In the Name of the Goddess, I Say to You . . .

All saints revile her, and all sober men

Ruled by the God Apollo’s golden mean –
In scorn of which I sailed to find her
In distant regions likeliest to hold her
Whom I desired above all things to know,
Sister of the mirage and echo.

It was a virtue not to stay,
To go my headstrong and heroic way
Seeking her out at the volcano’s head,
Among pack ice, or where the track had faded
Beyond the cavern of the seven sleepers:
Whose broad high brow was white as any leper’s,
Whose eyes were blue, with rowan-berry lips,
With hair curled honey-coloured to white hips.

( From Robert Graves’ The White Goddess—with a slight improvement)

I have sought the Goddess, then been Her servant, ever since I learned of Her from the Aradia when I was 14. As a poet, I am empowered by my personal relationship with Her and my love for Her, especially in Her incarnation as Sophia, to speak in Her name. If you believe I have the authority to speak for Her, then take Her words seriously. If you do not, then go soak your head, to loosen up your mind. And if you do not know that She is real, I pity you.

The following words are not mine, but Hers.

I am the One and the Many. I am every God and every Goddess. All paths are Mine.
I am the reality behind all faiths, and all faith comes from knowing Me.
All power in the Craft is Mine and comes from Me. It comes through you, not from you.

I give Myself to each of you, for by yourself you could never reach Me. I have already done for you what you could never have done for yourself, for I love you as a mother loves her first-born child, which you are, as every being is.

Honor the memory of My servant Gerald Gardner, for he restored My worship on your Earth.
Honor the strengths he served me with and the great work he accomplished. Do not dwell on his human frailties.
All who follow his path shall bear his name. Lay down no human laws to separate yourselves.

All who choose to accept My gifts and to follow Me are your brothers and sisters. To reject any one of them is to reject Me.

Honor the memory of my servant Doreen Valiente, poet and priestess, for she spoke with My voice and gave you My words. Study them, understand them, live them.

Give my gifts freely, give to all, for I am Goddess of all humankind. Do not presume to choose who may receive my gifts. It is I who choose, not you.

Call upon Me for strength to live with honor and compassion.
Love yourself; love others even more than yourself.

Never cease to learn, for I will tell you what you could never know by your own efforts.

Open your heart and you will find Me. I do not live elsewhere. I live within you. I am more yourself than you are.

I am the knowledge that dwells in you, for I am joy, I am love, I am ecstasy. Seek Me through joy, through intuition, through what your heart tells you is most important.

You cannot find Me if you do not seek me, nor if you seek me, because I am always already here. I come unannounced and break down your door when you least expect Me.

It is your self that prevents you from seeing that I am already and always doing what you need in order to know Me. Get out of My way; only your ignorance keeps you from knowing Me.

By love alone I may be known;
Love is the only law I know.
All things live and are my own:
From me they come; to me they go.

I am the goal of all desire:
If you think to win me,
You must seek within yourself,
Else you’ll never find me.

Seek me inward, seek me deep,
Conjure me by song and rhyme.
When I blaze out through your eyes,
Know I was with you all the time.

Yes, I rewrote some of Doreen’s poetry, 45 years ago.
I invite you to contemplate the implications of Her words.
I am well aware that I may have to later spell them out.