Commentary on the Charge of the Goddess 4: Listen to the words

Sources and Influences

Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical: Listen to the words

Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical (BAM) is clearly the source of the preliminaries of the Charge. This article will speculate somewhat on its origin as a literary genre, however since there is no obvious single source for the BAM version of the Charge, this section is treated as an original composition by Gardner.

Thealogy and the ritual use of the Charge

Both Valiente and Gardner describe the Charge as something that is used at initiations (Gerald Gardner: Witchcraft Today. Arrow Books, London, 1975), and Valiente comments that the ‘Charge’ being read to a ‘properly prepared’ candidate for initiation is very reminiscent of Freemasonry (Doreen Valiente: The Rebirth of Witchcraft. Robert Hale, London, 2007).  Although the word ‘charge’ used as a noun does not often have this sense now, records of the use of the word to indicate a task or duty, or a precept or injunction, date back to the fourteenth century (J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner (editors): The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition). Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, volume 3.).
    Harry Carr describes two different things as ‘Charges’ in Freemasonry (Harry Carr (revised by Frederick Smyth): The Freemason at Work. Lewis Masonic, London, 2004.).  The ‘Old Charges’ were histories and rulebooks of the craft, of which there are many versions dating from between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries; they begin with a history of masonry, and then continue to both ‘operative’ regulations for working masons, and moral advices to prevent masonry coming into disrepute, such as not to steal, to keep the master’s secrets, fidelity to church and craft, and avoidance of lechery.
    The modern ‘Charge to the Initiate’ is purely a moral exhortation, with no element of history, intended only for Speculative and not Operative masons, and containing different matter from the earlier Charges. It is read to the candidate after first degree initiation by the Worshipful Master, a Past Master, or a Warden. This quote gives a taste of how it differs from the Charge of the Goddess:

‘Bro. A. B. As you have passed through the ceremony of your initiation, let me congratulate you on being admitted a member of our ancient and honourable institution. Ancient, no doubt it is, as having subsisted from time immemorial, and honourable it must be acknowledged to be, as by a natural tendency it conduces to make those so who are obedient to its precepts. Indeed no institution can boast a more solid foundation than that on which Freemasonry rests, the practice of every moral and social virtue. And to so high an eminence has its credit been advanced that in every age monarchs themselves have been promoters of the art; have not thought it derogatory to their dignity to exchange the sceptre for the trowel; have patronised our mysteries and joined in our assemblies.
‘As a Freemason, let me recommend to your most serious contemplation the Volume of the Sacred Law, charging you to consider it as the unerring standard of truth and justice, and to regulate your actions by the divine precepts it contains. Therein you will be taught the important duties you owe to God, to your neighbour, and to yourself. To God, by never mentioning His name but with that awe and reverence which are due from the creature to his Creator, by imploring His aid in all you lawful undertakings, and by looking up to Him in every emergency for comfort and support....
‘As an individual, let me recommend the practice of every domestic as well as public virtue: let Prudence direct you, Temperance chasten you, Fortitude support you, and Justice be the guide of all your actions....
‘...Secrecy consists in an inviolable adherence to the Obligation you have entered into, never improperly to disclose any of those Masonic secrets which have now been, or may, at any future period, be entrusted to your keeping, and cautiously to avoid all occasions which may inadvertently lead you to do so...
‘And as a last general recommendation, let me exhort you to dedicate yourself to such pursuits as may at once enable you to be respectable in life, useful to mankind, and an ornament to the society of which you have this day become a member. To study more especially such of the liberal arts and sciences as may lie within the compass of your attainment, and without neglecting the ordinary duties of your station, to endeavour to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge...’ (Walton Hannah: Darkness Visible. Augustine Publishing Company, Chulmleigh, 1984, pp. 107-109.)

