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EXEGESIS ON THE WICCAN REDE
by Judy Harrow


originally published in HARVEST - Volume 5, Number 3 (Oimelc, 1985)
second publication: THE HIDDEN PATH - Volume X, Number 2 Beltane, 1987)


     All religions began with somebody's sudden flashing insight,enlightenment, a shining vision. Some mystic found the way and the words toshare the vision, and, sharing it, attracted followers. The followers mayrepeat those precise and poetic words about the vision until they congeal intoset phrases, fused language, repeated by rote and without understanding.Cliches begin as great wisdom - that's why they spread so fast - and end asritual phrases, heard but not understood. Living spirituality so easily hardensto boring religious routine, maintained through guilt and fear, or habit andsocial opportunism - any reason but joy.
¯he Harrow|WICCAN REDE|p. `p.

     We come to the Craft with a first generation's joy of discovery, and afirst generation's memory of bored hours of routine worship in our childhood.Because we have known the difference, it is our particular challenge to find ormake ways to keep the Craft a living, real experience for our grandchildren andfor the students of our students.

     I think the best of these safeguards is already built into the Craft as weknow it, put there by our own good teachers. On our Path, the mystic experienceitself is shared, not just the fruits of mysticism. We give all our studentsthe techniques, and the protective/supportive environment that enable almostevery one of them to Draw the Moon and/or Invoke the God. This is an incrediblyradical change from older religions, even older Pagan religions, in which theonly permissible source of inspiration has been to endlessly reinterpret andreapply the vision of the Founder (the Bible, the Book of the Law, the Koran,... ). The practice of Drawing the Moon is the brilliant crown of the Craft.

     But notice how often, in the old myths, every treasure has its pitfalls? Ithink I'm beginning to see one of ours. Between the normal process of originalvisions clotting into cliche, and our perpetual flow of new inspiration, we arein danger of losing the special wisdom of those who founded the modern Craft. Ido not think we should assiduously preserve every precious word. My love for myown Gardnerian tradition does not blind me to our sexist and heterosexistroots. And yet, I want us to remain identifiably Witches and not meld into somehomogeneous "New Age" sludge. For this, I think we need some sort of anchoringin tradition to give us a sense of identity. Some of the old sayings really docrystallize great wisdom as well, life-affirming Pagan wisdom that our cultureneeds to hear.

     So I think it's time for a little creative borrowing from our neighbors.Christians do something they call "exegesis;" Jews have a somewhat similarprocess called "midrash." What it is is something between interpretation andmeditation, a very concentrated examination of a particular text. Theassumption often is that every single word has meaning (cabalists even look atthe individual letters). Out of this inspired combination of scholarship anddaydream comes the vitality of those paths whose canon is closed. Thecontemporary example, of course, is Christian Liberation Theology, based on are-visioning of Jesus that would utterly shock John Calvin.

     Although our canon is not closed - and the day it is is the day I quit -I'm suggesting that we can use a similar process to renew the life of the olderparts of our own still-young heritage.

     So, I'd like to try doing some exegesis on an essential statement of theCraft way of life. Every religion has some sort of ethic, some guideline forwhat it means to live in accordance with this particular mythos, thisworldview. Ours, called the Wiccan Rede, is one of the most elegant statementsI've heard of the principle of situational ethics. Rather than placing thepower and duty to decide about behavior with teachers or rulebooks, the Redeplaces it exactly where it belongs, with the actor.

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eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YOU WILL.

I'd like to start with the second phrase first, and to take it almost word byword.

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do what YOU will. This is the challenge to self-direction, to figure out whatwe want, and not what somebody else wants for us or from us. All of us aresubject to tremendous role expectations and pressures, coming from ourfamilies, our employers, our friends, society in general. It's easy to just bemolded, deceptively easy to become a compulsive rebel and reflexively do theopposite of whatever "they" seem to want. Living by the Rede means acceptingthe responsibility to assess the results of our actions and to choose when wewill obey, confront or evade the rules.

do what you WILL. This is the challenge to introspection, to know what wereally want beyond the whim of the moment. The classic example is that of thestudent who chooses to study for an exam rather than go to a party, becausewhat she really wants is to be a doctor. Again, balance is needed. Always goingto the library rather than the movies is the road to burnout, not the road to aNobel. What's more, there are others values in life, such as sensuality,intimacy, spirituality, that get ignored in a compulsively long-termorientation. So, our responsibility is not to mechanically follow some rulelike "always choose to defer gratification in your own long-term selfinterest," but to really listen within, and to really choose, each time.

DO what you will. This is the challenge to action. Don't wait for PrinceCharming or the revolution. Don't blame your mother or the system. Make arealistic plan that includes all your assets. Be sure to include magic, boththe deeper insights and wisdoms of divination and the focusing of will andenergy that comes from active workings. Then take the first steps right now.But, beware of thoughtless action, which is equally dangerous. For example,daydreaming is needed, to envision a goal, to project the results of actions,to check progress against goals, sometimes to revise goals. Thinking andplanning are necessary parts of personal progress. Action and thought arecomplementary; neither can replace the other.

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     When you really look at it, word by word, it sounds like a subtle andprofound guide for life, does it not? Is it complete? Shall "do what you will"in fact be "the whole of the law" for us? I think not. The second phrase of theRede discusses the individual out of context. Taken by itself, "DO WHAT YOUWILL" would produce a nastily competitive society, a "war of each against all"more bitter than what we now endure. That is, it would if it were possible.Happily, it's just plain not.

     Pagan myth and modern biology alike teach us that our Earth is oneinterconnected living sphere, a whole system in which the actions of eachaffect all (and this is emphatically not limited to humankind) throughintrinsic, organic feedback paths. As our technology amplifies the effects ofour individual actions, it becomes increasingly critical to understand thatthese actions have consequences beyond the individual; consequences that, bythe very nature of things, come back to the individual as well. Cooperation,once "merely" an ethical ideal, has become a survival imperative. Life isrelational, contextual. Exclusive focus on the individual Will is a lie and adeathtrap.

     The qualifying "AN IT HARM NONE," draws a Circle around the individualWill and places each of us firmly within the dual contexts of the humancommunity and the complex life-form that is Mother Gaia. The first phrase ofthe Rede directs us to be aware of results of our actions projected not only intime, as long-term personal outcomes, but in space - to consider how actionsmay effect our families, co-workers, community, and the life of the Earth as awhole, and to take those projections into account in our decisions.

     But, like the rest of the Rede, "an it harm none" cannot be followedunthinkingly. It is simply impossible for creatures who eat to harm none. Anyrefusal to decide or act for fear of harming someone is also a decision and anaction, and will create results of some kind. When you consider that "none"also includes ourselves, it becomes clear that what we have here is a goal andan ideal, not a rule.

     The Craft, assuming ethical adulthood, offers us no rote rules. We willalways be working on incomplete knowledge. We will sometimes just plain makemistakes. Life itself, and life-affirming religion, still demands that welearn, decide, act, and accept the results.


                         Judy Harrow