Sacred Texts of the Craft: The Charge of the Goddess

The Charge of the Goddess is sometimes recited by a High Priestess during a Wiccan ritual, right after she has drawn down the moon, which means she has invoked the essence of the Goddess into herself. Key portions of the Charge come from the writings of Charles Leland in Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, published in 1899

Leland says the manuscript was given to him by an Italian Witch named Maddalena in its original dialect. He translated and later published it.

The story itself is a mirror of the Christ story. Diana, the great goddess, gives birth to a daughter, Aradia, who must spread her mother's gospel while walking the earth in human form. The portion of the book that seems to have inspired the Wiccan Charge of the Goddess is Aradia's final instructions to her disciples. This segement was translated by Leland as follows: