The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Dear @spacecrone …

Posted on | October 12, 2016 | Comments Off on Dear @spacecrone …

 

No, you were not “doxed” — I did not publish any private information — and no, I had no intention to “intimidate” you. As a matter of fact, I was very happy about the way you exploded Devin Faraci into a million tiny “male feminist” smithereens. What happened was simply that after you described yourself as a “Buddhist lesbian climate justice activist,” I became curious to learn more about you. My habitual curiosity has led me down many a rabbit hole over the years, including a trip to Kentucky to investigate what was claimed to be a lynching, but turned out to be a suicide. There are things called “facts,” Ms. Contillo, and I have an enormous appetite for them. So it was curiosity — “Who is this person?” — that led me to start click, click, clicking until I discovered that you had posted a poem you wrote in 4th grade that had your name on it.

 

Well, greetings from a fellow member of the Former Gifted Child Club. As you may be aware, membership provides exactly zero benefits, and usually is something more of a curse. “You’ve got so much potential, if only you would apply yourself” — heard it a million times growing up. The problem was, I loved learning, and therefore hated school.

Our nation’s public school system is a vast factory that specializes in turning captive children into Standardized Mediocre Adults at taxpayer expense. Ah, what an evil enterprise! But I digress . . .

How does an upper-middle-class girl from New Jersey, the daughter of a judge and the granddaughter of a state senator, end up in the East Village in 2004 at age 21, getting groped on a dance floor by a 30-year-old film critic? And how is it that a few years later, she’s part of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, identifying as a “Buddhist witch” and dreaming of a future living in an “anarchist lesbian witch commune”? Pardon my curiosity, but as a father and grandfather, I very much want to understand this process, so that I can make sure it never happens to any of my kids.

Back in the day, people sought professional treatment for severe mental illness, and so Buddhist witches were almost as rare as film critics groping lesbians in the East Village. Evidently, social media sites have replaced psychiatric wards as the place where crazy people seek treatment. Now the kooks control our nation’s culture and politics. Some readers may be surprised to learn how many Buddhist witches are out there.

Buddhist Witch: A witch or Wiccan who also identifies as Buddhist. These witches believe all life is sacred, they practice compassion and nonviolence, and their ultimate goal on their spiritual path is to find Enlightenment. Most witches incorporate meditation into their witchcraft and many Wiccans also believe in reincarnation like Buddhists. Many witches and Wiccans also believe in the philosophy of karma. Buddhism really works hand in hand with the already highly spiritual and natural Craft.

Here’s a Buddhist witch. Here’s another Buddhist witch. Really, it seems that Tumblr is overcrowded with a surfeit of Buddhist witches.

Where were the grown-ups when you were growing up, Ms. Contillo? What were your parents doing while you were watching TV and developing your “giant crush on Kelly Bundy”? Really, this kind of story interests me, and I would hope it interests other Americans who wonder how it is that a generation of young people — a New Jersey judge’s daughter, for example — could go so badly off the rails.

It’s not just you or only your personal “mindfulness” philosophy that arouses my insatiable curiosity about the bizarre alternative universe in which you live. Back during the “Occupy” movement, while you were busy teaching mediation to the smelly anarchist protesters, I kept looking at those mobs of weirdos and wondering, “Where are the grown-ups? Why are these young people throwing tantrums like 2-year-olds?”

Do I have theories as to why this is happening? Yes, I do. Could I engage in speculation about why so many young people find it impossible to live in the real world? Yes, of course I could. What would be much more helpful, however, would be for you to give an account of your upbringing, to provide us a case study in the manufacture of mental illness.

The fact that there are people on the Internet indulging your fantasies does not make your fantasies real, Ms. Contillo. Mass delusion is a thing, and cult mentalities are also a thing, and there’s a lot of that going around these days, what with the $19 trillion national debt and all. In a nation where many young people believe they can live as they please and send the bill to Uncle Sam, or pursue Idealist Careers that do not involve any any productive labor, there are many millions of deluded dreamers with the leisure to chatter away on the Internet about “social justice.”

 

Ms. Contillo, “social justice” is a mirage, as Friedrich Hayek explained, but the Nobel Prize-winning economist wrote for the benefit of people living in the real world, where facts matter more than feelings.

What disturbs me is that so many people think they can live in an alternative reality, where Devin Faraci calls himself a “feminist,” and you call yourself a “witch,” and everyone pretends that our $19 trillion national debt should not limit what we can pay for “social justice.”

