Wiccan Rede

The guiding rule of wicca: do what you will, as long as it harms none.

The Wiccan Rede is the best-known ethical principle of wicca. Its core in a commonly used form reads: an it harm none, do what ye will. The word rede is an old English word for counsel or advice. So it is not a commandment, but a piece of counsel.

The line was spoken publicly in 1964 by Doreen Valiente, one of the founders of modern wicca, and later expanded into a longer poem with guidelines for practice. Many practitioners see the Rede not as a licence, but precisely as a heavy responsibility: you must think carefully about the consequences of what you do, for others, for nature and for yourself. Whoever harms none also does not harm themselves.

Many wiccans connect the Rede with the law of three: what you send out, good or ill, returns to you threefold. Not everyone believes in that law, but the idea that actions have consequences is widely shared. That is why wicca places much emphasis on care in rituals and magic: not working for or against someone without their consent.

The Rede plays an indirect role in dreams. A dream in which you harm someone, or in which you make a choice that affects others, can be read in wicca readings as a question about responsibility: what would do harm, and what not? Dreams about revenge are also looked at in that light, as feelings that deserve attention, without acting on them.

Some practitioners point out that the Rede does not excuse doing nothing either: whoever can prevent harm bears responsibility for it.

Wicca has no central doctrine; how the Rede is interpreted differs per tradition and person.