May Day ushers in the fifth month of the modern calendar year, the month of May. This month is named in honor of the goddess Maia, originally a Greek mountain nymph, later identified as the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. By Zeus, she is also the mother of Hermes, god of magic. Maia’s parents were Atlas and Pleione, a sea nymph.
DXUI (Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to the Xhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A creator god. In the beginning, Dxui took the form of a different flower or plant every day, becoming himself at night, until he had created all the plants and flowers that exist.
BUKU (Various West African peoples) A sky god sometimes worshipped as a goddess. Buku created everything, even the other gods.
ANYIEWO (Ewe) The Great Serpent who comes out to graze after the rain. The rainbow is his reflection.
BABALON: Literally, the Gate of the Sun, the seductive powers, the kalas. A Thelemic deity and feminine form of Baal whose powers are in the vagina.
Achall, daughter of Cairbre Nia Fer, king of Tara, and his wife Fedelm Noíchrothach, is a minor character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. After her brother Erc was killed by Conall Cernach, she died of grief on a hill near Tara, which was named Achall after her.[1]
The legendary High King of Ireland Túathal Techtmar is said to have taken power after defeating the previous High King, Elim mac Conrach, in battle on the hill of Achall.[2] According to The Expulsion of the Déisi, another legendary High King, Cormac mac Airt, lived on the hill of Achall after he lost an eye, his physical imperfection meaning he could no longer rule at Tara.[3] The hill is now known as Skryne.
Aurora is the Roman name for the Goddess of the Dawn. Her mythology and attributes are the same as the Greek Eos, and She does not seem to have any specifically Roman mythology. Her name simply means “the dawn, daybreak, or sunrise”, and in time the word came to signify the East as well as the peoples from the Eastern lands. Her name may be related to Latin aurum, meaning “gold”, through the shared idea of brightness.
Ovid tells of Her in his Metamorphoses: he describes Her as being ever-young, and the first to awake, so that She may bring the light of day in Her chariot which She rides into the sky ahead of the Sun. She has a purple mantle that spreads out behind Her as She rides; and She is said to scatter roses and flowers before Her. Others describe Her with great white wings, like Eos. She is said to be the mother of the four winds; though this part of Her legend is Greek, one variant spelling of Her name, Aurura, has the meaning of “breeze or wind”. She is considered the mother of the morning star, Lucifer (which means “the Light Bringer”), a name for the planet Venus, (though not necessarily of the Goddess Venus), who watches over the twilight until His mother takes over for Him. Lucifera (the feminine version) is attested as an epithet of Diana as the Moon Goddess.
An aurora is of course also the name for the phenomenon of the northern (or southern) lights, great displays of shifting colors in the skies of the far north and south. Aurora borealis is said to mean “red dawn of the north”, and was given its name by Galileo Galilei, the scientist who discovered the moons of Jupiter. Aurorae are caused by solar particles interacting with gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s magnetic field funnels these particles to the poles (both north and south), where they emit light, in colors ranging from red to yellow-green to blue and violet, depending on the atmospheric molecule the particles come in contact with. They are generally said to look like shifting curtains or veils of light, evoking Aurora’s cloak blowing behind Her as She rides across the sky.
Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty & Eternal Youth
Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty and according to Hesiod’s THEOGONY, she was born from the foam in the waters of Paphos, on the island of Cyprus. She supposedly arose from the foam when the Titan Cronus slew his father Uranus and threw his genitals into the sea.
However, according to Homer, in Iliad, Aphrodite may instead be the daughter of ZEUS and Dione. As with so many Greek deities, there are many stories about the origins of the gods.
Many gods believed that her beauty was such that their rivalry over her would spark a war of the gods. Because of this, Zeus married Aphrodite to HEPHAESTUS – he wasn’t seen as a threat because of his ugliness and deformity.
Despite this marriage to Hephaestus, Aphrodite had many lovers. Her lovers include both gods and men – including the god ARES and the mortal Anchises. She also played a role in the story of Eros and Psyche in which admirers of Psyche neglected to worship Venus (Aphrodite) and instead worshipped her. For this, Aphrodite enlisted EROS (Cupid) to exact her revenge but the god of love instead falls in love with the girl.
