Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2002-05-27 04:29 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2002-05-27 04:29 pm
They're *Jedi*!
You know me, always getting into the middle of things. Recently, became an advising chickfriend on a situation:
Gifted kids with no training hitting puberty. Dad is a real Darth Tyrannosaurus Rex when it comes to things that are not Laid Out Explicitly in his religion of choice (you make a joke about witches or ghosts or the supernatural in any way around his kids, and he goes ballistic), even though he is a nice guy otherwise, and fen. Auntie is witchy, and feels the responsibility to make sure the kids get trained in use of the gift, rather than having the gift use them.
Also of concern are ethics; the kids have evidently mastered the Mind Whammy.
If poltergeist activity starts up, Auntie knows that Darth T. Rex's first reaction is going to be something along the lines of "Demons!"
From a theistic viewpoint, my take on it is thus: "These powers were given to you by Deity. It would be a denial of your great gifts to refuse to acknowledge them. It would be a misuse of your gifts, since you were given them by Deity, or at least with the consent of Deity, to use them in a manner that goes against the Will of Deity. Therefore, before using your gifts, ask yourself, 'Am I doing the right thing?' It's a big responsibility, but I know you can do the right thing, and so does Deity, otherwise you never would have received these gifts."
The matter remains, how shall Auntie react should the situation require her intervention, or how can she stack the cards so that the situation will not require direct action? Some of the Diane Duane ethics manuals might be brought in by trumpeting the glories of Spock's World, and delighting in the fact that she's got some kids' books too (the Spiderman novelizations could work wonders on that front as well) ... but where better to look for training for a young Jedi than in some of the Star Wars books? Certainly there has to be, somewhere, a discussion of ethics as applies to those who can Use the Force... and Darth T. Rex is an avid Star Wars fan...
Gifted kids with no training hitting puberty. Dad is a real Darth Tyrannosaurus Rex when it comes to things that are not Laid Out Explicitly in his religion of choice (you make a joke about witches or ghosts or the supernatural in any way around his kids, and he goes ballistic), even though he is a nice guy otherwise, and fen. Auntie is witchy, and feels the responsibility to make sure the kids get trained in use of the gift, rather than having the gift use them.
Also of concern are ethics; the kids have evidently mastered the Mind Whammy.
If poltergeist activity starts up, Auntie knows that Darth T. Rex's first reaction is going to be something along the lines of "Demons!"
From a theistic viewpoint, my take on it is thus: "These powers were given to you by Deity. It would be a denial of your great gifts to refuse to acknowledge them. It would be a misuse of your gifts, since you were given them by Deity, or at least with the consent of Deity, to use them in a manner that goes against the Will of Deity. Therefore, before using your gifts, ask yourself, 'Am I doing the right thing?' It's a big responsibility, but I know you can do the right thing, and so does Deity, otherwise you never would have received these gifts."
The matter remains, how shall Auntie react should the situation require her intervention, or how can she stack the cards so that the situation will not require direct action? Some of the Diane Duane ethics manuals might be brought in by trumpeting the glories of Spock's World, and delighting in the fact that she's got some kids' books too (the Spiderman novelizations could work wonders on that front as well) ... but where better to look for training for a young Jedi than in some of the Star Wars books? Certainly there has to be, somewhere, a discussion of ethics as applies to those who can Use the Force... and Darth T. Rex is an avid Star Wars fan...
no subject
I rather agree with you on the "If your deity made you, then any powers you have are gifts from it and should be used accordingly, like vision or musical talent." concept. If you want a way of phrasing it that would resonate well with him, try to get ahold of a religious scholar of his stripe.
I don't know what exactly the Mind Whammy is. Can it be covered by basic kidraising? ("I know Grandmother gives you more cookies if you start crying in her kitchen, but you're basically lying to her by crying when you're not hurt or sad. If you want more cookies, you could ask her politely and offer to help bake them.")
Mind Whammy
"These are not the droids you're looking for", in other words.
"Mommy, I can have a cookie."
"You can have a cookie."
"Now I'll go and play video games."
"Go and play video games, dear..."
It is covered by strength of will on the part of the parents, and decreased suggestibility. Darth T. Rex and wife were doing better when Auntie last checked on things.
Trouble with psychic waxed paper is, it tends to be one of the first things shredded at adolescence. Guess what time it's turning into.
My own preferred method for dealing with a sudden outburst of poltergeist activity would to perform an immediate and showy exorcism ("Nothing that is not approved by the Divine can remain within here") and then privately tell the kid that you know *damn* well what's been going on, and this had *better* stop any more outbursts, and if you need help getting this under control, come see me privately, insert speech about Gifts.
Just given the version of the text he uses, I can come up with some beautiful rephrasings of it. That was approximately the most neutral I can make it. Given that I've got a very strong base in the Hebrew mysticisms, and it's the same system for Christianity, I can activate that part of me stronly enough to overswamp the more day-to-day Wiccan bits. (Curiously, that's what it seems to be: my deep-down serious mystical bits are heavy on the Kabbala; the day-to-day practical bits are far more Wiccan. They go well together.)
no subject