ETHICS

What you read here doesn't exhaust the topic of Wiccan ethics. This is only a brief introduction to the basic principles and a few aspects of the moral principles by which Wicca generally and Adventure Wicca specifically is guided.

The way we live and the magic we do are governed by Wicca's moral laws. We used to hear it suggested that because we don't believe in hell, and we do believe in reincarnation, we -- neo-Pagans generally and Wiccans in particular -- don't have morals and can't be ethical people. Well, golly! People who behave decently only because they're afraid of dire punishments if they don't have our sympathy, for sure. Maybe they believe in hell because it is hell to live in such fear!

An ye harm none, do as ye will, says the Wiccan Rede. Each of us has to consider what "harm" means, and there is more to it than the penal code's definition; each of us has to work out what "none" and "will" mean, too; more on that later.

The energy we put into the Worlds comes back to us "three-fold," which is to say, amplified and on many levels. This principle is called the Three-fold Law; more on that later, too.

We believe in reincarnation. There's no real agreement about how it works, and we think it's likely to work in more than one way. Wiccans are pretty much in agreement that we should leave our "karma" cleaner than we found it, though.

Life, the universe, and everything is interconnected and complementary, not confrontational. Therefore, we look for cooperative solutions to our problems rather than laying blame or seeking revenge. Respect for others and responsibility for what we ourselves do is paramount, and critical.

But of course, it's not that simple. Nothing is; it's all complex, and we do well to appreciate that. If things weren't complex, we wouldn't be here, because we, we Terran life-forms, are complex. We're all related on our Mother's side, too. Mutual respect and sensitivity, and power with rather than power over each other and our environment are what have brought us this far, and what will take us further on our journey.

The Wiccan Rede

An ye harm none. do as ye will. There are three key words here: harm, none, and will. What they mean, and the practical application of the Rede in our lives, is something every Wiccan is responsible for understanding. Ours is a religion of personal responsibility, so though we need to listen to each other, agreement with somebody else's interpretations doesn't excuse us from thinking it all through for ourselves.

What is will? Our mundane use of the word suggests that it's what we want to do, or need to do. In the magical and religious senses, though, what we mean by "will" is one's innermost calling, the essential work of one's life. Teaching, healing, art ... will manifests in as many ways as it can, as many ways as it has to. Does everybody know their own will? Sadly, no. Some do know, at least generally, but many are clueless, or mistake a talent for a calling. It can take a lifetime to discover one's will, or more than one lifetime.

This does not mean that people who don't know what their soul's job is don't have to follow any rules. No, it's just like starting college without being sure what you want to be when you grow up. You take a basic curriculum that leaves you well prepared to specialize in any field. Whether you know your true calling or not, you are Of the Mother; we believe it's part of all true wills to honor Her and the Horned God.

What constitutes "harm" to another person? Some harms are obvious, and they're fairly well covered in the penal code. For the trickier calls, we like to ask whether what we're doing leaves anybody else without a choice. After all, the Rede is about how to make choices, and thus presumes that we -- all of us -- have choices. Of course, we have to remember that choices are pretty subjective, and not seeing a choice is a lot like not having one. On the other hand, not liking the available choices is quite different from not having any.

Who constitutes the "none" we're supposed to harm? Is it just people you know? Just people? What about bugs, and dogs, and rain forests, and oceans? We accept the Gaia Theory. The more we know about the planet and its physical systems, the more we feel compelled to recognize the planet-and-its-systems as a living being. Everything's interconnected -- as far away and long ago as we're aware of the universe, there are interconnections -- and Wicca calls that interconnection holy. We believe the "none" we're supposed to harm is all of it.

However, we also accept that "life feeds on life," and that life is part of a cycle that includes death and rebirth. Within the natural scheme of things, we all fill different niches - have different relationships with Mother Earth. Thus, it's "okay" to kill the mosquito that has just invaded your skin; but it's not okay to wipe out all mosquitos. It may be fine to take three or four trees from a stand, but not to take the whole stand. The thing is that to make informed choices, choices that accomplish our own goals without leaving anybody else with no options, well, we have to inform ourselves. Ignorance sets us up to make all kinds of mistakes, harmful even though unintended.

And yet, no one of us can know Everything. What are we to do? The Jains wear masks so they won't accidentally ingest little airborn lives; and we all know someone who professes a neo-Pagan faith but is so worried about making a mistake that s/he never does anything at all -- no Circles, no magic. What are we to do, indeed?

Indeed, we are to do the best we can. We are to make sure that whatever it is we do in the world, we do it honorably, as a God/dess-man or -woman. Adventure's guiding concepts are a brave heart, a hospitable camp (home, heart, mind), and the urge -- no, the calling -- to see what's beyond the next bend. We be as careful as we can, we think about what we learn and see how it might transform our lives, and we be honest enough with ourselves to be honest with our companions.

The Threefold Law

Three is a magcial number, and not a number to take literally, at least not just literally. A lot of people take the Threefold Law to mean that if you spill coffee on somebody, three people will spill something on you (or maybe one person will spill the super--jumbo coffee three times bigger than the one you spilled). Very occasionally, it happens like that, but really, life's not that one-dimensional. The Three-fold Law is not Newtonian, it's quantum.

Maybe the three folds are the realms of Earth, Land, and Sky. Maybe what we do comes back to us on this dimension, the psycho-emotional dimension, and the spiritual dimension. Maybe the triad is past, present, and future. We think it's likely to be all of the above. We also think trying to pin down "three" misses the point.

The point is not that what we do will rebound punishingly. The point is that what we do matters, and it matters in every aspect of our lives. It matters to other people. Everything we do changes the world -- the same one that other people live in -- a little bit (sometimes a lot).

The energy we send out, which eventually comes back to us, amplified, doesn't just bounce off the wall of the universe and straight back through our living room windows, though. No, what we send out affects people and what they do in the world, and when it comes back to us, it can enrich our lives. The effect can be bold or quite subtle; it can be immediate or take decades; sometimes we don't even recognize far-removed consequences.

We are powerful, what we do affects the Worlds, and we rejoice in this. Our Goddess loves us unconditionally; we're not threatened with banishment for any error. The Three-fold Law is not a threat, it's a promise!

Rules of Thumb

We teach that it's improper to do magic on, for, to about, or at anyone else without that person's permission. There are several reasons for this proscription. One is that if you don't know someone well enough to talk to them about doing magic for them, you don't know them well enough to do unasked for magic for. Just like it's one thing when your Christian friends ask if you'd like them to include you in their prayers, and quite another thing when somebody starts praying over you without telling you about it.

Another reason not to do magic without permission is that you might not know as much as you think you do. Poor old Auntie is dying and you want to send healing energy. Do you know whether there's a chance of recovery? or will your healing energy be interfering with the process of her death? Maybe she'd rather have comfort energy; if you don't ask, you won't know, and you could make things worse.

In short, it's rude and it's an interference with somebody else's free will. And of course, there are exceptions. Mothers pretty much claim the right to do healing and protection magic over their children forever. However, even Mommy-rights are limited: anything other than healing and protection, with a kid who's started school, and we think you need to find a way to ask. Husbands and wives? Sometimes; but to be righteous, there should be an actual conversation about it. Some friends or working partners have agreements about what magic the one can do for the other, under what circumstances. But for the most part, the rule is a good one, and the rule is, ask first.

What about love spells and curses?

Generally speaking, we don't do 'em. Love spells, no matter how well intended, are manipulative. It's not okay to cast a spell on somebody to "make them love you," but it is okay to cast a spell to make yourself visible to Ms. or Mr. Right. Curses? Well, they're manipulative too. We tend to be skeptical that people inclined to cast them have the energy to do so, but apart from that .... If you take the mean, nasty, ugly, vengeful attitude you have to take to be cursing people, then you're only going to attract mean, nasty, ugly energy back into your own life. It's dangerous, it's wrong -- and the way we look at it, when you're spending your time and energy cursing someone else, you're giving away your power to that person. They, not you, have control in your life -- so it's not only dangerous, not only, wrong, it's, well, pretty witless as well.

When we talk about love spells and curses as manipulative, somebody always points out that any magic is manipulative. Is it? Adventure teaches that it comes back to whether you're leaving people without any choices or not. If you do magic for a better job, or the perfect mate, or a car that actually runs, or something else, you're doing several things. You're acknowledging and stating a need, and you're visualizing a desired outcome. You're trusting that there are more ways of meeting that need, achieving that outcome, than you can think of off-hand, or manage on your own.

Even if your spell makes your resume glow, and gets the personnel director's attention, it's not blinding the p.d. to the other resumes, or compelling the p.d. to hire you even if you're not qualified. The personnel director has lots of resumes to choose from, even if yours stands out. Attracting someone's attention is (in most situations) perfectly alright. You are, of course, attracting your own attention, too: you're clarifying your needs and desires in your own mind, and focusing more carefully on opportunities to meet and achieve them. So properly done, most magic is not manipulative in the prohibited sense.