of Witches and the Moon ...and the Priestess Doreen valiente

Doreen Valiente

a crescent argent blazoned bright
upon the sable shield of night
so shines the moon in heaven's height
above the wildwood lone
and cold the night wind blowing free
whistles around the withered tree
that used the trysting place to be
its trunk bleached white as stone
on the far road the headlights beam
and pass like phantoms in a dream
while here the silent starlight's gleam
recalls time long ago
here witches met in olden time
away beyond the church bells' chime
in worship from the ancient prime
that it was death to know
ancestral voices fill the skies
starlight and witchfire in my eyes
and echoes of lost centuries
across this elfin ground
and here again, in years of war
they met as they had met before
to weave the spell they wove of yore
and dance the circle's round
stirred by the night wind stealing by
the bracken rustles with a sigh
deep in the woods an owl's cry
calls from a distant tree
this starry night no spectre shows
no magic flame of bonfire glows
but all around i feel them close
in ghostly company.

Invocation of the Goddess
 
(by Doreen Valiente)

 
Our lady of the Moon, Enchantments Queen,

And of midnight the potent sorceress,

Oh Goddess from the Darkest Deep of Time,

Diana, Isis, Tanith, Artimis,

Your Power Do we invoke to aid us here!

Your Moon a magick mirror hangs in Space,

Reflecting Mystic Light upon the earth,

And every month Your Threefold Image shines.

Mistress of Magick, Ruler of the Tides

Both seen and unseen; spinner of the threads

Of birth and death and fate;

O ancient One,

Nearest to us of Heavens lights,

Upon whose shoulders nature is exalted,

Vast and shadowy, to farthest realms unknown,

Your Power do we invoke to aid us here!

Oh Goddess of the Silver Light, That shines

In magick rays through deepest woodland glade,

And over sacred and enchanted hills

At still midnight, when witches cast their spells,

When spirits walk and strange things are abroad

By the dark Cauldron of your inspiration,

Goddess threefold, upon you thrice we call;

Your power we invoke to aid us here!

Another Invocation of the Moon Goddess

O Moon that ridst the night to wake
before the dawn is pale
The hamadryad in the brake
The satyr in the vale.
Caught in thy net of shadows
what dreams hast thou to show
Who treads the silent meadows
to worship thee below...

The Patter of the rain is hushed
the wind's wild dance is done
Cloud mountains ruby red were flushed
about the setting Sun.
And now beneath thine argent beam
the wild wood standeth still
Some spirit of an ancient dream
breathes from the silent hill.

Witch Goddess Moon thy spell invokes
the ancient Ones of Night
Once more the old stone altar smokes
the fire is glimmering bright.
Scattered and few thy children be
yet gather we unknown
To dance the old round merrily
about the time worn stone.

We ask no heaven we fear no hell
nor mourn our outcast lot
Treading the mazes of a spell
by priests and men forgot.

By Doreen Valiente
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