo-Wiccans" a term of abuse? Because you can me a fluffy bunny in retaliation all you want; I aspire to fluffy bunnyhood; I want to marry a ballerina-- sort who spend all this time in university and so on, expecting that Bazarov and Sheldon Cooper and so on, are somehow going to be less insulting to them than some.... Methodist, maybe. You know. I mean, it's like.... banging your head against the brick wall. Mostly, you just hurt yourself.]

[Maybe I should bracket Gerald Gardner together with the Neo-Wiccans, the way that Nietzsche brackets Christianity with Nihilism. Makes perfect sense to me. If you don't believe in performing the rites, what do you belief in? Babylon 5, maybe?]

[Asatru YouTube vid: "And then read this book. *holds up book* And then read this book. *holds up another book* And then read this book. *holds up yet another fucking book*."

'And this "Uncle Jack" also had a rubber boob, which has since been placed in the Witchcraft Museum.']

[And I was never a big Rosicrucian fanatic, but I remember one time reading this Rosicrucian info dump, that said that in a certain space of time, there were 11,999 books and blurbs and such, that used the name "Rosicrucian", but of those, about 11,996 were about, not so much the rosy cross, as a load of crap.... And, you know how I recommended reading Locke strictly in an excerpted sort of way, well, if you're going to read Gardner, you might as well just read that Word-doc "What Gardner Said", which is on that website, since it's actually a bit better for you, than all this slog.... Kai, bai! OKAY, BYE-BYE!]

{But anyway. There is no 'i' in Gardner.... No, seriously.... Otherwise, you misspell it, and get some other dude.}

{"You do want to be in the Circle of Trust, don't you, Greg?" Oh no, wait. He's that other guy.}

It's difficult, because I don't trust alot of the newer stuff as far as I can throw it, but, then, it would be easy to exaggerate the value of the older stuff, out of some argument from scarcity, which is stupid.

{I mean, perhaps *in a way*.... I'm not trying to be *callous* about some of the things that have happened.... although, in a way, that is the whole point of my.... I mean, "the old that is strong does that wither; deep roots are not reached by the frost", no, wait, that's Tolkien, what did Gardner say, something like that.... And so it hardly matters, whatever changes, really, because what ever does, aside from all of it.... But in this *book* we are naturally looking at all of the limitations of the time, and of the ink-- everything from the obvious to the.... irritating. ["The priestess.... but the priest...." Oh, and who did you get that from? Bernard Shaw, maybe? *Another* Jane Austen scholar! Oh, and Simone de Beauvoir! Somebody sign her up for the fertility cult! After all, the natural differences between the sexes and the respectful treatment of ancient beliefs-- all that was always a big eff'in part of the whole deal with those.... commie fucks, and their "scientific" bullshit, which was always more "advanced" than, oooh-tribal-magic!, ooh-I'm-telling!] But, what I mean is.... Well, let's face it, our (crazy!) Uncle Gerry spent a lot of time playing the historian and the anthropologist and so on.... Which isn't even to say.... I don't know. Thinking about what is a witch, and what is a wizard, is the sort of thing that gives me headaches....}

{Anyway, the point is, that when I say that I "don't disbelieve him" I hope that it is obvious that I am referring to *things that matter* and that I do not think him a liar.... *But whether Jack Harper and Emma Corrigan imported manatees and idea balls from Egypt* in Homeric times is totally indifferent to me.... And some of what, say, Mathers, wrote about Egypt, (in connection to the symbolism of the Tarot), seems slightly less time-wasting than some of this.... And anyway, I thought that Gardner of all people, wouldn't be so damned interested in this sort of Greek stuff.... *Although there is the small matter of all those burnt English muffins, of course*....}

[I mean, if I got conscripted into a dictionary committee, then I'd accept the Mathers definition of magic, "The science of the control of the secret forces of nature"-- fine, that's *not* like saying that fairy tales have nothing to do with craft; that's a fine thing to say. (I mean, I hate to have to parse statements for reality, but if you tell me that it's raining outside and I look out, and it's not.... you're crazy. I need to call the "frontier psychiatrist", right? "What does that mean?" "It means you're nuts! You're crazier than a coconut!") But, I mean, although sometimes, sure, I'm interested in the derivations of words and such.... But, in general, I don't trust the dictionary mentality as far as a princess can chuck one of those bloody things.... I mean, I can't help but be reminded of Tony Tanner, who I also sorta like, but even though he said that he liked Jane, he also convinced himself that Jane was a very different sort of girl, than she really was....]