This ‘Charge to the Initiate’ differs both in content and use from the Charge of the Goddess as used in Wicca today. The only similarity is in that Valiente and Gardner both report its use at initiations in the early days of Wicca; its use differs today.
    The Masonic Charge quoted above is wholly different in tone from that of Wicca, which does not feel the need to comment on the social standing of its members in the Craft’s past. The tone of the Gardner/Valiente Charge's admonitions as to the witches' behaviour feels also quite different.
    Another context in which an address in made to the initiate at his initiation is found in the Neophyte Ritual of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , in which after the initiation the hierophant gives the hierus the duty of making a short address to the new initiate (Israel Regardie: The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. Falcon Publications, Phoenix Arizona, 1984, Vol. 6.). This is obviously the same use as the Charge has in Masonry and in the early days of Wicca, although it is not called a Charge. Its form and content is also more similar to that of the Masonic charge above than to the Wiccan Charge, and its purpose is given as advice on how to cultivate a mental condition appropriate to the Order.
    Its contents are more similar to the Masonic Charge in feel, consisting of short advices and instructions, including to revere the Lord of the universe, never to ridicule another’s religion, to remember to keep the seal of secrecy of the Order, to study the proper balance of mercy and severity, and not to be daunted by the difficulties found in the study of occultism (Ibid, vol. 6, pp. 19-20.).
    The main difference from the charge in Masonic initiations and from the address in Golden Dawn initiations is found in the person speaking. In Masonry the Charge is read to the initiate by one of the officers of the lodge in his own person. In Wicca the Charge is spoken in the person of the Goddess, with exhortations to listen from the High Priest; the writings of Crowley which Gardner quoted in his original text are mostly Crowley’s own quotations from his channelled Book of the Law. Similarly the passages quoted from Aradia are passages in which Aradia is speaking to the witches before she leaves this world. (From Valiente’s comments on the difficulty the members of the coven experienced in pronouncing the Goddess names in the verse version of the Charge, rather than merely the High Priestess having difficulty pronouncing them, perhaps that version was used differently and sung by all, perhaps as part of a ritual dance.)
    Which leads to the difference in use of the Charge in Wicca today, as opposed to how Gardner himself used it at Valiente’s initiation in the 1950s: as part of the ceremony of ‘Drawing Down the Moon,’ in which the Goddess is invoked into the High Priestess so that she is literally speaking in the person of the Goddess (For more on Drawing Down the Moon, see Janet and Stuart Farrar, A Witches’ Bible. Robert Hale, London, 1984.).  Some people may find this calling-into or possession strange, but it actually has parallels in many religious and spiritual traditions: Vodou is the one that springs to mind, but it is also found in some of the more charismatic forms of Christianity, and in acting in the person of the divinity, the High Priestess is only doing what Catholic priests do on a daily basis (although perhaps it should be noted that I am interpreting Catholic theology from a Pagan perspective, and this is not how Catholics would understand this action), as witness this passage:

‘It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.’ (St John Chrysostom, cited in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1994, paragraph 1375.)

In doing this, witches are actually in a great and ancient magico-religious tradition. This cannot come from the mediaeval Judaeo-Christian grimoire tradition, from which Gardner also drew for ritual material, because in that spirits are evoked by the magician into a triangle drawn outside of the circle. The magician stays inside the circle as a protection, whereas in Wicca it also has the purpose of a container for the energy built up by the witches. Neither does it come from the legends of witches of classical antiquity, although the name ‘Drawing Down the Moon’ is a reference to this mythology. It was believed that the notorious witches of Thessaly were powerful enough to – literally – draw down the moon from the sky, and this belief is referred to by Aristophanes in his comedy The Clouds:

‘Suppose I bought a Thessalian slave, a witch, and got her to draw down the moon one night, and then put it in a box like they do mirrors and kept a close watch on it.’ (Aristophanes (translated by Alan Sommerstein): Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds. Penguin Books, London, 1973, p. 143.)

Virgil also refers to the possibility of doing this:

‘Spells can pull down the Moon herself from heaven. Circe with spells transformed Odysseus’ men. Sing the right spell and you can blast the clammy snakes that live in the fields.’ (Virgil (translated by E.V. Rieu): The Pastoral Poems. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1954, Eclogue 8.69-71, p. 97.)

Rather, the invocation of divinities and spirits into a person has a venerable magical pedigree, since it is also found in the ancient Greek Magical Papyri from Egypt, which were published piecemeal through the twentieth century, but the available texts only published as a collection after Gardner’s death. In these magical texts a spirit or divinity is invoked into a person, usually a man or a boy, in whom it can be commanded to perform actions or give information. For example:

‘...Hear me, that is, my holy voice, because I call upon your holy names, and reveal to me concerning the thing I want, through the NN man or little boy, for otherwise I will not defend your holy and undefiled names. Come to me, you who became Hesies and were carried away by a river; inspire the NN man or boy concerning that which I ask you.’ (Hans Dieter Betz: The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (Second Edition) Volume One: Texts. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996, p. 55.)

