Sacred Texts
Book of the Goddess, by Anna Livia Plurabelle
The Testament of Gaia
And when she arose on that morning the Patriarchs seized her,
And bound her,
And broke her body on the wheel,
And accused her of witchcraft,
And stripped her of her clothes and her name:
"You will be called Gaia; she that has no name,"
Said the Patriarchs;
And they took her to the marketplace to be burned.
Then, at that hour of Gaias' death,
The Sun and the Moon stood still in the Heaven;
And a glory shrouded the body of Gaia;
And Gaia spoke:
I have become Gaia, beloved of the Goddess,
Creatrix and Destroyer of Worlds;
And this is my testament.
Blessed are the generous in love: for theirs is the Love of the Goddess.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the poor: for they shall inherit the Earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after the knowledge: for they shall be enlightened.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall be loved by the Goddess.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the avatars of the Goddess.
Blessed are they who are persecuted: for theirs will be the Goddesses' justice.
Blessed are you of the Goddess when the ignorant shall revile you,
And persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for the Goddesses sake.
I, the Creatrix, speak through my beloved Gaia to those who come after:
"Rejoice, I say, and be exceeding glad: for I will take you into My arms:
For the Patriarchs burned and persecuted the Witches who came before you:
And these I gathered to My arms and freed from the cycle of rebirth."
Women are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its taste,
What with shall our food be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing,
But to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot;
The Patriarchs would wish women to be invisible.
But in women are the light of the world.
A tree that grows on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do women light a hearth fire, and hide it;
As it gives light to all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before humanity,
That they may see your good works, and glorify your Queen, the Goddess.
Think not that She has returned to destroy other religions,
She comes not to destroy, but to fulfil.
For truly I say to you, till the death of the Sun,
Nothing will be taken from the other religions of the Earth,
Till the good in all of them be fulfilled.
You have heard that it was said of them of old time,
Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say to you, that whosoever take away
A woman's right to control her own body,
And her reproductive system, in the name of holy life,
Shall be in danger of the anger of the Goddess.
They themselves have scorned life and serve death;
They will be doomed to infinite reincarnation.
Of old it was said: Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say to you,
That whosoever nurtures jealousy will be scorned by the Goddess.
And each of the lovers that you embrace is likewise beloved of the Goddess.
You have heard it said that it is unholy for woman to lay with woman,
Or man to lay with man,
But I say to you that the Goddesses' love knows no gender.
You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say to you, resist chaos with all of the passion of the Goddess:
Create peace in the sacred places of the Earth;
Revenge begats revenge; whosoever breaks the cycle of revenge is beloved of the Goddess.
Find common ground with your adversary quickly,
For whosoever shall create consensus is the beloved of the Goddess.
You have heard that it was said by them of old time,
Whosoever shall hit you on your right cheek in anger, turn to her the other also.
And if any will sue thee at the law, and take away your coat, let her have your cloak also.
And whosoever shall force thee to walk a kilometer, walk with her two kilometers.
Give to she that ask you, and from her that would borrow of you turn not you away.
And be not afraid of those who persecute you;
For if you return injury with kindness they will be shamed;
This is the right thing to do.
You have heard that it has been said,
You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
But I say to you,
Love your enemies,
Speak truth to the liars,
Bless them that curse you,
Do good to them that hate you,
This is what they least wish you to do;
In this way you will overcome all oppression.
Forgive those who abuse you,
For you are the daughter of your Mother who created the universe:
For She is the Sun who rises over the evil and the good,
The Moon that shines on the ocean and the mountains,
She sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Love those who love you, but what is exceptional about that?
Be you therefore not jealous, even as your Creatrix is not jealous;
This is exceptional.
Rebirth after rebirth, Her children suffer;
This ring of suffering is sundered if you can extinguish jealousy in your heart;
This is the noble truth of the Goddess;
It is as light as a feather, but as difficult to lift as a mountain.
