Venus Transit: Multifaith prayers and poems, and a list of goddess names

By Rana

A beautiful assembly of poems and prayers on the theme of LOVE and TRANSCENDENCE.

“We will read them during the transit tomorrow on the most sacred places on the Isle of Wight. The entire Isle of Wight was considered by the Druids to be a vast Solar Temple.

We invite you to pray for World peace and love during the Transit of Venus at 11am GMT on 8th June 2004 for fifteen minutes. This will be the biggest global mass prayer meeting in the history of the World. You will find some multifaith prayers and poems, and a list of goddess names for your use on this page. Or make up your own prayer in accordance with your own faith or lack thereof. Or, do what thou wilt.”


Prayer of Mother Julian of Norwich (1373 AD)

From the time these Visions were first revealed,
I had often wanted to know what was our Lord\'s meaning.
It was more than 15 years after that I was answered in my Spirit\'s
understanding.
\'You would know our Lord\'s meaning in this thing?
Know it well. LOVE was his meaning.
Who showed you? LOVE.
What did he show you? LOVE.
Why did he show it? For LOVE.
Hold on to this and you will know and understand LOVE more and more.
But you will not know or learn anything else - ever!\'

So it was that I learned that LOVE was our Lord\'s meaning.
And I saw for certain, both here and elsewhere,
that before ever he made us, God loved us,
and that his LOVE has never slackened, nor ever shall.
In this LOVE all his works have been done,
and in this LOVE he has made everything serve us;
and in this LOVE our life is everlasting.
Our beginning was when we were made,
but LOVE in which he made us never had beginning.
In it we have our beginning.
All this we shall see in God for evermore.
May the Lord grant this request.
Amen

The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226 AD)

O Lord, make me an instrument of thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love -
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is discord, harmony,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much as seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be undersood as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born into Eternal Life. Amen

The Love Prayer of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179 AD)

Love overflows into all things,
From out of the depths, to above the highest stars;
And so Love overflows into all best beloved, most living things,
Because She has given to the highest King
The Kiss of Peace.

A Taoist Prayer from Lao-Tzu\'s Tao Te Ching (c500 BC)

Let the Love be present in your life
and you will become genuine
Let it be present in your family
and your family will flourish.
Let it be present in your country
and your country will be an example to the whole world.
Let it be present in the Universe
and the Universe will sing.

How do I know this is true?
By looking inside myself.

Her Have I Sought, by Giordano Bruno di Nola (15  -1600)

Her have I loved and sought from my youth,
and desired for my spouse,
and have become a lover of her form . .
and I prayed . .
that she might be sent to abide with me,
that I might know what I lacked,
and what was acceptable to God:
for she knew and understood,
and would guide me soberly in my work
and would keep me in her cahrge.

Love Song of Nuit The Egyptian Queen of Heaven

For I am divided for love\'s sake, for the chance of Union.
This is the creation of the world,
that the pain of division is as nothing
and the joy of dissolution all.

To love me is better than all things:
if under night-stars in the desert
thou presently burnest mine incense before me,
invoking me with a pure heart,
and the Kundalini Sperpent flame therein,
thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom.
For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all;
but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour.
Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices;
ye shall wear rich jewels;
ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride;
but always in the love of me,
and so shall ye come before me in a single robe,
and covered with a rich headdress.
I love you! I yearn to you!
Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous,
I who am all pleasure and purple,
and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you.
Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you:
come unto me!

Love Song of Hadit The Egyptian King of Heaven

In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she,
the circumference, is nowhere found.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man and woman,
and in the core of every star.
I am Life, and the giver of Life,
yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy;
that all the sorrows are but as shadows;
they pass and are done;
but there is that which remains.

May There Be Peace by John Coltrane (1926-1967)

May there be Peace, and Love and Perfection
throughout all Creation, oh God.

May there be Peace, and Love and Perfection
throughout all Creation, oh God.

You Are My Love - Sufi Love Song by Khwaja Farid

You are my love, you are my friend;
you are my religion and my faith;
You are my body, you are my soul;
you are my heart and you are my life.
You are my soul and the direction of my prayer;
you are the teachings of the Masters;
you are the five prayers and the call to prayer.
you are His name and His message;
you are my aim and my passion.
You are my hope and my humility.
You are my pain and its cure,
the cause for my joy and the root of my problems.
You are my beauty, my fate and my companion,
my relatives and my acquaintances.
You are my devotion and my compassion.
you are my beginning and my end,
my storm and my clouds,
You are my rain and my fields,
You are my friend and my love.

