This is one very compartmented nutshell eh?
Honestly when I started these installments I saw it as one long simplified post. Silly ME!
So what have we covered in the previous installments?
What Wicca IS NOT
God and Goddess
Light and Shadow
Inner and Outer Worlds
Duality
Elemental make up of the psyche/personality
Sabbats ( Holidays)
Esbats ( Lunar Celebrations)
I bet you are drooling for the cools stuff now right? GREAT! And here is is. We're gonna go ahead and talk about Wicca, Responsibility and Energy.
Wheeehooo!
I am fairly sure that any reading material you have picked up has probably worked thoroughly to ingrain it into your head the "Golden Rule" or more commonly known as "The Wiccan Rede" which through all it's babbling and chanting is mostly reduced to and remembered by these lines:
"An it harm none do as thou wilst"
"Ever mind the rule of three
What ye give out, comes back to thee"
So it is here I would like to take a moment for discussion.
"An it harm none do as thou wilst" is a fairly BRRROOOAAAADDD and open ended rule of thumb don't you think? And that my friends is where the beauty and the beast lay within it.
The beauty is the simplicity which is supposed to encourage free thought and lean towards learning and understanding conscious action and personal responsibility.
The beast is that people can be so damn literal minded. Many people will argue a variety of things based on the "An it harm none" bit.
"I couldn't kick him out! I know he's been mooching off of me for 3 months, but if I kick him out he will be homeless and that would hurt him. Goddess would not approve."
-Really? First off Goddess notwithstanding here....how about common sense? Who is really being hurt in this situation? Both parties. Think about the long run scenario for mooch and toonice.
"I'm a vegetarian because it's against the Rede to eat meat (an it harm none)"
-I'm gonna bet the carrots in your salad would have loved to scream in terror and pain from being uprooted from their cozy mound of dirt. Life feeds on life feeds on life. It's a cycle.
"If you are so Wiccan then how can you take that leaf and twig off that tree for your offering? I thought it was no hurting anything with you people"
-This one was from my ex btw. At any rate there is a thing called asking for permission from any living thing. Another thing....the leaf, the grass outside, the petal, all those are closer to getting your nails trimmed or your hair cut than they are to say having your arm lopped off.....which was my response to him.
I could give countless accounts of the misinterpretation of such a simple statement. Broken down and viewed repsonsibly and consciously what it is saying without saying ( as nothing should have to be written down to look back upon as a guidance for common sense):
It's on your own head. Think wisely and carry out your actions consciously. Know that everything you say and do will have an affect for good or bad and it is up to you to use what you have responsibly to make the best decisions you can.
Because really folks there is no way we can never avoid hurting others.It could be something we said. Or wore ( yup some ppl are THAT sensitive). It's because we are only in control of OURSELVES.
And that is the reminder of An it harm none.....
If we took the time to be so passive and willy nilly, always worrying about what we canna control (other peoples sensitivities, feelings, actions, reactions etc) then we would be doing the OPPOSITE of what Wicca is trying to teach. And that would be, getting to know ourselves AND others. We would be too wrapped up and distracted and lose sight of ourselves with worry, fear and self doubt.
So no.
An it harm none is not a passive fluffy unrealistic statement. It's powerful stuff when you apply what is hidden in between the lines.
Ever mind the rule of three....
Let's back up for a moment before we tackle that one.
Wicca believes in Karma.
And what is karma?
The Law of Return.
What you give out will come back to you by some arguable number of intensity ( some common numbers of return are 3, 5,7,9,and 10).
That is to say if you do a good deed because it is a good deed ( helping a lil old lady cross the street) then at some point when you need help ( maybe your car breaks down) someone will be there to help you.
It also goes to say that if you lie to a friend don't be surprised if that friend or someone else pulls something a bit nastier on you.
That is the BASE of KARMA.
You cannot "fool" karma with expectations ( if I give 1$ to a bum then I should get a 10$ winning scratch ticket yeah! ) because :
1-Expectations negate the truth of your action
2-Karma is not tit for tat. Money does not equal money. Furniture does not equal furniture. Lies do not equal lies. Karma is ESSENCE of energetic action so what you give out with your intention ( I am helping someone in need) will come back to you as a fulfillment ( omg thank you so much for that ride to the airport!).
There is no real measurement (imo).
So why the 3x3 or 5x5 or 7x7 bit on the Law of Return? Beats me really. Maybe to make a bigger impact (" be aware of your actions or not only will they come back to you for good or bad, they will come back as BETTER or WORSE")
So you see Karma is not some entity lurking around to reward or punish you. Karma is simply returned energy. The energy you gave out to begin with whether it was as simple as holding a door open for a stranger or sleeping with your best friend's significant other. Whatever you do WILL in some shape or form come back to you.
Are you having a streak of shitty luck? Then take a look at your actions. What have you been doing to attract all that negativity? It's not a punishment. It's a lesson. One that will continue to knock on your head until you do something about it.
Again Karma is not a reward or punishment system. It is simply that which you earn by what you do. And whether you are having a good or bad run of luck and circumstances, by reconizing consciously what you have been doing and what you are recieving, you can learn a lot about yourself.
Btw you know what form Karma seems to take on most for me? Furniture. Most everything in my house ( chairs, couches, TV's , tables, beds, etc) have been purchased WAY cheap or been GIVEN to me for free ( and if I ever have surplus I pass stuff along). This has been going on for me for 14 years. Does this mean I was giving furniture away by the warehouse loads? Nope. I did simple things like run errands for no payment, spared changed, listened to someone when they had a bad day etc. All in all I'm really not sure WHAT I did ( I'm mainly guessing here at some examples).
Karma has come in other forms too, however it's the furniture thing that just tickles me pink and makes a great story and example.
So back to
"Ever mind the rule of three
For what ye give out comes back to thee"
I'm fairly sure you have a grasp on it. If not the run down is whatever you consciously choose to do with your day to day interactions for the benefit of yourself or another.....how you do that will come back down the pipe to you. What comes down that pipe depends on what you gave out to begin with.
Coming to this area soon....another installment.
C/S/
Wicca in a nutshell (V) 
Linear Mode