So, please, Ms. Contillo, tell us how you became such a ridiculous fool, so we can prevent our children from becoming “social justice warriors.”

Or Buddhist lesbian witches. Or Democrats, for that matter.




 

Category: Sex Trouble

Meet Caroline Contillo (@spacecrone), the ‘Buddhist Witch’ Who Destroyed @devincf

Posted on | October 11, 2016 | 4 Comments

Caroline Contillo (photo via Twitter)

Film critic Devin Faraci’s career was destroyed when the “male feminist” was accused of sexual assault on Twitter by @spacecrone, who turns out to be New York-based Buddhist writer/teacher Caroline Contillo. She was featured in a 2012 article and video about “Occupy Wall Street”:

Caroline Contillo went to Occupy Wall Street on a whim. After staying the night with the help of some friendly anarchists, Contillo knew she’d found her call to action. Contillo grew up in a political family, with her father a judge and grandfather a New Jersey state senator, and she’d been politically active for much of her life. But she’d lost her enthusiasm for activism after years of feeling that it wasn’t accomplishing anything. Occupy Wall Street, with its community at Zuccotti Park and its lofty goals that would benefit everyone, reignited her passion. In her years off from activism, Contillo had picked up Buddhist meditation, so she naturally navigated toward Liberty Square’s meditation group, where she thought she could do the most good. The group members would go to meetings and offer to try and level off any tension before the meetings started.
“Caroline is a quintessential occupier, inspired to engage in activism after years of disinterest,” the filmmaker, Jackie Snow, said. “The meditation practice she brings to the movement represents just one of keeping the ways supporters do what they can to help.”

Caroline Contillo in 2012.

In her own article, Snow describes how her husband introduced her to Contillo: “Caroline is a Buddhist witch involved with occupy.” On her @spacecrone Twitter account, Contillo described herself as a “Buddhist lesbian climate justice activist and meditation instructor.”

She has frequently referenced this identity on Twitter:

 

Contillo writes for the Idealist Careers site, where her articles include “Without Judgement: How Mindfulness Leads to Being More Open-Minded,” and “What is Mindfulness?” In 2013, Contillo taught meditation at a restaurant in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

 

A Williamsburg restaurant is serving up mindfulness sessions followed by a meal.
Leading the workshops is meditation expert Caroline Contillo, a graduate of the yearlong immersion and teaching training program at the Interdependence Project in Manhattan who said the culinary and consciousness combo is great for socializing.
“Something I always liked about classes I took at the Interdependence Project was the way we’d often go out to dinner afterwards, to continue the conversation more casually. I really love this part of the event,” said Contillo, whose monthly sessions at Isa are free with a fee for optional dinner. . . .
The sessions take place on the second floor of the restaurant, where there is an open space for participants to sit on the ground and let their minds wander. . . .
The meditation sessions are a great opportunity to escape the busy routine of living in New York City, which has a ton of activities and distractions that for some, in the end, amount to an overwhelming list of things to do. Contillo hopes her workshop helps participants forget all this and just breathe.
“It can be difficult to get ourselves to sit down and ‘do nothing’ for ten minutes a day, because we can always think of something we ‘should’ be doing,” she said.
“In a workshop, surrounded by other people, it can be easier to sink into the method and really start noticing how we relate to our breath and the present moment.”

Contillo wrote an article about her identity in May:

At a young age, I realized that the accepted story about how my life was going to go didn’t match up with what I felt at my core. I wasn’t going to fulfill that story — wouldn’t date a handful of boys, wouldn’t find the right one, wouldn’t have a family. I wasn’t thinking about boys at all. I was too busy with my giant crush on Kelly Bundy.
Questioning conventional narratives and explanations is part of why I was so attracted to meditation. I wanted to apply such inquiry to my experience. On the cushion, I noticed my mind vacillating between the extremes of trying to prove that I exist and wanting to disappear into the dynamic flux. Back and forth the relative and the ultimate: I’m Here, I’m Queer, Get Used to It! and Everything’s Fluid, Labels Are Restrictive.
For me, the key to the middle way is remembering that my identity as a lesbian is my individuated experience, but it is a relational identity. It’s the beautiful and very human paradox that we learn to sit with: we are individual, yet interconnected. . . .
I think my identity is a verb, not a noun: I queer into being when my girlfriend’s eyes meet mine.

