Poetry & Prose

The following is a selection of poetry - either Pagan or spiritual - which happens to appeal to me.  I am a strong believer in upholding the Bardic traditions of expression through the arts, and poetry and prose is a particularly appropriate form for this medium.  Therefore, if you have written a piece that you feel is appropriate to this page, and would like to see included upon it, please don't hesistate to drop my a line by clicking on the image below.  That being said, please don't be offended if, for any reason, I opt not to include it.  It is far more likely to be that we have different views of what is appropriate to the page, than a direct comment on your work!

The Charge of the God
(Primarily a Wiccan text, I find it relevant regardless of faith)

Listen the words of the Great Father,
Who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos,
Herne, Lugh and by many other names:
"My Law is Harmony with all things.
Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life
And mine is the dish of salt of the earth
That is the body of Cernunnos
That is the eternal circle of rebirth.
I give the knowledge of life everlasting,
And beyond death I give the promise of regeneration and renewal.
I am the sacrifice, the father of all things,
And my protection blankets the earth."
Hear the words of the dancing God,
The music of whose laughter stirs the winds,
Whose voice calls the seasons:
"I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light,
Sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame,
I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me.
For I am the flesh of the earth and all it's beings.
Through me all things must die and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings,
For behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals.
Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness,
Joy and peace, awe and longing within you.
For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me,
All beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings."
(Doreen Valiente)

The Charge of the Goddess
(Primarily a Wiccan text, I find it relevant regardless of faith)

Now listen to the words of the Great Mother,
Who was of old also called among men
Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite,
Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride
And by many other names.
Whenever ye have need of any thing,
Once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full,
Then shall ye assemble in some secret place,
And adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all witches.
There shall ye assemble,
Ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not won its deepest secrets;
To these will I teach things that are as yet unknown.
And ye shall be free from slavery;
And as a sign that ye be really free, ye shall be naked in your rites;
And ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love,
All in my praise.
For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and mine also is joy on earth;
For my law is love unto all beings.
Keep pure your highest ideal;
Strive ever towards it, let naught stop you or turn you aside;
For mine is the secret door which opens upon the land of youth,
And mine is the cup of wine of life,
And the cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of immortality.
I am the gracious Goddess,
Who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man.
Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal;
And beyond death, I give peace, and freedom,
And reunion with those who have gone before.
Nor do I demand sacrifice; for behold, I am the Mother of all living,
And my love is poured out upon the earth.
Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess;
She in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven,
whose body encircles the universe.
I, Who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the stars,
And the mystery of the waters, and desire of the heart of man.
Call unto thy soul;
Arise and come unto me;
For I am the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe.
From me all things proceed, and unto me all things must return;
And before my face, beloved of Gods and of men,
Let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite.
Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth;
For behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.
And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion,
Honour and humility, mirth and reverence within you.
And thou who thinkest to seek for me,
Know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not
Unless thou knowest the mystery:
That if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee,
Thou wilt never find it without thee.
For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning;
And I am that which is attained at the end of desire.
(Doreen Valiente)

The Rule of Three

Evermind the Rule of Three.
Three times what thou givest returns to thee.
This lesson well, thou must learn.
Thee only gets what thou dost earn.
(?Scott Cunningham)

A Druid's Prayer
(Note:  Often, for simplicity's sake, the God and Goddess are referred to simply as God, as in this piece)

Grant, O God, Thy protection;
And in protection, strength;
And in strength, understanding;
And in understanding, knowledge;
And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice;
And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it;
And in that love, the love of all existences;
and in that love of all existences, the love of God.
God and all goodness.
(Unknown)

The Lord's Prayer
(Just a little something which amused me!)

Our father which art in heaven,
Wherever that is,
Give us this day our daily bread,
A reasonable request,
Although most of us have to knead it for ourselves.
Forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive them that trespass against us
And deliver us from evil,
Of which there is a great deal about.
For thine is the Kingdom
The Power and the Glory.
The Power is the Glory.
When I look around
At the history of the church
I seem to see that Power corrupts
And Glory divides and deludes.
The Buddha did not talk much
About Power and Glory
World without end.
I wonder?
Amen.
(Unknown)

For the Earth
(Prepare to be deeply moved.  This is a powerful piece of writing.)

