The heatwave has broken (for now). Let us give thanks by turning to the Gospel of St. Walter the Nervous, chapter 10 3/4...

13 And in those days, the land flowed with milk, and peoples' shoes were soggy.

14 And there arose a great cry within the land.

15 And the land, having been up quite late the night before, was not pleased.

16 And lo, an angel of the Lord did descend from heaven

17 And he did land upon Paris Hilton, and she was crushed beneath him, and the people rejoiced.

18 And thus did the land rejoyce, for even the land was sick of seeing her picture everywhere.

19 And the people watched, and listened, and watched, and listened some more...they had not cable, and were starved for entertainment.

20 "Anon" cried the angel of the Lord. "Anon calling!"

21 And the angel did dwell within the living rooms of the people, and he did bring forth

many bottles of sweet-smelling soaps, perfumes, and cosmetics.

22 "Oh people of Is-rai-el," the angel did say phonetically, "woe be to thee whose cattle wear shoes, for the wages of sin are subject to inflation."

23 And the people watched, and listened, and juggled.

24 And the angel ascended to heaven, saying he'd "be right back"...he'd forgotten to set his Tivo to catch the Daily Show, and was troubled.

25 And the people watched, and waited, and wondered if the angel would watch the Colbert Report too, and if he would leave the "t" off the end like Stephen did...

26 And the angel did descend from heaven again, and he tried to landeth upon Lindsey Lohan, and missed.

27 "Dammit!" the angel declared, "Damm it all!"

28 And the town did melt away, and the people were cast into everlasting fire, for the angel forgot that his words tended to be taken literally.

29 And the Lord smote the angel on his behind for being such a stupid pratt....

Blessed Be,

Taliesin

This piece, the Charge of the Horned God, was written by a friend of mine many years ago. I was the first man to say this in circle, and it is still my favourite Horned God charge...

Charge of the Horned God

I am the father, mate of the mother, consort to the queen. By her love am I made king, and with her have dominion over all the earth. I am the once and future king, born to die, dying to be reborn, year by year, season by season. I belong to her...the land...and also to the people. I am the servant and husband of the people, and I delight in providing their livelihood and sustenance. Mine is the ephemeral day, the joy of time and the sadness of its passing. Age is my aspect, and with experience comes wisdom. I am the loving father who gladly gives his life for the greater good of his children, and in them is reborn, ever living. On earth, I live in the passion of the blood and the enjoyment of the body, and into death, I enter with thee, so thou shalt not be afraid, for I am like you. I am your sacrifice, and willingly, for my desire spirals ever to the earth to unite in ecstasy with the Mother, my bride.

("Listen to the words of the star child, son of the Queen of Heaven.....")

I am the brother-twin, the lover-child, he who suckled at the breast of the great Mother and who will unite in joy with my sister the Maiden in the sublime dance of life and love. Come dance with me! I am the race of the hunt, the fresh flight of blood warm in the veins. My music and laughter echo in the woods as I chase and play with my beloved. Let my worship be in the body as it moveth, for behold, the experience of pleasure is my sacrament. Remember me, the horned one, the Wild Beast In The Forest, for I am you. Your animal nature is sacred, and your time is today. Live not in the past or the future, but now, and be un-self conscious, but ever mindful. To win, you must play. To find, you must seek. And to all who try, I will give aid and courage. For behold, I run with thee even now.

Blessed Be,
Taliesin

Genocide...it's perhaps one of the most chilling words in the english language. The prospect of hundreds, thousands, or millions of innocent people being slaughtered for no more a reason than being on the wrong end of a cultural conflict. Everytime it happens, we're shocked and declare "never again"!

It's happening again.

According to recent estimates, at least 400,000 people have died in Darfur since the genocide began in February of 2003. It is impossible to know what the final number will be, however, as the genocide is still taking place today. What is known is that there are approximately 3.5 million men, women and children in the western Darfur region of Sudan trying to survive the Sudanese government-sponsored campaign of violence and forced starvation. These innocent victims are essentially on life-support, their continued existence dependent on U.S. and international humanitarian aid and the presence of roughly 7,400 African Union peacekeepers. Despite the best efforts of the under-funded and under-manned African Union peacekeeping force, attacks have increased in recent months, leading to tens of thousands of new arrivals at refugee camps in Darfur and across the border in Chad.

