It can arouse jealousy and then the rumors start flying. In the above case, a couple of people started rumors about how terrible of a high priestess I was. They also said I didn t have any power, couldn t do effective magick, etc. But then, the same people started rumors that I was causing all sorts of bad stuff to happen. I thought this was pretty amazing.
People can be irrational and personally vindictive.
There really isn t much you can do except to continue to be the person that you are. The detractors eventually run out of steam and hopefully, an audience. Usually they are into some sort of power trip and if they don t get their satisfaction from you, they will turn their attentions elsewhere. Unfortunately there really are some bad groups out there. But what I am trying to say is that gossip won't always tell you the truth.