Course Three: Practice 99
to happen, against the will of others who do.
Those who wield Power in the social and politi-
cal arenas do so through the voluntary support and
allegiance of their constituencies, who comprise their
friends, gangs, minions, armies, and political parties.
Such support may be gained through love (as is often
the case with religious cult leaders), or through fear
(as with bullies and dictators). And the choice that
stands before anyone who holds such Power is the
same: to rule or to serve.
It is a test that is offered to all our leaders, at
every level. How would you choose?Authority
“I’m the head wizard now. I’ve only got to give
an order and a thousand wizards will...
uh...disobey, come to think of it, or say ‘What?’,
or start to argue. But they have to take notice.”
—Terry Pratchett (Lords & Ladies, p. 162)The word authority has two very different and
often opposing meanings, confusion of which causes
endless trouble. The first listed in Webster, and the
one that most people seem automatically to presume,
is based on power over: “1. The power or right to
give commands, enforce obedience... 6. Persons, esp.
in government, having the power or right to enforce
orders, laws, etc.” Power-based authority is called
authoritarian: “Characterized by unquestioning obe-
dience to authority, as that of a dictator, rather than
individual freedom of judgement and action.” Power-
based authority is rooted in fear, as it is enforced by
threat of punishment.
The second and oft-neglected definition is based
on expertise: “8. Self-assurance and expertness that
comes with experience. 7. A person with much knowl-
edge or experience in some field, whose information
or opinion is hence reliable; expert.” Expertise-based
authority is called authoritative: “2. Based on com-
petent authority; reliable because coming from one
who is an expert or properly qualified.” This kind of
authority is rooted in respect for attained wisdom.
Unfortunately, our language fails to distinguish
these two concepts when we refer only to “author-
ity,” as in the popular slogan, “Question Authority.”
It is the automatic presumption that the term refers to
the authoritarian definition that makes one of my fa-
vorite buttons so amusingly ironic: “Question Author-
ity. Ask me anything!” This Grimoire of apprentice-
ship is designed to maximize your “knowledge,
experience...information...competence” and expertise.
Those who become adept in Wizardry gain no “au-
thority” to order people around, but, hopefully, they
do gain the authority of expertise wherein their opin-
ions are considered worthy of respect.Lesson 3: The Law of Thelema
and the Wiccan RedeThe Law of Thelema
François Rabelais (1494–1553) was a French
physician, author, and satirist who wrote almanacs,
poetry, and social commentaries. A student at the
University of Montpellier in 1530, he was also a class-
mate of Michael Nostradamus. In his 1532 novel,
Gargantua, Rabelais used the phrase “do as you wish”
when describing the motto of an ideal and utopian
“Abbey of Theleme.”
Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925) was perhaps the first
to pair the ideas of “do no harm” with “do what thou
will.” In 1901 novel titled Les Aventures du Roi
Pausole (“The Adventures of King Pausole”), Louÿs
told a humorous and risqué story about a king with
1,000 wives who believed in sexual freedom for every-
one. As part of the story, King Pausole reduced an
ancestral “Book of Customs” to a more understand-
able phrase by issuing a two-part proclamation: “I.
Do no wrong to thy neighbor. II. Observing this, do
as thou pleasest.”
In April 1904, the notorious magician Aleister
Crowley (1875–1947) received a message from a
discarnate astral entity named Aiwass. Channeled
through Crowley’s wife, Rose, this entity dictated an
exquisite magickal treatise called The Book of the Law.
It contains a rephrasing of Rabelais’s Law of Thelema:
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”
Though some have interpreted this to mean doing just
as one pleases, Crowley claimed it actually means that
one must do as one must, and nothing else. He be-
lieved that if people fully understood their true Wills
and followed them, they would attune themselves into
harmony with the Universe; and therefore could do
no wrong.The Wiccan Rede
“The Rede of the Wiccae (Being knowne as the
Counsel of the Wise Ones)” is a collection of 26 rhym-
ing couplets of advice that were passed on to her heirs
by Wiccan Priestess Adriana Porter, who was well
into her 90s when she died in 1946. Gerald Gardner
(1884–1964), the founder of most modern Wicca,
claimed that this Rede was derived from Louÿs’s fic-
tional “Good King Pausol.” Many people in the
magickal community feel it is the only rule they need.
The final verse of the Rede states simply:Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill;
An* it harm none, do what ye will.
—Lady Gwen (“Wiccan-Pagan Potpourri,”
Green Egg, VII, 69; Mar. 21, 1975; p. 10)
*An is archaic Middle English for “if.”- Practice.p65 99 1/14/2004, 4:20 PM