The Wiccan Laws, also called the ''Craft Laws'', the ''Old Laws'', the ''Ardanes'' (or ''Ordains'') or simply ''The Laws'' are, according to claims made by
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bri ...
in the 1950s, ancient laws governing the practice of
Covens, passed from initiate to initiate as part of the
Book of Shadows
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Since its conception in the 1970s, it has made its way into many pagan practices and paths. The most famous ...
.
The laws were first revealed by Gardner to other members of the Craft in 1957, after a disagreement arose over Gardner's continued interviews with the media despite his own rules of secrecy. The laws were originally unnumbered, and used the spelling ''wica'', rather than ''Wicca'' or ''Wiccan''.
The Laws contain correctly used archaic language. However, they mix modern and archaic phrases. The Laws do not appear in earlier known Wiccan documents, including Gardner's ''Ye bok of Ye Art Magical'', Text A or B, or in any of
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 – 1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five b ...
’s notebooks including one commonly referred to as Text C. The Laws have several anachronisms and refer to the threat of being burnt for witchcraft even though this did not happen in England or Wales, where witches were hanged during the
witch hunts. Parts also seemed suspiciously similar to extracts from Gardner's books. If Gardner did forge the Laws, this would have implications for earlier aspects of Wiccan history. The Laws nevertheless became a standard part of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows.
To Gardner's original 30 Laws
Alexandrian Wicca added another 130. This much larger set of Laws was first published in ''King of the Witches'' by June Johns in 1969, and later, in slightly altered form, in both ''The Book of Shadows'' (1971) and ''The Grimoire of Lady Sheba'' (1972) by
Lady Sheba (Jessie Wicker Bell). In these two books, Bell also published the bulk of the Wiccan ''Book of Shadows'', introducing to the general public for the first time the possibility of practicing Wiccan-style ritual. The Laws are sometimes known as ''Lady Sheba's Laws'' or ''161 Rules of the Witch'' (her title for them).
In 1979 a Council of Elders at a festival in America produced a set of heavily revised Laws which made them more acceptable to modern Wiccans.
Notes
References
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{{WiccaandWitchcraft
Texts used in Wicca
1950s in modern paganism