“and I am that which is attained at the end of desire”

This is the last in a series of blogs I am have decided to do, providing textual analysis for the ritual prose known as The Charge of the Goddess.  Each quotes a section of material which I presented, with my co-author David Rankine, in the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings.  For your convenience, all posts on this subject has been tagged with “charge analysis” here on my blog, and I ask that comments and other remarks be posted directly onto the original blog http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=1000 — keep comments to the lines discussed in this blog only please (there are separate blog entries for the rest!)

The following lines from “Let my worship be within … ” through to “end of desire” at the end of the Charge are prime examples of material taken from the work of Aleister Crowley into the Charge.  It clearly shows how Doreen Valiente’s claims to have taken as much of the Crowley material out of the earlier version of the Charge (known as “Lift up the Veil”) is flawed.  As we put it politely in Wicca Magickal Beginnings:

“The Lift Up the Veil charge was clearly pre-Valiente, as she was not initiated until 1952/3.  Valiente claimed that she rewrote the Lift Up the Veil charge to produce the Charge of the Goddess, removing Crowley’s influence, as she put it, “cutting out the Crowleyanity as much as I could”[1] However, as you will discover this is simply not true, as most of the material used in the Charge of the Goddess draws from material published in The Aradia, Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland and from a variety of original works by Aleister Crowley – with a few additions from the Golden Dawn and Christian liturgy.”

[1] The Rebirth of Witchcraft, Valiente, 1987

This then casts some serious doubts on Valiente’s claim to authorship – because, if she was being honest she seems to not be aware of the fact that there is so much NEW material of Crowley in this Charge of the Goddess, or if she was the “author” of the piece, she is clearly trying to cover up for the fact that she was plagiarising so much of it from Crowley – and as illustrated by the origins of so much of Wiccan liturgy attributed to Valiente, it seems to more often be the case that she was confused about who wrote the material she claimed for herself, as most of the key pieces can be seen to derive directly from key texts by Aleister Crowley, from Christian texts and even from a couple of texts from literary Satanism!

What follows is an extract from Wicca Magickal Beginnings showing the origins of this last part of the Charge:

“Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold:”

The line “heart that rejoiceth” could be taken from Crowley’s Vision and the Voice, though it is not a unique phrase so this may be coincidence.

“all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals; “

More from the Law of Liberty, here emphasising the sexual and sensual components of magickal ceremony in a very Crowleyan manner, “Remember that all acts of love and pleasure are rituals”

“and therefore let there be Beauty and Strength,

Power and Compassion,

Honour and Humility, Mirth and reverence within you.”

The reference to “beauty and strength” could be from Liber Al (AL II.20) or may be coincidence.  The rest all seems to be original, though it may have been inspired by “let there be Harmony and Beauty in your mystic loves, that in us may be health and wealth and strength and divine pleasure according to the Law of Liberty”; words spoken by the Deacon during the Gnostic Mass, another of Crowley’s works.

“And thou who thinkest to seek me, know that thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou know the mystery,

that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee,

thou wilt never find it without thee, for behold;

I have been with thee from the beginning,

and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.”

The inspiration here comes from Crowley’s Liber LXV, lines 59-60, “But I have called unto Thee, and I have journeyed unto Thee, and it availed me not. I waited patiently, and Thou wast with me from the beginning.”

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

Comments welcomed at http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=1000

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

“Beloved of Gods and men…”

This is the next in a series of blogs I am have decided to do, providing textual analysis for the ritual prose known as The Charge of the Goddess.  Each quotes a section of material which I presented, with my co-author David Rankine, in the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings.  For your convenience, all posts on this subject has been tagged with “charge analysis” here on my blog, and I ask that comments and other remarks be posted directly onto the original blog http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=998 — keep comments to the lines discussed in this blog only please (there are separate blog entries for the rest!)

The following two lines firstly describes the Goddess of Wicca as being “The Beloved of Gods and men” which as you will see are titles associated with the Goddess Aphrodite, but also with Baldur, the son of the God Odin in the Norse mythologies.  And then seems to hint at what happens to those who find themselves before this Goddess.  Though absolutely evocative and beautiful, we again see the influence of Aleister Crowley’s Law of Liberty in this text.

“and before my face, Beloved of the Gods and men,”

This is again probably original material.  Although almost certainly just coincidental, we thought it amusing to mention that this line is also found in a novel published in 1908 which has a character called Doreen in![1]

In Norse myths, Baldur, the son of Odin is often referred to as “beloved of Gods and men” which might have provided some inspiration for the use of the term; however this seems strange and unlikely considering he is male.  With these being words of the goddess this would be an inappropriate usage.  However, the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, was also sometimes referred to by the same title, and it is hopefully more likely that the author(s) of the Charge, may have taken their inspiration from this goddess rather than using the title of a male god.

