Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Prayer
Options
Comments
-
-
-
The Law of Thelema has a quite different meaning to "wilt" than the Wiccan Rede. In Thelema there is the concept of one's "true will", so the magician would engage in the Coversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and other workings to understand his or her true will and act upon it. This bi-passes the need for an ethic of reciprocity, of legality, or most other ethics as people living their true will would naturally be in harmony with each other, "Every man and every woman is a star" there is a harmonious path for everyone to follow. To add "an it harm none" to this is hence nonsense.who007 wrote:AND just change that to "do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law" and you have the one and only commandment of Satanism ( a widely misunderstood spiritual expression, by the way) :cool:
Will in the sense of the Rede is will in the normal meaning of the word, and hence it simply advises that as long as you aren't doing any harm you should do whatever you please.
While they are quite different it certainly seems most likely that the wording of the Law of Thelema has influenced the most common wordings found today. Prior to that we find in Gardner:[Witches] are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol[e], "Do what you like so long as you harm no one". But they believe a certain law to be important, "You must not use magic for anything which will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone, you must do it only in a way which will abate the harm.
- Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft
The morality of the (fictional) Good King Pausole is in turn- Do no wrong to thy neighbor.
- Observing this, do as thou pleasest.
Gardnerian Craft Laws contain the expression "harm none", but not the rest of the Rede (and after all, it's a rede not a law and besides, there's no reason for a law to tell you to do what you will). The only explanation for the law is not addressed in terms of ethics but of self-preservation:But when one of our oppressors die, or even be sick, ever is the cry, "This be Witches Malice," and the hunt is up again. And though they slay ten of their people to one of ours, still they care not; they have many thousands, while we are few indeed. So it is Ardane that none shall use the Art in any way to do ill to any, howevermuch they have injured us. And for long we have obeyed this law, "Harm none" and nowtimes many believe we exist not. So it be Ardane that this law shall still continue to help us in our plight. No one, however great an injury or injustice they receive, may use the Art in any to do ill or harm any.
- Public Contents of Gardnerian Book of Shadows (if you believe Aidan Kelly, he's regarded as an oathbreaker and a liar so it's a matter of whether he was oathbreaking or lying when he published that
).
So we have "harm none" expressed as both an ethic and a tactical decision (though the tactic enforced as a law, but there the ethical consideration is the safety of the coven and other Witches, not those you may harm), later being worded in terms mirroring Crowley's in their poetry but not in their meaning. Just when this wording happened is debatable, but the smart money is on the Doreen Valiente speech Thaed quotes above (not least because she was familiar with Crowley's work and had a talent for re-wording already existing material with great poetry and beauty, indeed it is Valiente who composed the better known poetic form of the Charge).
Certainly, while the two are different, they can be found to be compatible, and there are people who honour both.
Satanism (quite different to Thelema - Crowley worked through his Satanic period long before then by entering Anglican churches, hardly a Satanic act to most eyes but he knew it would have shocked his Plymouth Brethren mother) on the other hand covers a large number of religious, spiritual and decadent viewpoints. The most significant is probably Church of Satan which has the Nine Satanic Statements and Nine Satanic Sins, of which the most significant in a discussion of ethics of reciprocity are the 4th, 5th and 6th statements, which specifically refuses such an ethic:
And the 3rd sin, which attacks much of the reasoning behind such ethics:4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
- Anton Szandor LaVey, "The Nine Satanic Statements" in The Satanic Bible3. Solipsism—Can be very dangerous for Satanists. Projecting your reactions, responses and sensibilities onto someone who is probably far less attuned than you are. It is the mistake of expecting people to give you the same consideration, courtesy and respect that you naturally give them. They won’t. Instead, Satanists must strive to apply the dictum of “Do unto others as they do unto you.” It’s work for most of us and requires constant vigilance lest you slip into a comfortable illusion of everyone being like you. As has been said, certain utopias would be ideal in a nation of philosophers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from a Machiavellian standpoint) we are far from that point.
- Anton Szandor LaVey, "The Nine Satanic Statements" in The Satanic Bible0 -
Advertisement