Later, Aphrodite was both Adonis’s lover and his surrogate mother. This led to a feud with Persephone in which Zeus decreed ADONIS should spend half of the year with Aphrodite and half of the year with Persephone.
Facts about Aphrodite
Aphrodite was the goddess of fertility, love, and beauty.
Two different stories explain the birth of Aphrodite. The first is simple: She was the child of Zeus and Dione.
According to the second story, however, Aphrodite rose from the foam of the sea.
Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but Aphrodite did not enter into this union of her own volition.
She and Ares conceived Harmonia, who eventually married Herodotus.
She was the mother of Hermaphroditus by HERMES.
Aphrodite and her son Eros (Cupid) teamed up to cause Zeus to fall in love with a human named Europa.
Aphrodite loved Adonis. She saw him when he was born and determined then that he should be hers. She assigned Persephone to his care, but Persephone fell in love with Adonis also and would not give him back. Finally, Zeus had to mediate. He judged that Adonis should spend half the year with each.
Aphrodite used a swan-drawn car to glide easily through the air.
Although Aphrodite and Hera were not friends, HERA went to the Goddess of Love for help as she endeavored to assist the heroes in their Quest of the Golden Fleece.
Aphrodite, Hera, and ATHENA were the top three contenders for a gold apple marked “For the Fairest.” They asked Zeus to judge the contest, but he refused. Paris, son of the King of Troy, judged the contest instead. Each of the three goddesses promised him something in return; he chose Aphrodite as the winner of the apple. This story of the Judgment of Paris was considered to be the real reason behind the Trojan War.
During the Trojan War, Aphrodite fought on the side of Paris.
Aphrodite rescued Paris from Menelaus by enveloping him in a cloud and taking him back to Troy.
Aphrodite owned a girdle that contained her enchantments; Hera borrowed it once to seduce Zeus in order to distract him from the Trojan War.
Aphrodite gave Harmonia a necklace that brought disaster to a later generation.
Prostitutes considered the Goddess of Love their patron.
Aphrodite had a few mortal lovers. One of the most notable was the Trojan shepherd Anchises. The two of them conceived Aeneas.
Corinth was the center of Aphrodite’s worship.
Early Greek art depicted the goddess as nude.
She was the model for the famous sculpture Venus de Milo.
Aphrodite and Cupid initiated the love between Jason (hero of the Quest of the Golden Fleece) and the daughter of the Colchian King.
ANJEA is an Australian Aboriginal fertility Goddess. She is an animistic spirit known to the tribesman of the Pennefather River, Queensland, Australia that is located on the Western Cape York Peninsula.
Not much is known about this Goddess or spirit. I happened to come across her when researching Australian Aboriginal Mother Earth Goddesses. I followed up with numerous inquiries including a member of our local indigenous community and spoke to a curator at an Aboriginal art gallery, and no one had heard of her.
The story I stumbled upon says that when a child is born it is believed that a piece of a newborn baby’s spirit remains in the afterbirth, so it is the custom for the Grandmother or Godmother to take the afterbirth and bury it as soon as the cord was severed. The placenta was collected for a ceremonial burial as it was considered sacred. It was then buried in an unspoiled place usually near running water, in the sand or on the banks of a river so that the energy of Mother Earth could keep the placenta pure.
The Grandmother or Godmother built a structure of twigs and sticks, arranged in a circle and tied together at the top to form a cone, like a small teepee, to mark the spot. When Anjea sees the marker she carries the spirit away and safely places it in a hollow tree. It is left there until the person whose spirit it was originally dies, and then it is time for the new child to be created. Anjea does this by mixing the spirit with mud to form a baby. The clay infants are placed into the womb of future mothers.
Anjea is not only a fertility Goddess but she is also considered an Earth Goddess and she is honoured her for her creative and giving spirit. She reminds us of the sacredness and deep history of this ancient land that we inhabit; a land that is currently threatened by extensive mining plans. The government intends to approve up to 50,000 gas wells for fracking in the state of Queensland alone! This is frightening to say the least. The evidence clearly shows us that it is dangerous and unethical with far-reaching consequences that are disastrous for the environment and for all species that inhabit it.
The following painting of Anjea is a prayer in paint for the protection of this sacred land. Through remembering and re-imagining the forgotten spirit of this indigenous goddess I hope to inspire others to think seriously about how important it is for us to protect and respect this land like it’s traditional owners who lived in accordance with Kanyini; an Australian Indigenous word that is the principle of connectedness.
