The Wiccan Rede (motto) is:
"If it harms none, do as you will."

The "none" refers to the world in general, including yourself. This means, loosely interpreted, that you should think about all possible results before acting. Be responsible.

Wiccans believe that bad things done will return to the doer with a minimum accrued interest rate of 300%. It is called "Rule of Three."

Wiccans don't make blood sacrifices and don't kill for deities' pleasure. ( Personal Opinion: Don't trust someone who wants YOU to do THEIR killing. ) We do, however, leave a little food and wine as a thank-you offering.

Wiccans aren't evangelists. They don't hold tent revivals or have massive recruiting binges or badger friends to come to meetings. They 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 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, so you continuously search for understanding. Wiccans are lifelong students, and they don't study with just one book.

If someone claims to be "a hereditary witch", you probably snicker and drift on by. Such claims are often made by people who seem to need special recognition or hope to be accepted into a group without the inconvenience of study. (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.

I've encountered "holier-than-thou", elitist witches. 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 have surrounded themselves with custom-crafted ritual tools and robes, that they are somehow more Wiccan than other, less-well-outfitted Wiccans. Again, these are people in need of special recognition.

If someone claims to be "self-initiated", 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 self-educate themselves by mail-order courses and avaliable reading. Don't miss a chance to share your recommended-reading list with a deserving student. Make a friend and maybe a study-partner.

Wiccans are still a somewhat underground group for good reasons. The book-burners and people-burners are still out there, although currently without the power to legally act-out their dreams of doing away with all "not-like-us" others. They still persecute individuals who can't afford good lawyers and the Freemasons (without whom there'd be no United States in which to persecute) and harrass freethinking women who would determine their own reproductive roles. BUT...national fortunes change from time to time...think... How hard would it truly be to turn this relatively free nation into a theocracy? Maybe not like Iran, where a woman can be legally stoned for not totally covering herself in public, but in a subtle fashion, such as women can explain better than anyone. 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 Christian.

Remember (or study) our very recent history. The "Super-Christians" would like the nation to revert to the standards of 1950. All that is required is the Religious Wrong gaining political control by stuffing local elections with their own puppets. They can't 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 puppets out of office.

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