on ethics in the pagan community

*Sigh* This is horrible, and sadly, she is not the only one.

I think the time has now come for a look at the way we regard pagans and, particularly, teachers and “Elders” of our community. This man, as the article states, was not part of any established group – but, as the author points out, neither are many of us. And what you might call an “established” group might have only been around for about five years, or so – in which case, you’re fooling yourself about the established thing.

It’s kind of like when I get pen letters from other witches out there. “Oh, I’ve been in the Craft for seven years, I know what I’m doing” one lady wrote to me. Hell. I’ve been in since 1996, thanks to The Craft, and all I know is how little I do know about the ways and means of living on this earth as a pagan spiritual person.

I believe that ethics are good, and I encourage all pagans to sign up to this projkect. I’ve been following it, and one poster in particular struck me with what they said:

“We have our laws as Wiccans.It is not that people have never heard of the Rede, or the other laws of behavior that we have.”

And I believe that’s true – most people who are pagans of some sort or another have heard of the Rede. However, how many of us who are Pagan are also Wiccan? I can think of many who say “Oh, I’m not Wiccan, I don’t believe in the Rede” – particularly when the hex vs bind debate comes up. Or you have people who follow the Rede only when it suits them. Which makes sense, again, as Paganism as a whole is a religion of people who watch themselves. Which is fine, as long as you’re the type of person who can hold up to your ethics even when people aren’t looking. If you’re only able to Be Good when you have an audience, then are you really that good a person?

And it’s well and good that we are working to develop an ethical guideline for the broader community, but who will agree to it? If you care about such things, you will. Abusers won’t. They won’t need to – in the pagan community, you can shed and hide your identity (particularly easy to do online) in the blink of an eye. And I think it’s sad.

It’s sad when a high-profile case forces us to draft a statement of ethics that may or may not be read by the majority of the community, and certainly won’t be adhered to by the very people who seem to need it. There’s no accountability, which is a large problem in the pagan community as a whole.

You know, my Mom is thinking about starting up a business as a riding coach for individuals with disabilities. She claims to have been inspired by my work – which is totally awesome, and I’m behind her 100%. I’ve been doing some research, and the process to becoming a riding coach is amazingly complicated. I mean, I’ve outlined the entire process:

1. Since we’re in Alberta, we should obtain a Alberta Equestrian Federation membership. ($35.00)
2. We also have to obtain a Equine Canada Gold Sport License. ($125.00)
3. And we should have a current First Aid certificate ($140.00)
4. Complete the Equine Specific NCCP Course ($210.00, plus travel to Ontario, which means flight, plus accommodation for two days, plus food).
5. Complete the online Make Ethical Decisions Evaluation
   http://nccpeval.coach.ca/production/med/e/default.asp, which, thank goodness, is covered under the NCCP workshop.
6. Purchase the Learn to Ride Western Manual, then Complete the
   Western Rider 1-4 certificates and General Component certificate. (at least $85.00 per exam. Add manual price – unknown, likely <$100.00, add coaching fees (by the hour) and travel expenses).
7. Obtain 20 hours of teaching experience under a certified coach. (Fee dependent on coach, but could be anywhere from $80.00 – $150.00, plus traveling and food expenses).
8. Have the Mentor Coach complete a Mentor Reference form and send
   it to the AEF office.
9. Purchase and study the Western Coach 1 Manual and the Stable
   Management in Canada Manual (these can be ordered from Alberta
   Equestrian Federation) (Again, prices vary but are likely over the hundred dollar range)
10. Have a Criminal Record Search completed including Vulnerable
    Sectors (free, since we live in the rural countryside).

All of these ten steps? They fall under a broad basic certificate called “Level 1). Then she takes the Level 2. Then a Therapeutic Certificate. Then we can look at other certifications from there. But my point is that the path to becoming a therapeutic rider is long. And, in my estimation, is also going to set us back by at least $1800, not including additional expenses such as travel, food, tack, equipment, work attire, helmet, etc and so on and so forth. It’s expensive, but once she has it, she’ll be (at least in part) professionally liscenced.

