The Wiccan Temple Archives

For those of you who have expressed an interest in reading some of the many articles which previously appeared on the original Avalonia Community website, as well as some of those which David and I wrote for community magazines here in the UK over the years there is some good news.

Around 70 articles, including extracts from books authored by David and I on subjects related to the Wiccan tradition is now available (free) at the Wiccan Temple Archives.  We hope to be adding further content in the coming months and welcome suggestions and comments on what is already available there.

Go and see for yourself – http://wicca.avalonia.co.uk

“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)

“For I am the Soul of Nature …”

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=996 — keep comments to the lines discussed in this blog only please (there are separate blog entries for the rest!)

The Golden Dawn, a magical order which was founded in the late 19th century is often cited as being one of the key influences on the development and emergence of the Wiccan tradition.  In our research we found that though they may have been an inspiration and of course provided one of the key parts of the revived interest in the occult and the practice of magic, not all that much was actually directly derived from them – not in comparison to the amount of material taken from say, for example Crowley or indeed the high percentage of material from grimoires which did not pass directly through the Golden Dawn, but instead seems to have its origins instead in something parallel and a lot more private.  The following line in the Charge of the Goddess represents one of the borrowings from the Golden Dawn which did become part of Wiccan liturgy.  It continues the strong pantheist suggestion in the previous lines and the emphasis here is more specifically again on the Earth itself, or more specifically the divinity of Nature as the Goddess.

It would be interesting to explore the percentage of Wiccans who are pantheist in their beliefs, but that is a matter for another day and another study!  Anyone out there who have looked at this in recent years?  Would love to hear about it!

“For I am the Soul of nature who giveth life to the Universe;

From me all things proceed; and unto me, all things must return.”

Uniquely this part of the Charge appears to come from the Ritual for Transformation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in which we find “O Soul of Nature giving life and energy to the Universe. From thee all things do proceed. Unto Thee all must return.” Alternatively it is possible that the author of the Charge took the line, “From me all things proceed; and unto me, all things must return”, directly from Milton’s Paradise Lost, which was the probable source of inspiration for the Golden Dawn.

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

Comments welcomed at http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=996

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)

“Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess…”

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=991 — keep comments to the lines discussed in this blog only please (there are separate blog entries for the rest!)

The next line “Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess” is usually, within an esoteric coven context, spoken by the High Priest, standing next to – or kneeling before the High Priestess who is deemed at this point to be the embodiment of the Wiccan Goddess.  The High Priestess continues with the Charge following this starting with “She in the dust …”   Both the lines discussed in this blog originate with the writings of Aleister Crowley.

This part of the Charge is of particular interest in this context as Doreen Valiente, a lady who worked with Gerald Gardner for a short period during the 1950′s and who left declaring her dissatisfaction (as she she subsequently did in other traditions too) and to whom this version of the “charge” is commonly attributed, claimed that she “removed” the Crowley from the Charge.  We have already seen in the lines I have posted to date that this is not the case at all as clearly quite a bit of the material which does not originate with the writings of Charles Leland’s The Aradia – Gospel of the Witches does show clear influence from Crowley.  In the earlier version of the Charge, sometimes referred to as Lift Up the Veil, the second part of the Charge consists nearly completely of a section of Crowley’s ritual prose used in his very well known Gnostic Mass and often referred to as “The Nuit Speech”.  So what is true, is that if it was Doreen who compiled (and lets be clear, she did not write it!) this version of the Charge of the Goddess, she did remove Crowley as she claimed – but only to replace it with more Crowley!   It is one of the most common mis-perceptions which are being perpetuated amongsts Pagans and Wiccans alike that Doreen “wrote” the Charge, and one of the many hindrances to the spiritual, mystical and magical growth of the tradition which should be about “wisdom” .  After all, wisdom is about truth – and truth means stripping away the illusions created by others around us, so that we can face it for what it is.

“HP: Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess,“

Once again the text returns to Crowley’s Law of Liberty, “We have heard the voice of the Star Goddess”, emphasising the Egyptian stellar goddess Nuit, who represents the entire universe in the cosmology of Thelema.

“She in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of Heaven, whose body encircleth the universe.”

This line appears to be more original material which is most likely a continuation of the reference to Nuit, who in Egyptian mythology is perceived as encircling the universe.  The phrase “Hosts of Heaven” is very widely used, but it is worth noting here that it may refer to the company of Angels in heaven in popular Christian use as it occurs several times in the Bible, or indeed to the Moon and Stars in the Occidental traditions, which again supports the idea that this line refers to the goddess Nuit.

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)