The Wiccan Graces and Virtues

-by Saturnine

This past year of my life has been dedicated to re-learning how to be a solitary Wiccan. I had co-created a Pagan study group with a close friend of my a few years ago and we spent so much time and effort on that group, that we stopped being solitary and began life as collective Pagans. When this community dissolved, (as some communities will do from time to time) I found myself in an interesting situation. I had forgotten what it was like to have to push myself to learn and no one else. Going back to the books and the wonderful World Wide Web, I stumbled across two things. One, a book by Dianne Sylvan, called The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition. (Llewellyn, 2003) The second was a short article written on the blog “Dragon’s Weave Wicca” about a particular chapter in this book. The chapter discusses "graces". Dragon’s Weave writes, 

“[Sylvan] asks the reader to imagine the "perfect priestess", and to consider the attributes that such an individual would possess. The attributes are what she calls graces, and describes them, “They aren't moral laws, but personal ethical goals. They are the signposts on our path to Deity, and when taken with Wiccan Rede, can form a strong foundation for our practice.” She lists nine graces, and they're hard to argue with:

•     Love

•     Compassion

•     Forgiveness

•     Humor

•     Gratitude

•     Integrity

•     Wisdom

•     Joy

•     Growth 

When I read DW’s examination of Love, I was inspired to continue this on my own blog. So far I have written about Compassion and Forgiveness, and upon doing so, I have incorporated these graces into my life as a conscious effort. I have been more in tune with how I live my life. I am going to try to continue to examine the nine graces of Sylvan’s book as well as the eight virtues mentioned in Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess, these being mirth, reverence, honor, humility, strength, beauty, power and compassion. I also plan to take an in-depth look at the meaning of the Wiccan Rede.