LO, listen to me, hear what I want to sing of,
Open your ears to these words and realise:
Of the anger of mother earth,
Of the sadness of mother earth
Of the praise of mother earth I want to sing
To gather the powers of mother earth I came to sing,
To gather the strength of mother earth I came to sing,
To gather the people of mother earth I came to sing,
Mother of old with thy many incarnations listen to my song
and hear me speak of thy praise, thy power and thy beauty
I invoke the powers of the east and pray for their aid
I invoke the powers of the south and pray for their aid
I invoke the powers of the west and pray for their aid
I invoke the powers of the north and pray for their aid
Beautiful incarnation of Venus, Inanna,
Behold my words and give them the sweetness of love
Sender of light and love, Tara, be raised and pour thy sweetness on this speech
Giver of fertility, Artemis, lend me thy attention and
Let my words be of the power of growth
Lioness of the battle, Ishtar, realise my words and
Feed them with strength
Mighty daughter of Ra, Sekhmet, be aware of my song and
Lend me thy words of power,
High flying raven, Morrigu, join me in my anger and
Give my words the sharpness of a sword
Keeper of the gates to powerful magic, Hekate,
Look upon me and aid me with thy wisdom
Guardian of the mysteries, Selket, be called by my speech and
Protect these words
Symbol of life, nameless Mother of the stone age, be moved by my words
And strengthen this song
Followers of the mother goddesses of all cults and rites
Followers of the nature religions of this planet
Followers of the path of light
Be aware, listen to me and hear me sing:

The mother is all we are,
She, who is all, is within us,
She, who is all, is with us every day.
From her are we and to her we go.
There can be nothing without her
We, her children are nothing without her.
She is, who speaks:
Bigger than the mountains am I,
The Empress of the gods am I
The Queen of heaven am I
The earth?s mistress am I.
Careless do we handle her gifts,
Selfish do we abuse our brothers and sisters,
We walk on her bleeding corpse, ignoring her pain
We destroy her creation
Her health is wounded
Her body is shattered
Her self is devastated
No more can we keep silent to this sacrilege
No more can we ignore her pain and bleeding
No more are we allowed to look away from her sufferings
For attention I raise my voice
For a change of ways I raise my voice
For a final battle I raise my voice
With the wrath of the goddess, I cry a geis on the human race.
With the boundless anger of Sekhmet, punishing judge of mankind,
I sing the glam dicin on our worthless ways of life.
With giving the suffering earth a voice,
I incantate the diaspad as witness of our crimes.
No more can we pretend to be the crown of creation
No more can we look upon our brothers and sisters,
The plants and animals, as minor beings.
No more are we able to ignore the circle of life and its ancient law.
We are no supernatural beings, we are part of mother earth.
Part of the circle of life, we get born, we live and we die.
We raise from mothers triangle, we walk on her body and
We return to her as corpse.
We are not superior above life
We are not superior above creation
We have an obligation to fulfil, to preserve mother earth
For future generations of beings, of humans, of animals and plants
If we don't change the path we walk
If we don't change the perspective we look from
If we don't behold what is going on around us
We will be orphan children on a devastated planet without life
The time for us has come to finally see the light and
Realise what we are, from where we are and on what we depend like any other being.

So, if you listened to this,
Change your way of life,
Change your perspective,
Change your friend's ways of life,
Behold the beauty of the mother
that surrounds us everywhere and in everything
Behold the breathtaking life that is within this planet.
There is nothing bad or unwanted, ugly or worth destruction
There is only life and energy of mother earth in all and everything
All that is needs our preservation
All that is needs our respect
All that is needs our love
Tell your brothers and sisters about thy awareness
Tell thy brothers and sisters about the pain and the
Wounds of the mother
Tell thy brothers and sisters to pay attention to what she,
Who is everything, demands.
Don't pretend to be wise and knowing for we are all learning several lifetimes,
Just state you are aware
Don't feel superior to others, that are not aware;
It is your obligation to teach
Don't forsake others, that are not aware, try to change their ways.
Followers of the mother goddesses of all cults and rites
Followers of the nature religions of this planet
Followers of the path of light
Be aware, think of my words and join me in song
Sing the glam dicin with me.
Raise your voices to a bitter, final cry of judgement,
Sing the diaspad.
Let our song become a strong and mighty geis
for the dignity of life and its unwritten laws
Sing out loud, so that it can't be ignored:
To walk the ancient path again,
To behold thy beauty once more every day
Is a pleasure beyond mere belief;
It is an everlasting enlightenment,
It is a spring of never ending marvel and happiness.
I thank thee for this life.
Thou truly were with me from the beginning.
(Robert Valerius)

Death is Nothing At All...
(Given to me by my closest friend of the time, just a few days before her five year fight against cancer took her life on my sixteenth birthday)

Death is nothing at all.  I have only slipped away into the next room, as it were.  I am I and you are still you.  Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.  Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way which you always used.  Put no difference into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.  Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes and silly moments we shared together.  Play, smile, cry? even that sometimes? think of me, pray for me.  Love me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.  Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it.  Life means all that it ever meant.  It is the same as it ever was, there is absolutely unbroken continuity.  What is this death but an interlude between us?

Why should I be out of mind and heart because I am out of sight?  I am just waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near.  All is well.  All is well? I love you.

Go Placidly...
(Found in old St Paul's Church, dated 1692)

Go placidly amid the noise, and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.  As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.  Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are a vexation to the spirit.  If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.  Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideas; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel  of years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.  Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars:  You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

With all it?s sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.   Be careful.  Strive to be happy.