Now 33 years old, Contillo’s accusation that Faraci, now 42, groped her more than a decade ago led him to step down as editor-in-chief of a popular movie news and criticism web site owned by a theater chain. Contillo described the incident with Faraci to the Hollywood Reporter:

The incident dates back to 2004, when Caroline and Faraci, who grew up in New York, were part of the same group of friends living and socializing in the East Village. . . .
Friday night was when they would get together at a dive bar to dance to a jukebox and let off some steam. On the night in question, it was an early-evening gathering for happy-hour drinks.
Faraci was tipsy, Caroline says, but far from obliterated. “I liked him and thought he was funny,” she recalls, adding that he was well aware that she was a lesbian and was “not interested” sexually in men.
“We were dancing and he stuck his hands down my pants, very blatantly on the dance floor. I said stop. He did it again. I kind of didn’t know what to do. I stopped him again and pushed him away,” she says. “There was no penetration. He just kept sticking his hands down my pants and into my crotch. Then he came in to do it again.”
“I think I moved away from the dance floor at that point,” she continues. “I had to get away from him. I was just so shocked that it had happened and kind of grossed out. I felt mortified for him. That was the palpable memory I had. I felt sad for him.” . . .
Two years later, in 2006, Caroline confronted Faraci about the assault on an internet message board. Just as in this week’s Twitter exchange, Faraci claimed not to recall the incident. “He kind of disappeared after that,” she says.

Faraci has been silent on Twitter since Sunday. Contillo continues tweeting.

 

Category: Sex Trouble

Rule 5 Tuesday: Birthday Edition

Posted on | October 11, 2016 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

As fate would have it, Stacy, Smitty and I were all born within about a week of each other, which probably means something to astrologers, Kabbalists, numerologists, and other Democrats, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s just a happy coincidence. It’s also an opportunity to post a pics of a beautiful woman jumping out of a birthday cake, which apparently is something not done as often as it used to be.
The standard disclaimer regarding NSFW images, links, and clicking at inappropriate times goes here, and you all should know it by now.

Well, it looks like a cake. Maybe its just her skirts.

Well, it looks like a cake. Maybe it’s just her skirts.

Leading off this week is Ninety Miles from Tyranny with Hot Pick of the Late Night, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns, followed by Goodstuff with Linda Evans, while Animal Magnetism contributes Rule Five Nuclear-Powered Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon. The Last Tradition chips in with Simone Villas Boas and Ashley Graham.

EBL’s thundering herd this week includes Hillary Clinton sending in the clowns, Amy Turk and Vasilisa Lushchevskaya harping Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, Debate moderator Elaine Quijano: Ready For Hillary! and The Girl on the Train.

A View from the Beach brings us Jennifer Esposito, the New NCIS Agent, ASMFC Nixes Shad and Herring Plan,Hurricane Swirls Around Clinton.com,“Salt and Lime”, She Probably Wasn’t Hired for Her Brains, Alaskan Beer Upsets the SJWs, Andrea Goes for the Big Score, Thanks, Hollywood Actors, Muddling along with Clinton.com, “Get Your $#!* Together”, O’Sullivan’s Law Still in Effect, Monday Morning Humor, CNN Fat Shamed Miss Universe/Piggy in 1997, and Feminist Proposes to Destroy Science.

At Soylent Siberia, it’s your morning coffee creamer’s Bistro Bonanza, a Monday motivationer worth waiting for, Tuesday Titillation, Humpday Hawtness, Nice Landscape Of Mars There Firebird, and Latent Lingerie.

Saving the best for last, it’s Zooeypalooza XXIV at Dustbury!

Thanks to everyone for all the links, even if Rule Five Sunday came in second to the Return of the Cabin Boy in this week’s FMJRA.


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Category: Rule 5

Never Trust a ‘Male Feminist’ (And Relevant Thoughts About @JayaSaxena)

Posted on | October 11, 2016 | Comments Off on Never Trust a ‘Male Feminist’ (And Relevant Thoughts About @JayaSaxena)

 

You probably never heard of Devin Faraci, who blogs about movies, and perhaps you never would have heard of him had it not been for the fact that Devin Faraci is (a) liberal and (b) stupid, but I repeat myself.

Being a liberal requires that Faraci hate Republicans and pretend to be a feminist, so when the leaked video of Trump saying he could get away with grabbing women by their private parts made headlines last week, Faraci started tweeting about it, causing one woman to be “triggered.”

