The shorter, popular Rede carries its teaching like a charm—brief enough to remember and recite beside the altar.
The Full Wiccan Rede takes a longer road.
It pauses among the nine woods of the cauldron. It follows the Wheel through eight Sabbats, listens to the winds and watches the changing moon. Only after passing through these mysteries does it arrive at the familiar final counsel.
This page preserves the complete 88-line version exactly as it appeared in the original article. Nothing has been removed, shortened or silently rewritten.
The Complete Full Wiccan Rede
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.
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name,
Let love and light be our guides again.
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,
All hearts will find peace and 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.
Birch, in the fire goes,
Represents what the Lady knows.
Oak, in the forest, tower with might,
In the fire brings the God’s insight.
Rowan is a tree of power
Causing life and magick to flower.
Willows at the waterside stand
Helping us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify
And draw the faerie to thine eye.
Hazel–tree of wisdom and learning,
Adds its strength to the fire burning.
White are the flowers of Apple tree
That brings us fruits of fertility.
Grapes grow upon the vine
Giving us both joy and wine.
Fir doth mark the evergreen
To represent immortality seen.
Elder be the Lady’s tree,
Burn it not or cursed you’ll be.
Four times the Major Sabbats mark
In the light and in the dark.
As the old year starts to wane
The new begins, it’s now Samhain.
When the time for Imbolc shows
Watch for flowers through the snows.
When the Wheel begins to turn,
Let the Beltane fires burn.
As the wheel turns to Lamas night
Power is brought to magick rite.
Four times the Minor Sabbats fall
Use the Sun to mark them all.
When the Wheel has turned to Yule,
Light the log and the Horned One rules.
In the spring, when night equals day
Time for Ostara to come our way.
When the Sun has reached its height
Time for Oak and Holly to fight.
Harvesting comes to one and all
When the Autumn Equinox does fall.
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.”
How the Full Rede Differs
The Popular Wiccan Rede contains 52 lines. This Full Rede contains 88.
The opening and closing remain familiar, but the longer version introduces several passages absent from the shorter text.
It adds an instruction to honor the Old Ones in deed and name. The nine cauldron woods are identified individually, each carrying its own virtue. The turning of the Wheel is expanded to include all eight Sabbats.
The West wind also carries a different message. In the Popular Rede, departed souls find no rest. In this longer version:
All hearts will find peace and rest.
Finally, its closing uses “An ye harm none” rather than “An it harm none.” Both versions place the same boundary around the freedom of will, but the original wording of each page remains preserved.
Honoring the Old Ones
The Full Rede introduces the couplet:
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name,
Let love and light be our guides again.
A name spoken in ritual becomes an act of remembrance. A deed carries that remembrance beyond the altar and into the visible world.
The Old Ones may be approached as deities, ancestral powers or presences whose names have travelled through many generations. The Rede does not explain them completely. It leaves space for the practitioner’s tradition and experience.
What matters is that honor does not remain an empty word. It is expressed through action, offerings, remembrance and the manner in which the Craft is lived.
The Nine Woods of the Cauldron
The longer Rede names nine woods to enter the cauldron fire.
Each one carries a particular mystery:
| Wood | Meaning within the Rede |
|---|---|
| Birch | Knowledge of the Lady |
| Oak | Insight of the God |
| Rowan | Power, life and flowering magick |
| Willow | Passage toward the Summerland |
| Hawthorn | Purification and the sight of faerie |
| Hazel | Wisdom and learning |
| Apple | Fertility and fruitfulness |
| Grapevine | Joy and wine |
| Fir | Evergreen immortality |
Together they form a ritual fire of knowledge, insight, life, purification, fertility and endurance.
Some woods burn quickly and brightly. Others settle into embers and release their nature slowly. This gives meaning to the instruction:
Burn them fast and burn them slow.
The fire contains both sudden transformation and power that remains after the first flame has passed.
Why Elder Is Not Burned
Elder appears after the nine woods but is not counted among those placed in the fire.
