Tag: Goddess

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.