This version of the Charge of the Goddess is dedicated to the dark face of the Goddess. I think it is very appropriate for dark moon rites. Again, I have not been able to determine who the author is.

Listen to the words of the Dark Mother, who of old was called Hecate, Nuit, Morrigan, Banba, Erda, Macha, MotherNight, Sekhmet and many other names.

“Whenever you seek wisdom, at the time of the Darkening Moon, come together in love and trust and learn of Me, who am the Wisest of Crones. You who search the mysteries of the Earth, the secrets of air and darkness, of blood and fire, the silence of the uttermost stars, come unto me, and I shall whisper to you in the depths of midnight.

“You shall approach Me in silence, and as a sign that you are free from fear, your breast shall bare to My blade, for fear has no place in My mysteries, and that which you seek of me will destroy you if you fear it.

“For I am the dolmen arch beyond which stretch the mysteries of infinity. I am the silence before birth and after death. I am the clouded mirror in which you scry your own soul. I am mist in the twilight, the vast and starry sky of midnight, shadows on the Moon. All things come to Me in the end, and yet I am the beginning of all. I meet you at the crossroads, I lead you through the darkness, My hand you grasp in the passage between the worlds. To those that toy with Me, I am an instrument of self-destruction. Yet to the true seeker do I bring knowledge beyond mortal comprehension.

“Of you shall I demand the utter truth of all that you are, and in return shall I give you all that you may be, all that I am. For My wisdom is beyond the Ages, and knowledge of My secrets is power over self, over fear, over death. Nor do I demand aught of you which you cannot give. For I am the Mother of Mysteries, and as you know Me so shall you learn to know yourself.”