Ethics: Sacred Suggestions


SACRED SUGGESTIONS

Prologue

These suggestions were compiled to give form and order, that our lives may be in balance and harmony. They must teach us and advise us and counsel us. Let us receive value from them.

1. Honor the Gods. They are channels and manifestations of Divine for us and in us. Love and do not fear them.

We are their children. If you do not love them, turn aside to another path.

2. The Earth is our home and our own mother. Let us work to protect her ecology. Let us conserve her gifts rather than destroy them. Let us protect her other children--the plants and animals--our siblings.
3. Everyone will choose her/his own way to aid the world of humanity. There is much sorrow, injustice, and evil and much to work on. Everything is interconnected, so to work on one cause is to work on them all. If you work on too many "good" causes, you will wear yourself out, and your efforts may come to naught.
4. Keep the sacred days and festivals. We need celebrations and rituals to keep a merry heart and a peaceful mind. By noting the transformation of the seasons, we will note the transformation in ourselves.
5. Honor your group, if you are in one, and serve it. When you worship with people you have a duty to share in the work.
6. Members of the group shall not neglect their mates, their children, jobs, pets, plants, homes, or anything in their keeping for the sake of the group. Let each member adjust one thing against the other that each shall receive a due portion.
7. The ancients spoke with wisdom when they said "All things in moderation."
8. When the circle is cast, it should be duly cleansed beforehand and ritually purified in the ceremony because it becomes a temple of the Gods.
9. The keeper of home or lands in which a circle is cast shall be honored.
10. If the group, itself, (and not individual members) own any land, let all guard it, and maintain it. It shall be for the use of all members, who use it in the manner in which it was intended. Also all justly guard all monies as well as property and the rights of all members involving them.
11. Each must learn to cast her/his own circle, the temple of the Goddess and God, and to create her/his own altar. Only thus may a person become a priestess or priest.
12. If anyone keeps an altar always or sets one up for a ritual, it shall be clean and holy. It should honor the four elements and Gods.
13. Keep clean your person and your home, these are blessings.
14. Honor your teachers; they have given you the seeds of the Wise. Even when your way parts from that of a teacher speak kindly of them--even as you acknowledge her/his faults.
15. If one who claims to be a teacher is found to be a scurrilous knave who misuses the trust and authority of a teacher's position, you shall forsake her/his society. Speak no more of her/him, except as words of caution to others. S/he shall answer to her/his own karma.
16. If one who claims to be a servant of the Gods and/or teacher commits an illegal and evil act, s/he should be turned over to the Law of the land. It is an abomination to protect someone who purposely and maliciously harms others.
17. Deal fairly with the members of your group and your religion. If you lie, or cheat, or slander, or give false testimony in a dispute, or copulate secretly with the lover of a friend, or copulate with another secretly betraying a vow to a lover, you will receive the karma of your actions. Neither shall you oppress those not of your religion for the same reason.
18. Though a group may choose to ally itself with one or more groups, each group shall remain autonomous, and each group shall decide how it operates.
19. If any be displeased how a group operates s/he may speak up. If the group does not change to her/his liking, s/he may leave it and join another, form her/his own, or work worship and magick alone.
20. If a new group is formed and others from another group wish to join the new one, they may do so. However, they may not belong to two groups at once. It is wrong to have energy divided, time divided, and work divided between the two; eventually one group will suffer for the other.
21. Honor the leaders of your group. They are the living representatives of the Goddess and God on earth, but they are only human. If you must criticize them, do so gently. Honey eases the bitter root. If the leader, takes no note or cannot change to your satisfaction, then leave the group. You may join another, form your own, or work worship and magick alone.
22. Remember whether you be student, priest/ess, or leader, you are also the living representative of the Goddess and God.
23. The leader of a group shall govern the group with reason, justice, and joy. If a complaint comes up, s/he shall heed it as best s/he can.
24. If a terrible dispute comes up in the group, all of the rank of priestess or priest will assemble to discuss it. The dispute will be settled by their decision, whatever that may be.
25. If a dispute between members arises because of an affair of the heart and it causes great grief to all the group, all of the rank of priestess and priest will assemble. They will take council together. If no other action can be found to solve the matter one or more shall be told to go.
26. There are those who can not be led just as there are those who cannot lead. To those who will not be led say "Get hence, and seek another group or form your own, or worship alone." To those who cannot lead say, "Those who cannot bear your leadership will leave you." Where there is disagreement and strife power is only poorly raised. Sometimes it becomes a rotting invisible sore. It is better to part with peace in your heart and theirs. There are many paths to spiritual wisdom, but we are all the children of the Goddess. Anger and endless resentment will give you no power. The religion of the Gods must endure.
27. Each student must study a year and a day with a group to become a priestess or priest of that group. During this time, a student will learn the ways of their group, the Wheel of the Year, the working of magick and ritual, and the honoring of the Gods. The teachers give seeds of the Wise to the students, but it is the student's responsibility to tend and fertilize the seeds. Even after a year and a day of study a person should never stop studying or learning. It is up to each individual to harvest their own knowledge, and to use it well.
28. Each student will choose a Pagan name by which they will be known and called by the group and by the rest of the members of the religion. If s/he desires, s/he may also choose an inner magickal name which is only known to her/him. If a student wishes, s/he may receive help in the choosing of her/his Pagan name from another from the group.
29. Each student and priest/ess will keep of Book of Shadows and Lights with the teachings and rites of her/his group. Everyone must have her/his own book and s/he may add to it with whatever works well for her/him.
30. Never use drugs that alter the mind to work magick for this is not the way of the wise.
31. Never use illegal and/or controlled substances within the circle or with the group. This action endangers the survival of the group and the image of the religion.
32. There are people who say "In Mexico, they use the magic mushroom for oracles and enlightenment." This fact is true, but many people of that culture may never consult the mushroom. Those that do may use it only once or twice in a lifetime. There are also people who say "The Native Americans use peyote for religious ceremonies. Why can't we do that too?" To them answer, "If you wish to use peyote, go and study with the Native Americans under their discipline. Use of peyote is part of their culture and heritage, it is not part of ours. We are not trained in it."
