Palladis Tamia the Latin genitive of "Pallas," another name for the goddess Athena, who in Greek mythology was the goddess of wisdom and statecraft. Thus, "Palladis Tamia" becomes the "dispenser" or "treasurer" of Pallas Athena, or "wisdom". "Palladis Tamia" was the second in a series of four volumes of short pithy sayings with the generic title of "Wits Commonwealth", the first of which was "Politeuphuia: Wits Commonwealth" (1597), compiled by John Bodenham or by Nicholas Ling, the publisher. The third volume was "Wits Theater of the Little World" (1599), dedicated to Bodenham and variously credited to him, Robert Allott, or Ling, and
Charge of the Goddess opening paragraph names a collection of goddesses, some derived from Greek or Roman mythology, others from Celtic or Arthurian legends, affirming a belief that these various figures represent a single Great Mother: This theme echoes the ancient Roman belief that the Goddess Isis was known by ten thousand names and also that the Goddess still worshipped today by Wiccans and other neopagans is known under many guises but is in fact one universal divinity. The second paragraph is largely derived and paraphrased from the words that Aradia, the messianic daughter of Diana, speaks to her followers in Charles Godfrey Leland's