Rule of Three (Wicca)

Last updated

The Rule of Three (also Three-fold Law or Law of Return) is a religious tenet held by some Wiccans, Neo-Pagans and occultists. It states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times. Some subscribe to a variant of this law in which return is not necessarily threefold. [1] [2]

Rule of Three is sometimes described as karma by Wiccans; however, this is not strictly accurate. Both concepts describe the process of cause and effect and often encourage the individual to act in an upright way. In Hindu Vedanta literature, there is a comparable idea of threefold Karma referred to as Sanchita (accumulated works), Kriyamana, Agami, or Vartamana (current works), and Prarabdha (fructifying works), which are associated with past, present and future respectively. According to some traditions, the rule of three is not literal but symbolizes that our energy returns our way as many times as needed for us to learn the lesson associated with it. [3]

According to occult author/researcher John Coughlin, the Law posits "a literal reward or punishment tied to one's actions, particularly when it comes to working magic". [4] The law is not a universal article of faith among Wiccans, and "there are many Wiccans, experienced and new alike, who view the Law of Return as an over-elaboration on the Wiccan Rede." [4] Some Wiccans believe that it is a modern innovation based on Christian morality. [5] [6]

The Rule of Three has been compared by Karl Lembke to other ethics of reciprocity, such as the concept of karma in Dharmic religions and the Golden Rule. [7]

The Rule of Three has a possible prototype in a piece of Wiccan liturgy which first appeared in print in Gerald Gardner's 1949 novel High Magic's Aid : [8] [9]

"Thou hast obeyed the Law. But mark well, when thou receivest good, so equally art bound to return good threefold." (For this is the joke in witchcraft, the witch knows, though the initiate does not, that she will get three times what she gave, so she does not strike hard.)

However, The Threefold Law as an actual "law", was an interpretation of Wiccan ideas and ritual, first publicised by noted witch Raymond Buckland, in his books on Wicca. Prior to this, Wiccan ideas of reciprocal ethics were far less defined and more often interpreted as a kind of general karma. [10]

Raymond Buckland made a reference to an ethical threefold law in a 1968 article for Beyond magazine. [11] The Rule of Three later features within a poem of 26 couplets titled "Rede of the Wiccae", published by Lady Gwen Thompson in 1975 in Green Egg vol. 8, no. 69 [12] and attributed to her grandmother Adriana Porter. [13] [14] The threefold rule is referenced often by the Wiccans of the Clan Mackenzie in the S.M. Stirling Emberverse novels.

This rule was described by the Dutch metal band Nemesea, in the song "Threefold Law", from the album Mana .

Notes

  1. MacMorgan-Douglas, Kaatryn (2007). All One Wicca: A study in the universal eclectic tradition of wicca (Tenth Anniversary ed.). Buffalo, NY: Covenstead Press. ISBN   978-0-615-15094-9.
  2. Treleven, Amethyst (2008). Seeker's Guide to Learning Wicca: Training to First Degree for the Northern Hemisphere. Adelaide, South Australia: Oak & Mistletoe. p. 14. ISBN   978-0-9805818-2-9.
  3. Witch School First Degree: Lessons in the Correllian Tradition (Witch School) by Rev. Donald Lewis-Highcorrell ( ISBN   9780738713014)
  4. 1 2 Coughlin, John J. (2001) The Three-fold Law Archived 2015-02-01 at the Wayback Machine , on his website; updated edition published in his book Ethics and the Craft - The History, Evolution, and Practice of Wiccan Ethics (Waning Moon, 2015).
  5. Spiro, Guy (2001). "A Conversation With Phyllis Curott". The Monthly Aspectarian. Archived from the original on 17 September 2004.
  6. Lembke, Karl (2002), The Threefold Law Archived 2005-05-08 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  7. "Witchvox Article". Archived from the original on 2005-05-08. Retrieved 2005-05-08.
  8. Gardner, Gerald (1949). High Magic's Aid. Pentacle Enterprises. p. 188. ISBN   1-872189-06-7.
  9. Coughlin, John J. (2001) The Three-fold Law, part 3: Rise of the Three-fold Law Archived 2009-10-27 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Adams, Luthaneal (2011). The Book of Mirrors. UK: Capall Bann. p. 218. ISBN   978-1-86163-325-5.
  11. Buckland, Raymond (October 1968). "I Live With a Witch". Beyond Magazine.
  12. The Rede of the Wiccae Archived 2007-02-06 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  13. Theitic (2001). The New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine . At The Witches' Voice. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  14. Lady Gwynne Archived 2008-03-05 at the Wayback Machine , the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches website. Retrieved 2008-04-07.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dianic Wicca</span> Neopagan female-centered goddess tradition

Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, is a modern pagan goddess tradition focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by women, who may be ordained as priestesses, or in less formal groups that function as collectives. While some adherents identify as Wiccan, it differs from most traditions of Wicca in that only goddesses are honored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardnerian Wicca</span> Tradition in Wiccan religion

Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian witchcraft, is a tradition in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner (1884–1964), a British civil servant and amateur scholar of magic. The term "Gardnerian" was probably coined by the founder of Cochranian Witchcraft, Robert Cochrane in the 1950s or 60s, who himself left that tradition to found his own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wicca</span> Modern syncretic pagan religion based on white magic, occultism and paganism

Wicca, also known as "The Craft", is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion. Scholars of religion categorize it as both a new religious movement and as part of occultist Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices.

