Ch.14 Of Chants (WMB 14.a)

Extract from: Wicca: Magical Beginnings written by d’Este & Rankine, 2008 (Avalonia.) PB / Kindle @ https://amzn.to/3Ay4HJr.

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Chapter 14 - Of Chants - part a

Words have always been thought to hold an inherent magickal power since the creation of language, and Wiccans, like the practitioners of many other magickal traditions, make good use of them in their ceremonies in chants and spells.

The best known chant associated with Wicca today is the Witches Rune. This chant appears in different forms in Books of Shadows originating from different time periods, and may be familiar to readers as starting with:

“Darksome night and Shining Moon, East, then South, then West, then North, Hearken to the Witches Rune: Here I come to call thee forth...”

In some versions of the Witches Rune it is combined with the refrain of “Eko, eko, azerak, eko eko, zamilak…” and in others not.

In 1948 a poem called Lundy Cave by Lawry Hawkey was published in the book A Cornish Chorus, a collection of Cornish poetry. This poem, which may or may not have been a nominal source of inspiration, contained the phrase “The Witch’s Rune”. For the curious reader we include an excerpt of this poem to demonstrate the essence it expressed:

“Out of the black dark

Under the moon

That is the way

Of the witches’ rune.

Shriek and scrabble

Scream and shout,

Over and under,

In and out,

The wave comes up

And the witch goes in,

Back to the cauldron

Black as sin!”

Extract from: Wicca: Magical Beginnings written by d’Este & Rankine, 2008 (Avalonia.) PB / Kindle @ https://amzn.to/3Ay4HJr. Shared here with the intention to inspire and inform the now and future generations interested in Wicca and other Pagan traditions inspired by it.