Witcan Study Exercises
by Leananshae as inspired by, “The Thirteen Goals of a Witch”*
AS A WITCAN, I STRIVE...
...TO BREATHE, EAT, MOVE AND COMMUNE IN LIFE ENCOURAGING WAYS[10&11]*;
...TO WALK A WINDING MIDDLE PATH[5];
...TO ACHIEVE NON-ATTACHMENT TO FEAR AND DESIRE[1];
...TO PRACTICE FULFILLMENT[1&2];
...TO BE IMPECCABLE IN ALL OF MY THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS[6&7];
...TO UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT MYSELF[1];
...TO JOURNEY WITHIN AND WITHOUT[12];
...TO ATTAIN KNOWLEDGE AND APPLY IT WITH WISDOM[3&4];
...TO ATTUNE MYSELF TO THE CYCLES OF EARTH, MOON, SUN AND COSMOS[9];
...TO HONOR DIVINITY[13];
...TO LOVE AND CARE FOR ALL THINGS IN CREATION;
...TO CELEBRATE LIFE AND ENLIGHTENMENT[8];
...TO SEEK MUTUAL BENEFICIALITY FOR ALL.
*[x&y] superscripted notations denote which “goal/s” from the original thirteen is/are represented in the Witcan version.
Further Study for Seekers:
Describe how you feel about each goal and what you plan to do with/about them.
Comment on the vocabulary used in the list and what key words or phrases were meaningful or meaningless to you.
Interpret and rewrite the list in your own words.
Write a completely new list of thirteen personal goals. You might start that list by saying, “As Joan Doe, I strive...”.
EXERCISE 1 Part 2
Read the original “Thirteen Goals of a Witch” below and answer the study questions at the end of the reading.
The 13 Goals of a Witch
author unknown (Valiente?)
1. Know yourself
2. Know your Craft
3. Learn
4. Apply knowledge with wisdom
5. Achieve balance
6. Keep your thoughts in good order
7. Keep your words in good order
8. Celebrate life
9. Attune with the cycles of the Earth
10. Breathe and eat correctly
11. Exercise the body
12. Meditate
13. Honor the Goddess and God
Further Study for Seekers:
What are your thoughts on why the author seems to have excluded a clear mandate for the care of other things/beings outside of oneself? Or do you think #4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13 in the original list of goals add-up to an inference that we should care about other things/beings outside of ourselves?
Knowing that this list is at least 25 years old, how do you feel Wiccan/Witchcraft ethics have evolved since it was written? Have neo-pagan values changed over time? Do you think Witcan values might change as time goes on?
How do you imagine the values and ethics of future Witcans and how do you think they will view ours? Do you think it is valid to alter, augment, amend or otherwise “tamper” with traditional/conventional canonical works in our or any other spiritual practice, i.e., Islam or Buddhism?
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EXERCISE 2
What follows is an amazing passage from The Book of Shadows which serves nicely as a stepping stone toward a discussion about Wiccan ethics which has had no small effect on thousands of student Wiccans over the last half a century. The second half of the last paragraph contains the real meat of the prose, which I've highlighted for your convenience, but I've included all three paragraphs, so that one may get the full effect that Gardner intended.
I ask my students to re-write each sentence or thought in their own words, adding what they thought Gardner meant to communicate, examining metaphor and allusion, and then ask them to include some running commentary as thoughts come to mind. This can also serve as an in-class discussion starter; just make sure to hand it out several days prior to the discussion as waiting to read it for the first time in class can eat up a lot of time.
LAST TENET TO THE POSTULATE
Gerald Gardner
O thou who hast declared intent to become one of us,
Hear then that which thou must know to do.
Single is the race of men and of Gods;
From a single source we both draw breath,
But a difference of power in everything keeps us apart,
For we are as nothing,
But the Gods stay forever.
Yet we can, in greatness of minds,
Be like the Gods,
Though we know not to what goal by day or in the night
Fate has written that we shall run.
Beyond all seas and Earth's last boundaries,
Beyond the Spring of night
And the Heavens' vast expanse,
There lies a majesty which is the domain of the Gods.
Thou who would pass through the Gates of Night and Day to that sweet place,
Which is between the worlds of men and the domains of the Lords of the outer spaces,
Know that unless there is truth in thy heart,
Thy every effort is doomed to failure.
HEAR THEN THE LAW: that thou lovest all things in nature;
That thou shalt suffer no person to be harmed by thy hands or in thy mind;
That thou walkest humbly in the ways of men and the ways of the Gods.
Also it is the Law that contentment thou shalt learn, through suffering,
And from long years and from nobility of mind and of purpose,
FOR THE WISE NEVER GROW OLD.
Their minds are nourished by living in the daylight of the Gods,
And if among the vulgar some discoveries should arise
Concerning some maxims of thy belief in the Gods,
So do thou, for the most part, keep silent.
For there is a great risk that thou mayest straightway vomit up that which thou hast not digested,
And when someone shall say to thee,
"Thou knowest naught," and it bites thee not,
Then knowest thou that thou hast begun the work.
And as sheep do not bring their food to the shepherd to show how much they have eaten,
But digesting inwardly their provender,
Bear outwardly wool and milk,
Even so, do not thou display the maxims to the vulgar,
But rather the works that flow when they are digested.
Now there is the ordeal."
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