‘Anjea’ by Jassy Watson
‘Anjea’ by Jassy Watson
Caring for and taking responsibility for the earth and all her beings underpins traditional Aboriginal life. Kanyini is a connectedness to tjukurrpa (knowledge of creation or ‘Dreaming’, spirituality), ngura (place, land), walytja (kinship) and kurunpa (spirit or soul). You do not need to be an indigenous Australian to live by the principles of Kanyini for nurturing, caring and practicing unconditional love and responsibility for all things should be at the heart of humanity.
This following prayer appears as an excerpt in the painting and is included as a dedication to the late Uncle Bob Randall, Indigenous elder who inspired others to return to the earth; to oneness:
“To Mother Earth: I acknowledge with love and appreciation the care and unconditional love you provide for all living things. May we be led to understand this; may your ways of unconditional love for all life be our ways, that we live this each moment of our life.
To Mother Sun: I acknowledge the light You share – living as a light of love, peace, understanding and honoring each and every one of us throughout the world. May we understand your light as life that relates us to each other as family so we can be led to love each other and all living as family. May we develop ways like you, loving without judgement that we can live love without conditions. May we learn from you to shine our light from within, in service to each other and all living throughout the world to the best of our ability.
To all of Nature: I acknowledge and honour the life you give. The Air we breathe that gives us life, The Water we drink that gives us life, The creatures we kill that gives us life. The plants we take from earth that gives us life to every living thing I may have not mentioned that gives us life I acknowledge you with appreciation and love.
To all Peoples of the World: I acknowledge and honor each and every one of you. May we each be responsible for the well-being of each other and all living in the ways we think, speak, and act towards each other each moment of our lives. May we communicate with love.
May we action our interactions with the qualites of love- compassion, patience, humility, kindness, generosity and caring- to know and understand each other.
May we be love and peace, respecting the cultural beliefs of each other, that we may live with love and peace always.
With love, I offer this prayer in the name of all that is sacred and holy.”
Indigenous earth wisdom has much to teach us and Anjea reminded me of that. She also confirmed that I must continue to work in the way that I know how, which is through the power of image, to raise awareness of the earth’s plight.
I am painting for the eARTh.
Jassy Watson, who lives on the sub-tropical coast of Queensland Australia, is a Mother of four, passionate organic gardener, Intuitive/Visionary & Community eARThist, Teacher, Intentional Creativity Coach and a student of Ancient History and Religion at Macquarie University, Sydney. She is the Creatress of Goddesses Garden, Studio & Gallery; a school for the Sacred Creative Arts. Jassy teaches regular painting workshops in person, nationally and internationally, and online based around themes that explore myth, history, earth connection and the Goddess. Regular creative events and presentations are also held that have included visits from international scholars, artists and musicians. You can see more of her work at www.goddessesgardenandstudio.com
In Egyptian mythology, Amunet was a primordial goddess. She preceded the great gods and goddesses of Egypt and had connections with the creator god Amun. Her myth was important not only in Egypt but also in Thebes. Here’s a closer look.
Who was Amunet?
In Ancient Egypt, there was a group of deities known as the Ogdoad. People worshipped them as the deities of chaos in Hermopolis, a major city at the time. They consisted of four male and female couples, represented by frogs (male) and serpents (female). Each couple symbolized different functions and attributes. Although there have been attempts to designate a clear ontological concept to each of the pairs, these aren’t consistent and vary.
At the beginning of their worship, the Ogdoad, and therefore Amunet, were not gods but concepts that preceded the myths of creation. Amunet was the consort and counterpart of the creator god Amun.
Amunet was the goddess of the air, and people also associated her with invisibility, silence, and stillness. Her name in Ancient Egyptian stands for the hidden one. Amunet was a goddess, a concept, and, as mentioned before, the female form of Amun.
Depictions of Amunet
Just like the other female deities of the Ogdoad, Amunet’s depictions showed her as a snake-headed woman. In some portrayals, she appeared in the full form of a snake. In some other artworks and writings, she represents the air as a winged goddess. Other depictions showed her with a hawk or ostrich feather over her head to symbolize her hieroglyph.
