Aradia

Gospel Of The Witches

in which the magic virtue consists. I cannot, however, resist the conviction that this is most applicable to, and will succeed best with, researches for objects of antiquity, scholarship, and art, and it should accordingly be deeply impressed on the memory of every bric-a-brac hunter and bibliographer. It should be observed, and that earnestly, that the prayer, far from being answered, will turn to the contrary or misfortune, unless the one who repeats it does so in fullest faith, and this cannot be acquired by merely saying to oneself, I believe. For to acquire real faith in anything requires long and serious mental discipline, there being, in fact, no subject which is so generally spoken of and so little understood. Here indeed, I am speaking seriously, for the man who can train his faith to actually believe in and cultivate or develop his will can really work what the world by common consent regards as miracles. A time will come when this principle will form not only the basis of all education, but also that of all moral and social culture. I have, I trust, fully set it forth in a work entitled Have you a Strong Will? or how to Develop it or any other Faculty or Attribute of the Mind, and render it Habitual, &c. London: George Redway.

The reader, however, who has devout faith, can, as the witches declare, apply this spell

daily before going forth to procuring or obtaining any kind of bargains at shops, to picking up or discovering lost objects, or, in fact, to finds of any kind. If he incline to beauty in female form, he will meet with bonnes fortunes; if a man of business, bargains will be his. The botanist who repeats it before going into the fields will probably discover some new plant, and the astronomer by night be almost certain to run against a brand new planet, or at least an asteroid. It should be repeated before going to the races, to visit friends, places of amusement, to buy or sell, to make speeches, and specially before hunting or any nocturnal goings-forth, since Diana is the goddess of the chase and of night. But woe to him who does it for a jest!

CHAPTER VIII

TO HAVE A GOOD WINE AND VERY GOOD WINE BY THE AID OF DIANA

He who would have a good vintage and fine wine, should take a horn full of wine and with

this go into the vineyards or farms wherever vines grow, and then drinking from the horn say -

I drink, and yet it is not wine I drink,

I drink the blood of Diana,

Since from wine it has changed into her blood,

And spread itself through all my growing vines,

Whence it will give me good return in wines,

Though even if good vintage should be mine,

Ill be free from care, for should it chance

That the grape ripens in the waning moon,

Then all the wine would come to sorrow, but

If drinking from this horn I drink the blood -

The blood of great Diana - by her aid -

If I do kiss my hand to the new moon,

Praying the Queen that she will guard my grapes,

Even from the instant when the bud is born

Until it is a ripe and perfect grape,

And onward to the vintage, and to the last

Until the wine is made - may it be good!

And may it so succeed that I from it

May draw good profit when at last tis sold,

So may good fortune come unto my vines,

And into all my land whereer it be!

But should my vines seem in an evil way,

Ill take my horn, and bravely will I blow

In the wine-vault at midnight, and Ill make

Such a tremendous and a terrible sound

That thou, Diana fair, however far

Away thou mayst be, still shalt hear the call,

And casting open door or window wide,

Shalt headlong come upon the rushing wind,

And find and save me - that is, save my vines,

Which will be saving me from dire distress;

For should I lose them Id be lost myself,

But with thy aid, Diana, Ill be saved.