The Charge of the Goddess (or Charge of the Star Goddess) is an inspirational text often used in the

neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

religion of

Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...

. The Charge of the Goddess is recited during most rituals in which the Wiccan priest/priestess is expected to represent, and/or embody, the

Goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

within the sacred circle, and is often spoken by the High Priest/Priestess after the ritual of Drawing Down the Moon. The Charge is the promise of the Goddess (who is embodied by the high priestess) to all witches that she will teach and guide them. It has been called "perhaps the most important single theological document in the neo-Pagan movement". It is used not only in

, but as part of the foundational documents of the

Reclaiming In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i. ...

tradition of witchcraft co-founded by Starhawk. Several versions of the Charge exist, though they all have the same basic premise, that of a set of instructions given by the Great Goddess to her worshippers. The earliest version is that compiled by

Gerald Gardner Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, author, and amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Moder ...

. This version, titled "Leviter Veslis" or "Lift Up the Veil", includes material paraphrased from works by

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, primarily from Liber AL (

The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. The book is often referred to simply as ''Liber AL'', ''Liber Legis'' or just ''AL'', though technically the latter two refer only to ...

, particularly from Ch 1, spoken by Nuit, the Star Goddess), and from Liber LXV (The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent) and from Crowley's essay "The Law of Liberty", thus linking modern Wicca to the cosmology and revelations of

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial ma ...

. It has been shown that Gerald Gardner's book collection included a copy of Crowley's '' The Blue Equinox'' (1919) which includes all of the Crowley quotations transferred by Gardner to the Charge of the Goddess. There are also two versions written by

Doreen Valiente Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 – 1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five ...

in the mid-1950s, after her 1953 Wiccan initiation. The first was a poetic paraphrase which eliminated almost all the material derived from Leland and Crowley. The second was a prose version which is contained within the traditional Gardnerian Book of Shadows and more closely resembles Gardner's "Leviter Veslis" version of 1949. Several different versions of a Wiccan Charge of the God have since been created to mirror and accompany the Charge of the Goddess.

Themes

The opening paragraph names a collection of goddesses, some derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

, others from

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Arthurian According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

s, affirming a belief that these various figures represent a single Great Mother: This theme echoes the ancient Roman belief that the

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

was known by ten thousand names and also that the Goddess still worshipped today by Wiccans and other neopagans is known under many guises but is in fact one universal divinity. The second paragraph is largely derived and paraphrased from the words that Aradia, the messianic daughter of Diana, speaks to her followers in

Charles Godfrey Leland Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensivel ...

's 1899 book ''

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches ''Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches'' is a book composed by the American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland that was published in 1899. It contains what he believed was the religious text of a group of pagan witches in Tuscany, Italy, that docum ...

'' (London: David Nutt; various reprints). The third paragraph is largely written by Doreen Valiente, with a significant content of phrases loosely from ''The Book of the Law'' and ''The Book of the Heart Girt with the Serpent'' by Aleister Crowley. The charge affirms that ''all'' acts of love and pleasure are sacred to the Goddess, e.g.:

History

Ancient precedents

In book eleven, chapter 47 of

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

's ''

The Golden Ass The ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as ''The Golden Ass'' (Latin: ''Asinus aureus''), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of ...

'',

delivers what Ceisiwr Serith calls "essentially a charge of a goddess". This is rather different from the modern version known in Wicca, though they have the same premise, that of the rules given by a great Mother Goddess to her faithful. The Charge of the Goddess is also known under the title ''Leviter Veslis''. This has been identified by the historian

Ronald Hutton Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an Indian-born English historian specialising in early modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion, and modern paganism. A professor at the University of Bristol, Hutton has writte ...

, cited in an article by Roger Dearnsley "The Influence of Aleister Crowley on ''Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical'', as a piece of medieval ecclesiastical Latin used to mean "lifting the veil." However, Hutton's interpretation does not reflect the Latin grammar as it currently stands. It may represent Gardner's attempt to write ''Levetur Velis'', which has the literal meaning of "Let the veil be lifted." This expression would, by coincidence or design, grammatically echo the famous ''fiat lux'' (''Gen. 1:3'') of the Latin Vulgate.

Origins

The earliest known Wiccan version is found in a document dating from the late 1940s, Gerald Gardner's ritual notebook titled ''Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical''. The oldest identifiable source contained in this version is the final line, which is traceable to the 17th-century ''Centrum Naturae Concentratum'' of Alipili (or Ali Puli). This version also draws extensively from Charles Godfrey Leland's ''Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches'' (1899) and other modern sources, particularly from the works of Aleister Crowley. It is believed to have been compiled by Gerald Gardner or possibly another member of the New Forest coven. Gardner intended his version to be a theological statement justifying the Gardnerian sequence of initiations. Like the Charge found in

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, where the charge is a set of instructions read to a candidate standing in a temple, the Charge of the Goddess was intended to be read immediately before an initiation. Valiente felt that the influence of Crowley on the Charge was too obvious, and she did not want "the Craft" (a common term for Wicca) associated with Crowley. Gardner invited her to rewrite the Charge. She proceeded to do so, her first version being into verse.Shelley Rabinovich and James Lewis. ''Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism'', p. 41. New York: Citadel Books, 2004 The initial verse version by

consisted of eight verses, the second of which was: Valiente was unhappy with this version, saying that "people seemed to have some difficulty with this, because of the various goddess-names which they found hard to pronounce",''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', Doreen Valiente, page 62 and so she rewrote it as a prose version, much of which differs from her initial version, and is more akin to Gardner's version. This prose version has since been modified and reproduced widely by other authors.

References

External links