The Witches' Rude
The Wiccan Rede
The Various Aphorisms...
Do you guys think that these old texts are giving us far more opportunities to expand our magical wisdom and ability?
I can't fully understand the old english language...
Can somebody be kind enough to post the meaning of each and every line that is found on the Witches' rune, rede and aphorisms?
I never understood almost everything, but there was some part that was considered as an exeption to my confusion, the part where i understood, the part where my heart became soft... "An it harm none, do what ye will"... And in that part, each and every one of us has it's own free will...
If someone 'decodes' it for you it's going to very from person to person as to what they think it means.
Everything that everyone has ever written can be taken in more than one way.
The Rede in it's current form is about 40 years old. The ideas within it are older and the wording is older, but it's not actually an old text at all.
If I'm remembering right it was made in the late 60's, early 70's. At that time Wicca had been around for about 30 years (since it started in the 30's).
The other two I've never heard of, but my guess would be that like the Rede, they are newer texts, written in Ye Old English so they give off that distinctive older feel. Unless you meant the Witches Rede, which is just another name for the Wiccan Rede.
This is just a suggestion, but if you wish to have help decoding the Ye Old English go into google and type in "Meaning of ___". In the blank you will insert the saying or "the Wiccan Rede". That said, you should really try to read and understand the sayings outside of other people's opinions as you are a different individual and will come to different conclusions because of that.
My advice would be to get hold of a copy of Wicca: Magickal Beginnings by Sorita d'Este. The author has essentially broken down the rites and rituals of Traditional Wicca and offered explainations for the origins and meanings of them.
The original Rede was "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law". This was Aleister Crowley. Gerald Gardner (together with Doreen Valiente) altered it to mean " Do no harm to anybody" and THEN thou can do what thou wilt; in modern English "do whatever you wish, providing you do no harm to anybody, including yourself!"
It is not a bad "rule" to live by. In modern terms it might be said as, be careful, because what goes around comes around. That if you wish harm to anyone, it will come back to you.
