The Besom Chant

Besom, besom long and lithe
Made from ash and willow withe
Tied with thongs of willow bark
In running stream at moonset dark.

With a pentagram indighted
As the ritual fire is lighted;

Sweep ye circle, deosil,
Sweep out evil, sweep out ill,
Make the round of the ground
Where we do the Lady's will.

Besom, besom, Lady's broom
Sweep out darkness, sweep out doom
Rid ye Lady's hallowed ground
Of demons, imps and Hell's red hound;

Then set ye down on Her green earth
By running stream or Mistress hearth,
Till called once more on Sabbath night
To cleanse once more the dancing site.

~ adapted by Laurelei Black

The Song of Amergin

Chorus:
From the breeze on the mountain
To the lake of deep blue
From the waterfall down to the sea
Never changing or ending on the voice of the wind
Sing now the riddle of Erenn to me

I am the wind that breathes on the sea
I am the wave, that roars on the ocean
I am the stag, seven points are my glory
I am the hawk of victory in motion

I am the tomb, so cold in the darkness
I am the ray, bright eye of the Sun
I am a tree, straight, strong and peerless
I am a star, I am the One

I am a wonder, a wonder in flower
I am the spear as it cries out for blood
I am the word, the word of great power
And thrice times have I visited Caer Arianhrod

I am the song of the blackbird in mourning
I am the depths of a sacred pool
I am a boar's tusk flashed out in warning
I am the salmon, yet also the fool

Who but I can cast light upon the meeting of the mountains?
Who but I am a lure beyond the ends of the earth?
Who but I will cry aloud the changes of the moon?
Who but I can find the place of death and rebirth?

~Adapted from the original version by Glaux

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were—I have not seen
As others saw—I could not bring
My passions from a common spring—
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow—I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone—
And all I loved—I loved alone—
Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
Of a most stormy life—was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still—
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain—
From the sun that ’round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold—
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by—
From the thunder, and the storm—
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view—

~Edgar Allan Poe

The White Witch

The White Witch

by James Weldon Johnson

O brothers mine, take care! Take care!
The great white witch rides out to-night.
Trust not your prowess nor your strength
Your only safety lies in flight;
For in her glance there is a snare
And in her smile there is a blight

The great white witch you have not seen?
Then,younger brothers mine, for sooth
Like nursery children you have looked
For ancient hag and snaggle-tooth
But no, not so; the witch appears
In all the glowing charms of youth

Her lips are like carnations, red
Her face like new-born lilies, fair
Her eyes like ocean waters, blue,
She moves with subtle grace and air
And all about her head there floats
The golden glory of her hair.

But though she always thus appears
In form of youth and mood of mirth
Unnumbered centuries are hers
The infant planets saw her birth
The child of throbbing Life is she
Twin sister to the greedy earth

And back behind those smiling lips
And down within those laughing eyes
And underneath the soft caress
Of hand and voice and purring sighs
The shadow of the panther lurks
The spirit of the vampire lies

For I have seen the great white witch
And she has led me to her lair
And I have kissed her red, red lips
And cruel face so white and fair
Around me she has twined her arms
And bound me with her yellow hair

I felt those red lips burn and sear
My body like a living coal
Obeyed the power of those eyes
As the needle trembles to the pole
And did not care although I felt
The strength go ebbing from my soul

Oh ! she has seen your strong young limbs
And heard your laughter loud and gay
And in your voices she has caught
The echo of a far-off day
When man was closer to the earth
And she has marked you for her prey

She feels the old Antaean strength
In you, the great dynamic beat
Of primal passions, and she sees
In you the last besieged retreat
Of love relentless, lusty, fierce
Love pain-ecstatic, cruel-sweet

O,brothers mine, take care! Take care!
The great white witch rides out to-night
O,younger brothers mine, beware!
Loo knot upon her beauty bright
For in her glance there is a snare
And in her smile there is a blight.

Invocation of the Circle: Doreen Valiente

Doreen Valiente

By stang and cauldron, cup and knife,
By right of office that I hold,
Ye ancient powers of death and life,
Forgather to the circle's fold.

Kinship to kinship, blood to blood,
By wild night wind and starry sky,
By heathland brown and darkling wood,
To this our circle now draw nigh.

In likeness of a henge of stone,
Stand guard around this circle's rim,
While looming through the dark alone,
Stands in the east the Hele-stone dim.

I summon forth the fairy hounds,
Sharp-fanged, white-coated, red of ear,
To prowl beyond the circle's bounds,
And put intruders' hearts in fear.

Ancestral powers of this our blood,
We are your people, guard us well,
By earth and air, by fire and flood,
By magic mime and spoken spell.

Our craft's own Goddess I invoke,
And Ancient Ones of hill and mound.
With fire aflame and drifting smoke,
I dedicate this circle's bound.

By three times three,
Thus shall it be!

~Doreen Valiente, Witchcraft: a Tradition Renewed

This rhyme was specifically created for the Tradition of Craft that Evan John Jones outlines in his book Witchcraft: a Tradition Renewed.  Thus, it calls for officers of the quarters "By right of office that I hold" and calls forth a henge of stone to guard the boundaries of the circle.  Our tradition is similar in that we call forth the Sacred Grove of totemic trees of the Wheel of the Year when performing a full casting.

I personally love the verse about the Gabriel ratchets guarding the circle.  This is easily my favorite chant for setting wards.

EJ Jones had Doreen write a second Circle Invocation for his book (he knew a good thing when he had it!) beginning: "By magic staff and flame of fire-light; Eldest of Gods, we call on ye anew!"  Witchcraft: a Tradition Renewed is worth a read if you would like to see how the Craft of Cochrane continued to develop.  It has influenced modern practitioners of Cochranian Craft, and contains many gems of liturgy, including Doreen's poetry and Bill Gray's lovely and useful Sangreal Prayer.

Lammas

Lammas is the first of the three harvest festivals, and is sometimes called "first fruits". It is a symbolic wake for the Sacred King (the Oak King) after his annual sacrifice.  Although it seems here in the Midwest that summer is at its peak, Lammas marks the end of summer and the start of autumn.  It is a time for merry mourning, a recognition that the heady days of summer are limited and that we should rejoice while we can.

Lammas is one of the Greater Sabbats, which occur when the sun is 15 degrees in a fixed sign of the zodiac, in this case, Leo.  This typically happens around August 6th, although tradition places the date at the kalends of the month instead.  Also, since the Celts reckoned their days beginning at sundown, Lammas is properly celebrated beginning on the eve of August first.  Like all of the Sabbats there is a span of roughly twelve days surrounding the holiday that make up a season of celebration.

Lammas takes its name from the Old English "hlaf," meaning "loaf" and "maesse," meaning feast. This was the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings.

In Irish Gaelic, this feast was referred to as Lugnasadh (Loo-nah-sah), a feast to commemorate the funeral games of the Irish sun-god Lugh. However, it is not Lugh's death that is being celebrated, but the funeral games which Lugh hosted to commemorate the death of his foster-mother, Taillte. That is why the Lugnasadh celebrations in Ireland are often called the Tailltean Games. The word element "nasadh" relates to the Gaelic, "to give in marriage," and so Lugnasadh can be interpreted as the "Marriage of Lug."  In relation to this, a common feature of the Tailltean Games were the Tailltean marriages, a rather informal marriage that lasted for only a year and a day or until next Lammas. After the trial year, the couple could decide to continue the arrangement if it pleased them, or to stand back to back and walk away from one another, thus bringing the Tailltean marriage to a formal close.

Lammas was also the traditional time of year for craft festivals. The medieval guilds would create elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright colors and ribbons, marching in parades, and performing strange, ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. the modern expression of this is in the many county and state fairs that take place during this time.

The Stag King falls in sacrifice.

