Actually, being a Chaos Witch I should write “I don’t believe in the law of three, today,” but let’s not get into Chaos magic right now.

I made my first mistake this morning by scrolling through facebook, where I saw on my feed that some witches had gotten together to do a hex on some particularly bad criminal. My initial thought was, “That’s their business, why are they discussing it so publicly with others?” Then, I saw it was a few hundred Witches so I realised it wasn’t a private thing.

I made my second mistake that morning by reading the comments section. What can I say? Curiosity killed the cat. There were comments like:

“What about the creed and the law of three?”
“This is so wrong.”
“They don’t understand or care about the negative energy they are sending out into the world.”
“Do what you will but harm none, hmmm they need to reread the rede.”
“It’s bad karma.”

Guess what Witches? Not everyone is Wiccan! How many times does that need to be said before it sinks in? The article clearly stated that people “conducted various Pagan-related rituals.” These people doing the hexing very obviously don’t follow your creed or believe the law of three. This doesn’t shock me because neither do I (right now, heh.) It is not fundamental to being a Witch for everyone to follow your set of rules, no matter how much you think it is. It would be nice if other Witches could leave the passive aggressive quotes alone too when it comes to labeling other people’s spirituality. We get enough of that from the mainstream media. Honestly, it’s as absurd as a Catholic telling a Protestant they are going to hell for not doing it right and that they are not real Christians.

It is only wrong for you. You do not get to apply, what some would consider an arbitrary morality from your own personal practice to someone else and then judge them for not conforming. Well, actually you can. No one is going to stop you, but you certainly don’t need to voice it. Might I offer some alternative comment suggestions for next time?

“I wouldn’t be able to do this as I follow the creed and the law of three.”
“I feel it would be wrong for me to do this.”
“I personally believe that it would continue a cycle of unnecessary negative energy but that’s just me.”
“I follow the concept of ‘do what you will but harm none,’ hmmm I need to reread the rede and contemplate that some more.”
“It’s bad karma for me if I do something like that.”

All of these are re-framed to reflect back on the comment maker and poses no outside judgement of others who don’t think exactly like them. The language you use matters, because words put out into a public space show others the kind of person that you are. Thoughtful, courteous, judgmental or negative etc. That image is projected out into the world and people respond accordingly to that image. Wait, isn’t that a kind of karma? Maybe.

As for the actual spellworking, I think social media has once again stirred people up into a temporary frenzy. If some Witches want to hex this criminal, luckily they are free to do so. I do question how long this righteous fury will last though, and how long it will be until everyone moves onto the next hot button topic. Remember Kony 2012? Do you? Have they got him yet? How many still care? I think working magic on issues of such magnitude takes a lot of time and hard, consistent effort. It needs to be more than just a flash in the pan.