Curses vs blessings Curses and blessings are two opposite forces that have been recognized and discussed throughout history. Curses are negative or harmful wishes or statements, often believed to have supernatural power. They can be intentional or unintentional, but their impact is often perceived as bringing misfortune or harm to the recipient. Curses can be seen in various cultural and religious practices, where individuals or groups are known to invoke curses as a way to punish or seek revenge. On the other hand, blessings are positive wishes or statements that are meant to bring good fortune or protection to the recipient. Blessings are often associated with religious or spiritual practices, where individuals seek divine favor or guidance.

Taylor Swift Promotes Witchcraft On Tour in ‘Willow’ Performance

In Taylor Swift’s “Willow” music video, she includes occult worship, a troubling practice being normalized in culture across numerous forms of media.

The “Willow” music video follows Swift as she tries to connect with her lover. Something always stands in their way, and they are forced to escape to different time periods where they attempt to connect again. The scenes for the first two verses find Swift in a forest and a 1920s bar before the third scene takes place during cult worship around a campfire.

This cult worship scene has no relevance to the song, nor does it tie into the scenes from the previous verses. Swift observes the occult ritual taking it in for a few moments before taking her place and joining the dance for the second half of the verse. After, she leaves to travel through time again and continue looking for her lover, whom she eventually convenes with during the final chorus of the song.

The inclusion of the campfire witchcraft scene is confusing, as it was unnecessarily added onto lyrics it has zero relevance to. Nonetheless, it provides another worrying example of the way witchcraft and pagan worship are being pushed into pop culture and becoming normalized.

Swift has continued to tie witchcraft to this song during her Eras Tour, donning ritualistic garb while performing the song, and having her backup dancers wear capes.

Another example of occultism appearing in pop culture comes from Disney’s TURNING RED from 2022. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:

TURNING RED sadly includes references to Chinese ancestor worship. At one point, for example, in Mei’s narration, Mei says that her family doesn’t worship any gods, but they do worship their ancestors, especially the family’s grand matriarch. Also, at another point, Mei says that the family’s grand matriarch prayed to “the gods” during a time of war that the gods imbue her with the power of the red panda so she could defend her family.

Ultimately, therefore, TURNING RED has a mixed worldview with pro-family elements and false religion. TURNING RED also has about two overt references to being Zen-like to help her remain cool and control the red panda within her. These moments are references to the Buddhist sect of Zen Buddhism, where the practitioner seeks to clarify the mind, pacify the mind, unite mind and body, and realize the interconnectedness of all things. As with all major Buddhist sexts, Zen Buddhism’s ultimate goal is to recognize “impurities,” such as greed, anger and ignorance, letting them go, and achieving “enlightenment,” which involves a kind of emptiness, purity of desire and action, calmness of mind, perfect discernment of what is true and false and what is harmful and not harmful, and emotional “balance.” As the most recent of many Rimboches said in terms of another sect of Buddhism: “life is a cesspool, so let go.” As I responded to one of his disciples from Harvard, who came to Jesus Christ, “it is a fallen world, but Jesus is reaching out to you to pull you out of the cesspool so you will have a more abundant eternal life.”

The Inclusion of these themes in animated movies and pop music videos is especially concerning, as the target audiences of these forms of media are on the younger side. Disney’s TURNING RED was created for a child audience, and Swift’s fanbase consists of mainly young, teenage girls.

The ideas pushed in pop culture tend to take root in the younger generation and it should concern parents that witchcraft and occult worship are being normalized in the media their children are consuming.

The Bible takes a strong stance against any practice of witchcraft or sorcery and cautions against taking any interest in them.

Movieguide® has previously reported on the dangers of occultism appearing in children’s media, including research from Movieguide®’s founder Dr. Ted Baehr:

In Deut. 18:10-13, for example, Moses clearly says, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.” Also, in Rev. 21:8, Jesus Himself says, “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Furthermore, in Galatians 5:19-21, the Apostle Paul says, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

All of these biblical passages – and more besides – show us, beyond all reasonable doubt, that God wants us to avoid completely witchcraft and sorcery.

Swift’s “Willow” music video and TURNING RED are just a couple of examples of witchcraft and occult worship being pushed toward younger audiences. Another example is Disney’s HOCUS POCUS 2.

Disney released HOCUS POCUS 2, a sequel to the 1993 Halloween movie, updating the movie’s story to normalize the occult, as well as pagan beliefs.

HOCUS POCUS tells the story of children who must fight the Sanderson sisters, a trio of witches who want to sacrifice children for their magic spells. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:

HOCUS POCUS takes places in Salem, Massachusetts. A scary house in the town has been abandoned for about three hundred years. It was the home of the infamous Sorenson sisters, who, according to legend, had been hung for their evil witchcraft and sorcery. An iron fence surrounds the grounds, where many believe that hundreds of sacrificed children lie. Max Dennison, a transplanted California teenager, is new to Salem and scoffs at the tales. However, Max soon becomes intrigued with the Salem witches after reading about “A SPELL BOOK given by the Devil himself” that’s bound in human skin. Later, Max conjures up the witches by following the book’s instructions.

HOCUS POCUS goes downhill after Max performs the occult ritual to conjure up the witches. Although it has some humorous, redemptive moments, it’s marred by too many scenes with strong occult content. Thus, it contains positive references to witchcraft, casting spells and occult rituals. Some of the memorable songs, “I will put a spell on you,” and “Children, I Smell Children, Come Out My Children Wherever You Are — Why Don’t You Stay for Supper?,” reveal the movie’s objectionable, abhorrent content.

In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, God warns us to have nothing whatsoever to do with witchcraft, consulting dead people, casting spells, or interpreting omens. “Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD [to Yahweh],” Moses says.

HOCUS POCUS 2 uses these same occult themes, and adds new ones, like references to crystals, herbs, moon spells, and sacred woods.

Parents are already complaining about the movie, with one mother saying the movie “unleashes hell on your kids and in your home. The whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices.”

Parents should beware of the normalizing of the occult in children’s programming.

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Taylor Swift, Aryan Goddess?

Taylor Swift, a pop star who is extraordinary for reasons entirely unrelated to white nationalism.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic, Getty Images

So, this is happening: Some white supremacists have anointed Taylor Swift an "Aryan goddess," claiming that she secretly espouses far-right beliefs and is waiting for Donald Trump's ascension to the presidency to make her true views known.

For the record, Swift has no affiliation with any white supremacist groups. She has never publicly made any white supremacist remarks, nor has she ever been accused of making them in private. There is no reason to believe she has any interest whatsoever in any of this.

So where did it come from? Vice's women-centered website, Broadly, did a deep dive into the history of the Swift-neo-Nazi fantasy and its satirical roots; it's worth a read if you're interested. It quotes Andre Anglin, who is behind the Daily Stormer website, lauding Swift's "sculpted Aryan form," as well as the community manager of the Taylor Swift for Fascist Europe Facebook page, who praised Swift's "Nordic blood" and the fact that she's not "having gang-bangs with colored gentlemen" as reasons for her adoration.

In other words, it seems, the criteria for Aryan goddesses boil down to this: Swift is white, she looks white, and she hangs out with mostly white people.

Goats and Soda

Taylor Swift Is Dreaming Of A Very White Africa

Swift's whiteness has been scrutinized before. BuzzFeed made a quiz about the all-white "boyfriends" in her music videos. In 2014, Jezebel wrote an article urging Swift to befriend a black person — two weeks later, it celebrated the fact that she had seemingly added two to her roster (Beyonce and Jay Z). In September, our friends at Goats and Soda yikes'd at her "Wildest Dreams" music video, which is set somewhere in Africa but contains roughly zero black people.

Again, to state the obvious: None of this means, or even remotely suggests, that Taylor Swift is into white supremacy.

To state what might be slightly less obvious: None of this is even slightly remarkable.

Most white people in the United States spend most of their time with other white people. A 2014 study from the Public Religion Research Institute showed that for every 91 white friends a white person has, he or she has one black, one Latino, and one Asian friend. Neighborhoods across the country are, and stay, segregated. In 2016, public schools in the United States are still being

That is to say, it's entirely possible as a white person in this country to not interact with people of color in any meaningful way, ever. And not just possible. Fairly likely. Pointing out that a white person chills with other white people isn't pointing out some extraordinary trait or behavior. (Nor is it a terribly compelling condemnation or rebuke.)

Code Switch

In Chicago, Neighborhoods That Are More Black Don't Gentrify

As we've seen time after time, individuals can have the most progressive views possible about race and still live in a world that is veritably drenched in segregation. The fact that Taylor Swift operates, at least publicly, in predominantly white spaces doesn't really suggest anything notable about her politics.

It does, of course, suggest something notable about ours as a country. But that is a conversation for another time.