Love Supreme by Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda

Love!
Love is a sacred word
Love is the name of God
The entire Universe was created with Love,
by Love, and in Love
Love is the beginning -
Love is the continuation -
Love is the end -
Love for Love\'s sake is Divine -
It is beautiful
It brings Peace
It brings Harmony
It brings Joy to the Lover, and to the Loved -
But if Love is based on selfishness - egoism -
the very same Love brings restriction
Peace and Harmony are based on Love
and used properly, by a selfless mind,
for the benefit of humanity -
Love knows no business
Love knows no bargain
Love never expects anything in return
Love must only be giving, giving
Without even waiting for a thank you
Such a Love is the Supreme One
Let that Love Supreme reign over the Universe
OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARIOU

Only Breath by Rumi (1207-1273 AD)

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen -
Not any religion or cultural system -
I am not from the East or the West,
not out of the ocean
or up from the ground,
not natural or ethereal,
not composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve
or any origin story.
My place is placeless,
a trace of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two worlds as one
and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing human being.

There is a way between voice and presence
where information flows.

In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.

Prayers and Sayings of Jesus

I have cast a fire upon the world,
and see, I am guarding it until it blazes!
(Thomas, 10)

There is nothing hidden which will not become manifest
(Thomas, 5)

I shall give you what no eye has seen
and what no ear has heard
and what no hand has touched
and what has never ocurred to the human mind.
(Thomas, 17)

If you bring forth what is within you,
what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you,
what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
(Thomas, 70)

Love your brother like your soul,
guard him like the apple of your eye.
(Thomas, 25)

Whoever has ears, let him hear.
There is Light with in a man of Light,
and he illuminates the whole Universe.
If he does not shine, he is in darkness.
(Thomas, 24)

When will the Kingdom come?
What you look for has already come,
but you do not recognize it.
It will not come by waiting for it.
It will not be a matter of saying,
Here it is, or There it is.
Rather, the Kingdom of the Father
is spread out upon the Earth,
and men do not see it.
(Thomas, 51/113))

The Kingdom of God is within you.
(Luke, 17:21)

I am the Light which is before all things.
It is I who am all things.
From me all things come forth,
and to me all things extend.
Split a piece of wood, and I am there,
lift up the stone, and you will find me.
(Thomas, 77)

If they say to you, \'From where do you come?\'
say to them: We came from the Light,
the place where the Light brought itself into being..
(Thomas, 50)

I am he who exists from the undivided.
(Thomas, 61)

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this:
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
[Knowing this] thou art not far from the Kingdom of God.
(Mark, 12:29-34)

For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you colthed me,
I was sick and you visited me,
I was imprisoned and you came to me. . .
Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of
the least of these my bretheren, you did it to me.
(Matthew, 25:33-49)

The Faerie Queen (excerpt) by Edmund Spenser  (1590)
And with them eke, O Goddess heavenly bright!
Mirror of grace and Majesty Divine,
Great Lady of the greatest Isle, whose light
Like Phoebus\' lamp throughout the world doth shine,
Shed thy fair beams into my feeble eyne,
And raise my thoughts, too humble and too vile,
To think of that true glorious type of thine,
The argument of mine afflicted stile:
The which to hear vouchsafe, O dearest dread, a-while.

The Devi Mahatmyam (excerpt)
O Devi, we bow before you, who are yourself good fortune
in the dwellings of the virtuous, and ill-fortune in those of the vicious,
intelligence in the hearts of the learned, faith in the hearts of the good,
and modesty in the hearts of the high-born.
May you protect the Universe! (5)

O Devi, how can we describe your inconceivable form,
or your abundant surpassing valour that destroys the asuras,
or your wonderful feats displayed in battles among all the hosts of gods,
asuras and others?(6)

You are the origin of all the worlds!
Though you are possessed of the three gunas
you are not known to have any of their attendant defects (like passion)!
You are incomprehensible even to Vishnu, Shiva and others!
You are the resort of all!
This entire world is composed of an infinitesimal portion of yourself!
You are verily the supreme primordial Prakriti untransformed. (7)