The Rede names it as the Lady’s tree and gives a direct prohibition:
Elder be the Lady’s tree,
Burn it not or cursed you’ll be.
Within the poem, elder stands apart. It is not another ingredient to be consumed by the cauldron. Its power is acknowledged through restraint.
This creates a useful ritual lesson. Not every sacred object must be used. Sometimes reverence is shown by leaving something untouched.
The Four Major Sabbats
The Full Rede follows the old year as it wanes and turns toward a new beginning.
Samhain
At Samhain, the old year fades and the new one begins. The boundary between endings and beginnings becomes thin, creating a night suited to memory, divination and the mysteries of those who have passed beyond sight.
Imbolc
Imbolc watches for flowers beneath the snow. The earth may still appear sleeping, yet the first signs of returning life have already begun below its surface.
Beltane
Beltane arrives with fire. The flames mark vitality, desire and the bright opening of the fertile season.
Lamas
The Rede preserves the spelling Lamas in the line:
As the wheel turns to Lamas night
Power is brought to magick rite.
This is a night of ripening power, when the work of growth begins to show what it will yield.
The Four Minor Sabbats
The second group of Sabbats is marked by the movement of the sun.
Yule
Yule belongs to the longest darkness and the returning light. The log burns while the Horned One rules, keeping the hidden promise that the sun will rise again.
Ostara
At Ostara, night and day stand equal. The season rests briefly in balance before light begins to claim the greater portion of the sky.
The Height of the Sun
When the sun reaches its height, Oak and Holly meet in symbolic conflict. One power has reached fullness; another waits to inherit the descending year.
The Autumn Equinox
The final solar gate brings harvest. Once again, day and night stand equal, but this time the balance leads toward darkness rather than away from it.
These eight festivals turn the year into a ritual circle—opened, travelled and opened again.
Moonwise and Against the Moon
The Rede distinguishes two ritual directions.
Deosil movement accompanies the waxing moon. It moves clockwise, following increase, attraction and the strengthening of what has been called.
Widdershins movement accompanies the waning moon. It moves counterclockwise, following release, banishing and the undoing of what should no longer remain.
At the new moon, the Lady receives a gesture of reverence. At the moon’s peak, the heart’s desire may be sought.
The fuller guide to moon phases in witchcraft explores these changing tides and their ritual uses.
The Four Winds
The North wind arrives as a gale and closes the door against what travels within it.
The South brings love. The West carries peace and rest to the heart. The East opens the way for something new and calls for the feast to be prepared.
Together, the winds create another circle within the Rede. Each direction bears its own message, and the witch is asked to listen before acting.
A change in the air may announce a change in the work.
Need, Greed and the Threefold Return
The Full Rede moves from nature into conduct.
A true need should not be silenced by another person’s greed. Companionship should be chosen with discernment. Meetings and departures should carry warmth rather than bitterness.
Then the Threefold Law appears:
Mind the Threefold Law you should,
Three times bad and three times good.
Every act releases something into the world. What leaves the practitioner may return enlarged, whether it began as harm or kindness.
This is why the Rede’s final freedom is never careless freedom. Will is joined to awareness of consequence.
Keeping the Full Rede
The complete Rede may be copied into a Book of Shadows as a single poem or divided into sections for study.
The passage of the nine woods may be read beside a cauldron. The Sabbat verses may be spoken as the Wheel turns. The lunar lines can accompany an Esbat, while the closing couplets offer material for meditation.
Reading the full text aloud reveals something silent reading can conceal. Its rhythm changes as it moves from laws to trees, seasons, winds and human conduct.
It begins as instruction.
Gradually, it becomes a journey around the entire ritual world.
The Final Eight Words
After 88 lines, the Full Wiccan Rede ends where personal choice begins:
“An ye harm none, do what ye will.”
The words grant freedom, but they do not remove responsibility. Everything preceding them—the circle, the moon, the winds, the trees, the seasons and the Threefold Law—teaches the awareness required to carry that freedom.
The Rede closes.
Its question remains with the witch.