{"id":13519,"date":"2019-03-17T03:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=13519"},"modified":"2019-03-10T13:32:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T19:32:18","slug":"187-signs-youre-trying-to-avoid-doing-your-own-spiritual-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2019\/03\/187-signs-youre-trying-to-avoid-doing-your-own-spiritual-work.html","title":{"rendered":"187 Signs You\u2019re Trying To Avoid Doing Your Own Spiritual Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

6 Signs You\u2019re A Natural Witch!<\/p>\n

7 Signs You\u2019re A Born Healer!<\/p>\n

8 Signs You\u2019re A Light Bringer!<\/p>\n

9 Signs You\u2019re Going To Click On This Link Because You\u2019re Hoping Someone Else Will Do Your Spiritual Work For You!<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m just in a cynical mood. Maybe Mercury Retrograde is making me miss the point of all these \u201csigns\u201d posts. Maybe this is going to end up being one of those pieces I work on for hours and then decide \u201cnope, not going to post it\u201d (but if you\u2019re reading this, it wasn\u2019t).<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve seen one too many \u201csigns you\u2019re really something special but you just don\u2019t know it\u201d clickbait listicles and I need to vent.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m also pretty sure that somebody out there is searching desperately for their calling in life and they need better guidance than \u201cmatch a handful of vague traits and discover your superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Finding your true calling takes research<\/h1>\n
I remember taking \u201captitude tests\u201d in high school (are they still a thing?). They gauge your skills and interests and tell you which careers you should consider. I still occasionally hear rumors about the \u201csecret questions\u201d in the SAT that will get you a recruiting visit from the CIA \u2013 or from the Men In Black. So I understand the lure of these tests.<\/p>\n
But all an aptitude test can do is make suggestions. You\u2019ve still got to do the research on just what a particular career or craft or path involves. Read books, talk to experienced practitioners, and try things out yourself.<\/p>\n
And just as importantly, you\u2019ve got do decide if you\u2019re willing to do what that takes. Do you really want to be a spiritual healer? You\u2019ve got a lot of work to do\u2026 starting with getting your own house in order\u2026 and in the process, figuring out that you can\u2019t heal anyone. You can only point them in the right direction, and then love and support them as they do their own work to recover, to learn, and to grow.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re going to make some wrong turns<\/h1>\n
And it may not be fair to call them \u201cwrong turns.\u201d Unless you\u2019re happy and fulfilled in the tradition of your childhood, you\u2019re going to need to explore different spiritual paths. For some of them, all you have to do is read a Wikipedia description to realize \u201cno, this one\u2019s not for me.\u201d Sometimes it takes reading a book, or working with a local group for a few months to cross it off your list.<\/p>\n
Sometimes you think you\u2019ve got it, only to later realize you don\u2019t. I really really wanted to be a witch. I tried for years and it didn\u2019t work. When I discovered Druidry I knew I was onto something. That\u2019s worked out rather well, but I still had to do five years of formal training \u2013 only to later realize my true calling is to be a Druid in a the context of a polytheist religion, not in a Druid order (although I happily remain a member of both OBOD and ADF).<\/p>\n
If I had done my foundational work<\/a> sooner it wouldn\u2019t have taken me eight years to figure out that witchcraft and Wicca weren\u2019t my calling.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re going to make some wrong turns. The sooner you get moving, the sooner you can make those wrong turns, recover from them, and then find the path where you belong.<\/p>\n
Almost everyone can work magic<\/h1>\n
Back in December I wrote My Biggest Complaint With Magical Fiction<\/a>, which is<\/p>\n
the idea that magic is hereditary. People are either born witches or they\u2019re not. Or worse still, witches aren\u2019t entirely human, and they live in their own world \u2013 Harry Potter<\/em>, I\u2019m looking at you. If it was one or two or even half the stories I\u2019d be fine with it. But it seems like it\u2019s every single one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This idea from fiction has made its way into spirituality and magic. And it\u2019s as false in reality as it is annoying in fiction.<\/p>\n
