The abbreviated Wiccan Rede (motto) is: "If it harms none, do as you will." The "none" refers to the world in general, including yourself. Loosely interpreted, it means that you should try to think about all possible results before acting. It means: "Be responsible." Wiccans believe that things they do - good or bad - will return to the doer three times over. (That's a minimum accrued interest rate of 300%.) This premise is called "Rule of Three." Wiccans don't make blood sacrifices and they won't kill in the name of some god or goddess. (Why would gods or goddesses need humans to do their killing, anyway?) We do, however, set aside a little food and wine during rituals as a thank-you offering. Wiccans aren't evangelists. They don't hold tent revivals or have massive recruiting binges or badger their friends and relatives to come to Wiccan services. They also don't preach on street corners or go door-to-door through entire neighborhoods or hang around airports pestering travellers. Wiccans don't need huge, ornate, expensive buildings and you don't have to be overdressed to attend Wiccan circles. If you're REALLY a contemporary Wiccan, you're probably fairly literate. You've read enough to understand most of the risks and benefits of being a Wiccan in today's world and will be reading quite a lot more. You want to know more, so you continuously search for further understanding. Wiccans are lifelong students, and they don't study with just one book. If someone claims to be "a hereditary witch", you may feel an urge to snicker or giggle. Such claims are often made by people who seem to need special recognition or who hope to be accepted into a group without the inconvenience of study. (Okay, so maybe your Mama IS a witch... but if you haven't done your homework, you aren't.) You don't become a witch through heredity or osmosis, although either may be contributive. "Holier-than-thou", elitist witches do exist, and they're every bit as irritating as their Christian counterparts. They think that because they were lucky enough to find a group or coven with whom to learn, or because they've surrounded themselves with expensive, gaudy, custom-crafted ritual tools and robes, that they are somehow more Wiccan than other, less-well-outfitted Wiccans. Again, such people are simply in need of attention. Beware of the exceptionally gaudy ones in any religion who claim to be "teachers". They will probably make unusual demands of you. If someone claims to be a "self-initiated" witch, you may want to question him/her before you can accept their claims as valid. This is reasonable and proper, but not to the point of rude interrogation. People don't all have convenient access to covens, teachers, or even good bookstores, but may have done their best to educate themselves by mail-order courses and avaliable materials. Don't miss a chance to share your recommended-reading list with a deserving student. Make a friend and maybe also a study-partner. Wiccans and witches are still a somewhat underground group for good reasons. The book-burners and people-burners are still out there, although currently they lack the power to legally act-out their dreams of doing away with all "not-like-us" others. They still persecute "not-like-them" individuals and groups (and specifically the Freemasons, without whom there'd be no United States) and they continuously harrass all freethinking women who would determine their own reproductive roles in life. True, they can't burn witches anymore, BUT... National fortunes change from time to time... How hard would it truly be to turn this relatively free nation into a theocracy? Maybe not quite like Iran or Iraq, where a woman can be legally stoned for not totally covering herself in public, but in more subtle fashions of alienation. Envision a nation in which obtaining bank loans, buying a home, renting an apartment, or getting a job are very difficult because you don't at least pretend to be a member of a specific religion. It was like that in Germany just before and during World War II; if you weren't a member of the Nazi party, nothing much was available to you except trouble. It was also like that in Russia until the Iron Curtain fell. The religious zealots would like all who are "not-like-them" to suffer for their "wrongness". All that is required for this to happen is for us to allow the Religious Wrong to gain political control by stuffing ballot boxes with religiously-dictated votes. You know who they are. They can't presently succeed by running a zealot for president. Too many people would fear the obvious results. But they CAN gradually take over state and local politics, and they've been trying to do just that. Don't panic. Just vote sensibly and often to keep the religious puppets out of office. UPDATE 2001: Damned if they didn't manage to sneak a religious puppet into the white house, after all. Just proves that we should never say that something can never happen, doesn't it? Indexes to my other articles and ebooks may be found on my websites: Abintra Press! and