After a promised de-escalation of violence failed to materialize following the signing of the stillborn Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) on May 5, 2006, the situation in Darfur grew worse. The Government of Sudan began a military offensive in Darfur in late August 2006 which displaced tens of thousands of additional Darfurians, and the rebel groups, which had numbered just three at the time of the DPA’s signing, splintered into more than a dozen factions, further complicating any potential political solution. The resulting increase in violence has put the humanitarian life-support system at great risk, and the nightmare scenario of a complete security collapse and the spike in death-rate that will surely follow now appears to be a very real possibility. UN officials have previously said that the death-rate in Darfur could rise as high as 100,000 per month if security collapses, creating the sobering possibility that future horrors in Darfur may dwarf all we have seen up to now.

This is something that everyone on Covenspace, regardless of location, can do something about. We need to put pressure on our governments to do something about this NOW, not later. Untold millions have died because those in the west have done nothing.

How to get involved? The first step is to go to http://www.savedarfur.org/ Here you can find all of the important information on what's going on, what can be done, and where to take action. They can also put you in touch with local groups already working on the issue.

If we are to blather on about the Witches and Pagans killed during the Burning Times, we can't afford to turn a blind eye to the horrors happening now. It goes without saying, but I'd encourage you to share this information with family, friends, Yahoo groups you might be on...everyone. We don't have a lot of time to prevent the horrendous from getting worse.

Blessed be,
Taliesin

Today's classic text consists of the first two chapters of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches, which has long been a favourite of mine. Those familiar with other classic Wiccan textx will see the obvious borrowings from Aradia that cropped up in the Charge of the Goddess.

One thing that must be remembered while reading this text is that it's been filtered through late 19th century Italian pesant politics, which imbued it with a particular revolutionary flavour. The fact that these same people were often targets of campaigns by underground proto-Communists should be kept in mind during the more vengeful parts.

Also note the common folk-magickal practice of threatening Gods if they don't bestow favour upon you.

"Lucifer", here, is no fallen Angel, but more likely a remnant Pagan sun God. So, too, is "Cain" in the second part of the meal conjuration.

One last note: I know this translation is missing a few words, but decided to let it stand.  I see no need for primitive anti-semitism to be spread further.

Enjoy!

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This is the Gospel (Vangelo) of the Witches:

Diana greatly loved her brother Lucifer, the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light (Splendor), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise.

Diana had by, her brother a daughter, to whom they gave the name of Aradia [i.e. Herodias].

In those days there were on earth many rich and many poor.

The rich made slaves of all the poor.

In those days were many slaves who were cruelly treated; in every palace tortures, in every castle prisoners.

Many slaves escaped. They fled to the country; thus they became thieves and evil folk. Instead of sleeping by night, they plotted escape and robbed their masters, and then slew them. So they dwelt in the mountains and forests as robbers and assassins, all to avoid slavery.

Diana said one day to her daughter Aradia:

'Tis true indeed that thou a spirit art,
But thou wert born but to become again
A mortal; thou must go to earth below
To be a teacher unto women and men
Who fain would study witchcraft in thy school

Yet like Cain's daughter thou shalt never be,
Nor like the race who have become at last
Wicked and infamous from suffering,
As are the wandering Zingari,
Who are all thieves and knaves; like unto them
Ye shall not be....

And thou shalt be the first of witches known;
And thou shalt be the first of all i' the world;
And thou shalt teach the art of poisoning,
Of poisoning those who are great lords of all;
Yea, thou shalt make them die in their palaces;
And thou shalt bind the oppressor's soul (with power); 1
And when ye find a peasant who is rich,
Then ye shall teach the witch, your pupil, how
To ruin all his crops with tempests dire,
With lightning and with thunder (terrible),
And the hall and wind....

And when a priest shall do you injury
By his benedictions, ye shall do to him
Double the harm, and do it in the name
Of me, Diana, Queen of witches all!

And when the priests or the nobility
Shall say to you that you should put your faith
In the Father, Son, and Mary, then reply:
"Your God, the Father, and Maria are
Three devils....

"For the true God the Father is not yours;
For I have come to sweep away the bad,
The men of evil, all will I destroy!

"Ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,
And toll in wretchedness, and suffer too
Full oft imprisonment; yet with it all
Ye have a soul, and for your sufferings
Ye shall be happy in the other world,
But ill the fate of all who do ye wrong!"

