To ask if you believe in witchcraft?

[superstarheartbreaker]

My exes mum was known as a " White Witch". In other words she was very into woo and practiced as a Chrystal healer, could sense energy, was psychic and was into all the new age bull shit. Vegan etc , etc.

I think a large amount of this is bullshit however there are a few incidents which made me think. One involved her son. He was v abusive and when we split up I felt very low. At the time she was thousands of miles away in the USA. She phoned me up in ters ( she had no idea we gad split up) and told me she knew how low I felt and tha I should hang on in there ( I felt suicidal) she said she could feel my pain. Wierd as last time we met I fine.

I don't agree with the way she raised my ex ( brought him weed for his bday etc) and a lot of what she believed in ( and how she enforced those beliefs) was questionable but I do think there was something a bit strange about her. ( my dad who is the straightest man on the planet even thought she'd put some kind of spell on me at one point -- although that was probably due more to her abusive son.)

My own feeling is that Wicca has some power but that any attempt to manipulate nature to ones own ends is not to be trusted.

Am I barmy???!!!

[Icimoi]

No idea if you're barmy, but yes, witchcraft is all woo.

[superstarheartbreaker]

What about people who are psychic?

[FATEdestiny]

For fear of being slated, Wicca is not about manipulating nature to ones own ends.

A Wiccan "spell" is much the same as a Christian "prayer". Both are claimed to work by many and ridiculed by many.

[ThirdPoliceman]

Nah, it's just a higher degree of woo.
Or better at cold reading?

[raltheraffe]

It is possible to communicate with SOMETHING, but I am not convinced it is the spirits of the deceased. I am friends with one of the top mediums in the country and she tried to train me once, but I would not get involved as I think there is something really sinister about the whole thing.

[FATEdestiny]

Psychic "powers" are just intuition. Lots of people have a strong sense of intuition.

[Bearfrills]

No one is psychic. Some people are better at 'reading' people than others such as picking up on facial expressions, body language, etc and when you add in techniques such as cold reading it can be passed off as psychic powers.

In reality it's cobblers :)

[DoubleValiumLattePlease]

Nobody is 'psychic'. Some people are good guessers. That's all.

[ghostyslovesheep]

nope

[vestandknickers]

It is all woo and she sounds bonkers.

[misskangaandroo2014]

Again. Not sure of your current state of 'barmy'. But Wicca is a collection of practices, often practitioners self-selecting what that does / does not work. The lack of consistency makes it impossible to 'prove' any of it. So yes. Woo.
Did you ever consider the poor excuse for a man had mentioned in passing you had left and she (in a moment of sense) thought she (maybe she thought well of you) ought to get in touch (y'know pretending / denying even her wastrel son and you were no longer together).

[Icimoi]

The phone call you cite was probably down to her son or someone else telling her you had split up.

[Lazymummy2014]

Re. psychics - to quote Tim Minchin, "they're either lying or mentally ill".

[DoraGora]

I don't know. I think after a while of standing in running water and calling it my mother and calling the rustling of the wind in the trees my father, I could get used to it. I'm pretty OK with calling an imaginary guy in the sky, with a white beard, God. Whatever floats your boat, really.

[WorraLiberty]

I see it as a load of manipulative claptrap, spouted by very self important people - and believed by very gullible people.

[DoraGora]

What? You mean religion, politics or witchcraft? They would all seem to fit that definition!

[Andrewofgg]

It's what you might call the Higher Bollocks. Forget it.

[Branleuse]

yes I do believe in 'witchcraft' as a religion, Im not sure what youre asking?

Are there some strange people out there? yes.
Do some of them practice witchcraft? Of course.
Do I believe witches have magical powers and put weurd spells on people that actually work? Dunno, maybe some of them?

Is some of it bonkers? definitely.

[superstarheartbreaker]

I don't believe in it tbh but round my way there are a few who do and tbh when she called me her description of me was down to a tee. Her wastrel son at the time had very little interest in how I felt and was hardly communicating so i know her call was genuine. ( was uncannily correct in its description ... Had not spoken or seen son for ages.)

[WorraLiberty]

You really believe that some people have magical powers and that some spells work Branleuse?

[superstarheartbreaker]

It is bonkers and very manipulative IMO.

[WorraLiberty]

Sorry OP but you don't just randomly ring someone up in tears from the USA, telling them you know they feel suicidal etc, unless someone has mentioned the split.

Either that or she randomly rang you to see how you are, and heard it in your voice so she took it from there...

[superstarheartbreaker]

WorraLiberty... That describes her to a tee " self important." However... Some strange shit went down at that time. I'm I'm very anti book ( mostly thanks to her and the effect it had on me and my life.)

[DoraGora]

My own take on bollocks (whether religion, magic or politics) is that humans are intellectual pack animals, who must be led by some claptrap-spouting group of one kind or another, so, you might as well join the claptrap group that you feel most comfortable with.

[Hatespiders]

I can't argue with people following their beliefs and/or religion. But I don't personally believe in witchcraft, as I'm a practising Christian. My dh does however and is quite fearful of 'sorcieres' in his own country. He still maintains that a spell by a sorciere (I suppose we would say 'witchdoctor') could easily kill you, and you'd be doomed if someone engaged a wizard/witch to cause your death. He's nominally a muslim, but I've also encountered African Christians, even devout Catholics, and they too had a deep-seated terror of witches. This terror causes no end of serious problems over there.

This woman sounds very strange OP, and I wouldn't subscribe to her claims. It's probably attention-seeking.