The Union of the Witches

M.K. O 'Brian

The Union of the Witches

The Witch Goddess had been loved
By the god of fertility,
Till he was snatched away
By the cold hand of Death.
So she resolved to journey
To the underworld
And win him back.

She Approached the Infernal Region
Through a grove of black poplars
To stand on the bank of an
Obsidian river.
From beneath her tongue
She produced a silver coin,
With which the miserly ferryman
Was reluctantly hired.

At the first portal she met
The daughters of Shadow
In the form of three wolves.
These were bribed and placated
With enchanted honey cakes
So they resumed their maiden forms
And lapsed into narcosis.

Approaching the second portal
Provoked a challenge,
“Strip all adornments
For none may enter
The Realm of Death
But as they were born.”

As she approached complying,
The gatekeeper noticed
How the withered grass
Sprang to life beneath her feet.
“Lady you lack the pallor of death,”
Is it your intention to play me false?
The gate swung shut.

Enraged the Witch Goddess shouted:
“I am the Goddess of Enchantments
Do you dare refuse me, slave?”

Unperturbed the guardian returned:
“Surely, you are Queen in
The Land of the Living,
Not in The Realm of Shadows.”

The Witch Goddess rose in stature,
The elements rushed to her command.
“If you do not let me pass,
I shall smash the lock,
I shall break the threshold and
Destroy the portals;
I shall make the dead to rise
Till they outnumber the living.”

Relenting the Keeper opened the gate.
By the time they had reached
The Seventh Portal,
She had discarded all adornments.

The Guardian offered a final warning:
“My Lady if you would return
To The Land of the Living,
Accept neither food nor drink
And never look backwards.”

The Witch Goddess was brought before
The Queen of the Underworld
Who, taken by her radiance, said:
“Leave me not for you are the
Essence of life itself;
Stay here and warm my heart.”

The Witch Goddess shrunk back,
“I have no love for you who takes
Everything I love and cherish.”

“But I too am powerless against
The relentless march of time,
Said the queen.
I too must watch everything die.
Yet it is I who give sanctuary
To the shades of the perished
Till they are born again.
But you and I are immortal.
Live with me here and together,”
We shall know everything.”

Still, the Witch Goddess was unmoved.
“I cannot love you who causes all the beauty
I create to wither and fade away.”

“Then,” said the Queen,
“You shall be touched by
The hand of Death.”

Yet still,
The hand of Death held back.

And then the Queen said:
“Stay with me for half the year,
Then return above with your god
To make the earth
Fruitful and bounteous.
But then the land must know
The cold of winter
While you return to bring life
And warmth to my realm.”

“So shall it be,”
The Witch Goddess relented,
Accepting both fruit and wine.

The Queen of the Underworld
Rejoiced, “It is fate, only thus
May the cycle be completed.”
They exchanged kisses
And were as one, and
Together knew all the mysteries
Of birth, life and death.

And so they learned that
Love connects everything,
And death is but a beginning.
For to be reborn one must first die,
As birth must follow death.

And who can be born but through
The magic of love.

Finish

This effort brings together themes from the Sumerian myth of Ereshkigal and Ishtar, and the Pelasgoi-Hellenic myth of Persephone's abduction by Hades. Such themes inspired Aleister Crowley's wonderful "Magical Legend of the Witches", which in turn inspired me to write about mythology.