You are the soul of Sabda-Brahman.
You are the repository of the very pure Rig-veda and Yajus hymns,
and of Samans, the recital of whose words is beautiful sith the Udgitha!
You are Bhagavati embodying the three Vedas.
And you are the sustenance whereby life is maintained.
You are the supreme destroyer of the pain of all the worlds. (10)

O Devi, you are the Intellect,
by which the essence of all scriptures is comprehended.
You are Durga, the boat that takes men across
the difficult ocean of worldly existence, devoid of attachments.
You are Shri who has invariably taken her abode in the heart of Vishnu.
You are indeed Gauri who has established herself with Shiva. (11)

Gently smiling, pure, resembling the full moon\'s orb,
beautiful like the splendour of excellent gold was your face! (12)

O Devi, be propitious. You are Supreme.
If enraged, you forthwith destroy the (asura) families
for the welfare (of the world). (14)

You who are always bounteous, with whom you are well pleased,
those (fortunate ones) are indeed the object of esteem in the country,
theirs are riches, theirs are glories,
and their acts of righteousness perish not;
they are indeed blessed and possessed
of devoted children, servants and wives. (15)

By your grace, O Devi, the blessed individual
does daily all righteous deeds with utmost care
and thereby attains to heaven.
Are you not, therefore O Devi,
the bestower of reward in all the three worlds? (16)

When called to mind in a difficult pass,
you remove fear for every person.
When called to mind by those in happiness,
you bestow a mind still further pious.
Which goddess but you, O Dispeller of poverty, pain and fear,
has an ever sympathetic heart for helping everyone? (17)

O Devi, your nature is to subdue the conduct of the wicked;
thus your peerless beauty is inconceivable for others;
your power destroys those who have robbed the devas of their prowess,
and you have thus manifested your compassion even towards the enemies. (21)

What is your prowess to be compared to?
Where can one find this beauty (of yours) most charming,
(yet) striking fear in enemies?
Compassion in heart and relentlessness in battle are e\'en,
O Devi, O Bestower of boons, only in you in all the three worlds! (22)

O Devi, protect us with your spear.
O Ambika, protect us with your sword,
protect us by the sound of your bell
and by the twang of your bow-string. (24)

NAMES OF THE GODDESS
In celebration of the Venus (Goddess of Love) we do invoke her by reciting
her many names. Venus is the Great Goddess, She who Never Dies, The Eternal
One, Gealach, Lady of Light, Galata, Albion, Metra, Queen of Heaven, The
Woman who Lightens the Darkness, Ta-Urt, Goddess of birth and death. The
swallow and the dove are sacred to her, as is the rose. Rosemary and verbena
are her sacred herbs, the cypress her sacred tree. Her metal is copper.
Narcissus, myrtle and peach are also sacred to Venus, as are ambergris,
apple, camomile, catnip, daffodil, fresia, rose geranium, white ginger,
hyacinth, lilac, magnolia, marjoram, mugwort, palmersosa, plumeria, spider
lily, thyme, tuberose, tulip, vanilla, vetivert, wood aloe, yarrow, and
ylang ylang.

ANCIENT EGYPT:
Akussa, Ament, Anuket, Anu Set, Bast, Bau, Buto, Hathor, Hepat, Maat, Menos,
Metseger, Neith,  Nekhebet, Nephthys, Nut, Renenet,  Sekhmet, Selkhet,
Seshat, Tait, Taueret, Uadjit,

ANCIENT CRETE
Ariadne, Britomartis, Dictynna, Europa, Leukippe, Pasipha, Rhea

ANCIENT GREECE
Amphitrite, Ananke, Aphrodite, Arachne, Artemis, Athene, Baubo, Buto, Ker,
Ceto, Ceres, Circe, Coronis, Daphne, Demeter, Eos, Eurydice, Eurynome, Gaia,
Galatea, Hebe, Hecate, Hera, Hestia, Hygeia, Io, Iris, Kore, Leda, Leto,
Maia, Nike, Oenothea, Pandia, Pandora, Pangaea, Penelope, Persephone, Pitys,
Selene, Semele, Themis, Tyche

