How to Become a Witch (20 page)

The “Drawing Down the Moon” position

You might want to experiment with all the things we’ve discussed here, one at a time, to see how they affect the quality of your life. Perhaps you could try meditation for a week or longer, then try music and chanting for a while, and just go through the list. Write your experiences in your Book of Shadows. Favorites will emerge.

It’s fun to try to design “the perfect daily practice,” which we think would involve all the elements of you: physical movement, mental challenge, emotional exploration, energy work, and connection with spirit—and, of course, it should be doable in less than eight hours! Brainstorm a list. Read the myths and legends of Deity in all its forms. Write poems and invocations, sing and chant, dance, perform mystery plays in ritual, wear colors or jewelry that have significant meaning, learn about the gods and goddesses, redecorate your altar, do a quick divination.

Then ask yourself, “What else could I do?” Get creative, even wacky. Remember, “An ye harm none,” you can try anything. Walk outside and focus on a different element each time. Meditate on a mind-expanding question like “Who am I?” or “What function do I serve as one tiny part of Gaia?” Try a new sensual experience each day, to honor your body. Massage your own feet. Explore the contours of your ears. Taste a food you’ve never tried before. Smear raspberry jam on your tummy and lick it off—good luck. (Is this a religious practice? That depends on your frame of mind and your approach to it.)

The keys are to be consistent, creative, and fully present.
Consistent
in doing something in a spiritual context every day, even if not the same thing.
Creative
in trying new things whenever you become bored or too comfortable.
Fully present
in body, heart, mind, will, and spirit.

You are finding time and making the effort to re-create yourself daily. You are worth it.

Deepening Your Practice
Exercises in Creating a Daily Practice

• Try the activities suggested in this chapter for a week each. Make notes in your Book of Shadows as to how each one felt and how it influenced your day.
  
• Ask yourself if there is anything that you
  already
  do every day that could be done in a more mindful or spiritual or satisfying way.
  
• Ask your friends if they have any daily practice to help them face the day or bring it to closure. You may get some good ideas.
  
• Explore the idea of a combination of brief activities that could be done daily to strengthen and focus you physically, mentally, energetically, emotionally, and spiritually. (A single activity might accomplish more than one of these.) Try a different combination each day for a week, and choose the one you like best.
  

Chapter 7

Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?
The Rules of Witchcraft

A
n ye harm none, do as ye will,

Touching magick, wielding power,

Heal always, never kill,

I am a Witch at every hour.

Wiccan ethics can be summed up in eight words:

A
n ye harm none, do as ye will.

This is the Wiccan Rede. The old Anglo-Saxon word
rede
means “counsel” or “advice.” Though it is short, the Rede contains much more than meets the eye. Let’s begin with a rough translation: “As long as you harm no one, act as your true will leads you.”

One word at a time:

An
= An archaic word meaning “if” or “as long as.”

Ye = The individual Witch, you.

Harm = Anything that causes lasting damage.

None = No one, yourself included.

Do = Act. The Rede is not concerned with thoughts, attitudes, or beliefs except as they influence our actions.

As = In some versions, the word “what” is substituted.

Ye = You. The responsibility for how you act is yours alone.

Will = Your true will, the part of you that flows from your higher self and has a deep understanding of right and wrong. “Will” never means just “want” or a whim.

No one can follow the Rede perfectly. On some level, we do harm just by living: we eat plants and perhaps animals, we make waste, we disturb habitat by building houses. But we are allowed to survive—the aim here is to minimize harm to anyone, including ourselves.

Lately it has become crystal clear that humans are doing immense damage to the environment: harming the planet we live on, and the other residents, in ways that are not necessary to our survival. As a species, we strip-mine the land, release poisons into the air and water, and cause other species to become extinct.

Fortunately, many people are becoming aware of this and taking action. We are finding ways to live with less damage to the earth and its life. Recycling, solar and wind power, organic farming, habitat conservation and restoration, eating locally grown foods—all are ways to survive with less harm.