33. Always remember your Pagan friend has a Pagan friend and your Pagan friend's friend has a Pagan friend. Be discreet when you speak of others.
34. Each priestess and priest is a keeper of the mysteries. Guard them well; constantly reveal them.
35. Show honor to all people, that they may respect and honor you. Their eyes will be a mirror for your soul.
36. Honor especially the face of an old man or old woman; this is the face of the Crone.
37. In ancient times, folk were told not to glean the corners of the field. This custom existed so that people who were poor could collect the last of the harvest and have something to eat. Anything left over was left to the earth. Few of us directly harvest the fruit of the earth, anymore, but we should not forget this custom or its purpose.
38. If you welcome a stranger into your midst, you must treat her/him kindly. This was a custom of the hearth and is as ancient as the hearth.
39. Your spouse, children, and other members of your household are a sacred trust. You must respect and defend them. To abuse them physically, mentally, or sexually is an abomination. The old Laws of Faerie said that if a husband or wife abused their spouse or members of their household, the spouse must gather the other members of the household and their belongings and leave. They must never abide with that husband or wife again, so great a trust has been broken.
40. No one of our religion shall own slaves, this is also an abomination. Also if you take a pledge of another persons life, you take a millstone upon your neck.
41. Of old it was said "Never haggle over the price of a item that is to be used for magick." The idea was that you would cheapen your magickal tools by haggling over the item, and, thus, lessen their value. Truly a merchant or a craftsman has made that custom. Still if you find a price too high or unreasonable, do not haggle and do not buy that item but seek one that you can afford elsewhere or work magick and worship without that particular magickal tool. Tools are channels of power, but the power is within you.
42. It is very rude to handle a person's magickal tools without their permission. This includes athames, amulets, wands, certain cups, and even some musical instruments. Magical tools are channels of power. Several people believe that they contain a charge of energy and to handle them will dissipate that energy.
43. Never charge money for the doing of magick. It is fortune tellers, sorcerers, and charlatans who charge money for their divinations, spells, and prayers. If people never give you money, they will never be sorry for not receiving their complete heart's desire--whether or not it is impossible. Furthermore if you accept no money, you will be free from a temptation to do magick for personal gain on an unworthy cause.
44. It is fitting for those of our religion to charge money for some service duly rendered. If anyone does you a service for free as a favor, you should thank or honor that person greatly.
45. Each member of the group shall provide her/his own garb. It will be of a sort that is acceptable to your group and its leader. Loose garb is more comfortable for dance and sitting in the circle. People will not be turned away for the want of a robe. As servants of the Gods, we should aid those who seek them as best you are able.
46. No one of the group should be expected to do something that makes her/him uncomfortable or is physically not a good idea for her/him. However, if s/he has too many problems with a group s/he should consider leaving it.
47. When you swear an oath to the Gods or to another of your religion within the circle, you must do as you say, as best you are able. An oath so sworn is sacred and affects your honor, and any oath affects the karma of the oath taker and oath breaker. Better not to take oaths. Woe to those who care nothing for the fetters attached to their souls.
48. If you have uttered an oath in the circle rashly and cannot keep it, make whatever amends you can. If you have made a foolish promise to friend or acquaintance, apologize to her/him.
49. You should set aside at least one day during a moon, and on these days you shall do the work of the Goddess. She will renew you and bless you.
50. Our Goddess has told her children, "I demand ought sacrifice, for behold my love is poured out upon the earth." Remember this in your rituals and worship. You cannot barter with deities and spirits. If you do choose to sacrifice something, it must always be from yourself, and you can never hope to get anything for it or get it back.
51. It is also known if someone makes an offering freely of love and devotion, even it if is only a leaf, a rock, birdseed, or water, the Goddess will accept.
52. Offerings given freely without duty or guilt or fear are pleasing to the Gods. The offerings which are fitting to the Gods are the scents of trees and herbs, the flames of colored candles, libations of wine, juice, milk and water, the stones of the earth, fruits of the garden, poetry for the ritual and flowers of the fields. Offerings of money are worthy also if they are used to buy things used for ritual by the group, such as incense, candles, juice, and food; money is also a fitting offering when it pays for rental of a site for a circle. Offerings of labor is also acceptable to the Goddess and God when it is done in service of your group or in service at a great festival with more than one group.
53. If anyone should like to make an offering to Nature and Earth, make certain it has value, and will not harm the flora and fauna.
54. It is an abomination to offer up pain created within the circle: Sorrows and unhappiness are not the same as pain created within a circle; it is well to give your sorrows of life over to the Great Mother. But to offer up pain whether physical or mental, human or animal, is wrong. If anyone truly does so, avoid that person's company and tell others to do likewise. That person is using religion as a cover for sadism and masochism.
55. Always be proud of your religion, but never use your religion or position or magick in it for ego-stroking, gain, or vain-glorying. Never boast, never threaten, never say you would wish ill on anyone. Never give our persecutors a fast hold. Magick is the gift of the Goddess. Our persecutors or the ignorant might taunt us saying, "You have no power. Do magic before my eyes. Turn me into a toad. Only then would I believe." Ignore them. Magick is holy and should only be used in need, not as parlor tricks. Of old it was said, "Never cast pearls before swine, or perform wonders for the unwashed."
56. It ever be the way of human hearts to seek love, nor does our religion restrict people in this. However no one should couple together, if it will cause great sorrow to others or create an unwanted child. Mostly though you must be honest in affairs of the heart whatever the consequence.
57. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was a great persecution, which is often called the Burning Times. Between one hundred thousand and nine million women, men, and children died during this persecution. Under torture, people were made to confess to impossibilities such as flying through the air, consorting lewdly with the Christian's Satan, sacrificing children, committing mass incest, destroying crops, sinking ships and eating human flesh. The persecutors believed no one may be a witch alone. So they also were forced to name their friends and family and neighbors as members of a huge non-existent plot. Many who died were not witches at all but only scapegoats for the sorrows of the community--a catharsis for the people.