{"Now, the reader will ask, 'Whatever has all this to do with witchcraft?' " *laughs out loud* NO, KEEP GOING GERRY, YOU'RE DOING GREAT.}

[What was it he said? 'Oh no, why doesn't anyone want to know? Why doesn't someone want to figure it out?' Well, Gardner may have been the curator of the Witchcraft Museum, but, you know, he didn't always "curate" it, Steve Carell-style.... I mean, if I *lived near Glastonbury*, maybe, but.... Well, I don't live near Glastonbury.... And, for that matter, if the British army were marching on "Brunswick", I think that I might just, you know, be okay with that, on some level.... (Since I live in a different part of New Jersey.) So, let one example suffice for many-- Gardner curated some crap for the cult, and the lads said, Hey that's the Craft there, buddy. ("So they knew the secrets in those days.") And that's the point-- to see it. To know it, when it's there. ("Actually she did ask to be paid, and it wasn't very expensive, either. I had a ton of singles left over from my sister's birthday party....") ("In the end the giant was slain!") So, I mean, I hope that Museum Man here doesn't make me give the speech about the Recons and the wizards and the *Druids*, oo la la-- I mean, if "Druid-y" means "wizard-y", like politics, and crap, and.... *Shakespeare*, and *dentistry* and shit, then, sure, they're wizards, although if "Druid-y" means "totally not wizard-y", like, aren't there "Druids" in America and the Internet, somewhere, who are like, beach bum pagans, that would be like, not wizards, they wouldn't be.... But, yeah, don't make me give the speech about the Recons and the wizards and the academics.... I mean, c'mon, right, "Burning Times", "Time of Persecution"-- you have to admire the straightforward little terms we invent for ourselves and our crap, ("Athame"-- shut up.... I don't even have one! *laughs* Where would I hide it?) ~ because, let's face it, if it were Recons who were being killed, the result would have been far more subtle. ^^]

{And Matrix-- my brother's friend Mike, whom I secretly call Matrix, to distinguish him from Brian's other Mike friend.... That Mike is more.... Mild, not 'sharp'-- although Matrix isn't *so* bad; he's married-- was talking about how he didn't really want to get promoted to financial emperor, (or whatever), since he made enough money as a financial king, (or whatever), and without the public profile-- if he were an emperor, everything that he ever said would be automatically fact-checked and secrecy-checked, and automatically filed in the district attorney's notebook.... Or however he said it. But I found all that to be secretly amusing.}

{"So I guess that I should lose the hat." "Yes, that would be a good idea for a variety of reasons." And, for a moment, I thought that he was going to enumerate them. "This requires a little precision." And it did, but.... well, in that sense, it's just like doing fantasy football and having fun.... Although he also.... Well, there's no telling all of it.}

{"What is this?"
"It's a, (dead) mouse dressed like Jesus."}

{But anyway..... Before we reach for hate, we 'Remember the Fockers'.}

{And one day, I will be Future Ted.}

So, I don't know.... This book does mean something to me, even though it is rather average.

That's all I've got right now.... If you want more, all that I can say is-- 'Go ask Arthur', ha!

[".... including those of such extreme respectability that they almost curl up and die whenever Crowley's name is mentioned...."

Fuck you, Gerry. Go bang your dog. And then, once you've cleaned yourself up, go talk with Jane.

"To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love."

Maybe Jane will show you that it's not so bad to be an occultist of a respectability as extreme as Arthur Edward.]

[And, God, I don't know who knows more about witch trials and prominent nobles put on trial for spells and scandal....

Gerald Gardner or Montague Summers, I mean.

("Once again the shadow of sorcery fell across the French Royal House."

Wow. Montague Summers could have literally said the exact same thing, you guys.

"All classes were affected and concerned from Pope to peasant, Queen to cottage girl."

