The Wiccan Rede is one of the most well known
saying in modern Paganism and has been adopted by a variety of modern Pagans.
“An it harm none, do what thou will”.
A message that holds a unique allure and
that is perhaps quite deceptive in its simplicity.
The philosophically minded can spend many
hours expounding upon the meaning of the
Rede and its applicability. However, one
subject that is often glazed over with careless
abandon is the origin of the Rede itself. Indeed,
I think that some consider it’s origin
to be a ‘done and dusted’ matter,
but I believe that it is a subject worth
revisiting.
The actual formula of the Rede is not entirely
original. Similar concepts have echoed in
various writings for hundreds of years.
Of course, for us, the source of the Wiccan
Rede takes us directly to Gerald Gardner,
father of Wicca, who gives us this explanation
for where it comes from:
“[Witches] are inclined to the morality of the legendary
Good King Pausol, "Do what you like
so long as you harm no one".
Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft
King Pausole is a fictional character created
by French novelist and poet, Pierre Louÿs
(pseudonym of Pierre Louis). Very often it
has been the case that Gardner’s explanation
of equating witchcraft ethics with that of
King Pausole, is dismissed in favour of an
examination of Gardner’s connection
to Thelema and Crowley. While it is certainly
true that the Rede is similar to the ‘law
of Thelema’, I think that those versed
in both Wicca and Thelema will agree that
this similarity is superficial and that the
actual meanings behind the words are quite
dissimilar. I have even seen some authors
suggest that Louÿs’ The Adventures of King Pausole is too obscure a book to have been the source
of the Rede and that any such connection
is implausible. However, this ignores the
fact that Gardner was obviously well aware
of the book in order to be able to reference
it in the first place.
In fact, looking into The Adventures of King
Pausole reveals a book that Gardner was most
likely not only familiar with, but was actually
right up his street!
Pierre Louis (1870-1925) was the best selling
French author of his day (so hardly an obscure
figure writing obscure works) and the two
works that got him there would have definitely
been of interest to Gardner. In 1894 Louis
wrote book entitled Chansons de Bilitis, a work of prose poetry exalting Sapphic
love. Louis claimed that this work was translated
from older Greek writings and even managed
to fool the experts of the time. Two years
later, in 1896, Louis wrote his best selling
book Aphrodite, which portrayed the life of a hetairai
(courtesan) in ancient Alexandria.
Philip Heselton, in his book Wiccan Roots, explains that before Gardner found his
way to Witchcraft, he had believed that he
was the reincarnation of an ancient Cypriot
weapons smith and that in 1939 Gardner had
bought a plot of land in Cyprus, which he
believed corresponded to this past life and
where he, according to Cecil Williamson,
intended to build a temple to Aphrodite.
It is not difficult to imagine that someone
like Gardner, devoted to pursuing a path
to the Goddess Aphrodite, would be rather
interested in a best selling book of the
same name and another by the same author
that is deemed to be ancient Sapphic poetry.
Indeed, given Gardner’s interests at
the time, I dare say that he was most likely
well aware of the writings of Louis and that
this, in turn, led him to The Adventures of King Pausole.
I imagine that King Pausole would have struck
a cord with Gardner. From Gardner’s
own reference, we know that he must have
read the book and taken enough inspiration
from it that he would call it to mind in
reference to the Craft some years later.
But it is really no surprise that a book
like this would stay in Gardner’s mind,
as it in so many ways reflects his personality.
King Pausole is the ruler of the land of
Tryphemia. A quirky character with a unique
outlook on life, the king ruled his land
under his own simplified justice system,
in which there was just one law, summarised
in two articles:
-
Thou shalt not harm thy neighbour.
-
This being understood, do as thou woudst.
Immediately we see the early stirrings of
the Rede.
The king was also a Pagan in his own right:
“…Pausole tolerated all religions,
and himself practiced several, so as to experience
the consolations of the various paradises
in turn. The altar which the king preferred
was a small temple dedicated to Demeter and
Persephone situated in one of his parks.