Ultimately, who decides what “harm” is? Well, for the environment, Mother Earth speaks clearly enough to us; we just need to pay attention. The disruption of local ecologies and the dwindling of other life forms is a clear signal that we’re doing harm. In human society, we know that stealing, assault, and murder almost always constitute harm. Beyond that, Witches generally let each individual decide what “harm” means to them.

The next part of the Rede that causes confusion is trying to define “none” in relation to harm. In order to survive, to eat, most people harm something. Are you willing to eat sentient animals, like dolphins and octopi? What about cattle and pigs? Should you exclude all animals from your diet? Can you ethically eat vegetables that have been pulled from the earth or cut from their roots? Depending on where you draw the line, you may choose to be an omnivore, a fish and poultry eater, a vegetarian, a vegan, or a fruitarian. The choice is yours, and your conscience is the only authority you must answer to—but be clear about why you eat the things you do.

Aside from the definitions of “harm” and “none,” the other challenging part of the Rede concerns your will. How can we know what our true will is? Well, first of all, our true will cannot cause unnecessary harm to ourselves or others, or else the Rede would contradict itself. Secondly, it is a question of trust. Do you trust yourself to know the difference between right and wrong—not just in your head (because our minds can rationalize all kinds of nonsense), but in your heart and spirit?

Many people don’t even try to figure out what’s right and wrong. They simply turn to an authority figure, like the law or the church, and say, “Tell me the rules.” They assume that as long as they follow the Ten Commandments or the statutes of their community, they’re living a moral life.

That works—sometimes. But what if you are a German citizen in 1940, and the law is controlled by the Nazi Party? What if you are a good Christian during the Inquisition, and the church says to burn the heretics?

Either you trust yourself to know what is right or you trust someone else. For a Witch, the authority is always your true will, which always reflects the will of nature and the gods.

Naturally enough, people make mistakes—and not only Nazis or Inquisitors. You might want something very badly for purely selfish reasons and persuade yourself that it’s your true will. Fortunately, there are some checks and balances:

• The first part of the Rede:
  harm none
  . If someone would be harmed, and it’s not preventing a greater harm, the proposed action is not your true will.
  
• Your community. If the people you love and respect are opposed to your action, you need to rethink it. Often several heads are better than one.
  
• Your elders. Who are your teachers and your role models? Who do you respect for their wisdom and compassion? Ask for their counsel.
  
• Your divination. Sometimes the tarot cards or runes help us see consequences that we would otherwise overlook.
  
• Your inner bell, or gut instinct. If it feels wrong, it probably is. Keep looking for a better way.
  

In the end, it’s about responsibility to yourself and others. You have to make the hard choices, and the buck stops with you. You can’t excuse yourself by saying, “I was ordered to do it” or “So-and-so (a person, institution, or law) said it was all right”—not if you’re a Witch.

The Eight-line Rede

The Rede has not only an eight-word version but also an eight-line version. Many Witches like that it includes the ideal of “perfect love and perfect trust,” as well as the Rule of Three, or Threefold Law, as explained further on. (There is also a very poetic version that is longer still, written by Adriana Porter as a gift to the Craft decades ago. You can find it in appendix E.)

B
ide the Wiccan Law ye must,

In perfect love, in perfect trust.

Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:

An ye harm none, do as ye will.

And ever mind the Rule of Three:

What ye send out comes back to thee.

Follow this with mind and heart,

And merry ye meet, and merry ye part!

The Ordains
Traditional Laws of the Craft

The eight-line version of the Rede begins with “Bide the Wiccan Law ye must.” What law is this? The Rede itself is “only” advice or counsel, even though it is taken extremely seriously by most Witches.

The “Law” refers to the Ordains, or Ardaynes, a rather mysterious list of laws whose origin has been lost. The version that seems oldest has 162 sections, most of which comment on coven operation and the correct uses of magick. It is written in archaic-sounding language and includes words that have left common usage such as “skith” (harm), “bales” (technically, evils or sorrows; in context, probably dangerous herbs), “apies” (opiates), and “appenage” (land, revenues, or property in general). Yet some of the phrasing sounds suspiciously modern as well.

