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 indicted

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

---   Lady Tamara

Those Who Love You

If anyone should hurt you and say a thing unkind;

Remember what I tell you and keep these things in mind.

For ever one who makes you cry there are three who make you smile;

And a smile will last a long, long time but a tear just a little while.

If someone says a thing that's cruel, don't let it get to you;

There's so much good about you and your faults are very few.

So if a certain someone should act a certain way;

Just think of those who love you and don't let it ruin your day.

Don't let someone who hates the world cause you to hate it too;

For behind the clouds is a golden Sun and a sky that's bright and blue.

---   Unknown Author

   Various Aphorisms I

The Kingdom of God

In No Strange Land

O World invisible, we view thee, 

O World intangible, we touch thee,

O World unknowable, we know thee,

In apprehensible, we clutch thee!

Does the fish soar to find the ocean,

The eagle plunge to find the air ~

That we ask of the stars in motion

If they have rumor of thee there?

Not where the wheeling systems darken,

And our benumbed conceiving soars!

The drift of pinions, would be harken,

Beats at our clay-shuttered doors.

The angels keep their Ancient places;

Turn but a stone, and start a wing!

'Tis ye, 'tis your estranged faces,

That miss the many-splendor'd thing.

---   Geoffrey Hodson