The Witches' Creed

The Witches' Creed

Hear Now the words of the witches,

The secrets we hid in the night,

When dark was our destiny's pathway,

That now we bring forth into light.

Mysterious water and fire,

The earth and the wide-ranging air,

By hidden quintessence we know them,

And will and keep silent and dare.

The birth and rebirth of all nature,

The passing of winter and spring,

We share with the life universal,

Rejoice in the magical ring.

Four times in the year the Great Sabbat

Returns, and the witches are seen

At Lammas and Candlemas dancing,

In May Eve and old Hallowe'en.

When day-time and night-time are equal,

Whensun is at greatest and least,

The four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,

And Witches gather in feast.

Thirteen silver moons in a year are,

Thirteen is the coven's array.

Thirteen times at Esbat make merry,

For each golden year and a day.

The power that was passed down the age,

Each time between woman and man,

Each century unto the other,

Ere time and the ages began.

When drawn is the magical circle,

By sword or athame of power,

Its compass between two worlds lies,

In land of the shades for that hour.

This world has no right then to know it,

And world of beyond will tell naught.

The oldest of Gods are invoked there,

The Great Work of magic is wrought.

For the two are mystical pillars,

That stand at the gate of the shrine,

And two are the powers of nature,

The forms and the forces divine.

The dark and the light in succession,

The opposites each unto each,

Shown forth as a God and a Goddess:

Of this our ancestors teach.

By night he's the wild wind's rider,

The Horn'd One, the Lord of the Shades.

By day he's the King of the Woodland,

The dweller in green forest glades.

She is youthful or old as she pleases,

She sails the torn clouds in her barque,

The bright silver lady of midnight,

The crone who weaves spells in the dark.

The master and mistress of magic,

That dwell in the deeps of the mind,

Immortal and ever-renewing,

With power to free or to bind.

So drink the good wine to the Old Gods,

And Dance and make love in their praise,

Till Elphame's fair land shall receive us

In peace at the end of our days.

And Do What You Will be the challenge,

So be it Love that harms none,

For this is the only commandment.

By Magic of old, be it done!

First They Came For The Communists

In Germany they first came for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

~ Pastor Martin Niemöller ~

Politics...what a dirty word

I could rant and rave about how Bush used his money and connections to steal the election. I could dispassionately dissect the two elections that left the American people with a right-wing Christian extremist for a president. Those two things are definitely within my capabilities and on my mind. But what really worries me - no scares me, is the American compliance with absurd abuses of power.

We have not only elected this Right-wing radical to a major position of power, we have seemingly lost our ability to question his decisions. We are willing to sacrifice our personal freedoms on the altar of "Homeland Security." What's the point of fighting anybody? We have already lost this war. We can no longer travel between US cities without extensive searches of our belongings and invasive searches of our physical person. We have allowed the FBI to tap phone lines without having any reasonable basis for suspicion of criminal wrong doing.

American CITIZENS are being held in Federal prisons incommunicado with no charges against them. These individuals are not even granted the right to council. Their LAWYERS are denied access to them. They can be held indefinitely without being charged with anything and no one can seem to do anything about it.

I am a Witch and I am proud of it. But I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t frightened of a return to the Burning Times. I know that no individual in the US suspected of witchcraft was actually burned, but the name fits. What will happen to my children because I don’t believe the same things that the right-wing thinks I should? Will they simply become ostracized from society? Or will there be more sinister repercussions? Will they try to take my children from me? These are real fears I have with this monster in office.

There are days I wish I wasn’t a Witch, but it is what moves my soul. How can they (yes, the infamous “they”) think that I’m evil because I prefer a sunny meadow surrounded by trees and flowers to their cold stone buildings for worship? I wonder just how far this will go before the American people will stand up and fight for what they think they’re fighting for already…