So Mote It Be

Screenprint available in Trippy Battenberg (pink & yellow) or Witch Grotto (purple & green)

Hand printed on Heritage White paper
Each print will have at least 0.5cm border and be signed and editioned on the reverse

A4

"So Mote it Be" is used at the end of many Wiccan and Pagan spells and prayers. It's an archaic phrase that many people in the Pagan community use, yet its origins may not be Pagan at all. According to Webster's dictionary, the word mote was originally a Saxon verb which meant "must." It appears back in the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, who used the line 'The wordes mote be cousin to the deed' in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales.

In modern Wiccan traditions, the phrase often appears as a way of wrapping up a ritual or magical working. It's basically a way of saying "Amen" or " so it shall be."

Occultist Aleister Crowley used "so mote it be" in some of his writings, and claimed it to be an ancient and magical phrase, but it's very likely that he borrowed it from the Masons. In Freemasonry, "so mote it be" is the equivalent of "Amen" or "as God wills it to be." Gerald Gardner, a founder of modern Wicca, was also believed to have Masonic connections, although there's some question about whether or not he was a Master Mason as he claimed to be. Regardless, it's no surprise that the phrase turns up in contemporary Pagan practice, considering the influence that the Masons had on both Gardner and Crowley.

ref. 'learnreligions.com'