"Blessed Be?"

[Sivirs]

JulieDoc

What's so wrong with the salutation "Blessed Be"? Is it supposed to be strictly a Wiccan phrase, and other religions within paganism can't use it? I've seen some people immediately rankle at it when it is used. What's so awful about it?

I think it's not so much the phrase itself as that it seems to've become some kind of universal "Look at me, I'm a Pagan!" sort of thing, and is mostly abused by the fluff bunny crowd along with "Merry Meet" or the abbreviation of it "MM" to open and end any and all communication. Some people use it appropriately, and nobody pays much attention to it, but what people do get rankled about is someone who seems to be throwing the terms around as a way of getting validation or attention, or - as mentioned above - with no regard to their meaning, like signing Blessed Be on the end of a flaming personal attack-type post.

Mostly it's a misappropriation thing, it seems like to me. People kind of appropriated it as a universal hello/goodbye for all of Neo-Pagandom and now it's used without regard for the words it means. I know some indian folks whose reactions range from infuriated to point-and-laugh amused when the same new agey people use "Namaste," especially if it's at the end of their communication rather than the beginning.  

[scorplett]

the saying of "Blessed Be" in my tradition is nothing to do with the bestowing of a blessing but rather of recognizing the blessedness within a person or the divine in a person directley or immenantly. I suppose you could stretch a parallel it to the napali or hindi way of namaste.
It is not usually said to those outside of the circle as it can infer that someone is a priest or priestess and contain and recognize specific divinity within them.
It is not said at the end of spells, rites or rituals but is said to a person or any recognition of the direct presence of deity.
The presence or essane of the Goddess is often considered to most often reside in the blood, most specifically menstrual blood and is represented as such in ceremony so the 'sprinkling with blood' is somewhat relevant I suppose but most defiantly ICK in the literal!  

[Operation Shoestring]

Minority groups often develop unique customs, even where none were present before, when they feel threatened by the mainstream culture. Such customs act as a reassuring assertion of cultural identity, and help build group solidarity.
[/sociology]  

[Hybrid Jewel]

I used to use "blessed be" to people I thought would understand it. It's true, some people don't want to be "randomly blessed". As for me, it didn't matter much whether it was a blessing, a disgiused curse, or what.

This discussion has made me think about the intention of words, but I'm not sure if someone tells me to "have a nice day" (not saying the two phrases are comparable, but I'm just using an example), I'm going to turn around and say. "No. I'll have any kind of a day I want. What the hell do you mean by 'have a nice day'? Do you really mean "f*ck off" with a smile? 'Nice', and what does 'nice' mean? 'Nice' to whom, for whom, 'nice' in comparison to what? "

Considering I found this out about "nice".

Quote:

I can't think of anything particularly wrong with "nice," apart from its near-terminal blandness. I can only assume that your teacher was thinking of what "nice" used to mean, which is a story in itself. "Nice," in fact, has had more different meanings than most English words, and this "nice" word we use to mean "pleasant or agreeable" was once not a very nice word at all.

Way back in the beginning, the Romans had a word for it -- "nescius," which in Latin means "not knowing" or, more bluntly, "ignorant." The French turned "nescius" into "nice," and used it to mean "stupid or simpleminded," and it was this sense that was first carried into English. But by the fourteenth century "nice" had acquired another meaning, that of "wanton or lascivious," so when Chaucer referred to a young woman as "nice," he meant nearly the opposite of what we would mean today.

In a remarkable reversal in the fifteenth century, "nice" swung in the other direction and was used to mean "shy" or "refined," and by the sixteenth century the word had been narrowed down to mean "fastidious or tasteful." We still use this sense in phrases such as "a nice touch" or "a nice distinction."

Our modern use of "nice" to mean "pleasant" dates only from the middle of the 18th century, and was remarkably controversial for many years. It was only in 1934, in fact, that lexicographers at Merriam-Webster stopped labelling this use as "colloquial" in their dictionaries. Which, I suppose, was nice of them.

It's clear that my "whatever, man" attitude isn't gonna fly with most people. But considering this dicussion, I don't think I'll ever use "Blessed Be" again.  

[Fiddlers Green]

TeaDidikai

I keep thinking, I really don't feel like being Blessed by deities who have a strong interest in war.

I mean can you find a way to get out those blood stains?

Scrub until your own blood washes it away.  

[TeaDidikai]

Fiddlers Green

TeaDidikai

I keep thinking, I really don't feel like being Blessed by deities who have a strong interest in war.

I mean can you find a way to get out those blood stains?

Scrub until your own blood washes it away.

No thanks. Not that kind of masochist.  

[Fiddlers Green]

TeaDidikai

Fiddlers Green

TeaDidikai

I keep thinking, I really don't feel like being Blessed by deities who have a strong interest in war.

