Shove: the internet’s response to a Big Name Pagan

Image supplied by Australia’s Bestest and Supreme Celebrity Psychic Lady McTizabeth Pose.

“As soon as the page was created, we received dozens and dozens of emails from former clients. They offered words of support and encouragement, and sent us evidence and accounts of her dodgy practices throughout the years.”

This came from the anonymous creators of a parody page on Facebook, currently titled Australia’s Bestest and Supreme Celebrity Psychic Lady McTizabeth Pose, when I interviewed them in December.*

This may sound baffling and incomprehensible to Australian Pagans who haven’t already stumbled across this page, or to our Pagan friends overseas. Allow me to fill you in:

In December 2013, the page was created as a satirical look at Melbourne-based BNP Lizzy Rose (aka Elizabeth Collins, aka Lady Elizabeth Rose) who calls herself Australia’s Celebrity Psychic. Lizzy is for the most part unknown outside Australia. Her questionable practices were first drawn to the attention of international pagans in 2010, when she and infamous cop-dragging “witch” Eilish D’Avalon were quite accurately described in this piece from The Wild Hunt as undoing much of the good work that had been done in the Australian Pagan Community.

The McTizabeth Pose (or Tizzy Pose for short) page was created after Lizzy wrote a particularly nasty public tirade against Stacey Demarco, a Sydney-based BNP. Reading through the post, one can’t help but think that perhaps Lizzy had her nose out of joint at not being picked to be one of the faces of witchcraft on The Project‘s story on witchcraft in Australia.

Images supplied by Australia’s Bestest and Supreme Celebrity Psychic Lady McTizabeth Pose.

I have already made my feelings known about those who profit from the craft, and particularly those who prey on the vulnerable. It will come as little surprise to any regular reader of this blog that I found the parody Tizzy Pose, a self-proclaimed “Pogan Psychic”, hilarious. As do many others: the page was an instant hit, and is still growing in likes. Poor old Tizzy has kept Australian Pagans (and maybe Pogans, too!) entertained with fanciful stories of her experiences in the Pogan community, and insights into the life of Australia’s Bestest Celebrity Psychic.

Images supplied by Australia’s Bestest and Supreme Celebrity Psychic Lady McTizabeth Pose.

But surely this is a bit much of a length to go to, all because a BNP publicly slammed another for nothing more than being on the telly?
“It was a bit like the final straw,” the creator/s said. “Lizzy has caused trouble and ripped off too many people over the years. Some of her more famous actions have hugely divided and deteriorated the Victorian Pagan community. She has pushed and pushed away at it all for too long now. Now it’s come to shove.”

These “famous actions”, according to the page’s creator/s, include performing a “cleansing” ritual on the Burnley Tunnel after the tragic crash and fire that took place there in 2007, multiple threats of legal action and a now infamous court case, selling her own brand of Wicca (of which she is a 17th degree) to children as young as thirteen, hassling grieving families and charging top dollar for every remotely “magic” service that she has to offer. The Stacey Demarco sledge, it seems, was just the cherry on top of a fairly questionable torte.

Lizzy’s “tribute” to Heath Ledger, posted shortly after his death. Found here.

And so it would appear that just as annoyed commuters or consumers of Australia Day merchandise can take to social media when they are unhappy with a product or service, so too can dissatisfied “customers” of those who insist on selling the craft. Reading through some of the accounts of dodgy undertakings posted by others on the Lady McTizabeth Pose wall and elsewhere, the lesson appears to be this: when you reduce spirituality to nothing more than a product for mass consumption, you’d better be prepared for the inevitable customer feedback.

Naturally, the page has come under attack from Lizzy’s supporters, and apparently the threats came thick and fast for a while:

Images supplied by Australia’s Bestest and Supreme Celebrity Psychic Lady McTizabeth Pose.

And after these threats dried up, Lizzy herself got involved, first sending nasty messages to anyone who “liked” the page, threatening them with legal action unless they “unliked” it. Then more legal threats were sent to many, many Pagans (including the owner of this blog – oh dear), accusing each one of being the creator of the Tizzy Pose page and demanding they delete it immediately. Given the sheer scope and volume of these threats, it seems Lizzy was trying to cast her net wide to snag anyone she suspected of being the culprit: not a bad idea, but one that cost her even more followers and never actually reached the creator/s of the page until it was passed on to them by amused onlookers.

Up until this point, it could be argued that the events taking place were standard fare in any online flame-war. But what happened next was unanticipated and unprecedented.

A number of letters were circulated on social media and via email. These, it seemed, were emails that had been leaked by someone close to Lizzy. The most prominent of these was a very long and detailed apology letter, in which Lizzy offered a heartfelt apology for a number of very specific wrongdoings. The apology letter named names, and more importantly claimed that Lizzy was suffering from mental illness and would be halting all her “services” while she concentrated on healing and on beginning to make amends with some of those she had wronged.

“That letter really knocked us for six,” the creator/s said. “We were actually ready to pull the page the day we read that, but luckily we decided to sit on it for twenty-four hours and check that she (Lizzy) would make good on what she said.” But in less than twenty-four hours, Lizzy had denied the emails had come from her in a lengthy Facebook post, claiming that her email account had been hacked and accusing the creator/s of Tizzy Pose.

“Naturally, we got the blame. But if those letters weren’t written by Lizzy herself, then they had us fooled, too.” The creator/s admitted. “It was a real pity… We really hoped it was true, that she was taking a step in the right direction morally. Apparently heaps of people got on board and offered her their support before it was labelled a fake, and then were really disappointed. Surely it would’ve been a better career move to own up to it!”

But the writing style and the specific facts in the apology letter have caused some speculation throughout the community. Why, some ask, would someone seek to damage a person’s reputation by writing a heartfelt and sincere apology letter? The jury is still out on this one, and meanwhile the online Pagan community warms some popcorn and watches with interest…

* I “interviewed” the creator/s of the Tizzy Pose page via private messages on Facebook. During this interview they remained anonymous – we still don’t know who they are!

Author’s note: before publishing this piece, I contacted Lizzy Rose and offered her a chance to comment on these recent events. I will post her lengthy response in the comments section. – Galloway.