“let thine inmost divine self shall be enfolded in the raptures of the infinite.”

Again this seems to be derived from two more quotes merged from the Law of Liberty: “He is then your inmost divine self” and “in the constant rapture of the embraces of Infinite Beauty”.  These quotes are in reference to words spoken by Hadit, the masculine divine in the cosmology of Thelema.  Thus it is being used completely inappropriately as words spoken by the Goddess, as in fact it originates in relation to the God.  This may indicate that the person compiling this version of the Charge was not familiar with Crowley’s work or philosophy, but thought of the words themselves as mere poetry to be used, as it would seem from this that the material used to compile the Charge was used regardless of its original context and symbolism, instead being purely utilised for its poetic and emotive effects.  This recalls Valiente’s remark in An ABC of Witchcraft that Gardner told her he “had supplied words which seemed to him to convey the right atmosphere, to strike the right chords in one’s mind.” If this is the case, then it could also support the idea that Gardner was the author, or one of the authors, of the original, as it seems to have been rewritten from the Lift Up the Veil charge.

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[1] Mary Ware: The Little Colonel’s Chum, Johnston, 1908

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

Comments welcomed at http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=998

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

“I am the beauty of the green earth…”

This is the next in a series of blogs I am have decided to do, providing textual analysis for the ritual prose known as The Charge of the Goddess.  Each quotes a section of material which I presented, with my co-author David Rankine, in the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings.  For your convenience, all posts on this subject has been tagged with “charge analysis” here on my blog, and I ask that comments and other remarks be posted directly onto the original blog http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=993 — keep comments to the lines discussed in this blog only please (there are separate blog entries for the rest!)

The lines included in this part of the analysis of the Charge of the Goddess I am posting here seems to emphasise a Lunar, Stellar, Water and Earthly component to the Goddess.  Interestingly, there are very few historical Goddesses who have all these attributes.  The Goddess Diana or indeed, her messianic daughter “Aradia” who is cited often as being the Goddess of the Wiccan tradition (both by initiates of traditions derived from Gerald Gardner, and by those who take their inspiration from The Aradia Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland – which was of course influential as we have already seen in the compilation of this Charge) does not have all these attributes in a historical context.  However, the Goddess Hekate – who is popular amongst modern Pagan Witches – but who herself is not usually cited as “The” goddess of the Wicca, does have all these attributes in a clearly defined manner.  This opens up a whole host of additional questions and debates on the subject – which is not the subject of this entry.  From a spiritual perspective, the concepts described, could also of course, be taken to indicate strong pantheistic leanings.

“HPS: I who am the beauty of the green earth;

and the White Moon amongst the Stars; and the mystery of the Waters;  and the desire of the heart of man,”

This is largely original material, though it is possible the line “desire of the heart of man,” may have been inspired by Crowley’s book The Vision and the Voice (1909) where we find “I am the blind ache within the heart of man”.  We may note however that the phrase “beauty of the green earth” used in conjunction with stellar references was a common occurrence in Christian writings of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, so this is a well documented analogy.  Illustrating this point with two examples, in The British Preacher (1831) we read “How good must that light be which reveals to us the grandeur of the starry heavens, and the beauty of the green earth,” and in Evangelical Christendom (1893) we see, “if the glories of the starry heavens, if the beauty of the green earth never taught man of God”.

“call unto thy soul: arise and come unto me. “

This line is clearly again derived from Crowley’s work, as “arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!” is found in both the Law of Liberty and its inspiration Liber AL I.61.

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=993

(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)

“And mine is the cup of the Wine of Life … And the Cauldron of Ceridwen…”

There had to be something original in the Charge of the Goddess, which could not be attributed to either Charles Leland or Aleister Crowley, and the following two lines can be described as being that bit of “original” which was probably added to the other plagiarised material by Gardner or Valiente, or whoever was responsible for compiling the evocative piece of prose known as The Charge of the Goddess.  Though even it in part was inspired by (or maybe consciously borrowed from) Christian liturgy, something which Doreen Valiente did on a regular basis.

What follows is an extract from Chapter 11 “Adore the Spirit of Me” 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.

(For your convenience – all posts drawing from the analysis of the Charge of the Goddess in Wicca Magickal Beginnings will be tagged as “Charge Analysis” which should make it easier for you to find using the search facility on this site)

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“and mine is the cup of the Wine of Life: “

This line seems to derive from the Catholic Liturgy, as part of the reading drawn from the Byzantine Matins, in the Table Blessing for Holy Thursday, which goes, “Instructing his friends into the divine mysteries, Jesus, the wisdom of God, prepares a table that gives food to the soul, and mingles for the faithful the cup of the wine of life eternal. Let us all, therefore, draw near the mysterious table, with pure souls let us receive the Bread of Life” The real question here, which we can neither prove or disprove at this point, is whether this was a deliberate use or whether it was a phrase merely imbedded in the psyche of the person who compiled the Charge, who consequently used it without realising the source of their inspiration?

