Endo wrote
OxyFemboi wrote:
Why would it surprise you that combining wicca and hypnosis would be extremely effective?
Because it's just another religion promising miracles and supernatural influences upon a person?
If you're using it ON YOURSELF or on OTHER WICCANS, then there's a good case to be made that you're just drinking your own kool-aid. It would certainly help with belief implanting. Religion as a whole is very effective at this sort of thing.
There was a slight error in my statement. I changed the original to what I meant to say -- "combining wicca and hypnosis" -- from "combining wiccan hypnosis".
I am not about to defend my beliefs. This is the wrong forum for a discussion of religious beliefs. I also don't care if you believe what I believe or not.
Wicca, which is only one flavor of paganism, has a a hard time making definitive statements of belief. There are as many beliefs and belief systems as there are pagans, perhaps more.
One widely held belief, though, is that magic is a way of making changes to reality to conform to your desires. There are many ways to achieve this, among them are various mental disciplines (including hypnosis), meditation, and (sometimes) rituals.
Most flavors of paganism teach that the Universe is a Thought. In modern parlance, that is equivalent to saying that the Universe is a Program running on a supercomputer. From that teaching, it is reasonable to conclude that a person could hack that Program to make a change or two in a sub-subroutine which is accessed only when the person (the one seeking to change the sub-subroutine) is involved.
Pagans do not impose their will on others without their consent. I'm not saying it never happens -- after all, we're talking about people, not cardboard cutouts or stereotypes -- but if/when it does happen, it is rare.
I'm not condemning your beliefs, I just want to point out that this is nothing unique.
I never said that any part of wicca/paganism is unique. I pointed out that this is part and parcel of most wiccan/pagan belief systems, so Sylvia should not have been surprised that wicca and hypnosis are reinforcing and/or synergistic.
If you want some good, easily assimilated information about paganism, there is a great novel which I can recommend:
Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz.