A Poem of the Wiccan Rede

[lorifiya]

Bide the Wiccan Laws we must
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Live and let live.
Fairly take and fairly give.
Cast the Circle thrice about
To keep the evil spirits out.
To bind the spell every time
Let the spell be spake in rhyme.
Soft of eye and light of touch,
Speak little, listen much.
Deosil go by the waxing moon,
Chanting out the Witches' Rune.
Widdershins go by the waning moon,
Chanting out the baneful rune.
When the Lady's moon is new,
Kiss the hand to her, times two.
When the moon rides at her peak,
Then your heart's desire seek,
Heed the North wind's mighty gale,
Lock the door and drop the sail.
When the wind comes from the South,
Love will kiss thee on the mouth.
When the wind blows from the West,
Departed souls will have no rest.
When the wind blows from the East,
Expect the new and set the feast.
Nine woods in the cauldron go,
Burn them fast and burn them slow.
Elder be the Lady's tree,
Burn it not or cursed you'll be.
When the Wheel begins to turn,
Let the Beltane fires burn.
When the Wheel has turned to Yule,
Light the log and the Horned One rules.
Heed ye Flower, Bush and Tree,
By the Lady, blessed be.
Where the rippling waters go,
Cast a stone and truth you'll know.
When ye have a true need,
Hearken not to others' greed.
With a fool no season spend,
Lest ye be counted as his friend.
Merry meet and merry part,
Bright the cheeks and warm the heart.
Mind the Threefold Law you should,
Three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow,
Wear the blue star on thy brow.
True in Love ever be,
Lest thy lover's false to thee.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
An ye harm none, do what ye will.


Thought this was pretty and that it should be shared.

www.wicca.org

[firemoonw]

It is a nice poem Lorifiya.

[lorifiya]

Thank you I found it on the site I listed and thought I would share.

[Pandora]

This is wonderful poem! There's a few lines I'm confused about though, would someone care to explain them? Warning: I read into things a lot. It may get complicated

- Widdershins go by the waning moon/Chanting out the baneful rune. Baneful means harmful, right? And in casting Circles, most people only use Widdershins to "undo" the Circle after ritual, correct? So to me here, they're either saying, "if you want to do it wrong, cast harmful spells-" or they're saying, "every spell you're using to negate a spell you've already performed, etc., should be practiced during a waning moon, using counterclockwise direction to cast the circle?"
- When the Lady's moon is new/Kiss the hand to her, times two. I'm completely lost on the meaning of this one. Is it a ritual I haven't read about yet?
- Heed the North Wind's mighty gale/Lock the door and drop the sail. Does this mean, don't be afraid to experience, but go forth cautiously? I'm sure there's some other meaning to it.
- When misfortune is enow/Wear the blue star on thy brow. Again, I'm very confused about this line, not sure at all what it means.

[lorifiya]

well baneful means destruction, and during the waning moon is when you want to do a spell to remove somthing.

the north wind seems to be like an old wives tale, if the wind blows from the north trouble is coming.

I'm coming up with blank idea's on the others though sorry.

[Pandora]

^ That's alright, thank you for taking a shot at it

[lorifiya]

Your welcome,

[Lady Motevia]

Aug 2, 2011 23:16:18 GMT -5 Pandora said:

This is wonderful poem! There's a few lines I'm confused about though, would someone care to explain them? Warning: I read into things a lot. It may get complicated

- Widdershins go by the waning moon/Chanting out the baneful rune. Baneful means harmful, right? And in casting Circles, most people only use Widdershins to "undo" the Circle after ritual, correct? So to me here, they're either saying, "if you want to do it wrong, cast harmful spells-" or they're saying, "every spell you're using to negate a spell you've already performed, etc., should be practiced during a waning moon, using counterclockwise direction to cast the circle?"
- When the Lady's moon is new/Kiss the hand to her, times two. I'm completely lost on the meaning of this one. Is it a ritual I haven't read about yet?
- Heed the North Wind's mighty gale/Lock the door and drop the sail. Does this mean, don't be afraid to experience, but go forth cautiously? I'm sure there's some other meaning to it.
- When misfortune is enow/Wear the blue star on thy brow. Again, I'm very confused about this line, not sure at all what it means.

Like Lorifiya said, Widdershins and doing spells on the waning moon is to remove something, like a curse. "Chanting out the baneful rune" means to remove harmful words (curses) that have been cast upon you or someone else. Rune means "word", so this is in reference to "casting out" harmful words that have already been placed upon someone.

When the Lady's moon is new/Kiss the hand to her, times two.

This is actually a salute that I have seen performed on an Esbat. It's a form of greeting by blowing a kiss to the moon 2 times. Or also on the New Moon as the same form of salute to the Goddess to show love and respect toward Her.

When misfortune is enow/Wear the blue star on thy brow.

This means that when there are troubles in your life, it is your responsibility as a practitioner of the Craft to take care of it. Being a witch is a very powerful thing and the first part of it is to take responsibility for things that you do not like in your life and having the will to make a change. This line means to look no further than inside and to tap into Her love to bring out the change in your life that you desire.

I hope that this cleared up some things a little bit.

[Pandora]

^ Yes, very much