| Hear now the words of the witches, | And it harm none | ||
| The secrets we hid in the night, | do what you will | ||
| 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 magickal ring. | |||
| Four times in the year the Great Sabbat returns | |||
| And 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, | |||
| Again witches gather in feast. | |||
| Thirteen silver moons in a year are, | |||
| 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 time between woman and man, | |||
| Each century unto the other, | |||
| Ere time and the ages began. | |||
| When drawn is the magickal circle, | |||
| By sword or athame of power, | |||
| It's compass between the two worlds lies, | |||
| In Land of the Shades for that 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 Great Work of magick is wrought. | |||
| For two are the mystical pillars, | |||
| That shine 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 Horned One, the Lord of the Shades, | |||
| By day he's the King of the Woodland, | |||
| The dweller in green forest glades. | |||
| She is youthful and old as she pleases, | |||
| She sails the torn clouds in her barque, | |||
| The bright silver Lady of midnight, | |||
| The crone who weaves spells in the dark. | |||
| The master and mistress of magick, | |||
| 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 receive us, | |||
| In peace at the end of our days. | |||
| And Do What You Will be the challenge, | |||
| So be it in love that harms none, | |||
| For this is the only commandment, | |||
| By magick of old be it done! | |||