Post by TRINITY on Mar 30, 2006 9:49:36 GMT 10
BELIEVING IN ETHICS, RESPONSIBILITY, AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH DEITY
* Walking an individual pathe with the Divine
* Rejecting dogma and control
* Acting ethically, responsibly, and respectfully
Wicca is a spiritual path. The focus of Wicca is personal discovery and experience of the Divine.
Wicca has no holy book or written doctrine that has been passed down through the ages for all Wiccans to follow. Wiccans create their own holy books of teachings, practices, spiritual experiences, and their own understanding (Books of Shadows). Wicca has no hierarchy of leaders who counsel people on how to live and worship, and who enforce religious laws and obedience. Each Wiccan has a relationship with Deity, and each Wiccan serves as clergy.
Wiccans do have principles and ethics that guide their behavior, and their goal is to balance personal freedom with responsibility and respect for the sacredness of all life.
Trusting the Individual Relationship with the Divine
For people who are self-directed, Wicca is a liberating and joyous exploration. For people who want structure and direction in their spiritual lives, Wicca definitely is not a good personal choice. This part explores Wicca's lack of hierarchy and dogma and its encouragement of personal strentgth, individualism, self-determination, and self-reliance.
Sending dogma to the doghouse
The people of many religions believe that Deity, usually God, is 'transcendent'. That means that God is over or above the world and humankind, seperate from the physical world. A person's own nature, the Self, is seperate from God. In this view, the Self can't be trusted. People need rules and laws to control their own nature and behavior. A person can't trust his or her own self and will, which are seperate from God.
Because people can't trust their own natures, religious rules tell people what to do. Religious 'dogma' spells out the laws, teachings, beliefs, and principles of a religion, as well as the consequences of breaking laws. The laws and rules, like God, are elevated, seperate from the world. They are unquestionable and infallible. People must follow the laws and rules, regardless of the human cost.
Religious dogma and authority relieve a person of the responsibility of deciding on his or her own actions. People comply with religious authority because they believe that the institution knows more, is stronger, and is less able to be corrupted than the individual. They accept that the leaders in the institution can be trusted to know God's will.
Wiccans don't see themselves as separate from Deity. Their Goddess and/or God is not only transcendent, but 'immanent'. That means that Deity is all-present in the world. People come from and are a part of the Divine energy, and the Deity is within everyone. Deity is a supernatural being capable of creative thought and action, but also remains connected to that creation. Wiccans believe that they have a direct relationship with Divinity. They communicate with the Goddess and/or the God themselves, and they don't need dogma or religious authorities to control their inner nature or direct their will or behavior.
A Wiccan trusts his or her own spiritual experience and ability to interpret the will of Deity for his or her own life.
Saying No to Hierarchy: You're Not the Boss of Me!
Religious institutions give leaders various titles: Bishop, Minister, Rabbi, Pope, Imam, and so on. Religious leaders have various levels of authority and control, depending on the length of time of their study and service, as well as other leadership qualities.
Wicca differs from most of the mainstream religions because it doesn't have a central authority with levels of clergy who make rules for all of Wicca. Whether Wiccan clergy are recognized by the government varies by the local laws and whether the clergyperson seeks out such recognition. However, recognized clergy hold no special place as part of some centralized religious body that oversees the Craft. Instead, Wicca is made up of loosely connected and independent, small groups who define their own spiritual beliefs and practices.
Many of these small, independent groups do have leadership. The leaders provide guidance and direction, but they generally don't exercise control over members. Wiccans independently decide how to believe and practice.
Many of these small, independent goups do have leadership. The leaders provide guidance and direction, but they generally don't exercise control over members. Wiccans independently decide how to believe and practice.
Many small groups (called 'covens') have High Priestesses and/or Priests, or leaders with some other title, who offer their skills to the group and direct its activities. Many Wiccan groups have levels of initian; people advance as they study and grow in the Craft. Some groups have a Council of Elders who are a source of ongiong wisdom gained during their long experience in the Craft. However, in Wicca, leaders do not have control over the others.
