From: tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney)
Subject: Re: Perversion of the Rede?  Not according to Doreen Valiente!
Date: 14 Oct 93 19:18:19 GMT

Quick historical note re Rede and Law.

The Law of Thelema ("Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law")
dates in that form from 1904, but it is a direct allusion to the
well-known inscription over the gate of the Abbey of Thelema in
Rabelais, which it was assumed anyone from the educated classes that
formed the Golden Dawn would be familiar with.  It has a great deal of
ethical meaning to anyone who is familiar with its source, and I can
only recommend to anyone interested that they get a copy of GARGANTUA
and look it up.

The Wiccan Rede dates from Gardnerian times (roughly 1948-1963).
There are many borrowinmg from Thelema in Gardnerian Witchcraft.  Most
of the borrowings come from the Book of the Law and the Gnostic Mass,
so it would not be surprising if this were another one.  However,
Doreen Valiente, in her WITCHCRAFT FOR TOMORROW, claims that it comes
from "the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, 'Do what you
like as long as you harm no one.'"  Unfortunately she gives no
references beyond Gardner's THE MEANING OF WITCHCRAFT (and that
without a chapter or page number), so I have not been able to follow
this up.

Interestingly, Valiente then goes on to talk rather favorably about
the Thelemic Law of "Do what thou wilt", explaining that it does not
mean "Do as you like", but commands one to seek out one's own deepest
nature and express it.  Of Crowley's Law, she says, "This is really a
very profound teaching.  Crowley's remarks upon how the true will may
declare itself by the images appearing in dreams and fantasies, are
reminiscent of the present-day teachings of the Jungian school of
psychology."  So let's not see Valiente's spiritual descendants
falling into the either-or fallacy.  The founders of the modern pagan
movement were well aware of the spiritual value of the Law of Thelema,
and hardly considered it a "perversion" of anything.  

-- Tim Maroney, Communications and User Interface Engineer

FROM THE FOOL FILE:
"The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the
 freest people in the world.  The children and the aged and infirm work not
 at all, and yet have all the comforts and neccessaries of life provided for
 them." -- George Fitzhugh, CANNIBALS ALL! OR, SLAVES WITHOUT MASTERS, 1857