From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wiccan Rede
Wiccan Rede
The Wiccan Rede ( /ˈriːd/) is a statement that provides should be to stop people from harming others and that
the key moral system in the Neopagan religion of Wicca should people want to participate in victimless crimes,
and other related Witchcraft-based faiths. A common crimes with no complaining witness, such as gambling,
form of the Rede is An it harm none, do what ye will. drug usage, engaging in prostitution, then they should
The word "Rede" derives from Middle English, mean- not be encroached in doing so."[citation needed]
ing "advice" or "counsel" and being closely related to the Documented ideas similar to the Rede reach as far
German Rat or Swedish råd. "An" is an archaic Middle back as the fourth century theologian Saint Augustine of
English conjunction, meaning "if." "Ye" is an archaic or Hippo. In Homily 7 on the First Epistle of John, Augus-
dialectal form of "you" (nominative plural). tine wrote Dilige, et quod vis fac meaning Love, and do what
Other variants of the Rede include: you will,[5] Augustine was interpreting 1 John 4:7–8, which
• Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do says, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is
what ye will. Note: this is the first published form of from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows
the couplet, quoted from Doreen Valiente in 1964. God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God
Later published versions include "ye" instead of is love." It has also been argued that similar concepts ex-
either "the" or "it": "Eight words the Wiccan Rede ist among Native Americans.[6]
fulfill – an ye harm none, do what ye will" (Earth
Religion News, 1974); "Eight words ye Wiccan Rede The Long Rede
fulfill – An’ it harm none, Do what ye will" (Green In 1974 a complete twenty-six line poem entitled "The
Egg, 1975) Wiccan Rede" was published in the neo-Pagan magazine
• An it harm none, do what thou wilt Earth Religion News. Each line contained a rhymed couplet
• An it harm none, do as thou wilt laid out as a single line, the last line being the familiar
• That it harm none, do as thou wilt "short rede" couplet beginning "Eight words...".
• Do what you will, so long as it harms none This poem was shortly followed by another, slightly
different, version, entitled the "Rede Of The Wiccae",
History which was published in Green Egg magazine by Lady Gwen
Thompson. She ascribed it to her grandmother Adriana
The Rede in its best known form as the "eight words" Porter, and claimed that the earlier published text was
couplet was first publicly recorded in a speech by Doreen distorted from "its original form". The poem has since
Valiente in 1964.[1] A similar phrase, Do what thou wilt shall been very widely circulated and has appeared in other
be the whole of the Law, appears in Aleister Crowley’s works versions and layouts, with additional or variant passages.
by 1904, in The Book of the Law (though as used by Crow- It is commonly known as the "Long Rede".
ley it is half of a statement and response, the response be-
ing "Love is the law, love under will"). According to B.A. Dating the Rede
Robinson of the Ontario Consultants on Religious Toler-
According to Don Frew, Valiente composed the couplet,
ance, Crowley adopted this line from François Rabelais,
following Gardner’s statement that witches "are inclined
who in 1534 wrote, "DO AS THOU WILT because men that
to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, ’Do
are free, of gentle birth, well bred and at home in civ-
what you like so long as you harm none’"; he claims
ilized company possess a natural instinct that inclines
the common assumption that the Rede was copied from
them to virtue and saves them from vice. This instinct
Crowley is misinformed, and has resulted in the words of-
they name their honor".[2]
ten being misquoted as "an it harm none, do what thou
King Pausole, a character in Pierre Louÿs’ Les aven-
wilt" instead of "do what you will".[7]
tures du roi Pausole (The Adventures of King Pausole, pub-
Thompson’s attribution of the Long Rede to her
lished in 1901), had a similar motto of Do what you like as
grandmother has been disputed, since Adriana Porter
long as you harm no one. Although Gardner noted the sim-
died in 1946, well before Gerald Gardner published The
ilarity of the rede to King Pausole’s words, Silver Raven-
Old Laws, and no evidence for Porter’s authorship exists
wolf believes it is more directly referencing Crowley.[3]
other than Thompson’s word. The poem refers to Wiccan
Another notable antecedent was put forth by the philoso-
concepts that, though ostensibly very old, have not been
pher John Stuart Mill with his harm principle in the 19th
proven to pre-date the 1940s. Its attribution to Porter
century.[4] "Mill argues that the sole purpose of law
may have formed part of Thompson’s claim to be an
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wiccan Rede
hereditary witch. Its precise origin has yet to be deter- Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments makes the Rede’s
mined.[8] character somewhat different from major religious texts
Adrian Bott, in an article written in White Dragon mag- such as the Holy Bible or the Qur’an. The Rede is only
azine, 2003, argues that the Long Rede’s creation can be a guideline which the individual must interpret to fit
placed somewhere between 1964 and 1975. Bott bases his each particular situation and unlike these Abrahamic re-
argument on the alleged misuse of archaic English in the ligions, which actions "do harm" (and which do not) are
poem, in particular of " an’ " as an abbreviation of "and", not discussed in the Rede. What exactly does and does
and of "ye" instead of "the". Bott states that the author not do harm is therefore open to personal interpretation.
