"The Descent of the Goddess"
The Descent of the Goddess, is the legend/myth of how the Goddess went and visits death and must strip off all of her clothing in order to see Death and in meeting Death, he (Hades) teaches Her about love, about death, and all mysteries and magic's. This is saying not only did the Goddess not know how to love but knew nothing of death.
Or is it for us to see that this is just a metaphor with a deeper meaning?
The Goddess is death. This is a contradiction of the Charge of the Goddess because beyond death, She gives peace and freedom, and reunion with all those who have gone before. Everything comes from Her and everything returns to Her. Love is her Law. Those are the words in the Charge. She created life out of love. That is her mystery - love unto all. To love unconditionally and with compassion for your fellow sisters and brothers.
She is love - She is the very heartbeat found in every woman and man. The very essence of the Goddess is love.
In the Legend it says that Death (Hades) taught her all the mysteries and magic's. The Goddess is the mysteries - She is the moon. The Moon which effects the tides of the ocean and tides of woman. From planting seeds and roots to working magic - all is done by the Moon. Do not all witches work magic by the Moon? Is not menstruation part of the Goddess? Isn't there a connection between the Moon cycle and women's mysteries? Isn't menstruation the mystery and the magic? And does not women's menstruating enable them to work the strongest magic which men cannot? Even Aleister Crowley found having sex with his "Scarlet Woman" when she was menstruating to be very powerful magic - such magic, of course, being for his benefit, and not hers! To say that Death (Hades) taught her all mysteries and magic's is saying that they have yet to find the Goddess in themselves.
In the Legend it says that the Goddess did not know the mystery of death. To say that the Goddess did not know death is a contradiction in itself. The powerful Goddess, Hecate, who man fears the most, is Goddess of Death. She was here way before the Olympian Gods came along with their wars and destruction. She is the Goddess of the Underworld. Until the Gods came along, it was Hecate who took Persephone to the Underworld to teach her the mysteries and of magic. It was not until Olympian Gods came long that Persephone was abducted, raped, and tricked. Once again, is this not what men of old use to do to women in villages they raided? They tried to take the power of the mysteries and of magic from the Goddess Hecate, and give it to the God, but She is too powerful and will have none of it and we, as Witches, will have none of it as well. Some say you should fear the Goddess Hecate, but we know that is not so. She is death; She is the mystery; She is magic; She is the teacher; She is wisdom. She holds the keys that unlocks the doors of mystery and magic. She is the oldest Triple Goddess. She is the Witch.
The travesty of them all is the Goddess being scourged by Death (Hades), because She does not love him and will not stay with him. Man has used and abused women since the beginning of time. Women have been viciously beaten by their fathers, even their brothers, their husbands and by mankind for centuries. It does not take much imagination to figure out who created the Legend. No where can it be found that there was scourging in the Witchcraft before Gerald Gardner.....let alone the Goddess being scourged. It only goes to show that that is how women were treated by man and looked upon even when Gardner came along.....do as thy will or be beaten. If anyone has ever read Doreen Valiente's Rebirth of Witchcraft (which is mostly about Gerald Gardner), you will know that most of Wicca (as we know it) was either written by Gardner or Aleister Crowley. Yes, it was Gardner who brought Witchcraft out into the open in 1951, but there were women practicing witchcraft behind closed doors before and even after the infamous Inquisition. The Goddess religion never died.
Be followers of the Goddess. She will always guide you to peace, love, and enlightenment. After all, She is Goddess of Love, Goddess of all Mysteries, and Goddess of Death as it has been since the beginning of time.
Margaret Hamilton 1902 - 1985 MGM The Wizard of Oz Movie