It’s tumblr, All The Way Down

Looks like my 10 Rules of Witchdom have struck a nerve. Most folk have reacted with humor and delight. They see clearly these are not hard and fast rules meant to be considered the end all of witchery. I never wrote them to be. A friend was upset because someone had pulled the “If you’re a witch then you follow the Wiccan Rede, otherwise you can’t call yourself a witch!” bullshit card. I wrote the 10 Rules of Witchdom as a smartass answer to that. (My friend laughed. Success!)

I found some strange entries in the logs, and when I went researching, I found my post had been reposted to tumblr. Sort of. Instead of the entire post, different rules had been lifted and posted. It hurt to see most of the tumblr posts did not link back to me. And as the posts were commented on, reposted, and copied and pasted, the original source was quickly forgotten as other tumblr users allowed themselves to be considered the author of the pithy phrases.

And the rules are pithy. Intentionally.

Some of the comments are valid questions. So I’ll answer them here.

Regarding Rule #1: “Thou shalt not compare thyself to other witches, for they are the witch that they are, and thou art the witch that thou art, and if Divinity wanted two of thee, thou wouldst have a twin.”

“None of this Nonsense Please” writes:
“Okay this is all having of valid points, but why the gratuitous thees and thous?  It’s not cute it’s just annoying, and thees and thous aren’t from any particularly pagany time.

Either write it in American or write it in Gaelic, don’t go half-way.”

Simple answer. It was written to make a friend laugh and smile. The over the top language was used successfully for that effect. If you take a look at the King James Version of the Bible, you’ll see I actually was quite sparse with the words. “Write it in American”? You haven’t read 30 Fucks. Go read it and tell me if that’s American enough. But if you want to write it in Gaelic, please, go right ahead. I would like to see that.

“The Ginger Gypsy” writes:
“This reminds me of something my Anthro MMR teacher said last semester and it goes something like this:
“Put 14 Pagans in a room and you’ll end up with 28 religions.” “

Or, as a tarot reading friend put it: “Show one Celtic Cross throw to 25 tarot readers, and you’ll get 50 interpretations.”

“Harpies Don’t Follow Directions” writes:
“Applicable regardless of religious affiliation. Just substitute an appropriate noun for whatever you need.”

YES.

Regarding Rule #3: “Thou shalt not use the name “witch” as a byword, nor as a curse. For thou art a witch, and a damn fine witch at that.”

“Life Is My Mused Game” writes:
“Excuse me while I cry tears of joy. This post makes me feel so much better for some reason. :D”

Excuse me. I have to pour myself a celebratory shot of pure glee. Write out the rule, tape it to your mirror, and then go on with your bad ass witchy self. While the post was written for a few friends, they enjoyed it so much, I posted it publicly. So anytime I hear of someone else finding solace/cheer/consolation/delight in what I’ve written, it makes the whole thing worth while. ~happy dance~

“HiyaHannah7” writes:
“LOLLLL, “and a damn fine witch at that.””

Girl. ~snaps fingers~ Okay! Why wouldn’t you be? Anyone that sets out to work the craft has got to have a certain amount of chutzpah already.

Regarding the 10 Rules taken as a whole:

“ohlookapagannewstumblog” teaches me a new word! “eroteme” I’m not giving the definition away. You’ll just have to look it up like I did! Many thanks to ohlookapagannewstumblog for linking back to me and giving me attribution.

That’s really all I ask for. Share my words. Deride them. Place them in quotes and destroy my imperfect timing. Just link me as source and give me full attribution.

“this song would pierce her heart” writes:
“Pretty sure this is the awesomest ten commandments ever written.”

Well, shucks. I did base it off the Christian Ten Commandments, but had to combine a few to make room for the non-biblical entries.

“The Grove” writes:
“Oh this makes me laugh. Beautiful rules.”

I’m glad you enjoyed it and that it made you laugh.

Well, that’s all the tumblr comments I could find with Google’s help. I understand a few tumblr users have posted the rules as their own creations. They’re not worth the trouble of me filing a formal complaint about them. I’m disappointed, but not surprised.

I’ll tell you a secret, if you like. I don’t make money off this blog. There are no ads to be seen, and there never will be. I write because I enjoy writing. And when I find that someone else has found enjoyment in my words, that lifts me. Comments like The Grove’s will keep me smiling all day.

Make of that, what you may.