A Witch Alone. Marian Green

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СКАЧАТЬ the Healer and Restorer, and she redeems our forgotten, childlike selves, if we call upon her.

      If you look at the names applied to her in the ritual invocation at the head of this chapter (taken from one of Dion Fortune’s novels, The Sea Priestess), you will see several names attributed to the Great Goddess. Isis, she who rules the pantheon of gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, as Isis Veiled, the Queen of Nature. The name Isis, Aset in Egyptian, means ‘Throne’, so she represents the ‘seat of power’, the base, the structure of that which is worshipped. Ea is the Mother of Time, Soul of Space, Oldest of the Old. Binah, the dark Mother of All, the great sea, the female principle, yin. Ge is the sphere of the Earth, root of such words as ‘geology’ – the science of rocks; ‘geography’ – mapping the Earth; ‘geomancy’ – a magical form of divination whose symbols are drawn in the earth. None of these sacred titles is a name.

      Similarly, if you start to look for images you will find many, in every culture, apart from Islam in which all depictions are forbidden. You will discover paintings, carvings, embroideries, rock pictures, statues, pottery figures, even huge earthworks, like that at Silbury Hill in the South of England, depicting or symbolising the Great Goddess in her many guises, or displaying her various traditional symbols. From the great image of the moon in the sky, which is also her symbol (for she is not the physical mass of the moon), to the tides which it creates within the mighty oceans and smallest rivers, to the rising waters of springs: the seasons of the Earth, and the substance of the Earth beneath our feet, on which we have our homes and being, all these are parts of her. All are sacred, and held as holy in her name. All have power which we may draw upon, once we gain the key which unlocks her secret wisdom.

      The Goddess has to be invoked, that is, called up in the imagination by using poetic description and symbols associated with the aspect which you seek to contact. If you are new to this idea, keep it simple. Use a prayer or description from a classical source, when you are in a quiet place. It is usually best out of doors, and simply standing beside a river, in a garden or any natural setting, where you feel at peace and free. Read the words, or imagine the image, then close your eyes and relax and see what happens. Here is a description taken from Apuleius’ story The Golden Ass in which the hero, Lucius, invokes the Goddess and…

       I had scarcely closed my eyes before the apparition of a woman began to rise from the middle of the sea with so lovely a face that the gods themselves would have fallen down in adoration of it. First the head, then the whole shining body gradually emerged and stood before me, (poised on the surface of the waves…Her long thick hair fell in tapering ringlets on her lovely neck, and was crowned with an intricate chaplet, woven of every kind of flower. Just above her brow shone a round disc, like a mirror, or the bright face of the moon, which told me who she was. Her many-coloured robe was of finest linen…and along the hem was a bordure of flowers and fruit…The deep black lustre of her mantle, slung across her body from the right hip to the left shoulder and caught into a great knot, was embroidered with glittering stars…and in the middle beamed a full and fiery moon…All the perfumes of Arabia floated into my nostrils as the Goddess deigned to address me: ‘You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am Nature, the Universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are. My gesture governs the shining heights of Heaven, the wholesome sea breezes, the lamentable silences of the land below. Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round Earth venerates me.’

      This fragment of a magical book, of adventure, folly, sacrifice and communion with the Goddess, in which Lucius is transformed into a donkey until the Goddess frees him and makes him her priest, contains the very essence of pagan worship and the invocation of Isis very powerfully demonstrates the kind of image words can conjure up. Similar esoteric verses, prayers and invocations will be found in the works of many poets, ancient writers, priests of the old religions which predate Christianity, including the Bible. The Song of Solomon contains beautiful love poems dedicated to Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom, describing her face in terms of flowers, her breasts as white deer, feeding among lilies. Do not overlook this book because it seems to reject the power of the wise one. In fact both the Old and New Testaments contain much magical and pagan information, if you are willing to search it out.

      The God of the Witches is also many-faceted, being symbolised by the sun in the sky, and, because of the changes that the turning seasons bring, he is an evolving deity too. He is also depicted surprising frequently as having horns or, in Britain and France, the antlers of a great stag. Like the Goddess, he has many titles, which often refer to his being a Horned God; Herne, or Cernunnos, or Pan, that archetypal half-man, half-beast, ruler of wild creatures in the ancient forests.

      Like the Goddess, he has three aspects. His hairy legs and hoofs link him with the animal kingdom, as their guardian and shepherd; his human body from the waist up, containing his human heart, shows that he can feel for the humankind in his care, and is their Lord of Life. His noble brow, dark, thoughtful eyes sparkling with humour, and above those the lordly antlers, show he is Divine, in his own right. These antlers are the symbols of the sun’s rays, of the power of Light, of co-creation, and like the points on the earthly king’s golden crown, they signify royalty. The God of the pagans walks in three worlds: the lowly land of all beasts, wild and tame, with their simplicity; the man-made realms and agricultural/industrial complexes, for he has always been the Magical Smith, the Maker and Designer: and above these he is the Divine Sky Father.

      In the story of the Goddess and the God which may form the underlying pattern of the pagan cycles of celebrations, the God is born of the Lady in midwinter and, like all nameless gods, is known as ‘Mabon, son of Modron,’ literally ‘Son, son of the Mother,’ in Welsh. It is a familiar idea, found in many faiths world wide, of a magical son born in humble circumstances to a mother who does not appear to have a husband. How can she? For the God is also his own father, loving his mother, becoming her husband, and yet she outlives him. The God is a cyclic being, closely related to the greenery of the land, being born in winter dark, growing through the days of spring, coming to his full strength, with the sun above, at midsummer, and learning of his impending sacrifice at harvest. Here he is cut down, willing victim to the reaper’s blade, offering his seed as grain to sustain the people as autumn chills the land. Dead, he is mourned by the Goddess, his widow, who never dies or deserts her children. In the dark months of winter she renews her youth, casting off the face of the hag, and regains her beauty, ready to encounter the young lord in spring.

      It is these Mysteries, that of the dying, sacrificed God and the undying, changing Goddess, which form the foundation of pagan worship. The seasonal festivals act out the life cycles of these First Parents, their magical birth, growth, wooing, loving, fulfilment and departure to the Underworld, beyond our knowledge.

      Although each changes, both the God and Goddess of the witches are immanent; they can be approached for prayer or consolation, for guidance or for healing. It is through this very personal interrelationship that true paganism is expressed. You will come to see whichever aspects of these Old Ones you most need to help you. By regularly seeking them out in the silent places of your heart and in the natural places of the world, you will get to know them as if they were friends, parents, lovers, teachers, healers or wise old guides throughout your life. Because they are above all agents of change, how you see them, in dreams, meditations and rituals, will reflect what you expect to see. Their substance is not of this world, immutable and fixed, but a plastic, astral substance which can appear in many shapes or characteristics. If you ask to see them as they are, perhaps you will see only light, or feel power, or fire – only you can discover that. It is because they have many attributes, evolved through humanity’s long childhood, and many faces, names, associations and powers that it is important to consider the concept expressed by Dion Fortune, that All Gods are One God, and all Goddesses are One Goddess, and there is One Initiator.’ She is only echoing earlier words put into the mouth of Isis by Apuleius, СКАЧАТЬ