Wiccan Belief

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Wiccan morality can be summarized in the form of a text that is commonly titled The Wiccan Rede. The core maxim of that text states "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." ("An" is an archaic word meaning "if".) The origin of the Wiccan Rede is ambiguous, its earliest mention being at a meeting held by the witchcraft magazine "Pentagram" spoken by Doreen Valiente.[Holzer, Hans "The Truth about Witchcraft Today"] Gerald Gardner suggested [Gardner, Gerald "The Meaning of Witchcraft"] that it was taken by witches from the legendary ethic of the fabled (fictional) King Pausol which was "Do what you like so long as you harm no one". Nevertheless, the similarity of the phrasing of the Rede (and explicit and verbatim phrasing of other texts) suggests that this statement is partly based on the Law of Thelema as stated by occultist Aleister Crowley.[Sutin, Lawrence, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, p. 410. New York: St. Martin's Press.]

Many traditional Wiccans also follow, or at least consider, a set of 161 laws, commonly called the Ardanes. A common criticism of these rules is that they represent outdated concepts and/or produce counterproductive results in Wiccan contexts.

Many Wiccans also seek to cultivate the Eight Wiccan Virtues as a guideline for their deeds. These are Mirth, Reverence, Honor, Humility, Strength, Beauty, Power, and Compassion, and are found in a phrase from Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess, where they are ordered in pairs of complementary opposites, reflecting a dualism that is common throughout Wiccan philosophy.

A recurrent belief amongst Wiccans is that no magic should be performed on any other person without that person's direct permission (excepting pets, which obviously cannot give explicit permission for such an act). This may stem from the Rede's declaration of "An it harm none, do what thou wilt", in that a person may not wish to have a spell cast upon them, and doing so without first obtaining permission interferes with their free will, which falls under the Rede's conception of "harm". This especially applies to love spells. Most Wiccans do not believe in performing magic on anyone in any circumstance without permission, although some believe that white magic may be performed with or without permission (healing spells, etc).

Within traditional forms of Wicca there are three degrees of initiation. First degree is required to become a witch and gain membership of a coven; those who aspire to teach may eventually undergo second and third degree initiations, conferring the title of "High Priest" or "High Priestess" and allowing them to establish new covens.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wicca".