Wicca unlike many other religions appear to understand that we are born with a keen understanding of what is "wrong" and what is not wrong. Guilt seems to play a roll, but not as an over done, everything makes you feel guilty, but that the natural process of guilt tells you when one is doing wrong or harm. Wicca is a modern interpretation of older Earth Religions where where was no need to define and layout in clear details what "harm" was. Being in tune with nature brings with it a certain base knowledge of consequence and responsibility toward one another. Basically the "do unto others" rule plays in here. The Old Religions pretty much knew that if you think about a thing you would know that if somebody did ______(fill in the blanks) to you you would know if it would hurt you or not, thus based on that you could decipher if your doing ________ would cause harm or not. The Three Monotheistic religions based on Middle Eastern Beliefs of "God" doesn't have this credo, instead they relied upon a lot of writing to outline each and every single "sin". Craft (magic use) comes with a lot of rules and "laws" such as the law of rebound, the law of multiplication, the law or rule of karma (what goes around comes around) All of these basically say that if you use craft for "bad" then you set yourself up for "bad" things.

The Rede combined with the Law of Return are the central guiding principles of Wicca. First, let me clarify the Wiccan Rede. It does not say to "harm no-one" or "harm none". That's a sound bite that changes the meaning of the Rede entirely. The Rede has eight words: "An it harm none, do what you will." It tells us that any action that causes no harm is acceptable - that's it. Second, Rede is defined as, "to give counsel to, advise." The Rede is advice, counsel, and a guideline - not a rule or law. The existence of the Rede acknowledges the fact that no list of rules will ever be able to define what is and is not ethical behavior. Instead, consider the results of your actions very carefully. Third, let me say that any discussion of Wiccan ethics cannot be complete without including the Law of Return (or Threefold Law). What you send out comes back, usually amplified (the saying is multiplied by 3). The Wiccans I know evaluate ethical behavior based upon situations - situational ethics. Ideally, we look for a win-win solution to any problem. When one cannot be found, or is not available, we look for the solution that causes the least harm. (Yes, mistakes are made. Mistakes are an unfortunate byproduct of being human.) We make our choice with the full knowledge that we, and only we, are fully responsible for our own actions. There is no divine forgiveness that will prevent us from feeling the consequences of our actions. Harm is defined individually, but it typically means a long-term, negative damage on someone or something. http://www.witchoftheeast.com/rede.html http://wicca.timerift.net/rede.shtml