 

The woman whose Twitter account is @spacecrone said that at a social gathering 10 years ago, Faraci forced his hands down her pants and then bragged about it, asking their mutual friends to smell his fingers. Faraci did not deny it, but claimed he couldn’t remember and apologized, then went silent, as the sinister shadow of guilt loomed over him.

 

The shadow of vagina-grabbing guilt destroyed him:

Movie blogger Devin Faraci has stepped down as editor-in-chief of the influential blog, Birth.Movies.Death, after being accused of sexual assault.
In a message to friends and readers, Faraci wrote, “This weekend allegations were made about my past behavior. Because I take these types of claims seriously I feel my only honorable course of action is to step down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of Birth.Movies.Death. I will use the coming weeks and months to work on becoming a better person who is, I hope, worthy of the trust and loyalty of my friends and readers.”
The accusations surfaced on Twitter after Faraci shared his views on video tapes of Donald Trump bragging to “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush about groping women. The movie blogger tweeted that he was “terrified” of the Republican presidential nominee and labeled his running mate, Mike Pence, an “ideological monster.” . . .
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas owns Birth.Movies.Death, which offers up casting stories, reviews, and trailers for cinephiles. The company declined to comment.

The worst of it? Feraci was groping a Buddhist lesbian vagina.

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the Internet jury, there are some errors from which recovery is possible, but when a man sexually assaults a lesbian Buddhist? This is what we call an “unrecoverable error.”

Feminists have begun using the word “woke” as a slang synonym for enlightened, so that a “woke” man is one attuned to feminist consciousness. That bit of Third Wave lexicon is necessary to understand Jaya Saxena’s commentary on the sex scandal we’ll call “FaraciGate”:

Behind every performatively woke man is a dark past he’s desperately trying to make sure you don’t see. Such appears to be the case with Devin Faraci, film critic at Birth.Movies.Death.—and a man who’s garnered a reputation for being a “good” guy (if not a little holier-than-thou and obnoxious). . . .
The democratization of language has made it incredibly easy for anyone to appear liberal and open-minded. Call enough things “problematic,” ask for men to “do better,” or mention “rape culture” or “gender is a construct,” and you’ve strung together enough buzzwords you don’t have to prove you’ve got the beliefs to back them up. To really be woke, you have to learn to separate the performance from the person. And that’s a lesson marginalized people have had to learn far too often.

Permit me to say that I detest the ideology Jaya Saxena represents, which presumes that “liberal” and “open-minded” are synonymous with virtue, and that adopting the correct “beliefs” is sufficient to allow the liberal to claim moral superiority to others. What does the liberal mean in using “open-minded” as a term of praise? Read more

Category: Liberals, Sex Trouble

In The Mailbox: 10.11.16

Posted on | October 11, 2016 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho


I was hoping to get the Rule 5 post up last night after driving, but going from LAS to Boulder City to NW Vegas and back to LAS again, on top of a three-hour tax class, burned me out. So here’s to Rule 5 Tuesday…


OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Punch Back Twice As Hard
Twitchy: It was Putin! Donna Brazile Raises Deflector Shields, Responds To Charges Of Tipping Off Hillary
Louder With Crowder: Hidden Cam – Democrat Official Describes Massive Vote Fraud Plans


RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The White Knight According To PaulRyan
American Power: Why Did NBC Sit On The Trump Tape For So Long?
American Thinker: Megyn Kelly Calls Juanita Broddrick A Liar
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily News
BLACKFIVE: Book Review – The Will To Lead by Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Da Tech Guy: Baldilocks – 2016, America’s First Postmodern Election
Don Surber: Vote For Trump, Lose Your Job
Dustbury: When Your Appliances Know Too Much
Jammie Wearing Fools: 2015 Podesta Email Says “Hillary Has Begun To Hate Everyday Americans”
Joe For America: Watch CNN Coach The Debate Focus Group
JustOneMinute: A New Tradition!
Pamela Geller: Wikileaks Bombshell – Hillary’s “Catholic Liaison” Arrested For Running Prostitution Ring, Other Vile Crimes
Power Line: Michelle Obama Declared Hillary Unfit
Shark Tank: Third Batch Of Wikileaks Emails Put More Pressure On Hillary Campaign
Shot In The Dark: Berg’s Seventh Law, Universal And Immutable
STUMP: Public Pension Quick Takes – California, Oregon POBs, And The Meaning Of Liability Value
The Jawa Report: Obama Pledges To Send Lame Duck To Mars
The Political Hat: Belgium Puts The Youth In Euthanasia
This Ain’t Hell: The Trip Home
Weasel Zippers: Podesta E-Mails – Campaign Acknowledges Benghazi Attack “Preventable”…GOP Criticism “Legitimate”
Megan McArdle: Five Types Of Voters, More Or Less Loyal To Trump
Mark Steyn: Ten Years, And Slightly Less Alone


