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 daytime and nighttime 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 Horned 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 baroque, 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!