Aphrodite, Hail to Thee!

Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit

II

Whenever before thou has hearkened to me–
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father’s
Golden dominions,

III

With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth’s darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,

IV

Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called thee.

V

What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?

VI

For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.

VII

Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.

[The Poems of Sappho, see http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/usappho/index.htm ]

Hekate & Shooting Stars!

Each year around the middle of August here in the UK we experience the beautiful stellar experience that is the Perseids.  This amazing phenomena is named after the constellation Perseus, from where the shooting stars seem to originate.  At its height, which this year – in the UK – is around the 12th or 13th of August, it might be possible to see up to 60 shooting stars with the naked eye per hour – subject of course to clear skies, and being away from light polution will of course also help.

Those who are interested can read more about the Perseids at http://meteorwatch.org/2010/08/09/fun-facts-about-the-perseids/

So why do I link the Goddess Hekate to this meteor shower?  Well, firstly there is a modern festival which seems to have taken root in the last few years (based on an interpretation of when a modern festival with some tentative links to Hekate, may have taken place) on the 13th of August each year.  This falls in the middle of the Perseids each year, often around the time that it peaks in this part of the world. So that may, or may not be a coincidence.

Whilst Hekate is not specifically referred to as a “Stellar” goddess in the ancient world, she is described as having dominion over the “Earth, Sea and Sky” in the oldest known text which mentions her.  Whilst the “sky” may be interpreted as many things, the most likely is that it is a reference to the stars.  In this same text, that is the Theogony of Hesiod (circa 8th century CE, though some claim it is a bit later) we also find that Hekate is the daughter of the Goddess Asteria.

“Again, Phoibe came to the desired embrace of Koios. Then the goddess through the love of the god conceived and brought forth dark-gowned Leto.   Also she bare Asteria of happy name, whom Perses once led to his great house to be called his dear wife.  And she conceived and bare Hekate.”  (theoi.com)

Interestingly, the name Asteria can be translated as both stellar or as a falling-star!  Asteria was specifically linked to divination by stars (Astrology) and there are clear links between some of the associations given to Hekate in regards to divination in later times, and the attributes ascribed to her mother, Asteria.

John Canard in his essay “From Heaven to Earth” in Hekate Her Sacred Fires gives numerous further reasons for the connection, which he links to the cycles of life, death and rebirth – a thought I share with him, just as much as we share our love for meteorites – stones which have fallen to earth from the stars.

I wonder how many of you who celebrate the mysteries of the Goddess Hekate around this time of the year, for whichever reason, also link it to nature’s own fireworks display?

May you all dance in Her Sacred Fires, if that is your path,

Sorita d’Este

“Listen to the words ….”

This is the first in a series of blogs which will provide detailed analysis, together with additional research, ideas and musing on the popular prose text “The Charge of the Goddess” which has been made popular through its use as part of the Drawing Down the Moon ceremony of initiatory esoteric Wiccan traditions, first emerging from within the tradition which emerged at the hands of Gerald Gardner (The Gardnerian Tradition), the “Charge of the Goddess” is often attributed to Doreen Valiente who is wrongly given credit for the beautiful poetry.  The text, as you will see from subsequent posts here – or if you have a copy in the book “Wicca Magickal Beginnings” which I co-authored with David Rankine and which includes a full analysis of the entire text, together with research on the origins of all the various component parts found in Wicca – that the text of the Charge of the Goddess is in fact all material taken from Charles Godfrey Leland’s book The Aradia – Gospel of the Witches and from the writings of the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley.

I will work through the Charge line by line, so that each can be open for further discussion here http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=910 with the original entry.  The Charge remains one of the most evocative pieces of prose in the Wiccan movement, as well as within Goddess spirituality and Paganism as a whole, and I feel strongly that it is important that we also understand the context and the origins of the material – which sometimes is a lot more surprising than others!  The first opening line of the Charge, which is traditionally spoken by the High Priest whilst he is kneeling before the High Priestess is one of the few lines which cannot be traced specifically to the writings of Leland or Crowley.

