WICCAN MAGICAL SPELLS
                        AND CHARMS

Quote:
"Spells are not about turning people into frogs or

granting wishes. A spell is a set of actions and

prayers that you do and say in order to ask for divine

help with some particular aspect of your life."

Mnemosyne's Realm

 

Charms:
According to a Webster's dictionary, the original

meaning of the noun charm was a "chanted word, phrase,

or verse assumed to have magic over to help or hurt;

an incantation." 1 There are two modern meanings to

the word:

 an amulet; an object believed to have magical powers

that will ward off evil influences over the wearer, or

bring them good luck.
 
 "any action or gesture assumed to have magic power."

1 A Witchcraft encyclopedia expands this definition by

adding: "magical works, phrases, chants, incantations,

inscriptions and actions which can be used separately

or in combination to make a charm." 2
 

"any action or gesture assumed to have magic power."

1 A Witchcraft encyclopedia expands this definition by

adding: "magical works, phrases, chants, incantations,

inscriptions and actions which can be used separately

or in combination to make a charm."

Spells:

   Spells are one of many ritual activities that many

Wiccans engage in. Not all Wiccans cast spells; they

are a matter of personal preference.

Spells can be designed to attempt to either harm or

help others. Thus, there are both evil spells and

healing spells. The same magickal processes are used

for both.

 Wiccans are prohibited by their belief system from

engaging in spells or other activities which harm

others. This is a logical result of Wiccans' belief in

the three-fold law, and their commitment to follow the

Wiccan Rede -- their prime rule of behavior:

 Three-fold Law:  "All good that a person does to

another returns three-fold in this life; harm is also

returned three-fold." 
 The Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do what thou

wilt." (In modern English: "Do whatever you wish as

long as it harms no one.").

The Wiccan Rede is the rule governing Wiccan behavior.

It permits Wiccans to engage in any carefully

considered action, as long as it harms nobody,

including themselves. The Rede is reinforced by the

Threefold Law. This is the belief that any harm or

good that a Wiccan does to someone else comes back to

hurt or benefit them -- magnified three times over.

Both are mentioned in the Wiccan Credo, a poem about

Wicca whose origin is unclear.

           the Wiccan Credo:
The Wiccan Credo is a Wiccan poem. Some Wiccans

believe that it was written circa 1910 CE by Adriana

Porter. Others suggest that it was created during the

very early years of Gardnerian Witchcraft, during the

1940s and 1950s. 1 It includes the text of the main

Wiccan rule of behavior, the Wiccan Rede, and a

reference to the Threefold Law.

The third last stanza refers to the Threefold Law. It

states, in part:

"Mind the Threefold Law you should,
Three times bad and three times good."

The end of the Credo contains one version of the

Wiccan Rede. It reads:

"Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
An' it harm none,
Do what ye will.
Blessed Be to thee."

 

     The Wiccan Rede and Threefold Law:
"Rede" is derived from an Old English word "roedan"

which means to guide or direct. 1 One common version

of the Rede is:

"An it harm none, do what thou wilt."

"An" and "wilt" are Old English words for "if" and

"want to."

Alternate renderings of the Wiccan Rede are:

 An it harm none, do as ye will
 Ãn it harm none, do as ye will
 An ye harm none, do what ye will.
 A'in it harm none, do what thou wilt.
 An' it harm none, do what thou wilt.
 If it harms none, do what you will.
 Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An' it harm

none, do what ye will.
 Do what you will as long as it harms none 

The Rede states that a Wiccan is free to do what ever

they want to, as long as it does not harm themselves

or anyone else. Harm is normally considered to include

manipulation, domination, attempts to control,

physically injure, emotionally harm, or hurt another

person or group in any way.

The Threefold Law (a.k.a. the Law of Return) adds a

reward for those who follow the Wiccan Rede, and a

punishment for those who violate it. The law states

that:

"All good that a person does to another returns three

fold in this life; harm is also returned three fold."

The Rede and Law obviously prevent a Witch/Wiccan from

doing harm to themselves or to others, taking harmful

drugs, etc. "This belief constantly reminds us that

there are many consequences to our actions and we must

consider all possible outcomes before acting. The

Wiccan Rede thereby binds Wiccans to do the right

thing." 2

Some followers of other religions have attributed many

evil activities to Wiccans -- from the laying of

curses to conducting love spells; from conducting

human sacrifices to performing black magic. These

actions are strictly forbidden to all followers of

Wicca. In most cases, beliefs in evil magic by Wiccans

can be traced back to European religious propaganda

during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance in Western

Europe which was used to justify witch hunting and

burning.

