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Author Topic: Witch's 10 Commandments  (Read 12849 times)

Auress

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #15 on: July 25, 2011, 03:42:30 pm »
Quote from: ZombyFrogg;7745
I came across this the other day "The Witch's 10 Commandments" by Marian Singer. They are:
 
1. Thou art God/dess
 2. As above, so below; as within, so without
 3. Spirit abides in all things; words & names have meaning
 4. Maintain an attitude of gratitude (walk the talk)
 5. Honor the ancestors, teachers, elders, and leaders
 6. All life is scared
 7. All acts of love & pleasure are sacred
 8. Whatever you send out returns threefold
 9. Love is the law, love under will
 10. For the greatest good an'it harm none

 If I remember right she wrote a book comparing these to the Christian 10 Commandments.Has anyone read it?
I was wondering what people think of them.
 
Also I am a little confused by the "love under will" part.



In my opinion that is mistitled. I realize you, yourself, didn't title it, but the writer totally botched the title. There are many, many witches out there who do not follow things like the Rede, and the Threefold law because those are aspects of Wicca, and not witchcraft itself. Some Wiccans don't even practice witchcraft particularly. I think this lends itself to furthering the misconceptions that are rampant about witches.

This isn't relevant to my life since I don't believe in the Threefold law and I don't follow the Rede.

SunflowerP

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #16 on: July 25, 2011, 04:56:45 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;7892
My basic issue with them is that they're drawing soundbites from several different esoteric philosophies, not all of which are compatible with each other, especially if you go a bit deeper. More to the point, they're more a collection of pieces of advice, rather than a practical guide, at least without a fair bit of context and commentary to support them.


This.  I was, in fact, even thinking of doing what you did and breaking it down by where it was drawn from.

I also dislike the title's use of the word "witch" with no modifiers, as if it applied (or even could apply) to all witches.

And then there's the basic problem of, what the heck for?  So that witches can say, "hey, we've got a Ten Commandments, too!"?  Why ten (except because it's what Judeo-Christianity has)?  Why these ten?

Quote
This basically comes from the idea that the spark of divinity lives within each of us. It became popular through its use in the Church of All Worlds, but I know it has older origins. (Sunflower? Do you remember? All my relevant books are packed.) I want to say it comes out of something in theosophist-influenced stuff, but I might be misremembering.


I have a vague idea that the concept, in a more general way, appears in older sources, but to the best of my personal knowledge, the specific phrasing "Thou art God"/"Thou art Goddess" predates the Church of All Worlds only in that it features in their primary inspiration, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.  If anyone knows more about its provenance, I'm all ears.

In context of what other sorts of things were chosen for this list, though, I doubt other provenance is relevant; this is really more "a list of well-known aphorisms from eclectic neoPaganism", so it's almost certainly here solely because of CAW's influentiality on Pagandom in the '60s and '70s.

Sunflower
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EJay

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2011, 05:14:54 am »
Quote from: Melamphoros;7931
And that's just the way I like it:dwink:

 
Now that's a hoot.

Those accidental dyslexic moments--scared/sacred; santa/satan...... :D:

Best~
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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #18 on: July 26, 2011, 12:02:03 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;7892
My basic issue with them is that they're drawing soundbites from several different esoteric philosophies, not all of which are compatible with each other, especially if you go a bit deeper.


And deeper you went. I really love this post, Jenett, since you gave a bit of the context you were referring to. It made for very interesting reading. Thanks.
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

ZombyFrogg

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #19 on: July 26, 2011, 01:22:26 pm »
Quote from: Dark Midnight;7926
Can I just ask, did you mean sacred? Personally I do prefer scared but I don't think that it fits in with the rest of it, somehow! :eek:

Also, I don't follow any of this. I am a Witch, not a Wiccan, which is what these sound like to me. These rules don't apply to me, but then I have my own rules to follow.

 
Sorry I didn' realize I had misspelled it yes, I meant sacred

Darkhawk

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #20 on: July 26, 2011, 02:21:55 pm »
Quote from: ZombyFrogg;7745

I was wondering what people think of them.

 
"Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. There's a conflict of dominant personalities. There's a group of ringleaders without a ring. There's the basic unwritten rule of witchcraft, which is 'Don't do what you will, do what I say.' The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they can't avoid it."
— Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad)

Not inclined to do what she says. ;)
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

Tana

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #21 on: July 26, 2011, 02:32:13 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;8404

Not inclined to do what she says. ;)


*cackles madly* :monkey:
\'You had to repay, good or bad. There was more than one type of obligation.
That’s what people never really understood.….Things had to balance.
You couldn’t set out to be a good witch or a bad witch. It never worked out for long.
All you could try to be was a witch, as hard as you could.\'
Terry Pratchett \'Lords and Ladies\'

Confuzzled and proud. :p

CozyWitch

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #22 on: July 26, 2011, 02:45:53 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;8404
"Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. There's a conflict of dominant personalities. There's a group of ringleaders without a ring. There's the basic unwritten rule of witchcraft, which is 'Don't do what you will, do what I say.' The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they can't avoid it."
— Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad)
 
Not inclined to do what she says. ;)

That's a really neat quote. Hey Tana, I think I am gonna get try to get my hands on some of his books after all.
 