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TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHARGE OF THE GODDESS – LINE 1

“HP: Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of  old was also called among men, Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Ceridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Bride, and by many other names.”

The opening introductory statement by the High Priest is clearly presenting the idea of a universal goddess.  This piece seems to be original, though there is a historical basis for the concept and name of the Great Mother, as can be seen in the writings of the Roman historian Lucian, in the second century CE, who wrote of the goddess in his work De Dea Syria (‘The Syrian Goddess’) as:

“She is our Mother Earth, known otherwise as the Mother Goddess or Great Mother. Among the Babylonians and northern Semites she was called Ishtar: she is the Ashtoreth of the Bible, and the Astarte of Phœnicia. In Syria her name was ‘Athar, and in Cilicia it had the form of ‘Ate (‘Atheh). At Hierapolis, with which we are primarily concerned, it appears in later Aramaic as Atargatis, a compound of the Syrian and Cilician forms … for in one way and another there was still a prevailing similarity between the essential attributes and worship of the nature-goddess throughout Western Asia.”

The Roman historian and magician Apuleius, a contemporary of Lucian, expressed a similar theme.  In his novel of initiation, The Golden Ass, he has Isis describe herself as the goddess of whom all others are aspects.

“For the Phrygians call me the mother of the gods: the Athenians, Minerva: the Cyprians, Venus: the Candians, Diana: the Sicilians, Proserpina: the Eleusians, Ceres: some Juno, others Bellona, others Hekate.”

The Qabalah also needs to be considered when we look at the idea of the great mother goddess.  There is a very mistaken concept amongst those who have not studied its mysteries that the Qabalah is entirely patriarchal.  This is not the case and it never was.  The Sefer ha-Zohar (“Book of Splendour”) places great emphasis on the Shekinah or divine feminine, and it brought sexual polarity very much to the forefront of Qabalah at the time of its publication in 1290, and the subsequent publication of the Sefer ha-Bahir (“Book of Brilliance”) in 1310, when the Hermetic and Neoplatonic texts were also being translated, resulted in both traditions feeding into alchemy, the Grimoires and other magickal traditions of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.  Significantly this also predated the main period of the witch trials, and the conflation of prejudice against Jews, heretics and witches.

“From Her do they receive their nourishment, and from Her do they receive blessing; and She is called the Mother of them all.”[1]

The word Shekinah is from the root Shakhan meaning ’to dwell’, and refers to her presence within all humanity.  In the ninth century the German branch of Qabalists described the Shekinah as the circle of fire around God, their union causing the throne, angels and human souls to come into being.^[2] The Shekinah has been seen as manifesting in two ways.  As the Lesser or Exiled Shekinah she is perceived as being the world soul, somewhat akin to the concept of Gaia as postulated by James Lovelock.  However as the source of souls, Shekinah is also present in every person, as the spark that seeks to reunite with the Greater Shekinah, the great goddess.

“Her ways are of pleasantness, and her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retaineth her.”^[3]

The Kabbalistic Shekinah, the Gnostic Sophia and the classical goddesses all enjoyed notable attention through the Renaissance, and it could convincingly be argued that the deities of Wicca are expressions of an inevitable resurgence of the divine powers seeking an outlet, as they have done for the last fifteen hundred years.

This idea of a universal goddess or great mother goddess was to continue through the Renaissance, as can be seen in writings by authors such as the German humanist Konrad Mutian (1471-1526).  In correspondence he observed, in a manner which would have been seen as sacrilegious by the Church at the time:

“There is but one God and one Goddess,

But many are their powers and names:

Jupiter, Sol, Apollo, Moses, Christus,

Luna, Ceres, Proserpina, Tellus, Maria.

But have a care in speaking these things.