The Great Goddess and God do not want their children suffer the indignities of our persecutors for their sake. What is within the hearts of their children is dearer to them, they do not require that there be witnesses of the faith, dying to impress the ignorant.

According the Pagan-folk lore (which it has been passed by mouth from teacher to student) it was ordained that no one shall tell anyone not of our religion who is one of us, or give names, or where any of us abide, or in any way tell anything that can betray us to our faces. Neither may anyone tell where the meeting place be. Furthermore, it was said that if anyone broke these laws the Curse of the Goddess would be upon that person and she or he would never be reborn on earth, but remain in the Hell of the Christians.

Fortunately these are happier times. It has been a long time since anyone has died because of her/his religion in this country. However, we don't know that the witch hunt will not begin again. Even today there are fanatics who would oppress and persecute us. They say we perform abominations such as torturing and killing children, necrophilia, holding orgies, child pornography, running drug rings, and abusing animals. They lay all the evils of society on us and say we are plotting to destroy them. Therefore, never betray any of our people or do anything that may unwittingly endanger, them. Let honor and loyalty be your guides in this matter, tempered by wisdom and truth.

58. No one may do anything that will endanger the religion of the Gods or bring the religion into violation of the law of the land or with our persecutors.
59. Of those people who wish to study to be a priest/ess or would inquire into the ways of the Goddess, search their hearts, as best as you are able, to know if they are sincere. A very few of our persecutors have tried to infiltrate groups of our religion. Also there are unbalanced or disturbed individuals who should not be taught for their own sake, and yours. Be wary if someone says, "My grandmother worshipped in the old ways and taught me everything she knew. I would join a coven." Be watchful also if someone says, "When I wandered the countryside of the British Isles, I discovered and joined the last college of heathen monks, learning initiate practices. I would make merry at the sabbat again." Be especially cautious if anyone says, "As a youth, I traveled with my parents to England. I met some locals in a small town outside of London and was initiated into an ancient family tradition. Join my coven." It is possible perhaps any of these people are telling the truth. It is also possible that any of these people are pathological liars, or are just full of bullshit.

Remember we are not out to acquire only numbers of converts. However, we do want to inform the genuinely curious or aid the sincere in their quest of the Gods.

You have a responsibility to pass on your knowledge to a sincere student. The religion of the Gods must endure.

