Ch.14 Of Chants (WMB 14.b)

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 b

A very commonly used chant in Wicca comes from the writings of Rudyard Kipling. The chant Oak and Ash and Thorn, which is one of the six verses of the poem A Tree Song, was taken from the collection of stories Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906) and used in a number of the Sabbat rituals in a very slightly modified form.

“Oh, do not tell the priest of our plight,

Or he would call it a sin;

But - we have been out in the woods all night,

A-conjuring Summer in!

And we bring you news by word of mouth

Good news for cattle and corn,

Now is the Sun come up from the South

With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”

It is interesting to note that in the same book Kipling also referred to the smith god Weland (The Runes on Weland’s Sword) and to Mithras (A Song to Mithras), and included a poem called A Pict Song which may well have influenced Gardner’s view of the Picts as the original fairy folk as portrayed in his later books.

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.