Taylor Swift gets accused of promoting witchcraft and satanic rituals on her Eras tour

Yep, you read that correctly. We're not making this up.

The bizarre movement has cherry-picked a bit of theatrical stagecraft from Swift's Eras tour and are ranting about it on social media.

They seem to think the 33-year-old pop star is actually trying to promote naughty stuff through her actions on stage

One person took to Twitter to slam Swift and her witchy ways.

They wrote: "Never liked Taylor Swift, but now I definitely have a reason to. [I] just saw a video of her witchcraft/ritual performance on someone's Insta story. Nope! Get that evil out of here," before adding: “Believers should not listen to this."

But before it gets better, it gets worse. There was one more bizarre rant that is doing the rounds.

In a now-viral clip on TikTok, one Christian woman takes Swift's stage performance a little too seriously.

"This is Taylor Swift's song 'Willow' where she is a witch during rituals," the woman said.

"The first video you saw was taken by a fan the other night at the concert and he says, 'yes, summon the demons b***h!' The worst part is that [Swift] commented twice [on the video]. [Swift] said: 'This is the new 'one, two, three, let’s go b***h'," the woman explained.

"So what she’s saying is 'summon the demons' is the new crowd chant that they all say when she does his witchcraft ritual.

The person added: "Then she commented laughing emojis."

Credit: MediaPunch Inc / Alamy Stock Photo

Riiiight. Anyway, it somehow gets even more bonkers.

The rant continues with a bit on how people 'keep saying stop shoving in Christianity down our throats' when huge artists are 'shoving witchcraft and rituals, crystals, astrology and all that down our throats'.

She then went way off the deep end, giving her explanation as to why people seem to hate Christianity so much.

"It’s because the demons get angry every time you mention God. Every time you mention Jesus they start foaming at the mouth. They start screaming and they start manifesting demons,” she said.

The woman then added: The demons don’t want to hear about Jesus. That’s the only name they’re afraid of. That’s the only name they have to answer to.That’s the only name that sends them to hell."

Goodness gracious, talk about taking it too far.

Admittedly, however, Swift has previously said her song ‘Willow’ 'sounds like casting a spell to make someone fall in love with you'.

She then riffed off that notion, putting out several several witch remixes of 'Willow'.

Also, in her song 'Mad Woman' from 2020's Folklore, Swift sings: "Women like hunting witches too. Doing your dirtiest work for you."

She also referenced witch hunts on her 2017 album Reputation.

"They’re burning all the witches, even if you aren’t one," she sings in the song 'I Did Something Bad'.

What these Conservative Christians seem to have missed is the more modern meaning of 'witch'.

The word is now used as a symbol of feminism and for strong and unapologetic women, as per Psychsex.

It has also become synonymous with the Cottagecore aesthetic, which you'll find all over Etsy and Pinterest.

It's also the 'era' from which Swift's twin 2020 albums Evermore and Folklore draws inspiration from.

So, yeah, perhaps someone needs to show these religious folk another one of her songs, entitled ‘You Need To Calm Down’.

Blessings are often associated with religious or spiritual practices, where individuals seek divine favor or guidance. They are believed to have the power to promote happiness, health, and success in one's life. Blessings can be given as a form of prayer, ritual, or even a simple verbal expression of good wishes.

Curses and blessings can have a significant impact on individuals and communities. Curses can instill fear, anxiety, and a sense of impending doom in the cursed person. They may experience a series of unfortunate events or setbacks, which can further reinforce their belief in the curse. Curses can also create tension and conflict between individuals or groups, leading to animosity and even violence. On the other hand, blessings can offer comfort, hope, and motivation to individuals during difficult times. They can promote a sense of positivity and gratitude, instilling confidence and optimism in the blessed person. Blessings can also strengthen relationships, fostering a sense of community and support among individuals who share the same blessings. It is important to note that the belief in curses and blessings is subjective and varies among different cultures and individuals. Some may consider curses and blessings to be nothing more than superstitions or placebo effects, while others strongly believe in their existence and impact. In conclusion, curses and blessings are two opposing forces that have been present in human society for centuries. While curses are believed to bring harm and misfortune, blessings are seen as bringing good fortune and protection. Whether one believes in their power or not, it is undeniable that curses and blessings can influence the mindset and actions of individuals and communities..

Reviews for "Curses and Blessings: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe"

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The Power of Words: How Curses and Blessings Affect our Lives