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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 10.10.16

Posted on | October 10, 2016 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho


The Birthdays Edition of Rule 5 Monday will be up later today.


OVER THE TRANSOM
Proof Positive: Donald Trump And The Really Terrible, Horribly Horrible Bad Word
EBL: Donald Trump To Hillary Clinton – “You’d Be In Jail”
Twitchy: This Photo Of Bill And Chelsea Sums Up The Second Debate Perfectly
Louder With Crowder: New Low – College Students Sell Blatantly Racist Anti-Cop Clothing


RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: How To Publish A Book On Amazon
American Power: Trump Pushes back Against Cowardly GOP Leaders
American Thinker: The Republican White Togas At Work For The Queen Of Sleaze
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday – Debate Recap
BLACKFIVE: Book Review – Vince Flynn’s Order To Kill by Kyle Mills
Da Tech Guy: John Ruberry – The Washington Post Is A Communications Arm of The Democrats
Don Surber: Donald Trump, Play Of The Game – 2nd Debate
Dustbury: Strange Search-Engine Queries
Fred On Everything:
Jammie Wearing Fools: Democrats Freak Out Over Trump’s Threat To Prosecute Clinton While Democrat Platform Calls For Prosecuting “Climate Deniers”
Joe For America: Hillary Panics As Wikileaks Drops Another 2,068 John Podesta E-Mails
JustOneMinute: Adding To The “Won’t Happen” List
Pamela Geller: State Department Reports All Christian Churches Closed In Afghanistan
Power Line: Trump Wins
Shark Tank: Could McCain Actually Save Trump In Arizona?
Shot In The Dark: Steer Clear Of Mirrors
STUMP: California Watch – Calpers Valuation, Exits, And Governance
The Jawa Report: Islamic State Citizen And Mujahideen Living In IS Sucks The Big One
The Lonely Conservative: Ugh! I Hate To Say I Told You So
The Political Hat: The Virtue Of Politically Correct Bullying
The Quinton Report: Flashback – Kathy Szeliga In 2013
This Ain’t Hell: Missiles Fired At USS Mason From Yemen
Weasel Zippers: Leaked E-Mail – Hillary Campaign Worried Bill’s Sexcapades Could Sink Her Campaign
Megan McArdle: Innovation Falls, And Retirees Pay The Price
Mark Steyn: As I Was Saying…


Today’s Digital Deals
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Category: Linkagery

Boomerang: NBC Suspends ‘Today’ Host Billy Bush Because …

Posted on | October 10, 2016 | 2 Comments

. . . uh, why? Honestly, I’m mystified by this unexpected and, to me, inexplicable reaction to the Trump 2005 “hot mic” video leak:

Billy Bush has been suspended from the “Today” show “pending further review of the matter.”
It is unclear if he will ever return to the broadcast.
“He will never be on the show again,” an on-air source said Sunday night, reflecting what staffers are saying behind the scenes.
A second source at the network confirmed Monday that his return is unlikely.
“Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie briefly told viewers about Bush’s suspension on Monday morning.
The sudden change came amid a chorus of calls for disciplinary action against Bush over his vulgar 2005 conversation with Donald Trump that was caught on tape and revealed on Friday. . . .
[T]he executive in charge of “Today,” Noah Oppenheim, said in an internal memo that the executives had decided to go even further and suspend Bush.
“I know we’ve all been deeply troubled by the revelations of the past 48 hours,” Oppenheim wrote.
“Let me be clear — there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape,” he wrote. “NBC has decided to suspend Billy, pending further review of this matter.”

 

OK, do me a favor and go read the full transcript of that 2005 video and tell me what “language and behavior” Bush is being disciplined for. Frankly, I don’t see it. Bush is there with Trump, and Trump’s saying what he’s saying, and Bush says . . . what? Please, explain to me how he said something so reprehensible that there’s “no excuse” for it.

