John Oliver is very wrong about psychics and mediums

By now you've probably all seen John Oliver's segment on psychics on Last Week Tonight - if you haven't, you can watch it here. In short, it was appallingly offensive. He took some really broad strokes about psychics, and instead of just focusing on the problematic frauds, he decided that all psychics and mediums are fakers and con-artists.

How about no? Where do I start with how awful this segment was?
1) Although he lumps them together, psychics and mediums are two different things: psychics predict the future, mediums communicate with the dead. Some people have both gifts, but not always.
2) How DARE he pick on Tyler (the "Hollywood Medium"). He's a KID for godsakes. Shame on John. Pick on adults all you want, but Tyler is still a teenager and that was really low. It's also important to note that the show claims Tyler researches his clients ahead of time, but this is wrong. If anyone working at Last Week Tonight had even bothered to watch an episode or two of Hollywood Medium, they would know that Tyler knows nothing (not even a name) about the people he reads for beforehand, to help prevent bias.
3) So many people love to hate on psychics and mediums, but the minute they want to know whether their boyfriend is cheating on them or whether their deceased grandma is happy, they come running to us for a reading. But if thy get a reading they don't like, they start screaming about frauds. It's so hypocritical it's stunning.
4) Psychics and mediums are not omniscient. We are not a god, we don't see all or know all, and to imply otherwise is naive and petulant as all hell. Like everybody else on this planet, we cannot know everything and be right about everything 100% of the time. We only see/hear/understand what Spirit allows us to see/hear/understand (this is what I believe; others may feel differently about receiving information). And then we do our best to comprehend what has been conveyed to us and pass along the information to the querent.

5) Did he even talk to a psychic or medium before writing this segment? Obviously not, because it really shows.

Since he and his staff are clearly incapable of writing a balanced segment on something they don't understand and don't want to understand, John should stick to political and economic commentary.

Monday Music Break: How Soon is Now?

A friend of mine was asking on Facebook yesterday about where to find the full version of the Charmed theme song.  And it got me to thinking about theme songs to "pagan" TV shows.  Most of these theme songs are not by pagan artists, but we still come to associate them with pagany themes because of their association with these TV shows.  So I feel like these theme songs would fall under the banner of the pagan music scene because while they are not written by the pagan community, they are definitely for the pagan community through their association with these shows.

Take, for instance, this song - a cover of "How Soon Is Now?" by Love Split Love (also called the Psychedelic Furs).

The band isn't pagan, and there isn't anything particularly pagan about this song.  When you listen to it, you probably instantly think of witches, a big hand-drawn Book of Shadows, energy balls, rhyming spells, and demon fighting with "the Power of Three," amiright?  (It's the full version of the Charmed theme song, in case you're not familiar with the show.)

I found this from the Lulu's blog, but I don't know the original source :\

Of course, I still prefer the original version by The Smiths. You just can't beat Morrissey's distinctive voice.

What's your favorite theme song to a neopagan-y TV show?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Monday Music Break: Weaving the Summer

The weather doesn't want to admit it right now, but tomorrow is Beltane - the holiday that opens the gates to summer.  So in honor Beltane, here's one of my favorite Beltane songs by Spiral Dance:

Right now I'm watching the reunion / coronation episode of RuPaul's DragRace.  If you follow me on twitter you'll notice I've been live tweeting.  I'm rooting for Sharon Needles!!  Who are you rooting for?

Monday Music Break: Kellianna

I'm feeling remarkably energetic today, given how much dancing I did at the Conjure Dance on Friday and how tired I was on Saturday.  I guess I made the right call by taking Sunday afternoon to chill with some classic Doctor Who (yay, Tom Baker!) and America's Next Top Model.

For this week's music break, I bring you two of my favorite songs by Kellianna, "Freya" and "Warrior Queen."

I just took a look at Kellianna's events page, and it looks like she's playing a few gigs in Maryland in May.  Sweet!

Follow Friday #4: Pop culture imagery in spiritual work

The Domestic Pagan is having another "Follow my blog Friday!"  I'm a bit late jumping on the bandwagon, seeing as it's now Saturday, but this topic interested me enough to participate anyway.

FF#4 Question: Have you ever used a fictional character as a archetype or patron goddess?

The short answer is no, I haven't used a fictional character in my spiritual work.  I would find it hard to work with them on the astral, since I would always *know* the character isn't real - even if the image is just used to represent a god/dess.  

I have used pop culture imagery in my spiritual work, though.  Or in some cases, a god/dess has used some of the imagery from tv/movies/music that is stored away in my brain, and used it to show me something important.  It's often sci-fi/fantasy imagery, since that tends to have more overlap with my astral work than, say, America's Next Top Model.  I figure it's their way of using imagery I'm familiar with and will easily understand the meaning of, despite where it came from.


Take for instance last night.  I was meditating with Gwynn Ap Nudd, and suddenly in front of us a stargate appeared, complete with an event horizon.  We traveled through the stargate (I even heard the sound they use on TV for that) and emerged in another place, so that I could meet a particular goddess face-to-face.  When I saw the stargate I thought to myself, "Ah, I see what he's doing here by using this stargate imagery.  I'll just go with it and see what happens."  

And it turned out rather well, I must say - I finally met the Lady of Reflections face-to-face.  She showed me her appearance to help me figure out who she is.  She was wearing a veil over her head and across her face, and had a string of jewels running down the center of her face.  The primary colors were white, red, and gold.  She was also carrying a large flute.  To me she is the goddess of light reflecting (like the light of the moon reflecting on the surface of water), and comes across as somewhat of a love goddess.  Has anyone ever worked with a goddess like this?

This image by Domino Visual Art (whose work is absolutely gorgeous) reminds me a lot of how she appeared to me last night:

The Lion's Mane by dominovisualart.wordpress.com.  Used according to the principles of fair use.

I'm wondering if she is an aspect of Kali / the Cailleach:  According to various interpretations,“caillech” meant either an old woman, or a hag, or a nun, or a “veiled one”. This last apparently referred to the Goddess’s most mysterious manifestation as the future, Fate, and Death--ever veiled from the sight of men, since no man could know the manner of his own death.   

Perhaps she is Parvati, the maiden aspect of Kali: She lifts Her veil to reveal Her beauty, shining like the Sun rising over the mountain of Anapurna.

I've been trying to figure out who she is for 2 years.  I have been looking online all day, but I am still left pondering for now.