There is a strong tradition of sacrifice associated with Lammas.  This is the day the Oak King falls at the hand of the Holly King in order to bless the land. The last recorded sacrifice of a king of England may have occurred at Lammas, in the year 1100. King William II (Rufus the Red, or William Rufus) rejected the relatively new Christian beliefs, and openly declared himself Pagan. His death in a "hunting accident" on August 2, 1100 c.e., is believed by many historians to have been a case of the traditional sacrifice being disguised for the sake of the Christian priests.  The novel "Lammas Night" by Katherine Kurtz (now out of print and hard to find) explores these themes of kingly sacrifice.  It also explores the old witch legend about English covens raising the Cone of Power at Lammas to stop the Nazi invasion during WWII.

Until recent years, in Scotland, the first cut of the Harvest was made on Lammas Day, and was a ritual in itself. The entire family must dress in their finest clothing and go into the fields. The head of the family would lay his hat on the ground and, facing the Sun, cut the first handful of corn with a sickle. He would then put the corn Sun-wise around his head three times while thanking the God of the Harvest for...

"corn and bread,
food and flocks,
wool and clothing,
health and strength,
and peace and plenty."

This custom was called the "Iolach Buana."

In the British Isles, the custom of giving the First Fruits to the Gods evolved into giving them to the landlord. Lammas is now the traditional time for tenant farmers to pay their rent. Thus, Lammas is seen as a day of judgment or reckoning. From this practice comes the phrase "at latter Lammas", meaning "never", or "not until Judgment Day."

A heraldic Catherine Wheel

An old Lammas custom is the construction of the Kern-baby or corn maiden. This figure, originally made from the first sheaf, would be saved until spring, then ploughed into the field to prepare for planting. The Maiden thus returns to the field at Spring.  Another popular Lammas tradition is the rolling of Saint Catherine's Wheels. These are wagon wheels set ablaze and sent rolling down a hill, likely in imitiation of the sun's decline after solstice.

In our own tradition Lammas is the time of year when the White Goddess, who is the Queen of the Fey and Lady of Sovereignty, is at her shining peak.  The Spiral Castle is open to the south gate, and the earth sends forth its bounty in abundance.  It is is a time of celebration, and for "gathering rosebuds while ye may", for it is the last hurrah before the wheel turns to the dark of the year.

There are mysteries here, for just as surely as this is the wedding celebration of the Solar Oak King to the Goddess of the Land, so too is this his death.  Our Lady is La Belle Dame Sans Merci, and to be king you must wed She who is Death in Life.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci on her pale horse.

A Lammas Song
by Robert Burns
traditional to many Book of Shadows

    It was on a Lammas night,
    When corn rigs are bonny,
    Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
    I held away to Annie:
    The time flew by, with tentless heed,
    Till 'tween the late and early;
    With small persuasion she agreed
    To see me through the barley.

CHORUS

    Corn rigs, and barley rigs,
    And corn rigs are bonnie:
    I'll not forget that happy night,
    Among the rigs with Annie.

    The sky was blue, the wind was still,
    The moon was shining clearly;
    I set her down, with right good will,
    Among the rigs of barley
    I knew her heart was all my own;
    I loved her most sincerely;
    I kissed her over and over again,
    Among the rigs of barley.

    I locked her in my fond embrace;
    Her heart was beating rarely:
    My blessings on that happy place,
    Among the rigs of barley.
    But by the moon and stars so bright,
    That shone that hour so clearly!
    She ay shall bless that happy night,
    Among the rigs of barley.

    I have been blithe with Comrades dear;
    I have been merry drinking;
    I have been joyful gathering gear;
    I have been happy thinking:
    But all the pleasures ever I saw,
    Though three times doubled fairly
    That happy night was worth them all.
    Among the rigs of barley.

You may listen to an interpretation of The Lammas Song from the 1973 version of the film The Wicker Man below.