What is the cause of this “chorus of calls for disciplinary action”? What Trump said was without doubt offensive — as I said, it effectively guarantees his defeat in the election — but I’m not seeing what Billy Bush said that was so bad. In context, you’ve got the celebrity Alpha billionaire (Trump’s Apprentice at the time was anchoring NBC’s 9 p.m. Thursday slot, with about 14 million viewers) and it’s Trump being Trump. He’s talking about women, and Billy Bush, an ex-radio talk-show host, in 2005 was 33 and had recently promoted to co-host of Access Hollywood.

What exactly was this young B-list TV personality supposed to say in response to Trump’s comments? What he did say was, “Sheesh, your girl’s hot as sh–” and “Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!” and “Uh, yeah, those legs, all I can see is the legs. . . . Oh, that’s good legs.”

OK, maybe you wouldn’t want to be caught on tape saying those things, but is what Billy Bush said a “no excuse” situation? And again, who is it that’s making this “chorus of calls for disciplinary action”?

Guys can’t even say “good legs” anymore, not even just guys talking to each other? Is this the new 21st-century standard? Are we now e a nation of third-grade tattletales? “Teacher! Teacher! Billy said a naughty word!” We need a “chorus of calls” for some people to get a life.

 

Category: Celebrities, Donald Trump, NBC

‘My Inherent Feminine Wisdom’: Witchcraft and Academic Feminism

Posted on | October 10, 2016 | 2 Comments

“When I was a little girl, I instinctively knew that I was a Witch, without at the time identifying with this special word or know all that it entailed. … Like all children I was closely connected to the magical side of my nature. Later, as an adolescent, I began to realize that this intuitive, and quite potent, side of me was being slowly eroded by a world that discouraged feminine values, but gave special consideration to masculine priorities. Living in an environment so tacitly hostile to what I knew at heart was my inherent feminine wisdom only fueled my desire to cling to it. I turned to Witchcraft . . . in an attempt to give voice and context to abilities I did not want to be forced to give up.”
— Laurie Cabot, The Witch in Every Woman: Reawakening the Magical Nature of the Feminine to Heal, Protect, Create, and Empower (1997)

In 1977, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis named Laurie Cabot the “Official Witch of Salem.” For four decades. Ms. Cabot (neé Mercedes Elizabeth Kearsey, born in Oklahoma in 1933), operated a witchcraft shop in Salem, and the Boston Globe reported that she “has taught witchcraft at Salem State College, Wellesley College, and Harvard.” She now presides as high priestess of the Cabot-Kent Hermetic Temple, “the first federally recognized Temple of Witchcraft in the history of Salem,” having been granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service in 2010. (This was about the same time the IRS was deliberately harassing Tea Party groups, so that according to Obama’s IRS, the official rule seems to be “patriotism = bad, witchcraft = good.”)

‘Daughters of the Goddess’ author Wendy Griffin.

The belief that witchcraft represents “inherent feminine wisdom,” so that its practitioners are in demand as teachers at major universities, has been widely promoted by feminists. Professor Wendy Griffin taught for 26 years the Department of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at California State University-Long Beach. Professor Griffin’s “research examines the religious construction of gender, particularly as traditional representations are challenged in contemporary feminist Witchcraft and Goddess Spirituality.” Professor Griffin edited the 1999 anthology Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Healing, Identity and Empowerment, in which she declared that devotees of neo-pagan witchcraft “are women involved in a new naming of reality”:

Healing the split between mind and body, feminist and Pagan, sexuality and spirituality, nature and human, and ancient and contemporary understandings of the Numinous is seen as healing the wounds believed to be inflicted by patriarchy. . .
“With each woman, each ritual today, Goddess spirituality contributes to the new reality that is taking form.

Professor Griffin’s 1995 article, “The Embodied Goddess: Feminist Witchcraft and Female Divinity” (included in the 2001 anthology Gender and Witchcraft), describes the connection between the feminist movement and the revival of witchcraft:

In November of 1971, Mary Daly led “hundreds” on an “Exodus from patriarchal religion” . . . by walking out at the conclusion of a sermon she delivered in the Harvard Memorial Church. A few months later, in 1972 in Los Angeles, the first coven of feminist witches which practiced “the Craft” as a religion began to meet under the guidance of Zsuzsanna Budapest. Within a few years, these witches were gathering with several hundred women in the mountains to celebrate their visions of female divinity in religious rituals.