Now, anybody can become a riding coach (particularly in the Western discipline, which retains several unprofessional elements). Heck, one of my mother’s favourite bitchin’ topics is the lack of standard in the profession. Well, this is a standard.

And where is our pagan standard? Cherry Hill Seminary is attempting to become professionally recognized and accredited. The WCC is trying to do the same, I think – but again, who are these people? Who vets the vetters? It’s all well and good to say “I’m a 3rd Degree priestess”, but what does that actually mean? If our certifications are as meaningless as the wind, then who are we do police others?

Question: So tell me, what do you feel are the most important points of Pagan ethics? Which one(s) speaks loudest to you?

Okay, ethics of me. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to answer this question, but I believe it has something to do with finally sitting down and figuring out what I stand for. I’m 25 – before, I could have shrugged and said something about the fleeting nature of youth and how I was not ready to figure out what my ethics were. Now I have to, and I find it’s almost uncomfortable because I am both trying to figure out what the “right” answer is (i.e., the answer “YOU” want to hear) while at the same time saying to myself that really, it’s MY decision. So now I have to cowboy up and make a stand, and I’ve found that actually, some things are really important to me, and some things I could care less about. Which is, in itself, a kind of relief – I’ve given myself permission to believe and not be so danged tolerant all the time – which is exhausting, really.

I also had a battle picking a small number of ethics to go for. Simplicity is a good thing, and I did not really want to end up with a 10-point bulletin list of ethics. I think when there’s too many ethics to follow it can be easy to slip up. I don’t really want myself to say it’s okay when I slip up, because I have 20 other ethical values to choose from.

Virtues I Stand For:

1. Truth and being honest. This is important to me. At the core of myself I really, really dislike people who are not honest (although I seem to have made a distinction between liars and people who don’t know better). I dislike false advertising claims, people who will avoid mentioning the elephant in the room because they don’t want to offend anyone, and people who will tell you that you’re really not THAT fat, even though you’re on a diet to lose about 20 dress sizes. Flattery is… dishonest, in some ways. I’d rather have someone tell me upfront that they don’t like me, and they never will, because I’m too loud or whatever, than to pretend to my face that they like me. (That said, I don’t do subtlety well – hit me with the 2×4, please!)
2. Having said that, compassion is important for me. I don’t think that you need to be brutally, hurtfully honest just as an excuse to be mean – Dr. House on House, M.D. is such a jerk, even though he’s 100% honest. Work towards honesty, I guess, but keep in mind that some people react better than others to complete honesty. There’s ways you can word things to get your point across without being nasty about it. You can be honest and tolerant at the same time.
   
3. A focus on the environment, and environmental sustainability is also important. One of the things I have noticed with watching the sunrises and sunsets is that my awareness of the world has increased. I feel more awake to things, and I think that one thing Paganism in general have to offer the rest of the world is this awareness and understanding that we are as much part of nature as a sea cucumber is. So for me, a very large part of my faith is going to be focused on environmentally sustainable practices.
4. Freedom and responsibility of personal choice are also good values. I like being able to make decisions for myself, but it’s also important to be responsible and stand up for what I have chosen. If my word is to be honest, and to be considered my law, then I must hold myself bound and accountable to it. Otherwise that makes my word about as useful as a gum on a shoe.
5. Balance is a virtue that I liked, but I have to admit that it is one that I am not particularly aware of or following. I am not very healthy at the moment, nor do I have a good work-life balance. I didn’t really care about it before, but in recent weeks it has come to a head (I contracted flu, although not H1N1) and I have been sick. As I laid in bed, wishing someone would come along and put me out of my misery, I also realized some things. Namely, I’m a bit young to be a candidate for a heart attack, but if I don’t shape up and get myself, my stress levels, and my work life in balance – well, I could have a heart attack. Or a serious health issue. I need to take care of me, if I expect to take care of others.

