THE 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 the light.
Mysterious
Water and Fire, The Earth and the
wide-ranging Air, By hidden quintessence
we
know them, And will 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, On May Eve and old
Hallowe'en.
When day time and night time are
equal, When sun is at greatest and
least, The
four lesser Sabbats are summoned, Again
witches gather in feast.
Thirteen silver moons in a year
are,
Thirteen is the Covens array. Thirteen
times
at Esbat make merry, For each golden
year and
a day.
The power was passed
down
the ages, Each time between woman and
man,
Each century unto the other, Ere time
and
ages began.
When drawn is the
magical circle, By sword or athame of
power,
Its compass between the two worlds lies,
In
the land of shades that hour.
This
world has no right to know it, And the
world
beyond will tell naught. The oldest of
gods
are invoked there, The Great Work of
Magic is
wrought.
For two are the mystical pillars,
That
stand at the gate of the shrine, And two
are
the powers of nature, The forms and the
forces of the divine.
The dark and the light in
succession,
The opposites each unto each, Shown
forth as
a god and a goddess: This did our
ancestors
teach.
By night he's the wild
winds 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, They dwell
in
the deeps of the main, 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 Thou Wilt shall be
the
challenge, So be it in love that harms
none,
For this is the only commandment, By
magic of
old, be it done!
Eight words
the
Witches Creed fulfill: If It Harms None,
Do
What Thou Will!