Affirmation · “The Subconscious Says Yes”
The Charge of the Goddess as Devotional Invocation
Recite Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess as a slow devotional invocation, using its imagery to feel oneself connected to the divine feminine within and in nature.
Charge as devotion: Quiet down. Recite Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess slowly and aloud, letting each image land — the divine as “the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars,” and that “all acts of love and pleasure” are sacred. Take in the inward turn (“find it within yourself”) and the closing blessing of beauty, strength, compassion, mirth. Sit in the afterglow. Read honestly, a charged devotional recitation that cultivates reverence and inner wholeness.
What it is
The Charge of the Goddess is Doreen Valiente’s best-known composition: a short poetic liturgy, spoken in the voice of the Goddess, that became the central devotional text of modern Wicca.
Used as a personal practice, it is recited slowly and feelingly — not as information to be read, but as an invocation that the practitioner lets work on their imagination and emotion. Its lines invite the speaker (or listener) to recognise the divine in nature and within themselves: “I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars,” and “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.” Read honestly, this is a devotional-recitation practice: a charged, rhythmic text used to evoke a felt sense of connection, reverence, and inner wholeness.
The Method
A faithful personal use of the Charge:
- Settle and quiet down. Sit or stand comfortably, breathe slowly, and let the mind grow still — traditionally before a candle or simple altar, though this is optional.
- Read or recite the Charge slowly. Speak it aloud (or in a low voice) at a measured, unhurried pace, letting each image land. The text is meant to be heard, not skimmed.
- Dwell on the central images. Hold the lines that the divine is “the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars,” and that “all acts of love and pleasure“ are sacred — letting them evoke reverence for nature, body, and life.
- Receive the inward turn. The Charge teaches that the divine sought outwardly is found within: “if that which you seek you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.” Let this land as an invitation to look inward rather than upward.
- Take in the closing blessing. Let the final qualities settle as an intention for oneself — “let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.”
- Sit in the afterglow. Pause in silence and let the felt state remain before returning to ordinary activity. (Sourcing note: a faithful summary using only short fair-use lines of Valiente’s copyrighted Charge; the full text is hers and should be sourced from her published work. Modern “you/your” phrasings circulate via later adaptations; her own is in archaic “thee/thou.”)
Source & Lineage
Doreen Valiente (1922–1999), “the mother of modern witchcraft,” rewrote much of Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows in the 1950s, recasting borrowed material in her own clearer, more lyrical English.
Her version of the Charge of the Goddess — historian Ronald Hutton called it her single greatest contribution to Wicca — became the tradition’s central devotional and self-initiatory text, drawing on Charles Godfrey Leland’s Aradia and the English poetic tradition. → originator node.
Common refinements
Reading too fast. The Charge is liturgy; speed kills it. Slow, deliberate delivery is the engine.
- Skipping the feeling. Reciting the words without letting them evoke anything reduces it to rote text.
- Treating it as a spell to compel outcomes. It is devotional, not transactional — an attunement, not a demand.
- Ignoring the inward turn. The point of “find it within yourself“ is easily missed if the focus stays on an external figure.
- Mechanical repetition. Returning to it daily helps, but only if attention and feeling stay live each time.