Sacred Seeds

Spirituality

Charge of the Goddess
By Doreen Valiente

I who am the beauty of the green earth, the white moon among the stars,
and the mystery of the waters, and the desire in the heart of all;
Do call unto thy soul; arise, and come unto me.

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 infinit

Let My worship be within the heart that rejoices,
for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.

Therefore let there be-
beauty and strength,
power and compassion,
honor and humility,
mirth and reverence
- within you

And you who thinkest to seek for Me,
know that thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the Mystery.
If that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without.

For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning;and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.”

The above piece is one of the most well known pieces of wiccan poetry. It was written by Doreen Valiente who was one of Gerald Gardner, the founding father of Gardnarian Wicca’s, High Priestesses. Through her early wicca got a wonderful infusion of beautiful language.

I am a pagan and a wiccan, initiated in both the British Traditional work of Gardnerian wicca and the “bootstrap” American traditional work of the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (NROOGD). For me, Doreen’s Charge of the Star Goddess has always reverberated deep into my heart and soul. This is the Goddess as I understand her, one who is ALL, who loves ALL, who welcomes ALL and has always been / always will be with all of us.

Paving stones of the Charge of the Goddess made for my backyard

Since the original Charge is specifically titled, and used by most people as the words of the female manifestation of the divine in wicca, even though I believe it speaks to a divine that honors all genders, my business partner Jamie Morgan and I went looking for a Charge of the God poem. It turned out the Doreen wrote several, as did a number of other people, but none of them mirrored the original Charge in the way that we were looking for, so, being the people we are, we wrote our own companion piece to the Charge of the Goddess to express our thoughts about the wiccan manifestation of the male divine.

Charge of the God
By Jamie Morgan and Catherine Pennington
Adapted from Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Star Goddess
November 2008

I who am the power of the velvet darkness, And the echoing space between the stars,
And the depths of the endless sea, and the fire in the hearts of all.
I come from the darkness, from out of that which is everything.

From me all things proceed, and unto me all things must return;
And before my face, beloved of our loins,
let thine innermost human self be enfolded in the rapture of the world.

Let my worship be within the body that dances;

And therefore, let:
Splendor and potency,
Command and kindness,
Respect and modesty,
Laughter and solemnity
- shine through you.

And you who thinkest to know me – then walk with me in the light and the dark,
in the shadows of your soul and the brilliance of your love.
And together we may find the mysteries of the universe
if you have the patience to see into the hearts of all, including yourself.

For behold, I have been beside thee from the first sunrise and will walk with thee to the end of days.

My spiritual path is big on honesty which means that I find it wise to be clear about where I am coming from, what biases I am carrying, and what “rose colored glasses” I tend to wear when I talk about religion and spirituality.

I am: an Aries, an artist, a big sister, a Californian, a daughter, disabled, fat, middle class, a mother, a New Yorker, a pagan, a priestess, a ritualist, straight, a storyteller, a US citizen, white, a wife, a witch, a wiccan, a woman, a writer – me.

I see spirituality as a three layered journey. It is a personal act, one that is incredibly selfish and self fulfilling. It is a communal act shared with family and friends that nourishes the soul of both the individual and the community they live in. And it is a global act enriching the world we all share through the actions we take every day we live and breathe.

Spirituality is taking a deep breath, going for a walk in along the beach, digging my toes in the dirt, turning my face to sun, talking with my gods and tending their altars, taking time to listen to my body and its needs, and learning to garden as a sacred act.

Spirituality is kissing my partner, hugging my children, petting a cat, sharing a meal, conversations about theology, philosophy and meaning, discussions about history and mythology, debates about the environment, teachers salaries and civil rights, communities get together to celebrate life, or the end of life, and people working together to make a difference in each others lives.

Spirituality is trusting, loving, voting, reading, listening, teaching, learning, asking questions and searching for answers.

As I figure out how to explain what all this means to me, I will add more to this page… there are lots of thought brewing in my head. It’s a big topic, but one that is woven into the fabric of my daily life, so its turning into an interesting assignment to actually distill what I think and mean by all these words.

Links to my Spiritual Ritual Work:

On these pages you will find images, files, and assorted notes that I have collected in relation to several major rituals I have created. I have listed these works on their own pages because each of them is more than just the script that was written, they are also the parts the made up the whole, and the resulting magic that came out of all the collaborative work of everyone involved. Unfortunately, ritual being what is, I have very few photos of the rituals themselves, so you are just going to have imagine most of the end products after your read through all the data.

As with my other works, these are available for download and use by other ritualists. I do strongly recommend, however, that if you are considering running any of the rituals described here, that you look through the associated files. In some cases the meditations and supporting documents are as important to the production of the ritual as the actual script. I would also love to know what your experience of working with this material is, so please do let me know if you choose to do any of these rituals! I’d love notes, photos, programs – I’m a data junkie so send it on over!

Blessings,

Kate

Brigid’s Forge / Brigid’s Well Ritual
A ritual I co-created to explore how we get cut off from the divine and how, with Brigid’s help we can renew those connections.

The Eleusinian Mysteries

This is my version of the ancient Greek ritual in honor of Demeter, Kore/Persephone, and Hades