60. You shall not work magick to cause harm. However it has long been known that magick can be used to restrain people who would harm us or others, but only to bind them or deflect them.
61. Anyone may use magick to aid her/him self or others. Blessings and healings are worthy magick. Magick may also be done to aid the group, but it should only be done if no harm is caused.
62. When the whole of the group is to work magick, let the person who proposed it explain its purpose. Let everyone in the group debate the matter. If any say "nay" let the magick not be done in the circle while those who object are present. Only if all are satisfied that none be harmed in any way, may the magick be done.
63. Let those who are in love and both desire it be handfasted. Let those who are out of love and both desire it be handparted.
64. Your children are a precious gift to you and you have a responsibility to them as long as they are children. Never be so foolish, or so unkind to the child, to take on responsibility for a child you do not want.
65. In practice it should be the best of the Priestesses and Priests that should lead the rituals. Participants should be content with ritual as it stands. However it should be given that it is clear and understandable within the circle everyone is free and each participant has the right to understand the implications and workings of a ritual. Those who cannot explain the inner workings or give just cause and reasons for their decisions should be questioned and the wisdom of their words weighed.
66. Leaders, never become overly attached to your office nor too fond of power. Remember power-with people is better than power-over people.
67. Let the leaders rule as long as they are able, and their leadership suited to the group. However, if duty calls them elsewhere or their health is ill or if another would be well suited to lead, they may pass the office.
68. If a leader due to other commitments or exhaustion had to step aside from their duties and s/he returns in a year and a day, the group shall strongly consider allowing her/him to return to her/his duties.
69. Each leader shall choose her/his own consort, and others shall abide by it.
70. Different groups and individuals may agree to meet for a great festival in a spirit of peace and harmony and celebration. It is known that sometimes there is strife and disagreement among different groups and individuals for whatever reasons. If the strife and disagreement cannot be put aside for the space of the festival, then those who cannot put it aside should not come. Do not be in circle with those you cannot abide, no power will come of it.
71. No one shall enter the circle without the whole of the group's permission.
72. Now is the age when the secrets are become secrets no more. The spiral turns onward and we must be strong as we come out of the shadows. Let our rituals and meeting places be kept sacred. The defilement of our worship and ways will cause loss of honor to ourselves and the Gods.
73. Keep your body healthy and your mind clear. Within you is the power of the Gods and remember that all carry these forces within them although they may sleep.

Epilogue

These suggestions were made to give good advice. They are not carved in stone nor written in gold. Put their meaning in your heart and teach them to your students; and have your students teach them to their students; and have your students' students teach them to their students! Blessed be!

Compiled by Myth Woodling, copyleft 1989

If you harm or slander none, reprint what you will from the Sacred Suggestions. All copyrights left behind.

Myth's Notes

Background of the Sacred Suggestions

I compiled the Sacred Suggestions in 1989. They are my re-write of what has been called the "Craft Laws," "Laws of the Craft," "Wiccan Laws," "Old Laws," "Ordains," or "Ardanes." There were several versions of these Laws/Ordains/Ardanes floating around. Many were incorporated into different Traditions' Books of Shadows. Published copies include June John's King of the Witches (1969) and Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows (1971). These documents of Laws/Ordains/Ardanes were sometimes referred to in Wiccan discussions of ethics and codes of conduct.

Up through the end of the 1970's, Wicca in the USA was largely a coven-based practice. Some covens were part of an elaborate coven structure, involving an inner court of initiates (including elders, high priestess, high priest, summoner, maiden, etc.) and an outer court of non-initiates (students).

With the advent of the huge, open Pagan festivals, that began to change.

I have always been fascinated with rules, social mores, etiquette practices, codes of conduct, systems of honor and virtue, personal rights, etc., as these are one of the ways a group, organization, or movement defines itself. When I first became interested in Wicca, I started examining its ethical rules. As I participated in and helped run large events, I also studied rules and mores of large open Pagan gatherings.

In 1985, I was lent a copy of June John's King of the Witches (1969), which published the Alexandrian list of Craft Laws. And it must have been in 1986 or 1987 that I acquired from Abyss Books a used copy of Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows (1971). Lady Sheba's text had another set of Craft Laws. I noticed many of the laws were the same, but they were arranged in a slightly different order with slightly different wording. (Hereafter,the individual Craft Laws in June John's King of the Witches will be referred to as King #__. The individual Craft Laws in Lady Sheba's Book of Shadows will be referred to as Sheba #__. )

I began comparing similarities and differences between the sets. Several people had commented several of the Craft Laws were simply out of date.

King #25 and Sheba #25, ordering that no group may know the whereabouts of the next group, had been utterly dropped from enforcement. Networking lists and networking guide books were available from many organizations and in many bookstores in the 1980's. The most well-known of these was Circle Network News' guide to groups.

Wiccan high priestess Selena Fox, of Circle, ignored King #119-120 and Sheba #120-121 about accepting money for magic.

Never accept money for the use of the art, for money ever smeareth the taker. 'Tis sorcerors and conjurors and the priests of the Christians who ever accept money for the use of their arts. And they sell pardons to let men escape from their sins. Be not as these. If you accept no money, you will be free from temptation to use the arts for an evil cause.
--King #119-120

Never accept money for the use of the Art. For money ever smeareth the taker. "'Tis sorcerors and conjurors and priests of the Christians who ever accept money for the use of their Arts. And they sell dwale, and evil loves spells and pardons, so let men escape from their sins." Be not as these. If you accept no money, you will be free from temptation to use the Art for evil causes.
--Sheba #120-121

King #4-5, which stated, "As a man loveth a woman by mastering her, so the Wicca should love the gods by being mastered by them," certainly seemed more suited to a 16th century than the 20th century.

Finally, I didn't personally know of any group that exercised anything like the disciplinary methods suggested in King #157-161 and Sheba #157-162. None of the Neo-Pagans I knew in Maryland in the mid-80's would have put up with the "kissing the hand" nonsense.

Many Wiccans commented that the reason several laws were ignored was because they simply "no longer apply" to Wicca in the 1980's.

Ignoring certain laws is perhaps not unlike Christians and Jews ignoring the biblical commands in Exodus 29:15 and Leviticus 1:2-9 about animals sacrificed as burnt offerings, or ignoring Exodus 12:17: "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death."

While studying these documents for fun, I was struck by the fact that most of these laws were not really "laws" in the sense that they prescribed no specific penalties for violations. Most law systems, including ancient Babylonian ones, often prescribe a specific penalty for breaking a specific law.

Many of the laws were written as sort of advice.

It ever been the way with women and men also, that they ever seek new love. Nor should we reprove them for this. But it may be found a disadvantage to the craft.
--King #141-143

With love and worship in their hearts, they [Wiccans] shall raise power from their bodies to give power to the Gods. As has been taught of old. For in this way only may men have a communion with the Gods, for the Gods cannot help men without the help of man.
Sheba #8-10

In spite of King #118, "And strictly keep to the Old Law," numerous Wiccan covens who had copies of the Craft Laws treated them as guidelines instead of governing rules. I assumed they were more like specific guidelines on how to apply the primary rule of the Wiccan Rede: "If it harm none, do as you will."

New Wiccan Craft Laws

Around this time, I read a review by Valerie Voigt in Pagana about the New Book of the Law. Lady Galadriel, in Atlanta, GA had compiled a new book of Craft Laws. In a bold stroke, this Georgia high priestess had excised some very out of date laws and had added some other laws from other sources. She even created some new and very needed laws such as:

Members of the group shall not neglect their mates, their children, jobs, pets, plants, homes, or anything in their keeping for the sake of the group. Let each member adjust one thing against the other that each shall receive a due portion.

The review stated that one could get a copy of the New Book of the Law by sending a business sized SASE and a donation to cover photocopying costs.

As this new compilation of Craft Law was made available in 1986, I think it was about 1987 that I sent off an SASE with my donation and received my slender copy via the U.S. Mails. I still have this original copy of that text squirrelled away somewhere in my house. (I understand that Lady Galadriel of Georgia eventually put out an updated version, retitled A New Wiccan Book of the Law, in 1992.)

Creating the Sacred Suggestions

In 1989, I decided to make up my own list, which reflected the large Maryland Neo-Pagan community and dubbed it with a slight touch of humor, the Sacred Suggestions. I had it professionally typed up. I slated it towards Neo-Pagans involved in large umbrella organizations and working in smaller groves, circles, and covens, as well as solitary practitioners.

I really did intend it to be a list of suggestions that would give guidelines on ways to best enact the key ethical maxim of Wicca, "If it harm none, do as you will." Ethics were often discussed in Paganism at this time. Novice Pagans, particularly, sought to understand what was ethical, polite, and reasonable social interaction. Just how much allegiance and loyalty did you owe your teachers? The Eastern mysticism model, much touted in the American New Age community of the 1980's, required absolute trust and unquestioning obediance to one's master. However, this model was not useful in the changing face of Neo-Pagan religion.

As I had said before, the coven-based system of Wicca was no longer dominant in the Neo-Pagan movement. Many people were attending the large, open gatherings and reading books, like The Spiral Dance, and were forming their own groves, circles, etc. Many solitaries interacted with other Pagans only at large gatherings.

Thus, since I'd been fiddling around making notes about Craft Laws and codes of conduct, etc., I created the Sacred Suggestions.

I thought Lady Galadriel's New law quoted earlier was so important I listed it very early in the Sacred Suggestions. It is SS #6.

I kept the admonition from King #119-120 and Sheba #120-121 to not charge any money, rephrasing it slightly in SS #43.

Never charge money for the doing of magick. It is fortune tellers, sorcerers, and charlatans who charge money for their divinations, spells, and prayers. If people never give you money, they will never be sorry for not receiving their complete heart's desire--whether or not it is impossible. Furthermore if you accept no money, you will be free from a temptation to do magick for personal gain on an unworthy cause.
--SS #43

Taking any money for doing other forms of spellwork (protection, prosperity, love) can open up a whole can of ethical worms.

Though I have paid for my annual "Birthday Tarot Reading" at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, I, myself, will not do divinations for money, because I am personally uncomfortable with reading under those circumstances. I do know of many ethical Wiccan fortune tellers/readers who perform intuitive readings for a reasonable fee. I know some others who only offer this service to assist in raising money for charities.

Divination is not quite the same as spellcraft. Spellcraft, casting magic, attempts to cause change. Divination simply foretells a possible direction of one's fortunes. Each Neo-Pagan must take the responsibility of deciding how she/he will apply SS #43 to her/his path, or if she/he chooses to ignore the suggestion entirely.

One of the things that attracted me to Neo-Paganism and Wicca is that it requires one to think about the ethical ramifications of their choices and probably consequences of actions.

Other changes

In the old coven system, another third degree initiate would "hive off," taking part of the initiates when the original coven began to get too large. The new coven would remain in contact with the original coven, but in theory, each coven would be autonomous. In the beginning of the 1980's, this situation was changing. For example, the Free Spirit Alliance was a 501(c)(3) religious corporation designed to serve as an umbrella organization which would hold an annual camp-out and several smaller one-day events. By the very nature of FSA's structure, Maryland Pagan groups that allied themselves with FSA remained completely autonomous.

Though a group may choose to ally itself with one or more groups, each group shall remain autonomous, and each group shall decide how it operates.
SS #18

I got the idea for SS #30 about mind-altering drugs and working magic from Starhawk's The Spiral Dance (1979, 1989, 1999). "Mind altering drugs are not used in magic (at least, not by the wise), because they destroy that control." (p 174)

I added SS #34. I had seen the phrase, "Guard the mysteries, constantly reveal them!" on a button. In 1989, I did not know that it derived from a poem by the late Lew Welsh. I felt this was wonderful advice in dealing with secrets and mysteries.

I also made some practical comments about offerings in SS #50-53.

I included the motto from over the door of the temple of Delphi in SS #7 to emphasize the concepts of balance and moderation.

I added in a comment about the Old Laws of Faerie in SS #39. One of the motifs found in faery tales was the faery taboo that a human may not strike or otherwise abuse his faery spouse or a child of that union. If the human broke the taboo, the faery spouse would depart, usually taking any children. (This motif is quite interesting, as the stories were told among European societies in which it was perfectly legal for the man of the household to beat his wife and children.) Hence, in SS #39, I referred to abuse as an abomination.

I added the rule of hospitality, SS #38. In many, many ancient societies, if you welcomed someone to sit by your fire, you were required to treat that person as an honored guest. I felt this was a valuable custom that modern Wiccans and Neo-Pagans ought to be aware of.

As slavery was practiced in many ancient societies, many ancient law codes contained references to slavery--what an owner was allowed to legally do to his slaves, how children may be sold to pay debts, how much you should reimburse the owner if you killed someone else's slave, etc. As someone who was born in the USA south and lived through the civil rights struggle of the 1960's, I am aware slavery was a social abomination. Hence I added the injunction in SS #40.

There is an old injunction in magical practice against haggling over the price of items to be used in magic work. Dion Fortune makes reference to it in one of her stories about Miss Le Fey Morgan. The Farrars wrote about it in their discussion about ethics and Craft Laws. SS #41 is not only a reference to this old injunction, but a reflection of contemporary practice. Most dealers of Pagan merchandise really do not want to haggle with their customers. It's my experience most dealers and merchants have reasonable prices for their wares--many of which are hand made. Furthermore, if you think some dealer is gouging, do not buy from that particular person. Furthermore, if that beautiful $450 handcrafted athame set with a large piece of polished jet, plus sigils carved in the handle, is out of your budget, then don't buy it. It isn't the tool that does the magic, it's you.

Scurrilous Knave

The comment in SS #15 about the scurrilous knave was a reference that everyone in the 1980's Maryland Pagan community of Free Spirit Alliance would recognize. Rick or Richard Lee Allen, aka Richard Gwynallen, aka Gwyn Gwynallen, aka Jeremiah, was the leader of a non-profit group called Earthsong Community and a coven called the Silver Web. In the early 1980's there was a gathering held in August called Harvest Survival and Healing Gathering, which Rick alternatively described as a fund raiser for Earthsong Community or his private money-making event--depending upon when and to whom he was speaking.

