Warriors
"The Way of the Warrior is based on humanity, love and sincerity;
The heart of martial valor is true bravery, wisdom, love, and friendship."
Morihei Ueshiba
Being a Warrior is not about combat. A Warrior is a person that takes a fearless and objective inventory of their personal characteristics and then uses this information to take control of the life. It isn't about fighting, it is about mastery. If you can master yourself, you can master everything else. The Order of Scáthach is a group of people seeking that mastery.
The Order of Scáthach focuses on empowring people to become all that they can be. Of course, this means that our members need to develop self knowledge; an intimate understanding of their personal characteristics. This inward journey will help them to an understanding that will allow them to better use these attributes. What you master, you can use. This self awareness, coupled with a strong will, will help them to achieve their goals, overcoming weaknesses, fears and limitations. Our Order is the Wiccan Rede in action. The Knights of our Order forge their reality using magick and discipline.
The foundation of the Wiccan path is the Wiccan Rede, which states: An it harm none, do what thou wilt. Most Wiccans seem to interpret this Rede to simply mean "Whatever you do, harm none." This is not wrong, it just is not a complete interpretation. Members of our Order certainly subscribe to this ideal; this Warrior path that we advocate is a peaceful path. You don't have to be in the military to be an Warrior, though one finds Warriors there. You don't have to be a martial artist, though many of us in the Order are. Some of the Magickal Weapons that we sutdy, such as the cauldron and the grail, aren't obviously weapons to the uninitiated; they represent healing and renewal, which are essential parts of this Warrior path.
Members of our Order certainly strive to uphold the first part of the Wiccan Rede, but we put a lot of emphasis on the second part: Do what thou wilt. We are conscious of the fact that the Rede is a double-edged sword. One edge is "harm one" and the other edge is "be all that you can be." That second part of the Rede is a call to action. It encourages you to take charge of your life and make it what you want it to be. It inspires you to reach for the stars. It brings to mind the Latin adage, carpe diem ("seize the day"). One of our Order's mottos is borrowed from the Knights Templar: "Be glorious!" This is the true message of the second half of the Wiccan Rede.
Many of our Knights have been victims of various traumas and tragedies in the past. None of us are victims now. You cannot call yourself a Witch and be a victim. As Wiccan author Amber K once said:
"You being by taking responsibility for your life and everything in it. This is part of coming into your power. You cannot be a victim, the pawn of other's schemes and the plaything of fate, and be an magician too. Accustom yourself to the idea that everything in your life- every event, relationship, thought and material object- is there because you chose it."
Another way in which our Order differs from other Wiccan traditions is in its approach to divinity. Like all Wiccans, we in the Order of Scáthach are monists. We believe that the divine permeates everything and that the divine is inseparable from the everyday world. Divinity isn't "out there" somewhere, as the revealed religions would have it. As Doreen Valiente told us in her Charge of the Goddess many years ago:
"And thou who thinkest to seek for me, know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the mystery; that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire."
