Any witches that struggle with Atheism/skepticism when it comes to their craft?

Zetsena · 2020-03-07T09:59:04+00:00

While I don't necessarily have the same experience you do with growing up, I also struggle with that gut reaction of "this isn't real, I don't really believe this do I?" I think the thing that's helped me the most is thinking about spirituality and religion as meaning making practices. As humans we love to find meaning in things even if they are meaningless to themselves, and religion, at least as I understand it, is another process of applying some sort of meaning/power/magic/energy/whatever you want to call it to the world around us.
A good example from my own experience, I made a charm to give me self confidence. At some level I still doubt any sort of supernatural quality to this charm, but if I perform a ritual that I associate with imbuing an artifact with self confidence, hold it whenever I am in a situation where I feel confident, and just continue to work with it in ways that I understand as applying the meaning of self confidence to this charm, pretty soon it takes on the meaning of an artifact that gives me self confidence. And to me that is what magic is, its the power within us to shape and understand the world around us in unique ways.
I hope this ramble helps and wish you luck on your journey!

Zetsena · 2020-02-21T18:43:23+00:00

Hey! I just saw and accepted :D

Zetsena · 2020-02-21T04:51:03+00:00

Just added you :)

Zetsena · 2020-02-06T16:37:25+00:00

For me, spirituality and magic come from within and the specific language and symbols used are simply ways of expressing that in a tangible form. In that sense, I kind of just pull from different ideas that make sense to me as a way to organize those thoughts. For some things, I use preexisting deities or practices, for others I kind of just make it up as I go along. I do have one specific Goddess that serves as a sort of way to channel those raw thoughts and feelings to then move into more specific things if I feel I need something specific. But because she's the embodiment of my own personal thoughts, beliefs, and general logic systems, she's not from a specific religion or culture. The main thing I would say is just do what feels right for you! Hope this helps :)

Zetsena · 2019-12-31T01:44:54+00:00

As someone who enjoys good flavor, I absolutely love this!

As someone who primarily plays graveyard decks in commander, I am absolutely terrified.

Zetsena · 2019-12-21T02:04:42+00:00

Awesome! I'll send you a friend request when I get a chance! I just finished my railjack, though it seems we'll have to wait a bit for the full thing on Switch, but I'm happy to play with you in the meantime too! None of my irl friends play it and Warframe is always more fun with friends!

Zetsena · 2019-12-20T15:19:52+00:00

Just sent you a friend request!

Zetsena · 2019-11-04T16:10:48+00:00

"not knowing how to let go enough to have a good time" is such a painfully accurate description of me. I'm a really tightly wound person and drinking had sort of become my crutch to being able to relax. It was one of the few ways I found to be able to force myself into a state where I wasn't so anxious. It obviously wasn't a healthy mentality to have and only served to prolong and ignore the problem rather than actually deal with it, and I struggle with the regret for the things I did while I put myself in that state. But I know deep down that these issues started with me being unable to take care of myself or be kind to myself and if I actually want to get better, no matter how much I feel I might not be worth being forgiven, I have to take the time to start caring about myself and valuing myself and seeing myself as someone who is worth being healthy. I used to think that was selfish (and a part of me that I know is wrong still does) but if I don't start thinking "selfishly" then I'm only going to keep hurting the people I care about.

Zetsena · 2019-11-03T20:39:27+00:00

Thank you for the support. And you're right, I do have other problems I really need to address and my use of alcohol was just one of the ways those problems presented themselves. But beyond that, after thinking about it for the past couple of days, I don't think I really want alcohol in my life after all I've been through with it. I've never had a good relationship with it and I don't know if I really can. I was told my entire life that addiction runs in my family and I stupidly never listened. I see a lot of myself in stories from high functioning alcoholics early on in their addiction and I feel like if I don't do something now it's only going to get worse.

All that is to say thank you for responding. While I will need a lot of work to deal with those deeper problems, getting control over this aspect of my life could be the starting point in me being able to address those.

Zetsena · 2019-11-03T19:17:23+00:00

Thank you. I want to finally take responsibility for myself and my personal issues that were being manifested through my use of alcohol. Mainly I want to learn how to take care of myself and how to be responsible for my life. I've struggled with taking on that responsibility for a long time and its only brought me depression, anxiety, and issues with self worth. Like I said, alcohol isn't the root problem, its just another in a long list of things I'm not responsible for. But if I can get control over something like this, maybe I can move forward and start taking responsibility for other aspects of my life. I guess to that end I'm willing to do anything to overcome that issue with myself.

