Thor back to continue Ethics discussion
Please join Tchipakkan and her guest (CTCW speaker) Thor Halvorsen at 8 pm Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017, 8-9 p.m. edt.
If you miss it, the archive is here:
This is a continuation of the discussion of ethics on the New Normal from three weeks ago. (listen to that podcast here.) There was just so much to cover, that we didn’t get to, so I asked Thor back.
There are folks just assume that anything you do with magick, manifestation, or even prayer is suspect. Part of it is old prejudices against magick and witchcraft. Even in the modern world, if you don’t know how it works, how can you protect yourself against it? It also goes along with the idea that if there’s nothing wrong with it, why would you “hide” it?
We referred to the most excellent workbook When Why If…? by Robin Wood (perhaps better known for her art and Tarot Cards). While aimed at helping Wiccans understand how to decide what the Wiccan Rede (“An you harm none, do what you will”- which IS really ambiguous) means, the Rule of Three, etc. Of course, not everyone is Wiccan, but Robin’s book covers Honesty, Self awareness, Love, Helping, Harming, Sex, and Will (is there anything more ambiguous than “do as thou will”?!). Thor is Wiccan, although Tchipakkan isn’t, so we’ll be hitting it from both those perspectives. I also recommend the book An’ Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics, by Shelley Rabinovitch and Meredith Macdonald.
Not everyone is Wiccan, so we’re going to go beyond some of that, although embracing the philosophy behind it. Thor is a Wiccan, Norwegian-Welsh Pagan, Poet, Musician, Diviner, Deaf Educator, with a fond appreciation for history, mythology, religion and social structure and sociology.
With the new political elite aligning themselves with alt-style uber-Christianity, Paganism acceptance of magick, (as well as emphasis on equality of women and acceptance of GBLT lifestyles) may put us in the crosshairs of their attention. Even if we are generally too small for their attention, our ethics may lead us to stand between them and other targets to protect them from harm; we must look at the issue of protecting ourselves in conjunction with advocacy and social justice. How do we as Americans and as individuals decide when, why and if one person’s rights violate those of another?
Feel free to call in and join the discussion, ask questions or just listen to the show. Open a window on your computer to www.Liveparanormal.com, click the “Listen Live and Chat” listing under the “radio-listen/chat room” heading, and click “LISTEN HERE” next to “the New Normal”.
We’d love you to phone in with questions: 619-639-4606 (live only). If you know you’re going to listen later but have a question, look on the facebook events page and leave a question there. We’ll try to answer it during the show.
If you can’t tune in 8-9, Live Paranormal.com archives its shows by date, and I archive them by date, guest, and topic on my website: http://tchipakkan.wordpress.com/the-new-normal/directory-of-podcasts/
Hope you can join Thor and me Wednesday night from 8-9 at the New Normal on liveparanormal.com