The Counting Out Chant

There is a certain chant in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows that begins "Eena meena mona mack..."  This is a chant with its roots in antiquity, but not because of its great magical virtue.  Rather, this chant is a variation on the Anglo-Cymric score counting out chants popular with children of all English-speaking nations.  You are probably familiar with this variation: "Eeny, meenie, miney, moe..."  Both of these chants are crude reworkings of the Welsh counting system.  They are called "scores" because they typically count up to twenty.

These old Welsh chants have a strong association with counting out rhymes to decide who is "It" in a game. Therefore they have an uncanny tie to old sacrificial rites of deciding who would be "It" (ie: the Year King, the Fool, the May Queen, the Carlin, etc. as appropriate for the rite).  Some of these counting out chants are explicitly linked with witchcraft, such as the Gardnerian variation above. Some samples for review are submitted below.

Onery, uery, ickery, see,

Huckbone, crackabone, tillibonee;

Ram pang, muski dan,

Striddledum, straddledum, twenty and one.

Eny, meny, mony, my,

Tusca, leina, bona, stry,

Kay bell, broken well,

We, wo, wack.

Intery, mintery, cutlery corn,

Apple seed and apple thorn,

Wire, briar, limber lock,

Five coneys in a flock;

Catch him Robin,

Hold him Jack,

Blow the bellows,

Old man Black.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of variations on the Anglo-Cymric score counting out rhymes. A good selection of them is collected here.  They are of interest to the witch for the same reason that the "Mother Goose" rhymes are of such importance.  These children's rhymes contain old folklore that has survived for centuries.

You may want to consider adapting the Anglo-Cymric score rhyme format to your own personal chants. Here is one I just made up.

Onery, uery, ickery, orn,

by crooked path and old blackthorn

Hukka, pooka, waning moon, 

Red bone, red thread, twenty 'un.

The Three Knives

Lay of the Arthame

by Nigel Jackson

This is the Metal: it dropp’d from the sky,

A ferrous tear of the Fire-Drake’s eye,

That burned through cloud and seared the soil 

and set the furious seas a boil,

That lay in ancient pores of earth,

Til Blacksmith’s brought it to birth,

Thrice-purified in Tubalo’s fire

It suffered the ordeal of the pyre; cast into waters, hissed it’s song,

The starry viper’s iron tongue was tempered on the anvil-stone,

Til radiant as changeless bone, 

With whispered charge and wordless spell,

The gramarye of Azazel. 

The edge was ground and thus was made,

The narrow road of sharpened blade. 

This is the metal: ‘twas shaped by Cain

Who wrought the heavenly Arthame.

There are three knives associated with our tradition. These knives each represent the three realms, and the White Goddess, the Black Goddess, and the Red God. Each knife is used in a very specific and exclusive way.

The first of the knives is the black-handled blade, the Athame. It is the tool of the first realm and relates to the Black Goddess. The Athame is used for cutting and describing numen. It is used primarily to cut and direct energy links and sometimes to delineate sacred space. Gate portals are cut with the Athame, and it is the Witch's primary weapon when in liminal space.

The second knife is the white-handled blade, the Kerfane. It is the tool of the second realm and relates to the White Goddess. The Kerfane is used for cutting and carving in the physical realm. It may be used to fashion a wand, carve into a candle, cut cords, or harvest herbs. If the Kerfane is sickle-shaped and used for harvesting plant materials it is referred to as a boline. If the Kerfane is shaped like a pin and is used for inscribing materials it is referred to as a burin.

The third knife is the red blade, the Shelg. It is the tool of the third realm and relates to the Red God of the Forge, Tubal Qayin. The Shelg is used for blood magic and sacrifice. It may be used to open a small wound in the flesh in order to produce blood for oath-taking or binding links. It is also used during the Housle to activate the Red Meal as a true sacrifice. Although sterile lancets are often used in place of the Shelg for safe bloodletting in small amounts, the Shelg is still symbolically passed over the wound to seal the link to Qayin.

The three knives are used in a test of fate during initiation to bind the Witch in service to one of the three deities of our Clan.