Ethical Conciderations

Think about this....ethics are usually the last thing people consider when they look at Wicca, and they should be the first.

So why are ethics important? Well...ethics are our guidelines to interacting with other people. Having morality means we don't suddenly revert to tossing dookie at one another like our ancestors (well, most of the time, anyway). Within a religion like Wicca that also espouses the concept of magick and energywork, ethics also apply to that as well. It is not only a guideline for mundane life, but for interacting with the mystic world as well. Magick is a potent force in the world, and when used indiscriminatly it can have disastrous results.

New Wiccans have a duty to themselves and everyone to learn as much as they possibly can. It's not enough to know how to do something, or when - you have to know why you're doing something. Only then should you really take action. It's not enough to be knowledgable - you also have to be purposeful. Ethics and morality help us understand that purpose.

Wicca isn't a "do whatever you want" sort of religion, despite persistent rumour that it is. Wicca has a very strong, simple ethic - "An' it harm none, do as ye will." This means all kinds of harm - mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. You might think it's easy to live by, but it's really not. You can cause harm when you walk on the grass and accidentally kill insects. When you heal someone, you are causing harm by destroying illness, that which we consider "negative".

It's easy to go to extremes - some people use the Rede to justify all sorts of behavior, and yet others go to the opposite and end up afraid to do anything. The key to living by the Rede, if you're going to, is using it as a guideline, and not a law. This means stopping to consider all the potential effects of your actions. This means not deliberately causing any harm to something else in any way.

Obviously, if you don't want to live with the concept of "Harm None", Wicca isn't for you. I once spoke with a young woman on IRC.. She was asking for things like immortality, the ability to fly, and to be able to harm people. Yet she still called herself a Wiccan. When I told her to be laminated or stuffed when she died, buy a plane ticket, and that harming people with "power" was wrong, she sighed and said I sounded just like her ex-teacher! I think this is a good example of a person who really wanted to just learn magick, and had assumed that's all that Wicca was.

Another of the big ethics of Wicca is the Law of Three, also known as the Law of Return. This is more of a magickal law that Wiccan witches seem to adhere to, but it applies to life fairly well too. It states "Whatever you do shall return to you three times.". The number sometimes changes, and sometimes there's no number at all, but it's all pretty much the same idea - you get what you give. If you cast a spell, expect to have the energy you send out return to you in some way. It applies very well to life, too. If you do nice things for people, generally they'll do nice things for you. I'm hoping you're not doing rotten things to people, but if you are that also comes back to slap you in the face.

Some people like to tie karma into this concept of return, but I wasn't ever big on trying to meld the eastern concept of karma to my western spirituality. I think Wicca sort of gives it the "Karma Lite" treatment, making it nothing like the original concept, so I wouldn't really call it true "karma". It's more like "Karma Lite meets the Law of Three". Sounds like a bad horror film...

What I have here is called the 13 Goals of a Witch, originally published by Scott Cunningham. These aren't hard and fast rules, but I think they're something that should be here along with any discussion of ethics. These are just guidelines to living a Wiccan lifestyle, and can help bring you into balance with Wicca when you're starting out.

• 1. Know yourself.
• 2. Know your Craft.
• 3. Learn.
• 4. Apply knowledge with wisdom.
• 5. Achieve balance.
• 6. Keep your words in good order.
• 7. Keep your thoughts in good order.
• 8. Celebrate life.
• 9. Attune with the cycles of the Earth.
• 10. Breathe and eat correctly.
• 11. Exercise the body.
• 12. Meditate.
• 13. Honour the Goddess and the God.

Now this I've just included as food for thought. I mentioned above that there are a lot of rumours and misconceptions about Wicca going around out there - that we do whatever we want, we have no morality, that we don't actually have any beliefs of our own that aren't stolen from other religions, etc. These are the Principals of Wiccan Belief as set down by the Council of American Witches in 1974. I don't agree with all of them, and you may not either, but they're here just for information purposes.

1) We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal Quarters and Cross Quarters.

2) We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment. We seek to live in harmony with Nature, in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.

3) We acknowledge a depth of power far greater that that apparent to the average person. Because it it far greater than ordinary it is sometimes called "supernatural", but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.

4) We conceive of the Creative Power in the universe as manifesting through polarity--as masculine and feminine--and that this same Creative Power lies in all people, and functions through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive of the other. We value sex as pleasure, as the symbol and embodiment of life, and as one of the sources of energies used in magickal practice and religious worship.

5) We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological, worlds sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconscious, Inner Planes, etc.--and we see in the inter-action of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magickal exercises. We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.

6) We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.

7) We see religion, magick and wisdom in living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it--a world view and philosophy of life which we identify as Witchcraft--the Wiccan Way.

8) Calling oneself "Witch" does not make a Witch--but neither does heredity itself, nor the collecting of titles, degrees and initiations. A Witch seeks to control the forces within him/herself that make life possible in order to live wisely and well without harm to others and in harmony with Nature.

9) We believe in the affirmation and fulfillment of life in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness giving meaning to the Universe we know and our personal role within it.

10) Our only animosity towards Christianity, or towards any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be 'the only way' and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief.

11) As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the Craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions. We are concerned with our present and future.

12) We do not accept the concept of absolute evil, nor do we worship any entity known as 'Satan' or 'the Devil' as defined by the Christian tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor accept that personal benefit can be derived only by denial to another.

13) We believe that we should seek within Nature that which is contributory to our health and well-being.

This concludes my little informal essay on Wiccan ethics. Hopefully it's something you will consider as you start your journey on your path.