okay so theres an episode of whats new scooby doo where the gang goes home on valentines day, and i guess the studio really wanted to avoid the implication that daphne and fred were sleeping together because daphne and velma live together and fred lives with shaggy and scooby
but that attempt at avoiding anything risque backfired spectacularly because now it just seems like daphne and velma are a comfortably domestic couple and fred is trying to learn how to live with his boyfriends over excitable and really hungry great dane
It’s far cuter like this anyway.
OOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAP
CANON
i don’t have a source for this just a gut feeling, but doesn’t everyone in the gang call him “freddie” at some point?
which would imply that the entire gang is poly and dating
If any group in pop culture is poly, it’s definitely the errant kids from the 60s with a groovy hippie van
I’ve been thinking a lot about witchcraft, magic, darkness and the shadow side of… well everything. I’m not talking about curses necessarily, though these would fit in this overall theme– I’m talking more generally about working with not just ‘white magic’ or the peaceful feeling of working with ‘nature’ as imagined as a sun dappled meadow surrounded by trees and filled with wildflowers. I’m talking about the mud and the storms, the shadows, the aspects often feared like the Tower card in tarot or the planets in retrograde. These do not represent evil, but they do often evoke or symbolize that which is difficult, that which is hidden, that which we would rather put high on a shelf in a dark closet and forget it’s there. But lately, I’ve been receiving message after message in my practice that it’s time to be pulling it out, dusting it off, and embracing it. And since we’ve had some asks recently about whether certain practices will attract dark forces, I decided to bring y’all along for the ride.
First of all, witchcraft is not inherently tied to anything evil. Witchcraft is simply a way of interacting with the world and trying to influence the outcome. Can a witch– even a ‘good witch’– curse someone? Certainly. Can a witch invoke something dark and evil? It’s possible. But it is predominantly due to a Christian morality that witchcraft is assumed to be inextricably linked to evil, and it’s a belief that I reject out of hand.
I do think many witches are more open to the idea of working with the shadow side of things, because we do not see them as inherently evil but instead as the necessary counterpoint to lightness. It is this acceptance and embrace of the shadows, though, that gives witches a reputation for evil – because when you (cough-Christianity-cough) labels darkness ‘unclean’ or ‘base’ or ‘evil,’ that’s what happens to anyone associated with darkness regardless of their intent and true work. Further, I think it’s worth exploring what we think the dark forces from beyond the veil can or will do that is worse than the evil we already have here in our world? There is already hatred and violence and despair, so instead I see witchcraft as one possibility that has the strength to work against those forces, or to turn them in a different direction for a different outcome.
“Those who practice shadow magick do not worship the darkness but seek to understand it and actualize it for positive ends. Embracing the darkness is part of divine balance. While some would like to disregard the darker aspects of Deity and pretend they don’t exist, that whole half of the spectrum is waiting to be understood. While it may be comfortable to believe that spirituality is pure blissful light, this is only half of the equation. Spirit is the paradox; it is both, it is neither. We would not have the light gods if it weren’t for the dark ones, and vice versa. Nearly all occult paths, including Witchcraft, emphasize balance rather than pure light or pure darkness.“
–Raven Digitalis, from “The Shadow Magick Compendium”
Just as we cannot live without the sun, neither can we live in constant light. Night, darkness, the underground, and shadows can represent rest and the opportunity to go inward rather than always looking outward. This introspection and self-reflection is absolutely essential to maintaining a strong and fulfilling practice.
Finally, remember that witchcraft and magic is about intent. Remember that what you fixate on is what you manifest. If you do magic while fixating on fear and darkness, especially without recognizing and accounting for that fixation, that is what you can attract or create. But if you recognize the fear ahead of time, you can manage for it. If you recognize and embrace the fear, you can use it. And of course, before doing magic, ground and center yourself. Ward or shield if that feels good to you, and then proceed with your working. Focus on the good that you are trying to manifest, not on the bad that you fear. But again… darkness isn’t bad. It’s just that the good is harder to see.
