Pagan/ Wiccan morality: The Ethics of Our Spirituality (morals, beliefs)

[Feathers in Hair]

I was just remembering an old Wiccan friend I had who was... well, less than nice. Unfortunately, he allowed this to seep into his religion. He admitted to me that he spent much of his putting curses on people.

One of them was an 'instant karma' type of curse. He told me that one day his car had broken down and he'd had to be towed. While this was happening, he noticed that the car in front of him had a Christian 'Fishie' sticker. With his nasty, misguided perception of the other religion, he suddenly felt angry and frustrated at the other vehicle. He cast the aforementioned spell and, sure enough, the car in front of him crashed. Unfortunately, what it crashed into was the tow truck that this person was in. Everyone in the other car was okay, but the friend broke his arm and his car (the one being towed) swung off and was totalled.

As is usually the case, the friend failed to see the irony in this. He told me that he thought that the spell hadn't worked properly. I withheld my thoughts that it had worked perfectly. The other people, who'd done absolutely nothing wrong, had nothing happen to them, while he, who was filled with hatred and wished harm on another, had suffered for it. I continue to think of it to this day.

What does your perception of the pagan/ Wiccan path teach about curses? What do you think about them? Have you ever thought about using them?

My personal path tells me that curses are one of the worst things we can do to ourselves. Even if the other person has done wrong, all it does is sully your own karma. You can see the effects in some people's auras after they've done a curse or hex. It makes them unpleasant to be around, and I'd hate to think what it would feel like to be the person in that aura. In non-esoteric terms, too, it's just a lousy idea to carry around all that anger. I've toyed with the vaugue notion sometimes, but I've always come back to the fact that it does the practitioner more harm than they're every going to do to the other person. If the other party has done wrong, the universe will usually work itself out. There's no need to get oneself dragged into it.

What are your thoughts?

[nightwolf]

I have a friend (my bro-in-law) that shares alot of the beliefs I do. I believe in karma, and now he does.
We were driving ot of the local walmart store in his car (I was driving) and I went to let someone out before me who had been sitting there awhile. When I went to let them out he said go,go,go. I turned and said its good to be nice to pople for good karma, He said the hell with karma and the back wheel came loose two seconds later and almost made me wreck. Boy was I mad at him!

[Feathers in Hair]

Hehee! I feel bad, though, since it was your car! (Hope he paid you back for it!)

Thanks for sharing the story! Frubals to try to make up for your lost wheel!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by FeathersinHair

What does your perception of the pagan/ Wiccan path teach about curses? What do you think about them? Have you ever thought about using them?

I don't know if you remember this or not, Feathers, but a long, long time back I started a thread on why I like Pagans. I really meant that. Most of them are genuinely nice people who are respectful of religions other than their own. I didn't even know until recently that Pagans put curses on people. That's kind of disappointing to me. But, as you pointed out, I guess they can backfire, huh? Too bad your friend didn't even realize that's what happened when his curse went wrong.

[jeffrey]

This is more up Evenstar's alley. Is this the effect from the 'threefold law'?

[Shade]

You generally have three types of pagans:

Group A: Your religious pagans. Pagans who worship dieties, use spell casting moderately, ect-(Not to say all of us can't have the momentary lapse in good judgement.)

Group B: Usually high schoolers trying to rebel against their parents and others. They're only interested spellcraft, namely for their own gain.

Group C: People who claim to be pagan yet...have no idea what paganism is...These people usually get it mixed up with Satanism and are simply wearing the pentagram to be "cool".

Group A USUALLY has ethics. I know I have morals. I've never cast "love spells" and only one curse when I was much younger. The boy was a jerk but ended up breaking his ankle that night and I felt...pretty lousy about it...I have mixed feelings about the Three-Fold-Law and Karma. I believe a spell or curse can backlash on you if it is cast for the wrong reasons but taking a look at the world...and all the truly lousy people...where is their Karma coming back to bite them? Ah well, perhaps in their next life, hmm?

[jeffrey]

My wife has told me that the only 'spells' she has cast for the most part as been on her self, like for inner peace and her own general well being. I probably worded this wrong.

[Mike182]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

My wife has told me that the only 'spells' she has cast for the most part as been on her self, like for inner peace and her own general well being. I probably worded this wrong.

no that sounds right

a friend of mine who, would be placed in shade's group c, cast a love spell on someone, which i told her i disagreed with, because she did it on a specific person to get them to have feelings for her

he asked her out, now, at this point in time i was simlyu learning, and wasn't doing, but my teacher sent out an irish wolf hound to protect the person she had cast the love spell on, and he suddenly broke the relationship off

she was attempting to mess with free will, and she was very angry that we had cast the wolf hound, and she has not spoken to me since

this was about half a year ago, and apparantly she's gotten herself into more trouble
silly girl

[kreeden]

Personally , I don't believe in karma as I understand it . Not as I believe religion says it works at lest . But I do believe in the Law of Returns , sometimes called the Threefold Law . Our friend's " spell " worked just as it should have Feathers . Just as is the Nature of things . There is always a price , and we get what we give .

In your friend's case that isn't only having damage done to his car , but the effects it has on his outlook on life . Which to me is much more important . He sows bitterness , and that is what he reaps . And that is something that appears to be stated in every religion , in one way or another . { well , in most **