Charge of the God     Listen to the words of the Great Father, Who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh, and by many other names: My Law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life And mine is the dish of salt of the earth. That is the body of Cernunnos I give the knowledge of life everlasting, And beyond death I give the promise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, And my protection blankets the earth. Hear the words of the dancing God, The music of whose laughter stirs the winds, Whose voice calls the seasons. I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, Sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all its beings. Through me all things must die and with me are reborn. Let my worship be in the body that sings, For behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, Joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, All beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings.   INVOCATION OF THE HORNED GOD By the flame that burneth bright, O Horned One! We call thy name into the night, O Horned One! Thee we invoke, by the moon-led sea, By the standing stone and the twisted tree. Thee we invoke where gather thine own, By the nameless shrine forgotten and lone. Come where the round of the dance is trod, Horn and hoof of the goatfoot God! By moonlit meadow, on dusky hill, When the haunted wood is hushed and still. Come to the charm of the chanted prayer, As the moon bewitches the midnight air. Evoke thy powers, that potent bide In shining stream and the secret tide. In fiery flame by starlight pale, In shadowy host that rides the gale, And by the fern-brakes fairy-haunted Of forests wild and woods enchanted. Come! Come! To the heart-beats drum! Come to us who gather below When the broad white moon is climbing slow Through the stars to the heaven's height We hear thy hoofs on the wind of night! As black tree-branches shake and sigh, By joy and terror we know thee nigh. We speak the spell thy power unlocks At Solstice, Sabbat, and equinox.   by Lady Sheba, 1974.