Wicca
Ethics
Many Wiccans promote the Law of Threefold Return, a belief
that anything that one does will be returned to them
threefold. In other words, good deeds are magnified in like
form back to the doer, and so are ill deeds.
Wiccan ethics can be summarised in the form of a text that
is commonly titled The Wiccan Rede. The core maxim of that
text states "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." ("An" is
an archaic word meaning "if".) The origin of the Wiccan
Rede is unknown, its earliest mention being at a meeting
held by the witchcraft magazine "Pentagram" spoken by
Doreen Valiente. Gerald Gardner suggested that it was taken
by witches from the legendary ethic of the fabled King
Pausol which was "Do what you like so long as you harm no
one". Nevertheless, the similarity of the phrasing of the
Rede (and explicit and verbatim phrasing of other texts)
suggests that this statement is partly based on the Law of
Thelema as stated by occultist Aleister Crowley.
Gerina Dunwich, an American author whose books (notably,
Wicca Craft) were instrumental in the increase in
popularity of Wicca in the late s and s, disagrees with the
Wiccan concept of threefold return on the grounds that it
is inconsistent with more than one law of physics. Pointing
out that the origin of the Law of Threefold Return is
traceable to Raymond Buckland in the th century, Dunwich is
of the opinion that, "There is little backing to support it
as anything other than a psychological law."citation needed
Her own personal belief, which differs from the usual
interpretation of the Threefold Law, is that whatever we do
on a physical, mental, or spiritual level will sooner or
later affect us, in either a positive or a negative way, on
all three levels of being
Many traditional Wiccans also follow, or at least consider,
a set of laws, commonly called the Ardanes. A common
criticism of these rules is that they represent outdated
concepts and/or produce counterproductive results in Wiccan
contexts. Modern authors have also noted that these rules
were probably the byproduct of inner conflict within Gerald
Gardner's original coven over the issue of press relations.
Many Wiccans also seek to cultivate a set of eight virtues
mentioned Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess, being
mirth, reverence, honour, humility, strength, beauty, power
and compassion. In Valiente's poem they are ordered in
pairs of complementary opposites, reflecting a dualism that
is common throughout Wiccan philosophy.
Homosexuality is accepted in most traditions of Wicca: see
Homosexuality and Wicca.
A common belief amongst Wiccans is that no magic, even of a
benificent nature, should be performed on any other person
without that person's direct permission. This stems from
the understanding that it would interfere with that
person's free will and thus constitute "harm", in violation
of the Rede. There are many Wiccans who see Love Spells as
only doing good - and therefore allowing them to be cast on
an unsuspecting person
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