Like all abilities, magical ability isn\u2019t evenly distributed throughout the population. Some people have a greater aptitude for math than others, some have a greater aptitude for art, and some have a greater aptitude for magic. But almost all of us can balance a checkbook, or express ourselves through drawing or music or photography or something.<\/p>\n
And almost all of us can work magic.<\/p>\n
If you feel drawn to magic you can work magic. Find some Witchcraft 101 or basic chaos magic books and get started. You\u2019ll have some successes and you\u2019ll learn from them. You\u2019ll have some failures \u2013 you\u2019ll learn from those even more.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need a magical aptitude test to figure out if you can pursue the spiritual path you want. You can.<\/p>\n
You just have to get started.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
Spiritual orientation is real<\/h1>\n
Last year I wrote Paganism as an Orientation<\/a>, where I looked at the very long odds of me ending up Pagan and not Christian or atheist. That post was a response to Heron Michelle\u2019s Witchery as an Orientation and Sacred Mission<\/a> where she said \u201cwitchery isn\u2019t a choice for me.\u201d And at last year\u2019s Mystic South<\/a>, the Anomalous Thracian presented a paper titled \u201cTheistic Orientation\u201d where he looked at religious orientation as an expression of identity, especially in response to oppression.<\/p>\n
Orientation is a real thing, and identities are necessary and helpful. One of the reasons so many of us \u2013 particularly here in the United States \u2013 search desperately for spiritual identity is that the culture we grew up in is so bland and commercial it doesn\u2019t satisfy us.<\/p>\n
But discovering a non-mainstream orientation takes time and effort. Nurturing that orientation takes even more.<\/p>\n
And at the end of the day, religion is a choice.<\/p>\n
Spiritual and religious orientation, identity, and affiliation are deep, serious matters. Trying to reduce them to \u201c6 Signs You\u2019re Really A Hellenic Polytheist\u201d is at best na\u00efve and disrespectful. It trivializes the sacred.<\/p>\n
What you are is human \u2013 what you become is up to you<\/h1>\n
I think this is what annoys me so much about the \u201c17 Signs You\u2019re Something Special\u201d articles \u2013 they take away human agency and replace it with the luck of the draw.<\/p>\n
The luck of the draw is already huge \u2013 your family circumstances at birth have a tremendous impact on your life<\/a>. But you can follow almost<\/a> any spiritual path that calls to\u00a0 you. You can become a witch, or a Druid, or even a light bringer (whatever that is). You may be better suited to one or the other, but the choice is yours\u2026 as is the obligation.<\/p>\n
Anybody can call themselves a witch, but if you don\u2019t actually practice<\/em> witchcraft, all you\u2019re doing is adopting an aesthetic<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Explore, then choose, then become<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
Sorry there aren\u2019t 187 signs in this post<\/h1>\n
I originally titled this \u201c9 Signs You\u2019re Trying To Avoid Doing Your Own Spiritual Work.\u201d But I was afraid some people might not recognize the sarcasm and get mad when there was no bright and cheery listicle to tell them they\u2019re special. If you missed the sarcasm in \u201c187 Signs\u201d I can\u2019t help you.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean to be a killjoy. I click on these silly listicles too sometimes, if only to silently make fun of them. And if they occasionally point someone in the right direction, that\u2019s a good thing. There are certainly worse things on the internet.<\/p>\n
But our world needs more magical people. It needs more spiritual people. It needs more people who are deeply and authentically following Pagan, polytheist, and other non-fundamentalist religious traditions. Trying to reduce any of that down to a list of a dozen or less \u201csigns\u201d isn\u2019t helpful.<\/p>\n
Finding your true calling takes work, and it usually takes a lot of trial and error. Getting good at it takes even more work. Those of us who\u2019ve made this journey (or rather, those of us who are making this journey \u2013 you\u2019re never there<\/em>, or at least, I\u2019m not) can draw maps for you, but you have to walk the path yourself.<\/p>\n
Would you have it any other way?<\/p>\n
Now get off my lawn!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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