From: sellis@brigid.ucr.edu (sheri ellis)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Charge of the Goddess??
Date: 28 Dec 1994 16:27:20 GMT
From: Raven <JSINGLE@MUSIC.LIB.MATC.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: RE: Poem?
Date: 09 DEC 94 15:06:47 EST

See THE GRIMOIRE OF LADY SHEBA (Llewellyn, 1972) or Stewart Farrar's
WHAT WITCHES DO (1971) for a full text.  See Leland's ARADIA (1899)
for one, apparently major, source text from which Gardner et al. drew.

Oh, I might as well flex my fingers a bit more.  Here's from Farrar:
________________________________________________________________________

                      THE CHARGE OF THE GODDESS

[The High Priest:]
     Now listen to the words of the Great Mother, who was of old also
called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite,
Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other names.
At her altars, the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.

[The High Priestess:]
     Whenever ye have need of any thing, once in the month, and better
it be when the moon is full, then shall ye assemble in some secret
place, and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all witches.
     There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery,
yet have not won its deepest secrets; to these will I teach things
that are as yet unknown.
     And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye be
really free, ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance,
sing, feast, make music and love, all in my praise.  For mine is the
ecstasy of the spirit, and mine also is joy on earth; for my law is
love unto all beings.
     Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it, let naught
stop you or turn you aside; for mine is the secret door which opens
upon the land of youth, and mine is the cup of wine of life, and the
cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of immortality.
     I am the gracious Goddess, who gives the gift of joy unto the
heart of man.  Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal;
and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom, and reunion with those
who have gone before.
     Nor do I demand sacrifice; for behold, I am the Mother of all
living, and my love is poured out upon the earth.

[The High Priest:]
     Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess; she in the dust of whose
feet are the hosts of heaven, whose body encircles the universe.

[The High Priestess:]
     I am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the
stars, and the mystery of the waters, and the desire of the heart of man.
     Call unto thy soul; arise and come unto me; for I am the soul of
nature, who gives life to the universe.  From me all things proceed,
and unto me all things must return; and before my face, beloved of Gods
and of men, let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture
of the infinite.
     Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth; for behold, all
acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.  And therefore let there be
beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth
and reverence within you.
     And thou who thinkest to seek for me, know thy seeking and yearning
shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the mystery:  that if that which
thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it
without thee.  For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning;
and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.
________________________________________________________________________

-- Raven (JSingle@Music.Lib.MATC.Edu).  [All standard disclaimers apply]