Symbolism of Amunet
Amunet represented the balance that the Egyptians so much valued. The male deity needed a female counterpart so that balance could exist. Amunet portrayed the same traits of Amun, but she did it from the feminine side. Amunet was a notable deity without whom the myth of creation would have developed differently.
Together, the duo represented the air and that which was hidden. As primordial gods, they also represented disorder and chaos.
Worship of Amunet
Amunet’s central place of Worship, alongside Amun, was the city of Thebes. There, people worshipped the two deities for their significance in world affairs. In Thebes, people regarded Amunet as the protectress of the king. Therefore, Amunet had a leading role in the rituals of coronation and prosperity of the city.
Apart from this, several pharaohs offered gifts and statues to Amunet. The most famous was Tutankhamun, who erected a statue for her. In this depiction, she is shown wearing a dress and the red crown of Lower Egypt. Even today, the exact reason why the pharaoh built that for her isn’t clear. There were also festivals and offerings to both Amunet and Amun in different eras and different regions of Egypt.
In Brief
Although Amunet might not be a figure as prominent as other goddesses of Ancient Egypt, her role as the mother of creation was central. Amunet was significant in the creation of the world and her worship spread. She was one of the primordial deities and, in Egyptian mythology, one of the first beings to roam the world.
Hauntings by ghosts and poltergeists are sometimes blamed on witches and witchcraft, particularly in areas where fear of magic runs high.
In Brazil, for example, where fear of magic is strong among the working class, many cases of poltergeist activity are attributed to witches’ curses laid on families.
The notion that witches were responsible for ghosts and hauntings took root on the Continent and in the British Isles after the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
The belief that dead men walk the earth as ghosts has been universal since ancient times.
The Catholic Church used ghosts to its own ends, teaching that they were the souls of those stuck in purgatory, who could not rest until they atoned for their sins, and that they were sent by God to roam the realm of the living.
The Reformation rejected the concept of purgatory and said all souls went straight to heaven or hell, from which they never emerged.
This required a new explanation for ghosts.
In general, the Protestant church denied their existence, claiming that ghosts were a Catholic fraud used to manipulate the masses.
Those who did see ghosts were led to think that they were caused by the Devil, demons and witches, who also were manipulating the populace in a battle for souls.
Two camps formed: those who dismissed ghosts as foolishness and those who saw ghosts as proof of demonic forces.
James I of England, who said there existed a “feareful abounding” of witches in the land, gave credit to the Devil for all ghosts.
Witches, being viewed as the servants of the Devil, were automatically connected to apparitions and hauntings.
During the 17th century, hauntings often were blamed on the witchcraft of malicious neighbors or relatives.
It was not uncommon to call upon the services of another witch or wizard to exorcise the haunting.
The Drummer of Tedworth. One of the most famous cases of alleged witchcraft-caused hauntings was a poltergeist case, the Drummer of Tedworth, which took place in England in 1661.
In March of that year, the drummer had been annoying the town of Ludgarshall, Wiltshire, with his drum beating. John Mompesson, of the neighboring town of Tedworth (formerly Tidworth), had the man taken before the justice of the peace.
The drum was confiscated, and given to Mompesson to secure in his own home.
The drummer persuaded the constable to release him, and he left the area.
In April, during Mompesson’s absence, a violent storm of poltergeist activity erupted in his house, frightening his wife, children and servants.
It began with a drumming noise heard outside the house and on top of it, which then moved indoors to the room where the confiscated drum was kept.
For more than two years, this and other bizarre phenomena occurred at irregular intervals, creating widespread interest and drawing curious visitors.
The children and servants saw apparitions and the younger children were levitated in their beds.
Some of the lesser phenomena—scratchings and pantings heard near the children’s beds—were heard by Joseph Glanvil, who chronicled the case in Saducismus Triumphatus (1668).
Manifestations of the Devil ghosts, hauntings and witchcraft.
