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Ever mind the Rule of Three, what thou sends out shall return to theeâ€�

So who or what delivers a punishment or reward?

When discussing the 3-fold Law with someone, I gave it some serious consideration. The person I was talking to firmly believed that this law was totally false because, they insisted, there is nothing that manifests itself in nature in threes. That is a different and totally involved argument right there, but since we were discussing philosophy, I kept it in that realm. I responded that I think that the concept of 3-fold Law is not necessarily based in natural (i.e. visible/physical experience) and is better understood to be rooted in concepts of philosophy, thought, and behavioral patterns and things which are non-physical. These are very often grouped in triads. It also makes sense to me that the action does return 3-fold because what you do will return to you, but it returns on three levels � you are affected physically, mentally, and spiritually by most actions and that could very well be the root and manifestation of 3-fold return.

Our behavior is an action, our thoughts (at least until the point when they finally manifest in the physical)  aren’t tangible things. They’re ethereal and therefore, a ‘lawâ€� that operates on the ethereal or philosophical level shouldn’t need proof given on the physical level to determine its validity.

However, in philosophy, belief, thought, and understandings of these fields, we have instances of Threes popping up all over the place. For instance:

The ancient Celts perceived things as being in sacred triads � down to the root of Land, Sea, and Sky.

We perceive time as: past, present, future.

Distance is determined by: here, there, in between

We operate in triads of mind, body, spirit

We think or act in terms of thought, word, and deed.

Spiritual realms are frequently visualized and understood to be an Upperworld, Middle World, and Lower or Under World.

While Two is the number of balance and duality; Three is the number where we have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Many of us conceive our deity in triads of Maiden, Mother, Crone and Son, Hunter/Consort, Sage.

Ancient spirals and triskeles are threes. The Triquetra is a triform symbol. So it is an acceptable belief, in my mind, to conceive of energy moving in Threes or waves of three. Whether or not this has physical proof isn’t really the point to my mind or understanding because we are talking about spiritual principles, beliefs, philosophy, and such.

The point behind the Law of Threefold is that you become aware of and take responsibility for your actions, not because there is some omnipotent force out there that will weigh justice on you for every little thing you do, but because as responsible and mature individuals, we need to be the ones to step up and say that we accept the consequences of our actions, for good or ill, because if you are mindful of everything you do and aware of how those actions will impact others or even yourself, then you will grow and move with wisdom.

The True History and Meaning of the Law of Threefold Return

But, as far as where the actual concept of the Threefold Law is concerned, as it is commonly understood, it comes from a few sources that got mangled along the way. Please understand that I am not explaining this history of it in any way to discredit its use or practicality as a code of ethics or of moral behavior. I just want to explain where it actually comes from. One of these sources, the one it’s initially traced to as has been popularized in modern Wicca is Raymond Buckland.

Raymond Buckland was an initiate of Gerald Gardner’s tradition in Britain. He later immigrated to the United States and with him, he brought Gardnerian Wicca teachings and practices.

Gardner is credited with filling in a lot of the gaps that he found in the practices and beliefs of the Witchcraft he became an initiate of. One of the texts he read and used was a book Aradia: The Gospel of Witches by a man named Charles Leland. In this book, Aradia, a woman living in medieval Italy taught her followers that when someone does something to them, they should return like action to the person three times over.

MEANING: if someone was kind to one of Aradia’s followers (i.e. a witch) then the witch should return such kindness three fold. If someone crossed a witch or brought harm to them, likewise, the witch should return such to the person with three times the force. It was THE WITCH who performed the consequential action of returning three times good or three times bad to someone, this was done so that people would learn not to mess with Aradia’s followers or those under her protection. It fell to the Witch to deliver this consequence, not some universal system of ‘checks and balances�.

So, fast-forward to our current era: Sometime back in the 1980s, Raymond and his wife Rosemary were being interviewed and the host asked them the question about curses that all witches everywhere get asked at some point or another. “Do you put curses on people?�

I don’t know if it was Raymond or Rosemary who responded, but basically the answer was (paraphrasing) “Goodness no, we believe that what you do will be returned to you three times as strongly as you did it, so there is no real motivation for harming someone. No one wants to suffer three times the effect of what they’ve done.�

Which is correct, but just not exactly in the same way as it was originally intended or understood�

� and from that response, came the popular understanding of Universal Law that is considered to be the Law of Threefold Return.

Karma is something else that gets bandied about without a true understanding of what the word means. It isn’t concerned with meting out justice, only balance. Karma is the result of an action â€� any action, and it isn’t necessarily even a real part of Wiccan philosophy. We use an adaptation of the word, redefined because it’s something most people have heard of, but even that definition is a gross misinterpretation of what karma actually is.

Whether you see this as coming back three times more powerfully, or just that what is sent will return, it will happen whether you acknowledge or believe in it or not because you and those you push your energy out to will be affected by the actions you take. This energy returned is not necessarily a punishment or reward. It just means that as events occur, if you do magic, you are pushing your will into choosing an outcome. You are tying your energy into what will ultimately occur. So, you are connected to the results of what you cast.

If you are a Witch, you should accept this, not because it was written by so-and-so and not because it’s a common belief touted about all over the place, but because you understand that is how energy works. If you acknowledge connection to the Earth, moon, stars, sky, sun, plants, other people, animals, etc. then you HAVE to accept that what you do will come back to you.

Basically, you don’t get to pick and choose what parts of this knowledge or understanding you will embrace. If you’re going to claim that there is a connection existent between everything, and claim to feel that connection in the air you breathe, the energy you move during ritual, and the divinity you feel during spiritual experience, (all of which are the biggest things experienced by walking the Witch’s Path) you had better be prepared to accept that you’re a part of that connection � even when you don’t want to be.