And harm none, do what thou Will!

This is one of the main tenants of the Wiccan religion. Some might say that it is the tenant while others staunchly defend the notion that it is a mere suggestion.

I personally would disagree with both, but why listen to me? I’m not Wiccan. I was at one time. Alas, no more. That being said, I am still an occult practitioner and a witch. I am also religious.

The 90s Were a Strange, Strange Time

In the 90s, Wicca was the popular choice for those seeking to practice magic, to commune with a more natural religion centered around the earth and feminine practices or to just be different. Alternitively, if you were a liberally minded non-Christian male lacking game and didn’t want a bunch of other dudes to compete with... it was either Wicca or drum circles for you.

Most often the crowds overlapped. In any case, it was a uniquely diverse crowd without a lot of direction. It was easy to blend in and it didn’t entirely matter if you were devout or just curious. Maybe it was the lack of technology, or perhaps just where I was at at the time and so my own perspective on the practices are skewed.

I first learned about Wicca and similar practices and or around 1992. Currently, I am 37 years old. I was first introduced to Wicca when I was 12, maybe 13.

It was Southern California, when the chick from the craft was still rumored to own a magical store in Los Angeles and it was somewhat cool to say that you were a witch or Wiccan.

Yep.... that is the face that you should trust for your religious and magickal endeavors.

To put perspective on it
I was the leader of the witch craft club in high school and in doing so they threatened to to shut down all clubs and extracurricular activities if I didn’t close my little satanic group. I argued that the Christians had a group, why couldn’t we? Besides assholes, we weren’t satanic. I was being contrary, but they deserved it.

Looking back, that’s sort of how I feel about the entirety of magic in the 90s.

The Rebel Yell

Back then, choosing to be anything other than Christian was a rebellious choice. Not just for me, but a lot of people. I was young, my family was Southern Baptist but not devout, and the vampire Lestat was my obsession. I actually went on to name my son after him, but that is a different story. Growing up and cleaning to be a convert to this religion was difficult to explain. Of course you could always show your family a trendy Hollywood movie, maybe turn on Buffy or Charmed... but for those that took their practice seriously, you would need more.

Keep in mind, it was a different time. Millenials, I’m talking to you here.

It’s not like there was Google and you could just go search facts. There was Netscape and AOL.

Then, there was Barnes and Noble and and less hours at coffee shops debating philosophy of religion that seemed to be so ancient.

After all, there was a lineage and papers. Nearly every Wiccan had a story about a family line of their hereditary witchcraft or they belonged to a group that had documented papers that took them all the way back to Britain. Life was so easy before you could fact check on your cell phone.

Then and Now

I remember explaining to my mother that I was not worshiping Satan, I belong to a peaceful religion that recognize the feminine aspect of God. I tried to explain to her that my religion was different and yet very similar to hers. It contained concepts that help me be a better person and manage my belief structures. She didn’t care. I think she died thinking I was little bit crazy or evil. Either way she didn’t approve.

The concept of harming none what is of the upmost importance and it was what distinguished us from baby killing Satanists that we drink the blood of black cats and who did ritual with dice and Wizard magic over fantastical dungeons and dragons stories. Harming None meant that we were the nice people. Look at us we’re just a bunch of white witches and we mean you no harm. The rule of our religion says exactly that.

When I was younger, I was trained by a druidic group that took the religious aspect of things seriously. Then when I was 18, I joined a secret order that is popularly known as the Golden Dawn. This created a sense of, almost elitist leanings.

The Golden Dawn was very fond of bashing on Aleister Crowley, branding him as a traitor because he put into print his secret and sacred vows. He was brought into the order by one of their founding members, McGregor matters. Ultimately, he was kicked out of the order and made the decision to break his vows and went forth into the world quite loudly. He even made the papers.

While he talked about love being the law, he also was a Benedict Arnold and many people’s eyes. However, without his indiscretion we probably wouldn’t have magic as we know it. There is a lot of our culture that was actually affected by the simple decision to deny him the in order. He spoke about his practices and it made reports throughout both British and American culture.

So there’s something to be said historically, for speaking when one should not or when others will not. It also means that a lot of things can get lost in translation.

That being said, there were those witches that did not want to be associated with his kind. Partially because it’s practices seemed vulgar and dangerous. There was also a sense of the Milyer ready, a lack of formality that do not need the vision of witches for many.

Crowley wrote his own rules, basing them off if pagan, occultist and alchemical writes that came before him. What he presented were ceremonial practices that were heavily influenced by drugs, ego, intellect, swagger and reading. Lots of reading.

In rituals that he lead, he did acts that were far off the beaten path. In fact, there was one where his own current members died. This didn’t stop him, he kept experimenting and he was responsible for doing practices that were not approved of by the general societal normies.