If a leader has proven experience, gives valuable advice, and provides needed skills, the group respects him or her and cooperates willingly, but no one in Wicca is beholden to follow the leader.
Because each Wiccan has direct access to Deity, each is considered to be clergy. Every Wiccan is a Priestess or Priest. Wiccans are expected to direct their own spiritual lives.
Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and Responsibility
One of the biggest charges against the Craft is that it has no morality. Wiccans sometimes are viewed as immature "if it feels good, do it" types who refuse to follow the traditions of good and decent folk. That's just not true. Wiccans have a strong sence of ethics, and a brief trip to most Wiccan Web sites shows that Wiccans spend a great deal of time quibbling about the nuances of ethics and personal responsibility. Wiccans care a lot about what is right and wrong, and why. They generally are good people, but the basis for their ethics is different than most mainstream religions.
Many Westerners view Deity as transcendent, as over and above the world. Humans are seperate from God, and they are seperate from each other. So humans turn to religious dogma and institutions to help them interpret and live God's will.
Wiccan belief is different. The following principles are central to Wicca:
*Wiccans view Deity as all-present in the world. All life comes from and is a part of the Divine energy. Each person is a direct manifestation of Deity. Humans have constant access to Deity for direction and guidance.
*People also are connected to each other in an interdependent circle or web of life. Because people are connected to each other, instead of seperate, a Wiccan knows that doing harm to others eventually causes harm to his- or herself.
Those principles are the basis for the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law, which are the heart of Wiccan ethics.
Following the Wiccan Rede
"Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfil,
An' it harm none, do what ye will."
- Doreen Valiente, Pentagram, Volume One, 1964 (published by Gerard Noel)
These words are the central ethic of Wicca, known as the 'Wiccan Rede'. The word 'rede' means counsel or advice. Some Wiccans believe that the Wiccan Rede has been passed down through history. Some believe that it originated with Gerald Gardner (the man widely acknowledged to be the founder of modern Wicca) and/or Doreen Valiente (a reowned writer and High Priestess in Gardner's coven).
Regardless of its origins, the majority of Wiccans try to follow the Wiccan Rede, sometimes called simply "the Rede," and consider it to be the guiding ethic for their lives.
Following the Rede means to carry out your own will, but act in ways that cause the least harm to yourself, others, the Earth, and all beings.
Wiccans generally interpret the Rede to mean that a Wiccan should live and let live, while respecting the sacredness of all life. They should think critically about the consequences of their actions, before they act. Many Wiccans have expanded the scope of the Rede. They think that apathy, neglect, and failure to act - to stop violence, abuse, suffering, or injustice - also violates the Rede.
Wiccans believe that all of life embodies Deity; Deity is all-present in the world. To cause harm to anything or anyone is to act against the Goddess and/or the God.
Following the Rede gets a little complicated, though. It instructs Wiccans to harm none. But what about situations when a Wiccan is in danger? Are Wiccans allowed to defend and protect themselves, even if they have to harm an attacker? Can a Wiccan defend or protect family, or community? Should a Wiccan harm one person to save someone else? What about cases when a grave injustice is causing many people to be hurt? Should a Wiccan step in and help, perhaps causing harm to one person or group for the greater good of the community? Or should the Wiccan refuse to harm anyone and let evil go unchecked? Do Wiccans violate the Rede if they eat (and, therefore, harm) animals? Ask these questions at a Wiccan gathering and watch the sparks fly.
Wicca isn't easy. People of the Craft deliberate seriously on these questions.