Professor Griffin’s article is “based on four years of research which began when one of my students invited me to attend a religious ritual organized by her coven of feminist witches,” and she describes this group under the name “Coven of the Redwood Moon”:

Of the seven women who were members of the Coven of the Redwood Moon during the study, one was Chicana and another African American. . . .
Most of Redwood Moon’s witches did not attend or had not finished college and had working class jobs. In addition, the majority of the coven members tended to be lesbian, bisexual, or celibate. Only one was in a heterosexual marriage and none of them had children at home. . . .
Circle of the Redwood Moon is a radical feminist coven, and members are trained through reading assignments and discussions to do a radical feminist analysis of gender and power. Called “Dianics,” after the Roman Goddess Diana . . . They differ from most other neopagans in their feminist analysis, political activism, and in that most of them acknowledge only an autonomous female principal and reject the concept of a male divinity.

This is the kind of scholarship Women’s Studies produces — a university professor spending four years in a “radical feminist coven,” combining “analysis of gender and power” and “political activism” with neopagan beliefs, while celebrating “female divinity in religious rituals.” Professor Griffin interprets feminist witchcraft rituals as providing a “a celebratory vision of female power . . . rooted in strength and self-knowledge.” These rituals serve to “not only liberate female sexuality from concepts of sin, but actually celebrate the erotic,” in contrast to what Profess Griffin calls the “patriarchal religious oppression experienced by women.”

Some may dismiss this stuff as absurd, but Professor Griffin has a Ph.D., a pension from Cal State-Long Beach and is now Academic Dean at Cherry Hill Seminary, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which claims to be “the leading provider of education and practical training in leadership, ministry, and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualities.” Professor Griffin teaches a course there called “Voices of Gaia”:

If Gaia could speak, what would she be telling us? As Pagans, it could be argued that we have a unique bond with Her, with the anima mundi, the spirits of place, the wind, water, fire and air.

Witchcraft is treated as a legitimate subject by academic feminists. Women’s Studies professors Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee explain in their textbook Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions:

In the early twenty-first century, many women participate in revivals of ancient woman-centered religions. . . Wicca, or witchcraft . . . is a Goddess- and nature-oriented religion whose origins predate both Judaism and Christianity. Current Wiccan practice involves the celebration of the feminine, connection with nature, and the practice of healing. As Wiccan practitioner Starhawk suggests, witchcraft encourages women to be strong, confident, independent and to love the Goddess, the earth, and other human beings.

In a 2015 column for the Guardian, feminist Sady Doyle explained how young women use witchcraft as a “way to express feminist ambitions”:

Witchcraft — and the embrace of “magical” practices, like reading tarot cards — has recently experienced a resurgence of sorts among young, creative, politically engaged women. . . .
“To reclaim the word witch is to reclaim our right, as women, to be powerful,” wrote Starhawk, in her seminal 1979 book The Spiral Dance. “To be a witch is to identify with 9 million victims of bigotry and hatred and to take responsibility for shaping a world in which prejudice claims no more victims.”
Today, The Spiral Dance is in its third edition, and has sold over 300,000 copies. It is many people’s first introduction to Wicca, the earth-based spiritual movement that was created in the 1950s and has come to be a recognized religion around the world. It is also one of the most well known and comprehensive texts from a very particular moment in feminist history which until recently was largely unfashionable: the “women’s spirituality” movement, in which women radically rewrote existing religions, or simply made their own to be in line with the goals of women’s liberation.

 

Laurie Cabot, the Official Witch of Salem, is certainly supportive of “the goals of women’s liberation.” In her book The Witch in Every Woman, Cabot celebrates the “extraordinary power” of women’s sexuality:

What role does sex play in a woman’s life? A woman’s entire existence is sexual, her every move a sexual expression. . . . When it comes to sex, a modern woman must say to herself, “I am the Divine Goddess,” and “I am Sovereign.” Sex should come on her own terms and initiative. Sexuality is power, but female sexuality is extraordinary power.

Cabot goes on to explain that “we harbor many false ideas about women and sexuality . . . that are particularly devastating for women.” She writes of the “disparaging cultural attitudes” about sex and women, arguing that “we need to revamp our laws concerning marriage, divorce and the family in favor of a woman’s position,” thus to remove “the obstacles posed by a patriarchal society.” Cabot, who worked as a nightclub dancer in the 1950s and was divorced twice, trained her two daughters as witches.

