In a recent posting, The Essence of the Charge, Morgause looked at The Charge of the Goddess as one of the closest writings to scripture that Witches (and many Pagans) have to turn to. This got me thinking about other Pagan texts which could be deemed as ethics and morals which provide guidance to Pagans to live honorably in a 21st century society.

No matter what our religious and spiritual preferences are, it is important to consider what we believe and why. While we may not have complete answers to those questions it is still critical to ponder them. A charge often brought against Pagans is that we have no ethical or moral boundaries. Pagans are often viewed a hedonists. It is because of such stereotypes that it is important that Pagans become familiar with Pagan ethical and moral principles.

Ethics are defined as: a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for a person or group. As a broad topic, ethics relates to the society in which one lives and is frequently described as “standards of behaviour relating to and influenced by that society”.

Morals are defined as: concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character. Based on what somebody’s conscience suggests is right or wrong, rather than on what rules or the law says should be done. Based on an inner conviction.

When we begin to speak of ethics, we need to realise that this is a very touchy subject. While there are generally accepted community ethics, it is personal ethics that make up who we are, and these are not the same for each person.

To begin a spiritual path and to follow it every day of your life, you must develop your own set of personal ethics that define the way you live. No one can tell you what your personal ethics should be. Your teachers, mentors, priests, priestesses can all recommend both in word and deed, ethics that work for them. If you are a solitary you may read on the net or in a book acceptable codes of conduct or ideals. You cannot take someone else’s ethics and make them your own. You must do some soul searching, and decide how you feel about things. I am not suggesting that you ignore your teachers and mentors but I am suggesting that you should always temper wisdom with personal experience. You must come to a point that you are willing to question what you are taught, to grow in your own self. Through this, your own sense of ethics and morals will develop.

Each Pagan tradition has its own sources. Asatru have a list of virtues they value, as do many Druids, and these come from their associated cultures. So, where does one begin? I guess it depends on the individual Pagan path. For the Asatru/Heathens, there is the Havomal and other writings based on the Eddas. For Hellenic polytheists, there are the works of Aristotle and Plato as well as things such as the Delphic Maxims.

Wicca, which has influenced many other Pagan paths over the last 50 years or so - whether many within Paganism want to acknowledge this or not - have the Rede. Wicca, and many other Paths, has a strong emphasis on consequences and responsibility. We are responsible for all we do and cause. In a worldview that also stresses the interconnectedness of things, that has powerful ramnifications. We are not fond of hard and fast rules, because reality is not hard and fast. Morality comes from intent, not action.

The Pagan community is one that is made up of many traditions and beliefs. A common thread among all of the varied traditions, from Dianic, to Wiccan, to eclectic, is the fact that they are autonomous and are not ruled by a central authority. This fact can often cause confusion for people unfamiliar with the many and diverse Pagan beliefs, who mistakenly think that if Pagan traditions have no standard by which to be judged by, and who thus tend to think that for Pagans it must be nearly impossible to be ethical.

But in actuality, ethics and honour are strong principles in Pagan spirituality and although the ethics in different Pagan paths may vary, the general rule is that all life is honored and treated with respect. Some traditions have a statement or a written code of ethics but this is not the case for all Pagan paths. In general Pagan traditions offer varying sets of values, but on the whole each person is responsible for their actions. In other words, Pagans are taught to find the truth within themselves rather than from an outside source. Nurturing inner wisdom and developing intuition are vital parts of Pagan spirituality and this enriches the connection to deity.

Personal responsibility can also bring a sense of empowerment to one who follows a Pagan path. It lifts a person out of being a victim or ruled over by an outside hierarcy and into the awareness that one is connected with all of life. In Paganism, people and deity are mutually dependent upon each other and if a person’s actions are ethical and positive, then the sacred is enhanced. But if it is unethical and negative, then the sacred is diminished.

Of course there are those who are misguided and do not always follow their path in an honorable way, or who mistakenly think that magickal rituals will give them some sort of power over others. But this is not what a Pagan path is about; there is no place for revenge or the seeking of power by causing another person to suffer. Every action has a consequence. Pagan spirituality should connect and enrich rather than fragment and deplete, and nurture a sense of personal, community and global responsibility.

But it is also clear that we cannot speak of Pagan ethics as such an all-emcompassing concept simply does not exist.

While we as Pagans have no sacred texts as such, we do have a series -quite a few documents in fact - of specifically worded documents held in agreement by large numbers of Pagans.

Agreement with the following pieces is in no way required for Wicca or any other tradition within Paganism. Many I do not even agree with, however, I think it important for those serious about Paganism and not only Wiccans, to be at least familiar with what many of these writings offer and represent.

