The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text sometimes used in Neopaganism and Wicca. Doreen Valiente, a student of Gerald Gardner, originally wrote a Charge in verse, and later in prose: the prose version is the one known today. It has since been modified and adapted by many others, and is in the public domain.
The original text of the prose version is found in Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stuart Farrar. See The Rebirth of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente, chap. 4, which also includes her original verse version.
The opening paragraph gives a motley collection of classical goddesses, some derived from Greek or Roman mythology, others from Celtic or Arthurianlegends, affirming a belief that these various figures represent a single Great Mother:
Therefore, it is not necessary for the Goddess to choose one person to be her representative to the masses.
If we are the embodied Divine, if we are a reflection of the Goddess in her variegated beauty, then surely we are worthy and able to listen to her as she speaks in our souls.
When we communicate with the Goddess it is an intercourse of the spirit from the divine to the Divine.
Common to all Witches is the Charge of the Goddess.
This version of the Charge, however, is based upon a much older, non-celtic work published by Charles Leland in his book Aradia, Gospel of the Witches, in which an old Italian witch named Maddalena passed on her knowledge of the Craft.
I have decided to include the "Charge of Aradia" as is included in Raven Grimassi's "Ways of the Strega." I feel that this text is very important in understanding any Tradition of Witchcraft.