Accepting the Consequesnces: The Threefold Law
You may be familiar with the science of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. The idea behind the theory is that all of life is a complex system. A small change at one place in the system can result in a big effect somewhere else. For example, a butterfly flapping its wings in the forests of the American Midwest 'may' ultimately change weather in Ireland or on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The science of the butterfly effect is consistent with Wicca. Wiccans believe that everything is interconnected. All of existence is an unbroken circle of energy, and everything is merged into one living organism. Human beings are not separate from the web of nature, but are a part of it. Everything that exists is linked together, and any action, no matter how small or insignificant, affects everything else.
The behavior of every member of the web of life affects every other member. Negative or harmful energy not only harms the target of the energy, but the negativity and damage remain in nature's web and impact all of life, including the sender. For example, if people pollute the Earth's water, eventually they have to drink polluted and toxic water.
A Wiccan believes that his or her own personal energy is never seperate from the energy of the rest of life and the cosmos.
Paying attention to intention
This principle of interconnectedness is the basis for the other Wiccan ethic, the 'Threefold Law". Whatever a person sends out comes back threefold. In general, the law means that whatever you say or do - negative or positive, bad or good - will return to you with three times the intensity. Some Wiccans believe that this belief applies to words and actions only, but others include thoughts.
Everything that exists is part of one unbroken circle. So when a Wiccan sends out energy - espically intentional, powerfully directed energy during magic - that person's essence:
*Remains in the Self.
*Is a part of the energy being sent.
*Is in the outcome - the energy that travels through the circle of life, natures web, and eventually returns to the sender.
That's why this ethic is called the 'Threefold Law'. The idea is sometimes called the 'Law of Return'. This principle is reflected in the old folk saying: What goes around, comes around.
Heeding the hex warning
If you read many beginning books on Wicca, you will undoubtedly run across texts that offer spells to aim directly at people who are unwilling or unaware, to change their attitudes or behavior according to the sender's wishes. You even will find books that provide hexes and curses to use as retaliation for grievances.
Non-Wiccan media and society tend to focus on hexing and cursing whenever the subject of Wicca and Witchcraft comes up. The truth is that most Wiccans don't engage in hexing, cursing, and other negative practices.
Some Wiccans do engage in binding and/or banishing. The definitions for these ideas follow:
*Binding: A Wiccan casts a spell designed to restrict or limit the actions of someone (or some energy).
*Banishing: A Wiccan orders someone (or some energy) to be gone. To banish means to send someone or something away - from the area, or possibly, back to the original source.
Many Wiccans avoid these practices because they are negative forms of magic. Some Wiccans use binding and banishing as last resorts, when someone or something poses a serious threat, usually to the community (for example, a group of Wiccans may decide to bind or banish a criminal who is preying on others).
Most Wiccans are extremely reluctant to engage in any form of negative magic, because they know that their own energy is never separate from the energy of other people, and causing harm to others eventually results in harm to the Self. However, they also are fully aware that the failure to act to stop violence, to alleviate suffering, and to halt injustice is a violation of ethical duty and a betrayal of community. So the use of personal power remains a constant challenge for the people of the Craft.
First and foremost, Wiccans believe that positive, loving energy sent out into the world helps to heal the Earth and community, and ultimately improves conditions for the sender, too.
The Colors of Magic
You may hear people describe various types of magic by using colors. The most common references are to white magic and black magic or light and dark magic. Presumably, the terms white and black or light and dark magic harken back to a time in early human history when the night, the dark, was associated with fear and danger. The daytime, the light, represented safety. These labels are from folklore, not modern Wicca, and many Wiccans don't use these characterizations today. Personally, I object to these labels for several reasons:
*The terminology smacks of racism (designating that white is good and positive and black is evil and negative reinforces racial stereotypes).
*The usage isn't accurate. Magic is a tool, like mathematics or computer technology. Magic follow natural law, like gravity. Magic just 'is'; it can't be black or white or any other value judgement. The ethics of its use depend on the intention of the user.
