THE WITCHES' CREED

Hear Now the words of the witches,

The secrets we hid in the night,

When dark was our desitny's pathway,

That now we bring forth into 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,

And Witches gather in feast

Thirteen silver moons in a year are,

Thirteen is the coven's array.

Thirteen times at Esbast make merry,

For each golden year and day.

The power that was passed down the age,

Each time between woman and man,

Each centry unto the other,

Ere time and the ages began.

When drawn is the magical circle,

By sword or athame of power,

Its compass between two worlds lies,

In land of the shades for the hour.

This world has no right then to know it,

And world of beyond will tell naught.

The oldest of Gods are invoked there,

The Greatest of magic is wrought.

For the two are mystical pillars,

Thatstand at the gates of the shrine,

And two are the powers of nature,

The forms and the force divine.

The dark and the night in succcession,

The opposities each unto each,

Shown forth as a God and a Goddess:

Of this our ancestors teach.

By night he's the wild wind's rider

The Horn'd One, 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 bight silver lady of midnight,

The crone who weaves spells in the dark.

The master and mistress of magic,

That dwell in the deeps of the mind,

Immortal and ever-renewing,

with power to free or to bind.

And Do What You Will be the challenge,

So be it love that harms none,

For this is the only commandmenet.

By Magic of old, be it done!