 

The Rede obviously prevents a Witch/Wiccan from doing

harm to themselves or to others, or attempting to

manipulate others, taking harmful drugs, etc. Thus,

many activities that have been traditionally

attributed to Wiccans -- from the laying of curses to

conducting love spells -- are strictly forbidden to

them.

 "Evil Witches", according to the early Christian

church, never existed. But by the 15th century, the

church had changed its mind. They taught that Witches

did exist, that they sold their souls to Satan, flew

through the air on broomsticks, were capable of

shifting their shapes to resemble animals, and that

they dedicated their entire life to harming and

killing their victims. This fictional belief was used

as justification for the church's subsequent burning

at the stake of hundreds of thousands of religious

heretics of all types. In reality, few if any evil

Witches existed in the 15th century; they do not exist

today either, in any significant numbers. Some

individuals portray themselves as Witches for monetary

gain and offer to cast evil or healing spells at a

price. But they are rare and should not be confused

with Wiccans. Such "witches" are not bounded by the

Wiccan Rede or Threefold Law. so, they feel quite free

to cast evil, manipulative spells and curses.
 Christians sometimes pray to their God with the

intent of obtaining God's power to change their life

or to heal friends and family. Some light a prayer

candle in their home or church. Such rituals have many

parallels with Wiccan spells. What some Christians

call prayers, Wiccans may call magickal spells.
 Followers of other religions also cast spells. "Not

all witches cast spells, and not all spells are cast

by witches. There are many magical religions out

there, wicca being one of them." 3 Most Satanists, for

example, cast spells. Their rules of behavior are

different from the Wiccan Rede, since Satanism is a

separate religion from Wicca. Satanists are not

prohibited from casting evil spells on their enemies.

      
Wiccans are prohibited from doing harm to others. This

is generally interpreted as forbidding any spell that

seeks to dominate, manipulate or control another

person without their expressed wishes. Consider a love

spell as one example:

 A Wiccan could design a spell to make a specific

person fall in love with her/him. That would be a

negative spell, because its intent, goal and effect

would be manipulative -- to control the other person

for the benefit of the spell caster. A Wiccan cannot

ethically perform such a spell.
 A Wiccan could design a general spell to make a

specific person more open to love in their life. That

again is excessively manipulative. The target person

could be trying to avoid romantic relationships at

this stage in their life, for whatever reason.

However, this type of spell might be allowable, if the

Wiccan first obtained the permission of the target of

the spell.
 A Wiccan who is desirous of starting a romantic

relationship could cast a spell to make themselves

more open to love in their life. That would not 

manipulate anyone else; it would not harm others; it

would not harm the spell caster. 4,8 It would be

acceptable under the Wiccan Rede.

Before performing a spell, Wiccans carefully think

through all the possible repercussions of a spell to

make certain that it does not have a manipulative

component. Wiccans believe that spells alter the

course of the universe and are not to be entered

lightly without thoroughly considering all of its

possible effects.

There are probably as many types and designs of Wiccan

spells as there are Wiccans:

 Some spells are very simple, consisting of only a few

phrases and actions.
 The spell may complex and may involve a full Wiccan

ritual, including casting a circle, invocation of

deities, statement of purpose, working of the spell,

meditation, thanking the deities, and closing the

circle.
 Silver RavenWolf recommends  a sequence of tasks,

including 4 main steps:  to know (yourself, what is to

be accomplished...)
 to will (belief in yourself, Divinity, your sills,

practicing)
 to dare (to change circumstances, to change your

environment...)
 to be silent (before the spell, and afterwards...) 6
 

Many Wiccans believe that it is not important that you

follow a spell precisely. Spells may work better if

you modify them to match your personality, thoughts,

and the specific situation.

 

 

 

 

 

                     EXTRA INFO

   Comparing the Wiccan Rede with behavioral rules of

other religions:
The Wiccan Rede is one of many Ethics of Reciprocity

which are found in essentially all of the world's

religious texts. In Christianity, the Ethic of

Reciprocity is sometimes called the Golden Rule. It

urges believers to treat other people decently. For

example, in Christianity, three of the 50 or so

Gospels which circulated in the 1st century CE state:

 "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men

should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is

the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12, King James

Version.
 "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye

also to them likewise." Luke 6:31, King James Version.
 "...and don't do what you hate...", Thomas 6.

Those Ethics of Reciprocity which are found in non-

Wiccan religions concentrate on one's duties to other

people. The Wiccan Rede goes further by also

prohibiting a Wiccan from engaging in an action that

hurts themselves.

