The Wiccan Rede /ˈriːd/ is a statement that provides the key moral system in the new religious movement of Wicca and certain other related witchcraft-based faiths.
The word "rede" derives from Middle English, meaning "advice" or "counsel", and being closely related to the German Rat or Scandinavian råd.
[1] Other variants of the Rede include: Another notable antecedent was put forth by the philosopher John Stuart Mill with his harm principle in the 19th century.
A complete twenty-six line poem entitled "The Wiccan Rede" was published in the Spring 1974 issue of [3] neopagan magazine Earth Religion News.
This poem was shortly followed by another, slightly different, version, entitled the "Rede of the Wiccae", which was published in Green Egg magazine by Lady Gwen Thompson.
Although Thompson wrote that this version of the Rede was in its original form, this declaration is disputed for several reasons, but primarily as the language of the poem refers to Wiccan concepts that are not known to have existed in her grandmother's lifetime.
Another claim is that it is adapted from a speech given by Doreen Valiente at a dinner sponsored by the Witchcraft Research Association and mentioned in volume one (1964) of the Pentagram, a United Kingdom pagan newsletter then being published.
Although Gardner noted the similarity of the rede to King Pausole's words, Silver Ravenwolf believes it is more directly referencing Crowley.
According to Bott, in the "eight words" couplet originally cited by Valiente, "an'" is used correctly, in the Middle English sense of " 'in the event that', or simply 'if' " (as in the Shakespearean "an hadst thou not come to my bed") and thus has no apostrophe.
His provisional conclusion is that a folkloric form of the poem may have been written by Porter, but that it was supplemented and altered by Thompson to add specifically Wiccan material.
[11] Not all traditional Wiccans follow the Rede; some Gardnerians (a sect under Wicca) espouse the Charge of the Goddess as a guide for morality.
The rejection of specific exhortations and prohibitions of conduct such as those given in the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments and emphasis on the consequences of one's actions makes the Rede's character somewhat different from major religious texts such as the Bible or the Qur'an.