I mean can you find a way to get out those blood stains?

Scrub until your own blood washes it away.

No thanks. Not that kind of masochist.

This isn't done for the catharsis of bleeding.
At least, no more than symbolically.
No, it merely supplants the stain with an new one... beyound that, flaying can also get rid of the stains... when the new skin grows in.
None of these are pleasant, but they do get the bloodstains out.
Besides, I like the fact that such extreme action must be taken to cleanse the signs of blood.
War... Battle... Conflict... these are serious matters, weighty matters... ones that, I consider, it is fitting would have difficult to cleanse ramifications. It may cause some people to pause and consider if they really should be doing what it is they are about to do.
Maybe.

What about Guardian deities?
Ones who, for the most part Shepard or protect their followers, even if it does entail war to keep them alive? Would a blessing related to a hand bloodied in your defense... and the stain therefrom be as bad?  

[TeaDidikai]

Fiddlers Green

What about Guardian deities?

Depends on who they are.

I am very careful when I cross paths with beings outside of my own culture.  

[Fiddlers Green]

TeaDidikai

Depends on who they are.

I am very careful when I cross paths with beings outside of my own culture.

Oh no, I mean your own.
If you do not have such entities, then it is moot...
But in theorey, nonetheless, how would you feel, would you still be reluctant?  

[TeaDidikai]

Fiddlers Green

TeaDidikai

Depends on who they are.

I am very careful when I cross paths with beings outside of my own culture.

Oh no, I mean your own.
If you do not have such entities, then it is moot...
But in theorey, nonetheless, how would you feel, would you still be reluctant?

Ah- I misunderstood.

Someone else asserting a blessing from those I work with?

It would depend on who did the asserting then.
It would also depend on who they asserted the blessing from.

For instance, I would be cautions of anyone who asserted a blessing for Bibi towards me. While within the cultural context, I have her blessing already- that doesn't mean I go looking for her to "rebless" me or my line. I honor her as tradition requires, nothing more and nothing less- thus someone proffering her blessing would give me cause to wonder if not worry.  

[Fiddlers Green]

Do you have any bloody handed, martially inclined divinities within your culture, Tea?  

[Ulfrikr inn Hrafn]

JulieDoc

What's so wrong with the salutation "Blessed Be"? Is it supposed to be strictly a Wiccan phrase, and other religions within paganism can't use it? I've seen some people immediately rankle at it when it is used. What's so awful about it?

I myself find it no more offensive than "God Bless you." I don't get angry and think people are trying to push their religion on me when they say that. Generally, when someone blesses me, I either shrug it off or thank them.

Do people hate it because some fluffies use it to mean "end of discussion"?

What's the deal?

Heilsan Allir,

For the most part, I consider the usage to be, in most cases, well meant. that said, it can indeed be a sign of fluffyness, although there's no guarantee of that. A great discertation may conclude with 'Blessed Be', just as much as a mindless diatribe. I think the intention of the user is far more important than the actual wording. However, that said, very few people actually understand the etymology of the term Bless which is derived from the Anglo Saxon Bletsian/Bledsia, which is derived from the term for blood, Blód, which many Heathens still use to describe their 'rituals', typically stated today as Blot. So, technically, to be blessed, is to be sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed animal (or on the odd occassion, human). So when that annoying Vegan Fluffy signes off with Blessed Be, you can respond with 'and may you too be sprinkled with holy blood', and when they go off at you like a frog in a sock, you can explain to them the origin of the term Blessed, which very much isn't the 'peace, love & mungbeans' origin that many think it has.

Ver thu heil  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

I witnessed a nice fluffy Blessed Be-ing at DragonCon this year. While in the midst of a discussion, one person mentioned that a character he was writing was, in his words, "Pagan, like me". Another member of the group immediately responded with "Ah, Blessed Be". It was painfully obvious at the outset that this person believed that Paganism is a unified religion; this feeling was compounded by the further fact that he identified me as "oh, not Pagan then" when I mentioned that I might be described as something of a theistic chaote. It was...saddening, to say the least. Had I not explained my particular deities before parting, I would have been tempted to offer him a blessing of my personal embodiment of the death drive.  

[TeaDidikai]

Fiddlers Green

Do you have any bloody handed, martially inclined divinities within your culture, Tea?

In order to answer, could you go a little further and tell me how you define "bloody handed" or do you want to use "martially inclined" as the qualifier for bloody handed?  

[Deoridhe]

JulieDoc

What's so wrong with the salutation "Blessed Be"? ... I myself find it no more offensive than "God Bless you."

I find "God Bless You" more offensive than "Blessed Be", personally. If I were to ask "which god?", I would most likely be treated as simple for even asking, and the god they are assuming the right of blessing for is not one predisposed to be kind to me.