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For Puck's Sake

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Fluffy Bunny Witches

Fluffy Bunny Witches

Last updated on: April 18, 2020 at 6:55 pm by Mat Auryn

Fluffy Bunny Witches 2020-04-18T18:55:59+00:00 Mat Auryn

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I think it’s absolutely amusing how people will use “Fluffy Bunny” as if that says something about their power. Most people I have known that are called “fluffy bunnies” by others are mad powerhouses, particularly the famous authors associated with that term. Just because their ethical stances (or the ethics that they teach publicly for beginners) is different than yours, does not mean they don’t know their shit or how to use it. When you become strong within your own power, you have no need to criticize the magick of others. Witch, you do you. They don’t need your or anyone else’s validation for their path. When I see someone use the term, it tells me more about that person’s personal power than the “fluffy bunny”.

Image Credit: tpsdave | CC0 License

“Fluffy bunny” is a derogatory term usually described as those in the witchcraft community who are generally more focused on positivity, healing, doing good deeds, steering clear of the darker deities and spirits and have an ethical code following the Wiccan Rede. So what’s wrong with these practices? Absolutely nothing. In fact, I find looking for a more peaceful path or solution instead of reacting immediately with curses to be noble. In fact, I think the witchcraft community and the world in general could use more people like this.

Some have stated that they use the term “fluffy bunnies” on those who try proselytizing their dogma of the three-fold rule and harming none. While this is an annoying act of witchsplaining coming from a place of either ignorance or arrogance, the appropriate response doesn’t seem to be using a broadly used slur against them. There are those who firmly adhere to the Wiccan Rede that do not impose their beliefs upon others. Proselytizing is different than being a “fluffy bunny”. Proselytizing also occurs amongst witches when they use the term to degrade a path of another practitioner for not being “hardcore” or “legitimate” enough.

The term seems to have been coined in particular towards certain authors and teachers and their followers. While there are folks who will proselytize their beliefs onto others, such as bringing the three-fold law as dogma into hoodoo communities and demanding that it be enforced, which is ridiculous. It just shows that they’re ignorant and arrogant. When someone tries doing this to me, I just simply laugh to myself inwardly and move on. Calling them “fluffy bunnies” doesn’t really help one not look ignorant or arrogant in reaction. It’s a stupid term that needs to die. Ironically, the rabbit and the hare are two symbols that have always been associated with witchcraft.

“I shall go into a hare,
With sorrow and sych and meickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil’s name,
Ay while I come home again.”
– Isobel Gowdie
(Seventeenth-Century, Scotland)

Harm None – The Wiccan Rede

You can always tell the breadth of someone’s Wicca or Witchcraft education based on their ideas of enforcing the threefold law as dogma upon others, which even Doreen Valiente admitted makes no sense and felt that Gardner invented it. If someone wants to believe in the three-fold law because it’s their ethics, that’s totally fine. If they want to view it as dogma and enforce that on others, that’s a totally different story.

“Another teaching of Gerald’s which I have come to question is the belief known popularly as “the Law of Three”. This tells us that whatever you send out in witchcraft you get back threefold, for good or ill.

Well, I don’t believe it! Why should we believe that there is a special Law of Karma that applies only to witches? For Goddess’ sake do we really kid ourselves that we are that important?

Yet I am told, many people, especially in the USA, take this as an article of faith. I have never seen it in any of the old books of magic, and I think Gerald invented it.”
– Doreen Valiente
Pagan Dawn, Lughnasadh edition 1998

Image Credit: Valeria Boltneva | CC0 License

It all boils down to respect. We also have to remember that when it comes to Wicca, it’s a mystery tradition. What is stated and provided in most Wiccan books is all “outer court” information, which is made for public consumption and doesn’t always reflect “inner court” mysteries or information that are entrusted only upon initiation.

Some of the people I have seen criticized for being “fluffy bunnies” are some of the most powerful witches I’ve ever met. While some have been criticized for “watering down” or “sanitizing” witchcraft for the public, I rather them do that then start giving away everything to any common Joe who picks up a book and isn’t serious about it, or things that would be greatly misunderstood out of context.

Myself, I’m not opposed or particularly for acts such as “cursing”. I believe curses have their place just as blessing, binding, or healing. I don’t believe in a three-fold law, but I have respect for those who do. I don’t however take the idea of cursing lightly. Magick is like a knife. You can use it to cook food, to carve wood, or to stab someone out of maliciousness or self defense.

When teaching a child how to use a knife, you stress caution and safety and maybe give them a plastic knife before a butcher knife. When I was a child I saw another child unsupervised cut off their finger at breakfast because they were unsupervised. When you don’t have the knife mastered, understand its risks or respect its power – there’s a huge chance you may seriously hurt yourself or another.

We should be thankful that such people are obsessed (if not scared) by the threefold rule as there’s a chance they haven’t dived deep into magickal studies. Someone obsessed with knife safety isn’t going to stab everyone around them and themselves. With magick there’s always a consequence and effect. That may be completely positive or it may be negative. But there’s always a price to pay and we should be aware of that price and understand that we’re willing to pay it first.

Likewise I think caution and understanding what the payment for any magickal working is, is very important. A total disregard for outcomes is just as dangerous. Handing a knife to someone and saying “stab whoever you feel deserves it, there’s no consequence.” is not only dangerous but sick.

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