They should be hidden in silence as

are the Eleusinian Mysteries;

Sacred things must be wrapped in fable and enigma.”^[4]

This view is one which would be repeated in writings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  In 1901 Sir Arthur Evans became convinced of the idea of a single great goddess in prehistoric times when he was excavating Knossos in Crete.  From this idea he subsequently chose to interpret all divine female figures at the site as a single goddess, and all male figures as a single subordinate son/consort god.  This idea was expanded by the French archaeologist Joseph Dechelette, who suggested that the cult of the Great Goddess had originated in the Neolithic period in Asia Minor and the Balkans and expanded across the Mediterranean to the whole of Western Europe.^[5]

Occultists would also incorporate these ideas into their world-views and hence their writings.  The author George Russell (AE) in his classic work The Candle of Vision, published in 1918, espoused the original divinity being divided into the Great Mother and Great Father, from whom the gods and goddesses derived.  This idea was also subsequently seen in the occult novels of Dion Fortune in the 1930s.

In the part version of the Charge published by Gardner in Witchcraft Today in 1954 all the names following that of Aphrodite were omitted – i.e. Ceridwen, Diana, Arianrhod and Bride – giving the impression that the Celtic Goddesses were later additions.  It is also interesting here to note the difference between the version of the Charge attributed to Doreen Valiente and published in the Witches Bible where the goddess Diana is changed into Dana and the name of the Greco-Roman Egyptian goddess Isis is added before that of Bride.

Reference to Melusine occurred in Crowley’s Law of Liberty, and some discussion of her is called for here to put her inclusion into perspective.  Melusine was described in the late fourteenth century tale of Mélusine de Lusignan.^[6] Melusine can be seen as the archetypal fairy wife.  In different versions of the tale she is half fish, serpent or dragon.  The gist of the story is that she married Remond, who became the Conte de Poitiers.  She made Remond swear that on Saturdays he would allow her privacy, but after his brother made him wild with jealousy, Remond burst in on Melusine and realised her true nature.  She then left him, in the manner of the fairy wife whose true nature has been discovered.  The inclusion of such a figure may seem strange, but Melusine was a tremendously popular figure, like Morgan Le Fay, whose roots hint at earlier divine origins.  Her inclusion does however provide a further clear illustration that this piece of prose does not have Roman origins as Gardner suggested.

We may also conclude that it is possible that the person who compiled the earliest versions of the Charge had read Crowley’s Law of Liberty – material from which can be found in both the earlier Lift up the Veil and the later Charge of the Goddess.  Crowley mentioned Melusine in the Law of Liberty when he wrote: “Do not embrace mere Marian or Melusine; she is Nuit Herself, specially concentrated and incarnated in a human form to give you infinite love, to bid you taste even on earth the Elixir of Immortality”.  We can see here the equation of Nuit as the universal goddess, and the idea of the High Priestess as being the representative of this goddess in ceremonies.

This introductory line to the Charge is generally thought to be the original material of the author(s) thereof, as no known precedent exists in the works which otherwise influenced it.

This part of the Charge corresponds directly to that used in the Lift Up the Veil charge dated to 1949, which could then be said to be the earliest known source, presumably written by either Gerald Gardner himself (as this was pre-Valiente) or it could possibly be part of an original piece of prose currently lost to us today.

As an aside, for those who love life’s little coincidences, we thought we would include something similar which we found in a book published in 1920 on the subject of the Native American tribe of the Iroquois, which reads “My Children, listen to the words of the Great Mother. You are burdened and troubled; your little ones are silent and fearful…”^[7] There is nothing of course to suggest that this is directly related to the compilation of the Charge, but it is a fascinating parallel usage which we thought worthy of inclusion.

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[1] Kabbalah Unveiled, Mathers, 1887

[2] Kabbalah, Ponce,1974

[3] Proverbs 3:17-18.

[4] The Survival of the Pagan Gods, Seznec, 1953

[5] Manual d’archeologie prehistorique Celtique et Gallo-Romaine, Dechelette, 1908

[6] Mélusine de Lusignan, Jean d’Arras, 1393

[7] The Hero of the Longhouse, Mary Elisabeth Laing, 1920

note: HP refers to High Priest.

