Okay, so I have been reading a multitude of posts recently about the portion of the Wiccan Rede that a good number of witches take to heart. Im sure you all know what I am talking about. "An it Harm None, Do What Thou Will." It has been thrown back and forth lately and I decided to throw my opinion out there for those who want to hear it. (I like to pretend that people actually like to hear my opinion, but I know the truth.) Now, I do not consider myself a wiccan, but i think that the rede is a good thing for even witches to follow, as long as they follow it in the right way.
Personally, i believe that the rede should not be applied to every day life and every situation. The idea of not harming anyone was taken from the original idea of the rede and stretched beyond belief. I am not, by any means, saying that it is okay to harm someone in any situation. I am saying that the idea of "harm none" is may out of control. I have met people, and read blogs of people who take the rede so much to heart that they would not even do harm if it were to protect themselves or their families. I dont agree with this point of view at all.
I am also coming from the point of view of a Pre-Veterinary Medicine major. I am going to be a veterinarian within the next six to eight years, and that job would require me to cause pain in order to help animals. I am going to have to euthanize animals, and i see no issue there as long as it is better for the animal. (this is a whole different blog topic that i am not going into here.) I am going to have to draw blood, and place IV's and many other things that will knowingly cause the animal pain, but will also get it on the way to healing and getting better. This is not the place to apply the rede.
I recently broke up with my girlfriend. It hurt her a very great deal. I am an empath, I can feel how much it crushed her. It needed to be done. For my own sanity and to help her in the long run. I knowingly hurt her, and i dont think that I will receive any negative effects for it. This is not where the rede should apply. There are countless times in ones life in which you will have to hurt someone, and its just part of being alive in our society. It cannot be escaped.
Where should the rede be applied? It is very simple, and i think it has more to do with the original intent of the rede than anyone realizes. Magick. It is as simple as that. Magick can be a very powerful thing, and can easily be used to harm someone. There are also cases in which it accidentally harms someone. I think that the main idea of the rede is saying, do whatever magick you want, as long as you are not knowingly harming someone. Magick has many uses, and us witches put them to use. Personally, i will never perform magick that will knowingly harm another living thing, it just goes against my morals.
Thats my opinion on the rede, feel free to refute me or just send happy supporting comments.
Meh. I'd just as soon throw the rede out the window in a lot of respects. I mean, it's an okay rule of thumb to follow when determining the ethics of a spell... but there are other ethical concerns that are more specific and therefore relative than a generalized "harm none".
ReplyDeleteI'm not personally opposed to defensive magic, I mean, I won't (under the majority of circumstances) hex a person... Doing a general spell where the intended goal is clear but the means are not could unintentionally end up hurting someone. If you walk around with that kind of paranoia I think you'd be lucky to cast a spell at all.
The Rede (An it harm none) is a really good Gaia Consort song that gets stuck in my head often though... No issue with the rede in that context. The Rede in its entirety is also nice prose.