*Use of these terms perpetuates stereotypes about the Craft. Using the terms black magic and white magic reinforces society's misinformation and fear about the nature of magic. In addition, when someone says that he or she is a "white" or "good" Witch or Wiccan, the distinction implies that others are "black" or "bad" Witches or Wiccans. Society doesn't label the followers of mainstream religions in this way. For example, Methodists aren't asked to declare whether they are white or good Methodists or black or bad Methodists.
These labels have been around for a long time, and if you continue to study Wicca, you will undoubtedly run into them. Here's a gemeral description of the meanings for the colors of magic:
*White Magic: is performed for a positive purpose, a beneficial result, or spiritual growth (for example, healing or self-improvement). A person works magic for him/herself or for someone who has knowledge of the magic and has given consent, without any type of coercion. Some Wiccans may perform white magic for a person who is unaware (for example, someone who is seriously ill). However, in those cases, the practitioner makes a general request for the best possible outcome and then sends the magical energy to Deity or out into nature (rather than sending the magic directly to the unaware person). Most Wiccans practice white magic.
*Black Magic: is any magic that is performed to coerce someone into doing something; is aimed at someone against his or her will; is aimed at someone without his or her knowledge; or is used to produce a restrictive, unwanted, unethical, or objectionable outcome. Wiccans do not knowingly practice black magic when they follow the 'Three fold Law'.
*Gray Magic: is situational, and Wiccans differ about the ethics of its use. Gray magic encompasses all of the aspects of white magic with one addition: Gray magic includes magic for defense or protection of the Self or others from danger, abuse, menace, or crisis. Sometimes it is magic done for the greater good. Many Wiccans believe that they have an obligation to stop evil, that they can't ethically ignore abuse, suffering, injustice, and so on. Gray magic allows for a response for the greater good.
*Green Magic: has several meanings. The term offten describes magic performed on behalf of nature, or to help the Earth and its inhabitants. It can also mean magic for healing or to ensure health and wellness. In some cases, the term is used for magic done to produce prosperity and abundance.
Some Wiccans also refer to blue, red, yellow, orange, or purple magic, but the meanings of these terms vary.
* Walking an individual pathe with the Divine
* Rejecting dogma and control
* Acting ethically, responsibly, and respectfully
Wicca is a spiritual path. The focus of Wicca is personal discovery and experience of the Divine.
Wicca has no holy book or written doctrine that has been passed down through the ages for all Wiccans to follow. Wiccans create their own holy books of teachings, practices, spiritual experiences, and their own understanding (Books of Shadows). Wicca has no hierarchy of leaders who counsel people on how to live and worship, and who enforce religious laws and obedience. Each Wiccan has a relationship with Deity, and each Wiccan serves as clergy.
Wiccans do have principles and ethics that guide their behavior, and their goal is to balance personal freedom with responsibility and respect for the sacredness of all life.
Trusting the Individual Relationship with the Divine
For people who are self-directed, Wicca is a liberating and joyous exploration. For people who want structure and direction in their spiritual lives, Wicca definitely is not a good personal choice. This part explores Wicca's lack of hierarchy and dogma and its encouragement of personal strentgth, individualism, self-determination, and self-reliance.
Sending dogma to the doghouse
The people of many religions believe that Deity, usually God, is 'transcendent'. That means that God is over or above the world and humankind, seperate from the physical world. A person's own nature, the Self, is seperate from God. In this view, the Self can't be trusted. People need rules and laws to control their own nature and behavior. A person can't trust his or her own self and will, which are seperate from God.
Because people can't trust their own natures, religious rules tell people what to do. Religious 'dogma' spells out the laws, teachings, beliefs, and principles of a religion, as well as the consequences of breaking laws. The laws and rules, like God, are elevated, seperate from the world. They are unquestionable and infallible. People must follow the laws and rules, regardless of the human cost.
Religious dogma and authority relieve a person of the responsibility of deciding on his or her own actions. People comply with religious authority because they believe that the institution knows more, is stronger, and is less able to be corrupted than the individual. They accept that the leaders in the institution can be trusted to know God's will.