There are a few clues as to its time of origin. One phrase says, “in some future time…the persecution may die and we may worship our gods in safety again.” This, and the emphasis on secrecy and discussions of Witch-hunting and torture, imply that it was written during a time of persecution, i.e., roughly the period 1400–1700 CE. But another section mentions that “in England and Scotland, ’tis now many a year since a Witch hath died the death,” so perhaps it is post–Burning Times. Perhaps some parts are old, and other parts are much newer.

Whatever its origin, most of it seems applicable today. Because Wicca is a folk religion and has never claimed to have the revealed word of God, most Witches don’t care where the Ordains came from as long as they are consistent with the spirit of the Craft and work well. The late Lady Galadriel wrote an updated version that is very well received by many modern Witches,
A New Wiccan Book of the Law
(Grove of the Unicorn, Moonstone Publications, P.O. Box 13384, Atlanta, GA 30324, USA or through http://www.abaxion.com/bbb7.htm). An even simpler, more modernized version can be found in appendix A-2 of
CovenCraft: Witchcraft for Three or More
(Llewellyn, 1999).

Following are some key ideas from the Ordains:

• It violates the Ordains to reveal anyone as a Witch. Every member of the Craft has the right to decide whether or not he or she will be “in the broom closet.”
  
• We are forbidden to boast or threaten, much less use magick to harm others. Any of these could bring attention or persecution to the Craft. The Craft must be preserved.
  
• If the community agrees, we can use magick to bind others from doing harm, but that’s the most we can do when using magick to influence others.
  
• We cannot use magick to harm others, but above and beyond that, we must oppose anyone who works evil magick and depose any leader who has violated the Law.
  
• We do not take money for doing magick, period. It is done freely or not at all.
  
• There’s nothing wrong with magick for your own benefit—say, for healing or protection or prosperity—as long as it is really needed and no one is harmed. But it must be debated and endorsed by the coven if there is any doubt.
  
• In conflict between Witches, the laws of the Craft and the leaders of the Craft are to be used to resolve the dispute. Taking an issue to public courts can only harm the Craft (unless someone’s safety is threatened, such as in domestic abuse). If the people involved are from different covens or solitary, they can agree to arbitration by respected elders.
  

The Ordains have the weight of tradition and common sense behind them. If they didn’t work in the real world, Witches would ignore them. But they contain a great deal of wisdom and are honored by most who know them.

The Need for Informed Consent

As a guideline, we assume that unwanted interference in a person’s life may constitute harm. Thus, for example, we do not perform magick for an individual unless they request it—or give their informed consent.

If Aunt Molly is ill, we might think, “Oh, I’ll do some healing magick for her.” Not without her consent! Her body may need that illness for reasons we don’t understand—to cleanse toxins from her system, to force her to get some rest, to enable her to get love and attention. So we may
offer
healing magick but not proceed without her understanding and permission.

About the only exceptions to this rule are magickal workings for your children and magick to defend yourself. Because you have responsibility for your child until they come of age, and you presumably have more wisdom or experience than they do, you are allowed to set rules for them—and perform magick if you feel it’s in their best interest. Needless to say, this means magick for healing, protection, wisdom, and other positive aims.

Magick for self-defense ordinarily doesn’t require that you act against another person; shielding yourself and your loved ones is normally enough. But in emergency situations, you may have no choice but to bind an attacker or disable them using magick. This should never be done for trivial reasons, such as because you are miffed or embarrassed; but to protect your life or the lives of your loved ones, do what you must.

An older version of the eight-line Wiccan Rede makes this clear:

B
ide the Wiccan Law ye must,

In perfect love, in perfect trust.

Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:

An ye harm none, do what ye will.

Lest in thy self-defense it be,

Ever mind the Rule of Three.

Follow this with mind and heart,

And merry ye meet, and merry ye part!

Law Of Return/Rule Of Three/Threefold Law

There is a law that is called the Law of Return. It is a natural law, not an arbitrary rule invented by humans, and it has a great bearing on human ethics. Sometimes it is stated this way: “Whatever you send out will return to you.” But other people explain the same concept in different ways:

“What goes around, comes around”
(Folk wisdom)