Loop holes and exceptions to the Wiccan rede:
A friend of mine was writing about the ethics of Wicca & wiccan rede [“An it Harm none, do what you Will”] on his wall.. and found a section from Aradia that seems to have a loop hole (basically allows harm to be done to others under certain circumstances).
He quotes,
“And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,
Of poisoning those who are great lords of all;
Yea, thou shalt make them die in their palaces;
And thou shalt bind the oppressor’s soul…”
Aradia CGL 1899 Ch 1 : I present his post.. and my subsequent response.. for any interested ..for musing and discussion…>>>
My response:
“I’ve been pondering these questions of the Wiccan rede.. for a long while now, as am sure , do every other initiated Wiccan. The rede seems to tie our hands in some ways.. and sometimes we look for loop holes and escape clauses.. because , we are humans, and a part of us wants to hurt and harm.. atleast the ones whom we deem evil, bad or harmful. It’s an emotional loop.. this one. Does 2 wrongs make it right? and so on.
I often say to my `students’ that in the everyday world, none of us can do anything that does not harm someone or something else.. in some large or small way.. by actions or even inactions. It’s not that all is fair in love and war.. but all is fair in life and survival. That is the essence of biology.. and nature.. and as Wicca claims to be a nature-loving nature inspired path, it has to accept this too. See I have got to the same `freedom’ by simple biology… and no Gospel of Aradia was necessary.. but only my logic and intelligence 
But, if we must heed the wiccan rede, then I’d say, it applies to the use of magic.. why? because the use of magic is not universal. Not all humans know it or believe it.. So use of magic by some humans (witches etc) is an unfair advantage.. and as such, it must then have a rule.. That is how I see it. And I am happy with it.. 
-Mani “
ps. And when not using magic, I’d prefer to be an honourable human.. live with good moral and ethical codes of my own.. (well, as much as possible!) – M
QuantumPhoenix 