Cursing the Moon and the Fae

So, if you haven't read about this, apparently some people have been making waves recently by cursing the Moon and the Fae.  I've read a few versions of what exactly is going on.  One said that it all started because some 'baby' witches were told they couldn't hex the moon and fae, and so they decided to prove they could.  Another version said that one was in a relationship with a part-fae and it went poorly and in retaliation they gathered their coven and hexed the fae.  A final perspective is that the whole thing was a misinterpretation and that groups of witches were hexing things based on the current situations (it didn't specify who/what they were hexing), but they called upon the moon and the fae in their workings, and it got misreported as them 'hexing the moon and fae.'

Now, there is a lot to unpack here, but there is some stuff I want to talk about.  Some involves these initial explanations of what is going on, but some involves the reactions and responses to these sensational headlines.  Because, let's admit it, 'witches hex the moon' is a pretty sensational headline.  What I think is interesting is that in my search to find out what was going on, almost all the articles I read almost discounted the 'hexing the moon' part and focused on the dangers of hexing the fae.

I'm also going to almost skip right past the whole hexing debate.  In a nutshell, some people think that witches shouldn't hex, full stop.  I am not one of those people.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, in my believe structure, magic is held to the same standards as physical actions.  Some situations warrant physical reactions, and some likewise call for magical reactions.  Some of those reactions might be harmful (or involve hexing).  I don't think we can make a blanket statement on whether witches should or should not be hexing.  It is part of each person's path, and even if you feel that witches shouldn't hex....there will always be witches who do.

So, accepting the fact that witches can and will hex, let's look at the given examples.  If you tell someone they can't do something, there will always be some amount of people who will try to do it just to prove they can.  It doesn't matter if you used the word can't to mean "aren't able to" (as in it's physically impossible...more on that in a bit), or "it's against the rules and you shouldn't"....there will always be people who will try to push any boundary.

The thing is...rules typically are there for a reason.  If there is a longstanding rule of being polite to the fae because they are powerful beings, temperamental and prone to over-reacting, and more than happy to mess with humans just for the pure joy of it, then breaking that rule brings their attention to you.  It's one of those "for your own good" rules, and the consequences of breaking it are typically fairly immediate and powerful.  It's like the rule that you shouldn't stick metal things into power outlets....if you break that rule, you learn quickly why it was a rule.

The second theory on what started this headline (that it was a slighted ex who wanted revenge) gets into more moral grey territory.  Let's take the fae out of the equation for a minute, and say that it was just a case of wanting to get back at an ex....let's even presume they were actually a nasty, abusive, horrible person and being in a relationship with them was causing you harm.  Now that you are free of the relationship, you want to get back at them. 

This is typically something that is frowned upon by many groups, but again, back to the whole morality thing....it is a personal choice.  If you choose to get back at your ex, that's on you.  But that really isn't what was being talked about in the headlines.  It was more of a "this one person was bad to me, so I'm going to hex ALL of the people...that will show them!!!!"

This is a toddler tantrum of the worst kind.  It's completely irrational, and it doesn't even achieve what you want it to do (getting back at your ex).  If you are going to hex someone...hex them.  Don't hex all people like them, or all people who happened to be there at the time something happened or any other variation of throwing a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito.  The fallout will be catastrophic.

And finally, there is the last explanation for the headlines, that it is all a big misunderstanding.  This is something that, whether it is true or not, I feel is important enough to talk about for a bit.  This happens ALL the time.  The internet is the biggest game of telephone ever invented.  One person will post something, then someone else will snip the bit that stands out to them, repost it with their own thoughts, and that chain keeps going until the final meme being shared has almost nothing to do with what actually happened (and that's assuming the original post was accurate to begin with!)

This is something that we are seeing in all places right now, and it's terrifyingly dangerous because people are being called to action based on these false rumors and information that is being spread as if it were Truth.  I saw a ton of reactions to this "baby witches are hexing the moon and fae!!!!" that immediately started going off on how dangerous it was to mess with either.  It's all just caps posts, yelling about how dumb it is, and a thread of replies that echo that or talk about how this "isn't what we do."

But I've also seen people start talking about basically turning the hexes around on people, on 'getting back' at people who are hexing things.  And this is a very slippery slope, especially when you don't know exactly what the real situation is.  If it is a pure misunderstanding, then you are now hexing people who didn't actually do anything 'wrong'. 

I think the real danger though is in deciding that we, as witches, should be the magical police.  It's something I've seen defended as "helping karma" or some other such nonsense.  Firstly, if you believe karma is a universal law...it doesn't need your help.  This isn't a "God helps those who help themselves," kind of thing or a "do the spellwork, but also do the physical stuff to support your spells."  Taking up the mantle of magical police (where you actively work to punish people you feel are using magic badly) is one small step away from using magic to hurt people you don't like.  And that is such a subjective thing. 

What really bugs me is not that people are doing this kind of work (because as I've said before, each person has their own path, and if this is a path you choose to walk, that's on you).  But it's that the vast majority of the people I see doing this kind of thing are trying to convince everyone that they are doing it for pure and holy reasons.  They are somehow better than everyone else, and thus they can judge who is right and who is wrong, and by punishing the people who are wrong, they are some part of the greater cosmic plan.  It's a power trip, pure and simple.

Now, I want to touch briefly on some of the ripples coming from the reactions to these headlines.  First is the idea that hexing the moon (or any celestial bodies) or the fae is impossible.  I've seen people state that these beings are just too powerful to be hexed.  And I think that's bunk.  I think that it might take a lot to pull off a successful hex on any of them, sure, but impossible implies there is some innate quality about them that prevents any type of spell landing.  And I think this is sliding very close to the 'all-powerful-all-knowing-all-everything-god' concept. 

One really interesting point that I saw brought up, however, was that by hexing (or attempting to hex) the moon, you are also pissing off every moon deity.  This is something that I think is actually pretty relevant.  I think that sometimes we feel like our magic is invisible, because other people don't see it.  But I feel like when we take action, whether it is magical or physical, things take notice.  And if you are going around hexing things 'just to see if you can', it's like the kid pulling the legs off of insects....they may not think people see what they are doing, but people notice. 

So, I guess, what I'm trying to say is don't automatically believe everything you read on the internet!  Don't act on your knee-jerk reactions to headlines, but check them out yourself and see what is actually going on.  Don't hold other people to your own version of right and wrong (yes, I fully get the irony of me pointing this out as something you 'should' do...).  Don't lash out at everyone just because one person (or fae, or celestial body lol) did you wrong.  Don't expect to be able to mess with a being without it's allies and supporters taking notice and possibly retaliating against you.  And sometimes there are good reasons for the "Don't do X thing" rules.