“and the Cauldron of Ceridwen, which is the Holy Grail of Immortality.”

This seems to be original material.  The reference to the “Cauldron of Ceridwen” brings in another of the goddesses mentioned at the start of the charge.  The equation of the cauldron to the Holy Grail, a very Christian symbol, is somewhat puzzling and inappropriate, but it has a nice poetic ring and flows on naturally from the previous line which as we have shown was likely borrowed from Christian liturgy.  It is of course also a popular theme in the Arthurian and Grail Mysteries, which might have influenced the person(s)who compiled this piece, due to its inherently ’Celtic’ overtones.

Years later, in An ABC of Witchcraft (originally published in 1973), Valiente quoted from Hargrave Jennings’ The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries in her entry for the Cauldron. In this, if indeed she was the author of these lines, she may have revealed her inspiration for their inclusion, but this is purely speculation on our part, and certainly is not an adaptation of words / phrases as found throughout the Charge. “We claim the cauldron of the witches as, in the original, the vase or urn of fiery transmigration, in which all things of the world change”[1]

The idea of immortality is raised in relation to the incarnation of the Goddess on Earth in Law of Liberty, as we have seen in regards to the inclusion of Melusine earlier with the phrase “Elixir of Immortality”

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[1] An ABC of Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente, 1984

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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)

“once in the month, and better it be when the Moon is full…”

This is the third in a series of blogs in which I am providing detailed analysis of the Wiccan CHARGE OF THE GODDESS.    What follows is an extract from Chapter 11 “Adore the Spirit of Me” 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.

The line that follows is sometimes now considered to be the first lines of the Charge, with the first line being omitted (as discussed in the previous entry), and with the use of the rituals developing into the current era at the hands of individuals who might not understand, know or care about the original context it was used in.

I am publishing these extracts because I believe words have power, because I believe that for those who name themselves for the pathways of the Gods, and who walks on the liminal between the worlds seen and unseen, Knowledge is the greatest gift we can share, give and receive.  Please do add your own ideas, experiences and if you want additional research to this article at its original home – http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=921

(For your convenience – all posts drawing from the analysis of the Charge of the Goddess in Wicca Magickal Beginnings will be tagged as “Charge Analysis” which should make it easier for you to find using the search facility on this site)

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“Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the Moon is full. Then ye shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of Me who am Queen of all Witcheries. There ye shall assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet who have not won its deepest secrets. To these will I teach things that are yet unknown. And ye shall be free from slavery, and as a sign that ye be really free, ye shall be naked in your rites…”

Gardner omits “Whenever ye have need of anything” in Witchcraft Today. He also writes “meet in some secret place, and adore me who am Queen of all the magics… for I am a gracious Goddess, I give joy on Earth, certainty not faith, while in life; and upon death unutterable, rest and the ecstasy of the Goddess.  Nor do I aught in sacrifice…” At this point Gardner tells us that he is forbidden to reveal any further part of the charge.

This piece is clearly derived with only minor changes from chapter one of the Aradia, which reads:

“Whenever ye have need of anything, once in the month, and when the Moon is full, ye shall assemble in some desert place, or in a forest all together join to adore the potent spirit of your queen, My mother, great Diana.  She who fain would learn all sorcery yet has not won its deepest secrets, them my mother will teach her, in truth all things as yet unknown.  And ye shall all be freed from slavery, and so ye shall be free in everything; and as the sign that ye are truly free, ye shall be naked in your rites, both men and women also.”

Here it is necessary to look at the difference in use of the text.  In the Aradia, it is the goddess Diana who addresses her daughter, Aradia, giving her instruction on how to teach witchcraft to humanity.  In the context of use within the Wiccan tradition, the priestess is said to channel a goddess and speak these words to the witches.  This may seem like a small inconsistency, but one which has quite a huge magickal implication, as well as of course a spiritual one, both of which are worthy of some consideration.

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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)
reserved.

“the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice” (all about flogging really!)

This is the second in a series of blogs in which I am providing detailed analysis of the CHARGE OF THE GODDESS.    What follows is an extract from Chapter 11 “Adore the Spirit of Me” 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.

The line which is the subject of this blog is the first line spoken by the High Priestess of the Charge during the ceremony.  It is sometimes omitted by practitioners who have long realised that the line is obviously incorrect, or in some instances adapted to something which at least makes sense.  As this is a discussion on the historical origins, we stuck to the original for the sake of the discussion as it is still being reproduced and still being used by some.