Now when Aradia had been taught, taught to work all witchcraft, how to destroy the evil race (of oppressors) she (imparted it to her pupils) and said unto them:

When I shall have departed from this world,
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; p. 6
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men
And women also: this shall last until
The last of your oppressors shall be dead;
And ye shall make the game of Benevento,
Extinguishing the lights, and after that
Shall hold your supper thus:


Here follows the supper, of what it must consist, and what shall be said and done to consecrate it to Diana.

You shall take meal and salt, honey and water, and make this incantation:

The Conjuration of Meal.

I conjure thee, O Meal!
Who art indeed our body, since without thee
We could not live, thou who (at first as seed)
Before becoming flower went in the earth,
Where all deep secrets hide, and then when ground
Didst dance like, dust in the wind, and yet meanwhile
Didst bear with thee in flitting, secrets strange!

And yet erewhile, when thou wert in the ear,
Even as a (golden) glittering grain, even then
The fireflies came to cast on thee their light 1
And aid thy growth, because without their help
Thou couldst not grow nor beautiful become;
Therefore thou dost belong unto the race
Of witches or fairies, and because
The fireflies do belong unto the sun....


. . . . .

Queen of the Fireflies! hurry apace, 2
Come to me now as if running a race,
Bridle the horse as you hear me now sing!
Bridle, O bridle the son of the king!
Come in a hurry and bring him to me!
The son of the king will ere long set thee free!

And because thou for ever art brilliant and fair,
Under a glass I will keep thee; while there,
With a lens I will study thy secrets concealed,
Till all their bright mysteries are fully revealed,
Yea, all the wondrous lore perplexed
Of this life of our cross and of the next.
Thus to all mysteries I shall attain,
Yea, even to that at last of the grain;
And when this at last I shall truly know,
Firefly, freely I'll let thee go!
When Earth's dark secrets are known to me,
My blessing at last I will give to thee!


Here follows the Conjuration of the Salt.

Conjuration of the Salt.

I do conjure thee, salt, lo! here at noon,
Exactly in the middle of a stream
I take my place and see the water round,
Likewise the sun, and think of nothing else
While here besides the water and the sun:
For all my soul is turned in truth to them;
I do indeed desire no other thought,
I yearn to learn the very truth of truths,
For I have suffered long with the desire
To know my future or my coming fate,
If good or evil will prevail in it.
Water and sun, be gracious unto me!

Here follows the Conjuration of Cain.

I conjure thee, O Cain, as thou canst ne'er
Have rest or peace until thou shalt be freed
From the sun where thou art prisoned, and must go
Beating thy hands and running fast meanwhile: 2
I pray thee let me know my destiny;
And if 'tis evil, change its course for me!
If thou wilt grant this grace, I'll see it clear
In the water in the splendour of the sun;
and thou, O Cain, shalt tell by word of mouth
Whatever this my destiny is to be.
And unless thou grantest this,
May'st thou ne'er know peace or bliss!


Then shall follow the Conjuration of Diana.

You shall make cakes of meal, wine, salt, and honey in the shape of a (crescent or horned) moon, and then put them to bake, and say:

I do not bake the bread, nor with it salt,
Nor do I cook the honey with the wine,
I bake the body and the blood and soul,
The soul of (great) Diana, that she shall p. 14
Know neither rest nor peace, and ever be
In cruel suffering till she will grant
What I request, what I do most desire,
I beg it of her from my very heart!
And if the grace be granted, O Diana!
In honour of thee I will hold this feast,
Feast and drain the goblet deep,
We, will dance and wildly leap,
And if thou grant'st the grace which I require,
Then when the dance is wildest, all the lamps
Shall be extinguished and we'll freely love!

And thus shall it be done: all shall sit down to the supper all naked, men and women, and, the feast over, they shall dance, sing, make music, and then love in the darkness, with all the lights extinguished: for it is the Spirit of Diana who extinguishes them, and so they will dance and make music in her praise.

And it came to pass that Diana, after her daughter had accomplished her mission or spent her time on earth among the living (mortals), recalled her, and gave her the power that when she had been invoked... having done some good deed... she gave her the power to gratify those who had conjured her by granting her or him success in love:

To bless or curse with power friends or enemies [to do good or evil].
To converse with spirits.
To find hidden treasures in ancient ruins. p. 15
To conjure the spirits of priests who died leaving treasures.
To understand the voice of the wind.
To change water into wine.
To divine with cards.
To know the secrets of the hand (palmistry).
To cure diseases.
To make those who are ugly beautiful.
To tame wild beasts.

