The Witches Creed

 by Doreen Valiente.

Hear now the words of the witches,

The secrets we bid in the night,

When dark was our destiny'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 and 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 magikal ring.

Four times in the year the Great Sabbat returns,

all witches are seen,

At Lammas and Candlemas dancing,

On May Eve & Ole Holloween.

When daytime and nighttime are equal,

When the sun is at it's greatest and least,

The four Lesser Sabbats are summoned,

Again, witches gather in feast.

Thirteen silver moons in a year,

Thirteen is the Coven's array,

Thirteen times at Esbat make merry,

For each golden year and a day.

The power was passed down the ages,

Each century unto the other,

Each time the ages began.

When drawn is the magikal circle,

By sword or athame or power,

It's compass between the 2 worlds lies,

In the land of the shades for that hour.

This world then has no right to know it,

And world of beyond will tell naught,

The oldest of GODS are invoked here,

The Great Work of magik is wrought.

For two are the mystikal pillars,

That stand at the gate of the shrine,

And two are the powers of nature,

The forms and the forces divine.

The dark and the light in succession,

The opposites each unto each,

Shown forth as a GOD and a GODDESS,

of this did our ancestors teach.

By night he's the wild wind's rider,

The Horn'd One, Lord of the Shades,

By day he's the King of the Woodland's,

The dweller in green forest glades.

She is youthful or old as she pleases,

She tails the torn clouds in her barque,

The bright silver lady of midnight,

The crone who weaves the spells in the dark.

The master and mistress of magik,

They dwell in the deeps of the mind,

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 recieve us,

In peace at the end of our days.

And do what you will be challanged,

So be it in love that harms none,

For this is the only commandment,

By magik of old be it done!

The Witches Creed appears here as it was originally written by Doreen Valiente.