I have had several people ask me about my slightly controversial take on the Rede and Rule. Rather than giving individual replies I decided to post it here. So, here goes:
The Rede just doesn’t make sense to me. Nor does the threefold law. How can you learn from something you don’t remember? There is no visible connection between act and consequence.
You learn by acting, then receiving the consequences of that action, immediately.
You don’t touch a hot stove, then ten years later when you’ve forgotten all about it, you suddenly have a smarting hand and think, ‘Wow! That’ll teach me to touch a hot stove! I’ll never do that, again!’
No, you’d have no idea what was happening. Where’s the lesson learned here? That the Universe is a random and dangerous place where nothing makes sense and you are hurt(ie punished) for no discernable reason?
Then there is the Fear aspect. My path teaches me that I don’t need to live in fear, not of the Xtian hell, not of some vague retribution in the near or distant future, and especially not of my God/dess.
To me, The Rede and the Rule smack to much of the Xian “be good or you’ll burn in the lake of fire, forever.
There are only two reasons for the Rede and Rule that I can see.
1. To terrify people from committing immoral and/or evil deeds who would otherwise be out there killing, maiming, stealing etc. unless they were scared out of their socks.
2. So we can point to it and say,” See, we’re not evil. We have a law saying we can’t hurt anyone. You don’t have to be scared of little ole me!”
I hear everyone say “Don’t do a love spell, Karma might send you a stalker.” and other such things.
How about, don’t do it because it’s WRONG?
Maybe the Rede and Rule are something necessary. There are a lot of people who would commit all sorts of evil if they didn’t have a threat hanging over their heads.
And there are certain people who may need reassurance that I’m not having Christian Baby Soup for supper tonight(btw, I have the recipe, if you want it, heh heh heh)
I really don’t know if these are the reasons for the existence of Rede and Rule.
When I was Wiccan, I accepted them both, without question. It was only when I began to ask myself why I believed, that I came to these conclusions. Mindless belief is Sooooo comforting(sigh). I found myself guilty of the same sort of fundamentalism as I have so often accused Xtians of. It’s so, because everyone says so.
I have been very confused of late, about this and several other Wiccan pearls of wisdom, but I’ve begun to wind myself out of the maze of unanswered questions. One thing for sure, I will never again believe a thing is true, just because.
