I was going through the list of meet-ups (on Meetup.com) for Glasgow and eventually came upon a Satanists' meetup.
It held my interest because I have been here less than a year in Scotland, where the people are so much more sociable, community-minded, personable -- and talkative, boy are they talkative -- than the English, especially Londoners, and lo and behold, here is a group that stands for none of these things. And it's weirdly thrilling.
Don't get me wrong. I like that I can just talk to the odd stranger more easily than I could in London. I am timid enough that it -- subconsciously -- comes as a
major relief that people don't abuse me or ignore me when I reach out. My conversations don't last that long anyway!
But the 'payback' comes when the odd stranger starts talking to me ... and then finally
at me, about every last detail and worry and problem in their heads, while I nod and smile and try to 'put myself in their shoes'. Here this happens more often than you would think, and I don't think I'm used to this as yet. When
I am the one that doesn't want to engage, it's hard to say 'no'. Perhaps it was this permissive nature that allowed one member of the group to comment that he's "
self-less to a fault and [has been] especially susceptible to psychic vampires in the past".
And now I find myself wanting to read Anton LaVey's bio, if not his
book .
Whether I want to join the group (of individualists!) … probably not.
