"Witchcraft for Tomorrow"
By Doreen Valiente
The secrets we hide in the night,
When dark was our destiny's pathway,
That now we bring forth to the light,
Mysterious Water and Fire,
The Earth and wide-ranging Air,
By hidden quintessence we know them,
And Will, Keep Silent and Dare,
The birth and rebirth of nature,
The passing of Winter and Spring,
We share with the life universal,
And rejoice in the magickal ring.
Four times a year the great sabbats return,
And all the witches are seen,
At Llammas and Candlemas dancing,
At May eve and ol Halloween.
When day time and night time are equal,
When the sun's at it's greatest and least,
Thirteen moons in a year are,
Thirteen be the coven's array,
Thirteen times the Essabat make merry,
For each year and a day.
The power that was passed down the age,
Each time between Woman and Man,
Each century unto another,
Ere time and ages began,
When drawn is the magickal circle,
By Sword or Athame power,
It's compas between two world lies,
In land of the shades of that hour,
This world has no right then to know it,
The world beyond shall tell naught,
The oldest of Gods be invoked here,
The great work of magick is wrought,
For two are the mystical pillars,
That stand at the gate of the shrine,
And two are the powers of nature,
The forsms and forces divine,
The Dark and Light in succession,
The oppisites each unto each,
Shown forth as the Goddess and the God,
Of this our Ancestors teach.
By night he's the wild wind's rider,
The Howned One, Lord of Shades,
By day the kind of the woodland,
Dweller of green forrest glades.
She is youthful or old as she pleases,
She sails the tan cloud in her barque,
The bright silve Lady of Moonlight,
The Crone who weaces spells in the dark,
Immortal and ever renewing,
With power to free or to bind,
So drink the good wine to old Gods,
All dance and make love in their praise,
Till summerlands fair land shall recieve us,
In peace at the end of our days,
And do what ye will be the challenge,
So be it love that harms none,
For this is the only commandment,
For magick of old it be done!