Ethics and the Craft: The History, Evolution, and Practice of Wiccan Ethics

by John J. Coughlin

"Ethics and the Craft; The History, Evolution, and Practice of Wiccan Ethics" provides ground breaking research into the history of ethics in the Wiccan religion and how they have propagated and changed over time.

Genres: Nonfiction

155 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

John J. Coughlin, often considered the “Father of Dark Paganism,” has been a practitioner of the Occult Arts since the mid-1980’s. In that time he has worked with several groups, although he primarily prefers to walk a solitary, eclectic path. Also associated with the Gothic scene, John has incorporated his personal aesthetics and ideals into his spirituality giving him an often unique perspective.

Preferring to consider himself an “obscure occult author” due to his distaste for self promotion, John believes those who will benefit from his work will eventually stumble across it when the time is right. Professional writers are cursed with having to sacrifice their integrity to please the majority in order to sell their work to the masses. John does not seek to make a living off his writing and is therefore free to write about what he finds interesting and important regardless of its trendiness or political correctness. Much of John’s work remains in private distribution within the various magical groups with which he works.

John is also webmaster of waningmoon.com which is the mother site for his various (mostly dated) web projects geared primarily to Gothic and Pagan audiences including the now-retired Gothic, Pagan and Vampire personals. John was also founder and editor of the NYC Pagan Resource Guide which served the New York tri-state area for 15 years between 1996 – 2011. He enjoys promoting a sense of community through his websites.

As a rogue scholar of sorts, John Coughlin has been researching the history and evolution of Wiccan ethics in order to show how the religion’s perception of ethics has developed since its inception and to promote true scholarly research into the Craft’s history.

Currently John’s focus is on independent publishing via Waning Moon Publications and on various projects geared toward bringing the ideals of self-development and personal initiation to a wider audience by finding ways to present esoteric ideals and techniques without the trappings of occult imagery and jargon which can often become distractions and blinders.

Besides his occult-related studies, John is an avid hiker. His hobbies include martial arts, learning piano, cooking, and the Japanese language (he is close to N4 certification level).

Reviews

[Trish Deneen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author discusses the complexities of the Wiccan Rede far beyond the watered down version that has become part of some Pagan currents. He goes into Western and Eastern definitions of karma and how they relate to the three-fold law.

This book also serves as a history of the Wiccan Rede, the importance of which I think can't be overstated. His research on this was meticulous, and he connects the dots as best he can with the information he was able to acquire. I believe he emphasized this not to debunk the Rede but to solidify it and put some meat on those bones so to speak. With the influx of new interest in Paganism and witchcraft, new seekers will be awash in consumer culture trying to sell them "witchiness" and most will only have books and websites to guide them. I think this book would serve as a solid foundation.

[Taylor Ellwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a Wiccan and this is a book about Wiccan Ethics. With that Caveat made, I found this book to be an excellent exploration of Wiccan ethics, both in terms of the history of said ethics and the exploration of those how ethics are applied to one's life. I also like that the author explored ethics in relationship to one's magical practice. I highly recommend this book as a useful guide to understanding Wicca and its ethics, and even as a book that may be interesting to someone who is not Wiccan but practices magic and wants to learn about various ethical systems. While I did disagree with the author on a couple points, I found that all of his arguments were well put together.

[stormhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic guide to Wiccan Ethics, even considering that there really aren't any books on the dubject. Mainly focuses on the Rede and the Three-Fold Law, but goes into more depth than most books and attempts to determine provenance of these two concepts that are cores of current Wiccan belief.