Glanvil also reported the following:
chairs walked about the room by themselves;
a servant was chased by a stick of wood, while another was held by an invisible force;
sulphurous and other foul odors filled the air, which became hot;
clothing and children’s shoes were thrown about; the sounds of coins jingling were heard; doors opened and shut violently by themselves; blue, glimmering lights were seen; footsteps and the rustling of invisible, silklike clothing were heard;
clawlike marks were found in ashes, along with unintelligible letters and numerous circles; lighted candles floated up the chimney, and singing was heard in the chimney; a horse was found with its hind leg stuffed into its mouth so firmly that it took several men to pry it out with a lever;
a servant saw “a great Body with two red glowring, or glaring eyes” standing at the foot of his bed; chamber pots were emptied onto beds, and a knife was found in one bed; and pocket money mysteriously burned black.
The telltale phenomenon, however, was the words, “A Witch, A Witch,” heard “for at least a hundred times” one morning in the children’s room.
The Mompesson household believed itself to be in the grip of a witch-sent demon or the Devil himself.
Mompesson was approached by a wizard, who said the disturbances were caused by a “rendezvous of witches” and offered to perform an exorcism for 100 pounds.
Mompesson apparently did not accept.
The vagrant drummer eventually surfaced in court again, this time at the Salisbury assizes where he was tried on theft charges, convicted, and sent to the Gloucester goal.
When a Wiltshire man visited the drummer, the drummer asked for news and was told there was none.
The drummer reportedly replied, “No, do you not hear of the Drumming at a gentlemen’s house in Tedworth? I have plagued him (or to that purpose) and he shall never be quiet, till he hath made me satisfaction for taking away my Drum.”
The drummer was swiftly charged with witchcraft and tried at Sarum.
Numerous witnesses to the poltergeist activities testified against him.
The court banished the drummer and he left the area.
Rumors surfaced later that in his wanderings he raised storms and frightened seamen.
As long as he was gone, the Mompesson house was quiet, but whenever he returned to the area, the disturbances began again.
Glanvil does not say if the Mompessons were plagued indefinitely or if the problem eventually went away.
Modern witchcraft, ghosts, and hauntings.
Witches are often blamed for hauntings in societies that have such expectations.
In the industrialized West, only a small percentage of cases—less than 10 percent—are attributed to witchcraft.
Many contemporary witches exorcise haunting spirits.
Like psychics, clerics, and paranormal investigators, they are called into a home or building to send on the spirit of a departed animal or person.
The witch contacts the spirit and either persuades it to depart or uses magical words of power to send it away.
Psychic energy also may manifest in artificially created forms that some Witches term “ghosts” and others call “thought-forms.”
In November of 1981, the coven of Stewart and Janet Farrar in Ireland acted to stop the illegal slaughter of gray seal pups by fishermen.
The fisherman claimed the seals, which had their pups on the Ineshka Islands off the coast of Ireland, were a threat to salmon fishing.
According to the Farrars, the coven magically created a gray-green thought-form named Mara (Gaelic for “of the sea”) and instructed it to manifest as a ghost on the islands and frighten any seal-killers; she was not to harm any hunter unless he could be stopped no other way.
At each full moon, the coven psychically recharged and reinstructed Mara.
The Irish Wildlife Federation also sent volunteers to guard the seals.
No massacres occurred in 1982 and 1983.
Certainly, the presence of the volunteers was a deterrent—but stories began to circulate about sightings of a mysterious woman, clad in a gray-green mackintosh, who moved among the seals without disturbing them.
According to Witches, ghostly remnants of thought forms may also linger in a place where a great deal of psychic and magical work has been done, such as a Witches’ covenstead.
Unless banished by proper ritual, such energy is believed to be capable of poltergeist-like hauntings.
Another form of haunting, which may be exorcised by ritual magic, is that of nature spirits, or elementals.
Such beings are said occasionally to haunt newly constructed homes, buildings or roads, particularly if a secluded or wooded area was freshly cleared for the construction.
Elemental hauntings are characterized by the presence of strange or uncomfortable sensations; invasions of pests; malfunctions of heating and electrical equipment; the unexplained failure of plants to grow or the wild overgrowth of plants; missing objects; and the appearance that the structure is askew.
A witch’s primary power (deity) is her or his Goddess.
She is known by many names, derived from many cultures, and all are aspects of the One.
The Moon in its waxing and waning, in its phases of full, new, and dark, is how witches dance with the birth, life, and death of their undertakings and their experiences.
Through ritual and observance, we align ourselves with our Goddess in Her ancient, but perennial, robes of the maiden, mother, and crone.
