FROM WICCA (podsnet echo) 
From: Sephrael
Subject: Who wrote the Charge?
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 SS> What I would be interested in is if there are any traditions or
 SS> individuals out there who have written their own Charge.  Any
 SS> contributions?

I have a Charge of Aphrodite around here somewhere ... <rummages>

A Charge of Aphrodite
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Before time was, I am.  I create in an act of love, a joyous orgasm that
spins out into the void and shatters into a million million stars.  The
winds are my breath, hot with passion or gentle as I rest in my lover's
arms.  The tides that bulge against the earth are my heart's longing to be
with my beloved; fire is the flush of my cheeks when my passion is aroused.
And when I am sated, I rest my body on the earth that I love.

I will not be contained, denied; though many die in my service, still I
remain in their hearts and spirits.  I do not bring plagues to judge - all
love is mine.  Even as they give up the ghost, they are once more with me,
to be cherished and held close to ease their passing.  I am the final look
of peace in the eyes of the man who dies from AIDS, for even as he breathes
his last, I am with him, and his spirit departs in ecstasy.  And I am with
the lover who mourns - I hear him weep, and I gather those around him who
know me, so they may soothe his pain.  Even as he grieves, he feels me, for
I am loss - when love is gone from the body, the heart feels the rage and
the loneliness left by the emptiness where the beloved once dwelt.

And I am rage - I shatter illusion, single-mindedness.  I spurn those who
call me whore, and I live not in the great palacse, but in the simple homes
of the common people.

Where there is love, there I am.  Where one man loves the scarred woman who
lies beside him, there I am.  Where one woman smiles quietly at the baby on
her breast, there I am.  Where tenderness and desire well up so fiercely
that they threaten to burst the heart, there I am.

I am the sow in rut, the cat who flaunts her readiness to any tom who comes
her way.  I am blind, brutal passion, but I am also softness.  The gentlest
caress has me at its source, and the most ardent kiss is moved by my
presence.  I am the love that haunts the poets, and the ideal of which so
many young girls dream.  Even in the pinning up rock stars' pictures, there
I am.

For I am all manner of love.  I know no bounds, and will slip away from you
should you lunge to catch me.

But breathe softly ... call my name in a song which thrills through your
heart ... Aphrodite ... golden one ... and in a whisper of warmth, I will
be with you.  I will fold my arms about you, and press your body to mine;
and, mortal though you be, we will be one.

Marian Starwatcher**Waning Moon
SHARED BY Sephrael