The Rede

The Rede "An it harm none do what thou wilt" is a deceptively simple concept yet is open to new interpretations, and is discussed on a regular basis within the wiccan community.

The Rede gives people who follow it, the ability to do what they want, whenever they want to do it, within the legal framework of where they are living.

Some religions form taboos which go against nature such as sexuality

In the past people were not allowed to have sex at certain days of the week and year. The church, thankfully, recognised that sex was not going to go away, and so let their people do it in between the holy days of the week/year. However the whole area of sex in particular is seen to be a sin, the baring of ones body (especially female) frowned upon. Vestiges of this attitude still apply even today, although in secular society sex is everywhere!

There are no such thing in the Rede. The Rede effectively says do what you want, if it is not going to harm anyone.

The definition of the word "Harm" in this context is a grey area, since it can mean so much, and so little, depending what you consider to be harming.

The general wiccan consensus of harm in the Rede is that you are not to murder, torture, commit suicide, bully, or in any other way affect, deleteriously, the quality of life of another person, including by physical, mental or magical methods, including yourself, and this is only the human aspects!

The Rede applies to nature itself, animals, the environment and the such as well, although it is allowed for food, obviously, but if hunting one is not to waste the animal you hunt (as is so often the case for sports hunting).

Some witches think that even thinking about breaking the Rede is actually breaking the Rede, in thought, however to think about killing someone without actually doing the deed, is better than doing the deed itself. In the mind you can release the emotion which represented by this person.  This helps both you, get whatever has annoyed you out of your system, and the person, which your annoyance was directed to, still lives!

This is the basis of the Rede, some make it harder for themselves by placing other restrictions, others modify it to be more flexible in an imperfect world (common one would be "Lest in self-defense it be").

Witches always face up to the consequences of what they do, and they don't say something to the effect that "The Devil made me do it". All witches consider that their actions are from themselves and NOT to an external force. These consequences manifest themselves as a concept called karma, and all of the bad, and good things we do in THIS life are dealt with in THIS life, not kept stored, to a "Judgement Day" or their next life.

It is a common accusation that wiccans are paralysed with the rede. This accusation does not really have a cogent basis for actions to be taken which may - on first inspection - may be contrary. Inexperienced wiccans may consider that the rede is unbreakable law. Many others will consider that the rede is an aspect of the craft that is breakable, after all, but it tells the practitioner that consequences will come from the act that you choose. Its a natural law. Consequences of actions invariably occur, unless you are adept in deflecting them.