Goddess Chant

Zsuszanna Budapest - Dianic Wicca

Charge of the Goddess

Now listen to the words of the Great Mother,

who was of old also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other names. At her altars, the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice.

Whenever ye have need of any thing,

once in the month,

and better it be when the moon is full,

then shall ye assemble in some secret place,

and adore the spirit of me,who am Queen of all witches.

There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery,

yet have not won its deepest secrets;

to these will I teach things that are as 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;

and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in my praise.

For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit,

and mine also is joy on earth;

for my law is love unto all beings.

Keep pure your highest ideal;

strive ever towards it, let naught stop you or turn you aside;

for mine is the secret door which opens upon the land of youth,

and mine is the cup of wine of life,

and the cauldron of Cerridwen,

which is the Holy Grail of immortality.

I am the gracious Goddess,

who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man.

Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal;

and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom,

and reunion with those who have gone before.

Nor do I demand sacrifice;

for behold, I am the Mother of all living,

and my love is poured out upon the earth.

Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess;

she in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven,

whose body encircles the universe.

I who am the beauty'

of the green earth and the white moon upon

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 methey 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 the 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.

TIP OF THE DAY - FLORALIA AND WALBURGIS

Merry Meet to all of You!

If you read the blog about Beltaine, you might have noticed that I mentioned Floralia and Walburgisnacht as two names for the festival, and I would like to explain their origins a bit further.

While Beltaine is the May festival based on Celtic origins, Floralia and Walburgis are rooted in Roman, respectively German traditions.

Floralia

Floralia was the festival of the Roman goddess Flora (Flora was indigenous to the Roman region, although her origins most likely herald from the Sabines or Oscans. Flora is the spirit of flowers and springtime, embodying the flowering and fruition of everything in nature, including us humans. All flowers are sacred to her, and often she is pictured with a cornucopia. Flora embodies both the pleasure of the moment as well as the promise of a fruitful future (with flowers leading to fruit and sexual intercourse resulting in babies).

The Floralia was celebrated annually from April 28th to the beginning of May and honoured the female body (Flora is sometimes understood as the original Queen of May). With its strong ties to fruition and sexuality, the Floralia were originally celebrated nude, until clothing was insisted on by the Roman authorities in the third century AD. They stopped being celebrated in the 4th century AD, when all pagan festivals were banned.

Walburgisnacht

Walburgisnacht, or Walburgis Night, is the German celebration of May Eve.

Walburgis (or Walburga) was a popular German women’s name in former times, but the original Walburgis (Walpurgis) was a spirit or goddess, who manifests as a beautiful lady with long flowing hair, a crown and fiery shoes. Her attributes are a spindle and a three cornered mirror, which reveals the future. Walburgis was involved in rituals to banish the winter and allow the emergence of summer.

In tradition, for nine nights before May Day, Walburgis, as the Lady of the summer, is chased by the Wild Hunt, so she seeks refuge among the people, who leave their doors and windows open for her to find safety from the hunt and the frost. Houses and barns were decorated with special May Eve plants, which carried the blessings of witch deities. Elder wood, Alder branches and Ground Ivy were among these. The lighting of fires, to keep the forces of the hunt at bay, was also part of the celebrations.

Under the influence of Christendom, Walburgisnacht transformed into a celebration to drive out pagan forces rather than the forces of winter, finally, in the 8th century AD, becoming a festival of a Christian saint, rather than that of a goddess of summer. (St Walburga was the niece of St Bonifaz and an English abbess, born around 710 AD in Wessex, who founded several religious houses in Germany during the 8th century AD. She was canonized after her death in 779 AD.)

The traditional rituals and decorations, like fires and plants, were now used to ward away witches and forces of evil, who were said to be out in force on the night of May Eve. Mass conversions (Hexentänze) were allegedly taking place on mountain peaks, of which the most famous is the ‘Brocken’ in the Harz region of Germany.

Enjoy May Eve,

May Blessings

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - OSTARA INCENSE

Spring is finally here!

And what a wonderful first day it has been so far, with the sun being out and the air mild and fresh!