Some of these texts are:

1. The Witches' Credo
2. The Witches' Creed
3. The Witches' Rune
4. The Ancient Call
5. The Rede
6. The Rede of the Wiccae or The Wiccan Credo
7. Call of the God
8. Charge of the God
9. Charge of the Dark God
10. Charge of the Horned God
11. Charge of the Dark Goddess
12. Charge of the Goddess
13. The Law
14. Law of the Power
15. The Old Laws or The Ardanes
16. 161 Laws
17. Nature of our Ways
18. 13 Principles of Belief
19. 13 Goals of a Witch
20. 5 Points of Wiccan Belief
21. 4 Powers of the Magus
22. The Witches' Pyramid
23. Legend of the Descent of the Goddess
24. Aradia: Gospel of the Witches
25. Asatru’s Nine Noble Virtues
26. Vanatru’s Ethical Code

Let’s look at three of the better known ones (especially within Wicca and the Craft):

THE REDE

“Bide the Wiccan law ye must, in perfect love and perfect trust;
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfil;
‘An ye harm none, do as ye will’;
Lest in self-defence it be, ever mind the rule of three;
Follow this with mind and heart;
And merry ye meet and merry ye part.”

Every Wiccan knows the Rede and most tend to extract the line most popular: “An ye harm none, do as ye will”. However, many tend to forget that this line in the Rede is comprised of eight words, not two. This fact is lost on many Pagans as many simply give attention to the abbreviation “harm none” – I think such as command would in fact be almost impossible to keep. By concentrating on the abbreviated form of the Rede I believe we tend to miss the forest for the trees.

The Rede does not command Wiccans, and Pagans in general, to “harm none”. It does, however, tell us that any action that will harm none is acceptable - although we should also use common sense when looking at the Rede. Consumption of food harms something, yet it is natural to eat, and self-defence and defence of those we love is certainly not banned by the Rede.

Most witches do not believe that true morality consists of observing a list of thou-shalt-nots. Their morality can be summed up in one sentence, “Do what you will, so long as it harms none”. This does not mean, however, that witches and other Pagans are pacifists. Surely allowing wrong to flourish unchecked is not “harming none”, on the contrary I believe that it is harming everybody.

The Rede is not a law. “Rede” means advice and guidance, something most of us in fact need. I doubt that anyone will ever be able to express a truly perfect law of ethics, and as far as I am concerned the Rede does come pretty close to this ideal. Another version of the Rede, which I find interesting, is one as presented by the Lycian Tradition: “An it harm none, do as you will. An it cause harm, do as you must.”

Gardner’s Old Laws, also sometimes broken into the 161 Laws, calls for a limited version of “harm none”, stating you may bind or restrain, but never harm, with magick. Today most Wiccans and the majority of other witches, do not even follow the Old Laws, finding them to be too much a throwback of a time when many believed themselves to be following the “pure” Old Religion.

In the “Meaning of Witchcraft”, published in 1959, Gardner first touches upon the ethics of Wicca. While the Rede as it is known today is not mentioned, Gardner states that: “(Witches) are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, ‘Do what you like so long as you harm no one’. But they believe a certain law to be important, ‘You must not use magic for anything which will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone, you must do it only in a way which will abate the harm.’”

King Pausol, incidentally, happens to be a literary character in the story The Adventures of King Pausole (1901) by Pierre Louÿs.

Many suggest that Gardner borrowed and adapted the Law of Thelema from Aleister Crowley, which reads: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” in creating the Rede. According to Crowley, if people knew their true wills and followed them, they would attune themselves to a harmony with the universe. Therefore spelling out the implications of doing harm was not necessary.

Even if this is the case, this does not mean that the Rede and the Law of Thelema are the same thing, or hold the same meaning or even values. Gardner could have been inspired by the Law and then took it in his own direction, creating a new entity. Worse, I've seen the Law of Thelema labelled as the Witches Rede. Crowley was neither a witch nor a Wiccan.

There is another interesting parallel to the Rede. “Dilige, et quod vis fac,” or “Love, and do what you will”. The author, Saint Augustine (yes a Christian), writing in the 4th century CE.

THE THREEFOLD LAW

There are many variations of the phrasing of the Threefold Law, but it generally goes something like this:

“Ever Mind The Rule Of Three
Three Times Your Acts Return To Thee
This Lesson Well, Thou Must Learn
Thou Only Gets What Thee Dost Earn.”

When you take a resource, even with good intentions, there will be repercussions. Actions need to be balanced, or else things can get out of control to a degree many times over that of the original issue. In other words, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Other phrasings emphasise completely separate issues, which author Phyllis Curott has recently taken to calling the Boomerang Whammy Rule:

“Mind the Threefold Law you should,
Three times bad and three times good.”

The above version was taken directly from the Rede of the Wiccae. Or, for an even more extreme version:

“Ensure that your actions are honourable,
for all that you do shall return to you,
threefold, good or bane.”

