Dear Friends,
Inviting the Deities to your ritual is appropriate and necessary each time you perform a rite. It is especially important during the Sabbats and Esbats, which are special magickal times in our religion. Many Wiccans choose to utter a Charge of the Goddess and Charge of the God as part of their ritual and to invite the God and Goddess into the circle. In mixed gender covens, normally the Charge of Goddess is read by the High Priestess and the High Priest reads the Charge of the God. During the reading of each of the Charges, the representative candle for each deity is lit by the person reading it.
Following are the interpretations of the Charge of the Goddess and the Charge of the God that I use most frequently. I invite you to incorporate them into your own practice. If you are a solitary, you can recite each of these while lighting the Deity candles.
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 ecstasy 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 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.
The Charge of the God:
Listen to the words of the God, who is son, brother, lover and consort of the Lady:
I am the fleet deer in the forest; I am the beach that receives the waves. I am the sun that warms the earth. I am the Lord of the Spiral Dance of Life, Death and Rebirth, the gentle Reaper, the Winter Stag and the Spring Fawn.
All things are of me for I am of the Goddess, opposite, yet not opposing. I bring forth from the womb that is a tomb, for I am the seed that fertilizes. I am abundant life, for I am the grain that grows and I am death, the harvest in the fall. And I am rebirth after darkness, for I am the seed that springs forth anew.
I am fertility, the spreader of life, and I am the Lord of Death that adds value to life.
I am the Guardian of the gate between life and death. I am the King of the underworld, where no living being may venture, but I am also the King of rebirth, turning the tomb into a womb.
I bring love and strength, peace and passion, hope and joy, for I am the gentle lover in the night.
All that comes from the Great Mother, the Divine Star Goddess, who is Mother of us all.
Brightest Blessing,
Rose Ariadne, Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”