Wiccans don't see themselves as separate from Deity. Their Goddess and/or God is not only transcendent, but 'immanent'. That means that Deity is all-present in the world. People come from and are a part of the Divine energy, and the Deity is within everyone. Deity is a supernatural being capable of creative thought and action, but also remains connected to that creation. Wiccans believe that they have a direct relationship with Divinity. They communicate with the Goddess and/or the God themselves, and they don't need dogma or religious authorities to control their inner nature or direct their will or behavior.
A Wiccan trusts his or her own spiritual experience and ability to interpret the will of Deity for his or her own life.
Saying No to Hierarchy: You're Not the Boss of Me!
Religious institutions give leaders various titles: Bishop, Minister, Rabbi, Pope, Imam, and so on. Religious leaders have various levels of authority and control, depending on the length of time of their study and service, as well as other leadership qualities.
Wicca differs from most of the mainstream religions because it doesn't have a central authority with levels of clergy who make rules for all of Wicca. Whether Wiccan clergy are recognized by the government varies by the local laws and whether the clergyperson seeks out such recognition. However, recognized clergy hold no special place as part of some centralized religious body that oversees the Craft. Instead, Wicca is made up of loosely connected and independent, small groups who define their own spiritual beliefs and practices.
Many of these small, independent groups do have leadership. The leaders provide guidance and direction, but they generally don't exercise control over members. Wiccans independently decide how to believe and practice.
Many of these small, independent goups do have leadership. The leaders provide guidance and direction, but they generally don't exercise control over members. Wiccans independently decide how to believe and practice.
Many small groups (called 'covens') have High Priestesses and/or Priests, or leaders with some other title, who offer their skills to the group and direct its activities. Many Wiccan groups have levels of initian; people advance as they study and grow in the Craft. Some groups have a Council of Elders who are a source of ongiong wisdom gained during their long experience in the Craft. However, in Wicca, leaders do not have control over the others.
If a leader has proven experience, gives valuable advice, and provides needed skills, the group respects him or her and cooperates willingly, but no one in Wicca is beholden to follow the leader.
Because each Wiccan has direct access to Deity, each is considered to be clergy. Every Wiccan is a Priestess or Priest. Wiccans are expected to direct their own spiritual lives.
Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and Responsibility
One of the biggest charges against the Craft is that it has no morality. Wiccans sometimes are viewed as immature "if it feels good, do it" types who refuse to follow the traditions of good and decent folk. That's just not true. Wiccans have a strong sence of ethics, and a brief trip to most Wiccan Web sites shows that Wiccans spend a great deal of time quibbling about the nuances of ethics and personal responsibility. Wiccans care a lot about what is right and wrong, and why. They generally are good people, but the basis for their ethics is different than most mainstream religions.
Many Westerners view Deity as transcendent, as over and above the world. Humans are seperate from God, and they are seperate from each other. So humans turn to religious dogma and institutions to help them interpret and live God's will.
Wiccan belief is different. The following principles are central to Wicca:
*Wiccans view Deity as all-present in the world. All life comes from and is a part of the Divine energy. Each person is a direct manifestation of Deity. Humans have constant access to Deity for direction and guidance.
*People also are connected to each other in an interdependent circle or web of life. Because people are connected to each other, instead of seperate, a Wiccan knows that doing harm to others eventually causes harm to his- or herself.
Those principles are the basis for the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law, which are the heart of Wiccan ethics.
Following the Wiccan Rede
"Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfil,
An' it harm none, do what ye will."
- Doreen Valiente, Pentagram, Volume One, 1964 (published by Gerard Noel)
These words are the central ethic of Wicca, known as the 'Wiccan Rede'. The word 'rede' means counsel or advice. Some Wiccans believe that the Wiccan Rede has been passed down through history. Some believe that it originated with Gerald Gardner (the man widely acknowledged to be the founder of modern Wicca) and/or Doreen Valiente (a reowned writer and High Priestess in Gardner's coven).
