Pagan Roots in the South [View all]

“Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who was of old also called Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Bride, and by many other names…”

This opening passage from the Charge of the Goddess used by Wiccans around the world is familiar to many, but how many realize that this introductory statement was inspired by the ancient cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis? A remarkably similar statement is found in “The Golden Ass, or The Metamorphoses” by the classical writer Lucius Apuleius, who lived between 123 and 170 CE. Scholars believe that Apuleius was an initiate of the Isis cult and used his novel to document at least some of the teachings of his beloved goddess. Here’s the relevant passage from book eleven, chapter forty-seven of the 1566 English translation of the book by W. Adlington:

“…my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customes and in many names, for the Phrygians call me the mother of the Gods: the Athenians, Minerva: the Cyprians, Venus: the Candians, Diana: the Sicilians Proserpina: the Eleusians, Ceres: some Juno, other Bellona, other Hecate: and principally the æthiopians which dwell in the Orient, and the ægyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustome to worship mee, doe call mee Queene Isis.”

Adlington’s translation was reprinted in new annotated and updated editions in 1915 and 1924, and Robert Graves produced a new English translation from the Latin original in 1950. The book’s popularity has certainly withstood the test of time as it is still being read almost two thousand years after its author lived.

http://www.onlinepagans.com/?p=1039