Regarding the threefold rule of Wicca

[阿特拉名贤]

I have come across the concept of the "threefold rule" proposed by Wicca. Does this apply to all kinds of magic?Will the caster also suffer a threefold backlash when casting a curse?

 

[giusma]

No Autimatically, Wicca is one modern religious tradition within a much broader worlds of Paganism, witchcraft and occultism; it is not synonymous with magic in general. Ceremonial magic, traditional witchcraft, folk magic, and other systems have different ideas about ethics, causality and magical consequences.

Someone may personally adopt the Threefold Rule as an ethical principle, but that does not make it a universal metaphysical law. There is no reason to assume that every magical action must return with precisely three times its original force. To me a more reasonable interpretation is that magical actions just like ordinary actions, can have psychological, social, practical and, depending on one’s beliefs, spiritual consequences.

 

[Zelator2148]

It's tempting to take the high road on this, but I've seen it work in practice. An erstwhile friend manipulated his connections to have me removed from my job so he could take it. My wife worked the Rule of Three on him and let's just say he got his "just desserts," although it wasn't immediate. He made a mistake that derailed his own career.

 

[armageddonz1]

No. It really depends on the magical current. For example, dome dieties of tantra will punish you if you misuse the abilities given to you. But it's not the case for every magical practice

 

[dcwilson]

If you had a c

I have come across the concept of the "threefold rule" proposed by Wicca. Does this apply to all kinds of magic?Will the caster also suffer a threefold backlash when casting a curse?

If you had a curse put on you, and the 3-fold "law" is a curse in itself, then wouldn't you, the "victim" be under it too? What donor is supplying all the extra energy to "fund" this 3-fold increase backlash? It's a belief, and if you accept it asbeing true, then it's true for you. It is not a universal "law" and can be evaded or ignored. Just stop believing this newbie "rule". Sometimes one gets to the point where magick is used to "solve" everything -all their problems, especially in the beginning. To avoid it, this rubric was invented to slow one down!

 

[wreninspring]

There’s so much well meaning misinformation on this topic, a lot of people just never learned the origins of these terms, I’m going to do a lot of simplifying but: Gerald Gardner wrote a fiction book called High Magics Aid in 1949 before founding wicca, at the time witchcraft was illegal in Britain, but he still wanted to teach some broad witchcraft concepts so his teachings had to be couched in fiction. In that book and its fictional story the protagonist undergoes a sort of initiation rite in which he is taught “mark well when thou receivest good, so equally art bound to return good threefold.”

So when someone does good by a witch, according to the story in this very fictional novel, the witch is bound to return that good threefold. This is a far cry from “anything at all that you send out into the world will return to you threefold.” It actually means that what you do to a witch should actively be returned by them threefold, and specifically good acts. Which means it’s really, really good for you to bless, help or aid a witch.

In my opinion, this was not one of the teachings he was actually trying to get across, only a story element, I have not seen it bear fruit in my work and it seems to me beliefs like this breed passivity, it neuters the craft, it's dogma that makes you afraid of yourself, of what you’re capable of, preventing you from taking action.

 

[Lu_CiD]

It's tempting to take the high road on this, but I've seen it work in practice. An erstwhile friend manipulated his connections to have me removed from my job so he could take it. My wife worked the Rule of Three on him and let's just say he got his "just desserts," although it wasn't immediate. He made a mistake that derailed his own cacareer.

If she had to do any kind of working then it's not the law of three. The way it's stated the three fold law is automatic like a version of karma. It sounds more like she just corrected and imbalance. In my humble opinion anyways.

 

[Zelator2148]

If she had to do any kind of working then it's not the law of three. The way it's stated the three fold law is automatic like a version of karma. It sounds more like she just corrected and imbalance. In my humble opinion anyways.

"Working" is probably too strong a words. She stated an intention.

 

[WonderFire]

It is not real. It is an attempt at manipulating you into accepting someone else's system of ill thought out ethics.

 

[akenu]

It is not real. It is an attempt at manipulating you into accepting someone else's system of ill thought out ethics.

It's actually kinda smart; members of covens will think twice before cursing each other.

 

[reverendsteveii]

I have come across the concept of the "threefold rule" proposed by Wicca. Does this apply to all kinds of magic?Will the caster also suffer a threefold backlash when casting a curse?

this is a childish oversimplification of the idea that you tend to get what you put in. casting it as an iron law is meant to frighten new people, but like every line of bullshit there's a grain of truth to it. there is, of course, no arbiter of the threefold law ensure that you get exactly triple what you put in, not 2.9x or 3.1x. There is also no denying that people tend to find their own and stick with them. People who hurt people intentionally tend to end up surrounded by other people who also hurt people intentionally and when being hurtful on purpose is morally acceptable to everyone in your orbit your likelihood of getting hurt goes up. Be realistic and adult with your workings, remember that while we've got power that nothing comes to anyone for free, and have the maturity to take on the moral burden of deciding when and where baleful magick might be appropriate in full knowledge that there can potentially be escalation and blowback.