Regardless of its origins, the majority of Wiccans try to follow the Wiccan Rede, sometimes called simply "the Rede," and consider it to be the guiding ethic for their lives.
Following the Rede means to carry out your own will, but act in ways that cause the least harm to yourself, others, the Earth, and all beings.
Wiccans generally interpret the Rede to mean that a Wiccan should live and let live, while respecting the sacredness of all life. They should think critically about the consequences of their actions, before they act. Many Wiccans have expanded the scope of the Rede. They think that apathy, neglect, and failure to act - to stop violence, abuse, suffering, or injustice - also violates the Rede.
Wiccans believe that all of life embodies Deity; Deity is all-present in the world. To cause harm to anything or anyone is to act against the Goddess and/or the God.
Following the Rede gets a little complicated, though. It instructs Wiccans to harm none. But what about situations when a Wiccan is in danger? Are Wiccans allowed to defend and protect themselves, even if they have to harm an attacker? Can a Wiccan defend or protect family, or community? Should a Wiccan harm one person to save someone else? What about cases when a grave injustice is causing many people to be hurt? Should a Wiccan step in and help, perhaps causing harm to one person or group for the greater good of the community? Or should the Wiccan refuse to harm anyone and let evil go unchecked? Do Wiccans violate the Rede if they eat (and, therefore, harm) animals? Ask these questions at a Wiccan gathering and watch the sparks fly.
Wicca isn't easy. People of the Craft deliberate seriously on these questions.
Accepting the Consequesnces: The Threefold Law
You may be familiar with the science of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. The idea behind the theory is that all of life is a complex system. A small change at one place in the system can result in a big effect somewhere else. For example, a butterfly flapping its wings in the forests of the American Midwest 'may' ultimately change weather in Ireland or on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The science of the butterfly effect is consistent with Wicca. Wiccans believe that everything is interconnected. All of existence is an unbroken circle of energy, and everything is merged into one living organism. Human beings are not separate from the web of nature, but are a part of it. Everything that exists is linked together, and any action, no matter how small or insignificant, affects everything else.
The behavior of every member of the web of life affects every other member. Negative or harmful energy not only harms the target of the energy, but the negativity and damage remain in nature's web and impact all of life, including the sender. For example, if people pollute the Earth's water, eventually they have to drink polluted and toxic water.
A Wiccan believes that his or her own personal energy is never seperate from the energy of the rest of life and the cosmos.
Paying attention to intention
This principle of interconnectedness is the basis for the other Wiccan ethic, the 'Threefold Law". Whatever a person sends out comes back threefold. In general, the law means that whatever you say or do - negative or positive, bad or good - will return to you with three times the intensity. Some Wiccans believe that this belief applies to words and actions only, but others include thoughts.
Everything that exists is part of one unbroken circle. So when a Wiccan sends out energy - espically intentional, powerfully directed energy during magic - that person's essence:
*Remains in the Self.
*Is a part of the energy being sent.
*Is in the outcome - the energy that travels through the circle of life, natures web, and eventually returns to the sender.
That's why this ethic is called the 'Threefold Law'. The idea is sometimes called the 'Law of Return'. This principle is reflected in the old folk saying: What goes around, comes around.
Heeding the hex warning
If you read many beginning books on Wicca, you will undoubtedly run across texts that offer spells to aim directly at people who are unwilling or unaware, to change their attitudes or behavior according to the sender's wishes. You even will find books that provide hexes and curses to use as retaliation for grievances.
Non-Wiccan media and society tend to focus on hexing and cursing whenever the subject of Wicca and Witchcraft comes up. The truth is that most Wiccans don't engage in hexing, cursing, and other negative practices.
