[verse] Sister Willow
Marc
O Wiccan - do not invocate a merry meeting with the Inquisition.
The circle of our craft is a clandestine thorn in their green gaze.
Having Aphrodite outclassed and wrung out as warm incantation.
Your lament voice exclaimed, as the Spirit within your circle blaze
A Gift to Her progeny, amid brought weird sisters hand in hand,
As the cosmic rock of Mabon cannot walk without light, nor dark bay,
As there is deosil and widdershins, you yourself have to make a stand.
So when the Moon of Hecate fills your room, you must make your way.
O Sorcerer - do not invocate a merry meeting with the Inquisition,
Because their tongue is honey false, an instrument of a deathly quest.
Their paradox is ask without asking, the echo of an inner question:
'Are you a witch?' Over and over until you kneel to be wounded blessed.
Are you a witch, sister Willow? Or is it a dull craft of modern life?
For the intense rite of magic only becomes vast within your woman-heart,
And needs more than good intent or the weak impulse of a minor strive.
It is hiding for the hollow Inquisition, and tumbling and falling - falling
hard.
But as you descend inside yourself, chaos itself will ultimately fade away
And you shall know your inner-self, you can pluck the lot in your dream.
After waking and bathing, find ground and rest to locate your chi and say:
'Queen of May, I invocate the hail and glory of the third wind stream
I look within me for I know I will not find it out there,
For you are with me from the beginning until I receive
What is to be your greatest gift; am I worthy to be thy heir?
For it is in Your Love and Your Desire I shall believe.'
Space, - space are three, among Nature, so there the walking creatures can
be.
Four, four is their short haven hold by the soft hand of Father Time.
Fifth is the holy measurement where the holy Spirits are to be seen.
'May, in these parted dimensions, Your light shine.'
So when the moon has a concaved light and the winds of four winds blaze
Be serene within, Sister Willow, so there's only the oneness of thing to see
Invocate a merry meeting with yourself and your sorcerer-friends and praise,
Merry part and merry meet again, for the ancients know, - so mote it be.
*-*-*
Notes on the text:
Craft - the whole part of Witchcraft-tradition, in this verse Wicca
Aphrodite is the Goddess of the West wind, - the third wind - has the
element of water, the features of emotions, is known for love, compassion
and dreams.
Blessed be - international greeting of witches
Chi - an inner power source, the centre of your being
Moon of Hecate is a full moon - remember that Wicca is a religion of nature,
so you'll find all kind of symbols from it
Circle - holy ground where rituals are carried out, usually the bring a
pentacle, an altar where they've carved a pentagram in.
Deosil: clock-wise
Widdershins: in opposition to clock-wise
Merry meet and merry part, and merry meet again - traditional ending of a
circle
Incantate: to create a spell
Invocate: the hail a god or goddess
Wicca: the modern witchcraft, mainly a nature-religion
Mabon - (21st September) one of the eight sabbaticals; equinox of the fall,
light and darkness are in perfect balance, on this day witches celebrate the
mystery of eternal life, a time of contemplation.
"weird sisters hand in hand" refers to Macbeth - the three evil witches
The fifth strophe, refers to a poem from Seng-t'san (d. 606) [Persue not the
outer entanglements,/ Dwell not in the inner void;/ Be serene in the oneness
of things,/ And dualism vanishes by itself]
I've been working on this verse for more than a week now - and I'm still not
very pleased with the dualism of witchcraft, the ambivalent character of it.
Witches can invocate more Gods or Goddesses, the reason I have Willow hail
Aphrodite (Queen of May - if you bathe in the first dewdrops of may, you'll
find your true love) is - me thinks - obvious for those who have seen the
BtVS episode "Restless".
The Inquisition - in this case witch-hunters/prosecutors (NOT per definition
male!)- could be more grim. although the sentence where witches "kneel to be
wounded blessed" has a pretty harsh tone.
I am not really pleased with "sorcerer" (always makes me think of Merlin -
King Arthur and the holy grail for some odd reason) - but it beats
"magician".
The 8 x 4 sentences stand each for one Sabbath (samhain, yule, imbolc,
ostara, beltain, litha, lughnasad and mabon) but except me - I don't think
anyone else would spot that.
Comments are welcome of course
Marc