The Charge of the Goddess, the Charge of the God

[crowdog66]

In Yahoo! Religion chat last night, I found myself getting increasingly irritated with people cut-and-pasting very long passages of the Bible without asking permission to share them, while preaching loud and long and attacking anyone who disagreed with them. In spite of knowing that it would have absolutely no effect (the kind of people who stomp into a chat room and start hawking their God like a brand of toothpaste almost never listen), I was tempted to counter their religious texts with some of my own... and I was reminded of how beautiful two of the few widely accepted pieces of Wiccan liturgy, the Charge of the Goddess and the Charge of the God, actually are.

There are several versions of each, but the two that follow are my favorites...



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The Charge of The Goddess

Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Ceridwen, Diana, Arionrhod, Brigid, and by many other names:

"Whenever you have need of anything, once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full, you shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of Me who is Queen of all the Wise. You shall be free from slavery, and as a sign that you be free you shall be naked in your rites. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in My presence, for Mine is the ectasy of the spirit, and Mine also is joy on earth. For My law is love unto all beings. Mine is the secret that opens the door of youth, and Mine is the cup of wine of life that is the Cauldron of Ceridwen that is the holy grail of immortality. I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal and beyond death I give peace and freedom and reunion with those that have gone before. Nor do I demand aught of sacrifice, for behold, I am the mother of all things, and My love is poured upon the earth."

Hear the words of the Star Goddess, the dust of whose feet are the host of heaven, whose body encircles the universe:

"I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters, I call upon your soul to arise and come unto me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold -- all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire."

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The Charge of the God

Listen the the words of the Great Father, who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names:

"My Law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life and mine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle of rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give the promise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth."

Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voice calls the seasons:

"I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all its beings. Through me all things must die and with me are reborn. Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings."

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The power of these passages, spoken under the night sky and illuminated with moonlight, never fails to move me deeply.

Comments

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

"the kind of people who stomp into a chat room and start hawking their God like a brand of toothpaste almost never listen), "

-ROTFLMAO. Yep, you hit the nail on the head with that one (i loved the toothpaste thing, i've got to remember it..). Those Jerry Falwell/Pat Buchannen type Christians always make me cringe, as they make the rest of us "average jo christians" look nuts. They don't listen, it's a waste of air. What i like to say if anything is that Jesus also said "judge not, lest ye be judged" and "why are you noticing the speck in your brother's eye and not the plank in your own?", to paraphrase, and that instead of criticising others on the internet, they could go volunteer at a soup kitchen or work for social justice, that Christians are supposed to be known for doing Jesus' work, not just spouting the Bible to anyone who will or won't listen....All this sounds vaguely lofty of me to say, too, but these people can really tick me off too. Just send em off with a smile and a cheerful blessing, when you get upset with them visibly that is what they want. If you stay calm and cool, it seems to irritate them heheh.

Yes, the Charge(s) are quite beautiful. One of the nice things i like about our pastor is that he uses inclusive language..ie the Holy Spirit is alternately he or she, God is referred to as a mother and a father.


:)

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

"people cut-and-pasting very long passages of the Bible without asking permission to share them, while preaching loud and long and attacking anyone who disagreed with them. "

Urggghhh.... Sounds like the maddening Bible-thumping "Christians" whom my avidly pen-palling mother seems to attract like lint to a black serge coat. One guy seemed to have started his own church and not surprisingly, had only *one* member: himself. He used to send my mother these photo-copied, typed missives every week, and he must have typed them on an electric typewriter with the italic and the underline features *STUCK*, since the whole letter would be underlined and in italics. You could barely read it!

Then there's this one really wacked-out woman who's writing to my mother now, who devoted several letters to some obscure passage in St. Paul, claiming that women are supposed to have long hair, that it's a terrible mortal sin for a woman to have short hair... and mind you, for some strange reason, this series showed up right about the time I had my then-waist length hair cut short and donated my braid to a place that makes wigs for kids who have lost their hair on account of medical conditions/chaemotherapy, et. al. I strictly forbade my mother to tell this woman that I had had my hair cut to jaw-length.

Needless to say, I love the text of the Charge of the God and the Charge of the Goddess! So beautiful...

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, re: Jerry Falwell/Pat Buchanan. Some of the stuff Buchanan has come out with recently is so nasty, I cringe when I hear it, especially since I used to support him. Not any more! Especially his latest nonsense, about how the white race is dying out and by 2050 there's gonna be more Latino/African/Asian people than European whites.... so what? As long as they're good people, should it matter?

Somewhere or other, I remember seeing this neat little wooden plaque with a motto carved onto it: "God wants us to bear spiritual fruits, not be religious nuts".

Oh, and I agree with you about the Holy Spirit, aislingfae: I think of this Being as a hermaphrodite, which will probably rile up the traditionalist Catholics that I know. I'm basically traditional in a cultural sense (I love praying at the Mass in Latin, singing Gregorian chant), but I try to be more open-hearted than a lot of like-minded people tend to be.

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

hi there
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!
heheh i love the spiritual fruits and not religious nuts quote, i read that one once before, it's brilliant!
I think of the Holy Spirit as being "beyond" gender..I think that God and the Holy Ghost can't be contained into human ideas, that would limit them, but out of necessity we form human ideas of them in order to relate to God/the Holy Spirit. I like to think of the Spirit as the mighty wind that descended on the Apostles at Pentecost...the Holy Spirit is named as Advocate and Helper, but not as assigned to any gender.
I love the old traditions of the faith and like "meat and potatoes" spiritual teachings(with substance), i adore incense and gregorian chant and the Latin that i hear at the Holy Thursday mass every year gives me goosbumps, but in my thinking i tend to be more liberal than anything else, i suppose. Best way to describe it is if you know about the Jesuits..my early Catholic education (and the parish i still attend) was formed by Jesuits, and their ways of thinking seem to fit most closely with mine. I also have a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary.
I like your "Passion" icon...I saw the movie and was amazed, it was wonderful.
Do you mind if i add you to my friends list? you can add me if you want. I don't find many fellow open minded Catholics on LJ!!

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

ps. Anyone (like Pat Buchannen) who preaches racism and christianity together is a complete dolt. Not only is racism blatently immoral, but Jesus himself was not European, as people like Falwell and Buchannen seem to like to forget!!

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy to be included on your friends list!

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

"claiming that women are supposed to have long hair, that it's a terrible mortal sin for a woman to have short hair... "

-Okaaaaayyyy..LOL. Maybe ask her why then nuns used to cut their hair off when they took their orders. :) Or don't, she doesn't sound like someone you want to get into these discussions with heheh.
My hair is cut to just below my ears..i'm in trouble now!! heheh.