Ethics and the Ethic By Lakshmi Once we start setting standards and platforms in certain topics, we'll just become another religion with barriers and commitments. I don't think that's what it's all about. Thus read a letter to the editor in an old issue of Llewellyn’s New Times. This attitude troubles me, as one who accepted a commitment when I asked for dedication into the Craft. Wicca is another religion, and barriers (or standards) and commitments are what a religious belief system is all about. While all covens are autonomous, and we all profess many varied traditions and diverse pantheons, the Ethic and the Law (of threefold return) are the two fundamental ideas that bind us together as Wiccans. My standards, as a member of the Craft, should be determined by the Ethic. Unfortunately, many groups hardly touch upon the deep consequences of living by the Ethic, if they discuss them at all. Many groups seem more obsessed with magickal working than anything else, and personal responsibility can become lost in a self-absorbed thirst for power and control. This is not to say that I must blindly accept standards and commitments imposed by others. That is the way to avoid responsibility. As a Wiccan I must question each situation and determine my own limitations in view of the ethic, and not ignore the need for these limitations. The Ethic states An it harm none, do as ye will. While it is an affirmative statement (as befits our philosophy), it is a clarion call for self imposed personal limits. Harming none is tricky business! To harm none includes ourselves. Is it a violation of the Ethic if I smoke, or drink irresponsibly, or even drink at all? I must decide for myself, examining the evidence of the results of these activities; and not simply accept another's judgement—for to bend my will to another again harms me. Placing responsibility for my moral standards on another also harms the other, as any recovering co-dependant will tell you. Might I also be doing harm by not taking action? Does my choice not to recycle, or not to attend that demonstration harm others, or myself? Accepting the Ethic as a way of life is hard work. Every person who chooses Wicca as their personal path must spend a lot of time pondering the choices they make as they move along the personal spiritual path, for one ignores the Ethic at one's peril. If I am heedless and undisciplined in my personal life, how can I be disciplined in my magickal life? The energies I raise will not be disciplined. Uncontrolled energy is ineffective at best, and dangerous at worst. In perfect love, and perfect trust. | 