A priestess will “draw down the Moon,” a process of invocation, within herself to awaken and empower that within each of us that is essential of the Goddess.
She is also the Earth and is known by Her ancient names of Dana, Demeter, Isis, Inanna, Gaia, Brigid, Aphrodite, and Cerridwen, as well as the many others known by individuals and cultures alike.
She is a warrior-goddess, known by such names as Ishtar, Brigantia, Artemis, and Nemesis.
She is Goddess of the dark places, the Underworld, the unconscious, the Fates, and, especially, sorcery and Witchcraft.
She is Persephone, Hecate, Isis, Tiamat, Morgan le-fey, Cerridwr en, Diana, and Aradia
She is Goddess of the stars and space and sea and, therefore, She is Binah, Astarte, Mari, Asherah, and Arianrhod.
She is Goddess of wisdom, learning, and the arts. She is Sophia, Shekinah, Binah, Isis, and Vivienne.
She is the path of the incarnate priestess and witch who is Her representative in our world, and She dwells in seed within all that is female.
She is the sister, lover, mother, ally, and enemy to all that is male, a necessary interplay for the ways of life and death.
Her invocation within priestess and woman makes an inevitable difference to both self and society.
The reverence, passion, and honor given freely to Her by Her priests assures witches of easy alliances irrespective of sexual distinction.
There has been a historically trackable wave of imbalance since the ideology of one male,
omnipotent God became the politically expedient and suppressive tactic,
predominantly over the last sixteen thousand years, principally since the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E.,
when heresy became the “in” crime and the subsequent subjugation of women, culture, learning, freedom, wisdom, and honor was expedient.
The glory of conquest, greed, ownership, power for power’s sake, bigotry, and aggression became the accepted paradigm.
A semblance of rebalancing has begun in the late twentieth century, but there is much to redress.
Charges are declarations of the powers of the gods or goddesses involved in the ritual, and are in
themselves empowering and a way of linking the practitioner’s own divine spark with that represented
by the Divinity. They are similar to creeds in Christian religious service.
The Charge of the Goddess is a powerful way of focusing on cosmic energies. The Goddess is
considered to be both ‘transcendent’, or above and beyond the created universe (like the traditional
the idea of God on a cloud, looking down and judging creation!), and also ‘imminent’, or manifest within
every natural object, be it a flower, stone, animal, or person. The two concepts are complementary rather
than contradictory.
Some practitioners feel that charges are an attempt to formalize energies that are beyond definition
within a more conventional spiritual framework and that they are therefore artificial and restricting. If
you have not used them before, I suggest you try working through the meditation given later in this
chapter, to see if it is right for you.
The first and most popular version of the Charge of the Goddess was created by Gerald Gardener’s
High Priestess Doreen Valiente, herself one of the most influential people in formal magical
traditions. Her version of the statement of the unifying principles of the Goddess is widely quoted and
often memorized and sometimes adopted as a focus for trance work. (See page 300 for books
describing her work.)
However, some practitioners, both solitary and those in less formal groups, create their own charges
and may alter them as their confidence and experience of magick increase. You can create your own
charge at the beginning of some rituals, or use an existing one, even if you do not acknowledge the
Goddess as central to your personal spirituality.
You may view the divine force as a more abstract source of light and wisdom, but even so it can be
helpful to personify it as a female (anima) and at the same time male (animus) form. Though the
Valiente charge includes names of deities of both male and female forms, unless these mean
something to you, you may want to exclude them or use names to which you personally relate.
You can refer back to the beginning of this chapter, where I listed a number of gods and goddess
forms, common to magick and drawn from different cultures, that emphasize specific strengths or
qualities of the Divinity.
However, your own list overflows to all who seek and call in need; finally, she is Cailleach, the Veiled One, wise woman,
healer and bringer of dreams, who in the winter of life transforms the old and outworn into new life to
be born with the Maiden in the spring.
‘When the Moon is full, you can call on me, goddess, mother, sister, friend, daughter, and grandmother
of all ages and all places, in joy, for I bring love and plenty. You may also bring me your hopes with
the waxing moon and your sorrows on the wane, for I am with you in all states and stages, when you
call and when you are silent, when you turn to me as an eager child and when you weep solitary tears
in your pillow when your dreams have dissolved into ashes.