People attempt to pass this phrasing off as a moral code, which it is not. The Threefold Law is a statement of belief in the ways of the universe. It does not teach us what is “bad” or “good”, only that we shall receive three times whatever we give. That is not morality it is merely, I dare say, a question of survival.

But the world does not work as simply as these phrases make it sound. If it did, we would all be donating to charity like mad and reaping the rewards. Also, I think that the idea of things returning threefold is counter-natural, for energy does not simply triple itself. It is, however, true that everything is connected to everything else, and it is equally true that harm tends to beget harm, and that one good turns deserves another. Also, when viewed this narrowly The Threefold Law has a smacking of “punishment and reward”. Possibly the reason why I prefer to use the term “Law of Return” over “Threefold Law’.

Let us also remember one of Newton’s laws: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. “Equal” does not mean triple, and “opposite” does not mean that you receive bad for every good. However, what counts as “equal” is not always obvious. For instance, a ritual asking for a healthy mother gives birth to a healthy child is fairly straightforward, while one asking for an addicted mother to give birth to a healthy child is going to take considerably greater effort, even though the desired result (a healthy child) is the same. Putting out a little will gain you a little - which might be all that it needed in the first case, but is far less likely to be sufficient in the second case. You receive what you give.

And, does The Threefold Rule follow the old laws of karma? Yes and no. The main problem is that most Westerners do not seem to understand what karma actually is. The term karma is Sanskrit and the concept it represents has remained central to Hindus and Buddhists for thousands of years. Moreover, the common understanding of the Threefold Law - one of punishment and reward - likewise has nothing in common with Eastern karmic beliefs.

The Sanskrit word karma really refers to consequences of actions, and so in its proper context, it actually fits fairly well with the Law of Return. The confusion comes from the strong connections between concepts of karma and reincarnation within the Eastern caste system. Depending on one’s karma, a person is reborn higher or lower within the hierarchy of castes. However, this is not a system of rewards and punishments. It is a system of lesson learning, preparation, and purity. Those who do not learn the lessons of this life return at the same level. Those who defile themselves will not rise and may return even lower. Such people's fate is not a punishment, however. Under the Eastern system, caste is what you are in essence. To be born into a lower or higher caste simply reflects what one has already done to oneself. All of this, however, is merely one expression of karma.

So according the karma, the consequences of your actions are reflected in this life as much as in the next, and so it also is in the Law of Return.

THE WITCH’S PYRAMID

“To know, to dare, to will, to be silent.”

I strongly suspect this phrase to be another hand-me-down of ceremonial magick due both to its content and its alternate title The Four Powers of the Magus - a magus was a magician or astrologer in ancient times. The term originates from Persia, where it once referred to members of the hereditary Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian class of priests.

The Pyramid refers mostly to the practicing of magick

TO KNOW: Ceremonial magick especially that which survived through the Christian era, requires extensive knowledge of numerology, astrology, mathematics and more. While such studies may have little place in Wicca and most forms of witchcraft, we as Pagans do, however, value knowledge and everything we learn does indeed contributes another piece of the overall picture – although I think that personal experience is at least equally important.

TO DARE: One must be willing to take risks, to approach their tasks boldly and face the mysteries we investigate and experience. One must be willing and able to face down the bad as well as the good, embracing the whole. However we should not enter into things without thought, for that would negate the first phrase, “to know”.

TO WILL: If you do not believe you can succeed, you will not succeed. You cannot fake you way past the gods. And yet, you should not shy away from those things that might contradict your belief, as that would negate the first two phrases, “to know” and “to dare”.

TO BE SILENT: There are several meanings attributed to this phrase. The one I find most appropriate in this day and age is that one should not brag or threaten others concerning their talents with magick. Personally I do not think that it encompasses total secrecy and I also do not believe that magick loses its potency when it is discussed. Others attribute the phrase to the so-called Burning Times, and that it was a command of self-preservation - advertising otherworldly powers won one a quick trip to the stake.

The main reason I think it is important for all Pagans to be familair with Pagan ethics and morals is because the primal influence on societal ethics in the Western world is still undeniably Christianity. Most Pagans within the western world are Pagans by choice rather than by birth, and generally adopted their spirituality as adults. This means that in their formative years most Pagans have had the Christian based ethos deeply ingrained within them. While Pagans adopt a new (for them) spirituality inherent with its own ethos, when pressed many Pagans often quite unwittingly revert to the safety and comfort of their childhood ethos, with its black and white view of matters, rooted in hundreds of years of Christian indoctrination. And here lies the reason why it is so important for all of us to know and have our own morals and ethics for the Pagan ethos is rarely so white and black.

(SOURCES: Suit101; brigids-haven; paganlibrary; answers.yahoo; dictionary.reference; Pagan and Heathen Ethics
by Leif Njordsson)