By not seeing the noble truth of the Goddess,
Long is the path that is traversed through many a birth;
When this is grasped, the cause of rebirth is then removed,
The root of sorrow rooted out, and there is no more rebirth.
Live simply on the Earth and do not compel others to worship the Goddess;
For all will find their own path to Her Grove;
There are many paths to the Grove of the Goddess.
This is the supreme Invocation of the One Goddess:
Our Mother, creator of heaven;
Blessed be your name.
Your springtime come,
Your singtime sung,
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.
"Do what you love, shall be the whole of the law,
And harm no one, lest ye be harmed threefold;"
And lead us to knowledge, and deliver us from jealousy:
For yours is the wisdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Blessed be. Blessed be. Blessed be.
If you forgive the hateful their trespasses,
Your Mother will also forgive you:
But if you forgive not the hateful their trespasses,
Neither will your Mother forgive your trespasses.
When you fast, be not hungry;
When you meditate on the Goddess, be not distracted;
For in her name is perfection;
And in her name is satisfaction.
If you hoard for yourselves treasures upon earth,
Moth and rust will corrupt, and thieves break through and steal:
But accumulate for yourselves wisdom and kindness,
Which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
And which thieves do not break through nor steal:
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is your heart chakra:
If therefore your heart chakra radiate light,
Your whole body shall be full of light.
But if your heart be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Therefore I say to you,
Love yourself, even as you are today;
Love what you eat, and drink; and your body,
And what you adorn yourself with.
But be aware that life is more than food, and the body more than raiment.
Behold the birds of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap,
Nor save up food; yet your heavenly Mother feeds them.
Are you any better than they?
Which of you by thinking can add one centimeter to her stature?
And why be concerned about your clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say to you, that their clothing is more glorious than the finest couture.
Wherefore, if Goddess so clothe the grain of the field,
Which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall she not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith?
Therefore in your heart do not worry about
What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For your Mother the Goddess knows that you have need of all these things.
But seek you first the Path of the Goddess, and Her love;
And all these things shall be provided for you;
For the Goddess loves things of beauty and gracefulness.
Take therefore no thought for tomorrow:
For tomorrow shall take care of itself.
Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.
Judge not, lest you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge,
You shall be judged:
Why criticize the splinter that is in your sister's eye,
But consider not the log that is in your own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to your sister,
"Let me pull out the splinter out of your eye;"
And, behold, a log is in your own eye?
Oh hypocrite, first cast out the splinter out of your own eye;
And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the log out of your sister's eye.
Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before swine,
Lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Ask, and it shall be given you;
Seek, and you shall find;
Knock, and it shall be opened to you:
For every one that asks receives;
And she that seeks finds;
And to her that knocks the door shall be opened.
Enter you in at the narrow gate:
For wide open is the gate,
And straight is the way, that leads to ignorance,
And many there be which go in thereat:
But narrow is the gate, and labyrinthine is the path
Which leads to the Goddess, and few there be that find it.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,
But inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do we harvest grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles?
Even so every good tree bring forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bring forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bring not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
In quiet the voice of the Goddess is best heard;
Those who say do not know and those who know do not say;
Not every one that says to me, Goddess, Goddess, Goddess,
Shall enter into the Grove; but only she that does the will of my Mother.
Many will say to me in that day,
Goddess, Goddess, Goddess, have we not prophesied in your name?
And in your name have cast out evil?
And in your name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess to them, I never knew you:
You have deceived many and enlightened none;
Depart from me, you that work iniquity.
Therefore whosoever hear these sayings of mine, and do them,
I will liken her to a wise woman, which built her house upon a solid foundation.
And then the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
And beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was built upon bedrock.
And every one that hear these sayings of mine, and do them not,
Shall be likened to a foolish woman, which built her house upon a beach
And the rain descended, and the waves came, and the winds blew,
And beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
At that moment the Sun set and the full Moon rose;
And silence fell on the marketplace;
Gaia was consumed by the flames;
She died at the hands of the patriarchs;
May the burning times not come again;
May we be blessed by Her tolerance and wisdom.
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