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The charge of the goddess
THE CHARGE OF THE GODDESS
Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of old was called
Astarte, Artemis, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Ceridwen, Diana,
Arionrhod, Brigid, and by many other names:
"Whenever you have need of anything, once in the month, and better it
be when the moon is full, you shall assemble in some secret place and
adore the spirit of Me who is Queen of all the Wise. You shall be free
and as a sign that you be free, you shall be naked in your rites.
Sing, feast, dance make music and love, all in My presence, for Mine
is the ecstacy of the spirit and Mine also is joy on earth. For My Law
is love unto all beings. Mine is the secret that opens upon the door
of youth, and mine is the cup of wine of life that is the Cauldron of
Cerridwen, that is the holy grail of immortality. I give the knowledge
of the spirit eternal and beyond death I give peace and freedom and
reunion with those that have gone before. Nor do I demand aught of
sacrifice, for behold, I an the Mother of all things, and My love is
poured out upon the Earth.""
Hear the words of the Star Goddess, the dust of whose feet are the
hosts of Heaven, She whose body encircles the Universe:
" I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among
the stars and the mysteries of the waters, I call upon our soul to
arise and come unto me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to
the Universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold - all acts
of love and pleasure are My Rituals. Let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence with in
you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning
will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you
seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.
For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that
which is attained at the end of all desire."
Alone, awesome, complete in Herself, the Goddess, She whose name
cannot be spoken, floated in the outer darkness, before the beginning
of all things. As She looked into the curved mirror of black space,
She saw by Her own light Her radiant reflection, and fell in love with
It. She drew It forth by the power that was in Her and made love to
Herself, and called Her "Miria, the Wonderful."
Their ecstasy burst forth in the single song of all that is, was,
or ever shall be, and with the song came motion, waves that poured
outward and became all the spheres and circles of the worlds. The
Goddess became filled with love, swollen with love, and She gave birth
to a rain of bright spirits, that filled the worlds and became all
beings.
But in that great movement, Miria was swept away, and as She
moved out from the Goddess, She became more masculine. First She
became the Blue God, the gentle, laughing God of love. The She became
the Green one, vine-covered, rooted in the earth, the spirit of all
growing things. At last She became the Horned God, the Hunter whose
face is the ruddy sun, and yet dark as Death. But always desire draws
Him back toward the Goddess, so that He circles Her eternally, seeking
to return in love.
All began in love; all seeks to return in love. Love is the law,
the teacher of wisdom, and the great revealer of the mysteries.
In love, the Horned God, changing form and changing face, ever
seeks the Goddess. In this world, the searching and the seeking appear
in the Wheel of the Year.
She is the Great Mother, Who gives birth to Him as the Divine
Child Sun at the Winter Solstice. In spring, He is the Sower and the
Seed who grows with the growing light, green as the new shoots. She is
the Initiatrix, Who teaches Him the Mysteries. He is the Young Bull;
She is the Nymph, seductress. In summer, when light is longest, They
meet in union, and the strength of Their passion sustains the world.
But the Gods' face darkens as the sun grows weaker, until at last,
when the grain is cut for harvest, He also sacrifices Himself to Self,
that all may be nourished. She is the Reaper, the grave of earth to
which all must return. Thoughout the long nights and darkening days,
He sleeps in Her Womb. In dreams, He is the Lord of Death, who rules
the Land of Youth beyond the Gates of Night and Day. His dark tomb
becomes the Womb of Rebirth, for at Midwinter She again gives birth to
Him. The cycle ends and begins again, and the Wheel of the Year turns
on and on.
ALEXANDRIAN PENTACLE
The pentacle is the primary Earth symbol. Its gender, like that
of the wand, is not usually emphasized, but as the symbol of the Earth
Mother, it may be taken as being feminine.
It is the centerpiece of the altar, on which objects are
consecrated; the water and salt bowls, too, are placed on it for
blessing - some covens do not use a salt bowl but place the salt
directly on the pentacle from which, after blessing, it is tipped into
the water.
In persecution days, the pentacle used to be inscribed on wax for
each Circle, so that it could be destroyed afterwards as a dangerous
piece of evidence. Today it is usually a disc of metal, mainly in
copper, and it is normally 5-6 inches in diameter.
The central upright pentagram is the primary symbol of the Craft.
Together with the upright triangle above it, it forms the symbol of
third degree initiation. The inverted pentagram, top right, is that of
the second degree, and the inverted triangle, top left, that of the
first degree. The Horned God symbol is bottom left, and bottom right
are the waxing and waning Moon-cresents of he Goddess (also sometimes
described as the breasts of the Goddess). The two SSs at the bottom
represent the polarity of Mercy and Severity, in the form of the kiss
(plain S) and the Scourge (S with a stroke).
PENTACLE FROM THE LIBER UMBRARUM BY DOREEN VALIENTE
The five-pointed star or pentagram is one of the oldest signs in
the world. It represents, among other meaning, magic itself, the
dominion of the spirit over the four elements of the material
creation.
The Circle which encloses it, being without beginning or ending,
represents infinity and eternity. Another meaning of the pentagram is
that it bears a rough resemblance to a human figure, as if standing
upright with the arms and legs outstretched. Hence the pentagram in a
circle is a symbol of the human being in relationship to the Infinite.
The eight armed figure in the center of the pentagram represents
the Eight Ritual Occasions of the Witch's year, four Greater Sabbats
and four Lesser Sabbats. The Greater Sabbats are Candlemas, May Eve,
Lammas, and Hallowe'en. The Lesser Sabbats are the equinoxes and
solstices. The eight of this symbol plus the five of the pentagram
makes 13, the traditional number of the Witches coven.
The three X-shaped crosses around the pentagram represent the
three annointing of the initiation ceremony, 'two above and one
below'; that is, two above the waist and one below it. The two spirals
or S-shapes represent the ancient symbol of the twin serpents, the
dual forces of positive and negative, yang and yin, masculine and
feminine, that underlie all manifestation.
The symbols on the three upper points of the pentagram are the
two crescents of the waxing and waning moons, and the circle of the
full moon. Together they represent the primordial Goddess of Nature,
often depicted in triple form as Nymph, Mother and Crone, the three
phases of the moon.
The symbols on the two lower points of the pentagram represent
the two aspects of the ancient God of witches. They are
conventionalized drawings of a horned head and a skull and crossed
bones. The former sign represents the Horned God of Life and Fertility,
and the latter is the God of Death and what lies beyond.
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