The Wiccan Rede is a statement that provides the key moral system in the neopagan religion of Wicca and certain other related witchcraft-based faiths. A common form of the Rede is "An ye harm none, do what ye will" which was taken from a longer poem also titled the Wiccan Rede.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book of Shadows</span> Type of book or text found in Neopagan religions

A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Since its conception, it has made its way into many pagan practices and paths. The most famous Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which he utilised first in his Bricket Wood coven and then in other covens which he founded in following decades. The Book of Shadows is also used by other Wiccan traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca and Mohsianism, and with the rise of books teaching people how to begin following non-initiatory Wicca in the 1970s onward, the idea of the Book of Shadows was then further propagated amongst solitary practitioners unconnected to earlier, initiatory traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Cunningham</span> American writer

Scott Douglas Cunningham was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects.

Lady Gwen Thompson was the pseudonym of Phyllis Thompson, author and teacher of traditionalist initiatory witchcraft through her own organisation, the New England Covens of Traditionalist Witches.

Raymond Buckland, whose craft name was Robat, was an English writer on the subject of Wicca and the occult, and a significant figure in the history of Wicca, of which he was a high priest in both the Gardnerian and Seax-Wica traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craft name</span>

A craft name, also referred to as a magical name, is a secondary religious name often adopted by practitioners of Wicca and other forms of Neopagan witchcraft or magic. Craft names may be adopted as a means of protecting one's privacy, as an expression of religious devotion, or as a part of an initiation ritual. It may also be used as a protective method, as it is believed by some that one's "true name" can be used to identify that person for the purpose of magical activities.

The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It also is based on the beliefs from the magic that Gerald Gardner saw when he was in India. It was subsequently founded in the 1950s by Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English-speaking, countries across the world. In the 1960s, new figures arose in Britain who popularized their own forms of the religion, including Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and Alex Sanders, and organizations began to be formed to propagate it, such as the Witchcraft Research Association. It was during this decade that the faith was transported to the United States, where it was further adapted into new traditions such as Feri, 1734 and Dianic Wicca in the ensuing decades, and where organizations such as the Covenant of the Goddess were formed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiccan views of divinity</span>

Wiccan views of divinity are generally theistic, and revolve around a Goddess and a Horned God, thereby being generally dualistic. In traditional Wicca, as expressed in the writings of Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, the emphasis is on the theme of divine gender polarity, and the God and Goddess are regarded as equal and opposite divine cosmic forces. In some newer forms of Wicca, such as feminist or Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is given primacy or even exclusivity. In some forms of traditional witchcraft that share a similar duotheistic theology, the Horned God is given precedence over the Goddess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiccan morality</span>

Wiccan morality is largely expressed in the Wiccan Rede: 'An' ye harm none, do what ye will' - old-fashioned language for 'as long as you aren't harming anyone, do as you wish'. While this could be interpreted to mean "do no harm at all," it is usually interpreted as a declaration of the freedom to act, along with the necessity of thinking through and taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions.

Dorothy Morrison is an author and teacher in the fields of magic, Wicca and Neo-Paganism. She is a Third Degree Wiccan High Priestess of the Georgian Tradition, and founded the Coven of the Crystal Garden in 1986. She is a member of the Coven of the Raven, and studies the RavenMyst Circle Tradition. Originally from Texas, she is an expert archer, a former staff writer for several bow-hunting magazines, and winner of three State Championship titles. She has also been an administrator for the Humane Society. She is a member of the Pagan Poets Society and a charter member of M.A.G.I.C., a magical writers and artists organization. Her work has been published in many journals and magazines, including Circle Network News, SageWoman, and Crone Chronicles. She presently lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Mark.

Georgian Wicca is a tradition, or denomination, in the neopagan religion of Wicca. In its organisation, it is very similar to British Traditional Wicca groups such as Gardnerian Wicca, however, it does not trace its initiatory line to one of the old English covens.

Universal Eclectic Wicca (UEW) is one of a number of distinctly American Wiccan traditions which developed following the introduction of Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca to the United States in the early 1960s. Its corporate body is the Church of Universal Eclectic Wicca (CUEW) which is incorporated and based in Great Falls, Virginia.

Cochrane's Craft, also known as Cochranianism and The Clan of Tubal Cain, is a religious movement similar to Wicca that considers itself a form of Traditional Witchcraft. It was founded in 1951 by the English witch Robert Cochrane, who himself claimed to have been taught in the tradition by some of his elderly family members, a claim that is disputed by historians such as Ronald Hutton and Leo Ruickbie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bricket Wood coven</span> Historical witches coven

The Bricket Wood coven, or Hertfordshire coven is a coven of Gardnerian witches founded in the 1940s by Gerald Gardner. It is notable for being the first coven in the Gardnerian line, though having its supposed origins in the pre-Gardnerian New Forest coven. The coven formed after Gardner bought a plot at the Fiveacres Country Club, a naturist club in the village of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, southern England, and met within the club's grounds. It played a significant part in the history of the neopagan religion of Wicca.

In Modern English, the term Wicca refers to Wicca, the religion of contemporary Pagan witchcraft. It is used within the Pagan community under competing definitions. One refers to the entirety of the Pagan Witchcraft movement, while the other refers explicitly to traditions included in what is now called British Traditional Wicca.

<i>Enchanted Feminism</i> Anthropological study of the Reclaiming Wiccan community of San Francisco

Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco is an anthropological study of the Reclaiming Wiccan community of San Francisco. It was written by the Scandinavian theologian Jone Salomonsen of the California State University, Northridge and first published in 2002 by the Routledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Buczynski</span> American Wiccan and gay rights activist

Edmund Buczynski was an American Wiccan and archaeologist who founded two separate traditions of Wicca: Welsh Traditionalist Witchcraft and The Minoan Brotherhood.