Talk:The Wiccan Rede

This is a rather unique case. Gwen Thompson, the person who published the poem claimed that it came 'through' her grandmother, who died in 1946. Most other commentators believe that some or all of it was written by Gwen Thompson herself. Thompson said that "our own particular form of the Wiccan Rede is that which was passed on to her heirs by Adriana Porter". It's difficult to understand how anyone can claim copyright over a text which they themselves have claimed to have been passed down through many generations. Thompson essentially presented it as inherited folk culture. Paul B 11:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

As Thompson noted in her Green Egg article, Wiccan-Pagan Potpourri, "Many different traditions have different redes. That is understandable, considering the time involved from Alpha to Omega. Our own particular Rede, however, has appeared within the past year in a perverted form. That is to say, the wording has been changed." She was referring to the publication in Earth Religion News of the Rede poem (Ed Buczynski, Herman Slater's partner, was an initiate of Thompson's who had left to form his own tradition) with some changes in wording, which she felt changed the meaning of those lines. The version in this article, however, is yet another variation, more recent than either the ERN or GE publications - I don't recall ever seeing it until the late 1990s, and then only on line, with no author attributed. Thompson neither claimed the poem for herself, nor that it was "passed down through many generations", she said it had been put into that form by Porter (who was her grandmother, with whom she had lived for many years.) Mathieson's and Theitic's research has concluded that the poem itself was constructed by two different hands, one of which was likely Thompson and the other showed a familiarity with late 19th and early 20th century lore, but again, that does not address any issue of copyright. To that end, there is a note on the NECTW website which reads "Lady Gwynne gave this rede to the universe and for this and everything else she gave us, we honor her and carry on her Tradition." The implication being that as far as NECTW is concerned, Lady Gwen's version is considered to be within the Public Domain. Other versions? YMMV. (Obligatory disclaimer: While I am an initiate of both Buczynski's Welsh Tradition and Thompson's NECTW, I make no claim to speak on behalf of either Tradition, the views above are mine alone.) --Moondancer (talk) 20:34, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

I have restored the Gwen Thompson version. I am well aware of what Mathieson's and Theitic argue, however that's beside the point regarding what is supposed to have been "passed down". The Green Egg article never states that Porter wrote it, but rather that it was "passed on to her heirs" by Porter. The wider claim is that the lore it contains represents some sort of inherited folk-culture-tradition. Paul Barlow (talk) 19:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)