INDIA / TIBET
Aditi, Ananta, Banka-Mundi, Bardaichila, Bentakumari, Bhasundara, Bhavani,
Bisal-Mariamna, Budhi-Pallien, Chomo-Lung-Ma, Devi, Durga, Hudigamma,
Indrani, Ista, Devata, Jagadamba, Kadru, Kali, Kauri, Khon-Ma, Kundalini,
Kurukulla, Lakshmi, Mana, Manasa-Devi, Marici Maya, Nanda Devi, Parvati,
Prajnaparamita, Prakriti, Privithi, Sara Kali, Sarama, Saranyu, Sarasvati,
Savitri, Shakti, Shasti, Shitala, Sita, Smashana-Kali, Tara, Uma, Ushas

NORTH AMERICA
Antares, Awitelin, Tsita

AFRICA
Ala, Anansi, Asase Yaa , Astraea, Bahuba, Imama, Lamia, Mawu, Medusa, Ngame,
Nommo

CELTIC
Aine, Airmed, Albion, Ardwinna, Arianrhod, Arnamentia,  Artio,  Badb,
Banba, Ban Naomha, Becuma, Belisama, Blancheflor, Blodewedd, Boann, Bodua,
Branwen, Brigid, Caillech, Canola, Carman, Cerridwen, Cessair, Dana, Danu,
Dictynna, Epona, Eriu, Flidhais, Morgan Le Fay, Morrigu, Nimue, Rhiannon,
Sinclair, Sulis

MAYA / AZTEC
Chalchi¦htlicue, Chicomecoatl, Chimalman, Coatlicue, Malinalxochitl,
Mictecaciuatl, Tlalteutli, Tlazolteotl, Xochiquetzal


JAPAN
Amaterasu, Benten, Fuji, Uzume

LATIN / ROME
Acca Larentia, Alemona, Angerona, Anna Perenna, Antevorta , Aurora, Bona
Dea, Candelifera , Carmenta, Carna , Carya, Ceres, Cotys, Coventina, Diana,
Feronia, Flora, Juno, Lara , Lat, Lucina, Luna, Lupa, Marica, Mensa,
Minerva, Pomona, Proserpina , Tellus, Venus, Vesta

CHINA
Chang-O, Hsi Wang Mu, Kuan Yin , Mat Chinoi, Shin-Mu

MIDDLE EAST
Achamoth, Aka , Al-Lat , Al-Mah , Al-Uzza , Anath, Anatu, Anu, Aramaiti,
Arianna, Aruru, Asherah , Ashnan , Atthar, Belit-Ilani, Chaabou, Deborah,
Derceto, Erua, Fatima , Gula, Inanna, Ishtar, Kadi, Lilith , Manat, Mari,
Shayba, Shebat, Shekinah, Tiamat , Tirgata

NORSE / TEUTONIC
Edda, Freya, Gunnlo\'d, Halja , Hel, Horsel, Idun, Saga, Skadi, Urd, Ursel

POLYNESIA
Hina, Laka, Pele ,Tangoroa

SCANDINAVIA
Angeyja, Atla , Audumla , Avfruvva, Baduhenna, Sol

OTHER GODDESSES
Akewa, Akka, Altan-Telgey , Amashilamma, Amma, Anat, Angerboda, Apia-Fellus,
Ararat , Armath, Arinna , Artimpaasa, Aspelenie, Astarte, Atargatis,
Auchimalgen, Aunt Nancy, Azer-Ava, Ba Alat, Bachue, Beiwe, Bendis, Beruth ,
Bila , Biliku, Bonto, Boshun, Buana, Bugady Musun, Byul-Soon, Ca, Cybele,
Ennoia, Erigone, Har, Heimarmene, Kupala, Lucetia, Lucina, Magog,
Mamokoriyama, Makeda, Mara, Marianne, Mary, Mastor-AvaMati-Syra-Zemlya,
Maya, Medea, Metra, Miti, Modir, Moerae, Nammu, Nemesis, Ninhursag, Ninsun ,
Nina, Ninti, Niobe. Omphale, Rati, Siduri, Sabitu, Sige, Sophia, Stella
Maris Sunna , Tanit, Thalassa, Uni, Vir-Ava, Va-Kul, Walpurga, Zemelo