Wiccans/Pagans: Just wondering, is this true?

Question

I know one of your mainstays is "Do no harm." And once a wiccan woman told me that they don't often cast bad or harmful spells because whatever spell you cast, its shadow or spirit comes back onto you. She said that if you "send out" evil, evil comes back to you. If you "send out" good, then good comes back to you in the same amount. Is that right?

Isn't this kinda like the concept of karma?

Answer 1

it is alot like the concept of Karma. It's called the 3 fold (or 10fold, depending on who you talk to) rule

PS The Doctors Oath- Prium Non Nocere- means First Do No Harm

Answer 2

You are right, it is Kind of like the law of karma. But it isn't exactly the same as.

I believe (as a Heathen) that everything and everyone is connected on a web of wyrd. So if you do harm (again the definition of harm needs to be made clearly) then that eventually will connect back to you as well. However what has always seemed to me to have no logic to it is that it is returned 3 or 10 times. The concept in Heathenry is termed Wyrd. You choose your future by your actions in the present. You should always be aware of your actions and the possible outcomes of those actions. However if you can say that you can live (or die) with the consequences of what you have done then go ahead and do it; there is no categorisation into good and evil.

Answer 3

I just want to point out that "The White Goddess" has pretty much been discredited as a scientifically based work of archeology. And suggesting that it is "beyond us" is very rude -- and inaccurate. For an accurate portrayal of where Wicca and modern NeoPaganism comes from, I highly recommend "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton (a Wiccan professional historian).

The Wiccan Rede (which other Pagans do not follow) does NOT say "Do no harm". It says, "If you harm none, do what you will". This suggests that all actions that lead to minimal harm (since doing no harm at all is impossible) are morally acceptable acts. It does not prevent us from harming in order to prevent greater harm (for example, incarcerating a serial rapist or performing a binding spell on a stalker).

The belief in the Threefold Law is common among Wiccans, but not universal.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

"Do no harm" is the oath that doctor's take, not Wiccans. A lot of people have abbreviated the Wiccan Rede from "And it harm none, do what you will" to "harm none," but that' really erroneous as that isn't close to what the Rede says.

A lot of Wiccans believe that you get back three times everything you put out, good or bad. I'm unsure where that comes from. Wiccans believe in karma, but eastern concepts of karma aren't about reward or punishment. Karma is about consequences of actions: all actions have consequences and we can't escape those consequences. If you play in traffic, you're likely to get hit. That's a consequence but not a punishment.

I do believe that, overall, the consequences of bad behavior are negative and the consequences of good behavior are possitive. People like to help nice people, while people are suspicious and distant from mean people. But we live in a very complex web of cause and effects. Bad things do happen to good people. We do not (or at least should not) believe that divine anvils drop out of the sky onto the heads of evil doers.

Spellcasters are a sort of conduit. If you're channelling rage and hate through you, there's the expectation that you will be affected as well as the target. There are some people who believe there are circumstances when harmful spells are still warranted, but they understand that there are consequences that will have to be faced for such an action.

Answer 5

Both Wiccans and Pagans appear to believe that casting a black or evil spell will be returned 10 fold. But to believe either religion the "Do No Harm" belief is primary over everything else. Even in the gods they worship.

I am somewhat less knowledgable about Wiccans. But all the Pagans I have known will tell another that the Devil exists in their religion not their's. Evil for them exists in people themselves. Pagans for the most part worship nature though some worship Norse or Greek gods.

As to athiests, I was one. My belief was that wrong made me suffer then, now and in te future unless ballanced by many, many good deeds. And simply asking for forgiveness was meaningless without deeds to back it. I really have never met an athiest that believed they could commit wrongs and remain unpunished. As a Christian now, I am still saddened when I see so many Christians with lesser moral standards than most athiests and other religions. It is more than faith folks! Christians need to set the best example. People are watching. God is watching. Act accordingly.

Answer 6

Yes that's right. Wiccans specifically have a karma statement... the most important part being "three times your acts return to the". Of course, most agree that this is not a technical thing- it's probably not exactly three times. Hurting one person will not just make you get hurt by three people, usually. The important message is reaping what you sow.

Answer 7

I don't know where she got the "shadow or spirit comes back to you" from. It's positive or negative energy. Yes, it is karma. Wicc got it from India, so it's the same karma, so just add power to it. Like you'll get three times more then you sent out. That's why it's important to really think through a spell before you cast it.

Answer 8

i comprehend a pair of former Pagans who're now Christians, yet they do no longer pass around spreading tall thoughts approximately without notice tossing away their occult books after having some form of non-public visitation from Jesus. human beings have not got a tendency to make religious conversions gently, and in some church homes, there is in simple terms about a three hundred and sixty 5 days of learn earlier than affirmation (in different phrases, it fairly is not a technique that folk undertake gently). I additionally comprehend former Christians who grew to become Pagans, Wiccans, Heathens and greater; in addition they did no longer make those judgements rapidly. religious conversions are many times accompanied by using very long classes of learn and mirrored photograph. i've got heard some thoughts from meant "former Wiccans" who switched over to Christianity (those thoughts are just about continually promoted by using Fundamentalist communities), and clearly, the individuals did no longer comprehend Wicca from a hollow interior the floor (they oftentimes equate Wicca with Satanism, case in point, which no genuine Wiccan might ever do), and make claims approximately wild rituals that no Wiccan everywhere has ever participated in. besides the undeniable fact that, i comprehend some people who made valid conversions from Paganism to Christianity, and their thoughts at the instant are not unlike those of individuals who switched over to Christianity from the different non-Christian faith.

Answer 9

It is true in a way.The Wiccan rede and belief of return is somewhat more complicated than that but yes that is the basic idea.

It is not true that all Pagan paths believe in doing no harm though.I'm a Celtic Pagan,my ancestors were warriors and their fire still burns in my blood-I am quite willing to cause harm to others if the need arises.As you have already been told Heathens and Asatru have a similar view.

Answer 10

That sounds like the Wiccan Rede... I guess it could be considered a form of Karma.
But Wicca is just one form of Paganism, and not all pagans adhere to the Wiccan Rede - not all pagans practice, or even worry about magick/spell, as a matter of fact.