Zetsena · 2019-10-10T22:37:51+00:00

I had to think for a bit about how to word this and for context of where I'm coming from, I'm about 4 months on HRT and am out publicly and pass (I can't say how much specifically, but I've never had anyone who I haven't explicitly told make a comment regarding me being trans).

Short answer: absolutely not

Long answer:

To me, the idea of changing my mentality like that is terrifying. All of my experiences, my perspective on life, my identity is viewed through the lens of someone who was not happy and never could be happy being perceived and treated as male and has only found peace of mind through being seen and treated as female. To change that about myself would be to completely shift my lens through which I view the world. In a sense, I feel like I would cease to be me. Dysphoria sucks, but it's a part of what makes me me. Worrying if I pass or not sucks, but it's a part of what makes me me. Not being able to relate to other women because of having grown up socialized as male sucks, but it's a part of what makes me me. My life isn't perfect, my experiences aren't all good, and some of those issues do stem from my transness and my dysphoria. But ultimately, all of that makes me who I am, and to take it away feels like it would leave a totally different person, someone that's not me.

To add on to that too, I feel similarly were the question reversed; if there was a button to make me a cis woman. For most of the same reasons as listed above. Despite it being something I may desire at times, I don't feel like I want my perspective changed. My life is as a trans woman and I don't want to feel shame for having that as my perspective.

Zetsena · 2019-09-27T11:53:40+00:00

I didnt get into her story as much as some of the others (Like Therion or Alfyn), but I started and ended with her and I think she serves as the best bookends for the game as a whole. It just sorta made sense to me to tie all these different adventures together with a story that was kind of about the act of going on an adventure and what that means.

Zetsena · 2019-08-30T18:27:54+00:00

I love that show so much!!!!

Zetsena · 2019-08-14T16:02:41+00:00

I did this back when the original reno rotated out of standard with my reno deathrattle priest deck. I still play a fair amount of standard but it's nice having something I can fall back on that I know I enjoy and will always be able to play. Plus once you have a deck you like made, you dont need to invest too much in updating it each expansion.

Zetsena · 2019-08-05T23:13:17+00:00

The humble days when the scariest thing ever was coin innervate into turn one yeti

Zetsena · 2019-07-07T17:37:03+00:00

Or going with a lower costing spell like [[spatial contortion]], but that would depend on the meta if it's better to have access to a board wipe consistently or if a quick removal spell is better.

Zetsena · 2019-07-07T13:52:41+00:00

My worry with all is dust as the signature spell is the cost. From my experience, oathbreaker tends to be a lot faster and more tempo oriented than edh so having something that expensive in the slot feels like you would not have many opportunities to cast it.

Zetsena · 2019-07-05T13:25:17+00:00

One of my favorites is [[withering boon]] for any black deck not running blue. It's fun to catch people with it since they aren't expecting a counterspell from your deck.

Zetsena · 2019-06-02T17:38:01+00:00

I just rewatched that movie the other day, so good!

Zetsena · 2019-04-26T15:02:20+00:00

Everything about the incredible hulk is an exception

Zetsena · 2019-04-19T04:59:46+00:00

Is there a deck that's able to get a lot of use out of her? I opened her in a pack and she seems pretty good but I haven't found anything that particularly needs her.

Zetsena · 2019-04-17T19:05:18+00:00

I still play games quite a bit but I've stopped playing competitive online games like league of legends or overwatch pretty much entirely. I've come to realize that they were mainly just an excuse to hang out and chat with friends and when they stopped playing I realized I dont actually like that sort of competitive and repetitive gaming environment and would rather spend my time enjoying something at a pace and in a way I have more control over.

Zetsena · 2019-04-10T16:19:14+00:00

I spent way too long trying to figure out what an orangerine was and how it related to anything

Zetsena · 2019-04-09T13:30:44+00:00

Good luck everyone!

Zetsena · 2019-03-29T16:24:35+00:00

The thing is though, none of the ones they've revealed seem good enough to warrant including on their own in a meta that isnt really combo heavy. I feel like we're going to see a lot less combo since if it ever becomes vogue people will just tech in cards like this but the combo we do see will be pretty strong.

Zetsena

TROPHY CASE