Why I'm not Wiccan

I have nothing against the religion of Wicca. I find it a beautiful religion in fact, that has a good base of belief that everyone could benefit from. There's no intolerance for people (accept from those who have left Christianity due to an unfortunate circumstance and still hold on to the animosity), the hold great reverence for nature, and I love the ceremonial-ness that many of them do when honoring their deities.

Now, lots of people probably wonder why Im not a practitioner of Wicca. It mostly stems from their ethical standards. In theory their ethics are sound, but in practice, sometimes unrealistic (at least from my point of view). My biggest problem is their rede (and you can read about it in a previous post here). While in the past few months have re-thought my position on the Rede and it's meaning, I still can't bring myself to embracing it as my own, due to the..."fluffy" followers (sorry, lack of a better word).

In the back of my mind, I understand now that the Rede is not saying "Be a pacifist. Stand idly by and keep out of harms way and keep from harming anything as it's unacceptable". What it does say is try not to harm anything. Try to make sure that whatever you do you inflict as little harm as possible...AND if you must harm, do only as much harm as necessary, never more.

However, what overshouts this understanding in my mind are the "fluffies" (again apologies) who look at the Rede and think it's all about "Harm None"; "You can't do this because it causes harm and is againt the Rede". Comments like that are like nails on a blackboard to me. I have no problems with tossing something out there if someone deserves it. THIS is why I cannot embrace the Wiccan Rede. I cannot sit idly by and let their "idea" of Karma do it's work, because if someone's hurt someone I love, Im not just gonna sit on my hands and let "Karma" do it's thing because that takes too long, and if someone I love is hurt now, I want the perpetrator to hurt now too. And Im not afraid to do it myself! I think long and hard on if I want to do it, and if I am ready to accept any consequences, and when I feel I can accept it and have thought long enough on it...then out comes my "curse" and I let 'em have it! I like knowing I can do this and not having some silly guideline hanging over my head making me feel guilty for thinking these thoughts and doing these things. If I wanted to feel guilty, I'd have stayed Catholic, thinking everything I did was a sin and that I was going to hell.

Perhaps one day I'll reconsider my position on being Wiccan...but for now Im comfortable being a Witch...just a Witch, with very few ties to Wicca (come on, let's face it, I started out with Wicca, I had to keep some things (wink wink)).