While Crowley probably was not the first to talk about Harm, he was no pacifist wallflower. He did dictate not to be an outright aggressor affects and when considering the history of the Wiccan nomenclature of Harming None, he was certainly the most popular contributor towards the wording.

He didn’t coin the term, nor did he invent Wicca. This is accredited to Gerald Gardner initially.

We are quite certain that Gardner was aware of Crowley and the work of the order. As we look at the etymology of the Wiccan rede, there is is an iffy timeline.

A timeline can be dictated starting in the early 1900s. The message back then was more about love and less about harm, though there were definitely rules for that.

Ironically, I think it is partially because of this that the true message of the importance of love being lost. Most pagan philosophers, authors and community leaders seem to think that Gardner took the words from Crowley. It wasn’t his lineage or anything ancient.

The link isn’t lineage, it is ceremonial... specifically Crowley.

Crowley quoted:

“so what ye will be the whole of the law...”

As part of the greater law, being love, Love under will.

That was coined by him in 1904.

60 years later Doreen Valentine published the shorter rede. She wrote the couplet that is the rede, And again, the second part as we know it about harming done. 10 years after that Thompson wrote a longer time, which later became to be known as the longer rede.

Today there are a number of varieties of Wiccan redes. And doing research for this, mainly because it’s been a while since I have looked into the subject, I found at least a half dozen different variations. They all are basically the same, with differences being inclusions and exclamations of certain concepts.

The main issue seeming to be that no one can fully agree on what exactly “harm None” means. Is it a suggestion or a priority directive? After all, the word rede meant in Middle English, advisement or suggested practice. It isn’t a law. It isn’t an order.

How Does One Harm No One, Exactly?

Causing no harm is a great mantra to use, especially when there are Satanists, serial killers and basement dwelling nerd folk trying to kill you black cats and babies out there.

_ What does Harm None even mean?_

Driving my car, a vehicle that can kill a person, there is potential for harm. Whenever I go shopping and I am not buying local goods for clothing made for me ethical source, am I not harming someone?

I smoke cigarettes. The harm is pretty apparent there. I may have missed spoke to my sons teacher and hurt her feelings... Oops! There again I just harmed somebody potentially.

The point is you have to define what harm is in the first place before you can say you’re not causing any harm. Then, the next question will be what happens to f you do, in fact, cause harm to someone?

In the 90s it was taken for granted, just something to be said. It was as though we were reiterating this mantra to convince everyone we were different. Now, we all need to embrace the fact that good witches don’t cause harm. Only bad witches don’t do that. It doesn’t matter if you’re Wiccan because the perception of witches is that they are Wiccan. For this reason, whether you’re a witch an occultist, you might as well be versed on the topic because ultimately the subject is likely to come up.

So, Where Do You Sit On Harming None?

Beyond Harming None

The Wiccan rede doesn’t specify what harm is or when or if any harm is acceptable. In fact, without presenting a philosophical debate, the Wiccan religion does not specifically state what your behaviors or what ethical actions should be taken by a follower of the tradition.

If you think about it, this is actually kind of rare for a religion of any kind. It is almost as if there is a hands off philosophy, which is definitely present in many a call practices, but they wanted to stress that they only did good.

In fact, without presenting a philosophical debate, the Wiccan religion does not specifically state what your behaviors or what ethical actions should be taken by a follower of the tradition. If Beyond Harming None

The Wiccan rede doesn’t specify what harm is or when or if any harm is acceptable. In fact, without presenting a philosophical debate, the Wiccan religion does not specifically state what your behaviors or what ethical actions should be taken by a follower of the tradition.

If you think about it, this is actually kind of rare for a religion of any kind. It is almost as if there is a hands off philosophy, which is definitely present in many a call practices, but they wanted to stress that they only did good.

In fact, without presenting a philosophical debate, the Wiccan religion does not specifically state what your behaviors or what ethical actions should be taken by a follower of the tradition. If you think about it, this is actually kind of rare for a religion of any kind. It is almost as if there is a hands off philosophy, which is definitely present in many a club practices, but they wanted to stress that they only did good. think about it, this is actually kind of rare for a religion of any kind.

Times Change and Yet, People Remain the Same

Perhaps we should be grateful for the chance to be pioneers again? Perhaps we should be pissed because this magic in this knowledge has already been discovered and we are having to redo somebody else’s mistake.

In either case, I would like to think that in the end it will lead to responsible and stronger occultists, alchemists and magicians. I guess only time will tell.

As you can see, there’s a lot to go through and I would love the chance to have a discussion and dialogue with practitioners. If you have any feedback please let me know. Go ahead, make a comment and get the discussion started.