From its already established place in the Greek Magical Papyri of antiquity the principle of invocation, as opposed to evocation, has been found in magical traditions through the ages, including those created or inspired by Aleister Crowley.
This physical presence and closeness of the divinity in Wicca may be one of the elements inspired, in part, by Murray’s ‘Witch Cult.’ She writes of the witches’ love for their God, their joy at his presence:

‘This was undoubtedly the great appeal of the Old Religion; the god was there present with his worshippers, they could see him, they could speak to him as friend to friend, whereas the Christian God was unseen and far away in Heaven, and the petitioner could never be sure that his prayer would reach the divine ear.’ (Margaret Murray: The God of the Witches. Sampson Low, Marston and Co., London, 1933, p. 128.)

Ritually, the Charge equates to the second stage of Bonewits’s fundamental pattern of ritual: following supplication-introduction, it is the Reply from the Deity (Philip Bonewits: Real Magic. Sphere Books, London, 1974.),  which actually places Wiccan ritual in a universal pattern of religious ritual. As early as the publication of High Magic’s Aid, in 1949, the witch ‘maiden’, Morven, speaks to the assembled witches at the meeting, and they eagerly hear her words (Gerald Gardner: High Magic’s Aid. I-H-O Books, Louth, 1999.). However, there is no indication that she is considered to have invoked any entity, nor that she is speaking some set piece of ritual.
In most religions, especially those with canonised Scriptures, this usually takes the form of a reading from those Scriptures. In Wicca, which does not have revealed Scriptures, it seems strange that the text under consideration here, the Charge, should therefore be an invariable part of the ritual. Even if it used as a set piece, its delivery can differ from occasion to occasion; Janet Farrar writes that she is never sure how the Charge is going to come out (Janet and Stewart Farrar: A Witches’ Bible.  Robert Hale, London, 1984.).  Frederic Lamond counters this ‘liturgical’ use of the Book of Shadows rituals with his own experience in the early days of Wicca, indicating that the way the rituals are used has changed over the years:

‘The spirit in which we performed the BoS rituals was, however, different from that of many contemporary covens. For us, rituals – whether taken from the BoS or improvised – were strictly means to the end of putting us into an altered state of consciousness and then raise a cone of power to heal or improve the life of one of our members or one of our friends. Today many covens, especially in North America, seem to practise them for their own sake, and thus have turned a spellcasting magical tradition into a liturgy.’ (Frederic Lamond: Then and Now. Witchcraft and Wicca, Issue 15, Lammas 2007, p. 56.)

He suggests elsewhere that

‘...the high priestess should then channel the Goddess and give on Her behalf specific advice to the coven as a whole or to individual members. The Charge of the Goddess is a standby to be recited if the Goddess doesn’t come through.’ (Frederic Lamond: Fifty Years of Wicca. Green Magic, Sutton Mallett, 2004, p. 134.)

In addition to disquiet expressed at the use of the Charge as a set piece of liturgy, rather than the inspiration of the invoked Goddess inspiring the High Priestess to say the Goddess’s words at the time, dissatisfaction is also felt within the Wiccan community at the nature of the sources used in the Charge, particularly the Aleister Crowley quotes. Sorita d’Este is one Wiccan High Priestess who has publicly queried the appropriateness of the words of the Charge as representative of the deity of Wicca, both because they come from Crowley, and because they were originally spoken by other divinities. She comments on the growing awareness of the Charge’s origins and growing dissatisfaction with them, but also on the Wiccan community’s reluctance to change this ritual text (Sorita d’Este: Speaking for the Goddess... <http://www.sorita.co.uk/?p=469> updated 2009, accessed 22.3.10.).
One further use of the Charge should be mentioned: as a well-loved piece of inspired (that is God/dess-breathed) poetry in the Wiccan and witchcraft movement, which has inspired songs, and even the titles of a series of novels. The section sometimes called the ‘Eight Wiccan Virtues’ has been used as a Wiccan equivalent of the Buddhist loving kindness meditation (Runewolf: Eight Virtues of the Craft. <http://www.witchvox.com>  Accessed 16.6.08. This excellent meditation unfortunately seems to have vanished from the internet.).