“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.” — Pema Chödrön
We live in a world consumed by AI, combing through every corner of the internet, and every line on our faces. It is theft. AI does not imagine a future, it does not create for tomorrow, it scrapes from the past and regurgitates a facsimile. It’s taking from us, to make money for others, and using the typical capital lures of productivity and cost savings for some, and influence and fame for others, while promising a reshape of your contours, while stealing your image forever for its use.
If you can’t tell, I disagree with it.
My YouTube channel has been reduced, and I no longer add to it.
My public social media posts are limited, and I keep to private groups on META, which has now begun to use AI –without consent in a rollout– to edit, manage, and monitor groups.
AI seems inescapable, and maybe it is.
I agree that we should know it, because any good Witch worth their salt, gets to know their poisons and banes, but I also think we should not become dependent on it, and so should not feed it anymore than we can. Starve a thing and it dies. Let it die in it’s current unregulated, iteration.
I still create so I had to ask myself, where do I do that?
I’ve been a Patreon creator since 2019-2020 somewhere in there I stared to write. I put things behind a subscription wall, so it’s not readily available. In hindsight, it was a smart move. My work is protected, to a degree.
I don’t know how long that will last, but while it does the integrity of my process lives there. I have free and paid subscriptions, it only requires one to break the chain from endless scrolling on social media, and dedicate time to a creative, magickal-spiritual process, and reading.
Here is a list of some free things on the Patreon that I have oftentimes put weeks into the making:
- “Putting life on hold” – On Life, Letting Go, and Approaching It All (Video) Where I talk about Death, Commitment, and Living
- My Monthly Dark Moon Forecast: Embracing Taurus Energy – About the Body, being present, and other tarot related things.
- Blog: The work, and the popularity of shadow work – On the popularity of Shadow Work, and the real work involved with it. This is a description, not a prescription.
- Blog + Weekly message: Tell a good story (free) – To Tell a Good Story references Sherman Alexi’s film adaptation, Smoke Signals, and I talk about the stories we tell.
- Related Links: Things to consider if you want more to chew on… -I really dig into some scholarly perspective and expert advise on how corrosive AI is to the human, and to society.
I also do weekly readings, now monthly with weekly breakdowns, share original art and it’s process, post writing I’m currently writing a manual for my ministry in the Temple of Witchcraft (this is not shared on the page, it is a private organizational work) and a book on successful spellcasting. I even offer deep discounts on my readings, if you subscribe at any level.
Somewhere in this process of the ever evolving internet there may come a time when I have to abandon platforms, and other spaces. I’ve done this in the past but it’s a hard fight to pull people away from the addictive qualities of social media, no matter how hard they complain about it, and getting anyone to come over to a new space, invest in actually doing the work again, rather than scrolling is often a loosing battle.
I’m an optimist, but I’m also a realist, I see what is happening, and I’m doing my best, but I’m not here to hard sell, or influence, I want to provide opportunities to break cycles, realize patterns, embrace the fluid nature of life, and share my joy of magick and art. It cannot be forced, I can only bloom, and wait for the right appreciators.
I thank you for your recognition.
The card pictured in this post is from the Myth Oracle, by Daniel Martin Diaz, it speaks to letting go. It asks us to look at where we push, how we cling, and where we surrender. How stagnation can lead to entropy, and sometimes our greatest strength is letting go.
I ask, “What part of all of this technology do we cling, and why? What promise do we think will be fulfilled that cannot be with real human connection? How do we surrender our devices, and find rootedness in the world?
Scott K Smith
Patreon.com/ScottKSmith
TheTempleWell.com
Scott K Smith 
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