Society has had a fear of witchcraft ever since the creation of the stereotype of the Old Crone. Terrible people, they go about putting spells and curses on everyone. Whereas the reality is witchcraft is a survival of ancient ways and knowledge.
Clearly, some people have, and will, use the fear of witchcraft to their advantage for impure means. But this is not due to witchcraft, but to human nature. A knife can cut bread or people, dependent on the user. It is the user at fault, not the knife.
Witchcraft, today, is usually known as Wicca. There is a general rule in the practice known as the Wiccan Rede. I don’t know how old it is, but as a guide to life, I cannot think of a better one.
Traditionally used as guidance for spells, it is quite simple: Do as you will, but hurt none. Nothing could be simpler than that. The person is free to do, or be, who he wants, as long as he does no harm to others.
So perfect is the rule that it has now infiltrated into modern society. A liberal culture runs on the same guideline. You can be who you want to be, as long as you don’t hurt anyone.
Liberals, it seems, are pure pagans. Except, that is, for one point. Running alongside the Wiccan Rede is an old moral inevitability of action. Whatever you do comes back three times upon you. Hence, if you do good, goodness is heaped upon you. But if you do bad?
Liberal society should maybe remember this point, for in not having a moral arbiter of action, liberal society can easily lead to dangerous excess. The old witches seem, to me, to be much wiser than the liberals of today.
© Anthony North, Jan 2007
