The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text often used in the neopagan religion of Wicca. It is usually spoken by the High Priestess after the ritual of Drawing Down the Moon. The Charge is the promise of the Goddess (embodied by the High Priestess) to all witches that she will teach and guide them. It has been called "perhaps the most important single theological document in the neo-Pagan movement".
Several versions exist, though they all have the same basic premise, that of a set of instructions given by the Great Goddess to her worshippers. The most well known version is that written by Gerald Gardner, and includes material paraphrased works by Aleister Crowley, primarily from Liber ALThe Book of the Law (particularly from Ch 1, spoken by Nuit, the Star Goddess), and from his Liber XV:the Gnostic Mass as well as Liber LXV (Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, or the Book of the Heart Girt with the Serpent), thus linking modern Wicca irrevocably to the cosmology and revelations of Thelema. It has been shown that Gerald Gardner's book collection which was acquired by Ripley's Believe It or Not! included a copy of Crowley's The Blue Equinox which includes all of the Crowley quotations in the Charge of the Goddess.
There is also a poetic paraphrased version written by High Priestess Doreen Valiente in the mid 1950s, which is contained within the traditional Gardnerian Book of Shadows.
Several different versions of a Wiccan Charge of the God have since been created to mirror and accompany the Charge of the Goddess.
The Charge of the Goddess is recited during most rituals where the priestess is expected to represent, and/or embody, the Goddess within the sacred circle.
Read more about Charge Of The Goddess: Themes
Famous quotes containing the words charge of, charge and/or goddess:
“Martial, the things for to attain
The happy life be these, I find:
The riches left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;
The equal friend; no grudge nor strife;
No charge of rule nor governance;”
—Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis)
“It is hereby earnestly proposed that the USA would be much better off if that big, sprawling, incoherent, shapeless, slobbering civic idiot in the family of American communities, the City of Los Angeles, could be declared incompetent and placed in charge of a guardian like any individual mental defective.”
—Westbrook Pegler (1894–1969)
“Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or not worth living. School is either pure torment or is going fantastically. Other people are either great or horrible, and they themselves are wonderful or pathetic failures. One day a girl will refer to herself as “the goddess of social life” and the next day she’ll regret that she’s the “ultimate in nerdosity.””
—Mary Pipher (20th century)