70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
70 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
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SYSOP'S NOTE: I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to tell
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you that this is from PANEGYRIA volume 2, number 6, and was
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downloaded from Earthrite BBS (415-651-9496). PANEGYRIA costs $8
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per year, and their address is Box 85507, Seattle, WA 98145.
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Enjoy! - Talespinner, Sysop WeirdBase
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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ETHICS OR ETIQUETTE
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by Ellen
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Recently in conversation with friends in a small intimate
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gathering, I mentioned outer-court names and passed on gossip.
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Later I was told that I had "violated etiquette." Had I?
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Etiquette is socially accepted forms of behavior, agreed
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upon by the members of a community. Ethics involves morality,
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the nature of right as determined by a group or an individual.I
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believe there is a great deal of confusion of these terms in the
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"Pagan Community."
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Going by fairly traditional rules there are the "Laws of
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Wicca." Among these there is a very firm one saying one should
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never reveal another person as a Witch without their permission.
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However a person who has revealed themselves publically as a
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witch shouldn't complain. And is it a violation of ethics to
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tell of a person by their outer-court name? Only insiders could
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know the legal name of the person, so what is the danger?
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Ethics can be fairly easily agreed upon in the general pagan
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community. Anything that puts someone else in an embarrassing or
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dangerous position is unethical. We all make mistakes at times,
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but we try to act in a manner consistent with our ethical code.
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Etiquette, on the other hand, is very decieving. We assume,
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since we are all members of the "Neo-Pagan Community" that we
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have the same etiquette. But the only etiquette I have ever been
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explicitly told about involves greetings to be exchanged between
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members of a group and their high priestess or between two high
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priestess of different groups. What about a more common meeting?
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Say a friend of mine is tired of being a solitary and wishes
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to come to a group celebration. What etiquette should I follow
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to bring this person to such a circle? I could either contact
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the group beforehand and ask permission, or tell them I will be
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bringing a guest, or I could simply bring a guest - with no
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warning at all. In the first situation, the responsibility and
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decision is theirs; in the second I am responsible for my guest's
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behavior; in the third I am a boor and will never be invited to
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their circles again.
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No one has covered all the possible conflict situations in
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the Pagan Community. So there is no way I could agree to follow
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an "etiquette." My general code is simply to use common sense,
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and give the other person an easy out. For example, if you think
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someone else is a Witch and wish to find out, you might tell them
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that you are one. To receive trust you have to give it first.
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A secondary problem in this situation is how does one keep a
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secret? Should one only speak in whispers, or when no one is
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within 100 paces? I think that looks furtive and produces suspi-
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cion in the mind of outsiders. Or do we follow Poe's lead and put
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the secret out in the open and disarm the opposition?
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I know several people who studiously "maintain secrecy" but
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everyone knows that they are "witches." Worse, because of their
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secrecy, their colleaques don't know what a witch is except it
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must be nasty since they won't speak of it. I do not proclaim my
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religion, nor do I hide it, and I have never had any problems. I
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hear 3rd hand horror stories but would like to hear first hand
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experiences, good or bad. Please write me c/o Panegyria.
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