once upon a time
there were only Witches and Women
every Woman was a Witch and every Witch was a Woman
they lived in peace in the forests speaking to the birds
they lived in peace on the ocean shores dancing with the waves
they lived in peace in the deserts making love to the quiet din of night
each Witch had her power and each Woman had her flame
each Witch had her cauldron and each Woman had her hearth
and though they lived in peace and joy and pleasure for many eons, communing with the animals and earthen life, there came a time when the Witches and the Women wanted something more
the Goddess smiled sunset down upon them and each Witch gathered her power in her cauldron and each Woman gathered her flame in her hearth
and so the spell went:
Goddess, Goddess
you weave our world
we dance with darkness
and starlight twirled
bring us the best and the worst of them
something called children
and something else called men
test our hearts and test our power
to expand our love
we risk for all to sour
and so the Goddess and her lover dripped the blood and seed and water of life into the black void of the Witches’ cauldrons
and upon the flames of the Women’s hearths the Witches’ power bubbled
the cauldrons sizzled and popped and burned as the moon went from light to dark to light to dark nine times in the Goddess’s sky
then with a bang! the world unleashed
each Woman had a man and each Mother had a child
each man protected each Woman and the flame upon her hearth
so each child was free
but in the wild dark of night the Witches still gathered with their powers and their cauldrons
and so the world went on
until one day one man got angry when he realized that it was the Witches and the Women who brought him into being
he wanted to be the one with the cauldron and the power and the hearth and the flame
so he convinced his fellow men that each Woman was a Witch and each Witch was evil
so the Witches hid in the dark shadows of the forests, in the caves on the ocean shores, and in the quiet din of night of the desert
the girls who grew up to be Women forgot that they too were supposed to grow up to be Witches
the men most evil tried to steal the cauldrons and the hearths
but the power would not bloom and the flames all refused to light
sometimes there would be a girl who grew into a Woman who knew she was a Witch
and sometimes children would be free
and sometimes men would understand
but overtime the peace and joy and pleasure of the earth long ago tended to by Witches and Women were slowly destroyed by the greedy hands of men who pretended they were not born from the Witches’ cauldrons upon the Women’s hearths
the Women tried to choose men who would honor them
the Mothers tried to raise their children to remember the ancient ways
and the Witches prayed to the Goddess:
what have we done
to live in such a world
that hates us so?
what have we done
to live in such a world
that believes the cauldrons that birthed each living soul are filled with dark and evil magick?
what have we done
to live in such a world
that the hearths and flames of Women are not protected above all else?
and the Goddess could offer them only this:
one day
when the men have blown up the world
and the earth’s lands lay barren
there will once again be
Witches and Women
with flames in their hearths
and their sacred cauldrons
from which the worlds are birthed

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