Stop Taking Witch Tests Seriously

0:18SPEAKER_02:If you enjoy our content, please consider donating and following our social. So we see these all the time. And I want to get your reaction. These little videos that pop up five signs you're a witch. Look for these signs, and you have innate witch abilities. Right. So we we see them all the time.

0:46SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we do.

0:47SPEAKER_02:Right. So what I want to know is do these tests and if so, how? Do these tests immediately set people down like the wrong path? Like some rabbit hole they don't even need to be going down.

1:04SPEAKER_00:I d well, yeah. I I I think it gets people started down this whole entire thing of, ooh, I'm special. Somehow the rules don't apply to me. I'm a witch, I'm a born innate witch or something. It seems more of an ego trap to me.

1:25SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I just saw one the other day, and it was uh a palm reader. And she was like, if you've got this in your palms, you have innate ability. And if you have it on this side, then you haven't tapped into those abilities yet.

1:42SPEAKER_00:I'm like, what? What? I know, I know, but but this I want to take five seconds here to admit sometimes these are kind of fun as long as you don't take them serious.

1:53SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they can they can be fun.

1:56SPEAKER_00:I remember me and Lady Keegan and uh Neophyte waiting for initiation, sitting around watching these videos, making jokes about them. Oh, sure, yeah. And actually taking the test. And half of them were funny to us. Right. But again, to us it was more of a joke and a gag.

2:12SPEAKER_02:Right. But there's a lot of people that take them seriously.

2:17SPEAKER_00:There are a lot of people that take this seriously. I I I don't see this as being a thing. This is this is not how this stuff goes along.

2:26SPEAKER_02:So, what is so problematic about this? Just to suggest that it's something you can diagnose.

2:34SPEAKER_00:Well, well, again, it it starts this: I'm some special bloodline. I'm somehow not like everybody else. I'm in a special category. There's the problem. That's what in the world this begins. This is more about ego than it is about anything else. Do you want me to sit here and say, okay, if you go through all the different covens and meet with all these different witches and stuff and start asking them questions or have them take a personality test, or will they were there are some common traits that show up?

3:08SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Probably, yeah.

3:11SPEAKER_00:But those common traits to me is that's what brings you to us. Yeah. To sit there and go, okay, it's this one trait that only people named Jill have, or something like this, you you're getting a problem here. Because you're you're you're sort of much uh basically sitting there saying there's some type of witch line or witch blood in the system here.

3:34SPEAKER_02:Right. And then you're kind of it seems like you when you do that, you're discouraging people from understanding that this can be developed. It doesn't have to be innate. Are there some that have innate abilities? Yes. It's just they easily they easily access what the rest of us have to work for.

3:56SPEAKER_00:Basically, yes. I it it's the it's the argument. I again I'm I'm looking at this. It's the argument I gave between nature and nurture. And if we take a computer that has really bad har hardware, right? Right. The worst hardware there is, and then we have a computer that has the best hardware. If we put badway on software on both of them, they're not going to perform exactly like they're supposed to. No, they're not. The bad computer might even perform even a whole lot worse.

4:27SPEAKER_00:If we put good software on there, that bad computer is going to operate at its max capacity.

4:34SPEAKER_03:Right.

4:35SPEAKER_00:The good computer is even going to do even better.

4:38SPEAKER_03:Right.

4:39SPEAKER_00:You have this problem. We want to separate nature and nurture, but they're code-joined together. Right. So they sort of work together. And sitting there saying, okay, certain people have certain special hardware that gives them access to magic is a lie. I challenge anybody, please show me anywhere we're in the world in any of the ancient myths or anything like that. That is a requirement. Mm-hmm. It's not. All right, because it's not. The knowledge of the spell might be in those realms.

5:13SPEAKER_00:But once a regular human knows it, they can do it. It's just it's the same thing about like how to make fire.

5:20SPEAKER_03:Right.