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If you want to read more, see the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings (ISBN  978-1-905297-15-3)  by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine.  See   http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalogue/titles/wicca_mb.htm for more information.

If you would like to add your comments, opinions or additional ideas to this article please do so on my website, where it will be available for others to read in future:  http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=895

(c) 2010 Sorita d’Este.  This blog was written by Sorita d’Este for www.sorita.co.uk, allrights reserved.

Order a signed copy of Wicca Magickal Beginnings for £14.99 (with free P&P worldwide)

Hekate & Me on AEON BYTE

This weekend’s AEON BYTE features an interview with me about the Goddess Hekate and the HEKATE Her Sacred Fires project.  Details can be found at:

http://aeonbyte.blogspot.com/2010/06/goddess-hekate-06262010.html

Thank You : Rite of Her Sacred Fires

You can find out more at the project’s website www.sacredfires.co.uk

New Flames Burning!

Hekate Her Sacred Fires, the anthology I have been working on for the last few months, is finally in print and making its way to homes all over the world.  It has arrived with a number of the contributors now that I know of, as well as a few eager readers who placed their orders well in advance!  Some who are a bit further away, in Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Mexico might have to wait a bit longer for their copies (postal services!).

Tara Sanchez, from the Temple of Hekate, who is also one of the contributors received her copy here in the UK late last week.  She has read the book cover to cover and has written a review of what she thought of the book on her blog, which you can read over at http://www.templeofhekate.net/blog/?page_id=158 – I am very much looking forward to the comments from all the readers (and most of all the other contributors, as this is a project which is very much about the bringing together of people who share a passion for Hekate).

There was a minor glitch with the printing which caused a few images to be printed very dark, this is being looked into at the moment to see if it can be corrected – but on the whole I hope that everyone will agree that it is a wonderful collection of material, in some ways a beautiful treasure chest for anthropologists who are looking for an example of how an ancient Goddess not only survived into the modern age, but how she is viewed in different places around the world today.  We have also had a few requests from readers for a hardback edition, which is something we might be able to look into in due course too.  If you have suggestions or comments, or even requests, please leave a message for me here by responding to this blog (or you can email me).

Though I express many of my own views about this project in my foreword and introduction to the book itself, I feel it necessary to say once again here, that this has been a project unlike anything  I have ever worked on in my life.  Not only did I get to explore a goddess who is very close to my heart in new and exciting ways through the experiences of others, but I also made many new friends and found out about magical and spiritual communities I had been completely unaware of before.  In fact one of the participants to The Rite of Her Sacred Fires wrote to me about her experiences of the rite and noted amongst what she said that it was something which brought together people from communities who, though they share a passion for magic, spirituality and of course the Goddess Hekate, would not ordinarily speak or communicate with each other.

Likewise, I feel that this project which has resulted in the publication of Hekate Her Sacred Fires, bridges such divides and shows very clearly how though the language (both symbolic and actual!) we speak might be different, how the robes (or lack thereof!) we clothe ourselves might be made from different fabrics, designs and colours – the passion we have for the Goddess Hekate bind us together.  More importantly even, the experiences we have of her – whether we are in Australia, Chile, Mexico, USA, Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, Bulgaria, England, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland or Spain – or indeed ANYWHERE on this beautiful planet Earth, shows that the Torchbearing Triple Goddess of the Crossroads is able to manifest and touch the lives of her devotees and others who call upon her, and sometimes those she calls upon – whenever, and however it pleases her.  She is not a Goddess bound to time and place, but instead she really is the Axis Mundi, the Soul of the World who is able to bring down her starfire to inspire, create and unlock doorways.  Sometimes, even dynamite it apart to make way for a new way of being, with freedom and without the restriction we place upon ourselves everyday.

Hail Hekate!

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You can find out more about Hekate Her Sacred Fires at www.sacredfires.co.uk or you can order a copy now (with free P&P to any destination worldwide) for the RRP of £24.99 using Paypal: