Book review, "An Ye Harm None"

[lady_kishiria]

The subtitle of this book is "Magical Morality and Modern Ethics". The authors are Shelley TSivia Rabinovitch and Meredith Macdonald, both of Ottawa.

I bought this book because all religions need their ethics, and Wicca's a fairly recent one with evolving priorities. Sadly, this one is merely okay, although it might be useful to a reader who is new on the path. The authors lay out the principles on which to base ethics: Thou Art God/dess, the Witch's Rede, the Earth is Sacred, etc. That's useful, but they rapidly re-invent the wheel. Since the Earth is sacred, buy things used, recycle and bike when you can! Since the other person is God/dess, be polite and don't have sex with someone who can't give adequate consent. Be wise with your money! And so on.

Like I said, good if you're just starting out, but I was bored and left with nothing to think about after.

Comments

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

I know both Shelley and "Meredith Macdonald" (a pseudonym). I known both for a long time, Shelley I met at my first SF convention, Maplecon I in 1978, and I met "Meredith" a few years later. Shelley has a doctorate in anthropology, and "Meredith" has one in sociology.

The book was conceived to be a beginners guide, with an idea that a more advanced volume to follow...but that second volume hasn't happened yet.

"Meredith" is on LJ, but hasn't posted in a long time.

ttyl