In either case, Rick got all of his coveners and several other Pagan volunteers to work their butts off for this event. Then he kept all the profit, which was estimated at $3,145 in 1985. My spouse, treasurer of Earthsong for less than a year, noticed that Rick likewise submitted receipts for other Earthsong fund-raising events for the same expense repeatedly. He also noticed a hidden association between the Silver Web coven and a private business Rick called "Silver Web Enterprises."

Rick explained to some of his coveners he had taken a vow of poverty and, therefore, the community should help support him.

Besides dipping his fingers in the till, Rick had an interest in lovely, unattached Pagan ladies. If he had been a little more up front and honest about his sexual activities, Rick might have not gotten into any trouble over them. It was the early 80's, which was just before knowledge of the danger of AIDS became known to the public. In 1985, Rick was living with a woman, Maraji. Maraji did not want to be part of what was then called an "open relationship." Rick, who had been married, doesn't seem to have been very good at monogamy. He had several one night stands with Silver Web coven students and apparently decided to simply lie to all the women.

These activities are clearly misuse of the position of a community leader and teacher.

Naturally, these unethical activities eventually caught up with him in late fall of 1985.

One result was a little more than half of Earthsong Community walked out of the organization. They formed the Free Spirit Alliance in 1986.

Maraji and Rick remained in this area for a couple more years. Then they took off for parts unknown and eventually ended up in Oregon.

We learned of Rick's fate through the newspapers. Richard Gwynallen had been arrested in July 2000 and convicted for fraud and theft of federal grant funds totaling $159,345. He had written one or more grants for the Headwaters, Inc. Coalition Project, an environmental watchdog group, and had deposited this federal grant money in a personal checking account. All the newspaper stories mentioned that some of the money had been spent on items from Victoria Secrets as well as jewelry, etc., for two separate women--"wives," Maraji Gwynallen and Allysen Kauppiner. Maraji Gwynallen and Allysen Kauppiner resided at two different domiciles.

Richard Gwynallen/Richard Lee Allen was convicted in August 2001. He received 30 days home detention and five years probation. Accounts were written up in several newspapers.

In this case, I have no reservations about recording Rick's legal name in connection with this history or in recounting how he answered to his own karma.

Debt to the New Book of the Law

The Sacred Suggestions owes a very clear debt to the New Book of the Law. Although I had been scribbling notes about ethics in Neo-Paganism since the early 1980's, I didn't really try to organize them until I'd read the compilation of Lady Galadriel of Georgia.

I definitely borrowed organization, style, and content from her non-copyrighted compilation as well as from the two examples of Craft Laws I was familiar with.

For example, she used the image of gleaning the corners of the fields, urging that extra be left over to the earth. I added the old injunction about how the poor were orginally allowed to gather the leftovers remaining in the fields after the harvest. It was my intention that SS #37 would be a reference to the concept of not spending 100 percent of one's income on one's self.

The New Book of the Law had several references to Atlantis, where Wiccans were the priestesses and priests of the primary religion.

I didn't put any of those ideas in the Sacred Suggestions. I personally don't care much for the concept of Atlantis as a foundation myth for the religion of Wicca.

First, I do not think the continent of Atlantis with its advanced civilization ever existed.

Second, in spite of enjoying several wonderful fantasy fiction novels, I don't think Wicca needs a Golden Age foundation myth in which the Wiccan priesthood were once powerful and had the greatest temples. According to this foundation myth, a terrible event destroyed the civilization that the Wiccan priesthood ruled, sinking its continent beneath the murky waters of the Atlantic.

In all theocracies, the ruling priesthood must suppress competing philosophies, which they recognize as dangerous heresies.

Even before I read the scholarship of Aidan Kelly, I believed Wicca was Neo-Paganism. It was a new system of worship, grafted upon old roots of pre-Christian religions.

People comparing the Sacred Suggestions with other Craft Laws will notice I kept a few references to the lore of the Burning Times and put them in SS #57.

I did so for a couple of reasons.

First, there truly was a witch-hunting craze in the 14th and 15th centuries, which did result in lots of people being executed for the crime of practicing witchcraft. (Certainly not nine million and probably most of them were not practicing magic, malicious or beneficial. Certainly none of them were Wiccans, in the modern sense. Yet, this connection with the victims of the Burning Times and modern Wiccans is still found in numerous books. Modern Wiccans identify with people unjustly oppressed for imagined crimes against others.)

Secondly, I compiled the Sacred Suggestions in 1989, during the 20th century "Satanic panic," which peaked in 1988. There were some vocal fundamentalists who seemed hell-bent to find people involved in the "great Satanic plot against humanity." In their eyes, Wicca was a cult and a front for recruiting youths into Satanism, kidnapping children, running kiddie porn rings and drug rings, human sacrifice, etc.--all for the greater glory of Satan. Perhaps you heard of the W.I.C.C.A. Letters (Witches' International Coven Council Association)? This document explained that witches plan to take over the world by 1999 using daycares, Big Brother/Sister programs, and personal computers.