5:21SPEAKER_00:Once it's known, it's known. Lady Aba has argued this for years. All right. And I'm not exactly sure how in the world this works with this, but bear with me for a moment. Once you learn the mysteries, once you actually learn our mysteries, once you become a third degree, those mysteries and everything that you're excited about as a neophyte or a seeker or whatever you want to call yourself, to us, it's just another data point. Yes. That luster, that magic, that what makes it special has worn off a long time ago.

5:56SPEAKER_02:Well, I think there's some things that they will continue to be special, but I think that depends on the person.

6:03SPEAKER_00:Yes.

6:04SPEAKER_02:It's kind of like rainbows. Rainbows being a symbol to some people of good fortune or whatever else. Probably doesn't mean that to somebody else.

6:17SPEAKER_00:Probably not.

6:17SPEAKER_02:So I think it's just one of those things.

6:21SPEAKER_00:Well, you're also taking these traits, and I hate to be this way, okay. I, with the way I was raised and everything, I happen to be really good at pattern recognition. Yes. Does that mean I'm the only person that has pattern pattern recognition? No. But you know, not too many people in Temple have that same capacity I do to a certain extent.

6:44SPEAKER_02:No.

6:44SPEAKER_00:But again, if somebody else comes along, their pattern recognition might not recognize the same patterns I do either. Exactly. So just because you have the same traits doesn't mean you're actually going to align that much faster. No. You know, matter of fact, haven't you ever heard of that whole entire thing? I I don't know about you, but I have two older sisters. And my oldest sister and my mom were so much alike they did not get along. Here's where you have this problem.

7:12SPEAKER_00:If all these witches are all supposed to have all these same traits, do you not run into that same problem? Of course you do. I mean, I'm sorry, if you're running a coven with 13 herbalists, herbalists, that sounds more like an argument every single time on what the world to do with sage. Because now you got 13 different opinions.

7:37SPEAKER_02:Exactly.

7:40SPEAKER_00:Look, I'm not saying that when I go to interview people, that I'm not looking for certain behaviors or certain things.

7:47SPEAKER_03:Right.

7:48SPEAKER_00:But those aren't anything where I can sit there and go, oh no, you gotta be kind, or you've got to be empathetic, or you've got to be this. I'm looking for logic, some reasoning. I'm looking for I I can't explain it. It's not some one trait.

8:03SPEAKER_02:Well, I think it's I don't I think it's more following that gut feeling. I think when it comes down to knowing who's going to or even having an inkling of an idea of who's going to fit in or who's going to um bring certain things for you know to the group, I think it's more of a gut feeling.

8:27unknown:Yeah.

8:28SPEAKER_02:It's it's like when you meet somebody for the first time and you know that you don't like them for whatever reason.

8:34SPEAKER_00:Yes, for whatever reason.

8:36SPEAKER_02:They've already rubbed you the wrong way. My mom, my mom used to say, my spirit communicated with your spirit or witnessed your spirit.

8:46SPEAKER_00:Yeah.

8:46SPEAKER_02:And I and I and I think I mean it's funny, but yeah, I think it's the same thing. I just think it's something that it's not anything you can really define.

8:58SPEAKER_00:Your mom happened to be one of the non most non-witchy person to be the most witchy person I ever met.

9:05SPEAKER_02:She really was.

9:09SPEAKER_00:So I don't know if that statement made any sense. I know it made sense to you.

9:15SPEAKER_02:Well, I mean, we we could dive into that in another episode if you want to.

9:24SPEAKER_00:But here's my problem with this. It it does. It starts bringing these things like there is some exclusivity here. I I'm not gonna sit here and lie to people, all right? Do you have people that come in the temple, they become a neophyte, and that's where they stay? Yes. Absolutely. You have some people that come in and they they become first degrees and they never move on. Yes. Same thing with second and third degrees. It happens. That's their comfortable spot, and I'm sorry, you can't move them until they want to move.

9:57SPEAKER_02:So back to like identifying things and people as quote unquote witchy. How do you think ancient practitioners went about doing this, knowing who who was gonna study, who was gonna be a good study? How do you think they determine? You see where I'm going? How do you think they determine?

