Hexing vs. Healing

What do you think about hexing vs. healing? The saying goes, "a witch can't hex, can't heal," but not every witch agrees to this. Wiccans follow a moral code, "an ye harm none, do as ye will," but what about self-defense and the idea that you'd be harming someone's will? Do you even follow the rede? If not what are your beliefs? Have you hexed? Have you healed?

As I’ve written in previous collabs, I believe in balance. There cannot be light without dark, positive without negative, etc. I believe the same goes for hexing and healing. It never occurred to me that I couldn’t hex or heal until I read this question. Healing spells and hexing spells exist and I’ve had success with both.

I don’t follow the rede in the question. I follow the rule of three, however, because I’ve seen it work (positively and negatively) consistently. My theory of hexing and healing follows more closely with the threefold rule than the rede.

I believe if you’re prepared to accept the consequences of a hex coming back on you three times over, you should feel you have no one to answer to except yourself. I’ve never cast a hex in anger or spontaneously. I’ve planned out the spell, including the wording of the hex, well in advance. If I still felt the hex was necessary, I’ve performed the spell. My hexes have usually followed a pattern of “let your actions come back on you threefold,” which is a rule already present in my life.

I believe that healing spells work the same as any prayer. They aren’t so much an active solution for the one intended to be healed as something that the healer can do to feel she’s taking a role in the situation. There’s no substitute for professional help but healing spells can be a positive supplement to medical or psychological assistance. I believe healing spells for oneself can be a way to grab some control over a situation. Or if you have a friend you want to help and you don’t know what to do, casting a healing spell can put you at ease and feel as though you’ve been useful.

I don’t know who came up with the “rules” that witches are supposed to follow, like the “no hexing/healing” one. What drew me to the religion was its diversity, as well as its demand that practioners be responsible for themselves, their actions and their beliefs. If I chose to be responsible for the spells I cast, who’s to tell me I can’t cast them?