Dating the Rede
Scholars and Wiccans alike cannot seem to agree on the original date of either the short or the long rede. Thompson's attribution of the latter to her grandmother has been disputed, since Adriana Porter died in 1946, well before Gardner published The Old Laws, and no evidence for Porter's authorship exists other than Thompson's word. The language of the poem refers to Wiccan concepts that are not known to have existed in her grandmother's lifetime. Its attribution to Porter may have formed part of Thompson's claim to be an hereditary witch. Its precise origin has yet to be determined.
Adrian Bott, in an article written in White Dragon magazine, 2003, argues that its creation can be placed somewhere between 1964 and 1975. Bott bases his argument on the alleged misuse of archaic English in the poem, in particular of " an' " as an abbreviation of "and", and of "ye" instead of "the". Bott states that the author of the poem was evidently unaware that this contraction of "and" is not an archaic, but a modern convention. According to Bott, in the "eight words" couplet originally cited by Valiente, "an" is used correctly, in the Middle English sense of " 'in the event that', or simply 'if' " (as in the Shakespearean "an hadst thou not come to my bed") and thus has no apostrophe. In the poem, this has been transformed into an abbreviated "and" and given an apostrophe, with every "and" in the poem's additional lines then being written " an' " as if to match. Accordingly, Bott concludes that the poem was an attempt to expand Valiente's couplet into a full Wiccan credo, written by someone who misunderstood the archaic language they attempted to imitate. However Bott ignores the fact that printing " an' " in the archaic sense with an apostrophe was a publishing convention from the late 19th century and that "an" as a straight abbreviation of "and" is also to be found in Shakespeare.
In contrast to Bott, Robert Mathiesen repeats the objection to "ye", but argues that most of the archaisms are used correctly. However, he states that they all derive from late 19th century revivalist usages. Based on this fact Mathiesen concludes that early twentieth century authorship of at least part of the poem is probable. He argues that its references to English folklore are consistent with Porter's family history. His provisional conclusion is that a folkloric form of the poem may have been written by Porter, but that it was supplemented and altered by Thompson to add specifically Wiccan material. Mathiessen also takes the view that the last line was probably a Thompson addition derived from Valiente. According to this account, the 1974 variant of the text, which was published by one of Thompson's former initiates, may represent one of the earlier drafts. Its publication prompted Thompson to publish what she — falsely — claimed was Porter's "original" poem.
Interpretations of the Rede
The Rede is similar to the Golden Rule, a belief that is found in nearly every religion (and lack there of). Not all traditional Wiccans follow the Rede; Gardnerians (a sect under Wicca) espouse the Charge of the Goddess as a guide for morality. Its line "Keep pure your highest ideal, strive ever towards it; let naught stop you or turn you aside, for mine is the secret door which opens upon the door of youth" is used as a maxim for ethical dilemmas.
There is some debate in the neo-Pagan and Wiccan communities as to the meaning of the Rede. The debate centers on the concept of the Rede being advice, not a commandment. The rejection of specific exhortations and prohibitions of conduct such as those given in the Ten Commandments in Christianity makes the Rede's character somewhat different from say, the Holy Bible or the Qur'an. The Rede is only a guideline which the individual must interpret to fit each particular situation and unlike these Abrahamic religions, which actions "do harm" (and which do not) are not discussed in the Rede. What exactly does and does not do harm is therefore open to personal interpretation.
The concept of ethical reciprocity is not explicitly stated, but most Wiccans interpret the Rede to imply the Golden Rule in the belief that the spirit of the Rede is to actively do good for one's fellow humans as well as for oneself. Different sects of Wiccans read "none" differently. "None" can apply to only the self, or it may include animals and/or plants, and so forth. In essence, the Rede can be fully understood as meaning that one should always follow their true will instead of trying to obtain simple wants and to ensure that following one's will it does not harm anyone or anything. In this light, the Rede can be seen as encouraging a Wiccan to take personal responsibility for his or her actions. Causing harm by inaction is therefore inconsistent with Wiccan belief.
Determining No Harm
How a Wiccan determines what is not harmful is very important under the principles of the Rede. A Wiccan may want to do a spell to disable a specific rapist from continuing to abuse others. Under the harm none principle, the problem must be weighed and the possible solution arrived at carefully. Even though the spell caster might cause harm to a social deviant, the Wiccan must not cause harm to even the rapist and yet they must act, for failure to act (once aware of the problem) would cause harm to the rapist's future victim(s). To best do this, the rapist might have a spell cast on him that minimizes the urges causing him to want to rape, or it may try to get him to see the truth of fault in his actions and even to seek a more acceptable way of handling his 'problem'. Although a spell of this kind might manipulate the rapist's character (to what extent society might consider doing so harmful is open to interpretation), these 'positive' solutions are harmless because the rapist is not being prevented from raping via other, more negative means such as death or genital injury.
Sometimes the Rede has a second line appended to it: An it harm none, do as you will; an it cause harm, do as you must, but it is important to remember that an appendage means that the original context has been altered. This extra bit thrown in to say "it's okay to defend oneself" or "but only if you are compelled to do so" is not part of the original Rede.