Okay, so I must add . . . In lieu of recent events and my earlier post in this thread . . . I no longer see myself using these set of "commandments" as part of my Path. Reason being, I have been shown by a certain Deity (and those of you who have been keeping up with me will know who it is) that there is more to the Craft (and my Craft) than having a set of guidelines. I may know my limits but She has decided to have me test them and not be afraid to do what I need to do and go beyond my comfort zone.
 
So, these rules no longer apply to this witch. (I revoke the earlier *DUCK*.)

Auress

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #23 on: July 26, 2011, 04:55:53 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;8404
"Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. There's a conflict of dominant personalities. There's a group of ringleaders without a ring. There's the basic unwritten rule of witchcraft, which is 'Don't do what you will, do what I say.' The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they can't avoid it."
— Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad)

Not inclined to do what she says. ;)



That is the single greatest and most accurate quote about witches I've ever heard. Woohoo for Sir Terry Pratchett!:monkey:

Tana

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #24 on: July 26, 2011, 05:21:43 pm »
Quote from: Vermillion;8451
That is the single greatest and most accurate quote about witches I've ever heard. Woohoo for Sir Terry Pratchett!:monkey:


*grin*
Yeah, when I read this first, I started laughing out loud.
While being at the dentist. *g*
I guess some other patients thought I was going mad. ;)
\'You had to repay, good or bad. There was more than one type of obligation.
That’s what people never really understood.….Things had to balance.
You couldn’t set out to be a good witch or a bad witch. It never worked out for long.
All you could try to be was a witch, as hard as you could.\'
Terry Pratchett \'Lords and Ladies\'

Confuzzled and proud. :p

monsnoleedra

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #25 on: July 26, 2011, 05:33:02 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;8404
"Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. There's a conflict of dominant personalities. There's a group of ringleaders without a ring. There's the basic unwritten rule of witchcraft, which is 'Don't do what you will, do what I say.' The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they can't avoid it."
— Terry Pratchett (Witches Abroad)

Not inclined to do what she says. ;)


There is another saying that used to go with anything dealing with the occult.  There were various ways of saying it but it boiled down to

He Who Knows Says Not
He Who Says Knows Not
And It is Better So!

There's still a lot of people who believe in and adhear to that rule.

As such this 10 commandements of a witch would never be spoken of outside of closed quarters..

drekfletch

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #26 on: July 27, 2011, 02:29:11 pm »
Quote from: SunflowerP;8090
I have a vague idea that the concept, in a more general way, appears in older sources, but to the best of my personal knowledge, the specific phrasing "Thou art God"/"Thou art Goddess" predates the Church of All Worlds only in that it features in their primary inspiration, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.  If anyone knows more about its provenance, I'm all ears.

 
Hindism has a sacred phrase Tat Tvam Asi; That Thou Art.  Tat references the divine singularity of all existance, Tvam is the individual percieved as separate, and Asi links the two together as synonymous.  You are That.
There is no inherent meaning to life.  Stop looking and give your life meaning.
------------------------------------------
Chapter 91 of The Order War by L.E.Modesitt jr.  If I could quote the entire thing I would.

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #27 on: August 09, 2011, 10:02:35 pm »
Quote from: drekfletch;8685
Hindism has a sacred phrase Tat Tvam Asi; That Thou Art.  Tat references the divine singularity of all existance, Tvam is the individual percieved as separate, and Asi links the two together as synonymous.  You are That.

 
I'm familiar with the phrase through the work of the philosopher Martin Buber, who wrote about "I and Thou relationship" with divinity. I'm not sure if Buber himself ever uses the "Thou Art God/dess" phrase specifically, but I seem to remember reading commentary on his philosophy that saw that phrase as a kind of mystical extension of his basic concepts (which made use of the antiquated word "Thou" for very specific reasons). My bet would be that that's actually related back to the Hindu concept you're talking about and probably influenced by it.

--Ali

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #28 on: August 09, 2011, 10:05:23 pm »
Quote from: Vermillion;8451
That is the single greatest and most accurate quote about witches I've ever heard. Woohoo for Sir Terry Pratchett!:monkey:

 
Hear hear! :) Love Pratchett!

And incidentally, love that book and love the quote - as it pretty much sums up nicely exactly why I don't call myself a Witch. ;) I'll take my Druid groves all intertwined in root and limb, thanks. :thup:

--Ali

VickyRose

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Re: Witch's 10 Commandments
« Reply #29 on: September 18, 2011, 05:06:08 pm »
Quote from: DomesticWitch;7783
Generally speaking I avoid anything modern day that uses words like "thou" anyway.


Hahaha. That made me laugh. And, I agree, I'm very weary of anyone who uses those kinds of words.

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