of the poem was evidently unaware that this contraction The concept of ethical reciprocity is not explicitly
of "and" is not an archaic, but a modern convention. Ac- stated, but most Wiccans interpret the Rede to imply the
cording to Bott, in the "eight words" couplet original- Golden Rule in the belief that the spirit of the Rede is
ly cited by Valiente, "an" is used correctly, in the Mid- to actively do good for one’s fellow humans as well as
dle English sense of " ’in the event that’, or simply ’if’ " for oneself. Different sects of Wiccans read "none" dif-
(as in the Shakespearean "an hadst thou not come to my ferently. "None" can apply to only the self, or it may in-
bed") and thus has no apostrophe. In the poem, this has clude animals and/or plants, and so forth. In essence, the
been transformed into an abbreviated "and" and given Rede can be fully understood as meaning that one should
an apostrophe, with every "and" in the poem’s addition- always follow their true will instead of trying to obtain
al lines then being written " an’ " as if to match. Accord- simple wants and to ensure that following one’s will it
ingly, Bott concludes that the poem was an attempt to does not harm anyone or anything. In this light, the Rede
expand Valiente’s couplet into a full Wiccan credo, writ- can be seen as encouraging a Wiccan to take personal re-
ten by someone who misunderstood the archaic language sponsibility for his or her actions.[6][12]
they attempted to imitate.[9] Robert Mathiesen repeats
Bott’s objection to "ye", but argues that most other ar- Interpretations of "harm none"
chaisms are used correctly. However, he states that they There have been a number of published interpretations
all derive from late 19th century revivalist usages.[10] of how one should determine what constitutes ’harming
Based on this fact Mathiesen concludes that early twen- none’. Silver Ravenwolf, for instance, believes that al-
tieth century authorship of at least part of the poem is though acting to restrain a wrong-doer is in a sense
probable. He argues that its references to English folk- harming them, failure to act against them could allow
lore are consistent with Porter’s family history. His pro- greater harm; this must be carefully weighed up, and
visional conclusion is that a folkloric form of the poem preferably a course of action can be found that minimises
may have been written by Porter, but that it was sup- harm to all parties.[12][13]
plemented and altered by Thompson to add specifically A few people observe a modern revised Rede with the
Wiccan material. Mathiessen also takes the view that the words "an it cause harm, do as you must" appended.[14]
last line was probably a Thompson addition derived from
Valiente. According to this account, the 1974 variant of
the text, which was published by one of Thompson’s for- See also
mer initiates, may represent one of the earlier drafts. Its • Rule of Three (Wiccan)
publication prompted Thompson to publish what she – • Wiccan morality
falsely, according to Mathiessen – claimed was Porter’s • Harm principle
"original" poem.
Notes
Interpretations of the Rede [1] John J. Coughlin (2 February 2002). "The Wiccan
The Rede is similar to the Golden Rule,[citation needed] a be- Rede: A Historical Journey – Part 3: Eight Words...".
lief that is found in nearly every religion. Not all tradi- http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/
tional Wiccans follow the Rede; Gardnerians (a sect under rede3.shtml. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
Wicca) espouse the Charge of the Goddess as a guide for [2] Robinson, B.A. "The Wiccan Rule of Behavior: The
morality. Its line "Keep pure your highest ideal, strive ever to- Wiccan Rede. Origin of the Wiccan Rede: Updated: 27
wards it; let naught stop you or turn you aside, for mine is the September 2007. Available Online at:
secret door which opens upon the door of youth" is used as a Religioustolerance.org, Visited 28 December 2007.
maxim for ethical dilemmas.[11] [3] RavenWolf, Silver. "Solitary Witch: The Ultimate
There is some debate in the neo-Pagan and Wiccan Book of Shadows for the New Generation."
communities as to the meaning of the Rede. The debate Llewellyn Worldwide, 2003.
centres on the concept of the Rede being advice, not [4] Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty". 1859. Online copy
a commandment. The rejection of specific exhortations available at Utilitarianism.com.
and prohibitions of conduct such as those given in the
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wiccan Rede
[5] http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170207.htm [12] ^ Piper, David. "Wiccan Ethics and the Wiccan
[6] ^ Ventimiglia, Mark. Harm None. "The Wiccan Rede: Rede."
Couplets of the Laws, Teachings, and [13] RavenWolf, Silver. "Solitary Witch: The Ultimate
Enchantments." Citadel Press: Kensington, 2003. Book of Shadows for the New Generation."
186-87. Llewellyn Worldwide, 2003.
[7] Excerpt from Interview with Don Frew, Modern [14] Wicca: For the Rest of Us – The Wiccan Rede; The
Pagans magazine. Full Wiccan Rede?; Mixing Catholicism and Wicca
[8] "The Wiccan Rede: A Historical Journey – Part 3:
Eight Words". http://www.waningmoon.com/
ethics/rede3.shtml..
External links
[9] Adrian Bott, 2003. "The Wiccan Rede" in White • David Piper: Wiccan Ethics and the Wiccan Rede
Dragon magazine, Lughnasadh 2003 • The Wiccan Rede: A Historical Journey
[10] Robert Mathiesen and Theitic, The Rede of the • The Wiccan Rede (Long Version)
Wiccae: Adriana Porter, Gwen Thompson and the Birth of • The Wiccan Rede and the Three Fold Law
a Tradition of Witchcraft, Olympian press, Rhode • The Wiccan Rede: The Wiccan rule of behaviour
Island, 2005, pp.68–70. • The Roots of the Rede
[11] Valiente, Doreen. c.1953. Available Online at
Ceisiwrserith.com. Accessed 28 December 2007.
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