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monitors your account to make sure that your withdrawals reflect what you put in. The universe just doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t keep scorecards, so don’t take the Law literally and expect an immediate reward or head-whacking for whatever you do. You also have no control of how it comes back to you. Letting someone merge in front of you on a crowded highway doesn’t mean that someone will do the same for you later.
    The Rede and the Threefold Law Together
    When you put the Law and the Rede together, you see that if you are working your true will, if you are in sync with the universe and the divine, the positive energy you generate ripples out and affects everything around you, and it’s a beacon for other positive energy to be attracted to you. This is the place where Wiccans strive to be.
    Taking personal responsibility is a major part of Wiccan practice. If Wiccans who adhere to the Rede and the Law screw up or do something nasty to someone, they know that they will attract that energy back in its own place and time. In addition, when you hurt others, you are also hurting yourself, even if it is only indirectly through the negative energy you will attract. Hurting others marks you, and the energy signature sticks to you like flypaper. Even knowing this, sometimes Wiccans will take a risk and choose to do something that is ethically “iffy” because they believe that ultimately it’s for the greater good. In that case, they take responsibility for the results, and they know that whatever they receive back, positive or negative, is partially their own doing. The important thing is that they are the arbiters of their own ethics; they have the responsibility and the power to choose their actions based on their own ideals rather than on rules imposed by someone else. This can be heavy stuff, but like I said earlier, Wicca is not about being comfortable all the time. It is about directing the course of your own life, and that can put you on shaky turf from time to time.
    In the next chapters we’re going to explore some of the foundation practices of Wicca, including energy work, visualization, trance work, meditation, and pathworking. If you are considering trying your hand at these skills and doing the exercises in the upcoming chapters, this would be a good time to start a journal to record your experiences. A journal can help you keep track of your progress and provide a record of the insights you’ve gained along the way.
    [ 1 ] . Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, DVD (Apostrophe S Productions, 1988). Distributed most recently by Mystic Fire Video.
    [ 2 ] . Campbell, The Power of Myth . DVD.
    [ 3 ] . Ibid.
    [ 4 ] . Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice (New York: Magickal Childe Publishing, 1990), p. xii.
    [ 5 ] . Ibid., p. ix.
    [ 6 ] . Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (New York: Doubleday, 1988), p. 120.

3

    Fundamental Wiccan Tools:
    Energy, Visualization,
Grounding, and Shielding
    If you’ve read this far (instead of just skipping to this page), you’ve taken in a lot of philosophical stuff about what Wicca is and what Wiccans believe. Understanding that information is essential to understanding Wicca, but it’s also important to remember that Wicca is a hands-on religion. Wiccans don’t just follow their religion; they explore it, participate in it, live it.
    Actively participating in Wicca requires a few basic tools, or skills. The most fundamental tool you have as a Wiccan—or just as a person, for that matter—is your mind. This chapter and the next will focus on the mind in order to lay the groundwork for you to learn about ritual and magic. A lot of Wiccan practice is centered around training your mind and using it in new ways. Perhaps the most essential, basic mental practices in Wicca are visualization, grounding, and shielding. Before you dive into those, however, it’s important to understand a little bit about energy.
    What Is Energy?
    All life is infused with energy. As