Thw Witches' Rune

[Faerwolf]

OKay, so i keep seeing this but i can't find any history on it. It's beautiful but i don't know what it's neccessarily talking about. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ben Gruagach]

If you are referring to the poem that starts "Darksome night and shining moon..." I believe it was written by Doreen Valiente. Doreen is also responsible for the popular form of "The Charge of the Goddess" which many Wiccans use today. (The Charge of the Goddess is drawn from sources such as C. G. Leland's "Aradia" and Lucius Apuleius' "The Golden Ass.")

There is a tribute site to Doreen at http://www.doreenvaliente.com (Doreen died in 1999.)

Doreen talks about reworking Gerald's Book of Shadows, and lots of other stuff about working with Gerald and the others she met over the years, in her book "The Rebirth of Witchcraft."

[Faerwolf]

Thank you, i'll check it out. Do you know specifically anything about The Witches Rune. I feel as if it is an invocation of some sorts?

[Ben Gruagach]

Thank you, i'll check it out. Do you know specifically anything about The Witches Rune. I feel as if it is an invocation of some sorts?

Yes, the Witches' Rune is an invocation. It is often used as a chant during spellwork to draw energy and focus it to the goal.

It's in Gardner's Book of Shadows (dating, of course, to when Doreen worked with him) and is available online at places like http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/index.htm It's near the bottom of the list of links, and is listed there as "The Witches' Chant or Rune."

Lady Sheba (aka Jessie Wicker Bell) published her copy of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, with her own changes and additions, in the early 1970s. It's still in print as "The Grimoire of Lady Sheba." It includes The Witches' Chant or Rune. I've seen some people attribute the poem to Lady Sheba although she just happens to be the first one to have put the poem into publication.

They also talk about Doreen's influence on Wicca, including giving her credit for things like the Charge of the Goddess, in some of Janet and Stewart Farrar's books such as "The Witches Bible" if you want more history. Ronald Hutton's excellent book "The Triumph of the Moon" also goes into a lot of detail about Wiccan history.