Some Wiccans do engage in binding and/or banishing. The definitions for these ideas follow:
*Binding: A Wiccan casts a spell designed to restrict or limit the actions of someone (or some energy).
*Banishing: A Wiccan orders someone (or some energy) to be gone. To banish means to send someone or something away - from the area, or possibly, back to the original source.
Many Wiccans avoid these practices because they are negative forms of magic. Some Wiccans use binding and banishing as last resorts, when someone or something poses a serious threat, usually to the community (for example, a group of Wiccans may decide to bind or banish a criminal who is preying on others).
Most Wiccans are extremely reluctant to engage in any form of negative magic, because they know that their own energy is never separate from the energy of other people, and causing harm to others eventually results in harm to the Self. However, they also are fully aware that the failure to act to stop violence, to alleviate suffering, and to halt injustice is a violation of ethical duty and a betrayal of community. So the use of personal power remains a constant challenge for the people of the Craft.
First and foremost, Wiccans believe that positive, loving energy sent out into the world helps to heal the Earth and community, and ultimately improves conditions for the sender, too.
The Colors of Magic
You may hear people describe various types of magic by using colors. The most common references are to white magic and black magic or light and dark magic. Presumably, the terms white and black or light and dark magic harken back to a time in early human history when the night, the dark, was associated with fear and danger. The daytime, the light, represented safety. These labels are from folklore, not modern Wicca, and many Wiccans don't use these characterizations today. Personally, I object to these labels for several reasons:
*The terminology smacks of racism (designating that white is good and positive and black is evil and negative reinforces racial stereotypes).
*The usage isn't accurate. Magic is a tool, like mathematics or computer technology. Magic follow natural law, like gravity. Magic just 'is'; it can't be black or white or any other value judgement. The ethics of its use depend on the intention of the user.
*Use of these terms perpetuates stereotypes about the Craft. Using the terms black magic and white magic reinforces society's misinformation and fear about the nature of magic. In addition, when someone says that he or she is a "white" or "good" Witch or Wiccan, the distinction implies that others are "black" or "bad" Witches or Wiccans. Society doesn't label the followers of mainstream religions in this way. For example, Methodists aren't asked to declare whether they are white or good Methodists or black or bad Methodists.
These labels have been around for a long time, and if you continue to study Wicca, you will undoubtedly run into them. Here's a gemeral description of the meanings for the colors of magic:
*White Magic: is performed for a positive purpose, a beneficial result, or spiritual growth (for example, healing or self-improvement). A person works magic for him/herself or for someone who has knowledge of the magic and has given consent, without any type of coercion. Some Wiccans may perform white magic for a person who is unaware (for example, someone who is seriously ill). However, in those cases, the practitioner makes a general request for the best possible outcome and then sends the magical energy to Deity or out into nature (rather than sending the magic directly to the unaware person). Most Wiccans practice white magic.
*Black Magic: is any magic that is performed to coerce someone into doing something; is aimed at someone against his or her will; is aimed at someone without his or her knowledge; or is used to produce a restrictive, unwanted, unethical, or objectionable outcome. Wiccans do not knowingly practice black magic when they follow the 'Three fold Law'.
*Gray Magic: is situational, and Wiccans differ about the ethics of its use. Gray magic encompasses all of the aspects of white magic with one addition: Gray magic includes magic for defense or protection of the Self or others from danger, abuse, menace, or crisis. Sometimes it is magic done for the greater good. Many Wiccans believe that they have an obligation to stop evil, that they can't ethically ignore abuse, suffering, injustice, and so on. Gray magic allows for a response for the greater good.
*Green Magic: has several meanings. The term offten describes magic performed on behalf of nature, or to help the Earth and its inhabitants. It can also mean magic for healing or to ensure health and wellness. In some cases, the term is used for magic done to produce prosperity and abundance.
Some Wiccans also refer to blue, red, yellow, orange, or purple magic, but the meanings of these terms vary.