Breaking down the wiccan rede and the 13 goals of a witch

Children Of the Earth and Sky > Classroom > Breaking down the wiccan rede and the 13 goals of a witch

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Cranky Hedge Witch
Posts: 1410
(5/27/04 6:46 am)
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Breaking down the wiccan rede and the 13 goals of a witch

Ok, I am not a wiccan any longer, but consider it a beautifull path and consider the rede and the 13 goals to be very valuable tools to self and general human understanding. In this thread, I hope to break them down into understandable lots and share what we each beleive they mean...because face it, paganism is a WHOLE lot more internally spiritual then extrenally. For us, we first create a temple with in ourselves that flows outward, at some point however we then require sacred space. For most other religions sacredness is found within yourself after entering a house of God... For us, we tend to be walking, breathing, talking houses of the divine!

I will start with the 13 goals of a witch:
1. Know Yourself - According to the Tao Te Ching: "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.". Unfortunately knowing oneself isn't always easy.
In order to know yourself, you must learn your own faults and embrace them. If there is something you know about yourself that you despise, take steps to correct it for as long as it is a part of you, it is yourself you despise...and if it cant be corrected at least with knowing it you now have controll over it....you may have a mile wide jealous streak, but if you know this and recognize it when it rears its ugly head, you can yourself lure it into a cage without injury to yourself and others. This is a good starting point for creating self love and yes by extension self esteem. Once this is done, you can begin to argue your opinions validly and accept who you are, and by extension those around you can accept you forwho you are. Personal strength is powerfull stuff and knowing yourself introduces you to your very own personal strength.

2. Know Your Craft - Read the writings of more than one witch, and try to find other witches to talk to. There isn't a standard agreement among witches as to what wicca and/or witchcraft IS , so my advice would be to learn from as many different people or sources possible. Becoming a spiritual sponge helps you to learn your own path and to fully accept those of others. No matter how old I become, I cannot stop learning...life, in this and the next, is one great classroom. Use it and its tools. Narrowing down my interest to 3 at a time has helped me to learn my craft and learn it well.

3. Learn - Learn everything you can. Grasp every chance you can to learn from anyone and anything. The world is such a wonderful marvelous place, and there's always so much to learn from it... Kind of walks in hand with #2...if you learn self love then love of the other inhabitants of this world becomes second nature.

4. Apply Knowledge with Wisdom - It has been said that love without wisdom is no different from hate in its results. Likewise knowledge without wisdom is no different than ignorance. Simply KNOWING something does not necessarily make it true... most Christians KNOW we are satan worshipping baby killers...yet this is not true. Remeber always that truth chages as frequently as the waves on water and the wind threw trees. Try thinking beyond what you know.

5. Achieve Balance - An instrument does not work properly if the strings are too tight or too loose. Likewise all things must be kept in balance.
right and wrong, good and evil, weak and strong, yin and yang...it is all within us. If it is balanced we feel whole, complete, if not we feel incomplete or for lack of a better term lopsided

This weakens us and takes away from our own personal strengths.

6. Keep Your Words in Good Order - One of Starhawk's books talks about how important honesty is to a witch. If a Witch makes a habit of lying, then how can the words of her spell be true? How can you trust her? And if you do not trust her, how can she fullfill her obligation to humanity and nature? Yet keeping your words in good order can go beyond just not lying. Your thoughts, words, and actions are all tied together and together they shape your life. Your words should reflect the type of person you want to be and the type of life you want to live. Also, by keeping your words in good order, you can offer intelligant arguements to those who would hold you back. Think before you speak and think before you think to speak lol

7. Keep Your Thoughts in Good Order - The following is a poem from the Dhammapada (sayings of the Buddha):

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into the habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings...

As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.

(Alot of the concepts of buddism and wicca carry over into one another)

By keeping your thoughts in good order, you learn not to dwell to heavily on the negativity which can weigh you down, come outside of yourself and wreak havoc in your world and the lives of those you care about. Bad things happen...horrible things. But it is the human ability to not dwell on the negative that allows a mother to love her child, allows lovers to reconcile and it is the primary reason that thought they annoy us greatly we still love our siblings! The ability is there, using it strengthens not only your own personal strength but your own personal magick as well.

Ill finish more later :hug

:hug

please feel free to add your own insights :lots

:lots

Children Of The Earth and Sky

starwind123

Keeper of the Sacred Arts
Posts: 462
(6/5/04 4:04 pm)
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Re: Breaking down the wiccan rede and the 13 goals of a witc

ok heres my two cents

1. Know Yourself

2. Know Your Craft

3. Learn

4. Apply Knowledge With Wisdom

5. Achieve Balance

6. Keep Your Words in Good Order

7. Keep Your Thoughts in Good Order

8. Celebrate Life

This one seems self explaintory but in fact its harder to do that most would belive... to celebrate life means to really live life to its fullest potinical.. and sad to say its seldom we do this in truth.. the way of the witch means to be fully alive and one can only do this if we accept all life... the good the bad and the ugly... we tend not to do this.... we curse the weather be it hot or cold.. we shy away from life forms we find repulsive.. we deny ourselves the freedom to enjoy what we do...you can figure other examples yourself..
to celebrate life is to LIVE life in all its forms here and in the now.... and since im another closet Taoist

To conduct one's life according to the Tao,
is to conduct one's life without regrets;
to realize that potential within oneself
which is of benefit to all.

It is better merely to live one's life,
realizing one's potential,
rather than wishing
for sanctification.

He who lives in filial piety and love
has no need of ethical teaching.

Next..?

9. Attune With the Cycles of the Earth

10. Breathe and Eat Correctly

11. Exercise the Body

12. Meditate

13. Honor the Goddess and the God

Blessings on your coming
Blessings on your going
Blessings on all your house

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