By understanding the context of the words we speak in ritual and its origins, we can gain a deeper understanding of the rites we perform.  If you have something you wish to add to this discussion, your own ideas, experiences or maybe something we missed – feel free to add your views to the original blog which is at http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=914 (all posts drawing from the analysis of the Charge of the Goddess in Wicca Magickal Beginnings will be tagged as “Charge Analysis” which should make it easier for you to find)

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“High Priestess: At mine Altars the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.”

Interestingly here, we find that Gardner wrote in Witchcraft Today “At mine altars the youth in Lacedaemon made due sacrifice”. However, it is noteworthy that in Gardner’s rendition of it there, he at least omitted a rather obtuse error in this first line of this version of the Charge, but of course we don’t know whether this was an accidental mistake or a deliberate omission in an effort to not reveal too much of the prose.

So what is wrong with this statement?  Put simply the geography is all wrong.  Sparta was a city in Lacedaemon, not the other way around, this statement is like saying England is in London or America is in New York!  Then there is an apparent contradiction with the line “Nor do I demand aught in sacrifice….” which is found later in the same version of this Charge. So, whilst the goddess seems to be saying that sacrifice was made, she is also saying that she demands no sacrifice now!  This is probably a side effect of the use of literature from a number of sources and the conflation of the myths of a variety of goddesses to represent the words spoken by one, or it could indicate a change of position on the part of the goddess, or her worshippers!

The reference to the ‘youth of Sparta,’ is to the ritual flogging which took place at the altars of the goddess Artemis Orthia (“Artemis of the steep”) during the Roman period.  As part of the rites, young boys would be scourged on Artemis’ altar until it was smeared with their blood, being both their ritual purification and their sacrifice to this virgin huntress.

The origins of this rather grim ceremony are believed to have come from the discovery of an image of Artemis Orthia which had been lost from a temple for some time before being rediscovered.  Two Spartan warriors, Astrabakos and Alopekos, discovered it and upon doing so immediately went completely insane.  Following this a temple was erected around the rediscovered statue in honour of Artemis and through doing so the goddess was temporarily propitiated.  However, during a sacrifice taking place on the altar, rival groups of Limnatians, Kynosourians and Mesoans got themselves into a brawl and as a result many of them were killed on and around the altar.  Artemis, not known for forgiveness, decided to kill the rest of those involved through disease as a punishment for defiling her temple.

The Spartan people made desperate appeals to an oracle for advice on what to do and were told that the only way to stop the disease was to stain the altar with human blood as an offering to Artemis.  For many years they offered human sacrifices at the altar (the sacrifice being chosen by lot) until this practice was eventually substituted with that of the whipping of young prepubescent boys.  The boys were scourged until enough blood had been produced to stain the altar anew and thus ensured another period of peace with the goddess. During the scourging a priestess would hold a light wooden image of the goddess with which she would be able to tell if the men who were doing the scourging were slacking on the amount or the severity of the blows given to the boys based on beauty or rank.  If the statue grew heavy it was due to the men slacking and the priestess would chastise those doing the whipping to ensure that Artemis’ offerings were made correctly and appropriately.

As an interesting aside, flogging is a theme which recurs in the worship of the goddess Artemis.  It also played a part in the cheese-stealing rituals recorded by Xenophon in Lakedaimonion Politeia in the fifth/fourth century BCE.  Here two groups of young men would contest a piece of cheese which was placed on the altar of Artemis.  The first group defended the cheese with whips, whilst the other group had to try and steal it.  Though there is no direct connection here with sacrifice, which is clearly indicated in the example of Artemis Orthia, it may be that this was another variation of a similar rite as those being scourged would undoubtedly bleed onto the altar, making a blood sacrifice as part of the ceremonial goings on.

The use of the scourge in an ancient ceremony was well exemplified by the frequently quoted Roman festival of Lupercalia, where young men clad in skins would rush around beating people with strips of goatskin, which was believed to promote fertility and easy childbirth.  However this does not really bear much resemblance to the use of the scourge in the Wiccan tradition.  In medieval times the scourge was described as being used frequently for punishment of witches.  One such example is seen in Murray’s The God of the Witches:

“The accused escaped with her life, but her sentence was, ‘To be scourged from the end of said town to the other.  And thereafter to be banished from the country’.”

Another common suggestion is the claim that the Knights Templar used scourging, a reference Gardner himself makes in his works.  Whether they did or not, there is certainly a well-documented history of self-flagellation within the Christian church as a means of ’purification’, so this is a much more likely source of the magickal beginnings of using the scourge to be “properly prepared”.

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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)