10:20SPEAKER_00:Yeah, wait. Well, let's take the let's take the most obvious one here. Let's take the druids. Because the druids were known to do this. They they could go into other towns and villages that weren't their own. And they got a chance to mess with the kids and talk to them and stuff like this, and they would pick certain kids to come back and study with them. It was a great honor for the family. Right. Things I'm I think I think they lit they probably watched, they probably sat there and figured out which kid caught on to their herb little class that they gave the fastest.

10:52SPEAKER_00:Maybe. Who started to understand their con concept of first aid fastest? Okay. Maybe gave a little bit of test that somebody sitting there going, Well, if you're doing this law and this, do you see what I'm saying?

11:06SPEAKER_02:Yeah, some kind of logical.

11:09SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that they're sitting there and they're doing certain tests to to look for certain skills.

11:14SPEAKER_02:Skills or attributes.

11:17SPEAKER_00:Did this person grow up to be a good doctor? Because again, remember the Druids weren't just training you to be spiritual, they also trained you to be lawyers and doctors and all this other stuff. And uh dealing with farmers, because again, you were the person everybody in the in these tribes went to for answers. Right. So that's what they were looking for. It's more than likely were people that could learn this stuff. And just like we do today. I don't see where we do anything different today.

11:46SPEAKER_00:A kid goes into school, right? And if they show a high aptitude for science or for a certain field of science, teachers and parents are told, no, you need to encourage this behavior. We need to give them more classes on this. And same thing. I I don't I don't think we're reinventing the wheel here.

12:05SPEAKER_02:Okay. Oh, that makes sense.

12:07SPEAKER_00:I I look at it that they were sort of doing like what all these uh special schools and stuff do. They're they're meeting with these kids to see if they have the potential to keep up with the curriculum.

12:17SPEAKER_02:Gotcha. What uh you know, I but funny, funny question or lighthearted question here. What do you think they would have thought about all these the druids? What do you think they would have thought about all these witch tests, videos, and whatever else that we've got floating around?

12:36SPEAKER_00:Personally, I think they would be banging their heads up against rocks and nothing right. Seriously.

12:55SPEAKER_02:Okay, so when do you think, and I don't know if you can actually identify a time period or a specific event or anything like that, but when do you think this shift from um aptitude to claiming special bloodlines or special traits? When do you think this shift happened?

13:16SPEAKER_00:Believe it or not, I think it started around the witch trials. Okay. The argument goes like this was is that the Christians were going around preaching, you can only do these spells if you had this pack with the Satan, which then places you into a different category.

13:33SPEAKER_03:Okay.

13:35SPEAKER_00:All right, so it doesn't take that much of a jump to go from this to suddenly we have Sabrina, the teenage witch, who was born magical.

13:44SPEAKER_02:Right. Well, yeah, because even during the trials, it was um if someone's mother was convicted or accused of being a witch, then the children were typically next in line.

13:59SPEAKER_00:Right.

14:00SPEAKER_02:Because your mama was, that means you were right.

14:04SPEAKER_00:So this is where all this stuff where I think it started. I didn't, it's not 100%. But again, this was that dividing line that you have to be special or different to cast magic to do this stuff. Because before that, if you just knew the spell, anybody could do it, right? So again, it's sort of the special category which never really existed to begin with.

14:30SPEAKER_02:So who do you think actually benefits from making this like exclusive um genetic bloodline type thing? Who who benefits from that?

14:43SPEAKER_00:Actually, I don't think anybody benefits from it. Even the people that are doing it or think they're doing it, you know, to be good. I don't think it actually, I think it is like the biggest form of real gatekeeping we actually have.

14:56SPEAKER_02:I was gonna ask, could the is this a is this a form of gatekeeping?

15:00SPEAKER_00:This this to me is an actual form of gatekeeping. Because now you're putting a qualification on there that may be or may not be. All right, because now you're assuming that okay, just because you don't have this speci special bloodline or whatever, you can never learn this. But that's not true. Anybody can learn how to do this if they take the time and the effort.

15:29SPEAKER_02:Right. Is there um is there a connection between the tests and monetization of what I think there is.

15:39SPEAKER_00:To make it even worse is when we actually look at the videos, the traits that they point out are very, very traits that a majority of humans have. The bulk. Okay. When when you actually listen to them about the traits, the majority of the everybody has empathy. Okay, unless you're a psychopath, majority of people have empathy.

16:05SPEAKER_04:True.

16:07SPEAKER_00:All right. How is that a special thing? And how do you feel it? You feel it deeper than something? What does that mean?

16:16SPEAKER_02:Well, uh how do you feel? Well, I was gonna say everybody's abilities are gonna be they're not gonna be on the same level.

16:23SPEAKER_00:So some may be more empathetic than others, but but again, how how do you judge that you feel more sympathy for somebody else than somebody else? Are you with what I'm saying? Right. How do you define that?

16:37SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can.

16:39SPEAKER_00:See, that's what I mean. Because when you actually listen to what they're saying, what they're saying is very so freaking vague it could be anybody. Right. Here you got, okay, now you're special. Hey, I just pointed out all this stuff that 99% of the population of the United, you know, of the world has. Oh, now you need to come study to me. Now you need to buy my books and all this other stuff, because I've already proven to you you already are a witch.

17:07SPEAKER_00:Right. Even though the stuff I'm sitting there telling you is just the most common behaviors there are.

17:13SPEAKER_02:So, okay, given that how does this perpetuate the um exclusivity that traditional witchcraft is so poorly associated with, but yet it's something that we oppose.

17:34unknown:Right.

17:35SPEAKER_00:I don't know how the but see, that's what kills me is because it it does, but it does it indirectly. I I have never heard any traditionalist my whole entire life say that you have to be of some bloodline.

17:48SPEAKER_02:Right, but that's what I'm saying. It's something that we vehemently oppose.

17:53SPEAKER_00:But yet where your claim that we do all the time.

17:56SPEAKER_02:Right. So how does this I mean it's I don't know if I don't know if it's the right question, but this obviously feeds into that.

18:08SPEAKER_00:It does. I mean, that's my point.

18:10SPEAKER_02:It yeah, it continues the misconception, right?

18:14SPEAKER_00:It does. It continues the misconception. This is not how traditionalists work, this is not how we do stuff. There are no bloodlines. Anybody sitting there saying that you have to have certain abilities or certain talents, because the idea here is that you can learn these talents. And if you have these feelings of stuff, hey, witchcraft nine times out of ten, I think, can teach you how to develop those instincts to make them even sharper.

18:42SPEAKER_02:Right. But then you but you've got those people who are, you know, they're following all these videos and they're taking the advice or they're they're absorbing into the misconception that it's all genetic, right? So I think this creates a bigger problem because now you've got seekers for people who are genuinely interested in these practices, but now they're like, oh well, it's not I'm not genetic, so right. I can't do this. So Covens are probably losing a lot of initiates because of this.

19:22SPEAKER_02:Over this.

19:23SPEAKER_00:Because again, these people could actually have the technique to be great priests and priestesses of the religion. Absolutely, and we would accept them. But again, if you're if you're thinking that you've got to have some mystical magical blood ties to something, you're never gonna find out.

19:39SPEAKER_02:Right. And it's something that we we have long tried to get rid of is that division between you know genetic or inherited versus developed.

19:54SPEAKER_00:Now, again, I I've thought before, yes, most witches and covens, if you have a kid, we automatically consider them sort of like part of the religion. Kind of like Jewish moms and stuff like that.

20:08SPEAKER_03:Right.

20:08SPEAKER_00:But we still the expectation is that they still have to be learned, trained, and initiated to do absolutely, yeah. They don't get a special pass just because they were are you with what I'm saying? I mean, you know, we can again that to me is a little bit different than what we're talking about.

20:28SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, I think that's completely different.

20:32SPEAKER_00:Now we're dealing with a kid that's probably raised up around a lot of these concepts and stuff, and we don't have to do as much training as you think, but we still have some to do there. I mean I don't want to confuse people on that, all right? Right. All right, that they don't get any special again, it's just the fact that they were raised in the belief to begin with.

20:55SPEAKER_02:Right. Like being raised Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or whatever.

21:01SPEAKER_00:Or or or like I said, it's just like being raised Jew, uh like a uh Jewish faith. Yeah, you know, it's just that's the way they do things. So you're if your mom's Jewish and you're born, you're Jewish. Or at least you're considered Jewish. Yeah. All right. Uh same thing with witches. Uh I don't see what the big deal is, but it's not a birthline something. Are are you with what I'm saying? Yeah.

21:28SPEAKER_02:So uh looking looking at the videos and stuff, is there anything that people should actually be looking for? If you feel drawn to witchcraft and the practices that you know that uh that it entails, is there anything you should be looking for instead of these videos?

21:51SPEAKER_00:Well yes. Look for people that's actually going to talk to you. Look for people that are gonna meet down face to face with you. Legitimate cousins do some setting before you come in. Sure, yeah. All right, because A, they want to protect their people and they want to protect you too, because again, you're growing, you're learning. All right. That's what you need to look for. You you I hate to be this way. Y'all need people need to actually start looking for covens and groups that actually have structure to them.

22:27SPEAKER_00:Well, I hate to be that way.

22:30SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say, I think then too, it on a more personal level, just do some introspection. I mean, if you have a genuine interest, there's you just need to realize there's nothing really stopping you from from doing this.

22:48SPEAKER_00:Matter of fact, I I'd sit there, probably tell people, hey, why don't y'all just quit watching these videos where these people are like 10 signs you're a witch?

22:56SPEAKER_02:Right.

22:57SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, I was like, okay, whatever, and I'm moving on. Because again, it's a lie.

23:02SPEAKER_02:Well, and they're everywhere. I mean, there's so many of them out there, and you see new ones like every other day. Half of them say the same thing.

23:12SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know what this reminds me of? Remember the games that used to be in the mall where you would put your fingers on there, you picked your colors and it would tell you your favorite animal. Yes. That's what I think of these as.

23:28SPEAKER_03:Right.

23:29SPEAKER_00:All right. That there is some psychological part there, but it's really a joke. It's really just this strange quirk that actually happens and isn't really based in reality.

23:40SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's just it's just funny. It's entertainment value, is all it is.

23:45SPEAKER_00:It's all it is. But again, I I see these along the same theme. I I'm like you. I I think there are people out there that's taking this serious. I'm sitting there, if you're one of those ones that put that video out, why don't you say, hey, this is for entertainment purposes only? Right. At the beginning of the video. That's it. We're only doing this for funds and giggles. Right. So what do you still see the same ones out there? What angel would you be?

24:12SPEAKER_00:Or you know what uh they're fun, they're not actually gonna happen, but I'm like you. I I have a problem with the witchy ones because I think people are believing them.

24:21SPEAKER_02:Yeah.

24:22SPEAKER_00:I mean especially when we had oh go ahead. I was gonna say, especially when I see when I sit there and watch videos of actually credible creators sitting there buying into this.

24:33SPEAKER_03:Yeah.

24:33SPEAKER_00:And they're claiming you gotta have to join a coven, you have to join this bloodline, blah, blah, blah, blah. And that's a lie.

24:40SPEAKER_02:Well, see, that right there no longer makes them credible in my eyes. If you're gonna perpetuate, if you're gonna feed into that misconception, you you've lost all credibility in my book.

24:53SPEAKER_00:I mean, science has already proven we're all related, so I mean, pretty much, yeah. Pretty much. So, to some extent, but how in the world one person can be more special than somebody else, this still brings back this whole entire thing of um of fate. Yeah. If somebody's special, if somebody's destined, that brings in fate. And I most witches I know, most pagan practices reject that because we believe in free will.

