to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.
a cache of captured internet text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.
Tana The Moon Goddess
The following story, which appeared originally in the Legends of Florence, collected
from the people by me, does not properly belong to the Witch's Gospel, as it is not
strictly in accordance with it; and yet it could not well be omitted, since it is on the
same subject. In it Diana appears simply as the lunar goddess of chastity, therefornot as
a witch. It was given to me as Fana, but my informant said that it might be Tana; she was
not sure. As Tana occurs in another tale, and as the subject is certainly Diana, there can
hardly be a question of this. Tana was a very beautiful girl, but extremely poor, and as modest and pure as she was
beautiful and humble. She went from one contadino to another, or from farm to farm to
work, and thus led an honest life. There was a young boor, a very ugly, bestial, and brutish fellow, who was after his
fashion raging with love for her, but she could not so much as bear to look at him,and
repelled all his advances. But late one night, when she was returning alone from the farmhouse where she had
worked to her home, this man who had hidden himself in a thicket, leaped out on herand
cried, "Thou canst not flee; mine thou shalt be!" And seeing no help near, and only the full moon looking down on her from heaven,Tana
in despair cast herself on her knees and cried to it: "I have no one on earth to defend me, When she had said this, there appeared before her a bright but shadowy form, which
said: "Rise, and go to thy home! Thus it came to pass that Tana became the dea or spirit of the Moon. Though the air be set to a different key, this is a poem of pure melody, and thesame
as Wordsworth's "Goody Blake and Harry Gill." Both Tana and the old dame are
surprised and terrified; both pray to a power above: "The cold, cold moon above her head, The dramatic center is just the same in both. The English ballad soberly turns into an
incurable fir of ague inflicted on a greedy young boor; the Italian witch-poetess, with
finer sense, or with more sympathy for the heroine, casts the brute aside without further
mention, and apotheosizes the maiden, identifying her with the Moon. The former is more
practical and probable, the latter more poetical. And here it is worth while, despite digression, to remark what an immense majority
there are of people who can perceive, feel, and value poetry in mere words or form - that
is to say, objectively - and hardly know or note it when it is presented subjectively or
as thought, but not put into some kind of verse or measure, or regulated form. Thisis a
curious experiment and worth studying. Take a passage from some famous poet; write it out
in pure simple prose, doing full justice to its real meaning, and if it still actually
thrills or moves as poetry, then it is of the first class. But if it has lost its glamour
absolutely, it is second rate or inferior; for the best cannot be made out of mere words
varnished with associations, be they of thought or feeling. This is not such a far cry from the subject as might be deemed. Reading and feeling
them subjectively, I am often struck by the fact that in these Witch traditions which I
have gathered there is a wondrous poetry of thought, which far excels the efforts of many
modern bards, and which only requires the aid of some clever workman in words to assume
the highest rank. A proof of what I have asserted may be found in the fact that, insuch
famous poems as the Finding of the Lyre, by James Russell Lowell, and that on the
invention of the pipe by Pan, by Mrs. Browning, that which formed the most exquisite and
refined portion of the original myths is omitted by both authors, simply because they
missed or did not perceive it. For in the former we are not told that it was the breathing
of the god Air (who was the inspiring soul of ancient music, and the Bellaria of modern
witch-mythology) on the dried filament of the tortoise, which suggested to Hermes the
making an instrument wherewith he made the music of the spheres and guided the course of
the planets. As for Mrs. Browning, she leaves out Syrinx altogether, that is to say, the
voice of the nymph still lingering in the pipe which had been her body. Now to my mind the
old prose narrative of these myths is much more deeply poetical and moving, and farmore
inspired with beauty and romance, than are the well-rhymed and measured, but very
imperfect versions given by our poets. And in fact, such want of intelligence or
perception may be found in all the 'classic' poems, not only of Keats, but of almost every
poet of the age who has dealt in Greek subjects. Great license is allowed to painters and poets, but when they take a subjective,
especially a deep tradition, and fail to perceive its real meaning or catch its point, and
simply give us something very pretty, but not so inspired with meaning as the original, it
can hardly be claimed that they have done their work as it might, or, in fact, should have
been done. I find that this fault does not occur in the Italian or Tuscan witch versions
of the ancient fables; on the contrary, they keenly appreciate, and even expand, the
antique spirit. Hence I have often had occasion to remark that it was not impossible that
in some cases popular tradition, even as it now exists, has been preserved more fully and
accurately than we find it in any Latin writer. Now apropos of missing the point, I would remind certain very literal readers that if
they find many faults of grammar, misspelling, and worse in the Italian texts in this
book, they will not, as a distinguished reviewer has done, attribute them all to the
ignorance of the author, but to the imperfect education of the person who collectedand
recorded them. I am reminded of this by having seen in a circulating library copy of my
Legend of Florence, in which some good careful soul had taken pains with a pencil to
correct all the archaisms. Wherein, he or she was like a certain Boston proof reader, who
in a book of mine changed the spelling of many citations from Chaucer, Spenser, andothers
into the purest, or impurest, Webster; he being under the impression that I was extremely
ignorant of orthography. As for the writing in or injuring books, which always belong
partly to posterity, it is a sin of vulgarity as well as morality, and indicates what
people are more than they dream. "Only a cad as low as a thief
Next Chapter
Thou alone dost see me in this strait;
Therefore I pray to thee, O Moon!
As thou art beautiful so thou art bright
Flashing thy splendor over all mankind;
Even so I pray thee light up the mind
Of this poor ruffian, who would wrong me here,
Even to the worst. Cast light into his soul,
That he may let me be in peace, and then
Return in all thy light unto my home!"
Thou has well deserved this grace;
No one shall trouble thee more,
Purest of all on earth!
Thou shalt a goddess be,
The Goddess of the Moon,
Of all enchantment Queen!"
Thus on her knees did Goody pray;
Young Harry heard what she had said,
And icy cold he turned away."
Would write in a book or turn down a leaf,
Since 'tis thievery, as well is know,
To make free with that which is not our own."
Previous Chapter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SEARCH THIS SITE:
a local search engine and a named link to each Lucky Mojo page
Lucky Mojo Site Map:
a descriptive entry-level index to the whole Lucky Mojo pile
Lucky W Amulet Archive Home Page:
an online museum of folk-magic charms
Sacred Sex Home Page:
essays on tantra yoga, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
The Sacred Landscape HomePage:
essays on archaeoastronomy and sacred geometry
Freemasonry for Women HomePage:
a history of mixed gender freemasonic lodges
The Lucky Mojo Curio Co.:
manufacturers of spiritual supplies for hoodoo and conjure
The Comics Warehouse:
a source for back-issues of comic books and trading cards
catherine yronwode,
the eclectic and eccentric author of all the above web pages
nagasiva yronwode:
tyaginator, nigris (333), nocTifer, lorax666, boboroshi, !
The Lucky Mojo Esoteric Archive:
captured internet files on occult and spiritual topics
The Lucky Mojo Esoteric Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Esoteric Archivist:
nagasiva@luckymojo.com.
