

From:    Paul Seymour 
To:      All                                      Msg #182, 03/03/92 08:26cst
Subject: Open letter to New Witches

Message number 827 in "WICCA"
Date: 03-01-92   1:12
From: Puck
To:   Camille Lockyer
Subj: On a slightly different note...

AN OPEN LETTER TO A WITCH
I do not know what Tradition you follow.  That does not matter.  Indeed, for
all I know, you may not follow any of the traditions.  You may be one of
those many lonely ones who, for whatever reason, must worship by 'feel'
rather than through any formal coven training or participation.  But whoever
you are, and however you worship, all that matters to me is that you hold
true to the God and the Goddess.
My purpose in writing this letter is to enjoin your aid in destroying that
which cripples our Craft.  Dissension is the disease.  It is not a cancer,
for it can be cured; and, as with most herbal cures, the best treatment is
that administered internally.
     Friend, help spread the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Craft.  do not
seek to establish a scale of Wicca purism, (for no two Witches will ever
agree on the relative positions on the scale of even their own tradition.)
There is no one religion for all people, and THERE IS NO ONE TRADITION FOR
ALL WITCHES!  Let this be understood, and accepted.  Choose your own path and
leave your neighbor to choose his.  Remember the primary tenet:  "AN IT HARM
NONE, DO WHAT THOU WILT."
     Yet never forget: "An it harm none..."  If your path leads to sex rites,
to homosexuality, to phallic-initiation...do not pt it foreward as "THE
WICCAN WAY".  It is only A Wiccan way, one of MANY.  And by the same token,
if a path so presented is not your way, do not decry it simply because it is
not your way.  Who are you to say another is wrong, so long as it harms none.
     Strive for honesty, friend.  Do not make false Craft claims, whether of
position, heredity, lineage, or whatever.  If you have a quarrel with
someone, seek out the one you disagree with, rather than utilize perhaps
unreliable intermediaries.  do not spread unfound rumors and question those
who do so.  News of battle makes more exciting reading than news of peace.
Why, then, provide battle news for publication when the serenity of the Craft
is what we should be showing?
      We have come a long way, my friend, in a few short years.  Let us move
on along our chosen paths till we emerge - as we will - accepted and
respected by ALL as a religion in our own right.
     Help us bring an end to washing our dirty linen in public.  There will
always be disagreements, there will always be those who cannot tolerate
others, but they are in the minority and so they should remain, if you wish.
But do not deny them their right to those differences.
     Friend, we are Children of the Universe, and Children of the God and the
Goddess.  Let us try to remember that, and live in Peace.
                            Blessed Be, and Merry Part!


This letter was first given to me by an exceptional HPS, Lady Mariah, in
L.A., when I was first initiated.  She had received it upon her first
initiation in the Craft from her HPS, Lady Bethea, who received it from hers
in England.  I share this with all of you in hopes that it will spark some
good discussion, and, above all, help us to THINK!!!!!
Blessed Be!
Puck

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 * Origin: The Mountain Oracle, P.O.D.S. for CO. Springs (1:128/101)