“Jody Cabot, daughter of Salem’s Official Witch Laurie Cabot, was raised from birth as a psychic and Witch. She uses the ancient arts of Witchcraft as a metaphysical science.”

Her “metaphysical science” did not predict this 2009 event:

The daughter of Salem’s “official witch” is wanted on a warrant after defaulting in a court case in which she’s accused of stealing money from her mother, the Salem News reports.
Jody Cabot, 49, the daughter of Laurie Cabot, was supposed to appear in Salem District Court Sept. 21 for a status hearing in her case, which involves charges of larceny and forgery dating to 2007.

More background on that case:

Laurie Cabot had gone to police after learning that her daughter had deposited a $3,750 check drawn on her mother’s account and purported to have been signed by her. Laurie Cabot said she never signed any check to her daughter and added that she had been forced to deal with similar incidents in the past, according to a police report.
By the time Laurie Cabot’s bank rejected the check as forged, Jody Cabot had allegedly made $3,200 worth of purchases from Target’s Web site with the money, according to a police report.

Greed, you say? Well, back in 1997, there were such allegations in Salem:

Maria Guerriero, a Salem Wiccan high priestess, said she and [Laurie] Cabot had a falling-out over Cabot’s treatment of other witches who were trying to start businesses.
Cabot’s emphasis on commercial gain has created a competitive environment; and witches and pagans are having trouble separating business from spirituality, Guerriero said.
“Spirituality is something that can’t be sold,” she told the newspaper last week. “It’s like a witch war out here.” . . .
Janet Andrews of Wenham alleges that Cabot threatened to shoot her after Andrews tried to kick her out of her house in May. And Andrews plans to ask an Ipswich District Court judge next week to extend a restraining order against Cabot. . . .
Cabot also failed to file state income tax returns from 1991 through 1995, the newspaper reported.

Laurie Cabot’s “inherent feminine wisdom” might have gotten her a few college teaching gigs, but it didn’t help with local police in 2004:

While two officers were carrying out a court order . . . an angry Cabot put a hex on Sgt. James Walker, a patrol supervisor.
“Look me in the eyes,” Cabot said, according to police. “You are cursed for life.” Cabot then tried to place the same curse on Patrolman Timothy Salvo, police said, but he wouldn’t look her in the eyes.
“He’s a more veteran officer,” said Police Chief Robert St. Pierre.
Cabot did, however, place a general curse on all the law enforcement officers who came to her Essex Street apartment, a group that included two Essex County deputy sheriffs. “The rest of you are cursed, too,” she said.
Although Salem police have been cussed before, this is believed to be the first time they were cursed. No charges were filed against Cabot.
When contacted yesterday, Cabot did not deny the incident. She said she did it to protect a grandson who was being returned by court order to the custody of his father.

So, as Halloween approaches, you may wonder, “What’s up in Salem?”

Join Salem’s Official Witch, Laurie Cabot, as you learn to communicate with loved ones on the Other Side! High Priestess and Founder of the Cabot Tradition of Witchcraft, Laurie will guide you through the Other World help you to communicate with loved ones who have passed on.
Laurie will lecture on the Cabot Tradition concept of the Other World, sometimes called Summerland or Avalon. If you have been wondering, and maybe fearing, what happens to us when we die, this workshop is for you. Laurie will talk about passing on and what happens afterwards from a Witch’s perspective. This workshop is very reassuring for those who are frightened by death. When people learn about dying and what comes afterwards, and even communicate with loved ones who have undergone this process, people are much more accepting that that’s what we all do. Yes; you will die someday. Learn what Witches have always known about this inevitable process, and help to allay your fears of life’s greatest transition.
Using her psychic gifts, Laurie will demonstrate communication with the other side and help people to learn to communicate with and sense their own loved ones in spirit. Please bring something that belonged to someone who has passed on to strengthen the connection.

Yes, talking to the dead! Communicate with “the Other World” — and it will only cost you $75! Pardon my “disparaging cultural attitudes,” but isn’t this just a bunch of superstitious nonsense? Necromancy, astrology, tarot, global warming, multiculturalism, Keynesian economics . . .

OK, so maybe witchcraft isn’t the craziest thing feminists believe in.

 




 

 

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