Aradia

Gospel Of The Witches

died leaving treasures.

To understand the voice of the wind.

To change water into wine.

To divine with cards.

To know the secrets of the hand (palmistry)

To cure diseases.

To make those who are ugly beautiful.

To tame wild beasts.

And whatever thing should be asked from the spirit of , that should be granted unto

those who merited her favor.

And thus must they invoke her:

Thus do I seek ! ! ! At midnight, at midnight I go into a field, and with me I bear water, wine, and salt, I bear water, wine, and salt, and my talisman - my talisman, my

talisman, and a red small bag which I ever hold in my hand - con dentro, con dentro, sale, with salt in it, in it. With water and wine I bless myself, I bless myself with devotion to implore a favour from , . (emphasize italics and repetitions)

Invocation to

! my !

Thou art my daughter unto him who was

Most evil of all spirits, who of old

Once reigned in hell when driven away from heaven,

Who by his sister did thy sire become,

But as thy mother did repent her fault,

And wished to mate thee to a spirit who

Should be benevolent,

And not malevolent!

, ! I implore

Thee by the love which she did bear for thee!

And by the love which I too feel for thee!

I pray thee grant the grace which I require!

And if this grace be granted, may there be

One of three signs distinctly clear to me:

The hiss of a serpent,

The light of a firefly,

The sound of a frog!

But if you do refuse this favour, then

May you in future know no peace nor joy,

And be obliged to seek me from afar,

Until you come to grant me my desire,

In haste, and then thou mayst return again

Unto thy destiny. Therewith, Amen!

CHAPTER III

HOW DIANA MADE THE STARS AND THE RAIN

Diana was the first created before all creation; in her were all things; our of herself, the first darkness, she divided herself; into darkness and light she was divided. Lucifer, her brother and son, herself and her other half, was the light.

And when Diana saw that the light was so beautiful, the light which was her other half, her

brother Lucifer, she yearned for it with exceeding great desire. Wishing to receive the light again into her darkness, to swallow it up in rapture, in delight, she trembled with desire. This desire was the dawn.

But Lucifer, the light, fled from her, and would not yield to her wishes; he was the light

which flies into the most distant parts of heaven, the mouse which flies before the cat.

Then Diana went to the fathers of the Beginning, to the mothers, the spirits who were

before the first spirit, and lamented unto them that she could not prevail with Lucifer. And they praised her for her courage; they told her that to rise she must fall; to become the chief of goddesses she must become mortal.

And in the ages, in the course of time, when the world was made, Diana went on earth, as

did Lucifer, who had fallen, and Diana taught magic and sorcery, whence came witches and fairies and goblins - all that is like man, yet not mortal.

And it came thus that Diana took the form of a cat. Her brother had a cat whom he loved

beyond all creatures, and it slept every night on his bed, a cat beautiful beyond all other creatures, a fairy: he did not know it.

Diana prevailed with the cat to change forms with her; so she lay with her brother, and in

the darkness assumed her own form, and so by Lucifer became the mother of . But when in the morning he found that he lay by his sister, and that light had been conquered by darkness, Lucifer was extremely angry; but Diana with her wiles of witchcraft so charmed him that he yielded to her love. This was the first fascination; she hummed the song, it was as the buzzing of bees (or a top spinning round), a spinning-wheel spinning life. She spun the lives of all men; all things were spun from the wheel of Diana. Lucifer turned the wheel.

Diana was not known to the witches and spirits, the fairies and elves who dwell in desert

place, the goblins, as their mother; she hid herself in humility and was a mortal, but by her will she rose again above all. She had passion for witchcraft, and became so powerful therein, that her greatness could not be hidden.

And thus it came to pass one night, at the meeting of all the sorceresses and fairies, she

declared that she would darken the heavens and turn all the stars into mice.