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Encyclopedia > Charge of the Goddess

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 Arthurian legends, affirming a belief that these various figures represent a single Great Mother:

Listen to the words of the Great Mother; she who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other names.

The second paragraph is largely derived and paraphrased from the Charge of Aradia, taken from Charles Godfrey Leland's book Aradia. The third paragraph is largely Valiente's original contribution, with some phrases taken from ideas from The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Charge of the Goddess





  Results from FactBites:
 
Equality and Pluralism in the Divine Embodied: An Exegesis of The Charge of the Goddess Part I by Kila (1451 words)
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.
The Charge of the Goddess (698 words)
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.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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