The two goddesses having no longer any worshipers
on earth listened benevolently to him who
remembered them.”
Pausole’s Pagan mentality was quite
akin to Gardner’s own in many ways,
especially considering the Greek influences
that would have surrounded his pursuit for
Aphrodite in Cyprus.
Additionally, King Pausole shared another
dominant trait with Gardner, his love of
nakedness and beautiful women. Pausole possessed
his own naked harem, which was made up of
his many wives, who numbered one for every
day of the year. In keeping with the king’s
rather unique perspective, he viewed this
as the perfect number, so that by spending
one night a year with each of them, none
would get jealous of favoritism.
His wives spent all their time naked, which
was not simply for the king’s own taste,
but as part of the custom of the land, which
the king himself had installed. In Tryphemia,
it is common custom for young and beautiful
women to be naked as often as common sense
and decency would allow. However, as a twist
in the outlook of the people of Tryphemia,
it is considered far more decent to display
the naked body for all to enjoy, than it
is to cover it up in public, presenting a
false sense of modesty and allowing the minds
of the depraved to run wild with ideas of
what may lay beneath the clothes of such
young ladies.
For someone like Gardner, a nudist who has
been described by his contemporaries as being
“an unashamed sensualist”, it
isn’t hard to see why the ideals of
Pausole and Tryphemia would be very appealing.
The role of central character in the plot
is shared between Pausole and one of his
pages, named Giglio, whose exploits drive
the plot forward in a combination of guile,
cunning and sexual (mis)adventure. In many
ways Giglio is the star of the tale, displaying
a wit and roguish nature than allows him
to constantly get the better of his counterpart,
the king’s Grand Eunuch, Taxis. The
interplay between Giglio and Taxis is quite
noteworthy and very much in keeping with
the way in which Gardner tended to portray
himself. Giglio is a rogue and rascal, winning
people over with his stories and quick thinking.
Taxis on the other hand, is a staunch and
stuffy Protestant who stands in utter distain
of just about everything that the king stands
for. He is anti-nakedness, anti-sensualist,
anti-sex and represents all the oppressive
qualities that the writer sees in Christianity.
One can well imagine how Gardner, that great
“leg-puller”, may well have identified
with Giglio and Pausole, as he and his witchcraft
stepped into a largely Christian religious
arena, where so many would cast their own
distain upon him and his practices.
However, I think that perhaps we might see
Gardner and the Craft best reflected in the
words of Pausole, himself, when presented
with the proposition that everyone in Tryphemia
should be forced to adopt the custom of nakedness
and the ethical views of the king and the
majority:
“…Tryphemia is not a topsy-turvy
world; it is a better world, at least I hope
so, but I have not spared my people certain
bonds in order to cause them to suffer other
chains. …Sir, man demands to be left
alone. Each is a master of himself, of his
opinion, of his behaviour and of his actions,
within the limits of inoffensiveness. The
citizens of Europe are tired of feeling at
every moment the hand of authority on their
shoulder, an authority which is made unbearable
by being omnipresent. They still tolerate
the fact that the law speaks to them in the
name of public interest, but when it begins
to interfere with the individual in spite
of or against his wishes, when it direct
his private life, his marriage, divorce,
last wishes, reading, performances, games
and costume, the individual has the right
to ask the law why it has poked its nose
into his affairs without being invited.
…Never will I place my subjects in
a position of being able to level such a
reproach against me. I give them advice,
it is my duty. Some do not follow it, it
is their right. And so long as one of them
does not put out his hand to steal a purse,
or to give a rap on the nose, I do not have
to interfere in the life of a free citizen.”
Ultimately, is this not the spirit of the
Rede? Advice that may be taken, but with
the understanding that each person is the
master of their own life and their own destiny,
and that so long as we seek to treat each
other with kindness and respect, we may live
free.
© Copyright Luthaneal Adams 2011