‘I hold the key to the mysteries of existence and the universe, but these I will share with all who come
with a willing heart and an open mind. For they are not hidden from you but are all around you in every
season. I am in the Moon as she passes through the sky, in the fertile Earth and the mighty waters, for
I am them as I am part of you, and you of me, and you too are of the same divine fabric as the Moon
and the fertile Earth and the waters, the stars, the sunshine, and the life-giving rain.
‘I do not ask sacrifice or worship, for I come to you in love as a gentle mother, with compassion,
understanding, and forgiveness of those things in your heart that you fear to look on in yourself. I am
fierce, defending my young and my green places and creatures from all who would do them harm, but
I would rather teach than avenge, restore and regenerate.
‘I am the great healer of sorrow, pain, loss and doubt. Through me and through my herbs, oils, crystals
and sacred waters, you can spread my healing wisdom.
As I give life, so in death all return to me to be transformed, renewed and born again. I was with you
in the beginning and will be with you in the end.
‘If you work with honour, love, humility and for the highest good, then you may realise your own
divinity and spread light and fertility throughout the Earth. For what you give, will I restore to you
threefold and more, time without time and forevermore.’
We are of the circle and we are the circle. May the circle be uncast but never broken.
If you are working in a group, you can each recite different parts of the charge, but best of all, through
meditation, alone or as a group, you can work to create your own. If you are a solitary practitioner,
you can read or recite your charge into a candle flame or in a wild, open place, and feel the energies
resounding beyond and within you. You can also use it before divination or as an introduction to a
ceremony for healing or greater understanding.
Meditation can last from five minutes to half an hour or more. In these initial stages, allow your own
psyche to guide you as to when the experience is done. If other members of the group are still
working, this is not a sign that their experience was more profound. Sit quietly or lie down, enjoying
the silence and allowing the images of your meditation to develop quite spontaneously.
If you are working with a group, remain in the circle and pass round a bowl or chalice of pure water.
If you are working indoors with candlelight, arrange the candles so they reflect on the water. As each
person gazes into the water, they can contribute a series of images about what the Goddess represents
to them, which will be stimulated by the meditation. You do not need to use a bowl of water, but it is
a way of directing inner images externally to find expression. Some people prefer to pass round a
crystal ball or a large piece of uncut crystal. A crystal is helpful if you find it difficult to retrieve
images from meditation or if you find meditation unproductive, as the living energies provide a direct
route to your unconscious wisdom.
After your meditation, if you are working alone, surround a clear bowl of water with white candles
and, looking into it, begin to speak. You may like to record your words on cassette to make them
easier to recall. If you do not consciously try to formulate poetic expressions, profound poetry and
rich images will emerge almost from another place. This is the deep pool of collective wisdom
speaking.
Diana is a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion, primarily considered a patroness of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the Moon.
She is equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, and absorbed much of Artemis’ mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo, though she had an independent origin in Italy.
Diana by Renato Torres (Portalegre), is one of the best and most representative tapestries of the European and Portuguese tapestries of the 20th century.
Diana is considered a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth. Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities:
Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god.
Diana is revered in modern neopagan religions including Roman neopaganism, Stregheria, and Wicca.
In the ancient, medieval, and modern periods, Diana has been considered a triple deity, merged with a goddess of the moon (Luna/Selene) and the underworld (usually Hecate).
You can use this to create your personal or group Charge of the Goddess.
Find a quiet, safe place for meditation where you will not be disturbed and can fall asleep without
coming to any harm, if you naturally drift from a meditative to a sleep state. Choose a time when you
are not too tired and before you begin, have a bath to which a few drops of sandalwood or ylang ylang
oil are added for heightened psychic awareness.
For the meditation, use a focus, for example a bubbling fountain or water feature, fragrant herbs or
flowers, such as lavender or roses, or a scented candle of jasmine, apple blossom, lilac or neroli. (You
can easily make a water feature by setting up a very small electric pump in a deep container in which
you place crystals, greenery, perhaps a tiny statue and some plants.) You can work either alone or as a
group, sitting in a circle round the focus, so that you can see it without moving your neck or head.
Experiment until you get the height of the table and the distances right. For group work, you can light
a circle of candles.
