The Charge Of The Crone - by Jim Garrison

Hear the words of the Dark Goddess who stands within the

crossroads, whose torch illuminates the Underworld:

I am the Queen of Magic and the dark of the Moon, hidden in

the deepest night. I am the mystery of the Otherworld and the fear

that coils about your heart in the time of your trials. I am the soul

of nature that gives form to the universe; it is I who await you at the

end of the spiral dance. Most ancient among gods and mortals, let my

worship be within the heart that has truly tasted life, for behold all acts

of magic and art are my pleasure and my greatest ritual is love itself.

Therefore let there be beauty in your strength, compassion in your

wrath, power in your humility, and discipline balanced through mirth

and reverence. You who seek to remove my veil and behold my true

face, know that all your questioning and efforts are for nothing, and all

your lust and desires shall avail you not at all. For unless you know my

mystery, look wherever you will, it will elude you, for it is within you and

nowhere else. For behold, I have ever been with you, from the very

beginning, the comforting hand that nurtured you in the dawn of life,

and the loving embrace that awaits you at the end of each life, for I am

that which is attained at the end of the dance, and I am the womb of new

beginnings, as yet unimagined and unknown.