Lisa and me (and our own little sprites, called Miranda and Liam, 7 and 9) have been at the banks of the River Swale at sunrise for our own little Ostara celebration, complete with candle, flower seeds, painted eggs and incense. It was just a wonderful, serene entry into spring and we all (kids included) enjoyed being in midst nature, seeing rabbits and our first Easter lamb.

As I said, we took incense with us for our celebration, which really added to the mood.

If you fancy making your very own special Ostara incense, here is a little recipe out of Scott Cunningham's book "The Complete Book Of Incense":

OSTARA INCENSE

2 parts frankincense

1 part benzoin

1 part dragon's blood

half part nutmeg

half part violet flowers

half part orange peel

half part rose petals

charcoal block

incense burner or pot (fire-safe)

Grind the materials in a mortar and pestle to a smudge, burn in an incense burner.

Hope you have a great Ostara and enjoy the lovely weather!

Bright Spring Blessings

Ilona

OSTARA - THE SPRING EQUINOX

Merry Meet to all of you!

Following the Wheel of the Year, we have a Sabbat coming up this weekend, The Spring Equinox, the festival of Ostara, celebrated around the 21st of March (depending on the exact time of the equinox).

The name Ostara is derived from the Germanic goddess Ostara or Eostre (Teutonic/Anglo Saxon names) and was later adopted by the christian church into Easter. Ostara is pictured as a beautiful young woman with flowers in her hair, accompanied by her male consort in form of a rabbit. Sacred attributes of the Goddess are children, rabbits and painted eggs, two of which have been integrated into the 'christian' celebrations of Easter.

Ostara is in essence a spring festival, falling on the first day of spring, celebrating the rejoicing of nature after the long winter and the triumph of light over darkness, as day and night finally reach equal length.
The Spring Equinox often represents the beginning of a new year, in the zodiacal calendar for example the sign of Aries starts on this day, the first sign of the Zodiac.

In wiccan ditheism Ostara marks the rejoining of the Mother Goddess with her male consort who spent the winter months in death or the returning of the Goddess to her Maiden aspect.

There are different ways to celebrate Ostara, which in folk tradition was done with singing, bell ringing, flowers and new fires being lit at dawn.

You may want to celebrate with a traditional wiccan ritual, an example of which can be found in "Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft" (Raymond Buckland), which happens in a coven based environment.

You don't have to be a member of a coven to pay respect to Ostara though, a simple celebration on your own or with friends, in which you include what feels right to you is as valid.

As Ostara is a spring festival, if you have the opportunity, go and have your celebrations outside, to be close to the reawakening nature. Song, dance, prayer and meditation can all be part of your festival, as well as little rituals you can devise yourself. For example, take some painted eggs (the decorating can be part of your celebration, or prepared beforehand) and visualize your dreams for the year to come while holding one of them, imagining your wishes to enter the egg, ready to be hatched. Then bury the egg, so your dreams can grow from it.

Another thing you can include is an Honouring ofVenus, like the one described in our Tip Of The Day earlier this week.

However you decide to celebrate Ostara, make sure it feels right for you and makes you happy doing so!

Enjoy your Spring Celebrations!

Warm Blessings

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - HONOURING VENUS

The Roman goddess Venus (also known by her Greek name, Aphrodite) is commonly known as a goddess of beauty and love. However, in her aspect as Venus Columba she is a goddess of peace (symbolised by a white dove). Venus Felix is 'lucky Venus' and Venus Verticordia is the 'changer of hearts'. It is Venus Verticordia who turned into a spring goddess, since her festival, the 'Veneralia' was celebrated on the 1st of April in ancient Rome.

Venus is a goddess of fertility, both for women and for nature in general, so it is appropriate to celebrate her around the time of the spring equinox. Why not do something in her honour as part of your Ostara celebration?

In 'The Book of Goddesses' by Roni Jay, I found the following simple little ritual to honour Venus in her own element - Nature:

Put some flower seeds in a scallop sea shell and sprinkle the seeds where you want them to grow. The scallop sea shell is associated with Venus, and any flowers associated with love, such as Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella Damascena) are good to use for this ritual that can be performed either the first day you 'smell spring in the air,' on the day of the spring equinox or on the 1st of April.

Bright Spring Blessings

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/