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The Wiccan Rede
Bide within the
Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give.
For tread
the Circle thrice about, to keep unwelcome spirits out.
To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme.
Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much.
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name,
let love and
light be our guides again.
Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the joyful tune.
Widdershins go when the moon
doth wane,
and the werewolf howls by the dread wolfsbane.
When the Lady's moon is new, kiss the hand to Her times two.
When
the moon rides at Her peak, then your heart's desire seek.
Heed the North winds mighty gale, lock the door and trim the
sail.
When the Wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.
When the wind comes from the South, love
will kiss you on the mouth.
When the wind whispers from the West, all hearts will find peace and rest.
Nine woods in
the Cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch in the fire goes, to represent what the Lady knows.
Oak in
the forest towers with might, in the fire it brings the God's
insight. Rowan is a tree of power, causing life and magick
to flower.
Willows at the waterside stand, ready to help us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify, and to
draw faerie to your eye.
Hazel-the tree of wisdom and learning, adds its strength to the bright fire burning.
White
are the flowers of Apple tree, that brings us fruits of fertility.
Grapes grow upon the vine, giving us both joy and wine.
Fir
does mark the evergreen, to represent immortality seen.
Elder is the Lady's tree, burn it not or cursed you'll be.
Four
times the Major Sabbats mark, in the light and in the dark.
As the old year starts to wane, the new begins, it's now Samhain.
When
the time for Imbolc shows, watch for flowers through the snows.
When the wheel begins to turn, soon the Beltane fires
will burn.
As the wheel turns to Lamas night, power is brought to magick rite.
Four times the Minor Sabbats fall, use
the Sun to mark them all.
When the wheel has turned to Yule, light the log the Horned One rules.
In the spring, when
night equals day, time for Ostara to come our way.
When the Sun has reached it's height, time for Oak and Holly to fight.
Harvesting comes to one and all, when the Autumn Equinox does fall.
Heed the flower, bush, and tree, by the Lady blessed
you'll be.
Where the rippling waters go cast a stone, the truth you'll know.
When you have and hold a need, harken
not to others greed.
With a fool no season spend, or be counted as his friend.
Merry Meet and Merry Part, bright the
cheeks and warm the heart.
Mind the Three-fold Laws you should, three times bad and three times good. When misfortune
is enow, wear the star upon your brow.
Be true in love this you must do, unless your love is false to you.
These Eight
words the Rede fulfill:
"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"
Charge of the Goddess
Listen to the words of the Great Mother. I who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione,
Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Cybele, Arianrhod, Isis, Dana, Bride and by many other names. At mine altars the youth of
Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.
At My Altars the youth of most distant ages gave love, and made due sacrifice.
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the Moon is Full, then shall ye gather in some
secret place and adore the Spirit of Me, Who am Queen of All Witcheries. There shall ye gather, ye who are fain to learn all
Magick, yet have not yet won its deepest secrets: to these will I teach things that are 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 the 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 aught in sacrifice, for behold, I am the Mother of all living, and my love
is poured out upon the earth.
Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess: She in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, and
whose body encircles the Universe. I who 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 thee.
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
thee 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.
So mote it be!
Text written in modern form by the late Doreen Valiente.
The Witches Creed
Hear Now the words of
the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night,
When dark was our destiny's pathway,
That now we bring forth into light.
Mysterious
water and fire,
The earth and the wide-ranging air,
By hidden quintessence we know them,
And will keep silent and
dare.
The birth and rebirth of all nature,
The passing of winter and spring,
We share with the life universal
Rejoice
in the magical ring.
Four times in the year the Great Sabbat
Returns, and the witches are seen
At Lammas and Candlemas
dancing,
On May Eve and old Hallowe'en.
When day-time and night-time are equal,
When sun is at greatest and least,
The
four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,
And Witches gather in feast
Thirteen silver moons in a year are,
Thirteen is the
coven's array.
Thirteen times at Esbast make merry,
For each golden year and day.
The power that was passed down
the age,
Each time between woman and man,
Each century unto the other,
Ere time and the ages began.
When drawn
is the magical circle,
By sword or athame of power,
Its compass between two worlds lies,
In land of the shades for
the hour.
This world has no right then to know it,
And world of beyond will tell naught.
The oldest of Gods are invoked
there,
The Greatest of magic is wrought.
For the two are mystical pillars,
that stand at the gates of the shrine,
And
two are the powers of nature,The forms and the force divine.
The dark and the light in succession,
The opposites each
unto each,
Shown forth as a God and a Goddess:
Of this our ancestors teach.
By night he's the wild wind's rider
The
Horn'd One, the King of the Woodland
The dweller in green forest glades.
She is youthful or old as she pleases,
She
sails the torn clouds in her barque,
The bright silver lady of midnight,
The crone who weaves spells in the dark.
The
master and mistress of magic,
That dwell in the deeps of the mind,
Immortal and ever-renewing,
with power to free
or to bind.
And Do What You Will be the challenge,
So be it love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment
By
Magic of old, be it done!
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