Many religions follow such things as the Ten commandments in Christianity for instance, as a basis for the life they live. Wicca is no different in this respect. Wiccan practitioners, whether coven based or solitary, also have a defining code of conduct that is followed as a guideline to live their lives by. This is called "The Wiccan Rede.
The Wiccan Rede is a very poetic, and really, a very memorable set of moral codes, because its so simplistic in nature. The basic Idea is presented at the end of the rede with the verse "an
ye harm none, do what ye will." In other words, as a Wiccan you are free to live your life as you see fit so long as how you are living is indeed not harming anyone in the process. A very wise way to live indeed.
Contained in the rede are also simple instructions on how to live the Wiccan life style. Though the ending is simple, its really important to understand the meaning of the words directly proceeding it. In this and the next several entries we will attempt to explore these words and try to bring a richer and, hopefully a simple and fully understandable meaning to them, especially for people who may be new and having trouble understanding.
As Julie Andrews said in The Sound Of Music, lets start from the very beginning. The rede starts out by saying "Bide the Wiccan laws ye must, in perfect love and perfect trust". What does this mean? well first of all its talking about laws. Ive always thought of this as the laws of karma, showing love for the Goddess and God and trusting that that things will turn out as they are supposed to, and letting karma do its job. In fact the very next line qualifies this thought by stating "live and let live, fairly take and fairly give", admonishing us to let things be that we really have no control over...or have no business trying to take control of. Live and let live and be even handed in give and take situations, which most things in our life are. Things are going to happen. They may not be so great things.
The next line says "Cast the Circle Thrice about to keep all the evil spirits out". this can mean one of two things in my experience. First, a literal circle that is cast when one preforming ritual or spellwork, whether for themselves or in a coven setting. This is to protect you and those you're with from harm from spirits that love to intrude on you...and it can happen. You can also shield yourself from spirit influence without casting a physical circle. Later on in the Wiccan Learning series, suggestions on how one can do this will be explored. But for now, we will just leave it at its really important that one does so.
The next line stay "to bind the spell every time, let the spell be spake in rhyme". This is actually as strait forward as it reads. It is indeed directly referring to spell work and the proper way to conduct it. Ive given some thought as to why its important to speak a spell or ritual in rhyme. It has to do with intent. The intend of your spell or ritual session is very important. Now you have the intent in mind mentally, but by searching for the proper words to craft a spell or ritual you want to preform, so that you're able to put it in rhyme, you have taken that intent and put it into verbal action. This makes a spell much more powerful and potent. In effect by speaking it in rhyme you have effectively increased the power of the spell by several fold and essentially "bound" it.
The last line we will look at in this entry is that which states "Soft of eye and light of touch speak ye little, and listen much." This is just common sense. The purpose of Wicca in many respects is self improvement and to help others do the same. So by being "soft of eye and light of touch" we are making ourselves much more approachable to talk to. This is actually very simple communication skill that many lack today unfortunately. Even worse is the ability to listen to what one is saying. If you dont listen then you really dont know whats going on and if someone is coming to you for help, you really wont know how to gently direct them to that end! Thus the Rede admonishes us to "speak ye little and listen much" In other words...shut up and listen instead of talking over someone. Then you get all the information and can accurately meditate on it and craft how you help accordingly.
I hope you enjoyed this explanation of the first five lines of The Wiccan Rede. Next time we will continue to break it down and try and make it easier to understand.
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