Words of Aradia: Concerning the Earth

These words are taken from Italian Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi:

The Earth is the nurturing power of the Mother. She nourishes us and from the soil She returns that which we sow. She gives us healing herbs and herbs by which we work our magick. The very Earth gives us life, without which we would perish.

There is a healing power in the Earth and a vital force. We know that a wounded animal will lay against the Earth to heal its wounds. They understand, and we are one with them through our religion.

I have taught you the secrets of the circle, for therein is the secret of the power of the Earth. Everything that the world does it does in a circle. The Earth teaches us the doctrine of Cycles. The Sun, the Moon, and the seasons come and go and return again and again. Even so it is with the cycles of our own lives. The Earth teaches us just as Nature does for they are one. Earth is the body and Nature is the Spirit.

We must live in harmony with the Earth and with Nature. To do otherwise is to court disaster. The forces of the Earth are greater than any power we can safely master. To strive against these forces is foolish.

Do nothing to the Earth that shall take away from the purpose it serves in Nature, for this is the natural balance. And the Earth shall always move against us to restore itself.

Is the tiller greater than the soil he till? Is the family greater than the crops they help grow? Is not the life within the soil, and within the crops, our own? How shall we be without them? What you do to the Earth you do to yourself.

Do not think that we are greater than the Earth, or than Nature. For surely they shall both crumble and dissolve all that we shall erect. And there shall be floods and earthquakes, and hostile weather to show us our errors and teach us perspective.