The Pentateuch -- the first five books in the Hebrew

Scriptures --  lists 613 behaviors that the ancient

Hebrews were expected to either adopt because they are

not sinful, or avoid because they are wicked.  These

laws are referred to as the Mosaic Law. About two

dozen of these behaviors are grouped into the Ten

Commandments. In contrast to the 613 specific

injunctions, the Wiccan Rede consists of only one

general rule which is intended to govern all

behaviors.

Most religions teach very specific rules of behavior.

The Roman Catholic church, for example, sorts them

into two categories: mortal and venial sins. In

contrast, the Wiccan is not given a list of prohibited

and compulsory actions. They forced to consider all of

the likely ramifications of each action before

deciding whether it meets the standard of the Wiccan

Rede. It can only be performed if it is free from

harm. Judy Harrow writes: "The Craft, assuming ethical

adulthood, offers us no rote rules. We will always be

working on incomplete knowledge. We will sometimes

just plain make mistakes. Life itself, and life-

affirming religion, still demands that we learn,

decide, act, and accept the results." 3

Robin Woodsong writes: " 'Do as you will and harm

none' is not an easy way to structure morality. We

have difficult personal choices to make and hard

decisions to follow. It would be much simpler if all

aspects of our lives were regulated, and the rules and

regulations written down and posted. No more thinking,

no hard choices, no more struggling over ethical

conflicts." 4 Being a Wiccan can be a difficult

religious choice.

 

History of the Wiccan Rede within Wicca:
John Coughlin researched the writings of Gerald

Gardner (1884-1964) and Doreen Valiente (1922-1999).

These are the two individuals who are generally

regarded as the founders of modern Wicca. He found the

first reference to a ethical criteria similar to the

Wiccan Rede in Gardner's third book: "The Meaning of

Witchcraft." 5 He wrote that Wiccans:

"...are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good

King Pausol [sic], 'Do what you like so long as you

harm no one.' But they believe a certain law to be

important, 'You must not use magic for anything which

will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a

greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone,

you must do it only in a way which will abate the

harm'." 6

It appears that King Pausole was a character in a

novel by a French writer, Pierre Louys, called "The

Adventures of King Pausole," published in 1901.

Coughlin writes that: "The first recorded mention of

the Wiccan Rede in the eight-word form popular today,

at least that I have been able to discover thus far,

was in a speech by Doreen Valiente on October 3, 1964

at what may have been the first witches' dinner

organized in modern history. The event was sponsored

by 'Pentagram,' a quarterly newsletter and 'witchcraft

review' started and published by Gerard Noel in 1964:"

"Demanding tolerance between covens as well as toward

the outside world, Doreen spoke the Anglo-Saxon witch

formula called the Wiccan Rede or wise teaching:

'Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfil, An' it harm none,

do what ye will'." 7

 

 

 

Origin of the Wiccan Rede:
The original source for at least part of the Wiccan

Rede appears to be by a 16th century novelist,

François Rabelais.

"DO AS THOU WILT because men that are free, of gentle

birth, well bred and at home in civilized company

possess a natural instinct that inclines them to

virtue and saves them from vice. This instinct they

name their honor." 8

This concept appears to have been adopted by Aleister

Crowley (1875-1947) in his Law of Thelema which is

contained in his 1904 book Liber AL vel Legis (The

Book of the Law). Many believe that Crowley received

the text of the Law from an angelic entity named

Aiwass:

"Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look

but close into the word. For there are therein Three

Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of

Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the

Law." 9

Later in the Book of the Law is a verse which states:

"Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under

will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are

love and love. There is the dove, and there is the

serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen,

knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery

of the House of God." 10

Excerpts from these two verses are sometimes quoted

together as two commandments:  "Do what thou wilt

shall be the whole of the Law."  "Love is the law,

love under will."

Ellie Crystal writes: "Most Thelemites hold that every

person possesses a True Will, a single overall

motivation for their existence. The Law of Thelema

mandates that each person follow their True Will to

attain fulfillment in life and freedom from

restriction of their nature. Because no two True Wills

can be in real conflict ...this Law also prohibits one

from interfering with the True Will of any other

person." 11

Crowley initiated Gerald Gardiner into the Ordo Templi

Orientis (O.T.O.) in 1946. Gardner may have taken the

phrase from Rabelais and Crowley: "do what thou wilt,"

grafted it onto a clear, unambiguous expression to do

no harm, and produced the Wiccan Rede as we know it

today.

An alternate explanation is that the Rede was

extracted directly from the Wiccan Credo which some

Wiccans believe was written circa 1910 CE by Adriana

Porter.