I noticed that my ethics list didn’t really include the words “harm none”. That’s because I figure that if I’m going to be stupid enough to cause harm, then by my own code of ethics I’ll need to own up to it and work to fix or balance the harmful act.

I also noticed that I had no really Wiccan or magically-focused ethics in my list. That would be because for me (at least, right now) I believe that magic is kind of…. not needed? Kind of hokey? I’m Scully-ing on this. This is likely because when I hear the word “magic” I tend to see in my mind things like spellcraft and myself, alone, waving my arms and stamping about a Circle. In my head it feels stupid. I’d rather pray and work physically towards my goals. It makes more logic sense to me to do that.

a quick overview of my ethics

Pax over at http://chrysalis1witchesjourney.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/june-2009-is-international-pagan-values-blogging-month/ has suggested that June be declared “Pagan Values Month”. In his declaration he stated “let us then use our hearts and minds and words, invoking the fires of inspiration; let us write of the virtues and ethics and morals and values we have found in our Pagan paths, let us share how we carry these precious things forward in our own lives and out into the world.” Well said!

I have decided to throw my two cents in as to my personal ethics. As a green witch I can only speak for myself, and therefore take everything I say with what Starhawk famously called an “acrostic eye.”

Acording to the excellent book The Way of the Green Witch, by Arin Murphy-Hiscock, the practice of the green witch focuses on three interconnected spheres of life: the earth, humanity, and the witch herself. Within these areas the green witch explores the ways that energy interconnects and flows, always keeping an eye out for trouble spots and attempting to equalize those energy outputs.

My personal ethics can be summed up in a document that I have called The Seven Codes. Unfortunately, when I wrote the draft version I made it sound all mystical-fied and I haven’t gotten around to fixing the language up just yet. However, I do try to live these Codes as much as possible in my daily waking life. So, for your pleasure:

The Seven Codes

Wherin the Seeker of the Way may best find the path of Honour and Strength

1. Honour is the First of the Seven Codes- the continuous action of ethical consideration. To be honorable is to follow the rule of the Seven Codes in every waking and sleeping moment. The code of Honour does not take away the individual right to defend herself or the innocent, for no code can do that.
2. Truth is the Second of the Seven Codes- to speak the truth whenever possible, and to acknowledge it when it is spoken. The Seeker of the Way must always search out the correct truth, taking into consideration all views and ways, and to make the choice. Without truth the Seeker can not see the way.
3. Wisdom is the Third of the Seven Codes- to search for knowledge of the heart and of the mind. Wisdom comes from the open ear, the wide eye, the clear mind, and the questing heart. The Seeker engages in the search for wisdom all the time, and finds it not just in books, but also in the contemplation of the fallow field, and the waking leaf.
4. Grace is the Fourth of the Seven Codes- to walk graceful and peacefully throughout the world with a serene heart is the goal of the Seeker. Grace comes from the heart, and is a reflection of the soul. When one walks with grace, one steps quietly, softly, carefully.

5. Balance is the Fifth of the Seven Codes- to consider the balance between light and shadow, knowing that neither extreme contains all Truth. For everything given, something is lost, and the Seeker knows this. Yet the Seeker also knows that to act with complete balance will cause the rest of the Codes to become invalid, and so the Seeker knows that the middle can be always sought, but rarely achieved.

6. Faith is the Sixth of the Seven Codes- faith that the world is (mostly) a decent place, and faith in the interconnected immanence of everything.

7. Love is the Seventh Code, and the most important. The Seeker of the Way shows love for even the most pitiable and deadly of beasts, knowing that evil begets evil. Love for another can heal wounds, close mouths, and free that which is trapped or secreted away. The Seeker of the Way carries love in their heart of all beings, for without love all actions are naught.