Personal Manifesto On Individual Ethics Make the Group...

I have a strong personal censor and critic on at the moment because of recent issues that are still in the process of resolving. It is hard to write blog posts and not be attacking to the intentional family and coven that I left. Read between the lines as you will. Essentially this is my manifesto that strong individual ethics makes a strong group.

I firmly believe that we as individuals have to be accountable to ourselves. Personal accountability and responsibility is the heart and center of good ethics. What I do and fail to do affect more than just myself. The Wiccan Rede is centered on And It Harm None Do As Thou Will….. Refusing to take accountability for your actions and how they are affecting your loved ones and the people around you constitutes as harm in my book. Forcing other people to be accountable for your own shortcomings also causes harm and is, quite frankly abusive.

There is a part in our existence where we have to be interdependent on others. We do not exist in a vacuum. I appreciate that Starhawk speaks a lot on the four laws of ecology being true for magic and living in true community.  For the sake of reference I repost Barry Commoner’s laws here:

1. Everything Is Connected to Everything Else. There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.
2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and there is no "away" to which things can be thrown.
3. Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner, "likely to be detrimental to that system"
4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Exploitation of nature will inevitably involve the conversion of resources from useful to useless forms.

When you live in intentional community or family you are choosing to be connected to that group. There has to be a balance between sharing of resources and talents. There has to be personal accountability for how you affect the group or coven as a whole. You can’t expect the universe to wait on you hand and foot because you have a title or previous experience. Even the Pope has to wipe his own ass.  If you choose to ignore how you impact your community, you are causing them harm either because there will be a lack of resources or you are harming them emotionally or spiritually because you are abusively controlling and manipulating the group.

Often in tarot readings, I will have people ask when their circumstances will change. If they will ever meet a different type of personality than the abusive so and so that they keep getting, when their finances will get better, etc etc… Essentially asking if the magic will support the change in their circumstances that they want.

Magic can only do so much at the end of the day. If you are not changing your spending habits to meet your budget, you will have financial problems. No amount of green or red candles and money drawing incense is going to change that. If you keep going after the same job type you will always be miserable in the job. If you don’t take steps to fix the issues you know are YOUR responsibility, no one will do it for you. If you don’t change you first, you will never see the change manifested outside of yourself.  The charge of the Goddess even states this. You will never find without what you don’t find within first. You can’t plant watermelon seed and expect basil to grow.  If you want basil you need to plant basil seeds. However, when there are enough individuals that change their internal process then the group changes as well.  The macrocosmic reflecting the microcosm and vice versa.  

The other issue being that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Any type of exploitation will inevitably involve the conversion or resources from useful to useless forms. Exploitation causes physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. If you exploit your friends and family they will stop being your friends and family and refuse to share their resources (physical, emotional, or spiritual) with you.  The other piece to that is that if you keep telling them that their contribution is useless, they will take away their resources or go where they are seen as useful.  Most groups and covens fail ultimately because this point is forgotten not just in terms of spell work but group dynamic as well.

No man escapes his own wyrd. Karma is a bitch. Make sure you are being accountable and taking responsibility for your own shit first. The rest will take care of itself. Peace out.