As the New Year was approaching, I of course turned my eye towards what kind of content The Magical Buffet could offer its readers in the New Year. I knew I wanted to find a new and interesting way to talk about Wiccans and Witchcraft practioners. I wanted to have a real discussion about the nature of belief and the differences of perspective of its adherents. When discussing other faiths often times publishers, interviewers, etc. compare differing interpretations of religious texts. Of course, as many of you know, there is no one definitive religious text for Wiccans. The faith is so eclectic and adaptable that you can ask 10 Wiccans what is the defining text for their faith and you will get about 20 different answers. Ask me how I know. Then it hit me, there is the Rede.<\/p>\n
What is the Wiccan Rede? According to \u201cThe Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft\u201d the Rede \u201cwas first published in \u2018Green Egg Magazine\u2019 in 1975. Lady Gwen Thompson, a witch from the Celtic Tradition, submitted the poem. Her grandmother, Adriana Porter, had given it to her. No one is really sure how old the poem is. Some people believe it was written in the mid 1930s. Others believe that is unlikely, because the word Wicca was not used until the 1960s. No matter how old it is, the Rede remains a central pillar of the Wiccan faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again, ask 10 different Wiccans and get 10 different answers. Then I thought, would you really get 10 different answers? Well you know, there is only one way to find out. I sent out an email to past contributors to The Magical Buffet and a few friends and asked them if they would be interested in sharing their thoughts on the Wiccan Rede with my readers. Many wonderful people responded. I\u2019m not going to list them all, because I want there to be some mystery, but to name a few: Raven Digitalis (author of \u201cGoth Craft\u201d and \u201cShadow Magick Compendium\u201d), Thuri Calafia (author of \u201cDedicant: A Witch\u2019s Circle of Fire\u201d), Lady Passion (co-author of \u201cThe Goodly Spellbook\u201d) and many more. My intention is once a month to share an opinion article on the Wiccan Rede. <\/p>\n
For those of you unfamiliar with the Rede, we\u2019re not talking about some thick tome of mythology. I\u2019ve seen several versions of the Rede, but when I think of it, I\u2019m always thinking of the version that appeared in \u201cGreen Egg Magazine\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rede of the Wiccae\u201d<\/p>\n
Bide the Wiccan laws ye must
\nIn perfect love and perfect trust.<\/p>\n
Live and let live-
\nFairly take and fairly give.<\/p>\n
Cast the Circle thrice about
\nTo keep all evil spirits out.<\/p>\n
To bind the spell every time,
\nLet the spell be spake in rhyme.<\/p>\n
Soft of eye and light of touch-
\nSpeak little, listen much.<\/p>\n
Deosil go by the waxing Moon-
\nSing and dance the Wiccan rune.<\/p>\n
Widdershins go when the Moon doth wane,
\nAnd the Werewolf howls by the dread Wolfsbane.<\/p>\n
When the Lady\u2019s Moon is new,
\nKiss the hand to her times two.<\/p>\n
When the Moon rides at her peak,
\nThen your heart\u2019s desire seek.<\/p>\n
Heed the Northwind\u2019s mighty gale-
\nLock the door and drop the sail.<\/p>\n
When the wind blows from the South,
\nLove will kiss thee on the mouth.<\/p>\n
When the wind blows from the East,
\nExpect the new and set the feast.<\/p>\n
When the West wind blows o\u2019er thee,
\nDeparted spirits restless be.<\/p>\n
Nine woods in the Cauldron go-
\nBurn them quick and burn them slow.<\/p>\n
Elder be ye Lady\u2019s tree-
\nBurn it not or cursed ye\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n
When the Wheel begins to turn-
\nLet the Beltaine fires burn.<\/p>\n
When the Wheel has turned a Yule,
\nLight the log and let Pan rule.<\/p>\n
Heed ye flower, bush and tree-
\nBy the Lady blessed be.<\/p>\n
Where the rippling waters go,
\nCast a stone an truth ye\u2019ll know.<\/p>\n
When ye have need,
\nHearken not to other\u2019s greed. <\/p>\n
With the fool no season spend
\nOr be counted as his friend.<\/p>\n
Merry meet an merry part-
\nBright the cheeks an warm the heart.<\/p>\n
Mind the Threefold Law ye should-
\nThree times bad and three times good.<\/p>\n
When misfortune is enow,
\nWear the blue star on thy brow.<\/p>\n
True in love ever be
\nUnless thy lover\u2019s false to thee.<\/p>\n
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill-
\nAn it harm none, do what ye will.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. Yet, this seemingly simple poem lays out the basics of spell casting and the ethics of being Wiccan. Not too shabby for 26 couplets, right? Of course, as mentioned before, ask 10 different Wiccans, get 10 different interpretations. Like any religious text, the Wiccan Rede holds different levels of regard depending on the individual. I hope that you\u2019ll enjoy learning and debating the Rede each month as contributors offer their opinions on the subject.<\/p>\n
Welcome to The Wiccan Rede Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the New Year was approaching, I of course turned my eye towards what kind of content The Magical Buffet could offer its readers in the New Year. I knew I wanted to find a new and interesting way to talk about Wiccans and Witchcraft practioners. I wanted to have a real discussion about the nature of belief and the differences of perspective of its adherents. When discussing other faiths often times publishers, interviewers, etc. compare differing interpretations of religious texts. Of course, as many of you know, there is no one definitive religious text for Wiccans. The faith is so eclectic and adaptable that you can ask 10 Wiccans what is the defining text for their faith and you will get about 20 different answers. Ask me how I know. Then it hit me, there is the Rede.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26,33,30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}