*Gerry nods in agreement, and gets excited talking about the poison darts from Australia that he found one time*

"She gave as her reason 'that another might rule in his Majesty's place, and the Government might have gone to the Devil.' That is to say, to Francis Bothwell."

*Gerry starts stroking his chin and looking insane*

"It has been recognized even from the very earliest times, during the first gropings towards the essential conveniences of social decency and social order, that witchcraft is an evil thing, an enemy to light, an ally to the powers of darkness, disruption, and decay."

*Gerry throws down his snot rag and challenges Monty to a duel*

*Sheldon and Lenard look to me for an explanation for this madness*

*I pause, trying to choose between quoting "The Lay of Thrym", or Barney Stinson.*)

(Barney: Let the lay of Thrym be heard!

Ted: In the end the giant was slain!

Jason: *holds out hands* All right, you guys really need to settle down.)

(And let's get one other thing straight, while we're at it-- if the Popes practice forbidden magics-- the stuff that they forbid, and, for the sake of argument, right-- there is an eff'in crucial difference between that sort of goth Vatican-chancery politico-kill-y crap, the weirdo crap, and anything that could even vaguely be called Wiccan, honoring the Lord and the Lady, you see. The difference being, basically, that the Popes are *schizo retarded fuckheads*, really, who are dyed as deeply in *hypocrisy* as Lenin and his goons were in blood. (It's about their "rich crop of mental disease", remember?) So, there would be that. And it's not just the witch-wizard difference, no.... Which, incidentally, doesn't really have much to do with 'conjuring', really, I think, (although I used to do that in *Morrowind* alot, since it was sorta easier than the deal with the broadsword), except in so far as all that would be complicated and weird, and everything complicated and weird is wizard-y, not witchie.... I mean, there's even the *Solomon* crap, or whatever.... The Cabalah seems somewhat more interesting, although obviously it would be far too easy if it were possible to spell that word in some finite number of ways.... "Michael Scott the wizard...." *laughs* Yes, Michael Scott is a great wizard.... "Aphrodite taught her son Jason...." *laughs* The great Mr Segel!)

(And I know that we're all getting wet here, imagining Jeremy Irons as the wily conspirator who wants to use black magic to make himself the Pope, and Liam Neeson as his nervous co-conspirator, and Clint Eastwood as the Holy Father, but, you know... Fuck it. Fuck that. Fuck all that shit.... That "Thunderstruck theocracy".... that *Tower*.... "Seat will not be set for thee, at the league of free nations", nor at my *wedding*.... "At the end the giant was slain.... Tales of tyranny, end with me." .... "See the storm rise across the sea.... They will not see the English flee." So says the Lord of the Eagles....)

("A giant causes anguish for women; misfortune makes few men cheerful.")

("Do you like friends? How about fun? And what about paying for things? Oh no you don't like that. So you're a 'free man'...." Witchcraft: it's as free as this gasp of air. *gasp of air* It's serious fun!.... Oh yeah, those fuckers in Britain don't have football. They suck too much for that.... And remember, you guys, Odin's folk, is Jets Nation. And you might say, 'Wouldn't Odin rather root for the Baltimore Ravens?' ~Fuck you! ^^)

[And, of course, the answer to a lot of questions, ("mysteries", remember?) is not to ask them. Did you ever see "Dinner for Schmucks"? "Do you know how hard it is to get laid when you smell like coleslaw? (Susana asked) Not hard. But, still."]

I mean, he mentions Tarot, in relation to some churchman who banned them, and then ordered them....

And that's it.

He gets a big kick out of that sort of thing, but I wonder how much he knows about the cards....

*makes a face*]

[*explaining what was convenient in far-distant circumstances*

*poem in French*

*quote in Latin*

Wow, is it, *really* this difficult to explain that Christians don't like teh Wica overmuch?]

[And let me just cut through a little bit more of it for you, since.... Since I'm going to, for some reason.

Plato: No.

Women: Macy's.

Does that make sense? Are we good now, Gerry?]

["For if they think of beauty, they will never be great Commissars.... They would never have helped Savonarola destroy all lovely things."

*mock surprise* Oh yeah, I almost forgot that part.

"Who says that the Ukraine is my country? Our country is what our heart most desires."

*smirks* He forgot, and then remembered.]

(7/10) ( )