What my Sacred Suggestions don't have

As stated before, I intended this text to be suggestions on how to apply the primary maxim, "If it harm none, do as you will," in one's life. Hence, I left out any suggestions about not committing crimes of murder, rape, or theft. The Neo-Pagan community at large viewed these crimes as harmful and destructive. Therefore, I didn't think I needed to make specific "suggestions" against such serious crimes, or to bother to explain why they were unethical.

Summary

Reviewing this document, I still think it contains some darned good suggestions on how to function in a large Pagan community and generally in life. Follow your bliss--as the New Agers would say--without stomping upon the bliss of someone else.

The path of Neo-Paganism and Wicca insists each practitioner take responsibility for her/his actions. Everything you do has a consequence. For example, pick up a pretty crystal wand to examine it at a large, open event without asking the owner, and the consequence could be the owner's wrath. Gossip about a Pagan friend's private activities, and the consequence could be that Rumor may run through the community like wildfire. Fail to keep your home clean and organized, the consequence will be dirt and disorganization.

What we know about the origins of the Craft Laws in the 21st century today

According to Doreen Valiente in The Rebirth of Witchcraft (1989), the Craft Laws were written by Gerald Gardner in 1957. She describes them as "...couched in mock archaic language and ornamented with awesome threats of 'so be it ardane' (meaning 'ordained') and invocations of 'the Curse of the Goddess' upon anyone who dared to transgress them." (p 70)

Gardner presented these to his former initiates, who had already hived off from his original coven, as genuine ancient Witchcraft Laws, which had been passed down through the Burning Times. Several of these initiates had previously sent Gardner a list of Proposed Rules for the Craft to settle a dispute over Gardner giving interviews. Gardner, in return, sent the Craft Laws back, stating that the Proposed Rules were not needed, because there was already an ancient system of Craft Laws. His initiates did not at all believe Gardner's claim that these Craft Laws were ancient. Aidan Kelly in Crafting the Art of Magic, Vol. I (1991) had made a good case that Gardner, inspired by the Proposed Rules, primarily combined ideas from them with ideas from his book, Witchcraft Today (1954), and a few other sources to form the Craft Laws.

In The Rebirth of Witchcraft (1989), Valiente continued about the Craft Laws:

One section of them I totally rejected. The word, "sexist" was not in use in those days, but sexist was exactly what this pronouncement was. It set forth that "the Gods love the brethren of Wicca as a man loveth a woman by mastering her." It went on further to say that the High Priestess had to recognize that all power came from the God, who had only lent it to her: "And the greatest virtue of a High Priestess be that she recognize that youth is necessary to the representative of the Goddess. So will she gracefully retire in favour of a younger woman, should the coven so decide in council." (p 70)

Several Feminist Wiccans and Neo-Pagans agree with Valiente about the "sexist" King and Sheba laws 14-21, which suggest the high priestess gracefully retire when she no longer resembles a Barbie doll nymphette.

In his Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion (2007), Aidan Kelly explained that:

..."ardane" is probably not an archaicizing of "ordained" (which was never spelled thus), but Gardner's misspelling of "aredan," which the OED (p 110) says is a participle form of "arede," a Saxon word meaning "to determine by council, to decree, to declare by supernatural council, to prophesy, to divine, to make known," with recorded uses dating from the ninth to seventeenth centuries. It is an archaic word introduced into this document in order to make it look old. (p. 228)

In Inventing Witchcraft (2007), Kelly records a Craft Law written during the 1960's.

All may use the Art for your own advantage, or for the advantage of the Craft, only if you be sure you harm none. But ever let the Coven debate the matter at length, only if none may be harmed may the Art be used. If it is not possible to achieve your ends one way without harming any, perchance the end may be achieved by acting in a different way so as to harm none. May the Curse of the Goddess be on any who breach this law. So be it Ardane. (p 241)

Kelly, however, had traced this moral concept to a passage in Gardner's Meaning of Witchcraft (1959):

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." This involves every magical action discussed first, to see if it can do no damage, and this induces a habit of the mind to consider well the results of one's actions, especially upon others. (Meaning of Witchcraft, p 127)

Some unknown Wiccan may have boiled down this idea into the famous 8-word ethical maxim of Wicca: "If it harm none, do as you will." Quite likely, this happened during the 1960's. Eventually, this 8-word maxim became part of sundry codes of Pagan and Wiccan conduct. It also became part of The Reded of the Wiccae, submitted to Green Egg magazine (issue #69) in 1975 by Lady Gwynne Thompson and the 8-line Rhyming Wiccan Rede.

copyright 2008 Myth Woodling

In nature, there are no rewards or punishments, only consequences. --source unknown

Ethics: The Wiccan Rede
Ethics: Rhyming Wiccan Rede
Ethics: Your Personal Rights

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