Whatever thing should be asked from the spirit of Aradia, that should be granted unto those who merited her favour.

And thus must they invoke her:

Thus do I seek Aradia! Aradia! Aradia! At midnight, at midnight I go into a field, and with me I bear water, wine, and salt, I bear water, wine, and salt, and my talisman--my talisman, my talisman, and a red small bag which I ever hold in my hand con dentro, con dentro, sale, with salt in it, in it. With the water and wine I bless myself, I bless myself with devotion to implore a favour from Aradia, Aradia.


The Invocation to Aradia.

Aradia! my Aradia!
Thou who art daughter unto him who was
Most evil of all spirits, who of old
Once reigned in hell when driven away from heaven,
Who by his sister did thy sire become,
But as thy mother did repent her fault, p. 17
And wished to mate thee to a spirit who
Should be benevolent,
And not malevolent!

Aradia, Aradia! I implore
Thee by the love which she did bear for thee!
And by the love which I too feel for thee!
I pray thee grant the grace which I require!
And if this grace be granted, may there be
One of three signs distinctly clear to me:
The hiss of a serpent,
The light of a firefly,
The sound of a frog!
But if you do refuse this favour, then
May you in future know no peace not- joy,
And be obliged to seek me from afar,
Until you come to grant me my desire,
In haste, and then thou may'st return again
Unto thy destiny. Therewith, Amen!

********************************************
Blessed be,
Taliesin

Note: Since I know that many people argue the interchangability of the words "Wiccan" and "Witch", I tend to use the former when discussing my religion on here.  However, I have always called what I do "Witchcraft" for 20 years...it's the term that was used when I came to Wicca, and one I have always liked.  Since this is a post about what my religion means to me, I use the term "Witch" and "Witchcraft" here.

Somebody recently asked me what it meant, to me, to call myself a Witch.  So, I decided to do my best, and share my thoughts here.

On a personal level?  Well, to explain what it means, I should probably tell you why I became a Witch in the first place, and why I've stayed for over 18 years.

I am a magickal practitioner.  I started my studies of magick back around the age of 11 or 12, and have never swayed from my facination.  My methods may have changed a bit over they years, but the visceral charge I get from having the powers of the universe coarse through my body during magick is something that is an important part of my life, and not something I'm bound to let go of.

Most religions shun their magickal people.  Even though much of the experimentation done in ceremonial magick throughout the centuries was done within the Christian paradigm, the people practicing the Art Magickal were shunted to the fringes, routinely denounced, and often persecuted.  Judaism, Islam, Hunduism, and most others aren't that much better...some are even worse.  I've always believed in the Divine, so non-theistic religions (like Buddhism) have never felt right for me.  The somewhat clinical approach of modern ceremonial magick left a spiritual hole in my life, so I needed something.

Enter Wicca.  A theistic religion that embraces magick and the occult was what attracted me, and the connection to the natural world was certainly a BIG plus.  Once I started working with the ancient Gods and Goddesses, especially in the Celtic pantheon, I was hooked.  I dedicated myself to the old ways (at the age of 17), and was initiated some years later.

Now, as to why I've stayed.  For one thing, the mixture of earth magick with high magick has mproved my overall magickal prowess.  I now have a better appreciation for feeling the energy, without getting tripped up in too much minutae.  Furthermore, ever since I've discovered the shamanic core of Wicca, my spirituality has deepened, my relations with the spirits have enriched my life, and the Gods and Goddesses are no longer concepts, they're real people who I count as my friends.

No matter how new the form of modern Wicca is, the energy behind that faith is ancient.  I've felt it, swam in it practically, and know that it is older than human history.  This is enticing to me, and has become a basic part of my faith.  It is my strength, my anchor in stormy seas.  The Gods and Goddesses are at the centre of all of this, the divine core of the seen and unseen world.

What does it mean, to me, to be a Witch?  It means that I am a Pagan magickal user, an intricate part of the web of life with the God and Goddess at my side.  I am a spiritual decendent of earth magicians throughout human history, and no matter how much I learn, there's always more.  I have the tools to mold my destiny, and the wisdom of the ancients to gide me.  I am free.

Blessed Be,

Taliesin