If you are working indoors, and there is no natural harmonious sound, such as the water, you may like
to play softly a CD of rainforest or ocean sounds, birdsong or dolphin calls.
* Light incense sticks of frankincense or myrrh.
* Sit either cross-legged on the floor on a rug or blanket with your hands supporting your knees, in the
lotus position if you are skilled in yoga, or on a chair with both feet flat on the floor. If you wish,
support your back with a pillow and have arm rests on the chair for your elbows. Relax your arms and
hands, with palms uppermost. It is important to be comfortable and not to be distracted by worrying
about keeping in a particular ‘approved’ position.
* Visualise yourself surrounded by a circle of warm, protective light or, if you are using a candle,
gaze into the flame.
* Take a slow, deep breath through your nose, inhaling the light. Hold it for a count of ‘One and two
and three’ and slowly exhale darkness through your mouth.
* Let the circle of light expand and enfold you so that you are bathed in the light. You may find it
easier at this point to close your eyes and to see the light with your inner vision.
* Within the sphere of light, allow the goddess form to build up quite naturally. It may be a familiar
figure or a composite of many different female power icons of beauty, wisdom and grace. She may be
old, young, wise or challenging, according to the qualities you are attracting to meet your as yet,
perhaps, unformulated needs. In different meditations you may see different goddesses and so adapt
the charge accordingly to emphasise particular strengths and qualities they evoke.
* Let words flow about the Goddess and her relationship with the world, nature and the cosmos.
* Do not attempt to hold or recall them, but allow them to ebb, form again and disperse, like waves or
ripples on a pond.
* You may experience colours, lights and fragrances unconnected with the stimuli: sounds of wild
animals or the wind through the trees, a sensation of warmth or coolness.
* When you are aware of the sounds of the world beginning to return and the light fading, gradually
move away from the goddess form, letting the image fade.
* Reconnect with your breathing and allow gentle pink or purple light to radiate within you, leaving
you calm and in a deep pool of inner silence. If you have closed your eyes, open them slowly,
blinking and stretching slowly, like a cat uncurling after sleep.
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin Lūna).
She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun, Sol, conceived of as a god.
Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess (diva triformis), along with Proserpina and Hecate.
Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since both Diana and Juno are identified as moon goddesses.
In Roman art, Luna attributes are the crescent moon plus the two-yoke chariot (biga).
In the Carmen Saeculare, performed in 17 BC, Horace invokes her as the “two-horned queen of the stars” (siderum regina bicornis), bidding her to listen to the girls singing as Apollo listens to the boys.
Varro categorized Luna and Sol among the visible gods, as distinguished from invisible gods such as Neptune, and deified mortals such as Hercules.
She was one of the deities Macrobius proposed as the secret tutelary of Rome.
In Imperial cult, Sol and Luna can represent the extent of Roman rule over the world, with the aim of guaranteeing peace.
Luna’s Greek counterpart was Selene. In Roman art and literature, myths of Selene are adapted under the name of Luna.
The myth of Endymion, for instance, was a popular subject for Roman wall painting.
She enhances her intuition and spiritual discernment using her previous experiences to know what not to accept.
She picks a God who has been disciplined in himself to heal the fragmented parts of his soul.
She allows him to show how he will lead and surrender to her
A goddess doesn’t settle for a man who only wants to please only one of her senses but all of them.
A goddess picks a god of integrity and strength. Built with gentle love and compassion.
A goddess picks a god that knows how to honor his legacy and his name by not making a mockery out of her or his love
A man who went from boy to a god by leaving behind all of his lower desires that cloud his intuition, mind and heart.
So sis. In order to pick a god you have to have initiated self as a goddess by healing and leaving behind the lower desires that cloud your intuition, mind, and heart.
Its time for the real divine unions to unite. We done went through enough to know better.
A god picks a goddess who isn’t blinded by her illusion from trauma.
He picks a goddess that is able to be connected to her emotions she is able to control them when shifting.
He picks a goddess that is able to love fearlessly
A goddess who knows how to multiple his seeds.
He picks a goddess of inner integrity and inner knowing of her power
He picks a goddess who uplifts his spirits and places him on thrones in her mind.
He picks a goddess that respects and surrenders to him
A goddess who doesn’t make a mockery out of their love.
.
They don’t waste time on exchanges that add nothing but turmoil to their life.
