Over the last several weeks there has been so much acrimony and turmoil surrounding the eBay metaphysical community that it has literally inundated the Internet with blogs, websites, postings, petitions, etc... I had until very recently been fairly ignorant of the ongoing 'battles' between several groups of buyers/sellers. Then of course the infamous Metaphysical Meta-Fraud blog went up and I started getting emails about my eBay selling name being on a 'List of Shame'. ????? At first I had a surge of annoyance and mild anger, then I began to find it more than a bit humorous. What was NOT humorous though was the out and out mean spirited and crude way way they attempted to 'out' a certain eBay seller.
I do not know any of these people personally and any contact I have had with any of them came AFTER the MetaFraud blog was posted. I have emailed the attacked seller and told her how rude I felt these posts picking on her children were. I had a couple of emails from 'M' at CH explaining what had transpired over the last couple of years.
I see that more recently my eBay ID has been 'identified' as a Creepy Hollows 'affiliate'. I'm not sure what THAT means but my ONLY contact with Creepy Hollows was my choice to post a bit in their forum and the couple of previously mentioned emails.
I actually started this blog as a way of showing to the Metaphysical eBay community that I for one am totally open for my customers and potential customers. I even emailed the Meta-Fraud blogsters and offered them my permission to post my address info INCLUDING phone number, which is listed in the phone book by the way. I use my real home address as my eBay address and any one can easily find me. I even offered them my shoe size and other info, but I did tell them that since they seem to have an unseemly preoccupation with underwear size that they could guess mine!!!!! After all--- that really is my own business if I might happen to have a 'fat butt'. LOL!!!
Really now!!! We as a positive community need to treat these very negative people with the full disdain they deserve. Their true colors and nasty true motivations come through every one of their responses, whether it be on blog or comment postings.
I am still not sure what is the real story behind all the anger between these groups, but in my opinion it has NOTHING to do with exposing any supposed or alleged fraud, BUT, instead is something being done for purely financial motives.
I don't make judgments on others beliefs even if their's differ from mine. There are too many mysterious things in this universe for me to pass judgment on their existence without more knowledge. As I said before in my guide on the subject--LACK OF KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT NEGATE EXISTENCE!
The ONLY reason I can think of that caused my name to be added to the list is this--an eBay seller associated with the meta-blog emailed accusing me, or Aunt Maeve as the case may be, of 'copying' her potions. I very nicely told her that the potions I had listed were in no way copies of hers and that any similarities were probably the result of knowledge of the same fields of magick, Voodoo/Hoodoo and old Earth Magicks in particular. The use of feathers and charms added to spell bottles sealed by wax are very common motifs in JuJu bottles and bags in Southern VooDoo. Feathers, stones, shells, herbs, oils, and blessings/sealings by sacred 'dressed' and blessed candles are not a unique creation of one recent person but common to much of witchcraft in general. What this other seller chooses to think is not of any particular importance to me when I know the truth. Rather than discussing further with me her concerns, this seller posted to her blog, listings, etc... condemning 'copyists'. A tad bit of an overreaction in my opinion, or as my Grandmother used to say, "Making a mountain out of a mole hill". If her customers love her items and are loyal, why worry that they might switch sellers?
And here unfortunately I think we have the base reasoning for this whole 'Mega-Meta-War'. It is financial pure and simple. "Buy mine", "I'm the best", "the ONLY seller with...", "the seller everyone copies...", "the FIRST seller to offer...", etc... etc...etc... Territorialism is alive and well in the Metaphysical community. There is big competition for buyers just as in any field. This field though, magick and metaphysics, require much more faith by customers. Getting a spirit or spell to try and change your life is a bit more intense than choosing a new lipstick or video game. And look at the competition in advertising there! Those vendors don't usually resort to publishing pictures of the competition's children and insulting them though. Diseased sex organs? Hemeroids? Dunce Hats? Don't think so! PEOPLE! GET A GRIP ON COMMON DECENCY AND REALITY HERE! THIS IS GOING TOO FAR!
All of this is making ALL OF US, the ENTIRE metaphysical community look BAD! Enough people criticize pagans, Wiccans, witches, practitioners, and other true paranormal believers for our ideas, that we don't need to in-fight among ourselves. All I have to say to the negative posters, guide writers, Bloggers, etc... is SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! Negative is going to bring you negative in the end!
Posts
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. I used to buy from a mega-website until the forum got a bit nasty. When the owner of the website asked if the nastiness impacted my buying habits, I told her the truth. I stopped buying from most metaphysical dealers associated with that website. It's a shame because I really liked her stuff.
I actually was so upset at the nastiness, I thought about posting my collection of potions, spells, and recipes online for free...but thought better of it. In the past, I referred people to this seller rather than share my books and spells with them. Now I give people I know well the spells because I'm afraid to involve them in the negative behaviors of the some of the sellers.
Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping the the hard feelings end soon...this is a black eye on the community. Thanks for sharing your story. I pray that things have shifted for you by now.