25:24unknown:Yeah.

25:25SPEAKER_00:Which means you can't have fate.

25:26SPEAKER_02:I mean, in in the in the quote unquote pagan mythologies, you have images and well, then you have characters like the fates. Right. But most of most pagans that I know don't hold true to any of those.

25:45SPEAKER_00:Well, even then, the fates that we talk about, this is more about your your life length than the quality of the life.

25:54SPEAKER_02:Well, true, yeah.

25:56SPEAKER_00:And most pagan, again, the the three fates from uh Greek mythology and Roman mythology, they were more about taking how long your life was. The fate that we hear from a lot of religions is that you're fated to behave or do something in a certain way. Yeah. To a certain extent. That's why I don't see it as free will, like what most pagans believe in.

26:22SPEAKER_02:Yeah, because I mean, yeah, in all honesty, you had yeah, I mean, they were all about the the length of life. You had the spinner, and then you had the measure, the allotter, and then you had the inevitable.

26:38SPEAKER_04:Right.

26:39SPEAKER_02:That's all they were, it had nothing to do with your lot in life.

26:43SPEAKER_00:No, it didn't. So I mean, if you see the difference there, because even then when when they do bring up witches in these Greek mythologies and stuff, it's played off like these people made this choice to become this thing.

26:59SPEAKER_03:Right.

27:01SPEAKER_00:To become this type of seer, to become are are you with what I'm saying?

27:05SPEAKER_04:Yeah.

27:06SPEAKER_00:I mean, because we don't say that about the um, oh god, what was that? The um the mystic woman at uh in Greek mythology. The oracle of Delphi.

27:16SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the oracle.

27:18SPEAKER_00:The oracle of Delphi. Right. I think how I say it right. Oracle of Delphi. Again, this was a cho this was sort of a chosen path, or she and I I want to say it was sort of forced, but it sort of wasn't at the same time.

27:34SPEAKER_02:Right. These girls were raised too. Right. I I think that was one of the things. They they had an interest in being that, so they were raised into it.

27:46unknown:Right.

27:47SPEAKER_02:I mean, it's to become this. That's still a choice.

27:51SPEAKER_00:Right. Uh yeah, and it might have been choices your parents made, but the idea was still to get a better life for your kids. I mean, and I'm sorry, being the oracle, that's a pretty big step up if you're a past. Uh yeah. I don't are you see what I'm saying there? I still don't see this as a predestined thing. No. So I I I don't know where all this came from. I really don't. I don't understand where this concept that you had to be part of some bloodline or something.

28:26SPEAKER_00:I it's not like it isn't in the temporary sci-fi movies when you have witches in there that you know, that's what charm was all about. Right. You know, if they were not the descendants of this specific witch, they wouldn't have had all of these abilities.

28:43SPEAKER_02:Right.

28:43SPEAKER_00:All of these abilities. These things this alone, I think, actually hurts us. Because again, it puts that in our mind that, oh, you have to be this.

28:52SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, I think I think in some ways the best thing to do is kind of like what we're doing, is have those conversations and just try to get people to realize we can reclaim the accessibility by getting people to realize that it's not necessarily innate or inherited or genetic or something special. We all we all have these abilities. It's just whether or not we decide we want to tap into them.

29:28SPEAKER_00:Exactly.

29:30SPEAKER_02:And whether or not you're willing to do the work to tap into.

29:34SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It's just it's that really that simple. You know. I I know one ability I have above all others. What's that? The ability to uh drink comfortable amounts of coffee.

29:52SPEAKER_02:Well then let's go get some. Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another episode. Pegan Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary. Please visit us at Life Temple Seminary.org for more information, as well as links to our social media Facebook, Discord, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.

30:14SPEAKER_01:We travel down the strodden path, the maze of stone in my eye. Just hold my hand as we pass by a steel blazing fire. And still it is the end of our days, to walk with me till morning break. And still it is the end of our day, to walk with me till morning.